Thursday, September 15, 2011

Finding Your Perfect Routine

We all look for finding the perfect routine. We want to perform a good number of reps and sets for certain exercises and want to try out routines from books, courses, videos and the muscle magazines. Some routines work and some don't. Some can hurt you, some are too easy and some are just too difficult. What if we strive for creating our own perfect routine?

In order to create a routine first you need to work on basic exercises and work them until they become a second language to you. Learn what you can and put in the work. It takes time and patience and you got to put a bit of effort into it. Once you have taken the basics to another level, this is where you must learn mastery. Take certain exercises that are at a minimum for pushing, pulling, core, legs and grip. Take at least 1-2 exercises from each category and build a mastery around them.

The perfect routine doesn't come from a book, a video, a course or a magazine. They come from within and teach you how to rely on yourself and not from anything else. Yeah you can learn exercises but you must create a routine that suits your needs and goals for your body structure and body-to-weight ratio. Being able to have your routine builds self-reliance, creativity, mental strength and the ability to adapt.

The most important element of having your own perfect routine is to have fun and be able to make changes if need be. Having fun helps relieve the stress of getting confused how hard you should work and what position to keep at all times. Fun helps build joy into your workouts and makes you feel you're not working out but almost feel like you're just just playing a game. Building this mindset can get you results faster and build better foundations for your goals. One thing is for sure you should be able to train to the point where sweat is looking like a waterfall. For this reason be able to drink plenty of water in your training.

I can't give you any specific routines to look at but I can however give you courses to look at and get in order for you to build your own routines and create yourself the ultimate body and having the time of your life. On the right hand side of the blog I highly recommend you check out Lifeline USA, Scientific Wrestling, Stronger Grip, Animal Kingdom Conditioning, Strongman Websites and CoreForce Energy.

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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Meaning Of Hard Work In Physical Training

Brooks Kubik...Author of Dinosaur Training is one of the guys I admire that values the meaning of hard work in Physical Training. Why do you need to work hard to get the results? Because it takes more then just flowing through the exercises. Working an exercise into the ground can either make you or break you as a trainee. Training safely with hard training is a common sense purpose and not working so hard into the ground that you get injured.

Commitment is one of the keys to training hard. You have to be committed to the training you're doing that day and making yourself beat the exercise. Exercises can beat you at times but your commitment to at least inch your way past them is a secret of hard training. I've been doing routines for a while now on a divided schedule where I work specific muscle groups on a given day and I drive those exercises into the ground to the point where its tough to breathe and sweating like Niagara Falls. I want to make my exercises hard and keep it at a minimum time and at a max level.

Hard work in your training means you push yourself to levels at times that almost seems nonhuman to the untrained eye. Others will tell you to drive yourself into the ground until you can't get up and that's really unethical but others will also tell you that hard work is hard work and nothing else will do. Here's a real secret that those dumbasses will never tell you.....Hard Work takes mental strength, takes guts to go through a tough exercise or routine, hard work is a game against yourself and only you can win or lose. No one can really tell you how tough you are or how committed you are, the only thing that matters is you putting in the work.

Creating the machine in you doesn't happen overnight or a week after training, it has to come from within. That ultimate power within you to take your training to unspeakable levels and one of my favorite examples is from a strongman I've gotten to learn from recently and hopefully have the pleasure to shake his hand up close one day is Mike Bruce. A former Marine who had a rough childhood grew up and became a soldier, a fighter, a strongman and now a husband. He truly is what his nickname personifies and that's being the machine. Hard Work comes in all shapes and sizes but one thing that any country has the same language, hard work makes you tough as an individual.

If you are new or just a fan of physical culture I encourage you to learn about the Old-Time strongmen, wrestlers, weightlifters and bodybuilders of the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's. Study how they used hard work to create superhuman results and how much it makes you a person of character when you train hard no matter what the type of training it is. Learn from them and learn for yourself. Train hard, be tough and get the job done.

Monday, September 12, 2011

You Are Never Alone In Your Training

Back in the 30's and 40's, there was a man that trained hard in the basement of a church in Brooklyn, NY and had no workout partner nor did he have a lot of people to talk to unless they visited him. The only thing he had was a barbell, a bench and a maybe a few dumbbells here and there. He went to become one of the strongest men in the world at Olympic Weightlifting. He was a World Champion, Olympian and an Senior Nationals Champion and went undefeated for over 15 years till 1953. His name was John Davis.

