Renaissance Exercise

By Gus Diamantopoulos

Inspired by an original article from Ken Hutchins

The turning point when science took new direction, when scientists took charge and finally questioned all previous explanations of the way things work around us was the Renaissance period between the 14^th and 17^th centuries. This was a time of great unrest and a time for thinkers to rise. It was a time of rebellion against the unproven, of opposition to tradition, and of forging a new relationship with what we now call the Scientific Method of observation and verification. This emergence of understanding touched every discipline and subject of study including philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, architecture, art, chemistry, physics, and biology.

Ironically, this was not so much an awakening of new ideas as much as it was a re-awakening of concepts once started by thinkers from antiquity whose process of innovation and technology (much of it very close to our own modern conveniences) was to be interrupted by a period of intellectual and moral bankruptcy known as the Dark Ages. It took centuries for us to escape the backward thinking and suffering of the medieval age. Many explanations have been given as to what started the Renaissance and history reveals a myriad of serendipitous discoveries intricately networking to create the path to our modern age.

But it was the centrality of the ‘experiment’–going forth into the world and making simple observations under some semblance of controlled conditions—that introduced the prospect of transparency to all and minimized the subjective component of armchair perception. For the first time in history, there now existed a possibility to find out causal relationships and thus opened the floodgates to the full development of Western Science and Technology. It has since been at the forefront of all modern thinking.

The Renaissance is in spirit, all of science as we know it. We see its influence in all the tangents of the scientific world… We see it in physics where Galileo revolutionized our understanding of motion and replaced the Aristotelian view of “final cause”. We see it in astronomy where Copernicus’s avocation led to the development of the idea of a heliocentric universe. We see it in anatomy where William Harvey’s concept of circulation replaced Galen’s concepts of separate venous and arterial systems. We see it in mathematics with Descartes’ analytic geometry and later with Newton’s calculus. And we see it in the centuries beyond the initial Renaissance with the countless advances in everything from chemistry and biology to industrial technology and the nuclear age.

Unfortunately, one area of understanding where the Renaissance spirit has been almost absent is in human exercise. The so-called “fitness” industry has become awash in a sea of backward thinking, untested and unproven premises and, worst of all, dangerous practices. It may sound extreme to suggest it but if ever there was a Dark Age for exercise we are in it.

Most of our collective consciousness concerning exercise is based on so-called “aerobics” philosophy. In 1968, Cooper coined the term, aerobics, to denote his fascination with running. He later expanded this to include a host of activities, thus crossing over to millions of people and their pet interests and pastimes. Over the past few decades, the term aerobics has been replaced by the term “cardio” under the assumption that “steady-state” activities serve to stimulate and improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system.

But nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, aerobics undermines the necessary process to stimulate strengthening. It promotes injuries and thwarts the body’s ability to adapt to the stimulation were it to occur. In this regard, aerobics philosophy, i.e., steady-state notions, represent the Dark Age of Exercise.

It is important for all of us to realize several facts:

• The center of metabolism in the body is the skeletal musculature. Collectively, it possesses the greatest vascularity, the greatest concentration of mitochondria, and the greatest peripheral nerve supply. It is the site of a majority of chemical reactions and heat production.
• Although the heart is a muscle, it is involuntary. It is optimally accessed with exercise only by meaningful muscular (skeletal/volitional) loading. The very nature of steady state (aerobics) is to avoid meaningful muscular loading by burdening the bones, so that the muscles are spared to permit endurance and thus avoid exercise.
• Cardio makes about as much sense as cutting your heart out of your chest and putting it on an exercise machine.

Aerobics is poor science. It is unhealthy. It is antithetical to exercise. It is backwards and uneducated. It is empty exercise. It subverts the loading required for exercise. It will not burn significant calories or meaningfully improve one’s appearance. It severely compromises what can be accomplished for the heart. Aerobics will incur injuries that lead to inactivity, depression, overeating, and greater fatness.

Worse, in recent years, a literal wave of bastardized exercise trends have stemmed from the “cardio” religion and have, in fact, transcended it in the fitness ranks:

• high volume training
• plyometrics
• pilates
• westernized yoga and its hybrid equivalents
• functional training
• explosive and ‘speed-strength’ training
• dance aerobics
• boxing aerobics and hybrids
• gyro-training
• vibration devices
• stretching programs
• spinning
• cross training and recent cross-fit programs
• boot camps
• home exercise programs such as P90X

Despite the apparent differentiation in the activities listed above, they are all built on an achievement-oriented premise that focuses on the process of the activities and not the results. If you’ve been engaged in a program of fitness that focuses on aerobic activity such as walking or running, using elliptical machines, jogging, or any of the practices listed above, you’ve been wasting much of your time.

This may seem shocking and outrageous but I suspect most readers will have their sense of shock immediately followed by a sobering moment of quiet agreement. If engaging in the above activities did lead to any good (as promised in every infomercial and health club banner), our society would be populated with the fittest people the world has ever seen because the majority of people are doing these things. But this is not the case. In fact, there are fewer and fewer lean and fit people around today than ever before. And it’s getting worse.

But there is a way to correct the problem. There is a solution to not only the challenge of physical conditioning but also the time commitment necessary to effect the kinds of improvements we all seek so dearly.

The key to all of this is proper exercise. And proper exercise is strength training. Strength training is the only practice that can lead to total fitness; that which directly and efficiently encompasses all of the suspected and unsuspected benefits that a person can experience from exercise. Strength training is the only exercise activity that asks not “how much can you tolerate?” but more appropriately “how little do you require?”. In strength training, ONLY the results matter; the process is secondary.

Renaissance Exercise® is the protocol and philosophy that best exemplifies these elements. It embodies the most valid contributions of the few individuals from history who gave us valid exercise principles. These pioneers represent the spirit of the scientific revolution and are among the very few who have applied the rigors of systematic experimentation to the subject of human performance. There’s Gustaf Zander, who emerged with over 20 exercise machines in 1865, the likes of which would still rival the most modern equipment of today’s monstrous health clubs. There’s Arthur Jones, who in 1970 emerged with his exercise philosophy known as Nautilus®. As with Zander over a century before, Nautilus Philosophy swung the pendulum hard toward science. Jones’ ideas reopened the renaissance started by Zander to place exercise with its proper focus: strength training. And finally there’s Ken Hutchins, who in 1982 emerged with SuperSlow^® Exercise Protocol, which served to both correct and supersede Nautilus philosophy based on its emphasis of speed control and featuring specialized equipment (1999) to foster this most-ideal protocol.

True exercise stimulates skeletal muscular strengthening. All reasonable expectations from exercise are accessed through the skeletal muscles—the only window into the body—by strengthening or attempting to strengthen the skeletal muscles. These expectations include:

• improvements in bone density
• vascular efficiency
• metabolic efficiency
• joint stability
• muscular strength
• and cosmetics

It’s time to replace all the backward thinking, the erroneous concepts and the absurd and dangerous practices with valid principles and a new understanding.

It’s time to truly level the playing field so that the most feeble, debilitated and elderly homebody can eventually perform with the same sense of vitality and purpose as the most truly gifted, advanced and youthful athlete.

It’s time to ensure that a program of progressive intensity is never compromised by equally progressive risk of injury.

It’s time to admit that exercise requires not only ample intensity but also the correct dosage of volume and frequency.

It’s time to embody those valid contributions of Zander, Jones, and Hutchins.

It’s time to explode forward with insights, applications, and the equipment to effect it all in ways never seen before now.

It’s time to BECOME POWERFUL…. It’s time for RENAISSANCE EXERCISE.

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