Thinking With Power

           What if you can create a world internally and have it become your greatest ally in the quest for health, strength & fitness? How would you create it, what would sound like and feel as it vibrates your body from within? The power we have in our minds is far greater and mysterious than we care to understand. We have scientists who have studied the brain and still have many grounds to cover that haven’t peaked yet and we also have masters in various Internal Arts that have such great power even though they’re small in reality. The world you can create has limitless possibilities if you believe in it.

            The power you have can go far beyond the outside. When you train whether it’s for sports, competition, to be healthier, gain strength, lose weight whatever the case may be it is important to know you can do many things and you have the power to do them. I like to do sprints because they raise my testosterone like crazy, when I go out and sprint I don’t just look t the distance and how long or fast I need to get there but I imagine in my mind I could be a superhero or a wild animal with lightning speed. When I think like this, my body changes, my muscles start to fire on their own and when I take off I’m zooming down the path. If you like to lift weights, don’t just lift and go with it, think differently, change your breathing and feel as if you are able to tackle the weight with effortless power.

            To unleash your strength, it’s not always physical. Unlocking that super strength within you takes great focus and how you think. When you change the thought, your body reacts to it, don’t think like “ok I’m going to try to lift this and see if it’s possible.” Change the thought, think how would a god like say Zeus would pick up a weight, would he say he’ll try to lift it and see if he can, hell no, he’s Zeus and he’s a mighty god of superhuman quality and he knows he can lift it just by how he breathes, how he grips it and what’s already within the power of his mind, he believes so greatly it’s undeniable. Now I’m not saying to think like this and Bench Press 1000 pounds or something like that but this is a prime example of how you can think differently and excel past your plateaus and go as far as tripling your strength and speed or more.

            It takes practice to learn this kind of thinking and feel it with intensity and focus. Like with anything else, you progress and train your mind and body as if it they were one and the same. Little by little you’re edging your way up and building strength you never thought was possible. Nobody has a giant amount of strength in the beginning, we all started out weak in some shape or form and in order to get stronger, we progress even by a tiny fraction that can lead to a massive amount later on. Believe you can get better whether by a speck or more and you’ll start to realize where that true strength lies, it’s not how big your muscles are or how much you can lift off the ground or rack, it lies deep within your soul and the way you empower the internal entity that is your mind.

Be awesome guys and have a wonderful Spring Weekend.  

The Traveling Gym

           In fitness, there are so many programs and so many options to choose from but what most people don’t understand or even bother to notice is that you can work out virtually anywhere. Sure it’s nice to have a gym to go to and there are some awesome gyms that will kick your ass but a gym shouldn’t be your only option. Think about it, if you’re traveling on the road not even leaving the state, just going to a different town, you may not always find a gym so what the hell do you do and still get in some awesome training? You travel light; you can have a gym in your own bag or just use your bodyweight.

            Your mind is an extremely powerful tool. In this case, if you concentrate and focus, you can actually in this case, find any gym anywhere on the planet. Look at it this way, a gym really is just a building full of things to pick up, move and even run on that’s it. When you step out of that element and look in different pieces, you can find great ways to train. You’re at a hotel, they don’t have a gym so what can you do? Use your imagination, use the hotel for your workout, do push-ups near your bed, do step-ups on the stairs, do isometrics on the rails. This is just a prime example, what about being in a cabin and the nearest gym is about a half hour and not that easy to find what can you do? Use your imagination, go swimming, do sprints up a hill, hike, lift a rock, there are so many things you can utilize.

            Let me give you an example; Almost every summer, my family and I go to Lake Tahoe for a couple weeks max, we laugh, we cry, there’s drama at times and we make up for it, we go out to different places and even go to an old western town if we had the chance but I find the best ways to train anywhere we go. A little up the road from our cabin is the lake where there’s rocks, trees, a dock and plenty of water to swim in. I would swim and then climb up a big rock maybe bear crawl it up who knows, jump back in the water, swim to a series of rocks around the area and climb, crawl, jump, squat, sometimes I do push-ups. Look what I just did, I used every muscle in my body from head to toe and even did cardio at the same time because I needed to keep moving and use not just my body but my mind to think where to plant myself and coordinate because it can be dangerous.

