Better Than Running

 As people get older, they often lose the ability to run -- or just don't like to do it anymore -- for various good reasons.  The usual culprits are the high impact taken by the foot, knees, hips and back, but lesser recognized, is the feeling of being winded -- and the reason for this is the high impact on the torso, knocking the wind out of the body from that jolt as the foot hits the ground with at least half of its bodyweight.  

Absorbing that shock/jolt/impact will force air out of the lungs causing one to breathe shallowly, erratically and rapidly -- rather than deeply and slowly.  It forces the breath to conform to that striking (impact), rather than conforming the movement to adapt to the breathing rate -- or rhythm.  And it is the breathing rhythm that ultimately determines the aerobic efficiency that enables one to persist in that movement/effort tirelessly.

That is the very definition of what it means to be aerobic -- or exercising with breathing, as opposed to not breathing, characteristic of anaerobic exercise.  Very simply put, aerobic exercise is that which can be sustained for extended periods of time because there is a good supply of oxygen provided by optimal breathing -- while anaerobic exercise and effort, does not expect or require those efforts to continue beyond the single great effort.  As such, it doesn't matter if the body fails entirely after that one great effort.

The problem arises if that one supreme effort does not accomplish the objective -- and requires a subsequent great effort, etc.  At that realization, one has to recalibrate their strategy for whether that requires a greater supreme effort, or whether lesser persistent efforts would be more effective.  In more cases than not, the smaller effort persisted as long as it takes, is much more suited to accomplishing most objectives than the one and done supreme effort -- beyond which it does not matter if one lives or dies thereafter.

The well known saying, is to live another day -- to accomplish what one has to -- as long as it takes.  That is very convenient for those planning to live a long life anyway.  To those in a hurry, it is now or never -- with no practice or improvement possible -- or necessary.  That manner of operation is usually not a good idea -- because it does not allow for the use of time -- which is one's greatest ally and asset throughout life.

The key question to ask is whether doing less might result in more -- and not simply more unquestionably?  At what point does fast-walking overtake slow-running?  Or more to the point, can race-walking beat jogging as a better fitness activity -- for most people?  The superiority of race-walking is that it requires the engagement of the upper body as much as it does the fullest articulation of the leg joints.  That is to say, that it is by its very nature a whole-body exercise -- and that is what gives it its peculiar articulation and expression.

The rules of its performance, require one to do it properly -- with no further instruction necessary.  There is no vertical lift off of the ground -- and so no impact on the body.  That is obviously how the body is designed to move -- and could -- for as long as it has to.  It's not the fastest -- but it is the fastest that can be sustained for as long as it has to be.

Most people don't walk or jog with their arms -- but they should to get a full body workout.  Those movements are even more constrained on a treadmill or stationary bike.  They've just been led to believe that only the heartrate matters -- and if the heart is beating maximally, it must be forcing the circulation through the inert parts of the body -- which anybody who has done prolonged distance cycling knows is not true.  The hands will go numb -- as well as other parts of the body no matter how hard and forcefully the heart is working.

That is true even with walking without the active engagement of the arms -- often experienced as the swelling in the hands even after a long walk.  The proper and effective circulation requires the active engagement (articulation) of those muscles and joints -- and not just because the heart is working maximally.  That is why such people even become atrophied in parts of their body -- while becoming overdeveloped in those parts that are actually moved.

And so for a well-developed, proportioned physique, it would behoove a person to actually move the parts of their body they want to develop -- including and especially at the cognitively important head., hands and feet -- which conveniently, are the easiest parts of the body to move.  And in doing so, one will note that that has a profound effect on the movement, functioning and development of the musculature proximal to those distal joints.  That is how the circulation is effected and optimized --  from the extremities back towards the heart, rather than as erroneously thought, from the heart to the extremities.

That is the major reason why exercise conducted with that understanding fails to achieve the desired results.  It is like pouring water uphill and wondering why it will not flow.