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jcldragon
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Optimal Physical Strength
#4473156 - 07/30/05 09:00 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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http://www.jamesclairlewis.com/pages/massage/optimalstrength.html
Optimal Strength
by James Clair Lewis
Copyright 2005
Most people's muscles only fire 30% of their muscle fibers, when a muscle is flexed. While apes (& other creatures), employ 100% of a muscle's fibers, when a muscle is flexed. This accounts for what is refered to as animal strength. Size of a muscle is less important, than how much of its capacity is employed. There is a fairly simple breathing/muscle flexing technique people can use, that increases the percentage of muscle fibers that fire when a muscle is flexed. Bruce Li was aware of it, and taught it to some of his students. The result is that the person can become immensely strong, but their muscles will appear no larger than anybody else's muscles.
Training the core/stabilizer muscles is an important part of this process. You can do that with Yoga, Pilates, or Martial Arts, like Tai Chi. But there is one further step you can take, which is the real Key. This Key Principle can be applied to any physical movement form, but I will explain it here, using only the most basic form, which is Standing.
Stand in the optimally erect posture, with feet directly under the shoulders, shoulders back, & chin slightly tucked in. You should be relaxed & breathing normally. Once you have gotten into this posture & are comfortable with it, you will tense every muscle in your body at once, beginning with the transverse adominus muscle (the gut), without changing your posture the least little bit, (meaning that you will NOT raise your shoulders up, or alter the posture from simply standing at all). Then, maintaining the posture, and the tension of the muscles, you will inhale slowly & hold your breath, still without altering your posture in any way. Finally, you will relax, exhale, and remain standing in the optimal posture of standing.
This simple exercise will increase the percentage of muscle fibers that actually fire, when you flex or use your muscles. When that percentage reaches 60%, you will be effectively twice as strong, although you won't appear any different, (besides looking rather good when skyclad). Consider a 120 lbs girl, as strong as an average 240 lbs man. That can be achieved, and possibly even more...
The core/stabilizer muscles are what keep your body erect, but when they are weak or imbalanced, people develop poor posture, which limits their physical range of motion & capacity. When one core/stabilizer muscle is flexed, then all of them flex, and the easiest way to do that, is to flex the transverse adominus muscle, which is your gut muscle. Ever notice that in Martial Arts literature, they often speak of focusing in the center of gravity, the Dom Tien? This is what they are talking about.
If you use this exercise in a less than optimal posture, (like shoulders up, or back swayed to a side or something like that), you will strengthen your muscles INTO the maladapted posture. I'm sure you can see how that wouldn't work out so well. So if you have postural problems, it might be a good idea to be seeing a chiropractor, a massage therapist, AND some kind of exercise therapist, (like a Hatha Yoga, or Tai Chi instructor), before beginning to use this technique. With those three healing modalities being employed, your posture will be corrected enough to make use of this technique to its full advantage.
Using this technique with Yoga or Martial Art forms, will strengthen your body in those forms. Begin with the relaxed Standing posture. Then, tense the body & inhale, as explained above. Hold the breath while tensed in the posture, and when you exhale & relax, you move into the next posture in the series. Then you repeat this process with each form of the set. This approach will enable you to exert optimal strength in all of the motions that your body uses. It probably would be a very bad idea for someone without this training, to pick a fight with somebody who has been practicing with this technique for any amount of time... especially, if the practitioner has developed beyond 60% muscle fiber efficiency.
-------------------- The Soul exists simultaneously throughout all of Time. The Ego merely exists now.
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zorbman
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: jcldragon]
#4474836 - 07/30/05 08:34 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Interesting. Thanks for posting.
-------------------- “The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.” -- Rudiger Dornbusch
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jcldragon
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: zorbman]
#4476720 - 07/31/05 09:03 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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I figured out this technique about a year ago, while taking a course in Exercise Therapy. Subsequently, I learned that this technique was taught by Bruce Li. Since I've been doing Tai Chi for 32 years, I now understand why people often remark that I am a lot stronger than I look. It is a much different approach than the body builders use with their weights & machines, since they get big bulging muscles that still are only 30% efficient.
-------------------- The Soul exists simultaneously throughout all of Time. The Ego merely exists now.
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Icelander
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: jcldragon]
#4476735 - 07/31/05 09:12 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Thanks for this. I always wondered about the animal strength thing. It didn't seem right that we were so weak compared to animals.
