Brooks happens to be one of my top favorite fitness authors and is tough as hell when it comes to training. 5-time Bench champion and record holder in his age group when he was champion. A firm believer in hard work and the right ways to develop strength/power in every area of the body. All you gym rats and strongman know Brooks by his book of Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets Of Strength & Development. Fascinating book and well deserved in the fitness world. Great talk on thick bar training and teaching the trainee to built the power he/she so desires and built heculean-like strength without the use of drugs or steriods.
He was a writer for Milo Magazine one of the biggest strength magazines in the world and he wrote countless articles on strength training and the types to get super strong. After a few years his body started to tear from the weights and needed an althernative. All who read on him know he had to come up with something. So he wrote a course that was unheard of and had a row of exercises many never thought of putting in a book. This book was to be known as Dinosaur Bodyweight Training. What exactly is this course and why would it be a BW course knowing that this man who looked he was carved out of granite was a 5-time national champion in Drug Free Powerlifting?
He came up with the idea that with certain elements and change in exercise you can develop a physique thats the symbol of a Greek Statue. From reading this course and doing most of the exercises personally I believe it. I didnt become a Greek Statue but I did develop muscle mass I never put on before. People get the idea that BW training can't get you muscle mass and you have to lift weights to get stronger. Thats pure BS cause once you see a video or picture of brooks doing the exercises the man is massive and is strong as hell for his size so he proves it works.
There are 100's of exercises he put in that cover every part of the body even exercises that build muscle in places you didnt think were working. The course has a vareity of equipment that is used during some exercises and he clearly states you don't have to use them to get in a great workout. They're great to a degree where if you want to increase the difficulty its a good idea to use them. Theres rings, pull-up bars, push-up bars, ab wheel, stability balls ect. So you have a great deal of equipment to use for BW exercises.
Is it worth getting the course well you be your own judge, the course sells at $197 plus 15 for shipping. In my personal opinion its worth getting cause its different then anything you've seen or done before. If the price is not your cup of tea, then get it on ebay if you can find it or don't get it all you've got other things you can try but take my word for it. If I didnt have it and can afford i'm right there. Its an awesome course and the DVDs that follow from his site can give you a better prespective watching him then reading about it. He goes into greater detail on the DVDs so if you don't want the book then get those seperatly or all together.
www.brookskubik.com
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Monday, April 2, 2007
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Life Without The People In Your life!!!!
When I was growing up I didnt have the luxery of having tons of friends and have a great group of family to back me up in my goals and being the best I can be. Most of them wanted me to be what they thought I should be and so I rebeled against them. In my teens I didnt have the best of athletic ability or have a killer physique. I dont have much of the latter even now but thats ok its who iam even though I wanna drop a few just to experience it. Anyway, Over the years i've dealt with deaths, depression, crying a lot, getting beat up both ways and being put down by some of the very people i love and care for but yet its hard to imagine me going through that cause most people see me as a nice guy who doesnt bullshit anybody. I used to keep many things to myself and its pissed quite a few people off but you know what I dont care anymore lol.
I'am who i'am and I can never change it. The thing to remember is that with everything going on you can't not think about the people who got you here even the ones I rebeled against got me to where I'am but the people who encouraged me to do what I love to do best. There are many people I can name off who inspired me and admired so i'll just name a few:
John Peterson- The man that has put me through torture and brutal workings through his books and dvd. This is the guy that can never put you down for what you believe in and if you have something to ask hes got the answer. The few times i've talked to him I get nervous but excited cause i'm just not talking to any old physical culturist but I a wonderful human being. Thank you my friend.
Josh- One of my new friends that has helped me push even further into my writings and training. A kick ass guy that doesnt stand down for what he believes in and does his best. I'm honored to call this soilder and fellow physical culturist my friend and i'll always have his back as well as he'll have mine. Keep it up bro and I know someday we'll put each other through torturous workouts.
Matt Furey- For introducing me to bodyweight exercises and teaching me how to strengthen my legs again through Combat Conditioning and Gama Fitness.
Never fall short on who is pushing you or inspires you or motivates you cause those are the true people to have in your life and the ones you dont want to let go. Thanks guys and you know its gonna get better from here.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
I'am who i'am and I can never change it. The thing to remember is that with everything going on you can't not think about the people who got you here even the ones I rebeled against got me to where I'am but the people who encouraged me to do what I love to do best. There are many people I can name off who inspired me and admired so i'll just name a few:
John Peterson- The man that has put me through torture and brutal workings through his books and dvd. This is the guy that can never put you down for what you believe in and if you have something to ask hes got the answer. The few times i've talked to him I get nervous but excited cause i'm just not talking to any old physical culturist but I a wonderful human being. Thank you my friend.
Josh- One of my new friends that has helped me push even further into my writings and training. A kick ass guy that doesnt stand down for what he believes in and does his best. I'm honored to call this soilder and fellow physical culturist my friend and i'll always have his back as well as he'll have mine. Keep it up bro and I know someday we'll put each other through torturous workouts.
Matt Furey- For introducing me to bodyweight exercises and teaching me how to strengthen my legs again through Combat Conditioning and Gama Fitness.
Never fall short on who is pushing you or inspires you or motivates you cause those are the true people to have in your life and the ones you dont want to let go. Thanks guys and you know its gonna get better from here.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Bridging- Pros & Cons
When it comes to fitness there is one subject that very few talk about (mostly in martial arts) and thats bridging: Hands alone, head alone and hands/head. There are many people who believe bridging isnt good for you and you're going to snap your neck and ect. These are the people that never bridged in their life and want to give other a bad rap about it cause they feel if they can't do neither can anybody else. Now lets take a look at the pros and cons of bridging and see what we can come up with.
Pro- When done properly it energizes the body by releaving nerve force which causes new life in the bloodstream and to the organs of the body.
Con- First who start out will be fearful of being upside down and are not used to being bent backwards.
