4 Animals And 1100 Reps Later

 When you need a pick me up or even the urge to challenge yourself, sometimes you just go with your gut and hope for the best. This morning, I wanted to do some Animal Conditioning and did my Deck Of Cards Animal Workout. Doubled the reps/steps to really sink things in and feel the wrath of the wild. The animals were as follows....

Bear

Crab

Sasquatch

Duck

-The way the deck of cards goes....

Hearts = Bear Crawls

Diamonds = Crab Walks 

Clubs = Sasquatch Walks

Spades = Duck Walks

-Rep Count

King/Jack/Queen = 20

Ace = 32

Joker = 100

2-10 = Doubled

All together, its 1000 total reps. Crazy thing is, I had three jokers in the deck I used so it came out to 1100. A lot of crawling and walking in a half squat and full squat. The only rest was getting up and flipping a card, that was it. For the Animal I did for the jokers it was 100 Steps of the Sasquatch. Walking in that position for a period of time really puts tension in the thighs and works the tendons and ligaments with a vengeance. It's almost walking in a wrestler's stance or a football stance getting ready for a tackle. 

This particular workout hits practically every muscle in the body and you can move in all sorts of directions and revs up your cardio that is unbelievable. Awesome conditioning for combat sports, health, coordination, agility, upper & lower body strength. Doesn't take very long (just around 30 minutes or so) and targets quite a bit of the brain since you need to send the nerves to the muscles to keep them going and stay balanced. It's like a jolt to the noggin along with building lung power. 

Training is an adventure and when you can play like a beast in the wild (even a duck), it makes your workout all the more enjoyable. With a workout like this, it's like a game and you can create the difficulty. Have fun and keep being amazingly awesome. 

2 For 1 Sprint Training With The Dopa Band

 Always experimenting and finding exciting ways to train, I wanted to give something a go that would put that extra spring in the step and give off nasty fat burning vibes. Last night after a fun date night of Red Lobster and seeing The Iron Claw (great movie BTW, might write a review on the next post) I got in some at home Sprint Training to shed off some of the Holiday Feasting this past weekend and start creating new goals early for the coming year. 

Tying myself to the Dopa Band, I wanted to try something new (at least to me) and really tackle some Explosive Conditioning by doing a Superset of Bear Crawl & Bipedal Sprinting. The idea is to do a Bear Crawl Sprint, walk back and do a regular sprint. The two different sprints is the equivalent to 1 rep and you repeat it as many times as you can, in this case I did 5 Reps per set. Totaled 6 sets of 5 Reps for a total of 30 or 60 Sprints all together. 

This actually felt really good and somehow didn't feel I overdid anything and still had gas in the tank at the end. You may not get very far because of the band but when you explode out and keep doing it for a short period of time, it can be a bit crazy. Sprint Training is not always done out on a track, hill or grassy area, you can do them at home doing modified versions that can still give you a run for your money (pun intended). It is always good however to get Sprints going outside whenever possible 2-3x a week but if you want to kick your ass at home, you have that option as well. I believe it's a great option because when you're done, the shower is within feet of you, you don't have to drive anywhere, you can get it done within minutes and take a nap or rest on the couch and put on a movie or something right there. For some that sounds lazy but if I can get a workout in and then have things I need right there afterwards, why the hell not?

This doesn't mean your home is the only option to do this, you can do this workout at a park, in your hotel room, at the beach or wherever you can hook the band up (safely and efficiently). Being outside is ideal and training in an area where you breathe fresh air and have a good time while focusing on your goals is always important. That's the beauty of this thing, it can withstand quite a bit because of its flexibility and durability along with being very difficult to break. What are the benefits of this workout: It gets you in rugged shape fast with consistency, it develops a great level of explosiveness, mental toughness, takes only minutes to complete, gives you greater options and places to train, can be modified to your level of fitness, could help reduce injuries, enhance HGH levels, produces spikes in Testosterone, burns fat like crazy and hell of a calorie burner. 

