In the last few weeks or so I've been reading an omnibus book on Tarzan that has stories going as far back as the late 40's to the mid 50's (Talk about CLASSIC) and as far as I'm seeing, these are just insane stories from rescuing slaves to going after his son Boy and leading a tribal army to rescue a chemist. These stories just don't depict the exciting life of Tarzan but show how physically strong and conditioned he is from swimming sprint style, to lifting up certain heavy objects, flying through the jungle on the vines and his endurance to fight as long as it takes. These attributes are what is inspiring to be in that kind of shape.
Now not everyone can be like Tarzan but we can however become very strong and conditioned than the average person. There's a lot of mixed things that happen in life today that brings a complicated style of fitness and educating those wishing to learn it. On one end you have people that are extremely overweight and have issues with eating healthy, finding "time" to exercise and building a foundation that helps them live longer and have a healthier lifestyle, on the other end of that extreme spectrum you have athletes or those who develop physiques that look like cartoon characters that seem to be out of a comic book that have huge muscles or extremely lean muscle that looks "obvious" they're on steroids. In the middle of this there's everyone else but don't have a complete informed outlook of what true fitness is. Because of the overwhelming level of information provided today it can be extremely difficult to find what suits you the best.
This is where I like to provide simple info that doesn't overwhelm a reader or someone who wants to get fit. There are many ways to get fit but many many courses tell what reps build the most muscle and what gives the most endurance and exercises that work for this bodypart and that bodypart plus you have those infomercials that sell basically crap and pass it off as a sparkling entity. The very best training style that has worked for me has been the Animal Exercises; it takes out all the crap of which bodypart and how many times you do it out of the equation and gets down to the nitty gritty of how to move like a wild animal and do it as long as you can and making a fun game out of it.
That's the emphasis of what Tarzan means to becoming strong and powerful, you take certain things and master it and not always through a single spot but by moving and making the most out of those movements to take on life's biggest challenges. You do movements where you learn step by step how to move like a wild beast in the jungle just like Tarzan; he studies the animals, he practices their movement, calls and makes it the very best for his style whether it be friend or foe. You no longer get to just go to the Zoo to watch animals, you get to become that animal. When you move in various directions, speeds and control; you are using muscles that you didn't think existed and forget crunches and sit-ups, practically every animal you learn to move as will force you to use your entire core from the upper abs to the pelvic area in order to stabilize you and protect you from injury because a lot of these exercises are very intense and usually 1st timers of animal workouts don't last the 1st 5 minutes, that's how tough they are.
As you progress through these animal movements, you'll find your body changing by having greater definition, functional strength, greater flexibility and have conditioning that is very unique unlike other programs of regular calisthenics and/or weights. You'll have a set of lungs that will impress people and if you play sports, your opponents will be terrified of your endurance. I was already quite fit when I started to do these almost exclusively but even at that, they kicked my ass big time and it gave me a goal to shoot for. You don't need more than 5 minutes to start and once you get to the advanced versions of these movements, you can go as long as you want however you want. You can make a game out of it, race friends, make it a part of your current regimen or you can use it to enhance your sports training. Tarzan is a symbol of courage & inner/outer strength with incredible endurance and the will to get better as life goes on. I don't workout with animal exercises, I play them and learn the value of making the most out of them because they're fun & exciting and that's what true fitness is about.
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