Side note. I studied and taught Non Classical Wing Chun with one of Bruce Lee's first friends and students,( James DeMile and his senior student John Beall, Mostly John Beall) when he first came to Seattle. I had studied many styles befor this but none in any way compared to what Bruch had developed here. He quit teaching it, because it was his personal fighting method at the time and didn't want to share all the secrets. He went on to share many in The Tao Of Jeet Koon Do.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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jcldragon
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: Icelander]
#4476765 - 07/31/05 09:30 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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I rather like the idea that people on the Spiritual Path could learn to become 2 or 3 times stronger than the general population, without looking much different. If you look around my website, I think you'll see my attitude about keeping Knowledge secret...
-------------------- The Soul exists simultaneously throughout all of Time. The Ego merely exists now.
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Icelander
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: jcldragon]
#4476777 - 07/31/05 09:36 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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I have a different approch, but to each his own.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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Adden
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: jcldragon]
#4476796 - 07/31/05 10:01 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Thanks a lot for this.
I'll give it a shot. Hope it works. I'm strong enough already but I would be beastly if I could double my strength.
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barfightlard
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: jcldragon]
#4476988 - 07/31/05 11:40 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Interesting stuff. I just started working out again (lightly) and this would be a great addition to what I'm doing.
I have a few questions though. How often should this be done? How long should one session be? How long should breathe be held in for? And would this be something I should do before or after working out with weights?
I just triued this and I noticed it was very hard to breathe properly with my abs flexed(breathing with my stomach instead of breathing with my upper body)
-------------------- "What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I fuck, what I take into my body - as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?" - Bill Hicks
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newuser1492
Registered: 06/12/03
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: jcldragon]
#4477044 - 07/31/05 12:01 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Can you back this up with peer reviewed studies?
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MrConformity
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: newuser1492]
#4477126 - 07/31/05 12:45 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Fascinating, yes some sort of proof or secondary confirmation would be splendid.
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RedNucleus
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: jcldragon]
#4477302 - 07/31/05 01:50 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Um it's just tightening the abs and breathing in and holding breath. does anyone actually know for sure this works to increase muscle power because it sounds silly.
-------------------- Namaste
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moog
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: jcldragon]
#4477496 - 07/31/05 02:48 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Sounds good in theory, but this made me laugh:
"Consider a 120 lbs girl, as strong as an average 240 lbs man."
I'd like to see anyone who weighs 120lbs squat over 400lbs, or even hold that weight in place
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PowerTrip
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: jcldragon]
#4477656 - 07/31/05 03:48 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Size of a muscle is less important, than how much of its capacity is employed.
As a guy with about 4-5 years of bodybuilding experience, I must agree that there is some truth to this. During periods when my body was not gaining any weight or getting larger at all, I found myself to still be making great strength gains. I also found that after taking a long time off from the gym, then returning, my strength had diminished even though I appeared to have lost no weight or size at all. The only explanation I have for this phenomenon is that you are able to train your muscles to work at a greater efficiency without necessarily adding additional muscle fibers.
I believe there are obvious limits to this though, perhaps some of them being genetic factors. I do not believe a 120lb woman will ever be able to lift the same amount of weight as a 240 lb man. Especially considering the fact that women carry a greater percentage of bodyfat, meaning lower muscle to weight ratio.
-------------------- I spit reality, instead of what you usually learn and I refuse to be concerned with condescending advice cause I'm the only motherfucker that can change my life
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newuser1492
Registered: 06/12/03
Posts: 3,104
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: moog]
#4477665 - 07/31/05 03:50 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/360/14341_Girl.html
Quote:
12-year-old Ukrainian girl Varya Akulova is capable of lifting up to 350 kg, while she herself weighs only 40 kg.
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browndustin
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: newuser1492]
#4478107 - 07/31/05 06:10 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Wow really cool stuff. I'm going to bookmark your site too.
I've actually been looking into tai chi a lot and I want to start doing it. Need to find some place in town and/or meet some people...
-------------------- When the stress burns my brain it's like acid raindrops maryjane is the only thing that makes the pain stop
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zorbman
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: PowerTrip]
#4478254 - 07/31/05 07:01 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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When comparing strength of animals and humans you also have to consider that there are different types of muscle fibers. For example, there are fast twitch fibers and slow twitch fibers. It's been a while since I read up on it, but my understanding is that the fast twitch fibers are responsible for explosive movements while the slow ones are for force applied more evenly over a longer duration.
