If you placed your hands in a workshop clamp, then had someone crank it hard enough to cause extreme pain for 10-20 minutes, you could hold your target heart rate long enough for a powerful cardiovascular workout.
However this does not mean that the big iron clamps on many a granddad's work bench, make fine cardio exercise devices.
According to the engineers at bodybuildinginwater.com, the creators of Body Oars (Google "world's greatest workout device"), "We have observed two primary causes of training heart rates, one looks great for just about everyone, the other prematurely wears down adult joints and spinal disks."
"However because fitness pros have never separated the two, most of the cardio exercises we do are a mixture of both causes."
"The good type is reached by only hungry hard working muscles demanding more oxygen (blood).
The bad one, like granddad's vice clamp, creates high blood demand by making something like 'pressurized blood cushions' around highly stressed areas, trying to minimize the joint and spinal damage."
An easy way to see this difference in effectiveness of both types is by comparing two very similar adults, starting cardio exercise.
Each holds their target heart rate for 20 minutes 3 times a week. One runs, as the other rides a bike.
After a week the bike rider is developing notably stronger and larger caves hamstrings gluts and abs, as the runner has likely lost some body weight and has developed much less muscle because the runner is working their bones much harder.
The new runner is having far more back aches and joint pains, all due to the same huge mistake average adults make doing cardio exercise: Doing them while body weight is falling on their legs.
Structurally speaking, even the strongest human knees are a very weak link in the body's mobility drive train. Strong knees are so structurally weak that if the average adult athlete tried to run with all the range their hips could provide, knee damage would instantly occur.
So when already naturally weak knees are dealing with body weight that always comes first, leaving what ever more stress the knees can handle for muscle effort.
Now subtract all the foot and knee stress caused by the body weight no longer compressing them and then add that same amount to how much more muscle effort they can handle for the same amount of compression (stress).
"The heart does not differentiate, it will pound away to feed your muscles or too protect your joints. For adults one is good and bad, and the other is all good." They told us.
For the same reason that the dial on a bathroom scale shoots way past your actual weight when you first step on it the extra muscle effort that can be applied is that much more then just body weight.
The bike rider is sitting down so their body weight is held up by the bicycle totally freeing their legs for muscle exertion, and because they can still maintain targeted heart rates, they get to keep their stronger bodies, stronger for a much longer time.
One big reason why people never notice how destructive leg supported cardio exercises are, is because they can be very beneficial for strengthening the still growing bones of children.
Skeletal stress in growing bodies triggers more growth to those often stressed areas, making a stronger skeleton before it hardens into adulthood. Then it starts wearing down after being overworked.
"Almost every day we see more evidence that children's muscles need to be exercised through their bones, as adult muscles need to be exercised more directly, and a bicycle is about 3 times more efficient at building muscle then land running can be."
"We see strong evidence that kids should be encouraged, even bribed to run 3 times a week, for 20 minutes, while their parents pedal a bike along side."
To add to this confusion they add, "Adults that can run well, should still run 4-8 times a month, in well fitting running shoes on a very soft running tracts or health club quality tread mills."
"However they should only run for about 50 yards each time just to maintain their strong running ability. If they stop running their running ability will diminish. It is like an exercise balancing act."
Bodybuildingwater.com will be exposing this, and a few other huge exercise mistakes in modern fitness, when they offer their first web classes designed with and for firefighters, who need to stay in top condition for a long career, without wearing out their backs and joints. Look for this in March 2012.
Until then follow these articles, they will continue revealing many new highly efficient ways to greatly strengthen virtually anyone, even those who can't walk stand or swim. Another first for examiner.com.
Always get your doctor's approval before starting any new exercise method or device.
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