Sprint Training is a favorite of mine and when it's warm out, I would hit the hill or the field by the house. Winter isn't always ideal although it does build a different level of toughness but at the same time, it can be slippery out there and you could be asking for a disaster if you're sprinting hard and hit some ice that is slicker than cooking oil. This also could be useful for those who've had previous injuries and helping you with your posture for regular sprinting. For me, it reduces certain acts of pain in my shin and ankles. When I do Sprint on a hill, it can be discomforting to the point of slight pain because of the rod and pins in my legs so I do have to be careful with that but with the band, it lessens those things and I can go hard without feeling any discomfort or pain. I have a small threshold for pain but when it becomes too much, I can't be at my best. So if you need to modify, do so but don't let it get to a point where you can potentially end up in the ER or worse. 

This also can be done for people who are new to Sprint Training and get a feel of what's possible so when they are going out and hitting a hill or track, they have some of the mechanics embedded into their brain. It's still important to know the basics and mechanics of sprinting with or without using a band because although there are similarities, some techniques are different so learn the proper techniques to get the most out of it. Overall, it's a great workout to test yourself on and only has to be done no more than 3x a week, 2x a week is great for most people but if you're ambitious than do it 3x a week. 

Have fun and get those legs cooking man. Be amazingly awesome. Get 10% OFF the Dopa Bands by punching in the Discount Code POWERANDMIGHT when you checkout. Grab one for yourself or create your own custom bundle.  

DopamineO Sprinting

Taking on a challenge can be very rewarding especially if it's through a workout. On Friday, I wanted to test Phil Campbell's Sprint 8 Protocol with my DopamineO Band just doing Sprint Outs. The protocol is going hard for 30 Seconds and resting/active recovery for 90 seconds and repeating this for a total of 8 rounds. This was brutal but I really enjoyed it. You sprint out as much as the band can handle, walk backward to the starting and repeat the sprint until the 30 seconds are up. During the rest, do marches, side to side jacks or focusing on deep breathing.

This type of training builds explosiveness, added resistance to target more of the muscles during a sprint, conditioning, fat burning and a hell of a calorie burner. I felt it but it was a great challenge to me. Unless you're in a sport or training for competition, you don't see a ton on Sprint Training using bands for typical workouts. You usually find this type of conditioning in Wrestling, MMA, Football, Soccer and other sports. Did some research on it and with the knowledge I have on Sprinting, I wanted to see what I can do. Safe to say it was a success.

Today, I wanted to try the protocol with Bear Crawl Sprints. These are more for Wrestling & Football so I wanted to see what I was capable of. These weren't as challenging to me but it was still one hell of a workout. If I wanted to push it, this would be more on the 30 On, 30 Off approach but for most people, the 30/90 would be nasty to them. I did feel I got a lot out of it and during those 30 seconds, I would get in a total of 5 Sprints at a time so by the end I would be around 40 total Bear Crawl Sprints. It's still brutal because you're going against the resistance and you're running on all fours as fast as you can. This is for really getting in rugged condition hitting practically every muscle in your body. 

I've only found a few videos on this type of training and the Dopa Website shows the exercise but not always in a full workout format (at least from what I gathered) and what other videos show is more of a shorter band and you crawl back instead of walking, I like the walking back cause it feels more natural to me. For the most part, you will notice things right away doing Bear Crawl Sprints; where your weaknesses are, your balance, your speed and how quickly you use the arms. It still burns many calories even after the workout and because you're fighting the band, you're hitting more muscles than in a regular sprint in that position. Builds muscle, generates a crazy level of HGH and you're getting optimal rest so when the next set comes you're exploding out as if you're hunting down a jack rabbit. 

Doing these workouts no more than 3x a week can yield many benefits including fat loss, weight loss, the afterburn affect which has you burning more calories even hours after a session, high levels of energy, a rugged physique and building a powerful set of attributes including strength that lasts, speed and cardio. I've used this protocol with different exercises so these are just another outline of what the possibilities are. Workout like an animal and feel the surge of that animalistic strength and power. For a great discount, enter POWERANDMIGHT at checkout to get 10% OFF your order, get a bundle and save more. 

The Bear Crawl Workout That Gets You In Rugged Condition Fast

You hear all kinds of ways to describe conditioning or some weird saying like Functional or something along those lines. Before you know it, they become a cliché and its meaning becomes meaningless. Johnny Grube describes his style as "Conditioned Strength" (whatever the fuck that really means since it's probably the most made up term for training) but it's not the worst one I've ever heard. When it comes to conditioning, it should sound ferocious, cunning, manly, old school and something that relates to those who've been through the ringer; something like, "Rugged Conditioning." To me, that sounds like something that's intense, combative, powerful and badass. 

