Manifesting Reality

 People are shocked to learn that with proper weight-training, they can see results immediately — but with improper weight-training, they might not see results ever — and so the key difference, is this “proper” weight-training — rather than time, or any other factor. In this case, “proper” is what causes this instant and immediate transformation. This is particularly true among the top bodybuilders/physique competitors — who all come in looking pretty athletic looking, but in pumping up, differentiate themselves. That is the unique gift of bodybuilders — but can be observed in the most untrained and out of condition people as well — once they know how to contract their muscles — to put themselves in the shape they want to be in.

The easiest illustration of this, is asking a person to turn their heads to the left as far as possible, and then back to the right as far as possible. With each extreme range of movement, the sternomastoid muscle on the side of the neck will pop out into prominence — usually best seen on the ballet dancers who invariably have their photos taken in that position — so they always look good. However, I’ve never seen it fail to manifest even in people in the worst condition — and is even more important for people who never move at all, and are perceived as ‘unresponsive.” Among such people, even the slightest movement would be encouraging — as a sign that they still are interacting with the world and those around them. Otherwise they sit like motionless statues all day, or lie in bed motionless and so have to even be turned over not to develop bed sores. And they can even live on for years in that manner.

That is the opposite end of the spectrum of movement and activities. But if you can get that person to turn their head all the way to the left, and all the way to the right, those resulting contractions are causing a flow into the head, and beyond seeing results from a workout, one is actually bringing one back to life — or in Biblical times, raising the dead. That is much more spectacular then losing weight and making a muscle.

Eventually, that is important for every one of us — but on the normal part of the life curve, muscles are the organs that produce change — from one state to another, and that alternation, is what produces blood and fluid flow — with the heart at the center, and the rest of the voluntary musculature at the extremities. While the heart is always likely to be working, it frequently is the case in contemporary life that one does not activate the muscles of the rest of the body — which is how the system was evolved to work, and provide for the health of that individual.

But the lack of movement, particularly at the axes (joints) of the neck, wrists, and ankles are the sites where the human body familarly breaks down first — as arthritis of the hands, feet, and brain (dementias) because of that poorest circulation there. That’s the simplest and most basic understanding of the body and movement. Movement enhances that flow — and so there is no movement at those critical axes, the body breaks down, or fails to develop properly and optimally. People who manifest “results,” are those who know how to effect those changes the best — including immediately in some action or transformation in appearance. This ability actually is observable in all animal species and forms.

More often than people suspect, just looking big and formidable might spare them the need to have to prove it in an actual fight — which saves a lot of wear and tear to fight only the battles that absolutely must be fought — and not as the juveniles do, by engaging in every push to establish their rank in the pecking order. That’s the connection we all still have to primal life. That is the survival of the fitness.

So that capacity to manifest instant results are part of the standard capabilities; unfortunately, most have never learned how to manifest these capabilities — rather than actually having lost it. That is one’s basic survival kit — and the importance of distinguishing proper (productive) exercise and improper (nonproductive — and even counterproductive) exercises and conditioning, That distinction makes a huge difference — manifesting instantly and immediately — as needed.

Being in shape is mainly a function of how well one can produce those changes — from as relaxed as possible, to as contracted as possible — to access the power to change. Many experts don’t manifest this ability — and so they claim it will require a few months to see any changes — when that is the whole nature of muscle — that it produces instant and immediate change. If it takes a year to see any change, probably nothing is happening — and is likely to remain that way for years to come. That is the plight of those who will never change — no matter what the results, or lack of them. Still, they will persist in believing they are doing everything “right” — despite not manifesting any difference, or change, and so predictably, they get discouraged — thinking exercise can’t work, although some have shown “results.” It should be obvious that they are not doing the same thing as that other person — although they may think they are.

Thus Arthur Jones created the Nautilus machines to ensure that all trainees were on the same page, “Foolproof,” he claimed. Those machines provided “variable resistance through the full range of movement around a single axis” — starting with his Pullover and then Hip and Back machine to focus movement at the hip and shoulder girdles. However, those movements only optimize the muscles up to those axes of rotation — but as age plays out, the atrophy and deterioration begins beyond those axes to the hands, feet, and head. You want to design movements for the axes of the extremities to benefit those vulnerabilities of the human body for a long, productive and healthy life.

Those changes are not a function of time — but a measure of doing the proper thing — like turning the head as far as one can. That immediately contracts the neck muscle — and the resistance at that point, is in increasing that range of possibility. The movement itself produces resistance — especially at the most important extremes — the beginning and the ending. That is what most people don’t do — preferring instead, a narrow midrange movement — even holding their breath to achieve it.