Why did I put a significance of this powerful man on here? Good question. You see most of his career was being Champion at so many levels and yet throughout most of his training days he didn't have a workout partner. Motivation must have been very difficult for him cause in that basement the only friends he had in his training quarters was a barbell and a freaking bench. Yet without being discouraged he pushed hard and trained like a mad man.

He is one of the perfect examples of someone who doesn't always need to have a training partner. A lot of people go to a gym because theres people there and they can either encourage you or shut you down or help keep you motivated there are many reasons for that. The truth of the matter is that you can have a workout partner or train by yourself. Never be discouraged because someone isn't there pushing you.

For me as an example most of my training is by myself. I rarely have a workout partner and for obvious reasons I really like training alone and have made it a habit. The reason why training by yourself is a wonderful thing is because you don't need to hear the negativity coming from others who don't believe in what you do and making your goals feel impossible to you. The beauty of it is its that you learn how to discover yourself and motivate the only person in the room and that's you. The difference between training with people vs. training by yourself is that there can be distractions with training with others but in some cases training with others can create bonds and friendships with one another and push each other but in other cases training with others can throw you off and they tell you to do this or that cause its either the right or wrong way to train. Training by yourself on the other can either make you or break you as a trainee. Its never easy training alone because the only thing that can keep you motivated is yourself. This is where learning who you are and giving yourself the opportunity to build the ultimate motivation.

With training with just yourself like our friend John Davis did you become friends or bitter enemies with what you have to train with. You may not have this mindset but if you have trained just by yourself long enough you can almost listen to the equipment you have or a bodyweight exercise that in your mind is either impossible or reachable and you either believe in your mind you can do it or not. Sometimes I can almost hear some of my equipment speak to me and there have been days where they are bitter and believe I can't do it but there have been other days where they encourage me and tell me I'm getting stronger and getting better. That does sound a little eerie and creepy though don't you think? You'd be surprised what you can discover when training by yourself.

Never for one moment think you're alone in your training. Training alone has its benefits. No distractions, no one to give you a hard time and no talking or shouting, no one to stand around to tell you what you're doing is wrong, none of that. Its just you and whatever you have in front of you. Listen to the things in front of you, what are they saying? Do they believe you can or can't do something? Or do they encourage you to get better and coach you. Believe it or not some of my greatest coaches are the actual little amount of equipment I have. John Davis had his Barbell as his best friend and look what it made him? A Champion. Become your own champion and let the things you have do that for you.

You Are The Experiment

One of the things about being new or getting back to or just doing fitness in general is that you can always learn new types of training that you've never done before. Experimenting in physical training is like any other kind of experiment, finding what works, what doesn't and how its suited to an individual. Most people however don't seem to understand this concept and that's sad because of all the fitness magazines and modern day technology trainers are telling you to do this for your body or a routine that's predetermined for your body which is flat out ridiculous.

One of the keys to Self-Mastery is to become your own trainer. Now why be your own trainer when someone can just have something set up for you? Well you could do that but that would just make you a second-rate person. Yes someone can show you the basics of exercises but how you do them is up to you. When I was doing weight lifting and seeing how all these "bodybuilders" were like and what they did, I tried the programs and I ended up either getting hurt or burnt out after only a week and I didn't do them everyday. After my accident, I started learning a different form of training and learned the exercises and did a few routines here and there but the routines didn't seem to help me because I felt something wasn't right. I changed gears and began experimenting my own routines that I came up with and whether a routine lasted an hour or 5 min. it felt good to realize that I'm my own trainer.

A major component to being your own trainer is to not only work the muscles, tendons, ligaments or organs for that matter but work on your mental strength creating and infusing the mind/muscle connection. Bruce Lee believe it or not was one of the most famous men for not only his muscles and strength for his size but was also one of the most intelligent men of his time. He became not just a great martial artist but also a powerful philosopher and keen sense of mind power. Another example would be the Samurai Warriors of ancient Japan. Not only did they need to be strong and powerful to just carry armor, swing a sword or fight but had to learn how to paint, write, meditate and have awareness that was second to none which is still legendary to this day.

