Beginners Luck

Every journey starts at taking one step at a time. Just like in Fitness, if you haven’t exercised at all or wanting to get back into after many, many years, all it takes is one step and keep moving. It’s not always easy getting into an exercise program and you might get discouraged because you can’t get the exercises right off the bat. Starting out can be confusing and not know what to do. Many systems don’t teach you real basic training instead they tell you to this for muscles and that for strength it becomes a vicious cycle that you never should go through.

 You’re in luck and you know why? Because you can begin anexercise program at any age and it doesn’t matter if you’re thin and want to build muscle or you’re overweight and want to trim down or even just getting the basics back on track to help you stay in shape. It’s a matter of how much you want to improve yourself and become healthy, strong and vibrant.

 The benefits of learning an exercise program is to find what works best for you and how you want to progress. Imagine training at your own pace and not have some trainer scream at you and telling you you’re doing it wrong when in fact you might just be doing it right. There’s always room for improvement and that’s the beauty of beginning your training where you can do it anytime, anywhere and not spend one red cent in a gym where it’s a good chance it’ll be gross with sweaty benches, germs on machines, waiting for the next person to get off an area where you need to train.

 Basic training is the foundation of all exercise systems, once you mastered them that don’t mean you need to do them anymore; no it means you can go back to them if you need help with progressions and never needing to do the same routine twice. You can change the tempo of your exercise, increase/decrease speed, hold certain postures and work the same exercises but in a different order. Never let yourself get bored because learning is the fun part and you’re finding who you are as a trainee. Progression is the key to the game and in order to play, you need to build yourself from a very easy exercise to a very difficult one.

 Changing the body in a healthy way makes you a better person and helps you build confidence in yourself and it doesn’t matter if you’re large, big and tall or small you have an opportunity to become the very person you dream about and it all starts with a dream. It’s up to you to make it a reality. Jack Lalanne once said “Make haste, slowly.” Take your progressions one step at a time, no need to rush anything, build yourself up, have patience and before you know it, there will be another person in the mirror. You’re still you but with power, vibrancy and a person full of life and energy.

 Getting started isn’t easy but you can make it one hell of a trip. Don’t waste any more time thinking, start doing and getting you into the shape you desire and dare to conquer. Let skepticism aside and believe in yourself that you will be strong, you will get in shape and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.

Bringing Out Your Animality

I think the only real time you’ve ever heard that word if you knew, was in Mortal Kombat 3 the video game or in the very terrible scripted film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Although the movie sucked and made the first film look like it should’ve been up for an Oscar lets not forget an important message. In each and every one of us there is a wild animal waiting to be unleashed. Now not saying you’re going to literally turn in a ferocious creature but you can however make your conditioning look like a cake-walk to other methods.

 Becoming an animal takes practice, observation, mindfulness and the will to move like one. We humans have lost our sense of what’s to be in shape and if you want to look like a bloated pumped up meat-head that’s your business. Some of us even sit on our asses almost an entire day without moving or never get the time to get out and move around. That’s not acceptable and I feel nothing gets you moving more than being a beast in the urban jungle.

 The practice of moving like an animal gives you strength, flexibility and endurance in ways almost all cardio machines can’t top. Conditioning in this manner means you’re generating more natural growth hormone, your brain becomes stronger, you lungs becoming more powerful and the ability to move your body in awkward positions builds strength in places you cannot even remotely get from weight lifting. Not saying weights are bad but let’s face it, you can’t carry weights around all the time when you travel and have no gym now can you? Animal Training gives you what most methods can’t and that’s freedom to do it wherever you want, whenever you want.

 A firm secret to be successful in your animal routine is to not just look at an animal and go through the motions, no, you become that animal, imagine being so powerful you can run down a gazelle or out run a vicious predator just waiting to chop you for dinner. When you put your mind to this secret, your results will come quicker; you’ll be leaner, more agile, developing an animalized physique and have a lot more fun. One of the fastest ways to know what animal you truly are is to practice as many animal movements as you can and find out which one you most frequently use. This alone will determine your true Animality.

 Unlike other methods, this type of training is superior for a lot of reasons, one…Using multiple muscle groups, two…Building growth hormone which helps you stay leaner, younger and more energetic, three…Moving in awkward positions instead of neutral positions and four…It’s fun as hell. Some programs are good but many of them are boring, take too long, more prone to injury and can take a toll on your body more then you’ll know.