Pro- Builds strength/flexibilty/endurance throughout the whole body and with the proper breathing it can a calm and relaxing exercise
Con- Causes of bit of pressure to the head even in the proper position and the trainee must caution himself to not over do it.
Pro- After a period of training and mastering certain elements of the bridge the trainee can use to develop the body and the thickness of his/her neck .
Con- Most people don't see how it builds neck strength and do it improperly.
Pro- Once going through the process of bridging gymnasics (kick over and falling back) the trainee has a key sense of kenistetic awarness of his/her surroundings.
Con- People get scared of not knowing how aware and strong they can be and want to avoid the bridge.
There are many more but i'm sure you can come up with a few more. No matter how you put bridging works like a charm but it isnt for everybody and thats ok we need different structures and people feel limited to what they can really accomplish if they look hard enough. For me I love it and wouldn't be anywhere without it and all its elements and still got a bit more to learn but hey we all have to learn something. Bridging to me makes me feel like a million bucks, if I can pull off a 3 min. back bridge or hold a good gymnast bridge everything else seems easy cause not only is it challenging it builds character.
Once you get over the fear then you know you've come a long way. Keep learning and keep challenging yourself cause thats the only way to grow.
If you want to learn more about the bridge look up these sites that I feel are best to look. For Matt Furey's site go to his daily archives at the bottom of the site and you'll see some bridging articles, great reads. For the other site look for posts in the forum and there should be some there.
www.mattfurey.com
www.bronzebowpublishing.com
Advanced Bridging Course
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Pro- When done properly it energizes the body by releaving nerve force which causes new life in the bloodstream and to the organs of the body.
Con- First who start out will be fearful of being upside down and are not used to being bent backwards.
Pro- Builds strength/flexibilty/endurance throughout the whole body and with the proper breathing it can a calm and relaxing exercise
Con- Causes of bit of pressure to the head even in the proper position and the trainee must caution himself to not over do it.
Pro- After a period of training and mastering certain elements of the bridge the trainee can use to develop the body and the thickness of his/her neck .
Con- Most people don't see how it builds neck strength and do it improperly.
Pro- Once going through the process of bridging gymnasics (kick over and falling back) the trainee has a key sense of kenistetic awarness of his/her surroundings.
Con- People get scared of not knowing how aware and strong they can be and want to avoid the bridge.
There are many more but i'm sure you can come up with a few more. No matter how you put bridging works like a charm but it isnt for everybody and thats ok we need different structures and people feel limited to what they can really accomplish if they look hard enough. For me I love it and wouldn't be anywhere without it and all its elements and still got a bit more to learn but hey we all have to learn something. Bridging to me makes me feel like a million bucks, if I can pull off a 3 min. back bridge or hold a good gymnast bridge everything else seems easy cause not only is it challenging it builds character.
Once you get over the fear then you know you've come a long way. Keep learning and keep challenging yourself cause thats the only way to grow.
If you want to learn more about the bridge look up these sites that I feel are best to look. For Matt Furey's site go to his daily archives at the bottom of the site and you'll see some bridging articles, great reads. For the other site look for posts in the forum and there should be some there.
www.mattfurey.com
www.bronzebowpublishing.com
Advanced Bridging Course
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Push-Ups: Better then the Bench Press?
Thats been one of the world's top questions in fitness and there have been many answers, some good, some bad and some just plain stupid. Heres how I would pan it out by experiencing both. The bench press is the leading exercise in weightlifting and the most famous question "What can you bench" has been going on for decades since the 60's maybe longer. Benching can make you stronger but you will suffer many consequences as you progress to higher weight. Shoulder problems, tendonitis in the elbow, blown out triceps, chest pain, neck problems and torn trapizius joints. There are men and women that are some of the strongest people on the planet yet an extreme few can do push-ups. Whats wrong with this picture? People hitting a hardcore upper body developer and cant do some simple push-ups with their own bodyweight.
What people don't realize (and if they're smart to notice) is that push-ups build the entire body from head to toe from 100's apon 100's of angles. I can name quite a few but hey i'm sure you enthusiasts can come up with them on your own. Push-ups build a different kind of strength then from benching and yet there are very few injuries from push-ups then benching has. Push-ups create the body you want and deserve whether you want to lean and cut or big and burly. After experiencing both i've come to the conclusion that push-ups are far healthier and better yet have far more veriaties then benching.
If you want to build upper body power and become a true fitness machine here are the go to guys.
Ultimate Bodyweight Conditioning- Push-ups
www.transformetrics.com
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
What people don't realize (and if they're smart to notice) is that push-ups build the entire body from head to toe from 100's apon 100's of angles. I can name quite a few but hey i'm sure you enthusiasts can come up with them on your own. Push-ups build a different kind of strength then from benching and yet there are very few injuries from push-ups then benching has. Push-ups create the body you want and deserve whether you want to lean and cut or big and burly. After experiencing both i've come to the conclusion that push-ups are far healthier and better yet have far more veriaties then benching.
If you want to build upper body power and become a true fitness machine here are the go to guys.
Ultimate Bodyweight Conditioning- Push-ups
www.transformetrics.com
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Gama Fitness
Probably my top 5 program out of tons of books I have on strength/conditioning. A program by the controversal Matt Furey that was formulated after the greatest wrestler of all-time The Great Gama of India who was undefeted in 5000 matches and trained like an animal day in and day out. It was said by many articles of the great champion that he trained in thousands of calisthenics plus hours of swimming, running and wrestling and with these sayings its very exaggerated but at the same time you knew this man of a beast trained hard.
In this course you are taught how to develop strength in many areas including the mind. In each lesson out of 12 you will exercises that focus on ways to get your mind and muscles work in ways that are rarely taught today. If you learn what to do in this course alone you can do anything you wanted to do. It even teaches you how to gain/lose weight through the power of the mind and exercise and the obvious by eating.
