Squat to Pushup (Everything, All at Once)

There is an inclination among those who should know better, to make things more difficult than they have to be -- rather than as simple and easy as possible.  Nowhere is that more true than in most exercise instruction -- to maintain the supremacy and authority of the "teacher."  That is the primary reason exercise has not evolved for hundreds of years, and  most will abandon those practices as soon as they can -- while a few others, will continue with diminishing returns -- and think that is all there is, or can ever be.  That invariably, is that the difficult just gets harder until it becomes impossible -- at which point one is "blamed" for not doing it -- as now the reason for one's difficulties.

There is no good reason for making any movement harder and more prohibitive.  In many former exercisers, that is the reason they no longer exercise, or do now with greatly restricted range of movement.  That should not be the inevitable result of practicing proper movement -- which should be to increase those capabilities.  Yet in most cases of misguided instruction, the ultimate result is to restrict and disable as much capability as possible in the notion that handicapping them in that way is the best way to improve their abilities.

Probably the most insane of such instruction is the advice for a frail, elderly person to practice getting up off the floor without using their hands and knees -- or any other aid for that matter -- when any rational and sane person would use every advantage they can to do so.  That is also what it means to be "fit" -- to use every advantage possible -- rather than tying all one's appendages behind one's back, and proclaiming any survivor the "winner" of that (con)test.  The smart ones will not put themselves in that position in the first place.

What is generally recognized as the most productive and beneficial movements to practice is the squat -- but it is made more difficult than easy and accessible for most -- by using every advantage one can, and is convenient.  That would be to use all appendages -- and extend the range of comfortable movement -- which can be easily done holding the back of any chair for that support and performance.  That removes the stress on the knees in the lowest position, while allowing for the straightening of the leg directly onto the toes -- as the universal leg function -- making that movement easy for most people.

But it naturally gets harder with subsequent repetitions because only in that forward leaning position can the leg muscles achieve full contraction -- rather than simply a bone-on-bone lockout -- which is also true of most exercises people do unproductively.  A bone-on-bone lockout is never a full contraction -- that most people think it is, but is actually the muscle resting in equilibrium.  To force it out of that resting state, one has to lean forward out of balance and then have the arms contract along with the lower legs to complete a full body squat -- which engages most of the musculature of the human body in one thoughtful, well-designed movement.

That is the minimum one can do -- to engage and exercise most of the muscles in the body, and maintain functional (useful) strength.  The problem of the squat is the speed with which one drops into the lowest position, which can be controlled by using the arms to slow that descent, and then on the other end, to move directly onto the toes and arms instead of the unproductive bone-on-bone lockout of standing straight up.  Because of that feature, one can stand in that position indefinitely -- which means it is not working the muscles.  For the muscles to be working, they have to be contracted -- beyond the bone on bone lockout position -- and most people don't ever go there.  They stop well short of the fully contracted position -- and never go further, to the hypercontracted position -- which like the fully relaxed position, can only handle a much lighter weight. 

The hypercontracted position is so intense that one feels imminent failure and loss of control.  It can be demonstrated with any exercise but the most familiar would be the bench press -- in which one can hold a weight aloft in the bone-on-bone lockout -- but if one attempts to press out beyond that, one instinctively fears he will lose control completely -- and thus will never attempt to do so -- unless using the lightest resistance possible.  That is as it should be because the range of movement determines the muscular state -- and not the maximum weight in a bone on bone lockout -- most people mistake for a full muscular contraction.

And so it was thought that the way to solve that problem, was to vary that weight from minimal to maximal -- without realizing that the true resistance curve is actually light to light again -- if the range of motion is extended far enough in both directions.  Instead, one usually stops even before reaching fullest contraction -- and many people don't contract at all.  They just flop their arms and legs around thinking that is all that is needed -- and therefore can persist for longer than 50 repetitions, because there is no fatigue produced by the muscle moving into full contraction 50 times -- which is most people's limit -- even with a light weight.  

The cause of  momentary muscular failure is not the weight used but the intensity of the muscular contraction produced by the range of movement -- particularly in going from the fullest relaxation (elongation) to the fullest contraction.  That action optimizes the blood flow to that specific area producing muscle growth and health. Without that blood flow, the nutrients don't get there, and the toxic waste products don't get out of there, and so the health and growth will be suboptimal -- and show it.