 Finding your Animality is like searching for the Holy Grail or the Fountain of Youth. You will be amazed how much your body can change in a short amount of time that’s safe, productive, time efficient and can be done by just about any age. Your health will be as strong as ever and you will have a new found confidence among your friends and family as they’ll want to know what you’re doing and how you managed to have such a powerful and conditioned body. You are an animal, it’s about time you started acting like one. Animal training and other kick ass programs like you see here will bring out the very best in whom you are and make you one of the strongest persons on this planet both in and out. Unleash your inner Animality.

Healing The Joints For Super Human Health

Was there ever a time in your life when you didn’t have nagging joint pain? Most likely when you were born and as you got older and less active or pushed yourself too much you developed it. I know a thing or 2 about joint pain. Imagine being 19 or 20 years old and waking up some days being so stiff and in pain that every inch you made, some joints will crack in odd places. That was me before I had my major leg injury.

 Joint pain is not good on the body and you’re certainly not healthy from a physical stand point. I’m sure you’ve tried pain killers, morphine, aspirin and inflammatory medication at one point. All those are made to only ease the pain, not cure it and certainly will get you addicted if you keep taking them, now you have all these chemicals in your body that are really not that good for you. There are people that have no choice but to be on meds since the pain is too severe and need it. The majority of you however should work on more exercise and watch what you eat.

 One of the key secrets of building great strength both physically and mentally is to have powerful tendons and ligaments. The reason why that is, is because when your joints are powerful, your muscles will be even stronger. The tendons are what help hold the skeletal structure together. Too many people rely more on muscle building then tendon training and look what happens to them, nagging joint pain, injuries, broken bones and tears that shouldn’t even happen in the first place. Now I realize injuries happen and are common in sports and the work place but if you practiced building your joints, you will be less prone to those common injuries.

 One method of training called Internal Power which means that you build strength from the inside and build strength in the internal organs, bones, ligaments and joints.  Learning to harness the power of your chi (life force) can in fact help you build power in the places you need. In China there are some systems like qi gong, tai chi and various postures you hold that target certain areas of the body that can heal the joints that give you pain. Some stretching programs for example the one you see here, gives you the chance to unlock the unreachable in your flexible and have you become reachable.

 Once you learn to unlock the door to pain-free joints, your body will have a blissful feeling of power, strength and major flexibility that you can use however you want whether it be sports, military and the workplace or just for everyday life. Having a pain-free body means you can play with your kids, take care of your groceries, reach in a high place to get something, run faster, jump higher and have more stamina. All these things can be done if you have good strong joints and if you’re into weights, look out for how much strength you can develop if you kept your joints healthy.

Animal Gymnastics

Without question the greatest athletes in the field of bodyweight training are the acrobats and gymnasts. Now why do I say that? Simple really, they use their bodyweight in ways most others can’t even compare to. They’re control, balance, awareness and conditioning is second to none. The closest to conditioning I would compare them to are wrestlers. The way they train almost seems animal-like, graceful, strong and powerful. 

 Do you need to be a gymnast or acrobat to be in good condition? Hell no. You can have a powerful and strong body just using simple and basic gymnastics training and if you want to be wild about it, you can even do Animal exercises which imitate the most graceful and strongest animals on the planet. The benefits of learning these types of methods is off the charts…Strength, flexibility, stamina, lean body and have great mental clarity. Animal Gymnastics is the combination of basic gymnastics along with the movement of wild animal. It’s not hard to say just doing basic movements is really the key foundation to a strong, healthy and illness resilient body.

 Have you heard of those lethal hormone injections that athletes and celebrities use on the competition to gain an advantage in their sport or movie role? Well, I’m going to lay it down for you, unless you’re sick and in a hospital you don’t need that shit whatsoever. What you need is good old-fashioned exercise where multiple muscle groups are used, you will be getting your hormones jumped through the roof and this can happen at any age. Younger people like me don’t worry so much about that because we’re not at that age yet where it has to be a factor, older folks however especially over 40 and beyond have a tougher time getting that lean body they want and the percentage you lose each year of hormone levels. Don’t ever let that happen to you. If you practice programs like these, your hormones will run through your veins as if you were young again.