Get into it, focus on what you want and just go with maximum force and make goals that will make you happy, feel energized, feel like a strong bear or gorilla and never put a bad thing into it and you will go far. Heres the lessons in this course:
Lesson One- Making goals and what to do to achieve then. this is probably the most important lessons in the course.
Lesson Two- Variations of Hindu Push-ups/Squats that increase muscular strength/endurance and flexibility.
Lesson Three- How to increase speed and explosiveness through hill sprints and various equipment.
Lesson Four- Going beyond the bridge and get into whats called Bridging Gymnastics.
Lesson Five- Keys to building incredible Pull-up strength and overall upper body development in that area.
Lesson Six- Isometrics used by Gama and some of the greatest athletes in the world in a series of non moving flexing and squeezing muscle groups.
Lesson Seven- Building strength and power using the Chest Expander. If you're a combat athlete or strongman you'll love this.
Lesson Eight- Exercises (other then Hindu PU's and Squats) that build great cardiovascular conditioning through the Power Wheel and Jump rope.
Lesson Nine- Stretches that simutaneously build Strength/Flexibility at the same time. Dont always believe in the fact if you want strength lift and stretch for flexibility.
Lesson Ten- Ways of rejuvinating the body after vigerous training.
Lesson Eleven- The keys to gaining/losing weight while training and how it can affect the body.
Lesson Twelve- The Muscle/Mind Connection and how it pans out for daily life and how you can use it effectively to achive anything you want.
This course sells at 215 bucks on Matt's site and well worth the dough but if you feel you dont want to pay that much then go to ebay, you'll see it somewhere. This is by far the course when it comes doing high levels of conditioning even for the elite. Have fun and hope you get a kick out of it.
www.mattfurey.com
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
In this course you are taught how to develop strength in many areas including the mind. In each lesson out of 12 you will exercises that focus on ways to get your mind and muscles work in ways that are rarely taught today. If you learn what to do in this course alone you can do anything you wanted to do. It even teaches you how to gain/lose weight through the power of the mind and exercise and the obvious by eating.
Get into it, focus on what you want and just go with maximum force and make goals that will make you happy, feel energized, feel like a strong bear or gorilla and never put a bad thing into it and you will go far. Heres the lessons in this course:
Lesson One- Making goals and what to do to achieve then. this is probably the most important lessons in the course.
Lesson Two- Variations of Hindu Push-ups/Squats that increase muscular strength/endurance and flexibility.
Lesson Three- How to increase speed and explosiveness through hill sprints and various equipment.
Lesson Four- Going beyond the bridge and get into whats called Bridging Gymnastics.
Lesson Five- Keys to building incredible Pull-up strength and overall upper body development in that area.
Lesson Six- Isometrics used by Gama and some of the greatest athletes in the world in a series of non moving flexing and squeezing muscle groups.
Lesson Seven- Building strength and power using the Chest Expander. If you're a combat athlete or strongman you'll love this.
Lesson Eight- Exercises (other then Hindu PU's and Squats) that build great cardiovascular conditioning through the Power Wheel and Jump rope.
Lesson Nine- Stretches that simutaneously build Strength/Flexibility at the same time. Dont always believe in the fact if you want strength lift and stretch for flexibility.
Lesson Ten- Ways of rejuvinating the body after vigerous training.
Lesson Eleven- The keys to gaining/losing weight while training and how it can affect the body.
Lesson Twelve- The Muscle/Mind Connection and how it pans out for daily life and how you can use it effectively to achive anything you want.
This course sells at 215 bucks on Matt's site and well worth the dough but if you feel you dont want to pay that much then go to ebay, you'll see it somewhere. This is by far the course when it comes doing high levels of conditioning even for the elite. Have fun and hope you get a kick out of it.
www.mattfurey.com
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Monday, March 26, 2007
Strongman And Feats They Attempt
What makes a person strong and powerful that no matter what they do its going to be a jaw dropper? Is it proper training? Is it genetics? Or is it pure fire and determination to pull off such a risky attempt at something dangerous?
Well any one of those things can be a factor but the fact of the matter is there are human beings in this world are just flat out strong as hell small or big they're tough. What are some of the feats these people pull off?
Pulling Boats
Tearing Phonebooks
Deadlifting 800 lbs.
Bending very tough nails
Benching 1000 pounds
Human Turkish Get-Up
Closing The Number 4 COC Handgripper (365 lbs. of pressure)
These are all the things strongman around the world have attempted and some even went beyond what the feat even required. I feel if you want to get strong you have to put in hard work and go through intense mental conditioning to train for your feat(s). I love watching strongman competitions and it never ceases to amaze what these men and women pull off. Theres an old saying "Everyone loves a strongman" and its very true to its highest extent. No matter what you do around the world you will see someone do extraordinary things with extreme objects (weights, nails, books, hammers ect.) and one way or another your jaw will drop and your eyes will pop out.
There are 6 billion people on the planet but just under 1 million are strongman. These are the men with high level talents and pure raw power. You wont find a strongman in a gym lifting pink dumbbells and doing pussy weights on the machines. Those are the big men of the iron game. There are other strongman out there that look like the average joe or jan but have extraordinary gifts. Can you imagine 165 pound man tearing a phone book thats about 1000 pages but tears it with his thumb and forfingers, not likely but there is one out there and he's considered pound for pound the strongest man on the planet for the feats he performs. Can you see a 230 pound man holding a one-arm handstand against the wall on his weak arm. Not likely but there is a guy out there who can do it.
Never asume a person can't be strong cause of his size and age, thats what most people look at and yet feel like an idiot when they see that person do something that they couldnt imagine them doing. Theres a strongman inside of all of us, the question is can you bring it out and will you use it? Never sell short you can't be strong.
If you want to have the strongest hands on the planet these guys will help get you there whether you're a beginning strongman or an world-class powerhouse.
www.dennisrogers.net
www.functionalhandstrength.com
www.oldtimestrongman.com
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Well any one of those things can be a factor but the fact of the matter is there are human beings in this world are just flat out strong as hell small or big they're tough. What are some of the feats these people pull off?