One of the things I've seen Grube do (when he's not ranting like a lunatic and bullying anybody that doesn't share his set of "values") was go hard on his Rogue Bike for several minutes doing a reverse tabata style format which is 10 seconds on, 20 seconds off for 10 rounds (which roughly totals 5 minutes) and you know where I'm going with this. I took that concept and made it a Bear Crawl workout. Clearly I don't own a Rogue Bike but maybe one day I will but the Bear Crawl is just as awesome to do. I'll give him this, he's awesome at conditioning training and utilizes simplistic approaches to exercise that works for him and I respect his work ethic but outside of that, he just goes off the deep end doing nothing but running his mouth about people that have nothing to do with him or his family and acting like a crazy bigot. 

Let's get back on track, the Bear Crawl Workout that will get you in Rugged Condition fast. It's simple, quick and hits more muscles than you can imagine. With consistency (keeping it to 2-3x a week) it's possible to burn fat like a furnace, put on natural and functional muscle and have you be explosive so you'll be ready for anything. Did I forget to mention that it potentially makes you stronger in the long run and have crazy stamina? What's even crazier is that it can be done practically anywhere and the only thing you need is a HIIT Timer so things are set which you can find on your cell or grab one of those Gym Boss Timers. Hell, I've done this workout in my living room and I feel like a million bucks afterwards. It was one of the first workouts I did after recovering from my Sciatica Injury. 

Being in shape goes far beyond what you see on the outside, you may not look like a model or have that ripped Instagram look but if you can go hard and be able to have gas left in the tank and are healthy, looks aren't always going to matter. Hell you can look like a Skinny Yogi like Rahul Mookerjee or small like Royce Gracie and still be deceptively strong (but that may be pushing it a bit since he likes to brag about what he's "capable" of doing and Royce would destroy someone like Rahul in seconds) but the point is, you can be big, small, tall, short and still be in awesome shape, it's just a matter of what you do to be consistent.  

This would be a hell of a finisher to really kickstart your metabolism after a regular workout or it can a punishment for wrestlers/MMA Fighters to do before and after practice, whatever works. This isn't the type of workout that should be pushed to the side or taken lightly. It's hard, it's rough and it tests you in ways that you didn't think were possible. Despite the doubled amount of rest, you still barely have time to truly catch your breath before the next round. The moment those ten seconds are up you got one of two choices: 1. Stay in the Bear Crawl Position (which isn't really resting still) until you've done all the rounds or 2. Get up and walk to the starting point and get into position for the next round. As Billy Robinson once said "There's no rest in wrestling" neither do you in this workout.

You don't need to be a pro athlete to be in awesome shape but it's important to understand that to be in awesome shape, we take some things from the very best and mold them to our goals and making the most of what our bodies CAN handle.  Be safe, hope you have/had a great 4th Of July, train with great intensity and keep being amazingly awesome. 

 

60 Seconds Of Crawling Leads To Many Health Benefits

 Animal Movement is by far one of the very best methods of exercise anyone can do. Granted in times like these where information is overwhelming and the plethora of beginner to advanced movements tends to get awkward and confusing (depending on whom you learn the movements from), it's still important to understand that even the most simple movements can have a major impact on health and well-being. Fitness in and of itself isn't glamorous, glistening bodies or going so damn hard you pass out; it's about developing skills and strengths that play a major role in how we keep living to our fullest.

One of the most basic forms of Animal Movement is the Bear Crawl. It has been used throughout the ages and comes in different ways to perform it along with using it to condition the body in various ways as well. It can be done slow or it can be done fast but either way, it'll challenge your brain and muscular function despite its simplicity. 

I saw this picture of the Bear Crawl on Facebook in a post by Wong Yuen-Ming that went like this....

“Bear Walking” is popular these days but probably not many realize it was popular in old China as well, so I have taken the liberty to translate a short intro to the practice from a Ming era manual (circa 1500). Enjoy!

‘Tiger emerging from the cave’

First, assume the posture of a quadrupedal animal.

Extend the front and bend the back to move with strength.

Then, bend the front and extend the back, following the previous method.

Do this gongfu thirty-eight times, pausing at each one.