 When you move like a wild animal, you’re moving your body in ways other methods can’t match. Do you see a Gorilla on a treadmill or a Bear on a weighted bench? No you don’t because they are strong and fast as they need to be. Going to a gym is fine if you want to do that but if you want real world strength that is functional and powerful then go to a park or your own backyard and roam free. One of the key secrets to this type of training is not going through the motions like some dull airhead, see yourself as that animal and picture yourself being strong and taking your conditioning to levels unheard of before.

 Do you what a bear cub does after it’s born? It learns to walk, then run and wrestles his brothers to learn survival so when it becomes a full grown bear it will be fierce, feared by man and run down its prey faster then you can say Jack Rabbit. Now what’s that called again when you learn new things and want to get better at them? Oh yes that’s right, PROGRESSION!!!! A lot of people feel starting small isn’t enough for them, even some trainers have that “Go big or go home” attitude and that’s just crap. In order to get good at something no matter what it is, you have to learn how to earn it. If you’re new to exercise or a seasoned veteran, you must learn the value of progressing through the things you want to accomplish.

 Like adults, children too need that structure of becoming good athletes no matter what they want to do. Exercise for kids is very important especially in our society today where childhood obesity is more common then smoking a cigarette. Children need the feel of fun and learn the ins and outs of what’s right and wrong. Exercise has been shown to help children’s emotional state balanced and it helps them with structure and what can work for them. Some children are very active and sometimes are tough to put down for a nap because of all that energy, exercise helps that too. If a child has low self-esteem and has symptoms of depression, exercise has been shown to bring up their spirits and not even treat as a sign of working out but more like play. A program like this can give your kid a lifetime of fun and helping them along with other things in their lives.

 How do I know about self-esteem and exercise? Well when I was a teenager, I wished I had higher self-esteem and more exercise because I wasn’t the typical 97 pound weakling teen matter of fact weight wise I was the exact opposite. At 13 I was 5’4 and nearly 200 lbs of blubber and didn’t have much muscle to show for. I was also slow and very rebellious. I didn’t have strength to write home about and was ridiculed on not just my weight but my personality. As I got older and shifted more towards exercise and mental training I became the person I should’ve been all along. In a way I have evolved over the years and becoming strong and healthy was a major key and I never want kids at that age or younger to go through that so parents, train with your kids and help them achieve their goals, they’ll thank you in the long run.

 Have you seen the abs on those gymnasts? I mean holy shit, that doesn’t look human at times but seriously, gymnasts have the strongest abs on the planet bar none. They have to be strong and powerful otherwise the skills they perform won’t be that good looking.  Your core is one of the most important keys in either sports, fitness or for overall daily life like holding groceries, lifting a heavy box or carrying a couple kids. Crunches are not the best choice to do abdominal work unless you’re a beginner. If you want strong and powerful abs, then you need to work your whole body as one unit while focusing on keeping the core muscles tight and locked. Even doing Hand Balancing requires complete core strength and overall body strength. Doing basic gymnastics and animal training can get you there and trust me, having a strong, injury-free and healthy body goes a long way for things in your life.

We all have some form of Animality within us and we can unleash that thirst for strength by exercising like the animals that far out-beat us in every aspect of fitness. Screw aerobics and treadmills, go out and have fun and be a wild animal. Bring out that animal within.

Stretching For Strength

When you think of flexibility, you normally think of limberness, a few stretches and stretching a few muscles but what if you can gain strength while becoming flexibile? How's that possible? There's no such thing as building strength while stretching, or is there?

There are a lot of things wrong with modern flexiblity in the mainstream gyms and even the Yoga classes. But wait, Yoga is suppose to make you limber and lighten your life and body. Truth is the one mistake people forget about stretching is to breathe and use their mind to break through the stiffness. Flexibility is beyond just common stretching. When I think of flexibility I think, loose joints, stretching beyond the muscles and tendons and strengthening the body from every possible angle.

How's it possible to create strength while stretching? Simple really....Use tension in the various exercises like you learn here. Tension creates strength period. However if you also want to move up even a centimeter in your stretches, you have to relax. Isometric Stretches is not moving a muscle but flexing in certain positions and after a few seconds, release and go a little further. Loosening the joints is critical as it opens the body and gives you a sense of bliss as the looser you are the more flexible.