There are many examples of learning to experiment but one thing is for sure and that's teaching yourself how to use your own physiology and how to use your body-to-weight ratio for the type of training you want to do. Face facts there is no way in hell a person of totally different sizes can do the same exact program and for good reason. Whoever is bigger or smaller cannot always do what another can. The structures are different and the way they move their body is different.

I'm a big dude at 240+ lbs. and can do some pretty cool stuff but there are just some things I can never do that a guy smaller then me can do its just not logical. Now on the other hand I carry more weight so whoever smaller then me by quite a bit tries to use something that gets him up to my size it'll be much harder for him to train because he is putting too much stress on his body then he should have and therefor can get injured, pull something or possibly cripple himself. Again not logical now is it?

Building a foundation is another key to becoming your trainer. Where do you start and what do you plan to do to achieve a goal? Find what works for you. Learning the basics in training is like learning math or English, hell even history you have to start somewhere and progress through various levels. Once you have experimented enough to know what works and what doesn't you have all the tools you need to become a great trainer within yourself. You don't need others to tell you what to do or what you should do for this or that.

Becoming a master takes practice, time, patience and a will to succeed. The Old-Timers knew this long before there were machines, gadgets and whatnot. Becoming your own trainer teaches you how to be an individual and self-reliant on the things that you want to do for yourself. It took me years to be my own trainer and now I get to teach you how you can do the same and can probably do it in less time then I did. Be the person you want to be and look into yourself and find the true power within you.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Using Different View Points To Create Your Style

Learning different view points from other Physical Culturists is quite a learning experience. You learn what works for them, how they developed a philosophy for training and what can work for others. Some of the best guys in this field have great philosophies and quite a few I agree with but yet for that same line of guys there are things I do disagree with. Its not out of disrespect its because I know what works and what doesn't. If you want to learn from the best you have to do research and experiment. Find what works for you and be open minded about who these guys are.....For example...

Bud Jeffries....A man of great strength and ferocious power is a man of god who uses the best equipment and body weight exercises to create the ultimate athlete and build strength & endurance at the same time with a separation of spiritual strength and strength using energy or qi gong. One guy I have very high respects for and one of the coolest guys I ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Brooks Kubik....Without question one of the greatest writers in the history of Physical Culture for the last 20 years. His beliefs is in Hard Work, Old School time-tested methods for super strength and muscle-building and puts a lot into basic lifts and the great methods of Olympic weightlifting. Work your exercises into the ground and master the exercises you want to do.

Logan Christopher.....A man I would def. call a brother because he's helped me over the years showing me how I can be a good physical culturist with the way I'am and have on many occasions seen him do some of the coolest feats of strength a man his size should not be able to do. He believes that to get the best results is to build a foundation to creating great strength and use the best equipment for mega results whether it be weights, bending steel, tearing phonebooks or using the Indian clubs. Whatever style of training you want to pursue learn the values of what is the best to use.

Dennis Rogers....Pound for Pound the world's strongest man for the feats he performs. A man of god as well who has taken grip strength to a level in his line of strongmanism that is as unreachable as wile e. coyote catching the road runner. The things he does should not be done by a man of his size. He is the modern day little Samson and in my opinion the man with the spirit of The Mighty Atom within him. His philosophy is based on how to develop the grip while using the body as a whole using odd objects, tools and weird looking but effective equipment to get the best out of becoming super strong without the need to be a monster.

Garin Bader....Quite possibly one of the most legendary concert pianists of the last 20 years has developed a style where he develops energetic strength through his imagination and mindful power to create surreal strength, dexterity and speed that is just off the charts. With a way to create sounds and develop the difference of muscular strength and his system CoreForce Energy anyone can provide the strength within them in a very short amount of time. Being powerful using muscular strength and being powerful with CFE is a massive difference and once you see it you'll notice right away how strong you can become.