Pulling Boats
Tearing Phonebooks
Deadlifting 800 lbs.
Bending very tough nails
Benching 1000 pounds
Human Turkish Get-Up
Closing The Number 4 COC Handgripper (365 lbs. of pressure)
These are all the things strongman around the world have attempted and some even went beyond what the feat even required. I feel if you want to get strong you have to put in hard work and go through intense mental conditioning to train for your feat(s). I love watching strongman competitions and it never ceases to amaze what these men and women pull off. Theres an old saying "Everyone loves a strongman" and its very true to its highest extent. No matter what you do around the world you will see someone do extraordinary things with extreme objects (weights, nails, books, hammers ect.) and one way or another your jaw will drop and your eyes will pop out.
There are 6 billion people on the planet but just under 1 million are strongman. These are the men with high level talents and pure raw power. You wont find a strongman in a gym lifting pink dumbbells and doing pussy weights on the machines. Those are the big men of the iron game. There are other strongman out there that look like the average joe or jan but have extraordinary gifts. Can you imagine 165 pound man tearing a phone book thats about 1000 pages but tears it with his thumb and forfingers, not likely but there is one out there and he's considered pound for pound the strongest man on the planet for the feats he performs. Can you see a 230 pound man holding a one-arm handstand against the wall on his weak arm. Not likely but there is a guy out there who can do it.
Never asume a person can't be strong cause of his size and age, thats what most people look at and yet feel like an idiot when they see that person do something that they couldnt imagine them doing. Theres a strongman inside of all of us, the question is can you bring it out and will you use it? Never sell short you can't be strong.
If you want to have the strongest hands on the planet these guys will help get you there whether you're a beginning strongman or an world-class powerhouse.
www.dennisrogers.net
www.functionalhandstrength.com
www.oldtimestrongman.com
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Saturday, March 24, 2007
The Great Gama Of India
Ghulum Mohammed aka. The Great Gama was born into a wrestling family that had a legendary legacy and He was soon to follow. Started training at the age of 8 in the sand pits. He gradually built up tremendous strength and endurance that by age 11 he was to enter in a contest of 100's of young wrestlers. It wasnt a wrestling competition it was to determine what exercises these young boys finished that would sure them as either winners or losers. They exercised with indian clubs, maces, hindu push-ups, squats, bridging ect. Gama was declared the winner by a great margin.
As for his training, legend has it he trained everyday by doing thousands of calisthenics and swam and wrestled for hours. Although the numbers seem aggerative it was clear that this young man had the will and mental attitude to withstand such physical training that within the peak of his career he was 5'7 at nearly 260 pounds of solid muscle and might. He wrestled with the best of them wrestling men that came from europe, asia and the americas and none of them seemed to match the strength and will power of Gama. It was estimated that in 5000 matches he was never defeted and hardly ever taken down.
Many men feared him even the great american champions Frank Gotch, George Hackenshmidt ect. Whoever stepped in the pits or the ring knew that they were in for a rough night and yet never seemed to beat him. I admire this man as a world-class athlete and being strong as a bull and even more with an iron mentality. Nobody can match his strength and athleticism not even today when you have rough and tough wrestlers (real wrestlers not in the WWE). His philosophy and program became legendary and were attempted by many but few can follow up just barely a quarter of his power.
If we had more wrestlers like him today, we'd be the number 1 sport in america and the world but not many people want to see things like this. They rather be entertained then be in awe of what power they really possess. Anywho, over the years Gama won championships, took on all comers and after retirement trained his nephews and they became legendary athletes. Gama will and always be the worlds greatest wrestler. If anyone can match half of what he did i'd love to meet him but sadly I feel it will never happen.
If you want to look at the full story of Gama here it is.
http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/bios/gama2.html
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
As for his training, legend has it he trained everyday by doing thousands of calisthenics and swam and wrestled for hours. Although the numbers seem aggerative it was clear that this young man had the will and mental attitude to withstand such physical training that within the peak of his career he was 5'7 at nearly 260 pounds of solid muscle and might. He wrestled with the best of them wrestling men that came from europe, asia and the americas and none of them seemed to match the strength and will power of Gama. It was estimated that in 5000 matches he was never defeted and hardly ever taken down.
Many men feared him even the great american champions Frank Gotch, George Hackenshmidt ect. Whoever stepped in the pits or the ring knew that they were in for a rough night and yet never seemed to beat him. I admire this man as a world-class athlete and being strong as a bull and even more with an iron mentality. Nobody can match his strength and athleticism not even today when you have rough and tough wrestlers (real wrestlers not in the WWE). His philosophy and program became legendary and were attempted by many but few can follow up just barely a quarter of his power.
If we had more wrestlers like him today, we'd be the number 1 sport in america and the world but not many people want to see things like this. They rather be entertained then be in awe of what power they really possess. Anywho, over the years Gama won championships, took on all comers and after retirement trained his nephews and they became legendary athletes. Gama will and always be the worlds greatest wrestler. If anyone can match half of what he did i'd love to meet him but sadly I feel it will never happen.
If you want to look at the full story of Gama here it is.
http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/bios/gama2.html
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Friday, March 23, 2007
My Story pt.2
After high school, I took time off and just did nothing, cried and just got very depressed and being at home with my dad wasnt making life any easier. He kept pushing me to get a job when I knew i wasnt up for it and not because I didnt want one, I wanted to just be myself and break myself from this depression and anxiety so I left my dads and moved a few miles to live with my mom. I needed the change and this was the only place where I felt safe and get my anger out and create new things for myself.
In september of '03 I went to a small community college in Aptos, CA about 10 miles from where I lived and went to classes for a week and told myself "this isnt you and things wont get easier later on" so I left college to do weightlifting full-time. I signed up for a 2 year application and went to the gym. I lifted around 3 times a week sometimes 6 and had my ups and downs. Tried every routine in the book and all I wanted to do was lift heavy weights and just wanted to powerful as hell, I let out my inner hulk and just blasted everything that was near me. I went as far as to passing out from doing a circuit and just didnt realize where I was and just fainted.