One of the greatest techniques to unlocking your flexibility potential is what's called the Ice Cube Concept. No it doesn't involve actual ice cubes or the Rap legend sorry to disappoint you. What this technique is that you visualize your muscles as if they were a block of ice. each time you stretch, you inhale for a few seconds and when you exhale that ice melts just a little and you go a little further. This is one of the coolest secrets in fitness as to increase your flexibility by a small percentage each time you breathe in and out. You don't want to go all out at anytime whether you're new to stretching or a veteran, be patient, be mindful and think relax, relax.

Strengthening the tendons is a major key not just in flexibility but just as important as strength. The bands and bones holding your body together are more important then the muscle tissue as if to say it's better to pull a muscle then tear a tendon, believe me the pain difference is major between the two. Loosening up the joints are more then just being flexible, you're mobile, you're agile and you are dangerous if your joints are flexible an your tendons are really strong.

When you practice the course that you can get here....You will never look at stretching the same way again. This is the same program that had me go from a stiff 230 lbs weightlifter to a 245 lbs mobile workhorse with powerful tendons and pain-less joints. This can increase your flexibility as fast as 30 days or less. Some will be faster then others but I increased mine within less then a couple days if not the first hour, that's how awesome and powerful this one course is.

Can You Become Your Own Avenger? Pt. 4

We've read about superheroes since the days of David vs. Goliath to the powers of Sampson and the strength of Milo. In the modern age of comic books, there are superheroes and villains in every page front to back with stories of victory, struggle, love, hate, diversity and learning the responsibilities of having super powers. Our heroes come and go and some live on in legend. Some work as individuals and some work as a team, however at rare times you'll find our most favorites work as a unit and to assemble the ultimate team.

In my opinion if you are hardcore trainer or like staying in shape, its not just a hobby, its a lifestyle. For some, fitness is like a second language, we are so consumed by it we don't think twice about it yet some take it to extremes that's out of their control, they feel its life or death if they don't do a workout, kind of like a superhero who's so consumed by their gifts that they forget what is more important and what makes them who they are. Training can be used in a lot of ways. It's very easy to go caught up in it that you don't realize the consequences but its very difficult to create consistent progress and learn how your body works on certain cycles.

Being strong and powerful is very rewarding but it does come with a price. You don't get strong overnight and not feel it the next day, that's the reality. You can have fun in your training and find out how good it feels which is a good price to pay but overall to keep up your what you love, you must take things in stride and work hard to reach your goals whatever they may be.

Look at some of our favorite superheroes like Batman or Thor, one's a god and the other is mortal with a superhuman mind and the fighting spirit of a warrior but what do they have in common? They both use what they have to keep those from harm but they both have paid a price individually. Remember that price you pay for getting so consumed in what you do that you end up suffering consequences? Take it from Thor, he's a god among men yet he got so consumed at being a warrior and battling everything he went up against that he forgot who he really was for a while and lost his power for a period of time.

Batman feels he has no choice because he wanted to Avenge his parents death that it took over his ability to find what's really important and that's himself. He may not have super powers like many others but he took an oath to be powerful in some shape or form and that's where it became a blessing and a curse at the same time. He has a few weapons at his arsenal and has the ability to fight like a ninja but that doesn't make up for the one power he has over others and that's his mind and that's where he's most dangerous.

If you want to become a real life Avenger, the very first thing you must practice is avenging yourself. In that sense you learn to fight to become strong and powerful and take a chance on who you were and what you want to become. There's still the real you inside but you can amplify it and build a foundation of who you want to be both internal and external. Ever since you were a kid some way or another you dreamed about being strong and triumphing over evil and rescuing the damsel in distress. You can make those dreams come true if you learn to use the right resources. Strength is not always in the muscles but in your heart and soul.

All of us have been weak at some point in our lives whether physically, mentally, emotionally or all the above. It's harder getting in shape to become the very thing we dared dream about but if you learn to value that challenge, you become much stronger then you would physically. A strongman who has known power all his life can lose that sense of value and use it against others. Some of them do and some don't but you get the idea. A weak man however wants that strength and will do whatever it takes to get there and learns the value of that strength yet some will go to great lengths that aren't natural and very few take the journey to become powerful by will and hard work. If you are strong, don't bully those that are weak and more vulnerable, help him/her gain confidence and help them become strong like you did when you were in that state.

