High Intensity Exercise (and Peak Performance)

 "No amount of low-intensity exercise will produce the same effects as a very brief and infrequent amount of high intensity exercise." 

Those were the words expressed to me in the summer of 1969 at the Teenage National Championships held in York, Pennsylvania, conveniently at the YMCA -- making it one of the great gatherings of people interested in such matters back then.  Virtually all the people known as the "golden era of bodybuilding" were staying under one roof, and one person in particular, introduced his ideas on revolutionizing this activity for anyone who would listen -- but unfortunately, few were so inclined, and those who did, chose to argue rather than listen to new ideas.

If one actually chose to exercise with such high intensity, they could not last more than ten minutes without throwing up, or the body completely shutting down in revolt for such a full-on assault -- self-imposed.  But I said I would give it a try, and pass on that knowledge to everyone else who might be interested in unprecedented fast and dramatic results -- if they were willing to endure that tremendous discomfort (trauma) which the body then would adapt to -- for as long as one persisted in that manner.

And so the notion of pain as the stimulus of gain, began to supplant the convention of moderate and painless exercise -- to largely maintain the status quo of maintaining the condition and movement one presently had.  Most of the people taking up exercise up to that time, were often doing so because of illnesses or genetic defects -- that made them feel the necessity to.  More normally developed people were not so inclined -- to waste their time in that manner.

People did not suspect that one could actually achieve remarkable transformations in just five minutes -- if one were willing to go all-out and deliberately produce that effect.  Needless to say, it is very stressful on the body to do so -- or one would be doing it all the time, but as originally forewarned, it had to be very brief, and infrequent -- or the body would simply break down, and not recover -- until forced to do so by its own innate intelligence.

Initially, they were just principles that could be applied to any manner of exercising or activity -- which were later incorporated into the Nautilus exercise machines -- so that they would be "foolproof."  But the inventor underestimated the extent to which fools could undermine the wisdom of the machines -- and defeat its intents and purposes -- and thus created a need for personalized supervision of every repetition to ensure that they were done properly.  That was an admission that the machine was not foolproof -- and what was really lacking, was the proper understanding of those principles.

As originally presented, one could achieve the high intensity effect, using any equipment -- or none at all, because what was required was simply to exceed one's momentary ability -- and that created the stimulus for the body to adapt to this higher level -- over time, in recovery.  Thus this recovery ability became as equally critical factor -- as the breaking down process that makes room for the new.  It was not enough just to exercise as much as possible -- or all the time, because it was equally important to provide adequate rest and nutrients to rebuild at a slightly higher capacity -- anticipating the next challenge to one's capabilities.

That is how one programs themselves to improve -- and not simply annihilate oneself -- at an inappropriate time and circumstances.  The challenge must be great -- but manageable given one's present resources -- and not merely taking on a freight train believing they can conquer anything if they only put their mind to it.  Thus it has been observed, that "the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak."  Meanwhile, true fitness and survival, is knowing one's capabilities and limits, and utilizing them appropriately in the right time and circumstances.  Many people get these qualifiers wrong -- and think only in the absolutes -- that all-out, or 115% rules the day.  Instead, one may never recover from that miscalculation of abilities to the challenge.

So one must always allow for a margin of error that one could be completely wrong, overmatched, or misreading the situation -- as when dealing with an unfamiliar life form (foe) and assuming one has seen it all, and compares it to everything else they have experienced before.  Who knew that the crocodile wouldn't take kindly to being patted on the head?  So in anything one does, it is best to approach it tentatively -- and then taking it a little farther to familiarize oneself with the possibilities and territory -- to find out the the truth of the matter.

In that exploration and learning, one has already become a better person -- and not that they were born with perfect knowledge and so must never admit to not knowing anything, because that realization, is the awakening of intelligence.  That is high intensity exercise for the brain -- which then exercised through the neuromuscular structures -- produces growth in one's total being.  Such people, we say, are firing on all cylinders -- because they are not just thinking with their brains, but every cell, tissue, and organ in their body.  Such highly charged states, do not have to be practiced for hours, day after day, but is enough to experience for even one second -- to have a transformative effect on the body.

It is the highest level of attainment achieved -- and predictably, cannot be sustained or duplicated -- but at that point, one has achieved what they set out to -- that momentary highest level of achievement.  That then becomes the prototype for all one's future attainments.  But no amount of mundane, routine, boring activity -- has that same magical, transformative effect.  One must be entirely "there" -- as the template for which all the cells henceforth, will be rebuilt to adapt to.  

Obviously, that is taking life to a higher level -- which is actually what every life form has been preprogrammed to do -- and why we have evolution and progress.  That is the integration of all that has come before -- in the synthesis of the new, more powerful life force -- or there is disintegration -- the breakdown into greater disorder, anomie, atrophy, and entropy.  Greater life force is increasing orderliness and adaptability at higher levels, while disintegration inevitably leads to increasing probabilities of disease, injury and death -- because it doesn't learn from its own living -- to get better.

So when the leading edge researchers describe "high intensity" training, it is this qualitative effect they are alluding to -- and not merely more of the same and familiar (quantitative) -- that isn't working, no matter how much of it one does.  Those limits can be breached no matter what present condition one is in -- and that is particularly important to note -- because it depends on breaching one's momentary levels of ability and not merely personal or world record bests.  That is meaningful because those are the most severe challenges one is likely to encounter in life -- when they can turn their fortunes from utter vanquish to feeling whole and well again -- in an instant.  Some call that "resiliency" (recovery ability).  Like people who have made a fortune and lost a fortune, those in supreme health, know how to change their own fortunes -- and that is what the early pioneers of bodybuilding and the greater health movement, blazed the path for in that they were often willing to risk their health and lives for a brief moment of glory -- and no rational argument would stop them.

However, many died prematurely by overtraining and overstraining their own organs to failure -- beginning with the heart -- which does not have unlimited capacity for work and overwork.  Something has to give when demanding 200% effort day after day.  Usually the body informs them in some way that that cannot persist for much longer -- and most voluntarily quit, before they have a tragic medical episode.  That's all part of learning -- just like why it is inadvisable not to drive at full throttle whenever one can.  Most hope to outgrow it.

The problem of intensity is similar to acceleration -- one is either increasing -- or decreasing, momentarily.  But the only thing that matters is the peak -- and not that it has to be sustained indefinitely in order to be effective, and once attained, already produces an unprecedented stimulus for desired growth no matter what stage or age one is in.  But like any powerful force in life, it has to be managed prudently -- or it can be one's undoing.  Too much of a good thing can be damaging.  Too much food, too much money, too many drugs, too many influences, etc.

The proper dose makes the medicine/poison.