            Learn to see the world as your gym no matter where you live. If you want to have the cheapest gym that requires no gym fees and can be used to travel with, get yourself some stuff at Lifeline USA. The Chest Expander is a great tool to travel with, The TNT Cables are bad ass because not only you can use them on the ground but have a door attachment to wrap the cables around do the same exercises you see in the gym. Use the Power Walk for your walking exercise and get fit from doing that. Don’t make things complicated for you, take advantage of what you have and make it work for you. Open your mind and body and there are endless possibilities.

Be awesome my friends.

Train To Be Effortless

           Too many people try so hard to make things easier in their lives. They work hard for their family, they push themselves to the brink of exhaustion in their exercises to build their body and they just shove so much stuff it becomes more of a chore and a punishment than an effortless series of tasks. It’s not a shame to work hard for what you want but there are ways to tweak things and use your mind to channel your attitude towards certain things.

            One of the greatest quotes in my opinion is from Yoda “Do or do not. There is no try.” You either do something or you don’t it’s that simple. However, you can focus your mind to make things seem effortless by relaxing a bit more and letting things flow and letting the universe take it’s course. This does not mean stop doing what you’re doing and letting things just happen for you, it takes effort but it doesn't have to be so dramatic and emotionally and physically exhausting. Let me give you an example…When Luke was using the force to pull the X-Wing out of the Swamp, in his mind the damn thing was heavy as hell and with all his might he couldn't even get it out of the water. Exhausted and breathing heavily, he sat down and Yoda looks at him with such disappointment. Luke gets frustrated and walks away thinking that even an old dwarf like Yoda couldn't pull that chunk of metal out of the water. Yoda makes it look effortless and not only gets it out of the water but even makes the damn thing fly back onto shore.

            We all have to pull our own X-Wing out of the water in our lives and sometimes it can be extremely difficult. When you learn to channel your mind and believe with action that everything will flow the way it should, things will become effortless for you and even our metaphorical X-Wing will fly out of the water and we’ll carry it in our mind towards shore without any effort at all. Like the late Bruce Lee once said “Be like water”, you’ll flow with power and effortless strength in any endeavor you do and it all starts in the mind and once you learn how to use it, everything will come together.

            A lot of things can be challenging and we sometimes can’t stand it because it can be so freaking hard your head might explode but what if we can shift things around. When an obstacle comes across us, how about we make the challenge a little interesting; have a little fun with it. You’d be surprised how things can seem less of a challenge if you don’t struggle with it so much. It could be just about anything and you can conquer your challenges with fierce vitality and strength that nothing can stand in your way, you’ll find a way to beat it and do it with a smile on your face. Love the challenge because if you don’t it’ll walk all over you, you don’t have to enjoy it or look forward to it but when it comes knocking you’ll love it but also beat it’s ass to a bloody pulp. Learn to shift your mind and see what happens, you never know until you do it, not try it but do it.

Pushing Your Limits

            Every once in a while you have that workout where it becomes a challenge, you want to take it as far as you can possibly, shooting beyond the realm of your capabilities. It’s great to have something to shoot for but it’s also important to understand progression, recovery and rest because if you try to do this every time, your body will burn out and you’re going to set up for injury. This doesn't mean you stop training.

            We all want to find out what we’re capable of but we never strive to actually find out what that really is. Workouts come and go and we always try to do better than the last but what’s really doing better? Do you do more reps/sets, does your tempo change or do you vary the position to make it harder or easier? In the end its best to what your capable of but one time, rather a week, month or year go as far as your body will take you and make your recovery period as long as it takes.

            Most don’t cross that threshold of pushing the realm of hardcore to one insane way to take your body to the limit. The reason why because they’re afraid of injuring themselves, overtraining, doing this more than that and never finding out their true potential. I've had my fair share of taking it to the limit but by my own way, you don’t push it like other people, you push it by yourself. There’s a lot of guys out there that can’t handle what I do but at the same time there are others I can’t match no matter what I do and I've learned to accept that. You’re no better than the next guy but he’s also no better than you are, it’s a matter of how you’re willing to go beyond yourself.

            All of us have plateaus to conquer, but the majority never hit that part of the hill because they’re afraid. In the movie Pumping Iron, one of the bodybuilders is talking to Arnold and the other Muscle Beach bums and says that the wolf on the hill isn't as hungry as the other wolf climbing the hill. It’s all about perspective and how far you’re willing to push yourself to climb to the top of your mountain. No one should climb someone else’s hill but their own, you don’t have to better or stronger or faster than the next guy but to be more of those things for yourself. Conquer your own hill, every little step doesn’t get easier but when you hit that hill at the top, it’ll make things all that much worth it. 