When it comes to natural strength and getting strong, you can move weights around if you want and do cool and awkward bodyweight exercises but if you want to develop strength in ways those other things can't touch then you got to go with nature's weights...Rocks, stones and logs. Nothing is more pleasing to the eye then moving a heavy boulder or lifting a heavy log. Yes Olympic Weightlifting and Powerlifting are awesome to watch but remember, the weights are already numbered and set. You can never always tell the size and weight of a big rock or huge looking log, they could be 50 lbs. or 500 lbs. you can't always tell but when you have the ability to lift it, it just makes everything that much sweeter then cherry pie.

Thor's Hammer is a symbol of strength, power and a warrior's spirit. What if you can have that all that and more in your very own hands? How would you use it in your strength training? What strength can you build with that kind of hammer? I will tell you first hand that if you had a hammer like that, you don't look at it as just a cool looking tool or just swing it around and get strong, you make it more then a hammer, you make it more then just steel, you make it the very powerful tool it was mean't for. The hammer is your personal weapon for your quest to be strong, it is in your arsenal of things that are more powerful then anything else. You become more then yourself, you become that hammer, you alone can only bring that hammer to life.

If you can build a body that you always dream about, then you can help those who don't know how to get there. Being strong has its benefits individually but going beyond who you are to help those become strong, that makes you more then just a physical presence, you're a symbol of what's good and hopeful in this world. Those who bully that are weak don't have any real sense of pride or goodness in them, just ignorant pricks that rather care for themselves then be there for those that need it. A real strongman becomes strong both physically and helping those get there as well. Being something more then yourself and losing that selfish pride is a real sign that you are a man of strength.

The Eye Of The Wildman

In the world of fitness today, we are taught to do this or that, do aerobics for cardio, low reps for strength, bodyweight for endurance, weights for power, crunches for super abs and cardio machines to burn calories. Some of this is all well and good if you're into that kind of thing and want to learn them but really its about following your instincts. If you truely want to be athletic and have a body that you dream about then you must learn to use your instincts. Training is not always about looking good, having big muscles, being ripped to shreds, its about heart, about passion, the will to push through and the power to strive for survival.

When it comes to Animal Fitness, you don't need to be an expert and jump through exercise to exercise, just practice the basics. Look at young animals in the wild whether it be a baby bear cub, tiger, chimp or a bird. They don't build their bodies by running to the nearest gym to pump some iron, they learn to survive by practicing and playing with their kind. Learn to use their strength and power so when they grow up they're strong, powerful, a lean, mean, fighting maching. Just moving and becoming strong is not always good enough. You must become that animal, move like them, become your primal Animality.

Cardio these days is way overrated with the machines, the jogging, the ridiculious aerobics classes and so on and so forth. Why not just go roam free and be whatever you want. Go to a park, go to the playground, hell go to your local school after hours and just have fun. Now you may live in a place where you may not have those things like in a big city or whatnot so whatever room you have in your home, use it. Moving like a wild animal makes machines look like a cake walk. You're moving in awkward positions, swtiching your body around in ways that you can't do on a machine or lift on bench. Just a few minutes a day is all the cardio you're going to need.

Ever see the Tarzan movies? The one most people remember these days is the Disney flick back in the late 90's and if you're from an older generation its the stories of the ape-man from the johnny weismuellers to the george scotts and Mike Henrys. What do they all have in common? They show Tarzan learning to survive in the jungle with only the things that surround him, his body, the trees, his awareness for danger and the ability to move in ways you can't get from weightlifting or going to a gym. If he can learn to survive like that, what's your excuse?

What would you do if you couldn't go to a gym? What if there were no machines, no weights, no racks? You had nothing but your bodyweight and you wanted to get in shape, what would you do? You'd find the best ways to get in shape or sit on your ass and die. This is where you learn to your instincts and get your body into the best shape possible. Train like Tarzan.

Training like a wild animal takes practice, patience, the will to learn. It doesn't take 30 minutes to an hour to get started. Begin your journey with one minute. Pick a few of your favorite animals and do 20 seconds of each and that'll be your workout. Each workout, add just a few seconds and learn your way around and before you know it you're having fun and you don't even realize how long you did it. This is the beauty of it.

