Training Under Stressful Times

    At this moment in my life something unexpected has come up. I have the "pleasure" of moving. Notice came around the day before Independence Day and it was just one of those "what the f*ck" moments and I'm leaving for California sooner. For those that know, moving can be extremely stressful, it was for me back in '11 when I moved up to Idaho and had to adjust quickly to the seasons and surroundings of a new state and town. However as stressful it can be now, I believe something awesome will come out of it, a better place, better surroundings and fun will be much greater.

 
    Despite helping move very heavy boxes (and one day doing 5 hours of moving those boxes into storage) I still train everyday even for a few minutes. Why do I do it; it makes me happy and distresses me. Although I'm having slight shoulder issues on my right side in the front deltoid, I still manage to have great workouts and recently it's because of DDP Yoga. I've been raving about this crazy Yoga thing for a while and I will get more on it in a later article but I will say this, it is challenging as hell but it's also fun and interesting. I'm not fond of doing someone else's workouts although I will from time to time to ease up creating a workout from the exercises but still I'm happy and I don't like being frustrated otherwise I can't get stuff done.

 
    This is where you have a choice. Even under great stress you still have a choice to find something that makes you happy (not easy but it's possible) or you can choose to mope and just be miserable. Being miserable is easy and many people rather just rather let go of everything and end up feeling like shit. You have a choice. I choose to hold my head up high because I've been in far worse situations. When I couldn't walk at the age of 20/21 years old there were times where I felt I could never walk or run the same way again but I chose to do something about it and ended up rehabbing myself with no doctors or physical therapists because I wanted to fight for my body and make it stronger on my own terms and in doing so, I learned many things about training especially on an emotional level. I chose to be happy and yes I do have my moments of frustration and anxiety but I'm human it happens but to balance it out I do things that keep me smiling and loving what I do. It's a choice.

 
    Although moving is a real pain in the ass and there is someone who you live with is looking for places to live and it's stressing them out it can divert back at you, you can make the best of things and make moving an interesting adventure even if you have to down the road. Do things that give you hope and something that brings joy to your life; for me its training, writing and reading a few books. It may not be the same for everyone but you get my point. Use that part of you that gives off radiant energy and love so when things later on occur it was meant to be, everything happens for a reason. Be awesome and do the best you can to be happy even in tough situations because being miserable is a disease and it causes too much crap in your life like depression, sadness, grief, not letting anyone you love help you; it's a bitch I've been there believe me. Take it up a notch and use what you love to help you bring joy into a stressful situation. It's a hell of an experience.

 
Be awesome everyone and do what you love.

30 Going On 18

             Seven Weeks from today, I will hit the big 3-0. Holy crap I’m no longer in my 20’s and I aught to slow down and take it easy a bit. Let my 30’s be a decade of losing a few hairs, maybe put on a little weight and let my testosterone drop a few points; not happening Brother. Turning 30 for many seems like a factor of aging and just plain sucks, not me my friend. I’m looking at it as being 18 with 12 years of experience. I’m pretty damn psyched turning 30, I’ve reached a milestone where I’m a little wiser and not feeling like I’m dreading a long road of vast experiences. I’ve experienced many things in my life, some good, some bad, a few uglies and plenty of weird and have survived an Earthquake, breaking my head open, meningitis, came back from a horrible leg injury and even went through a long-term relationship. I think I’m doing an awesome job.

            When you reach a certain age, health factors came into play. Certain things pop up like checking out how you fair out compared to your family history of medical issues and health issues like Heart Disease, Diabetes, Blood Pressure, Cancer and all that stuff. My family does have a history with some of these issues maybe not so much diabetes but Blood Pressure definitely. Cancer has hit my family on a couple people but you know what, I’m not too concerned about these health issues. I may change the way I eat a bit but for the most part, I feel incredible, I’am stronger and healthier than at any other time in my life. I can still move pretty damn good for a guy my size. Does this make me arrogant and a bit selfish, I don’t believe so because I love what I do, I give my life to helping others in fitness and using the skills I’ve developed to stay in awesome shape. Do I need to check up on things one day, of course but until then, you’ll find me swimming, pulling heavy cables, sprinting, practicing internal power and utilizing the most powerful programs with a heavy smile on my face.

            Age is just a number right? It may just be but there are other things to look at, it’s not just a number, its how you feel, how you live with yourself mentally and what gives you a purpose to have fun, love and be an awesome person inside and out. You hear from many people that age is just a number but how many actually live it and factor in the things I just listed; not many. Hell I’m only turning 30 for Christ sake, it’s not the end of the world and I still have fun and get to do what I do, I still have goals and aspirations to get better and my mind is sharper than it ever has been. Turning 30 is big for me in a lot of ways but on the other side of the coin, it’s just another double digit that’s all.