-------------------- “The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.” -- Rudiger Dornbusch
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looner2
ABBA fan
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: zorbman]
#4478342 - 07/31/05 07:30 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Bullshit, but you know... getting strong without doing anything sounds great!
**EDIT**--- to the original post.
Edited by looner2 (07/31/05 07:39 PM)
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orechron
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: looner2]
#4482155 - 08/01/05 06:20 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Actually increasing recruitment strength (the percentage of muscles that fire simultaneously) is a basic facet of most sports training. In any pursuit with a high strength/weight ratio is desired exercises to increase the maximum potential output of muscle groups. I have my doubts as to whether the benefits of the practice mentioned in that article are superior to weight training exercises designed to do the same thing.
-------------------- Live by the foma that make you brave, and kind, and healthy, and happy.
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looner2
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: orechron]
#4482853 - 08/01/05 09:01 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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You are right, but it is done through lifting heavy weight. Effort and time are needed to build up muscle fibre recruitment, not breathing exercises.
-------------------- I am in love with Acidic_Sloth
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Icelander
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: looner2]
#4484512 - 08/02/05 07:25 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Not quite true. I've spent years lifting weights. Breathing correctly and in a relaxed fasion has a lot to do with building strength, moving with strength, and being strong. It is all important.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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looner2
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: Icelander]
#4484906 - 08/02/05 10:34 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Ok, here is an experiment. For the next year don't lift weights, but do your breathing, moving...whatever mumbo jumbo strength building that takes no effort. I will train lifting weights with no breathing exercises.
We will then do a standard strength test by picking a heavy bar with weights off the floor, the DEADLIFT!
Who wants to bet on me?
-------------------- I am in love with Acidic_Sloth
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Phluck
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: looner2]
#4484993 - 08/02/05 11:09 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Sometimes things like the way your arms or tendons are shaped might be a factor as well. Just because someone is smaller yet stronger doesn't mean that they've gained that ability through breathing excercises.
A claim without evidence is meaningless. Just because someone believes that their breathing excercises are more useful than weight training doesn't make it so.
-------------------- "I have no valid complaint against hustlers. No rational bitch. But the act of selling is repulsive to me. I harbor a secret urge to whack a salesman in the face, crack his teeth and put red bumps around his eyes." -Hunter S Thompson http://phluck.is-after.us
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orechron
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: Phluck]
#4486527 - 08/02/05 06:15 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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The quintessential example of high strength to weight ratios is observed when a 163lb boulderer from flagstaff beats an NFL linebacker in arm wrestling.
Tendons of steel, arms with veins like bootlaces, and an ego the size of texas.
-------------------- Live by the foma that make you brave, and kind, and healthy, and happy.
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Icelander
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: looner2]
#4486717 - 08/02/05 07:11 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
looner2 said: Ok, here is an experiment. For the next year don't lift weights, but do your breathing, moving...whatever mumbo jumbo strength building that takes no effort. I will train lifting weights with no breathing exercises.
We will then do a standard strength test by picking a heavy bar with weights off the floor, the DEADLIFT!
Who wants to bet on me?
You missed the part where I said it's all important.
How about if you don't breath for a year and I do, but you can lift weights and I won't, then at the end of the year we can see who lifts the most.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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sacredscroll
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: orechron]
#4486794 - 08/02/05 07:35 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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that's great, I figured this out while on a mushroom trip one day. My posture is much better now. If it wasn't for the mushrooms, I would have had to go to yoga class which isn't as much fun. Along side with strengthening my muscles, I work out weeks worth or stress and bodily discomforts while doing similar exercises while tripping, just focusing on different places of discomfort, and working them out. More recently I cleansed my own heart by focusing my attention on it and feeling the thick buildup of crap slowly work its way out. Man that exercise took longer than the rest, but that was the first time I really felt my heart, how blocked up it was, and how it was effecting me as a person. trippy. what other health benefits can the mushrooms offer??? im sure its endless.....non additive tobacco is much safer to smoke than tobacco with additives, this is one I experienced for myself while under the influence of shrooms.
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looner2
ABBA fan
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: Icelander]
#4486849 - 08/02/05 07:52 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said:
Quote:
looner2 said: Ok, here is an experiment. For the next year don't lift weights, but do your breathing, moving...whatever mumbo jumbo strength building that takes no effort. I will train lifting weights with no breathing exercises.
We will then do a standard strength test by picking a heavy bar with weights off the floor, the DEADLIFT!
Who wants to bet on me?
You missed the part where I said it's all important.