Zhi Gang said:

Use your hands as feet, hence the saying, "Assume the posture of a quadrupedal animal, extending the front and bending the back", means to position your body firmly and place your hands on the ground. "Extend the back and bend the front" means extend your legs and move forward. Doing so back and forth, your body will look like a tiger emerging from the cave, your muscles and bones will be relaxed, your organs will be at ease, and your blood flow will be smooth. 

This is one of the coolest depictions of the classic exercise in ancient text. A qi gong style format that not only shows what this exercise does but what it does for the body as you perform it. We all have heard of this exercise being used to torture athletes in sports like Football & Wrestling which for all intents and purposes is one of the many reasons why it has lasted so long as a conditioning exercise and fat burner. When we see it from a different point of view, it changes the stereotype that it's meant only for conditioning when in fact, it can be used to enhance one's brain and motor functions as we get older and we can't move as fast as Speedy Gonzales (Not that we last that going that fast anyway). Doing this exercise slower hits the muscles differently, it focuses not just the awareness of the movement but also the control and the amount of focus it takes. Yes it's very simple to do but it's not so easy to control especially when you go so slow that it's almost like time stood still. 

 

Now, if we were to practice this exercise each day to wake up our Brain Fog, imagine what the possibilities would be if we felt more alive in the morning and the things we can accomplish with a mind and body that's ready to go. The way it said to do this exercise 38 times and pausing after each one (who knows how long to do it) can be revitalizing to the organs and harness the neurons needed to wake the body up better than a cup of coffee. You can count if you wish and practice it that way, you can also do it for just 60 seconds. Just crawl for one full minute till the timer hits and you're done. That may not sound like much but if you were to do this everyday for a year, the body changes, your mind highly likely will be sharper and clearer, you have more energy and possibly have better days starting off with a smile or an endorphin high. 365 minutes is just over 6 hours, all that time crawling. Those 6 hours can be life changing, hell just a week can be life changing. Try it for 7 days and see how you feel in that time, that's 7 minutes all together, 7 minutes of just moving like a beast in the wild. 

If you really want to amp up the ante and want to push yourself, a couple times a week you can do a Tabata style workout that takes no more than 5 minutes to complete that will have you gasping and breathing hard like a madman. Crawl for 10 seconds fast, rest for 20 seconds and repeat for a total of 10 rounds. Although you're resting the majority of the time and the amount of work is really only 1:40 seconds long, it can turn you into a fitness machine and rev up the metabolism like crazy. Not to mention it creates spikes in HGH and Testosterone.

Have fun with this exercise whether you do it fast or slow, just don't go so hard you fall on your face and hurt yourself. It's meant to be an experience, a personal form of growth and physical activity. It'll feel like being a kid again just playing. It's not an exercise that's meant to be boring or a chore, it's meant to enhance those neurons and fire up the excitement in your system. Keep being amazingly awesome. 

The Wild Never Stops

 Animal moves have an endless variety but only a few are needed to get in a really good workout. What you choose to master or utilize in your training is up to you but never forget to respect the movements as you practice them. You can go hard, you can go slow, you can even do them in Isometric fashion (maybe not the jumping ones for obvious reasons). It's about building a foundation and finding what gives you the best benefit.

The wild never stops. You keep finding ways to condition your body and put yourself in awkward positions to strengthen areas that conventional or "traditional" training methods can't reach. One of the reasons why I love doing my Animal Deck Of Cards Workout (The Four Animals Of The Apocalypse). It never goes the same way every time and when a Joker comes into play, you get to pick which animal to tackle for reps or distance. The total reps I've done most of the time is around 500 but have done a 1000 total on a few occasions and feels awesome afterwards. With the 500 I would finish around 15-16 min for a full deck which is still quite a workout in itself. These days the main four are....

Bear Crawls

Crab Walks

Bigfoot Walk

Duck Walks

Why did I choose these specific animals? At least 3 are the most basic you see in sports such as wrestling and football since they can be so intense that only a few seconds of them can get you out of breath. The bigfoot walk was what I learned from Vahva Fitness and it's based on movement utilized mainly by wrestlers being in that stance and shifting for balance like in Shadow Wrestling or a match. They get the body in rugged shape pretty fast and when you go hard on even one of them, you're building that explosive conditioning. 