Having fun is a major key. When you get into the mind of it being fun and you love doing it even for a few minutes, your conditioning will soar and your body will become lean, powerful, strong and agile that will impress others and also make them jealous. Now unlike all that bodybuilding magazine crap that tells you to have a set up of this amout of exercise and do this many reps each exercise and do it for hours on end that won't happen with your animal workouts. You pick your animals, do distance or reps doesn't matter or switch from one to the other with very little rest or do a little time and take a breather. You have the freedom to do whatever you want, its your choice.

With patience, imagination, practice and have an open mind to have fun and treat it as play and not work, you will build a body you can be proud of and you will to unleash the animal in you that is nothing but powerful, strong and won't let anything stand in your way. Become the animal you were born to be. Unleash your Animality.

Bringing Gama Back To Glory

Even as a small boy growing up in the Punjab in India,  Ghulam Muhammad was destined to be a great athlete and at the age of ten won contests that displayed grueling exercise tasks including squats, club/mace swinging and wrestling and was last standing out of 400 wrestlers in one of these contests. Nicknamed Gama, he trained in the Sand Pits of a wrestling ring and just took over everyone around him becoming a feared wrestler on the mat not just in practice but in competition. By the time he reached his 20's he was the most feared wrestler in his country and continued to be throughout the globe as he took on all comers and oulasted them all never losing one match in his entire career. Even the top champions in America at the time wouldn't dare challenge him, even guys like George Hackenshmidt wouldn't take him on.

His conditioning was second to none and had routines that would make a world-class champion walk away. He swam, wrestled, swung the mace and clubs, did push-ups, squats and some bridging thrown in there that would go beyond the limit of most men even at Gama's size at 5'7 260 lbs. As heavy as he was, he moved like a little man and had the strength of a siberian tiger (slight exaggeration) but also his routines sound a bit over-exaggerated yet he trained harder then almost anyone before or since his time.

As his legend grew, the exercises he once used started to fade in the mainstream and only very few outside of the middle east ever trained on them. This all changed when a little known catch wrestler named Karl Gotch started teaching these very same exercises to his athletes in Japan and places around the USA and became a big deal. Taking on an athlete named Matt Furey, Gotch had put him to the test time and time again and Furey kept coming back for more. Because of Gotch's influence, this upincoming businessman of fitness put out a series of courses on these same exercises minus the clubs and the mace. Putting three exercises together called the Royal Court which consists of the Hindu Push-up, Hindu Squat & The Back Bridge.

In one course he made, naming it after the legendary Indian wrestler himself, Furey brought variations of the three main exercises and took them to a level beyond his own imagination. He then added some supplemental exercises like Hill Sprints & The Power Wheel as an added bonus along with a plethora of things to use in your arsenal like stretching and Isometrics. Gama Fitness became a cornerstone for what Bodyweight Exercises can accomplish for you.

One key element that Gama posessed was the ability to throw opponents as big or bigger then him as if it was childs play and that one element came into being Isometrics. This system of training teaches you how to build strength and speed without ever moving a muscle yet still burn fat and build functional strength that's off the charts. Unlike other exercise systems, Isometrics helps you find the weak spots in your body and strengthens them to increase not only your physical power but more importatly your internal power.

This course to me is one of Physical Culture's greatest creations and it gives you a prespective on how to use your bodyweight in ways that's beyond tradition in the modern era. It was one of the first courses that got me started and taught me how to be my own trainer and give me the chance to change my body and my overall strength. It truely is Bodyweight Training at it's best.

Another key element is what Karl Gotch refers to as "the most important in physical conditioning" is the Bridge. You will find that it takes more then just getting into position and holding, it takes skill, keen awareness and flexibility to fal into the bridge from standing. Practicing this takes on a whole new meaning to the words "holy s*it." Never have you seen stuff like this before and if you want to take it to a whole other level which in my estimation is the peak of Bridging Training is Here and you will learn things that will amaze your friends and your athleticism. You don't have to be a wrestler or gymnast to do this stuff.

There will never be a course like this again because it gives you tools for lifelong health, fitness, strength, flexibility and endurance. Want to learn the old secrets of the indian wrestlers from yesteryear and for centturies before, get your ass over there and grab it asap.