I lost weight, gained weight, lost and gained again and this went on for two years and at a certain point I was around 260 pounds and it wasnt all that much muscle either. I did protein shakes, ate the bars, lift whatever the advanced bodybuilder was doing and just didnt get anywhere yet kept going. I ended up hurting my right knee more and pulled hams, bum elbow, bad wrists and I was in no way of getting "hardcore" looking abs. I just didnt have the mentality but the fire to keep going.
I lost the weight and wanted to try out powerlifting cause I thought I was pretty good at nearly 1500 total pounds in the three lifts plus i can go all day doing 600 pound leg presses so I thought i'd try. 2 days after my last run at the gym I went to the beach with some girls and had a little picnic with them and wanted to jump off this 25ft cliff that was directly above us. Me and a girl went up (i've jumped off this several times prior to this day) and she jumped of the right side and i jumped on the left (very stupid) and something terribly went wrong with the landing.
I landed so hard on the sand that my ankles just broke and I was in excrusiating pain, I lifted up my left leg as much i can muster and it looked pale and like a little broken slinky it rocked side to side. As much as I was in pain I wanted to get out of the water and so with everything I had I used my upper body to crawl to shore and it was only 15ft but felt like a mile. One woman told me to get up and I thought I was gonna whack her cause everyone there knew i couldnt just get up. A couple guys pulled me in and the girl I went with called the ambulence while I was laying in the sun trying not to be in pain and think positively when no one in their right mind would at a time like this. The paramedics came and asked me all the dumb questions you get asked and answered everyone of them without even blinking. Got rolled up on the girney and was strapped in and carried me up the cliff on the other side.
At the hospital this where I just lost it and thought I would never walk again. I wanted to see everyone I knew and just be with them. I was covered in sand from head to toe and was freezing my ass off. After they ran some tests on me I found out the bad news. I shattered my left tibia-fibula in half as well broke almost all the bones in both my ankles and there was no chance in hell i'd walk within the next year. I had surgery that night and ended staying in the hospital for 5 days and hatting every minute of it.
I was told right from there I needed a 6-8 month recovery if I didnt want to put a rod in there and if I did it be a little quicker but a much better chance of getting it infected. As a stubborn ass I chose the rod cause I told everyone I was gonna beat this and get stronger without too much help. I was so fired up that one day when I first learned to get into a wheel chair, they asked me to use the pull-up handle at the top of the bed and use 2 hands plus 2 other people to help me. I ended up doing a one-arm pull-up and jumped into the chair lol. I thought those guys were gonna die from shock. I never did a pull-up in my life until then. That was my first sign of bodyweight training. Anyway I learned how to use the wheel chair and went home a couple days later getting a hospital bed for the living room.
It was aggrevating cause I had a cast on that covered my entire left and couldnt move very well. I started making up lifting routines for my recovery and for some odd reason I kept throwing them away cause I knew there was something missing in that picture. So for weeks and weeks having a second surgery and in and out of hospitals I started researching for rehabing leg injuries and I came across this site that only focused on Bodyweight Training and was just fasinated by it. 2 weeks before my last surgery I ordered this guys book and was just in awe of what it had in it. I told myself this is the program for my rehab, no physical therapy just plain old school bodyweight training. I got so fasinated by it I started checking out other sites on the subject and I came across this site called Bronze Bow.
My last surgery was July 29th, exactly 2 and a half months after my accident I had the oppertunity to start walking again. I didnt hesitate that 2 days after my surgery my first job was to start training and strengthen those suckers. Since I got other books off this guys site I got another book that had the title Pushing Yourself To Power. Got it at a local borders in my hometown and started reading it. Loved the exercises and got hooked.
5 months after learning how to walk again and training to strengthen them, I was put to another gruelling test. I went to Lake Tahoe in January of last year with the family and just wanted to have some fun, went through a rough time about a girl and nobody was liking what I did for training and watching and studying conditioning dvds, I challenged myself to one of the most brutal workouts at one of the highest altitudes in the world. It was called the Karl Gotch Bible where you take a deck of cards and whatever number comes up you do that many push-ups or squats. Being crazy and stubborn I wanted to beat the deck and just have some fun with it. I had my dad flip the cards and tell me what number it was and what type of push-ups i would do, I kept the squats naturally. After about 25 min. I looked at my dad and he said "Ben, you just did an entire deck of cards, you are one crazy bastard" and my stepmom told me how high up we were in the mountains and I think she said around 15,000ft and told me a small few of world class athletes can pull off something to what I just did and they're jaws stayed dropped for god knows how long.
Over the next year I just started amping up by adding a few feats of strength to my regimen and train whatver I can and push myself when I need to and its kept me happy. I'm apart of one of the best forums on the planet and its founder has helped me reach goals I never thought possible and his encouragement and wisdom has inspired me and I feel like I have a new family to look up to. There are a few people I want to thank for pushing me and encouraging me to be my best and shoot whatever i want to achieve new goals and new feats:
Tyler Bramlett
Logan Christopher
Matt Furey
Brooks Kubik
John Wood
And last but not least: John Peterson. I wanted to save the best for last and although we've only talked and chatted a few times I still feel my guardian angel wanted me to contact you and be apart of your forum. You have giving me a new hope for building super strength and conventional wisdom and knowledge and I believe you and I were meant to speak to each other and meet one another and its giving me a whole new blessing. Thank you my friend and I hope in the near future i'll join the Bronze Bow Team as an author and teacher to all. Best wishes and hope to talk to you soon my brother.
If any of you guys need a place to go to to get great info on fitness and look for people that you want advise from Bronze Bow is the place to go. You won't regret it. Hope all who reads this understand that what you want in life it wont come to you on a silver platter, take it and never let it go. Never feel you're too old to do anything you want. Believe in yourself and you will go far.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
email me at bronzebowpublishing.com or at Wrestlenerd84@yahoo.com and tell me what you thought of this story.
