Energy and Vitality

Today I want to write about something which is becoming increasingly important. As the standards of professional sportsmen and athletes are rising, some of the basic qualities of full body power are being ignored.

Today, I was walking up 4 flights of stairs to my office. At the 3rd flight I saw the powerlifter from the floor above, taking a breather. He looked completely exhausted by the effort of climbing stairs. He was breathless and you could see his face flushed. I know the guy can squat 3 times his bodyweight.

I have also seen several basketball players fracture their ankles or blow a tendon, from a lay up. I have seen bodybuilders get pec tears.

The point is that all these guys are missing a crucial factor of strength and fitness that has been almost completely lost today. Its called work capacity- it consists of energy and vitality. You know you have great work capacity when every tendon in your body feels like iron, when you can take a tremendous beating and bounce back in 24 hours smiling, and you make near max efforts without passing out. Its the kind of strength army men and manual laborers have.

The key to muscle and tendon strength and cardiovascular stamina lies in the vitality of your body. It is the energy you muscles can store, how fast your energy can be replenished, how fast your body can heal, how far your body can push itself, how much beating your body can take and how much strength endurance you have.

When you have great vitality, your muscles and tendons heal fast and get really strong. You have perpetual energy and heal like lightning.

So what are the factors that contribute to vitality?
1. Glycogen Reserves
2. Insulin Sensitivity
3. Cardiovascular Strength
4. Stroke Volume
5. (Low) Blood and Body Toxicity
6. Low body fat levels
7. Strong Tendons and Ligaments
8. Powerful Muscles
9. High Lung Capacity
10. Full Relaxation

This can be built by a very simple twofold approach-
1. Hard Strength based FULL Body workouts, done frequently.
2. Periodic fasting

The workouts must be done 2-3 times a week. They must consist of Strength exercises done for low reps and medium sets, done one after the other. For every movement there should be one set of high repetitions done with a full range of motion (with a pause in the stretched position) and a few sets of above 80% weight. Keep the total number of exercise minimum, but keep it BALANCED.

Full Body workouts build a combination of strength, tendon strength and endurance that cannot be built any other way. They push you to the end of your will and stamina, yet do it in such a way that your recovery is not compromised. In fact they build recovery and strength.

Periodic fasting (Once or Twice a week) cleanses your body and develops insulin sensitivity. It also improves protein uptake and allows the digestion to recover. It also builds the healing capacity of the body and restores hormonal balance. Just drink water and eat fresh fruits and vegetables on these days.

This quality of vitality is also assisted by full relaxation of the body. Whenever you can, relax. It builds an awareness of energy with cannot be built by just working out. This is exactly what is called CHI. Relaxation builds an awareness of energy that SHOULD be natural. This awareness helps your training by auto regulating your effort. Your body lies (Soreness etc. . . are bad indicators of how much you are capable of), but your instincts do not. Learn to relax and you will be able to tell how much real vitality you have to put into the workout. This way you will know when to back off and when to push harder.