Being Creative In How You Make The Basics Work

 It can distracting AF when you have all the information at your disposal but have no true clue what to do with it. It happens to a lot of people (me included sometimes) but it's important to learn the value of how we process that information by taking bits of it and molding it into our own style. It's not always easy, it's not meant to be, but it can bring greater value to what we want to achieve. 

Having knowledge of the basics lay the foundation to what we can do to move forward. That's the beauty of what training is about, it's the idea that you can use simplistic approaches to what gives you the greatest benefit for your individual needs. Become a master of your domain (channeling Seinfeld IYKYK) and harness a creative entity in how you use the basics. When it comes to fitness and training, people are fixated on certain things and shove all sorts of methods down people's throats. I do my best to not do that but to give you resources that could bring you incredible results because I want you to succeed and get the most for what goes on in your life. 

Not everyone has the mindset to do an hour long workout, some do and it's awesome that they can pull that off and make time for themselves. However; sometimes it's not always an option so if you're short on time, it's important to find what can give you the best out of your time you need to train. It's one of the reasons why I advocate and respect the Red Delta Project. With a series of courses dedicated to making your training effective with basic exercises and with little to no equipment, you can create a workout just about anywhere you wish. With fundamental training, you have the ability to do what works for you with the time you have. 

Books like Suspension Calisthenics, Overcoming Isometrics & others, these build a level of knowledge and wisdom that seldom use even by today's standards. Although some exercises look plain and boring to some people, it doesn't take away the fact that they not only work but have a far greater outlook to how you train for the long haul. You don't need to do 20 sets of every single body part or train for  1-2 hours in order to get results. Hell, yesterday my workout barely lasted 45 minutes if that and I'm feeling a bit of it today. Did 8 exercises that hit just about every muscle from the shoulders down to the legs and did no more than 3-4 sets on each of them. The main focus was technique and tension using only 1-3 movements per muscle group. Here's what I did to give you an idea......

Push-ups x 13, 12, 10

Suspension Curls x 14, 11, 10

Split Squats (Per Leg) x 16, 14, 10, 10

Side Hip Raises (Per Side) x 12, 10, 8

Suspension Squats x 15, 15, 10, 10

Power Wheel Knee Pull Ins x 12, 10, 8

Power Wheel Rollouts x 12, 10, 8

Suspension Incline Rows x 15, 15, 10

Not complicated, didn't take up a ton of time, rested as long as needed for a fresh set and kept things simple and focused on the muscles worked. No jolting or bouncing, no mindless reps and made the exercises work for me. Train for what matters and make the time work in your favor and not against you. Sure I can do far more reps on each of these exercises if I wanted but it would defeat the purpose of what I wanted to get done. Again with the mindless reps, it boils down to intent and what needs to be done to stimulate the muscles. You're not going for world records unless that's your intended goal or you have a goal to do 500-1000 reps of something consistently. Those are all well and good and they work (to a degree) but finding a way to stimulate for growth and strength is utilized in a more condensed but basic approach. I used a countdown method for my reps in the workout above for a reason and it was to create more tension into the muscles I was working to build a greater level of concentration and focus without resorting to going to failure.

The number of reps you do is arbitrary for others but what really counts is how you apply muscle control to those reps that makes the difference in the quality over the quantity. You can make 10 reps feel like 100 if you know the right physical and mental aspect of the control of your muscles. That's the idea of what RDP teaches. It shows you how to control every movement you do so you can get the most out of your workouts in the best amount of time possible. It gives you tools to be creative but also have the best knowledge even at low skill set exercises. Create opportunities to build your body that will not only bring you great joy but also a sense of gratification that you can do amazing things on a basic level. Keep killing it and keep being amazingly awesome.   

A Workout Is Just A Workout

    The way most people look at exercise is that they just want it over with. Driving to the gym, slap on some clothes and do their little cardio sessions and baby weights plus a little Zumba or Jazzercise to "spice" it up. Sometimes people exercise just to get away from home and do their thing, nothing wrong with that but then there are those that take it so seriously they'll die before they don't have a great training session. For me in 9+ years of doing at least 1 workout every single day, I look at it as an opportunity to challenge my body, my mind and the way certain exercises feel with a sense of purpose and imagination. For the most part I'm a complete nerd when it comes to exercise and I've accepted that. People in the most sense don't really use their minds from an opened stand point, they're very analytical and don't realize that the right amount of things to use for your goals is not that much yet isolate the shit of out their bodies.

