[kater]

Very Rain-Manesque, the man who that film was based on lives in Utah and can read a both pages of a book at the same time, or two seperate books if he prefers. Perhaps your an untapped savant?

[Gary Wassner]

No, I really can't focus well on them both, but I work at it. At balance as well and at controlling my breath and my heartbeat. But I am always humbled by those with better skills and more control no matter what I accomplish. I guess that's what keeps me going.

[kater]

Definitely - inspiration is 'somebody' rather than 'something'. I remember meeting a guy who taught Maxalding, an early 20th century form of muscle control and dynamic body strength, who could do things I'd only ever seen in the pamphlets they used to distribute. At the time I thought I was pretty good at the exercises but the sight of what I could, and he had, achieve was inspirational.

For anyone interested this is the one brochure I have, but the site has many on display;
http://www.maxalding.co.uk/Brochures/1969/brochure69.htm

[Gary Wassner]

I actually do that with my abdomen every morning after I finish my workout and my yoga. The muscle is the rectus abdominus muscle, and in order to isolate it you need to expell all the air from your lungs and then your abdomen, then focus and pull the muscle together. When doing it, it feels more like you are turning you abdomen inside out. Once it's isolated, you can move it from left to right. All the trainers at my gym come and watch and show their clients whenever they are nearby. It's really not so difficult to do, though it looks like it is. It's the first time that seems so odd. Once you do it, you never forget it.

[kater]

Exactly - anyone with decent lung capacity and a fairly low bodyfat level can do it. It massages the internal organs and allows greater control of the abdominal core by experiencing the opposite, relaxed state. The exercise becomes harder when you attempt to do it for several repetitions, as your experience grows you can lessen the number of repetitions and extend the length you hold the position. It really is an invigorating feeling. Then you start messing about with your abdominal sections - the guy I met could isolate each muscle of the wall, all eight of them, individually. I could do a side fairly well but haven't reached that level of control yet. That takes decades. Its fascinating just to experiment with what you can and sorta can do.

[Rocket Sheep]

I used to read at the gym but it made my instructor mad. I told him I couldn't come to the gym if I didn't read since it was so incredibly boring. He cut my training time in half and made me run twice as fast. Now I can't read because I'm too busy sweating, breathing and concentrating on keeping limbs lined up. I never could read, listen to music, watch two different things at the same time... my head already feels full.

Maxalding seems like an obsessive compulsive disorder. I'm pretty good at spotting those. I have to work my son out of generating one every week. I can't wait till he's an adult and obsessive compulsive disorders are normal and won't be my 'fault'.

This whole religion/fantasy idea might explain why I don't get into either of them.

[alison]

Maxalding seems like an obsessive compulsive disorder.

Whatever it is, it's BIZARRE. Gary, you really DO that?! :eek:

I am just not designed for running. Yoga, yes. Breezy walks by the sea. That sort of thing. I like expensive hotels (when I can get them) and armchairs and good cooking. This sort of stuff looks like mediaeval torture to me.

Re religion and fantasy: they seem to me very different things. I was attracted to TLOTR as a child precisely because it _wasn't_ a religion. If it had been a religion, I would have had to believe in it, and I've been too sceptical for that sort of faith since I was about six. I never understood those people who went and learned Sindarin and Quenya...that has always struck me as a bit nuts.

[Gary Wassner]

But Alison, it's definitely not religion in the way we normally think of it. What I am talking about is how it can fulfill the same needs that religion attempts to fulfill, though in a very different way. Belief doesn't need to be pious. Belief in a lack of belief can be just as compelling. Really, it the emotional and intellectual yearning that leads both to religion and to suicide, isn't it? For one, it feels like despair, and for another, it feels like jublilation, but for both, it's salvation.

i am not a believer, but I am deeply 'religious'. I don't believe in god, but I believe very strongly in life.

[kater]

Whatever it is, it's BIZARRE. Gary, you really DO that?! :eek:


I don't see how its bizarre, most muscles in your body that aren't autonomic responses are controllable and the greater your ability to control your body the higher the level of health and fitness. Maxalding was somewhat of a forerunner to plyometrics and many static and dynamic strength systems. There is nothing obsessive compulsive about it - its like any other form of exercise, you do it regularly and reap the rewards over time. The benefits are significant but in this modern day world of quick-fixes and the necessity to ply all the latest fitness trends the most proven and safe systems get over looked. Have you ever wondered how helpful putting large amounts of extra stress onto your body actually is?

[Gary Wassner]

I have been doing yoga since I was seventeen. Bizarre? Less so than smoking, isn't it? That to me is as bizarre as it gets - to poison the vessel that supports us. I am not compulsive at all. Disciplined, yes. I know that each of my days is going to be a very intense one and by getting to the gym each and every morning, working out and doing yoga, I arrive at my office centered and prepared. Exercise is the best healthy way to avoid depression. Yoga enhances your concentration, it puts you in touch with your own body from the inside out, as opposed to the way we normally see ourselves, as if we were looking in a mirror. I don't need to list the benefits. It's certainly a personal choice, but it works for me.