In september of '03 I went to a small community college in Aptos, CA about 10 miles from where I lived and went to classes for a week and told myself "this isnt you and things wont get easier later on" so I left college to do weightlifting full-time. I signed up for a 2 year application and went to the gym. I lifted around 3 times a week sometimes 6 and had my ups and downs. Tried every routine in the book and all I wanted to do was lift heavy weights and just wanted to powerful as hell, I let out my inner hulk and just blasted everything that was near me. I went as far as to passing out from doing a circuit and just didnt realize where I was and just fainted.
I lost weight, gained weight, lost and gained again and this went on for two years and at a certain point I was around 260 pounds and it wasnt all that much muscle either. I did protein shakes, ate the bars, lift whatever the advanced bodybuilder was doing and just didnt get anywhere yet kept going. I ended up hurting my right knee more and pulled hams, bum elbow, bad wrists and I was in no way of getting "hardcore" looking abs. I just didnt have the mentality but the fire to keep going.
I lost the weight and wanted to try out powerlifting cause I thought I was pretty good at nearly 1500 total pounds in the three lifts plus i can go all day doing 600 pound leg presses so I thought i'd try. 2 days after my last run at the gym I went to the beach with some girls and had a little picnic with them and wanted to jump off this 25ft cliff that was directly above us. Me and a girl went up (i've jumped off this several times prior to this day) and she jumped of the right side and i jumped on the left (very stupid) and something terribly went wrong with the landing.
I landed so hard on the sand that my ankles just broke and I was in excrusiating pain, I lifted up my left leg as much i can muster and it looked pale and like a little broken slinky it rocked side to side. As much as I was in pain I wanted to get out of the water and so with everything I had I used my upper body to crawl to shore and it was only 15ft but felt like a mile. One woman told me to get up and I thought I was gonna whack her cause everyone there knew i couldnt just get up. A couple guys pulled me in and the girl I went with called the ambulence while I was laying in the sun trying not to be in pain and think positively when no one in their right mind would at a time like this. The paramedics came and asked me all the dumb questions you get asked and answered everyone of them without even blinking. Got rolled up on the girney and was strapped in and carried me up the cliff on the other side.
At the hospital this where I just lost it and thought I would never walk again. I wanted to see everyone I knew and just be with them. I was covered in sand from head to toe and was freezing my ass off. After they ran some tests on me I found out the bad news. I shattered my left tibia-fibula in half as well broke almost all the bones in both my ankles and there was no chance in hell i'd walk within the next year. I had surgery that night and ended staying in the hospital for 5 days and hatting every minute of it.
I was told right from there I needed a 6-8 month recovery if I didnt want to put a rod in there and if I did it be a little quicker but a much better chance of getting it infected. As a stubborn ass I chose the rod cause I told everyone I was gonna beat this and get stronger without too much help. I was so fired up that one day when I first learned to get into a wheel chair, they asked me to use the pull-up handle at the top of the bed and use 2 hands plus 2 other people to help me. I ended up doing a one-arm pull-up and jumped into the chair lol. I thought those guys were gonna die from shock. I never did a pull-up in my life until then. That was my first sign of bodyweight training. Anyway I learned how to use the wheel chair and went home a couple days later getting a hospital bed for the living room.
It was aggrevating cause I had a cast on that covered my entire left and couldnt move very well. I started making up lifting routines for my recovery and for some odd reason I kept throwing them away cause I knew there was something missing in that picture. So for weeks and weeks having a second surgery and in and out of hospitals I started researching for rehabing leg injuries and I came across this site that only focused on Bodyweight Training and was just fasinated by it. 2 weeks before my last surgery I ordered this guys book and was just in awe of what it had in it. I told myself this is the program for my rehab, no physical therapy just plain old school bodyweight training. I got so fasinated by it I started checking out other sites on the subject and I came across this site called Bronze Bow.
My last surgery was July 29th, exactly 2 and a half months after my accident I had the oppertunity to start walking again. I didnt hesitate that 2 days after my surgery my first job was to start training and strengthen those suckers. Since I got other books off this guys site I got another book that had the title Pushing Yourself To Power. Got it at a local borders in my hometown and started reading it. Loved the exercises and got hooked.
5 months after learning how to walk again and training to strengthen them, I was put to another gruelling test. I went to Lake Tahoe in January of last year with the family and just wanted to have some fun, went through a rough time about a girl and nobody was liking what I did for training and watching and studying conditioning dvds, I challenged myself to one of the most brutal workouts at one of the highest altitudes in the world. It was called the Karl Gotch Bible where you take a deck of cards and whatever number comes up you do that many push-ups or squats. Being crazy and stubborn I wanted to beat the deck and just have some fun with it. I had my dad flip the cards and tell me what number it was and what type of push-ups i would do, I kept the squats naturally. After about 25 min. I looked at my dad and he said "Ben, you just did an entire deck of cards, you are one crazy bastard" and my stepmom told me how high up we were in the mountains and I think she said around 15,000ft and told me a small few of world class athletes can pull off something to what I just did and they're jaws stayed dropped for god knows how long.
Over the next year I just started amping up by adding a few feats of strength to my regimen and train whatver I can and push myself when I need to and its kept me happy. I'm apart of one of the best forums on the planet and its founder has helped me reach goals I never thought possible and his encouragement and wisdom has inspired me and I feel like I have a new family to look up to. There are a few people I want to thank for pushing me and encouraging me to be my best and shoot whatever i want to achieve new goals and new feats:
Tyler Bramlett
Logan Christopher
Matt Furey
Brooks Kubik
John Wood
And last but not least: John Peterson. I wanted to save the best for last and although we've only talked and chatted a few times I still feel my guardian angel wanted me to contact you and be apart of your forum. You have giving me a new hope for building super strength and conventional wisdom and knowledge and I believe you and I were meant to speak to each other and meet one another and its giving me a whole new blessing. Thank you my friend and I hope in the near future i'll join the Bronze Bow Team as an author and teacher to all. Best wishes and hope to talk to you soon my brother.
