Abdominal Training For Superior Strength

When you think of Ab training, you mostly hear about crunches and little side bends and mostly isolating the Abs with little rockers and machines. This is not real world Ab strength training. Our body’s core is all the muscles of the Abdominals from below the breast line all the down just to the top of the sexual organs.

 A lot of people think if you want six pack abs you need to do this many crunches, eat less, do 100’s of side bends and whatever crap that others come up with. Not saying a six pack isn’t a bad thing but really what does it really matter when you have a washboard stomach that can’t take a punch and your organs aren’t strong enough to hold off diseases? Karl Gotch once put it that there are two types of muscles for an athlete or bodybuilder and that “Conditioned Muscle” & Counterfeit Muscle.” These two variations have obvious statements but let me clarify a little, conditioned means that it’s strong, can take a lot whether in a workout or a fight, it’s useful, functional and the organs are strong, counterfeit means basically it looks awesome but than no further than that as you can have great development but that won’t amount to anything if you’re prone to injury.

 Real Abdominal training comes from training the entire body as a unit while keeping a major focus on the Abs. If you look back over 100 years ago, the old-time strongmen had some of the most powerful Abs on the planet. Men like Otto Arco, Maxick, Sandow, Farmer Burns and others all had what would be called punch-proof Abs. Their developments were off the charts and this was long before machines and gadgets. They developed this kind of strength and power by utilizing Muscle Control, full body training, Gymnastics, various sit-ups and Deep Breathing. They became so strong that would be able to handle certain feats that were beyond their own bodyweight. This type of training didn’t take hours a day and never isolated yet some of them had muscles that are still better than the bodybuilders of today.

 One of the true kings of Muscle Control was Otto Arco of Poland. A master of abdominal training that had the ability to wrestle, lift heavy and was one of the purest acrobats in the world at that time. Many came after him but there is only one Otto Arco and unlike bodybuilders today, Arco not only looked incredible but had pure strength and power to back it up. For one of the first 3 men in history to lift overhead double bodyweight it was a real feat to be reckoned with. The ability to control any part of his body was a sight to be hold and very few then can match and chances are slim to none no one can match him today.

 Another facet of phenomenal Ab Training is the Bridge. To most the bridge is either a neck, back or a shoulder exercise but really it is an exercise that works the core to a level unlike any other. If you don’t have good solid strength in your abdominals, the bridge will be difficult to do. Holding a posture is one thing but to do lethal and acrobatic maneuvers is a whole different ball game. Ever heard of the burpee? I’m sure you have, it’s a staple of conditioning that’s practiced in many areas but what about the Bridge Burpee? This makes a regular burpee look like a cake walk as you fall into a bridge either on the hands, head/hands or head alone and you kick over and back, if you’re really athletic you would do this then stand back up. A good bridge builds functional and powerful abs and with power of deep breathing, your core will be difficult to hurt.

 A key ingredient in all of Physical Culture is one of the most neglected forms of modern training and that’s learning to breathe. We today take our breathing for granted but what if I told you that your breath is the source of all your power and strength. Breathing gives us life. We can go long periods of time without food or water but we can only hold our breath for only a few minutes before we start to give out and die. The number one secret to true core strength is in how you breathe.

 You don’t need the skills of a gymnast or the body of bodybuilder and neither do need to have the skills of a wrestler, all you need is a few minutes a day of working your body as a unit and focus on the abdominals. Muscle Control is a healthy practice as it teaches you how to use your mind and body’s connections and with basic gymnastics that anyone can learn from a humble beginner to an advanced athlete. The stronger your core inside and out, the stronger your whole body will be. Learn to take control of your body and your strength & fitness will skyrocket to levels you can’t imagine.

The Indiana Jones Mindset

The character is the ultimate embodiment of an adventurer. Seeking new civilizations and bringing them to the forefront for all to cherish. He is a man’s man with great intentions to stop those who oppose all that is decent, resourceful and good productivity. We can all learn from quite possibly the greatest explorer in the history of film. What does this have to with training and great workouts? We can symbolize on finding that great quest on finding the greatest exercise or the ultimate workout or even the most productive program. Each workout is never complete without having some kind of adventure.

