Beyond Resistance Training

 The calves, forearms and neck muscles are similar in that they are the muscles at the extremities of the body — that respond most to range of motion — rather than resistance. Added resistance merely decreases the range of motion. Regardless of the condition anybody is in, as soon as they turn their heads all the way to the left or right, the sternomastoid muscle of the neck contracts into prominence — whether one is obese or a body builder, but the people most likely to have a pleasing neck development, are the dancers — who cultivate that development — along with the movements of the hands and feet. It is typical for them to point their feet to be in line with their lower leg — while the typical range of movement for most people, is to barely move their feet from a right angle to the lower leg. It is that range of motion that accounts for the fuller development of the lower leg muscles — and adding more weight, further restricts foot movement.

That is the major argument against the thinking that simply adding more resistance to a movement, will produce a prodigious development — when in fact, for most people, just bodyweight alone is already too much weight for them to be able to raise fully on their toes. They may perform their calf raise on an elevation — and then only go up to slightly above a right angle to their lower leg — and then back down to the stretched position. And so their calf muscle doesn’t develop no matter how much weight they use, or how many reps they do — because they don’t do the most productive part of any exercise — which is the full contraction.

The magic of the full contraction is that it physically forces the blood and other fluids to be compressed out of those tissues — and upon relaxation, the heart can easily pump blow into those areas because the compression has created a vacuum that draws fresh nutrients in. A semi-contracted or semi-relaxed muscular state, which is how most people perform their weight-training exercises, does not produce that impactful flow caused by the difference in the greatest contraction alternated by the greatest relaxation — just as the heart works as a pump.

The ideal design for improving circulation, would be to have pumps at the furthest extremities of the body to pump the fluids back towards the heart — but the muscles of the body can voluntarily do that in many productive activities. Unfortunately, the modern paradigm eliminates that essential involvement and places it on the heart rate and core development — while ignoring the development of the essential movements and development of the neck, forearms and lower legs — which is totally backwards and why modern bodybuilders have grossly disproportional developments — that even Arnold finds disturbing.

That disproportionate development does not happen if one exercises from the extremities on in — because that is the natural evolutionary design. That is, the larger muscles develop to support the fine motor movements at the head, hands and feet — and not the larger muscles with no expression at the head, hands and feet — as many conditioning activities do. What is particularly noticeable in older physique competitors, is the glaring absence of lower leg, lower arm, and neck development — despite the overdevelopment of biceps and abdominals.

That is contrasted with the still formidable leg, arm and neck development seen in older ballet performers and teachers. If one does nothing else but develop the lower leg, lower arms, and neck, then the eye extrapolates that the rest of the musculature must be awesome — because it is so traditionally underdeveloped as a yardstick for that assessment. But more accurately, the impressive development of the extremities, implies the greater health of the supporting structures — but not vice-versa. That is, one can have a well developed core muscles — while still having a pencil neck, and pipestem forearms and calves — which is a common sight in many gyms. Aside from the aestethics, the common failure of most aging people, is the deterioration visible at the neck (face), hands and feet as the telltale signs of aging.

So the question one asks, is what allows for the greatest range of movement at the joint one wishes to develop? That would be to assume the Achilles tendon stretch against a wall or chair, and then raising the heel to achieve the greatest contraction (articulation) of that forward push off — rather than rising straight up with a weight on their shoulders because the spine is bearing most of the impact. That is true for most of the exercises one thinks they are doing for the development of the larger muscles of the body. The primary victim is the spine and its compression — often leading to back pain for the rest of their lives.

While the ballet dancers are impressive that they can stand on their toes, for the rest of us, if we can get into that position bearing no weight, or as little weight that allows that full range contraction, we can achieve the same effect. Arthur Jones noted that the strength curve between the fully relaxed position of a muscle to the fully contracted position varied greatly, but dismissed the observation that at the most extreme positions, further attempts to increase that range, produced its own unlimited resistance. If one thinks to increase that range of movement (flexibility), it is usually only in the relaxed position — and not the contracted position, where most simply rest in a bone-on-bone lockout — whether that is a squat, deadlift, bench press or standing press. To go into a hypercontracted position would cause the bar to come crashing down because it is so intense as to be unsustainable. But that is what we want to do with a lighter weight, and in many cases, no additional weight at all — which is what a supercontracted calf raise beginning from an Achilles tendon stretch would be.

That is very different than doing the calf raise off of blocks — starting with a maximum resistance. Then at best, one would only raise one’s feet to level before dropping back down into the lowered position. One has to find a way that they can get into the fully contracted, and even hypercontracted position — even without weights — because it is the range of movement that is paramount, and not the weight lifted for no meaningful change of muscular state that will induce the nutrients for growth. It is not the weight lifted, but the changes in the muscular state from full contraction to full relaxation that produces that flow that maintains and grows the body.

It’s not the lack of effort or resistance, but the lack of the proper understanding of what one is doing — and hoping to accomplish. Then when it makes perfectly good sense, one can’t help but do the right things — because it wouldn’t make sense to do otherwise.