These are examples of the guys I have researched and learned from over the years and I have the highest respect for them for what they do. Whether I agree with what they all do doesn't matter but what I have learned I have taken and developed a style of my own. You may have noticed that some of their styles are similar but at the same time very unique and different in many ways. My style of philosophy of Physical Culture is to learn the basics, transfer that to your daily life, never be hardcore all the time but never slouch either. You don't need to be big to be strong but in order to be strong you have to think big and being wise about what you want to do. Again my style is a little similar to the guys I've mentioned but yet its very different in many ways. I train for strength and power using many different styles that are the best and not use too many things.

Create your own style of Physical Culture by learning from the best and never shy away from who they are and give them the respect they deserve.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Learning How To Tap Into Your Power Within Seconds

Scientists say we only use 5% of our overall power. Now how can that be? We have some of the strongest people on the planet and yet were only using 5% of our potential for super strength? That just doesn't seem right. If you truly want to become powerful you don't need big muscles or have the physique of a Greek god. There's already a power within us that be reached with the right amount of training and its a lot closer then you think it is.

Tapping into the mega secrets of Chi Power is not in a galaxy far, far away nor is it hidden in the undergrounds of the Himalayas. Its really within the power of your own mind and imagination. Let me give you an example of super humans that have the ability to generate so much power within the snap of their fingers that it looks like it came out of comic book movie.....The Shaolin Monks are really some of the most powerful human beings on the planet. They can do things that would boggle the mind and have strength that men twice their size can't even comprehend. Whats their secret? How can they harness that much power? Another would be Strongman and one of my mentors, Dennis Rogers. At 5'8 and nearly 170 pounds has the ability to generate so much power within seconds that its almost impossible to believe a little man of this caliber has the strength to crush hundreds of pounds of pressure and mangle tools that were made to not bend. What is his secret to have these superhuman abilities?

I personally believe that one man has brought a version of this superhuman secret and taken it to a level that is beyond any one's own assumptions and gives you the keys to achieve a level of strength that has to be so surreal its not even funny. This one man has traveled around the world many times over using a few magic tricks, a piano and some crazy stunts that would make your Jaw drop. His name is Garin Bader and he is the author and authority of CoreForce Energy. Its a system of generating beyond that 5% potential that we have in us and creating the ultimate Chi Power within a short amount of time. I'm a firm believer in this system and still practice it to this day after nearly 3 years. Its helped me and thousands of others around the world achieve a level of strength and speed that can only be described by one who has experienced it. If you click on the link in this post you will find a series of how this system works and find your true potential with the power already inside you. Go to Garin's Blog and learn how he can create matrix-like flexibility and still have enough power to knock down a 300 lb. dummy full of sand,water and rock. You will be amazed.

As a Strongman and Physical Culturist I have sworn on my own oath to find the best ways to become strong and powerful and if theres any strongman out there that doesn't have a smiliar oath then he shouldn't be a strongman. This course alone can teach you the secrets of becoming superhuman and give you the power you want. Does this apply to just strongmen? No it applies to everyone who wants to get stronger. Build the strength you were meant to have. Harness the power within you to create anything you want in your life. Create strength within seconds and become a more powerful human being. Take a look at CoreForce Energy.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Bodyweight Exercises: Putting The "Fun" In Functional Strength!!!

In many circles around the web you'll hear quite a few people giving Bodyweight Exercises a bad rap and thats just not right on so many levels. First off whoever thinks bodyweight sucks is their business and their opinion but lets get the facts straight here. This type of training has given many people the world over an awesome body, great strength, surreal flexibility and insane endurance. I say this as a point with the right amount of training. Am I saying weight lifting sucks? Hell no man I just prefer bodyweight because it saves me money, time and I can do it anywhere I want.

The real keys to having a solid program is using your imagination, being creative, find goals and mastering basic exercises. Just like weight lifting, work the basics and soon enough you'll find thats all you need to build a solid foundation for sheer strength, muscle-building and all the good stuff that comes with them. It does piss me off sometimes when these morons don't know the real side of a good solid training program. Example would be some people think that bodyweight training is only good for endurance and doesn't build muscle or strength but it can give you flexibility. Ok in some cases they're right it does build flexibility and can give you great stamina but heres a kicker here folks. For those that don't know i'm 5'10 and 242 lbs. My main training is pretty much all bodyweight and so I have built strength from this type of training um lets see....