 We learn all kinds of things and the people that we learn from is just as important as the workouts themselves. There are those that are in it for the glory and never give you the right road to success. Consumed by greed, money and luxury, there are trainers out there that are like that and rather hurt you and take your money then give the valuable info that can help you live longer, get stronger and become a better individual. To me those are people like René Belog (Lost Ark), Mola Ram (Temple Of Doom) & Nazi General Vogel (Last Crusade). They want to destroy what’s awesome about real training and finding the true nature of strength, conditioning and personal health.

 The people that give us the true meaning of strength and fitness show us how we can learn for ourselves and show us the true path to becoming strong, athletic and conditioned for the things we want to do and love to do. Some do have expensive things to help us but they want to teach us, how badly do you want it, do we have what it takes and how far forward do we want to go? Training is all about learning, finding who you are, where do you want to go in life and sometimes there are road blocks…Financial troubles, not finding that magic pill, what you’re doing is right or wrong, we all have had these issues but there are ways to work around them and still give yourself that adventure you’re always craving. The best I’ve learned from taught me how to push myself in ways no one else could, they gave me a sense of hope and they gave me the power to find my own path in what I can accomplish.

 We will never know if there actually is the Holy Grail that is from the bible, the one cup that caught Christ’s blood in the crucifixion and said to have powers of healing. The truth is, we’re all searching for ultimate power of healing or even the fountain of youth. The search is the search of the divine in all of us. I believe from a fitness standpoint that the Holy Grail is finding the right way to train that keeps you young, healthy and vibrant that keeps you pain-free and live a long, happy life. Very few have found that Grail. Jack Lalanne was one of them, George Hackenshmidt, Paul Bragg, Charles Atlas and a few others. It is that one true quest that keeps us going, finding what works and what doesn’t, learning where you will go.

 Like the Temple Of Doom, you are caught in a web of deceiving jackals that want to destroy your very well being and make you believe in something that not only can bring you to the brink of destruction but destroy your own personal beliefs for life and love. In the beginning, you’re crawling through a dark, mysterious and frightening cave, never knowing where you’ll end up. You find deadly creatures that not only look ugly and fierce but can also kill you in the process. You fight off the creatures a bit and each phase of this dark tunnel; more things tend to find you challenging your deepest fears. Sharp and destructive spikes rain down and you have to fight for your life to get out. You eventually walk out but the ultimate challenge is not too far ahead. Your ultimate challenge is fighting off the one thing that you fear the most and that fear is in yourself. This fear at times can take over you like an addictive drug that controls you more then your own well being. In order to destroy it, you must find that fire within you and set that fear ablaze and bring that spark of life back into glory. Those that don’t want you to have that spark or fire within will try to take you down into the depths of hell and make you they’re own little puppet. Never become someone else’s puppet, pull on your own damn strings and use whatever fight you have left.

 When it comes to the Ark, you are looking at one of the most prominent objects in world history. It is an object that in legend if its power is harnessed, you will be invincible. Reality check, no one is invincible but we can learn to harness the power of regeneration. Our bodies heal from certain injuries and therefore can help you be stronger in some cases. The human body is one of the greatest mysteries of all-time. We can learn anatomy, physiology, neurology and whatnot but the whole mystery of how powerful the body is just incredible. Regenerating is a major key in our body’s system and helps us build ourselves back up from some of the fiercest things like disease, aging, injuries and painful mental attributes. Now there are certain things that our body can’t recover from but with the right tools and with great people to learn from, we can harness our own healing powers and prevent certain things that can destroy what we need to keep healthy the most, ourselves. For most of our society today, we have lost touch of what’s important and that’s being healthy and living a long life. Diseases like obesity, lung cancer, heart problems, drinking and osteoporosis have plagued our way of life and we need to get back to what’s important. Being fit is a tough gig but it’s never too late to start working your way up and having the adventure of a lifetime.

 People need this, want that, this works, this doesn’t, we need this type of equipment, this machine blah blah. Why not just shut the hell up and look at what you’re doing. You’re putting more on your table then you need to and you need to see what the big picture is. Look at Indy, does he have a boatload of things to carry around that people tell him what he needs and should have? Hell no. He has a small change of clothes, a satchel, pistol, whip, his body and mind. He doesn’t use the latest gadget or tries to find a local store to get food, he’s in the f*cking jungle. Having less is more then enough. In fitness, you are seeing thousands of exercises, machines beyond the radar and equipment that you can’t possibly store in a small space. The less you have, the more you might gain something. There’s nothing wrong with variety but choose the things that will suit your needs. Find the best things that will give you superior results and give you success in your workouts. For the most part all you need for life if your own bodyweight, if you want variety then go here and see what can work for you. Use what you can and become the strongest and healthiest person you can be. There’s nothing that should be stopping you.