How about if you don't breath for a year and I do, but you can lift weights and I won't, then at the end of the year we can see who lifts the most.
Those breathing exercises aren't important, because they are bunk. Putting together a periodized routine, maximizing recovery, and eating right is all important to getting strong.
-------------------- I am in love with Acidic_Sloth
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Icelander
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: looner2]
#4486889 - 08/02/05 08:11 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Well honestly I haven't tried those exercises. I wouldn't know if they work or not without testing it. ( I'll bet you haven't either) I do know that breathing properly is important. I know what a three minute round is like. If you can't relax and breath, you won't make it after the first 60 seconds.
So tell me truthfully. Have you tried the exercises he descibes for a period of time to test it? If not, you don't know. No matter what you say.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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looner2
ABBA fan
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: Icelander]
#4487098 - 08/02/05 09:16 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Icelander said: So tell me truthfully. Have you tried the exercises he descibes for a period of time to test it? If not, you don't know. No matter what you say.
You are right, I never tried them. I also have not tried licking peanut butter off a spoon upside down in hopes of pulling a 500 lb deadlift. But alas, I'm quite sure (based on my knowledge of biology, training, and logic) that it won't help. I can do the same with this. But by all means, breathe away and tell us of your miraculous results!
-------------------- I am in love with Acidic_Sloth
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orechron
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: looner2]
#4487825 - 08/02/05 11:29 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Ah yes, the old take a reasonable argument against your position and relate it to something that is clearly absurd in hopes of distracting your viewers from the festering cluelessness just beneath the surface tactic.
Bravo. Well executed.
I've said it many times before here and it still applies... It's not either/or. It's both/and.
My personal take on the original post is that it is more an exercise for activating the oft forgotten smaller muscle groups that would not be targeted by the majority of weight training exercises. Similar to the "i didn't even know i had a muscle there!" reactions of first-time yoga students I believe the practice would help an individual to gain conscious control over their entire body as well as lightly conditioning the entire physique. I already do something similar when training for climbing but starting tomorrow I will begin the practice described in addition to what I'm already doing. Of course it's not much of a control but we'll see what happens.
-------------------- Live by the foma that make you brave, and kind, and healthy, and happy.
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The_Hobbit
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: looner2]
#4487855 - 08/02/05 11:37 PM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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The more you flex your muscles, the more readily and efficiently they can be flexed. If you spend time doing flexing exercises, like the one described in the original post, you WILL get stronger. How much stronger? That's debatable. Not much, but you will be more able to use your muscles efficiently - that I'm certain of. Just don't expect to be doubling your strength. That's silly. =)
When I'm on a bodybuilding routine (working out about 5 days a week), I do flexing routines like the one posted regularly. I wasn't taught to do them. I learned myself. My muscles get torn up working out 5 days a week, obviously. Some part of my body is always in the process of healing. Flexing rushes blood and nutrients to your muscles and helps them heal faster. When I'm eating TONS of food during these periods, I get lots of pent up energy. Flexing is the perfect fix. It gets me sweating and breathing hard, pumps up my muscles, and helps me relax.
Here's a post I made in the past. 3rd to last post
I don't really know if everything I say in that post is true or not. I was just trying to get my ideas out there. I feel my overall idea is right. The details are debatable.
But as you can see, I figured out this flexing thing myself. It really does make me feel more ready to use my body.
-------------------- Smoking my hobbit leaf... Please keep in mind that I am just a human being. Please read my posts carefully and interpret their meaning for yourself.
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Anonymous #1
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: looner2]
#4488647 - 08/03/05 04:30 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Now, I don't know that it'll make 100% physically efficient, I know it won't, but it sounds like an isometric exercise, and that shit works. I do isometric stretches before I lift weights. It doesnt make a gigantic difference, but it helps a noticeable bit.
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Icelander
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Re: Optimal Physical Strength [Re: looner2]
#4488880 - 08/03/05 08:11 AM (18 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
looner2 said:
Quote:
Icelander said: So tell me truthfully. Have you tried the exercises he descibes for a period of time to test it? If not, you don't know. No matter what you say.
You are right, I never tried them. I also have not tried licking peanut butter off a spoon upside down in hopes of pulling a 500 lb deadlift. But alas, I'm quite sure (based on my knowledge of biology, training, and logic) that it won't help. I can do the same with this. But by all means, breathe away and tell us of your miraculous results!
Logic? As noted by one of the posters above ^^^ .You keep missing the point here. I will continue to do both breath work and weight training.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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