Because it is not the weight used that matters, but whether a full contraction is achieved -- that is the work of the muscle.  Most people do not lift a weight by a muscle contraction around one axis (joint), but lift it by levering their entire bodyweight while immobilizing the movement around any particular joint (axis) -- even if a machine is designed to prevent that.  They will simply operate the machine in a manner that defeats (overrides) the greatest contraction possible -- which is the fullest contraction, most will experience in later life as a cramp they cannot control.  It is precisely this control, that regular exercise seeks to establish -- or that lack of control gets progressively worse (with age).

That neuromuscular degeneration is the need for exercise in one's later years -- more than remaining competitively active.  If they don't do anything, they don't get better -- but surprisingly, many people expect to -- even if that has not happened all their life previously.  Yet that seems to be the expectation in most people -- rather than that they have to deliberately and systematically produce that outcome.  It doesn't just happen -- but rather, the opposite is more likely.  That's what we're all up against.

Like the variable resistance curve, it does not just move from light to heavy -- but beyond to light again -- if the range of movement is extended in virtually every exercise, while what is witnessed in most, is the foreshortening of every movement until it fails to be productive anymore.  It's not that one is simply getting old and unresponsive, but one is not doing what used to get them results anymore -- while thinking that they are.  

There is ample video evidence that that is so, and no further academic studies need to be funded to observe that is so.  It was not the weight that mattered but whether the muscle moved into the state of full contraction -- with or without resistance.  That has been proven by competitive bodybuilders posing -- from contracted pose to contracted pose.  What they don't do is alternately relax -- which is the reason that a lot of these participants cramp up and pass out, by interfering with the circulatory and respiratory functions that can result in damage or even death in disturbing numbers -- when taken to extremes.

But not taken to those extremes, we recognize the Charles Atlas course of "dynamic tension," or Eugen Sandow's "high repetition with minimal weight" programs as all one needed for the fit appearance indicative of underlying health and robustness.  That's all it has to be.  How do I make a movement more doable -- and not less so?  You utilize every advantage you have -- rather than handicapping oneself arbitrarily. That is the proper understanding of millions of years of evolution -- and how things were meant to work.

The Rest is Unnecessary

 The Rest is Unnecessary

For most practical purposes and tasks, it is generally not productive to do anything for a single attempt and then rest for five minutes — with the rare exception of athletic competition and records, which is not how humans normally work and are productive. They are more likely to work one hour, and rest for 5–15 minutes. One would not get very far riding a bicycle for one minute and resting for five — even for lifting weights. If one were to achieve the highest productivity to exhaustion, that would result in a workout of 15 minutes — at best. A sustained effort for as long as possible usually results in “failure” around 15 minutes at the highest level of intensity — and beginning at a minute for most.

Increasing the intensity, results in even a shorter duration of effort — and a longer rest interval, and pretty soon, we observe more resting than actually working out — which was the whole purpose, resulting in the predictable lack of change and results. One actually has to do something (besides resting) in order to achieve favorable results — and no amount of resting will substitute for this lack of effort. Naturally, training in this manner prevents failure and exhaustion — which is the demand for the body to increase its capacity.

If it is hardly tapped, than the message to the body is that no additional reserves are required — and one is fine with even less capabilities. Therein lies the importance of the concepts of “failure” and “exhaustion,” which indicates that a person is doing as much as momentarily possible — as long as possible, and not doing less, or nothing at all, for as long as possible. Even rank beginners will recognize that such workouts (effort) will be nonproductive — and that is what most people want, whether they admit it to themselves or not — to stay the same. When they actually produce change, such people will find it disturbing, and therefore do everything possible to sabotage further productive efforts — including and especially, doing nothing, or as little as possible, while calling it “working out,” or simply, “work.” That unfortunately, is some people’s idea of “work,” and so are greatly disappointed that nothing ever seems to “work out,” and so they fall into hopelessness and despair of making any and all efforts that might be productive in the rest of their lives and activities.

So proper training strategy, is reconditioning such people into more productive ways of doing things — which includes sustaining any efforts for a sufficient duration of time as to actually show results — and not simply one and done, and claiming they have gone to failure and exhaustion. Instead, they have simply quit and given up prematurely because they’ve never been conditioned to persist and persevere long enough at anything to actually make a difference. They just get distracted from one entertainment or channel to the next — and think that is all there is. Certainly no miracles.

