Can One Exercise Too Much?

 The problem with doing 500 squats a day is that it leaves less time and energy for working the rest of the body — although we usually see the opposite of this — in people who do 500 repetitions for their biceps or abdominals, while doing little or nothing for their legs. Most gyms are full of such people with lopsided developments that make them look grotesque rather than appealing. Another variation on the theme is to load a barbell or machine, and just let it sit there so nobody else can use it — and so one can pull ahead of everybody else in that manner.

But all sarcasm aside, the danger of such regimens is the thinking that any one thing is all that is required to achieve perfection in all things — rather than just the one thing that has become the limits of their universe — and that is true with running, weightlifting, gender identity, or any other one thing by which they hope to reduce and explain every other activity in the world. The whole rationale for exercise is that it enabled one to become as complete a well-developed individual as possible — rather than a caricature of a stereotype — even of oneself. That’s why it was the fundamental exercise of the ancient academies — and not all the smart guys went to one camp, and everybody else went to another camp, and further divisions and specializations as job security for the bureaucrats of every ambition.

Having discussed exercise with many of the great pioneers and researchers, I found that 50 repetitions of any exercise would provide the appropriate fatigue that simply doing more would not. That was true whether they were in the poorest condition or world-class condition. If one performed less than 50 repetitions the weight was too heavy, and if they could do more than 50 repetitions, the execution was imperfect — which in the case of the squat was dropping down and rebounding out of the low position — rather than actually “squatting” at any time — which is specifically, to sit in the bottom position for an extended period of time.

The movement from the top to the bottom is not actually squatting — if no squatting actually occurs — which is to rest in the bottom position for any extended period of time — which is a great practice for a count of “50.” In this definition, many squatters cannot even do “one” — but do everything possible not to actually achieve the squat, and are even taught to avoid ever getting into a proper squatting position by allowing their knees to move forward beyond their toes — which is an actual requirement for a proper squat. Thus they usually cannot go below a quarter of the way down — and activate dorsiflexion, which is the toes moving towards the shin or tibialis — which is how the human leg is designed to move (hinge).

Yet many exercise instruction actually teaches against moving in the manner the body is actually designed to move — while contriving many other movements that have no practical application other than performing that exercise. And so after a lifetime of performing such movements, as they age, the damage to their knees, back, and other joints become apparent if not crippling — when the very reason for performing proper exercise is to avoid injury, rehabilitate and strengthen beyond present capabilities her than the — as a lifelong practice.

In the “squat movement” particularly, that would be performing the bottom half rather than the upper half usually done by most — because the top of the bottom half is not a resting position as standing fully erect is. So even with bodyweight alone, the muscles must work to maintain that position, while in the fully erect position, it is a bone-on-bone lockout requiring very little muscle activation — which is the kind of weightlifting/training most people do — and so can go all day, every day — with liberal rests on top of that.

But if the purpose and understanding is to fatigue the muscles as thoroughly as possible (high intensity failure) to stimulate muscle growth, that should be achieved in 50 repetitions rather than 500 — to prevent repetitive stress injury and premature wear and tear to the joints — while doing very little for muscle activation and full-range articulation of the movement and muscle from fullest relaxation to fullest contraction at the focus of movement — which is the “pump” indicative of enhancing the circulatory effect that skeletal (voluntary) muscles direct in addition to the always reliable heart action.