Some people have the ability to pump up to impressive size and appearance. That is a “result.” If there is a qualifier that it must be “permanent,” then no condition is. Life is always changing, and all we know is the present moment (now). Doing is manifesting reality.

Understanding Flow

 There’s nothing magical about weights and equipment; the magic is in understanding how the body works — and not unceasingly more effort with the wrong understanding — in the thinking that brute force is what works. That is why things break — rather than work better.

So the critical understanding in why exercise works is that optimizing the circulation optimizes the health and functioning in every living being. In mammals that revolves around the constant pumping of the heart to effect the blow flow out to the extremities — but the problem then is that when the capillaries are already full (occupied), the heart cannot simply force the flow through. At that point, it requires the assistance of the muscles at the extremities to contract as the heart does — to effect the flow back towards the heart and central purifying/recycling organs of the body — and when it does that and then alternates a relaxation of those muscles, it has created space (vacuum) for the blood from the heart to enter with new nutrients for new growth. That is the reason muscles and their supporting systems grow, maintain, become healthier, and more proficient.

In the early days of evolution, life required movements to sustain life itself — but now with modern conveniences, it is quite possible for many people not to have to move at all — and so the blood and fluids don’t have these contractions that push the fluids out of the tissues — and so we see the common occurrence of inflammation (retained toxic waste products) that remain in the tissues and that buildup, destroys the nerves — in the peculiar neuropathies notable particularly at the extremities of the hands, feet, and head.

That commonly used to be called arthritis of the hands and feet, but also is noticeable in the atrophying of the neck muscles indicative of a reduced flow to the most critical part of the human body (the brain) — which most people think nothing can be done about it but to succumb to the inevitable aging process. In fact, when I pointed out this lack of head movement in those with dementias, I was told that the head can’t move — which of course is a huge part of the problem, because the head, hands and feet are made for moving — with its fine bones and intricate muscularity. That is what we don’t move in contemporary life — and why people come down with inflammatory diseases.

But the human is designed also with the capability to maintain and improve its health — by design. Muscles contract when the insertion (distal) of a muscle moves towards the origin (proximal) of that muscle — and never vice-versa, so that any contraction by its very design, will push the fluids in that muscle towards the heart and not away from it. But if one is only effecting that contraction at the shoulder girdle or the hip girdle, no contraction (movement) will take place beyond that axis of rotation (movement). That is why “cardio” will only make the heart work harder and faster — while doing nothing for any other muscle, and it shows in those who only do that, in the pipestem arms and legs, and pencil necks — no matter how much they cardio. The problem is not (never) that the heart is not working sufficiently hard — but the rest of the skeletal (voluntary) muscles are doing nothing — most, if not all the time.

The circulation is automatic at least to a minimal (life-sustaining) extent, but intentional and deliberate exercise (movement) at the furthest axes of the wrists, ankles, and neck — will optimize the flow to the most important and critical organs of the human body — and naturally have to develop the rest of the body in its natural predispositions and proportions — because nothing else is possible. That is not true of exercise and movements that immobilize those movements — and focus only on the heart, biceps, and abdominals.

While that is not so problematical with people in good health, it is nonproductive and even aggravates the problems of poor health — particularly in the senior, disabled and terminal populations. Having taught exercise from world class athletes to terminal, one notes that what works for the terminal, will also work for the world class athlete, but not vice-versa — because those are the general principles of physics and physiology that must work for everybody — and not just the exceptional one. That is the mistake all my friends made in designing exercise programs for the exceptional — rather than for everyone — beginning with what is most important to develop in every human being. And then beginning with this universal basics, the exceptional will rise above the crowd and display exceptional aptitude. That’s how it happens.

One will note that the furthest range of movement at the wrists, ankles, and neck — will engage and activate all the supporting muscle structures back towards the center of the body — along those meridians ending at what the ancient Chinese health practitioners called the “dantian.” Increasing the range of movement at the ankles, wrists, and neck triggers the supporting muscles back towards this center next to the heart where all the muscles are anchored. Understanding this interrelationship of all the muscles and how it is possible to effect a contraction in all or most of the muscles at once, is essential to obtaining the maximum benefits of circulation (movement), and how it can be practiced in outer space and other extraordinary conditions — because the conditions that keep one alive internally, are still intact.

The resistance is the fluid in the body — and that is what has to be moved, or life will cease. If it is optimized, then life and health will flourish — beyond the metrics by which it is often discussed, because beyond the weight, reps, distance, that is the bigger picture — over an entire lifetime, and not just the one moment of glory. So that is all one needs to understand to formulate their own effective and productive health regimen — effecting maximum contraction alternating with maximum relaxation so that the entirety of the muscular system works like the heart — rather than against it.