If any of you guys need a place to go to to get great info on fitness and look for people that you want advise from Bronze Bow is the place to go. You won't regret it. Hope all who reads this understand that what you want in life it wont come to you on a silver platter, take it and never let it go. Never feel you're too old to do anything you want. Believe in yourself and you will go far.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
email me at bronzebowpublishing.com or at Wrestlenerd84@yahoo.com and tell me what you thought of this story.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
My Story pt.1
I was born July 28th, 1984 in Santa Clara, CA at 5:30 pm. Born 6 pounds 8 ounces and as healthy as you can get. Well over a year later, around 14 months I became ill and my parents didnt know what to do. I was rushed to the hospital where I was born and had taken many tests to find out I had Spinal Menengitis a germ that goes directly from the spinal cord to the brain and made switches in my bodily functions so everything went the oppisite way. There were 2 things supposedly were going to happen to me that the doctors told my family: Either I was gonna die from this disease or if I lived I wouldnt have the brain of more then a ten year old.
I lived and had to learn everything all over again, I was more right sided then so everything shifted and had to learn how to use my left side since my right became weaker. Over the years I was in speech therapy, taking tests to see how sociable my lifestyle and attitudes differ from othr people and if I can co-exist in a normal setting. Learning speech patterns, taking physical therapy in order to strengthen my entire right side and use my left side in the least possible ways. At the age of 3 I couldnt pick up a clothes pin with my right hand cause it was so bad.
I started being in the Special Education programs for the next 15-16 years, learning how to do certain tasks and social skills and reading patterns. I hated it, every minute of it, I just wanted to be a normal kid and play ball and be with normal friends but it wasnt all meant to be. I got picked on on a constant basis and just didnt have the best times around other children and such and didnt always have the best times at home.
As a young teen it became even tougher to deal with other kids and teachers and family cause at one point during that time around 13 I really wanted to do drugs and wanted to be with the popular crowd who was doing them and knew it too. I got beat up a lot around this time mentally and physically and even been in big fights with my best friend at the time. It was hell as you can imagine. The only thing that didnt feel like it could hurt me was my school work. Even wanting to play around a lot I got some good grades and became an honor student with a 3.6 GPA in junior high, I just wanted to be out of school just by getting good grades. I was a fat kid around this time as well at 5'4 180 pounds with no muscle tone whatsoever and got beat for that as well. during 7th grade p.e we started doing weight training and it got me into lifting. Slow start but I got hooked.
After I graduated and went to high school, I got a bit shyer but not as bad as it used to be. I started just wanting to go to classes and just work my ass off to be good at whatever I was taking and it was fun at times but horrifying the next. I did a little weightlifting around my sophmore year and I was hooked on training since then but it wasnt easy. As teens we all developed all those hormones and such that I got angry a lot and I always took it out in the weight room and started developing this natural strength for heavy lifting and I never trained on a routine I just did what was there or added up to it.
At 17 I started to notice that I was good at weights so I challenged a few guys a time or 2 and got beat and won but my greatest achievment was I was challenged to a squat duel lol with a buddy of mine and see how much we can lift, he warmed up I just stood there and started psycing myself up and he wanted me to go first so I put on somewhat 400 pounds on bar (it was a 65 pound bar so less plates were added) and got 3 reps, he got 6. So I wasnt the one who was into losing so we added 100 pounds on my expense and I got the same amount of reps and he tied me. Like I said I wanted to just get this over with so we ended up putting most of the plates in the rack on the bar and it was at I think 615-620 and even though we were screwing around I just wanted to win so I went first and by this time the entire class was watching and some other kids from the track heard us and came in so it was around 40 people. So I closed my eyes and started screaming with everything I had and didnt think anything of it it was just a number to me and hit 2 full reps while yelling and in agonizing pain and came up and put the bar on the rack and the guy who challenged me just flat out went "f*ck that you're crazy" and I was told that by the entire class.
Anywho weights was the thing then and I partcipated in Track & Field for 2 seasons and enjoyed every minute of it and even though I sucked lol it was fun while it lasted. I stopped wanting to do the Special Ed program around my junior year in the last semester and just felt like I can do these things and I wanted to do them. During my senior year I wanted to wrestle but ended up hurting my knee so I stopped and focused on school. Later on before my last semester my stepfather passed away and it couldnt have come at a worse time. I was miserable, angry and just became depressed.
I wanted to hurt somebody everytime they talked or touched me and I cried at least 3 times everyday for most of the year. No one understood and they tried whatever they did and I didnt budge I just didnt want anybody around. He meant the world to me, he was my best friend and he got me through so much even though he was far worse having diebetes and hardly if ever taking his insulin. I just lost it and thought that was it what can I do now that he isnt here anymore.
I will write pt. 2 either tonight or tomorrow so be prepared. You never know what will happen.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
I lived and had to learn everything all over again, I was more right sided then so everything shifted and had to learn how to use my left side since my right became weaker. Over the years I was in speech therapy, taking tests to see how sociable my lifestyle and attitudes differ from othr people and if I can co-exist in a normal setting. Learning speech patterns, taking physical therapy in order to strengthen my entire right side and use my left side in the least possible ways. At the age of 3 I couldnt pick up a clothes pin with my right hand cause it was so bad.
I started being in the Special Education programs for the next 15-16 years, learning how to do certain tasks and social skills and reading patterns. I hated it, every minute of it, I just wanted to be a normal kid and play ball and be with normal friends but it wasnt all meant to be. I got picked on on a constant basis and just didnt have the best times around other children and such and didnt always have the best times at home.