One of my other favorite workouts is a 5 min Tabata Workout of just the Bear Crawl. You go as fast as you can for 10 seconds, rest for 20 and repeat until you've done 5 minutes. That may not sound hard but it's not as easy as it looks on paper. When you have to explode at a moments notice and you're practically sprinting on all fours, it becomes quite the exercise. The first couple rounds you might be breathing hard but the more rounds you go, the more it's going to feel like your heart will rip out of your chest. If you're in good health, this might actually be good for you to do (not every single day though).  It's quick, fast and can be done practically anywhere. I do it in my living space and it kicks my ass every time.

There are so many ways to do Animal Workouts it's not even funny. When you get the idea of moving like a beast in the wild, it doesn't seem like a workout, it becomes a game you can play and being like a kid again. An ancient style of this type of training can be traced back to the art of qi gong and the Shaolin Monks who mimic animals in their Martial Arts practice. In today's style which can has been seen like with Animal Flow and Ginastica Natural, it's been used to target MMA style training and conditioning for certain aspects of Health. It can be fun especially if you combine them but when it comes down to it, you can do all of that and then some with the Movement 20XX fitness course that shows you how to not just work individual exercises but combine the elements of all of them together to form your own style and goals. 

These forms of exercise create an exciting aspect of fitness you don't get with conventional training methods. Yes some exercises may be too advanced for some people but as long as you stick to the basics, you're golden. Just the deck of cards workout I've given you would be a great warm up or a conditioning workout on its own and you can pick your own animal moves to work on. I picked those because they're fun to do. It can be challenging but I find it more interesting to do than hundreds of squats or push-ups. Regular calisthenics are great and should be mastered and practiced whenever possible but at the same time, very few replaces killer exercises like Bear Crawls, Crab Walks & Duck Walks. If wrestlers use them for conditioning, that should tell you how important and brutal they can be. Whether for a few minutes or close to a half hour, animal exercises can be a great asset to your health, your overall strength and conditioning along with building balance, flexibility and durability. Did I forget to mention they're calorie burners as well? 

Get moving by training like a wild beast and have fun. The more fun you have, the better your results will be. Keep being amazingly awesome.  

Lost Empire Herb Of The Day: Seabuckthorn Berry

Flow Through Your Workouts

Going hardcore in a workout isn't always a bad thing and people just push themselves to the brink of collapse is the boost to their ego; but going hardcore doesn't always mean you should a lot of the time unless it "may be" a micro workout of some sorts. Flowing through a workout where you're challenging yourself but it feels to you almost effortless is one of the coolest things you can do.

These days because of the inspiration from Vahva Fitness, my brain has been fiddling with ideas and coming up with flows and combos, learning the flow routines from Vahva and developing better flexibility and agility with great energy and enthusiasm. It's almost like the excitement never stops and have used specific flows for my flexibility, conditioning and coordination. Taking a few exercises and putting them together to create something fun to do is what is keeping me coming back.

My favorite exercises to use in my flow training are the Over Reach, 180 Degree Jumps and the Scorpion. Utilizing these three with other exercises and you've got a hell of a foundation. I even will use them in a freestyle manner where they randomly go with other exercises in a workout where I come up with exercises on the spot. This routine I do here, would be considered freestyle since I didn't have the exercises in a specific order and was coming up with stuff at the top of my head.

Some workouts I'll just do a couple moves and just switch from one to the other like this demo of the Scorpion & Over Reach Combo to work my flexibility and coordination. One exercise I've learned lately that I'm still figuring out how to do properly is called in Vahva Fitness the King Crab. It's not an impossible move but to coordinate it and move in the manner can challenging since you're up off your heels and walk sideways. I did a video of just Holding The Position in an Isometric format to build strength so when I do more of the movement, I'm use to being in that position. I like to use themes every now and then and this move made me think of a scene in Fantastic Beasts: The Secret Of Dumbledore where the main protagonist has to go through a cave and these "Fire Crabs" are ready to strike him and he has to move like them to distract them. 

 When it comes to conditioning, flows can have a profound impact depending on how you do them. When you use jumping movements or crawls in a sprint like fashion while quickly switching from one thing to another can really fire up the lungs. A workout I did yesterday was a combo of the Scorpion, Over Reach and Bear Crawling. Do the first two moves than do a 5-10 yard crawl and walk back and repeat for as many rounds as possible. I did about 10 and that was enough. When you get out of breath, walk it off until it has subsided and keep going, don't sit down or bend over and heave, breathe deeply and keep things flowing. Vahva also has great workouts that target various muscle groups but also shows you step by step how to do a flow properly and progress by adding speed and smoothness. 