            For some turning a certain age like 30/40/50 so on, they get this unnecessary sadness, grief, feeling like it’s the end of the road and seeing themselves as unworthy because they don’t have the “time and energy” like they use to, bullshit. Your body is an amazing thing and when you factor in how you use your mind, it is a part of the living, beautiful experience of not only gaining wisdom and knowledge but to still have an awesome body if you apply yourself. Let’s face it, I’ve accepted the fact that I won’t develop a six pack, I’ll be shocked if that hit one day but I can still go and am far more agile and stronger than most guys 10 years younger than me especially in this day and age when obesity has hit the jackpot plus I look younger than my age and I’m damn proud of that.

            In order to feel like a million bucks, you’ve got to feel it (no shit Sherlock), breathe it, live it and know in your heart despite all the crap you’ve been through, the positives outweigh the negatives when you make it so otherwise you’ll just be dreading like the rest of the world and doing your best to feel like you’re not good enough, worrying too much about nothing and then worrying about something else. When you turn a certain age, don’t dwell on it, be the best damn age that you are or think younger, not older or saying you’re this X years old or think Y is old age. I’m going to be 30 years young and haven’t peaked yet.

Be Awesome guys. 

Finding Your Passion In Fitness

            We are all passionate about something whether we realize it or not. Some never get a chance to use that passion to share with the world, others make that passion into a way of helping others in a productive way and then there are those who have a passion that makes no sense to anyone else. Fitness is no exception to be passionate about like an athlete who is passionate about his sport or a Journalist being passionate about reporting somewhere in their city, state or somewhere in the country/world. The question is, why do it, what makes your passion so great that you went into it in the first place? What makes you get the results you want and does it help in your life in some shape or form?

            For me, fitness is my undying passion, its my second language, its in my blood and it puts me in a state of mind that finds creativity, love, compassion and intensity for whatever thing comes also in my life. I eat, sleep, breathe and think training 24/7 (maybe not as big as Jack Lalanne or other Physical Culturists) yet I put my own take on it and live it on my own terms no one else’s. When I was a chubby teen, I just fiddled around, picking up a weight or 2 in P.E. In High school, weights were big with me and did my damndest to be the strongest I can be without drugs or any of that crap and managed ok, not great. In my 20’s after my accident, it just became an obsession and absorbed everything I can on it and for some they thought I was going through a phase, others thought I was nuts and then there were those who think it’s “just a hobby.” It’s beyond a hobby, it’s my life and I’m in it until the day I die.

            When you’re passionate about something and others think nothing of it, they don’t understand and they’ll never get it because they don’t see what you see, feel what you feel and get the fact that you are doing something that has meaning in your life when they do their thing day after day and feel miserable and never follow their true path. For me, fitness goes beyond the workouts, way past the basic lifts or bodyweight exercises and exceeds way more than what I expect it to be because I love the variety, the creativity, the way to see the world through history, film, philosophy. That’s the true look at fitness as a passion for me, it may be different for you because of your background and that’s great because we all have different ways to look at things, it’s not bad, good or whatever it’s your interpretation on what you see.

            To really know what you’re passionate about, it’s the consistency of what you see, feel and learn about whom you are in terms of your interests and how it makes you keep going and learning. Keeping consistent in what you do and love shows your passion on a very different scale. In fitness, we all do some form of exercise and if there’s something we like, we keep it around until another form of interest rolls around. Some like being on the elliptical, awesome you’re doing something but yet what are you truly getting out of it, are you finding the results you want, does it make you happy to be doing it? You see there’s a fine difference in what you do and what comes out of it. When you’re passionate about a workout, it’s not a work out, it’s an adventure and you put your body in a state where you love it even though it can be tough; on the other side of the coin, to you it’s just an exercise and nothing else, you dread and feel like crap, you’re sweating good but it’s just a pain in the ass and when you’re done you go about your day and then you put yourself through it again and again until it doesn’t become an interest it becomes a habit.

            It’s easy to be passionate about something but it’s hard to be consistent with it and that’s where the real fun is, it’s learning how to use it and keeping it on your toes plus when you share it with the world, share it not with people who don’t give a damn but to people that share similar passions yet still different. Love what you do and keep it with you no matter how hard people are on you about because there will always be that one person or more that’ll have your back and encourage you to keep loving and following your passion with heart, intensity and a love that goes with it.

Be awesome everybody.

Anything But That

            The way some people look at fitness or certain fitness methods is pretty funny sometimes. You ask someone who doesn’t like weights and you might hear this (especially from women) “Ugh, anything but weights, they’ll make you bulky and you will just get injured.” Weights aren’t always as bad as you think. Some people prefer other things which are awesome. But it’s not just weights but many methods that this type of thinking or similar thinking comes around. Some can say something similar to other methods like say bodyweight exercise “Shit, anything but bodyweight stuff, that’s just endurance work and strength isn’t much of a factor.” I’m sorry but I got to laugh at that shit that just tells you, they have no clue what they’re talking about.