As a young teen it became even tougher to deal with other kids and teachers and family cause at one point during that time around 13 I really wanted to do drugs and wanted to be with the popular crowd who was doing them and knew it too. I got beat up a lot around this time mentally and physically and even been in big fights with my best friend at the time. It was hell as you can imagine. The only thing that didnt feel like it could hurt me was my school work. Even wanting to play around a lot I got some good grades and became an honor student with a 3.6 GPA in junior high, I just wanted to be out of school just by getting good grades. I was a fat kid around this time as well at 5'4 180 pounds with no muscle tone whatsoever and got beat for that as well. during 7th grade p.e we started doing weight training and it got me into lifting. Slow start but I got hooked.
After I graduated and went to high school, I got a bit shyer but not as bad as it used to be. I started just wanting to go to classes and just work my ass off to be good at whatever I was taking and it was fun at times but horrifying the next. I did a little weightlifting around my sophmore year and I was hooked on training since then but it wasnt easy. As teens we all developed all those hormones and such that I got angry a lot and I always took it out in the weight room and started developing this natural strength for heavy lifting and I never trained on a routine I just did what was there or added up to it.
At 17 I started to notice that I was good at weights so I challenged a few guys a time or 2 and got beat and won but my greatest achievment was I was challenged to a squat duel lol with a buddy of mine and see how much we can lift, he warmed up I just stood there and started psycing myself up and he wanted me to go first so I put on somewhat 400 pounds on bar (it was a 65 pound bar so less plates were added) and got 3 reps, he got 6. So I wasnt the one who was into losing so we added 100 pounds on my expense and I got the same amount of reps and he tied me. Like I said I wanted to just get this over with so we ended up putting most of the plates in the rack on the bar and it was at I think 615-620 and even though we were screwing around I just wanted to win so I went first and by this time the entire class was watching and some other kids from the track heard us and came in so it was around 40 people. So I closed my eyes and started screaming with everything I had and didnt think anything of it it was just a number to me and hit 2 full reps while yelling and in agonizing pain and came up and put the bar on the rack and the guy who challenged me just flat out went "f*ck that you're crazy" and I was told that by the entire class.
Anywho weights was the thing then and I partcipated in Track & Field for 2 seasons and enjoyed every minute of it and even though I sucked lol it was fun while it lasted. I stopped wanting to do the Special Ed program around my junior year in the last semester and just felt like I can do these things and I wanted to do them. During my senior year I wanted to wrestle but ended up hurting my knee so I stopped and focused on school. Later on before my last semester my stepfather passed away and it couldnt have come at a worse time. I was miserable, angry and just became depressed.
I wanted to hurt somebody everytime they talked or touched me and I cried at least 3 times everyday for most of the year. No one understood and they tried whatever they did and I didnt budge I just didnt want anybody around. He meant the world to me, he was my best friend and he got me through so much even though he was far worse having diebetes and hardly if ever taking his insulin. I just lost it and thought that was it what can I do now that he isnt here anymore.
I will write pt. 2 either tonight or tomorrow so be prepared. You never know what will happen.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
The Chest Expander
One of the best training equipment is not one thats on weights or kettlebells but rubber cables. The Chest Expander is considered the cable equipment to train the shoulders/arms/back. Once you use over a period of time and using heavier type cables it'll make your upper body have the strength of male gorilla (slight exaggeration) but you know what i'm getting at. At one time during the golden age of physical culture it was used in competitions in europe to determine who was the strongest strand puller (thats what they called it then).
Now unlike weights where you have to switch to a different weight and that can be a bit of a hassel considering people in gyms using the equipment, with the cables take a couple of em and add on either lighter or heavier cables, very simple. When stretched out it works the shoulders from angles you cant get from either weights or bodyweight exercises. It not only builds great strength but you're building tremendous flexibility and that alone works well into sports like fighting, gymnastics, football pretty every sport you do. Also like weightlifting you have choices to do major alternative lifts for the expander like the Clean & Jerk, Military Press, Bicep Curls, Upright Rows and many others.
Now I believe there are 10 different set of cables for the expander these ranging from pink to the blue and the blue cables are the toughest of them. I havent heard a person doing the Clean & Jerk with all three cables so the equivilant is around 275-330 pounds of resistance. This little peice of equipment can give your upper body animal-like strength cause when pull or lift the cables, your body is shaking so that tells you you're working major muscle groups and your using it from many angles so you're getting the benefit of working from a different prespective. I have used this device to aid in feats of strength and i'll tell ya it got me there so it should never be neglected in any regimen whether its weightlifting, kettlebell training, bodyweight ect. Give it a try and you'll see your strength skyrocket into a whole demension.
If you feel you want to add a different kind of strength and flexibility in your training, John Hinds will take care of you my brother and never fall short of becoming super strong.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Now unlike weights where you have to switch to a different weight and that can be a bit of a hassel considering people in gyms using the equipment, with the cables take a couple of em and add on either lighter or heavier cables, very simple. When stretched out it works the shoulders from angles you cant get from either weights or bodyweight exercises. It not only builds great strength but you're building tremendous flexibility and that alone works well into sports like fighting, gymnastics, football pretty every sport you do. Also like weightlifting you have choices to do major alternative lifts for the expander like the Clean & Jerk, Military Press, Bicep Curls, Upright Rows and many others.
Now I believe there are 10 different set of cables for the expander these ranging from pink to the blue and the blue cables are the toughest of them. I havent heard a person doing the Clean & Jerk with all three cables so the equivilant is around 275-330 pounds of resistance. This little peice of equipment can give your upper body animal-like strength cause when pull or lift the cables, your body is shaking so that tells you you're working major muscle groups and your using it from many angles so you're getting the benefit of working from a different prespective. I have used this device to aid in feats of strength and i'll tell ya it got me there so it should never be neglected in any regimen whether its weightlifting, kettlebell training, bodyweight ect. Give it a try and you'll see your strength skyrocket into a whole demension.
If you feel you want to add a different kind of strength and flexibility in your training, John Hinds will take care of you my brother and never fall short of becoming super strong.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
