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January 2, 2006
Why calisthenics are the best way to build functional strength
Let's get something clear that often gets confused. Muscle size and strength are not the same things. Yes, of course, the two are related, but modern day body builders create so much muscular hypertrophy that they can hardly get out of their own way.
In contrast, you may need to increase the size of your muscles. Muscle wasting has its consequences in aging. In that case, resistance training may be your best course. It is a scientific way to apply overload to isolated muscles. Since you can easily manipulate the resistance by incrementally increasing the weight, you can perpetuate the stimulus for muscle growth.
You can use your body composition measurements from Chapter 5, Measure Your Real Heart Health, to determine if you need to build or restore muscle mass. If your muscle mass is low, you will find a program for quick and efficient muscle building in Chapter 11, Individualize Your Heart Cure.
But in years of practical application, one glaring limitation of weight training remains: You’re not really training anything. It’s more “untraining” your muscles; it teaches them to tense. This tends to create unnatural patterns of movement, sets you up for injuries, and is not the best way to build practical strength that you can use.
Exercises that put your body through “functional” natural patterns of movement train your entire circuit from thought to action. This neuromuscular education is essential if you want that new muscle to be capable of doing anything.
Whenever you call on your muscles in real life, they move against the resistance of your own body weight. Before weight training became the rule, we called these body weight exercises calisthenics. They are still the best way to build functional strength.
Your prehistoric ancestors had to run, jump, climb, and fight in their daily pursuit of food and security. You can develop the extraordinary functional strength of wild animals by using your own body weight.
Bodybuilders can develop massive muscles through intensive resistance training, but gymnasts, acrobats, swimmers, sprinters, and athletes in many disciplines develop better functional muscle capacity. They have greater practical strength in response to the demands of their bodies in motion.
Remember, your cardiovascular system has muscle, too. These optimal exercises for growing your muscular strength will also help to strengthen the muscles of your heart, the muscles lining your blood vessels and the muscles expanding your lungs.
To read more about this topic order Al Sears MD’s The Doctor’s Heart Cure now
Posted by james at January 2, 2006 6:44 AM
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Posted by: john at April 16, 2008 4:11 PM
I have some criticisms for this article. It seems you are not in favor of external resistance as the optimal method of getting stronger. Its a little late as I write this, and I'm hungry so I'll try and make the critique quick before I go eat.
"But in years of practical application, one glaring limitation of weight training remains: You’re not really training anything. It’s more “untraining” your muscles; it teaches them to tense. This tends to create unnatural patterns of movement, sets you up for injuries, and is not the best way to build practical strength that you can use."
So does are you saying that if a caveman makes for himself a spear. It is unnatural? If he lifts up a heavy stone is it unnatural? If he takes his club and whacks another caveman for stealing his fish is that unnatural? Lifting heavy objects, throwing objects, carrying and dragging objects. None of these things are unnatural. They do not produce unnatural patterns of movement, nor do they set you up for injuries. If you have evidence to support that it does present it and I'll debate further.
"Whenever you call on your muscles in real life, they move against the resistance of your own body weight. Before weight training became the rule, we called these body weight exercises calisthenics. They are still the best way to build functional strength."
Calisthenics comes from the Greek words kalli and sthenos. Kalli which means beautiful and sthenos which means strength. Essentially meaning beautiful strength. It was originally used to describe the figure that it developed in female gymnasts. It came into the English language rather recently. Somewhere between 1840 to 1850. At this time weight lifting was in its golden age. So no I would have to disagree. At this time the rule was weight training. The strongest men in the world used heavy weight lifting as their primary strength builder. Calisthenics was used to describe the figure developed by female gymnasts. I'm not trying to be sexists. At the time and still quite previlant today sadly. Women and heavy weight lifting were not usually put into the same sentence.
"Your prehistoric ancestors had to run, jump, climb, and fight in their daily pursuit of food and security. You can develop the extraordinary functional strength of wild animals by using your own body weight."
Yes true however our prehistoric ancestors also had to lift, carry, drag, and push, objects as well.
"Bodybuilders can develop massive muscles through intensive resistance training, but gymnasts, acrobats, swimmers, sprinters, and athletes in many disciplines develop better functional muscle capacity. They have greater practical strength in response to the demands of their bodies in motion."
True. But why link weight training with bodybuilders? They don't train for strength. They train for muscle size. Bodybuilders size is due mostly to sarcoplasmic muscle hypertrophy. True strength athletes size is a bi product of their training. Not a goal in and of it self usually. If it is required for example a power lifter to gain more muscle mass to dead lift more weight than he/she will. But if he/she can stay at the same weight and lift more than that would be a smarter path as it would increases their relative strength. Whats more impressive a 200 pound lifter dead lifting 600 pounds or a 300 pound lifter lifting 600 pounds. Of course the 200 pound lifter as he is only 2/3rds the weight of the 300 pound lifter. A caveman will never pick up a 500 pound rock by climbing trees and sprinting. If it were so than we as children would all have great strength from doing all that running climbing and push ups we had to do in school and at play?
Posted by: James at February 2, 2008 12:14 AM