The great coaches seem to beat the dead horse to endless repetition — knowing that the exceptional few will get better at it, while those less inclined, will give up and find some other distraction — until hopefully they find a more suitable calling. That is the process of natural-selection — to determine the few who will persist and persevere to become eventual champions. Repetition and practice is what they love to do — and in that process, quantity of effort, is transformed into quality of effort. They can do it in their sleep — or in any condition of fatigue or necessity, and not only when they are well-rested, well-fed, well-hydrated, well-supported, etc. They are ready tore go, ready for prime time. The other guy won’t be ready until next week.

So knowing what one is capable of momentarily — and doing that, is more important than saving it only for one’s singular best — that may come next week, next year, or never. It is the doing that makes the difference — even at half the weight, or in the case of true failure and exhaustion, no weight at all. Yet many people talk about doing each set to failure — as though they understood what that meant. One never reaches failure with liberal rest periods — and stopping short of actual exhaustion each time — no matter how little the weight. Failure is NOT not being able to lift 500 lbs; it is not being able to lift one’s arms — even with no weight at all added.

To get to that state of utter exhaustion, every exercise is a pre-exhaustion for the subsequent one — by allowing no rest to recover completely. Then rather than deloading the resistance for each exercise to achieve failure, one can merely start at a much lighter weight — which is already close to failure. Even then, most people will experience exhaustion and distress in 15 minutes or less — because that is the equivalent of sprinting for 15 minutes, which nobody has ever been able to do yet. So once those parameters have been established, one can back off a bit, and find at what level a person can sustain a workout for approximately an hour and avoid the extreme distress that becomes negative conditioning not to continue in that manner.

Most will not train hard enough, but a few, will actually train too hard, and the art and science of productive bodybuilding — like in most other things — is to find the sweet spot where they can sustain that activity productively all one’s life. The rest is the easiest factor to eliminate.

Walking as the Ultimate Exercise

 Walking as the Ultimate Exercise

The problem with most people’s walking is that they are doing it very poorly — reinforcing bad posture and movement — whether they’re taking 10 steps or 10,000 steps. You are what you practice, and if that is shuffling one’s feet because of the lack of balance, it doesn’t matter how many times you do it because you are only reinforcing bad movement. The same with walking stooped over. And so what a person has to do, is practice walking perfectly and efficiently — which is what walking with trekking poles comes closest to simulating — as the “Nordic” walking style, which seems very contrived to most people because the use of the arms and poles, lifts their torso into an exaggerated upright and erect posture as they use their arms to propel themselves.

Many older and disabled people have difficulties standing — let alone walking, but hardly notice it because they walk so minimally. They walk a little more with the aid of walkers and canes, but walking that way doesn’t usually restore them to the proper walking gait — until and unless they actually practice it. That would mean graduating to walking with trekking poles — which is the proper gait — with or without poles. In either case, what matters is that they perform the movement correctly — and not that it is harder, and therefore, better.

It is like performing any movement — perfectly, precisely and efficiently, and not made better because it is more difficult or impossible to do — and so one does it badly, or not at all. That was precisely the reason for the development of exercise machines — not primarily to make exercises harder, but more usefully, to make such movements possible and easier to many more. The best example is the pull-up — which most people cannot do even one. The solution is not to force them to do ten, but to reduce the weight (resistance) so even one is possible, and then even further so that an adequate number of them can be done — which is at least 50 to activate and sustain that blood flow that builds that muscle.

One is not going to be sufficient for activating and perfecting that movement — but 50 done regularly will establish that nerve stimulation and blood flow, and the objective is to nourish those structures to make them grow and function well. For that purpose, the body doesn’t care whether it is a new record accomplishment in a single lift, but is building the capacity and reserve for any subsequent efforts it may have to make in the future along that lines. That is what muscle and that infrastructure is. Unfortunately, that is what is lost to most beginning exercisers who are focused on the wrong things — instead of the singular importance of the movement itself. They are usually advised to make it as difficult and impossible from the beginning — and to increase the workload to make the movement unrecognizable — which is obviously the wrong form.