Fitness Of The Mind

           When it comes to training, some people look forward to getting their ass kicked because they're getting something out of it and they've earned what they put into it but others feel it’s a punishment because they didn't do it the day before or something that makes them feel it’s something they have no choice to do and they hate themselves for it. It’s really all in their thick ass skulls and whatever reason they have it’s either going to happen or not.

            The mindset that can make you or break you really all comes down to just one person and that’s who you look at in the mirror everyday. You can have people train you, you can watch all those dumb ass cardio dvds like hip hop abs or that really annoying Insanity crap and you can even drive to the gym and run on a treadmill (really idiotic I’d say) but nobody really tells you what to do unless you get yourself doing it. If you really want to enjoy what you do, you have to change the way you think because if all you're going to be is miserable it’s your own fault because you thought it was going to be that way. Being happy in what you do means you make things happen, you make the effort and you even push yourself without bitching or complaining. See the difference?

            My philosophy is if you want the best learn from the best but make it your own. Following others all the time won’t make you reach your potential to where you want it to be. To be the best you can be, learn how all the things you were taught and create something for yourself. I know what it’s like, I've read the magazines and tried to follow what they do and guess what happened, minor injuries, sores, back pain, pulled muscles and even couldn’t move out of bed at times so I switched things around after my accident. I learned a few things but I did not follow exactly to the T what they said, I made up 90% of the stuff I learned because I wanted to create something for myself. So I say this, you can be the sheep for a little bit but eventually you'll want to be the Shepherd and build your own following and teach them to be the Shepherd.

            In the wild, some animals travel in packs, some are solo and some are in between but for the most part they do what they can to survive, they don't listen to the latest trend or what’s been studied, they do what they need to do because their mind is programmed that way. Make things happen by learning and finding how things work and run with it. Be happy with what you have but don’t ever be satisfied because there’s so much more you can do but do it one at a time.

            Find what you want to do. Learn from the best and learn to venture out on your own to build your own thing after mastering the basic things you want to do. We are all different and have different needs and goals we want to achieve so master the foundation and progress on your own after because no one knows your body like you do and you know what functions well and what doesn’t. Be who you are and be a first rate self and not a second rate somebody because the majority of people end up being the ladder and are too damn scared to discover something in themselves.

Build Mentally Tough To Grow Strong!!!!!!

A lot of fitness gurus and experts feed you a bunch of crap to make money for themselves and never give that one guy/girl to show their true potential in how they can be mentally and physically tough. Truly anything is possible when you have the right tools and the right people to give you the opportunity to show you what you can do for yourself and become your own superhuman.

One of the biggest secrets you can find is to build your mind power to achieve the goals you always dreamed of. A lot of people say if you work hard you'll get ahead in life, well some of it is true and some of its bullshit and for good reason. Some people bust their ass all their lives and the people who are around them never get the recognition they deserve. There are some people who should be getting paid then most pro athletes for the hours and hours they put themselves through to get some food and a little house/rent money to use to live.

Genetics won't always get you where you want to go. You can have the most kick ass body in the world but if you don't have the right attitude then you won't be as successful as you want to be. You can be the strongest person on the planet but if you don't know how to give yourself the proper ways to recover and build pure inner power, your strength won't last too long. You can be the best wrestler in your high school or college gym but if you don't have the condition to go when you need to you'll be dead in a heartbeat.

The best program doesn't always come from a DVD, a book, a cd or an app on your Iphone. The best workout program comes from your heart and creating whats in it for you and not duplicating someone else. Building self-reliance and finding your own research and building a program for yourself is one of the ultimate secrets of Think & Grow Strong. This will help you build mental toughness that will take you to levels you only saw in your dreams.

Learn the secrets of how Arthur Saxon's 370lb. Bent Press, how Logan Christopher pulled off 301 KB snatches in 10 min as well as pulling a fire truck with his hair and better yet, learn how a man named Charles Garfield set a lifetime record in bench pressing 365 lbs. without very much to hardly ever trained on the lift itself. Learn to access that inner power within you that turns you from weak to strong within minutes or less. Would you like to know?

Get Think & Grow Strong  and be amazed at what you can increase in the potential of becoming something beyond your capabilities and something beyond of what you can truly be. Be tough, be strong, be mindful.