BRAINS

I never cease to be amazed at the human brain and how it controls the human body. It is obviously programmed to do so many things. Almost nothing could be more valuable to a person traveling through life than to understand how the body works. The one that really gets me is the brain's ability to achieve maximum utilization of assets. Here's what I mean.

Whenever you call on your body to perform a task, say opening a car door, it chooses which muscles to use. It picks the right combination of muscles to perform the task most easily. Of course, it also gets your bones and joints in the best alignment. Every little thing you do, the brain instantaneously makes these judgements. If you do the tasks over and over again the brain will perfect the best way to do it. Some people call this muscle memory but it's really your brain doing the work. You can easily see this when you get into resistance training (weight lifting). Body builders try to isolate muscles and force them to work alone. This way they will be forced to grow. The best way to do that is to try to out-think the brain. Remember, the brain is always trying to find the easiest way to do things. Thus, it is important in weight training to vary you maneuvers in order to try and stay ahead of you brain. Part of the reason you can use heavier weights after doing a certain maneuver several times is that your brain figures out a better utilization of all your muscles.

There is another interesting function of the brain and that is to avoid pain. It is remarkable. My little foot problem has reminded me of that. My brain changes my way of walking to minimize the pain. I catch myself walking without flexing my foot and sometimes I limp and other times I walk on the side of my foot. I fight these tendencies because changing your gait can cause other problems. I constantly remind myself to walk normally. My brain is smart but it's not smarte than me. Huh?

;-)