But in walking, two legs are good, but four are indeed better — and more stable. Walking with trekking poles changes that equation. One is using four appendages for locomotion — and in monkeys and apes, the reason their arms are more impressively muscled than their legs. The only improvement I would suggest for making walking with trekking poles an even better exercise, is to forgo the use of the straps in favor of gripping the poles without them to make it that same better use of the grip and upper body development — which then becomes like the monkey swinging from branch to branch. The straps eliminate the need to develop this grip (strength) and the upper body development emanating from that contraction from the most distal axis of those structures — rather than limiting this movement at the shoulders as most exercise machines also do. Or the hips.

In this manner, the fullest articulation of the joints at the extremities can be exercised — ensuring the optimal circulation through the most essential organs at the head, hands and feet — rather than stopping at the shoulders and hips because there is no further articulation beyond those joints (axes).

The Most Practical Exercise

 A hundred years ago, when a person took a fitness class, the standard of achievement was whether they could walk with a book on the top of their head — exhibiting the control and grace in that movement. Fast forward a hundred years and most people approaching one hundred cannot walk at all — and by a few decades earlier, they require either a cane or walker, and those who adopt walking as their main exercise, are doing it poorly — usually by shuffling their feet so as not to fall. The axiom of conditioning activities is that no amount of doing anything improperly will substitute for doing a movement properly and perfectly. So when a person is advised to walk for 10,000 steps and all will be well, there is no telling definitively what a person is actually doing — because that movement is limited by manner of performance. That is true for every movement that is recommended as “proper” exercise. That is the major reason some people attain remarkable results, while most do not — while thinking they are doing the same thing. And in fact, many older people do not get the results they did 50 years ago — not because of age, which is convenient to blame it on, but that they’re simply not doing the same thing they were 50 years ago — but thinking they are doing the exact same thing.

Nowhere is that more true than the simple movement of walking — when many can barely walk, or even stand anymore. So what can they do? — when they can’t even walk in a straight line anymore? Using a walker won’t regain their best walking form, nor will using a cane. What may help in restoring proper walking form is the use of trekking poles — that makes the proper form possible again by using four legs (sic) instead of merely two. Often, the problem with walking for older people is that it hurts their feet, knees, hips, and back by placing all the weight on the legs, while using the arms to aid in that support and propulsion, makes proper movement possible again — by reducing the weight (resistance) supported entirely by the legs.

That is similar to weight-training machines — which most people fail to realize that the advantage is in the ability to lower the weight rather than raise it infinitely more. It is a well-known fact that the average person cannot do even one pull-up. But with a pulley and adjustable weight stack, it becomes possible to do the pull-up movement because the weight (resistance) can be lowered to their present ability — and so rather than no repetitions being possible and performed, they can now do 50 and obtaining the benefit of that movement performed sufficiently to effect a meaningful blood flow that is the value and purpose of any exercise.

That doesn’t happen if they don’t perform the movement properly (or at all) — as to effect its fullest contraction alternated by the fullest relaxation — which is the muscle acting as a pump — just like the heart works. Thoughtfully done, that is to dedicate the entire musculature of the body to perform that health enhancing effect — rather than presuming that the heart alone can perform that sufficiently and optimally for the more than hundredfold mass it is thought to service adequately without additional thought andeffort.

That is the reason some bodies actualize a lot more than most of the others. They have thought to do that very deliberately and systematically — as their bodybuilding program. That same effort and attention is required by any other faculties of the body — to achieve its highest actualization and performance. That should come as no surprise. One doesn’t become the best at what one does, unless they practice it. But practicing anything, is not the same as practicing perfectly and precisely — so there has to be a standard of performance — which trekking pole walking seems to demand — as the simplest, most practical standardized movement to master and repeat — to improve their mobility and coordination, for most practical purposes.

That is the movement working most of the muscles — and as such, that its practitioners achieve proportional muscular development and functioning.

The Wisdom of the Ages

 The Wisdom of the Ages

A person is either growing — or deteriorating; they never stay the same. That is the quality that gives them life — always changing, and so the direction of that change is up to them. The simplest gauge is whether they are improving on some measure of improvement — of which the most obvious, visible, and measurable is their appearance and quality of movement. That conveys the dynamism of their underlying health and robustness. They can do what they have to do — and not merely expend as much energy as possible with no rhyme or reason. Unfortunately, that is the mentality often taught as “exercise” — rather than the economy and efficiency of movement which is appropriate to any task — even in the realization that such expenditures of energy and the risks they entail, are unnecessary and wasteful uses of their time and energy.