I can hold a handstand on the wall for more then a minute

I have Deadlifted nearly 400 lbs. without almost any training on it in the last 5-6 years

Easily can press a 88lb. Kettlebell

Bend Steel short and long

Held a 125 lb. Dumbbell w/ a 2 inch thick handle for 10sec.

I think I've made my point here. Will this type of training do the same for everyone like it did for me? No theres no way not because i'm dissing your abilities its because I chose to try these things and my structure is different then others. That shouldn't mean you can't take a shot at them or whatever you want to do but with a good structure and leverage with your body-to-weight ratio you'd be surprised how strong you can get. So I really don't give a flying you know what about people who say you can't be strong on this type of training.

Man I sound like an a**hole right now don't you think? Sorry guys I tend to do that every now and then. Back to why it puts the "Fun" in Functional Strength. Its fun in my opinion cause you get to be free to do what you want for exercise. When they say the best things in life are free I'd put exercise right near the top of the list in my opinion. You get to be creative and try things at different angles and for the most part you're always isolating muscles.

Working the whole body as a unit is far better then doing a ton of other exercises for specific muscles. When you work the body as One, you're putting on more muscle, burning more fat and your muscular strength & endurance go through the roof. It also saves you time from going to the gym and training in your own home, how many people at the gym can say they trained while they played video games or trained while commercials are going instead of their favorite tv show or better yet train with the music they want to listen to with no one around. That's one reason why I find Bodyweight Exercises fun.

I feel that when Jack Lalanne pioneered his fitness tv show way back in the 50's and 60's he wanted you to get up and start your day with a smile, laughing and feeling good like you were a little kid. He was the guy in my opinion that made exercise fun and enjoyable instead of being hardcore and rough and making you feel that exercise is just horrible. He wasn't just a pioneer in the fitness industry, he was also one of the most intelligent men of his generation because he not only made you bust your ass but you enjoyed it and kept coming back for more with a smile and a thirst for life. That was his true genius and no one should ever forget that.

One of my favorite forms of bodyweight training is being out in the wild and being an animal that is strong, powerful and graceful. This is where another form of freedom comes into play. You don't feel like working out but playing and having fun moving around. Theres something for everyone that can do bodyweight exercises, you can be 10 or 100 and still find a way to do great exercise to keep you young, vibrant and healthy.

Back in the early eras of Physical Culture of the 20th Century, many strongmen on the vaudville circuit, circuses and competitions actually did Bodyweight Training to help gain an advantage for what they did as performers. Many of them were wrestlers, boxers, gymnasts, acrobats and just flat out very powerful men. Otto Arco for example was a superior acrobat who can not only do great hand balancing feats but was one of the first of three men to lift double-bodyweight overhead in the clean and press or jerk if I said that right. John Grimek who has been known as the greatest bodybuilder in the non-steroid era of the sport who can vouch for bodyweight exercises as part of a token of his successful career as a bodybuilder and Olympic Weightlifter. Those 2 were examples of among many others that have used bodyweight with sucessful results.

Heres one final thing about why bodyweight exercises are fun to do for functional strength and that's being able to play with your kids. Children start the first few years of their lives doing bodyweight exercises, whether they're running, jumping, playing on the monkey bars or climbing up to go down the slides they're using nothing but they're own Bodyweight and some of them are very strong for how small they are. Makes you think doesn't it? When you learn to train like a child it can give you a whole different prespective about training. As adults we may not have the same energy as a young child but we can adapt and learn to enjoy being there and playing with them. When you train as a family, you create a certain bond and learning from each other. I want to be able to do that with my own kids one day and be able to have fun with them.

If you're looking for some awesome courses on Bodyweight Exercises then look no further then below.........

Gymnastic Abs

Animal Kingdom Conditioning

Advanced Bridging

Body Sculpting Bodyweight Exercises For Women

Pain Killers

Gymnastic Handstands

Ultimate Guide To Handstand Push-ups

Hand Balancing Mastery Course

Animal Kingdom Conditioning 2: Call Of The Wild

Wild Animal Fitness For Kids

Ultimate Bodyweight Conditioning-Squats

Ultimate Bodyweight Conditioning-Push-ups

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