 
    Like a few people in fitness, I put passion into my exercise, I may not always show it but in my mind I'm firing up and I'll keep going until I feel I'm done. Those who train with fire and passion go beyond just a workout, it's a battle to who can keep up and the biggest competition is not that twerp bodybuilder with bunny weights, it's you against yourself. I've seen a lot of people in the gym and even a few train outside that train with a little finesse and have good technique but their energy just isn't there. It's like they do something just for the sake of doing it. It doesn't matter what you train as or what goals you're trying to achieve whether it's losing weight, building muscle, hold a handstand, pull the strongest cables or lift a weight you want to surpass; if you're passionate about it than use it to get the results you want.

 
    One secret I don't share with many people and now I'm giving it to you is that a real workout and I'm not talking about pushing your limits or getting psyched and all that stuff; what I'am talking about is that a great workout that is real and demanding for you is like telling a story. How do you introduce the story in your workouts, where's the conflict, do you have certain characters (exercises) that have something to say and how would you end it? Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end but it can't be just some mediocre story, it's how you play it out in your mind and putting it into action (training). You're creating a place in time where the way you feel and the way the story moves you. It's like a beautiful dance, you need rhythm, poise, and balance and most importantly you need to breathe life into it. How's that for a workout? It's not even a workout anymore, it's like a play and each chapter is one step closer to being stronger, more powerful and like an awesome ending it's going to change your mental state in a very cunning way.

 
    A great workout is flooded with intensity, not that getting mad and screaming crap but the focus and the drive to move faster, more efficient and strength that you didn't think you had in you. Many people can't understand this because there's no energy and no drive to do better. Sometimes the pace is slower or faster for some people but those that want to test themselves and see how far they're willing to go to get that intense focus to achieve the goals they strive for. One man I can name at the top of my head that is intense as you can get is Matti Marzel of Ferocious Strength; he's so adamant to be the very best at what he does that his intensity is felt throughout his writing and his videos as he breaks wrenches, does extremely advanced exercises on his fingertips and even holds himself up in ways some elite gymnasts can't fathom. He is that focused and he's just as intense from talking as he is training but the main point here is that he's one of extreme few individuals in this world that throws himself into this powerful state of mind and pushes himself to the point most are too damn afraid to go. A workout is never just a workout.

 
Happy Wednesday everyone. Keep it up and train hard during this mid week and be awesome. Looking for advice and coaching to help achieve your goals than grab $50 worth of products and as a bonus, I'll throw in a one-one free coaching session on skype. Check out the bottom of the site logo for more details.

Ask With Intent & Mindfulness

           In the fitness world, there’s always something to learn, the next big gadget, a new bodybuilding routine, how to develop superior grip strength, get bigger arms or legs, tight abs, lifting 500 lbs. of a specific lift like the Bench Press. We get excited and eager to learn so we ask a million questions but we don’t always get the answer we were hoping for and why is that? Getting so amped up then you find out certain things you didn't expect and often times you find yourself disappointed but how you can you change that around?

            Some of us get asked a bunch of different questions on training or something specific like Muscle Control for example, or how to increase your push-ups, what’s the strength difference between a barbell bench press and a dumbbell bench press hell even about a specific athlete that you love. I don’t get asked a million questions often like some of the other guys like Bud Jeffries, Logan Christopher, Ryan Pitts, Dru Patrick or even the legendary Dennis Rogers but when I do, I do my best to give the right answers but sometimes I’d like to ask the other person what they’re intent is, do you have a specific goal or do you want to know just for the sake of knowing? Knowledge is a powerful tool; it’s how you use it that creates what you want.

            Some of you guys out there are very eager to learn, you want answers and things explained but I’d like to share with you a quote from Master Catch Wrestler Billy Robinson, he says “Learn how to learn.” What does that mean exactly? In my way of putting it it’s learning by following your intuition, you learn certain things and ask about more but in order to find the answer, you have to participate and being mindful about what you want to learn. Ask yourself in your mind, what do you seek, where do you want to go in your training, you picture what you want to do, after that you do it. The questions you seek will come by experimenting, getting someone’s take on the subject and what they’re ideas are, take them in like a sponge but have the intention to go with your questions.

            Some guys like to run their mouth and like a machine gun just asking a bunch of questions without looking at the big picture. Their excitement is great and wants to find out as much as they can but yet don’t always hit the target. If you ever see someone at a gun range, watch how some of them take a shot at the target, they can shoot off all they want but if the bullets don’t hit the target they’re not aiming properly and clearly don’t know how to use a gun but they’re excited to learn and want to hit that target. Asking questions is the same thing, they’re like bullets but you need to have a target otherwise you’re just shooting all over the place. Focus on what you want to target, be mindful and fire at the points you’re looking for. When you look at it like this, you’ll find what you’re intentions are and what you want ask, sometimes it’s not the answer you’re looking for but yet it could be the one that was there all along.