Thus when people are clear in their objectives and intents, they can achieve meaningful results in everything they do — and so life turns out well for them — not by accident but because they are constantly refining their skills to increase their proficiency in what they do. Strength is a component of that but even more important is the skill at utilizing that strength — since very few tasks in life are accomplished by brute force and power. Rather, it is energy that has been channeled and honed to produce a precise effect and result — which accrues and transfers to all other aspects of their doing. That is the manner in which they do everything — from personal hygiene, household chores, preparing meals, and all the tasks of managing their environment and circumstances that give them the best chance for survival and prosperity — that they earned and is deserved, because they paid attention to these details that made it so.

So they don’t perish in a careless moment or overestimate their abilities — but know fairly accurately what they presently are — because they’ve regularly and recently exercised them — rather than simply reminiscing about what they used to do 50 years ago — but haven’t tested lately. Not that they have to win any medals or contests for their age-group — but it is enough not to have any limitations in doing anything in their daily lives, which might include walking up a flight of stairs, or carrying a week’s worth of groceries from the bus stop to their front door, or even riding a bike for that purpose. If they can maintain that level of regular daily activities, they are already far ahead of the crowd — in the most meaningful and productive way.

One would even say there is no distinguishing them from any other cohort. They are not adjudged young or old, but fit and able at fulfilling all the tasks of caring well for themselves. That is the healthy paradigm, and not the more contemporary expectation of one growing too weak to do necessary things for themselves — that begin insidiously with one thing — and predictably to everything. That level of total reliance and dependence on another, and even an army of caregivers just to maintain that one life, is an unsustainable vision of future life and society. Instead, everyone achieving that longevity, will have to merit it by their own dedicated and thoughtful self-care — as the only way possible, so the younger generations can do what they have to do — which is to take care of children properly and attentively so they do not become the next generation of people living on the streets — totally unprepared for productive and meaningful lives.

Not only do the old folks have to get healthier and more able (fit), every member of society has to carry their own weight — as the paradigm of a healthy society. Many think that is somebody else’s job — or responsibility, but that is the province of every sovereign life. That is to say that every such person is king of their own lives — and they are fully entitled to everything they can provide for themselves. They are not entitled to the fruits of the labors of everyone else — just because they are a privileged citizen demanding unlimited entitlements.

But in that doing, they remain stronger, more vibrant and able, and worthy of praise and emulation as the pioneers of the next evolution of human life and possibilities. The wisdom of aging has yet to be tapped — beyond trying to remain youthful. With all the information and products of these times, a quality of life unimaginable in the past is now possible for those who embrace those possibilities in living them — not with great determination and effort, but because it makes great sense to do it. The old dysfunctional and (co)dependent ways make them seem prohibitive.

That is also the old paradigm of strength training — that it must be a struggle against great resistance — rather than the integration of all the previous understandings that came before it — to be a better way of living and doing, rather than the age-old belief in the power of brute force. Strength and health comes by increasing the flow and circulation to areas we wish to improve — directly and manifestly. It doesn’t just happen because we make the already hardest and oftentimes only working muscle of the body work harder and faster — until it ultimately fails. We need to recruit all the other muscles of the body for this primary purpose — and that direction provides the nutrients by which the body grows healthier and stronger. That’s how all of life operates and evolves. It is the most natural thing. And then we are one with the universe and our environment — as Nature intended.

Heavy or Light?

 The father of modern day bodybuilding, Eugen Sandow, used 5 lb dumbbells for 50–100 repetitions in a daily workout of about 20 exercises lasting approximately an hour. He could also lift heavy weights but did not advocate that as a training style — but as a skill, as heavy weight lifting is actually, just as others would choose many other sports and activities to specialize in.