            There are people who are so harsh about certain methods that most of the time, they don’t realize it’s most likely something they might enjoy. I have even read somewhere that someone was so harsh on Animal Training it just made me want to slap them. Just because you read a marketing ad and think it’s bullshit without ever stepping foot into the program, that just makes you dumb and ignorant. People can say whatever they want but until you actually have done it, don’t be so harsh. I have trashed some methods before but that was because just what it looked like it just didn’t seem appealing. People who can’t stand certain methods try to dismember and trash it to the point where it takes away what fun it could be for someone else. Granted there are programs that are a complete joke like the Shake Weight or Hip Hop Abs (its aerobics done in a different form) but if someone likes them and it works for them, cool I’m not going to take that away from you.

            There are plenty of people out there who try to advise you on what method works and what doesn’t and will tell more negative stuff than the positive. Granted certain people I’ve been around have told me to stop what I’m already doing and do this other thing so I can look even better and help me in other areas, these same people have no real clue what I do and only have seen a glimpse of it. People will tell you can do this but never do that because of whatever reasons; common injuries, death, it didn’t work for them so why should it work for you and a favorite of mine; that’s pretty dumb and you look like an idiot doing it, well thank you. You have a choice and no matter what you choose there are pros and cons in all of them, but if it works right for you, that’s all that matters, screw the others.

            Want to know something really funny; I’ve done methods that are fun but to others it’s ugly and gnarly because it’s different and they don’t understand it. Most people that don’t understand will turn it into something that it really isn’t. There are some people that a friend of mine likes to call Wile E Coyotes, they’re the type of people who are obsessed with those that have programs that work for them and try to tarnish and ridicule them because not only does it not work for that person they try to destroy others for it. Most of these types of people are just keyboard ego maniacs who don’t have a clue what real training is.

            If you love what you do, hold on to and guard it with your life. If you’re good at it, help people find out about it but don’t preach the negatives, teach them by suggesting it and helping them find out about it. There are a lot of people who have methods that work but also try to destroy other ones so they can keep getting the bucks. We all need to make a living I get that but being an asshole doesn’t always work out so well. You can brag that whatever works for you will work for the rest of the population and beat down other methods just so you can be the top dog but in the end, every method is a suggestion from the endless variety that you can choose from.

            I take different methods and find the best ones by taking little pieces of them and mold them into something awesome for myself, it’s like creating your own puzzle, and you find the pieces that go with the picture in your mind and putting those pieces together.

Be awesome my friends. 

Everybody Else Is Taken

           Whether in fitness or in life, we have certain people we look up to. In bodybuilding, many guys wanted to be like Arnold, in Baseball if you were a kid in the 90’s, Barry Bonds was an idol to many boys and upcoming Baseball stars. My favorite sport as a kid was Basketball and watching the greats like Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Scottie Pippen, Allen Iverson and John Stockton. I idolized many athletes in that time and had dreams of wanting to be like them. It wasn't meant to be.

            We like to compare ourselves to the idols we have whether athlete, physical culturists, celebrities and/or people in the corporate world. At times we mimic how they do things and the way they handle themselves. I fell for that kind of thing too and it got me injured sometimes and even broke my spirit because since I couldn’t do what they do why should I be any different. That’s just it, you are different; you have different shape, different body and a very different personality. There are people we admire but certainly should never be like them because they have their own ways of doing things; they have their own problems and their own way of making themselves happy. You on the other hand should focus on what makes you happy, finding what separates you from the rest of us and learning who you are.

            We have family that expects a lot of us sometimes, there have been times where people alienate themselves from others because either it’s not worth being around them or the people don’t want you around. It’s tough when something is expected of you, you are told to do this, do that, be polite to others, speak when spoken to, go to college, be a lawyer or doctor, play football because your dad did, be bold and upright in a beauty pageant, smile at the camera, rule a kingdom, there are so many things people expect from us and none are more tougher than your own family breathing down your neck.

            The only thing you ought to expect from is learning who you are but also understanding the unexpected outcomes that go with that. You are one person, one body, one soul. You cannot always be as strong or smart or sophisticated as the next guy so why should you try to compete or compare to others when the only person you should compete with is yourself. Learn what makes you happy, compassionate, what you love to do and where you want to go. You may not always see what lies ahead but you better damn sure know that there will be something unexpected that comes along and it happened for a reason

            Nobody can do what you do. We all think differently and way may have similar backgrounds and interests but how we shape what we do is very differently. Some of it is complex, other times it just comes natural. You are you and you can be great if you apply yourself to what you’re passionate about. Don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t do something because someone is better than you or you ought to be “like everybody else.” I’m very proud of what I do and I love what I’ve learned along the way. Like I always say, be awesome and don’t let anyone tell you different.