Becoming A Stronger Man

When you look at super-heavyweight athletes, almost 99.9% of the time you wouldn't think that they have the same amount of strength as they do with endurance because lets face it, when you think of endurance body wise, you look at much smaller guys that can go for long periods of time, you think of ironmen, triathletes, marathon runners and even Olympic decathletes. However there is just that one of a kind athlete that has the rare respect and reputation for being a strength athlete as well as having the endurance to back it up. That one of a kind athlete is super strongman Bud Jeffries. I believe without question he is only man on the planet that can squat 1000 pounds from the bottom position and also have 3000 rep marathons with a kettlebell. At 5'11 and nearly 275, he is without a doubt one of the very top guys if not at the top of superhuman heavyweights that can do both at the same time. There are great trainers out there that can teach you either strength or endurance but never has there been a man that can teach both and be a big man to boot.

In one of his epic masterpieces Twisted Conditioning he teaches the best ways to shape up for strength an endurance at the same time which in some cases has never been written on paper before and it brings out the best for one who wants to have the strength of a gorilla and the endurance of an Ironman. In one way to look at it in order to train at both levels at the same time takes creative thinking and the way certain things play out in order to culminate together into one colossal program. Most people train for strength and very little on endurance, however the same can be said by those who train for endurance but never take up strength training, now there are no excuses why you can't train both.

One of the greatest bodybuilders of all-time John Grimek had a body that looked like it was carved out of granite and sculpted into this beautiful and awe dropping masterpiece but he was one of the very few that had the strength to back it up. He was also an Olympic weightlifter at a time when you either had to be a bodybuilder or a weightlifter and he was both and was one of the very best in the art of Muscle Control. He was probably in my estimation one of the last of his kind to be strong and looked the part at the same time. Once steroids started itching their way in the the lat 60's early 70's, that natural and wholesome tradition of becoming strong and shapely started to fade. Yes many guys busted their ass in both the bodybuilding world and the strength world but after guys like Grimek, Pearl and Park it just lost its natural state and became a steroid-infested industry.

There are an extreme few drug-free bodybuilders, lifters and overall athletes that keep that natural, hard work and iron will power from becoming a dead art and my boy Bud is right up there with them along with some awesome individuals who share the same goal. Drug-Free for those playing the home game means all natural and no steroids or P.E.Ds (Performance Enhancing Drugs) and there are orginizations out there that support that concept especially in Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, Football, Baseball ect. but doesn't have the respect it deserves.

In another epic course by Bud called Massive Functional Muscle, he teaches you that you never should choose to do this or that, you can either be a bodybuilder or a functional athlete, you either do high reps for endurance or low reps for strength. In reality you can do all the things you can think of and do it without the need of steroids just like the old-time strongmen of yesteryear. Look to guys like Sandow, Hackenshmidt, Arco, Maxick, Sig Klien and others of the early generations of strength. Screw the modern establishment and learn what you want to be and turn yourself into the athlete you dreamed of when you were small and fragil and wanting to be a giant among men and have the strength and power of a grizzly bear.

Do you want the body of a greek god and have the strength of a bull? Do you want to be able to run for miles and lift the heaviest of weights? Do you want to have the ability to train using push-ups and sit-ups while swinging a heavy kettlebell in the same workout? The only thing from stopping you doing all these things is you. There is no excuse to what your potential may be and you have nothing standing in your way.

Your imagination is the key that unlocks all your potential. You have the power to make it happen just need someone who can lead you on that path and very few can do it as awesome as the southern stud Bud Jeffries can. Never settle for less then what you want to do and on't let anyone stand in your way of becoming the strongest person in and out that you can be.

When Wrestling Was Fun To Watch

I grew up a 90's kid, watched the saturday morning cartoons, obsessed with The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, there was Keenan and Kel and at night it was Jeapordy, Wheel Of Fortune, Seinfeld and great tv shows of the time but nothing got me more hooked and more tuned in then Professional Wrestling. The very first event I watched on TV that I can remember was Wrestlemania 12 and it was the coolest thing I saw. I saw a 7 foot deadman piledrive a bad ass giant, saw a ringmaster with a million dollar belt, I witnessed a grown man in gold kiss a scottish wrestler on the lips but the one match that caught my eye and the one I still will say to this day was the greatest match in the history of televised events was the Iron Man one hour marathon between the Heart Break Kid Shawn Michaels vs. Bret The Hitman Hart for the WWE Championship. That was the match that started my journey into the history of the sport and gave me the chance to learn about the very best in the sport from its early days in the sticks to the epic era of television.