The major objective was to be as healthy and well-functioning as possible — to do whatever you want to do. That obviously begins with being as muscular as possible — rather than flabby, grossly underweight, unprepared and unpracticed. So the common theme underlining all fitness activities is to be at peak readiness for whatever one chooses to do — all their lives, and not sacrifice everything, including one’s health for a momentary glory and achievement — and even perish in the process — as is the lore of competitive bodybuilding — while the concept of general and healthful bodybuilding throughout one’s life, is always a good idea.

Every living being does that — as the survival imperative. That means being prepared for all the challenges of life — and not just the one — that is often the one that will prove fatal, or remain their greatest vulnerability until the end. One specifically hopes to strengthen that weakness so it is not the limiting factor In all one' does. That might be performance style as well as pure strength — and every record holder, prides themselves on their style and technique — over brute force and strength. Even the apex predators of land, sea, and sky, are renowned by their technique as the summation of their strengths.

But more importantly, it enabled the weak to become strong — not because of the resistance — but because of the technique for achieving that effect (result). In fact, it was noted that the resistance (weight) used, was not directly correlated to the results one got — but the manner of performance (form) was the greater common denominator in every activity. While not everybody can be the world record holder in that event, everyone can perfect their own form and function — which is their unique event of accomplishment. The right weight for that individual, is that weight that enables them to perfect their form and performance — regardless of the weight and resistance. More often than not, increasing the weight degrades the form — and every subsequent repetition degrades it further and is non- or counterproductive, and eventually injurious.

Meanwhile, the person who perfects their form, and maintains that standard throughout their lives — remain in exemplary condition and shape — and those repetitions are worth repeating. A famous YouTuber, Ric Drasin used to interview the former greats of bodybuilding — of which a common complaint was that they no longer got a pump — even despite doing the same thing they used to — mainly because the weights they were using were almost the same, while their forms in the manner of performance had greatly deteriorated — as to be virtually unrecognizable as that same exercise.

The proper course of action would have been to reduce the weight (resistance) significantly in order to perform at least one good repetition — which was now shortened to a movement of only a few inches — if that, and totally eliminating the most productive part of the movement, which was the muscle in full contraction. Their rationale for not going there anymore, was that range was no longer available to them because of the damage to their joints from years of lifting too heavy weights. The proper prescription at that point, is to reduce the weight to enable proper performance — over any other consideration, and then repeating that for a target of 50 repetitions — which is indicative that they could do more, or continue indefinitely if they had to. In that manner, they become an aerobic activity — which can be sustained indefinitely as long as required.

Most people in gyms do not do 50 repetitions of any exercise because they can’t — no matter how light the weight because their muscle fatigues — if done improperly, or anaerobically. That is to say that they run out of capacity because they are holding their breath, or breathing too shallowly. Meanwhile, they are not contracting and relaxing a muscle to constitute one complete movement (rep), but are merely holding a muscle in a fixed state of semi contraction while leveraging the weight up and down with the rest of their bodyweight. That was the rationale for Arthur Jones’ design of the Nautilus machines to provide variable resistance throughout the full range around one axis (focus) of movement — virtually going from zero to 100% of resistance — as the muscle involved moved from full relaxation to full contraction.

The problem with that thesis is that most trainees started with 100% of resistance at the position of greatest weakness and vulnerability — and never reached fullest muscle contraction because of that manner of performance. So in essence, they overrode the design genius, and made the movement worse — in using too heavy a weight. The proper course would have been to choose the right weight in the weakest position, and slowly increase the range of movement in the fully contracted position they could not come close to attaining by selecting too heavy a weight to start the movement with. So when those machines did not achieve the result he predicted for everybody, he thought it was necessary to create another line of machines for therapeutic and weaker individuals.

The flaw was not that they needed to add more weight — but needed to lighten the weight to enable the fullest range of movement — and doing more repetitions of that proper movement up to 50 times — which is virtually guaranteed to produce a pump in everybody, from the weakest to the strongest — because it has to! But in every video of training sessions and styles, that proper usage is absent — and overridden by the desire to use as much weight as possible. Not only is that unnecessary but counterproductive — because the major complaint among the old and disabled, is that they tire easily — and that is what prevents them from exercising productively and more intensely.

They require a manner of training, that increases their momentary ability to persist and endure — over any exertion that exhausts them from continuing — even if that prohibition comes from the many who claim to know better academically and theoretically what people should be doing — but can’t. More familiar versions of such advice is to ask that an untrained person do ten pullups — when they can’t even do one — but should continue practicing until they can do ten.