Follow Your Fitness Destiny

           I believe that no matter who you are, you aught to follow your own destiny. It’s important to learn who your true self is and that nobody aught to tell you who you should be and that you need to live by a higher standard according to society’s standards. Fitness is really the same thing. The truth is, if you are passionate about something and it helps you in your life than that’s where you aught to go. There are many methods you can learn and my hope for you is take bits of pieces of what you learned and apply them to what makes you happy. For real fitness and getting real results find and use what brings you those results.

            In almost 20 years in fitness and health, I’ve learned a great deal of things, some work, some don’t. In that time I’ve also seen a great many people who tarnish certain things because it doesn’t suit their standards, they want to drive you away from your destiny and teach you only their methods and if you’re not on par than you’re going to fitness hell. Open your mind to different things, challenge your body and brain to what yields them a great learning experience. I have fallen to the “one true method” mindset and it nearly killed my expansion to be able to understand different ideals. Some people do only one method and for them it’s the end all be all and that’s fine but last time I checked there are 7 billion people in the world, not all of them are going to follow you.

            I want you to find what you love to do. If you don’t like something and it doesn’t help you much, that’s a clear sign that you aught to look into something else. I’ve seen countless people bicker at each other what they don’t like and tell people that because they don’t like it, it’s not going to work others as well, bullshit. If you’re a fan of kettlebells and they do well for you, then you go get whatever kettlebell course is out there and you bust your ass on them because it’s what you love, if you don’t like kettlebells, don’t buy them and don’t give others crap about it because it’s not for you.

            There are a lot of things I love in fitness like cables, hammers, bodyweight, ropes, isometrics and other things so I take bits and pieces of these things and mold them in my own unique way. That’s the true beauty of fitness is the ability to be unique and creating the best way for you to get what you want for your body and mind. Don’t let assholes who tell you that because of what you do, you’ll get injured, you’re depriving to train like a man or better yet because of what you preach and love, they’ll come up with any lame way of what is terrible about it.

            I’m not an angry guy, as a matter of fact I’m very happy about what I do and I get to learn from very amazing people; however I do get a bit irritated when I find out about people who over criticize about another person’s methods and tell them their an idiot or that you’re not an animal you’re a man, train like it; just makes me want to slap those people. Be unique, if you like doing just one method that’s great for you but I believe in learning multiple methods and taking different parts that you find suitable to your needs and goals.

            Build your own destiny, find your calling and passion and run with it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or a man, we all have something unique about ourselves and it’s important to find what our true self is and grasp it by grabbing it by the horns and create something out of it in an awesome, positive and beautiful way. Help others find their creative side and give them the power to fulfill their own destiny, you don’t have to like what they do but if they’re important to you make them feel important and guide them.

Take care and have an awesome day wherever you are.

Unleash Your Creative Potential

           As long as I've been training since I learned to walk again in 2005, I always believed in finding a creative way to train. It’s been my mission to find certain exercises that are unique and out there because when you do the same old boring crappy workouts that these magazines or infomercials are telling you do, it’s diminishing your right to find what works best for you. I have no problem doing basic movements but I also wanted to add an element of fun to them.

            The best way to use your creativity is to use your imagination. The way you think into your exercises will define how you believe the workout to be. One of my favorite exercises as of late has been what I call being a Thorsmith; what that is just basically taking a heavy Thor Hammer and hitting a tire with one hand. Now to most that just seems pretty boring but not if you think differently. The way I look at it as, I’m not hitting a tire and my hands are bigger in my mind than they normally are, plus I'm imagining I’m in an awesome place where strength is instant, I’m building my body from within and I don't imagine a tire being there but something that I'm building from scratch and it’s not a sword or a wrench but my muscles and my tendons. This is one example of how to turn a simple exercise into a super charged workout with just your thinking.

            Although the word workout may have a different meaning to some people but to me whenever I hear the word work-out two things cross my mind; one being if you don't have a positive thinking process and are too serious you’re just working and not getting anywhere. On the other hand if you feel alive and just effortlessly train without thinking harshly you're really playing and having a blast and getting results out of it. That’s where your imagination comes in and the way you apply yourself to your training.

            There are a number of dumbasses out there that tell you that they're way is the best and whoever is different doesn't know any better and being different makes you weak. Screw them. You are one person, you train however you want and if it’s different than everybody else so be it. I'm encouraging you to be unique and different because you can’t do the same things everyone does. You will always be stronger in something that someone else isn't; it’s not yours or anybody’s fault and being different is a gift not a curse. Don't let anyone tell you that you can’t do something great. If you have a vivid imagination, use it it’s yours and you have the power to make yourself successful. Whoever tells you different and gives you crap about it, they're jealous of what you have and they don’t look at you when they say it, they look at themselves and hating that they can’t do what you’re capable of. Show who you truly are and share it.