When I began watching the Monday Night Wars between Raw and Nitro, it was the most fun I ever had as a fan watching these awesome athletes of all shapes and sizes doing the things that they did best. Unlike a lot of fans I wasn't very much interested in what the character was but what happened in the ring that put most of my attention to. Watching these guys jump off the ropes, doing suplexes, power slams, cage matches, 6 man tags and the incredible physiques they had. Yes I was a fan of the NWO and Degeneration X but none of that mattered unless they wrestled in the ring.

I went to a few house shows at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and the old San Jose Arena before it was changed to the HP Pavillion and was at 2 big PPVs and a Smackdown show and it was the most epic time of my life as a fan of the old WWE and WCW. Because of this I became obsessed of what wrestling really was and studied the old school days of the sport going back as far as ancient egypt to presidents and kings being wrestlers to the PT Barnum era of the ACT shows to the epic battles of Frank Gotch and George Hackenshmidt to Ed Strangler Lewis being the transition from real wrestling becoming a profitable industry of characters to Television where Lou Thesz was the talk of the globe. I was also obsessed with how the wrestlers trained and what they did to become stars other then becoming a character.

Even during the early days of television wrestlers with an amature background broke into the business and brought their styles to a whole other level. I will still say to this day from the clips of matches I saw of the early TV era that the best amature wrestlers that made an impact on Pro Wrestling were Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne, Gene Kiniski, The Briscos, Dory Funk jr., Karl Gotch and Billy Robinson. There were guys just as good but none had an impact like those mistros of the mat.

I can never imagine the training wrestlers went through to break into the wrestling business. I mean sh*t the easy part was training in the ring and building a charcter but to put all that infront of hundreds of thousands of people was just brutal. I've seen clips of guys aching and begging for their lives for the torture to stop. I've heard stories of Hulk Hogan training from Hiro Matsuda, Eddy Sharkey who trained guys like Road Warriors, Bob Backlund and Jesse "The Body" Ventura who took these guys to limits that you can't imagine unless you were there and don't get me started on guys like Walter "Killer" Kowalski who was a conditioning machine who taught the art of the business to future WWE Hall Of Famer Paul Levesque aka Triple H.

I've been through torture workouts myself in my later years after being a teenager but never have I or ever want to be put through that kind of training but that also put me on my quest for being in condition and strong. Conditioning is your greatest friend and nobody put that concept better then the late Karl Gotch. It doesn't matter whether you're in wrestling or in other sports, you can have the techniques down to a science but if your condition is poor you might as well get out the door.

I wish there were matches that were just as good if not better then the matches going on today in WWE's PG era which I have no idea what that concept is nor do I care. There are some great wrestlers today like Rey Mysterio, NCAA standout Jack Swagger, College champion Dolph Ziggler but the one guy that really brought his amature status to the ring and brought a whole new meaning to the words Wrestler and even going back to the place where he first gained fame in the Olympics is Kurt Angle. This guy in my opinion is our generation's Dan Gable and he took wrestling in ways that will never be duplicated as far as wrestling goes not rassling. There are a few guys that are good to watch these days but it doesn't live up to the era of my teenage years where you had guys like the Rock, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker and quite possibly one of the funniest cats in the business as well as one of the greatest performers Chris Jericho.

They don't make wrestlers like them anymore and the very few guys that are good to watch every now and then like Randy Orton, John Cena, Kofi Kingston and CM Punk just had me lost interest as a fan of that part of the business and rather watch the guys from my generation to the day days of Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat, The Road Warriors, Bob Backlund and believe it or not Macho Man Randy Savage. Nowadays I watch real wrestlers like Brock Lesnar, Matt Huges, The Shamrocks, Tito Ortiz, Josh Barnett, Randy Couture and the great Japanese wrestlers.

Although I have lost interest in the few years of WWE wrestling, WWE gave me the chance to learn and love wrestlers of the past and transition from the loud characters and chair swinging lunitics to the kick ass submission style and scientific version of wrestling. Its all how you tend to look at things. Whether you're a fan of wrestling ingeneral or not its really how you love to watch your heroes and watch the great evolvement that unfolds whether its cool or not and find the best to watch and learn for yourself.