Weight-training or Cardio?

It is best to focus on weight training AND cardio for OVERALL fitness. You never know when you might need one or the other — and can adjust accordingly and appropriately. That is true for most of the real life situations one is likely to encounter — in every aspect of life. That is what we mean by “fitness” — being able to rise to the challenge of that particular instance, and not simply to go about our business no matter what. That is the very definition of “unfitness” — and one who is not long for this life, or basically doesn’t want to know what is going on. Instead, they will blissfully listen to their playlist and record for their Instagrams while the world is crumbling around them.

It is usually implied in these discussions that strength and stamina are two different qualities — rather than one and the same — dependent on a third variable, which is oxygen, or aerobic capacity. There is nothing inherently anaerobic in weight training; it can be done aerobically — which is at a rate that can be sustained indefinitely — as required. Otherwise, one does a single lift, and has no capacity for sustaining further efforts — just like running a 100 yard sprint. One can’t simply decide that they will run at that pace for a mile. It just cannot be sustained — at that level.

In most activities, one has to determine how much to leave in reserve — and not just exhaust oneself by the end of the first quarter. Championship teams have this ability to pace themselves properly for the entire duration of the game or effort; that means remaining in the game. It’s like going for a cross country bicycle ride: one can ride as fast as one can but after a mile, the legs have cramped up so severely nothing else is possible, but after a prolonged rest, they decide to slow down and see how much further they can go — and that becomes the cadence they know they can persist. That is not a formula but the trial and error of learning one’s actual capacities. That is what one is learning as one does it — and not that they’ve read some academic study — and so every outcome is assured, and then one just goes through the motions.

The best way to do cardio is by weight training because one is developing the rest of the musculature — and not just demanding the heart work harder, so one has an enlarged heart, and pipestem legs, arms, and neck — characteristic of a corpse. Hopefully, one is aiming to develop robustness obvious on sight — and not that we have to go to obscure measurements to know that for a fact.

Every effort raises the heart rate — but whether it produces meaningful and productive work is another matter entirely. As long as one is going to make the effort, they might as well build up the musculature — which is the storehouse of that capacity. Productive exercise in this sense is enhancing the flow (circulation) that builds by removing the waste products and providing nutrients by which cells grow and function well. That happens not because one wants it to — but is the very principle by which life works — and that makes a difference.

So when people say they exercise daily and get no results — that is not possible, because I’ve never seen it not work in anybody — training properly and effectively. Most of those people train improperly, and would be well-advised to seek out competent instruction — rather than continuing to do whatever they’re doing, which is usually playing with their phones — as their “exercise.” That’s what got them into the poor condition and shape they are — and will persist no matter what new theories they entertain. And that is what it is for them — merely more entertainment to waste their time, energy and money.

Even longtime exercisers are not immune from this — which they invariably attribute to “age,” rather than no longer doing it with the same attention they formerly gave to it — in their most productive years. If one compares the video of 50 years ago to how they train presently, it is quite obvious they are not doing the same thing — but now getting no results just like everybody else training in similar fashion. That’s not because they can’t lift heavy anymore, but because of noticeably restricted range of motion, inadequate repetitions, and overly generous rest periods recovering from improperly done movements.

If they’ve been conditioned to believe that the weight they are using is the most significant measure of productivity, they will think that anything less is unproductive — rather than realizing that the objective and measure, should be on the difference between the contraction and the relaxation as the indicator of flow — which is the given in how the heart works as an effective pump. It has to fully contract alternated by a full relaxation — but no voluntary (skeletal) muscle works that way unless consciously and deliberately worked that way. Otherwise, it will just remain at rest — and thus fluids will accumulate in the tissues — because of that lack of strong pumping action from the skeletal muscles. In some people, it is worse than others.

The remedy is not making the heart work harder and faster — but in producing similar pumping action at the extremities to optimize the circulation (circuit) by contracting (compressing) the residual fluids out first — so then the tireless heart, has space to pump the blood into with as little resistance possible. Otherwise, the stagnant fluid is the resistance — that prevents new nutrients from entering. In this way, weight training complements the work of the heart for its greatest effectiveness and health — and not that one OR the other is sufficient.