Another great combo that will get you out of breath is just crawling and jumping as in Crawl for a distance, get into a squat and do a 180 degree jump or just a regular frog jump and crawl back. Do that for 30 seconds to a minute and you'll be panting like crazy. You can see the video of that below. Workouts should never be boring and moving from one thing to another fast is a great way to get you going. Bodyweight Training is more than just simple pushups, squats, pullups and lunges; you can create things and open up a whole other door to exercising that is limitless and full of curiosity. 

If you really want the complete package and take on a whole plethora of challenges, flows, athletic specialization and conditioning programs, check out the Trinity Bundle from Vahva and combine them for workout regimens that will test even the most elite athletes. Be strong, get conditioned and be amazingly awesome. 

I Want YOU To Become An Animal

 I've written out about Animal Training a few times before but it’s something worth mentioning time and time again because people should learn about this great style of strength & conditioning training. As we get older our hormone levels drop a certain percentage every year starting at around 25 I believe. I'm a couple years shy of 30 and I want to be able to have that great level of metabolism and natural growth hormone levels by the time I hit that age and beyond, I can't imagine the percentages someone over 40 or older has dropped.

 Animal Training is a system where you imitate and move like an animal in the wild, simple as that. One of the most famous exercises in fitness when it comes to bodyweight is the bear crawl, walking or sprinting on all fours and you can do it for reps, time, distance hell even play tag whatever you can do is up to you. It’s one of the most fun exercises there is plus many more. In my experience, I have received awesome benefits from this type of training including….

Better Awareness

Endurance

Strength in Awkward Positions

Higher Metabolism

Stronger Abs

Muscular Definition

Increased Agility

Last But Not Least….Increased Growth Hormone

 These are just the tip of the iceberg from what I received and I'm a big guy over 240 lb. and yet feeling like Tarzan. I don't care if you're big, small or whatever, this will give you lifelong fitness if you take a chance and learn it. I love it and it gives me a hell of a workout or should I say play time in short durations.

 Children these days don't do enough fitness and have gone off the deep end with becoming overweight, lack of strength, water being replaced by soda and not getting enough brain activity to study but yet rather watch TV and text/talk on their cell phones it's ridiculous. I'm not saying you should force your kids to get fit but it wouldn't hurt to help teach them, better yet not letting them know they're exercising but rather playing and having a good time. We all have a favorite animal so why not put it to good use. Studies have shown that exercise increases Awareness, Strength in the brain, increased energy, high endorphins, stronger metabolisms, natural muscle growth and bone density, wouldn't it be awesome to have all those things and more. Parents I encourage you to exercise with your kids, it'll help bring a bond that a family that trains together sticks together. My parents when I was growing up didn't do that with me and rarely ever do it now and have to learn all on my own which isn't a bad thing but I always wondered what if so don't let your kids slip away from you on that notion, work with them as stress-free as possible. Time flies by and before you know it, your kids are gone and going after their own thing, spend time with them before it’s too late.

The biggest benefit of this type of training is not what you get from it but how you do them. Exercise is suppose to fun, exciting and something to look forward to and not looked at as a punishment or feel you need to do it or force yourself into it. Make it worthwhile. One of my favorite workouts is taking Animals and making them like Cartoon characters like the Bear Crawl can be turned into Baloo from the Jungle Book and playing with mowgli, another can be a cricket and turning him into Jiminy Cricket, even turn the Gorilla exercise into becoming King Kong the larger than life Ape. My all-time favorite animal is the Gorilla and as an Avenger Fan I got to see both of that in a Comic Book which you can find right here. The more you realize its fun, the more benefit you'll get out of it.

Being fit for decades to come is a goal we all strive to achieve, some have even made it, one of my mentors is in his 60’s and acts like a man in his 20’s, one man is approaching his 80’s and still has the strength to lift the heaviest of hammers and one of my favorite strongmen can do feats of strength that makes guys in our generation look like weaklings. Its how you put your mind to it, building that Mind/Muscle Connection. Make it a habit to have fun for you, your friends, your children maybe even grandchildren, it’s never too late to be strong and healthy.