Wrestling & The Golden Age Of Physical Culture

Before baseball was a major success, before football became the second national pastime, wrestling was the talk of the world. Even in the carnival ACT shows, wrestling was a way to make money whether by side bets or on a major bout in a small city. The most notable wrestlers of the day were Tom Jenkins, George Hackenshmidt, Frank Gotch and quite possibly the greatest of them all Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Wrestling as we all know is the oldest of sports and what better to help bring wrestling to the national spotlight then in the Industrial Revolution. It took more then these men to make a profit and matches were unpredictable as some lasted a few minutes to lasting a few hours.

 If there was ever a man long before Television swept the nation in America’s living rooms, he took wrestling to a height that only Hulk Hogan and Lou Thesz would achieve later in the century and that was George Hackenshmidt. A man born in Estonia, the most built developed man at that time and was considered to be at one point to another title, The World’s Strongest Man. Looking like he was carved from Granite, Hack sold out areas in Europe such as the London Opera House and in America drew one of the biggest crowds in Sports History wrestling Frank Gotch. By far one of the strongest competitors of that time but more importantly believe it or not one of the most conditioned. Hack lived and breathed exercise and wrestling as he build muscles and brains by writing a course that became his Magnum Opus: The Way To Live. Up until Hulk Hogan arrived, Hack was the guy that brought strength and muscle to the world of Professional Wrestling.

 Lou Thesz who was the most watched man in America in the early TV era, considered one man he didn’t question as the greatest of all-time (even though it’s still argued to this day) was a man who was known to beat anyone at any length of a match and whenever he wanted but still made a moniker as a boring defensive wrestler named Ed Lewis a.k.a Robert Julius Fredrick if I stand corrected. Although very well talented and could cripple any guy he faced, Lewis wasn’t all that of a offensive wrestler if history serves me right and he just didn’t do very well when drawing a crowd. During one match it lasted five and a half hours when spectators were expected to see a good hour of wrestling. Because of this notion, during the roaring twenties and the Depression of the 1930’s, the scientific style of wrestling became faded and the people needed excitement. With promoters and wrestlers alike they began doing performance matches which they don’t try to cripple each other but get the people in frenzy and this was the turning point from being a sport to becoming an entertainment spectacle.

 No matter what sport you love, there’s always going to the single greatest debate, “Who’s the greatest.” Wrestling is no different. During the Industrial Revolution, kids and athletes of all shapes and sizes flocked to YMCA’s and the early stages of Gymnasiums done by guys like Sig Klein’s gym in New York in the 30’s and also York Barbell Company along with a Health Club in Oakland, CA by a little known Physical Culturist and athlete himself Jack Lalanne. Wrestling for most people at that time and in Europe such as England, Germany, Ireland & Scotland honed their skills just to pass the time because of either money trouble, tension at home, odd jobs or even to become a professional. Back then, Wrestling gave you a sense of hope and to test your manhood of not only skill but character. A lot of great athletes came out as wrestlers at one time or another. Even big name Presidents were wrestlers in their lifetime like William Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Teddy Roosevelt and others but the most famous wrestler in the White House long before the Industrial Revolution was none other then Abraham Lincoln.

 Such big names during this era up until the TV era were names like Otto Arco, Gama, Hackenshimidt, Frank Gotch, Eugene Sandow, George F. Jowett, Tom Jenkins, The Mighty Atom Joseph Greenstein, Lou Thesz, Ed Lewis, Jim Londis, Toots Mont, Ad Santell, Stu Hart and many, many more. These men were the cornerstone before there was a WWE, WCW and ECW. The NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) was on the verge of becoming the top promoting company in the wrestling business at that time. Wrestling back then was far more real and scientific then the high flying, bloated up bodybuilding and chair swinging entertainment that it is today and wrestlers had to be in tip top shape and be able to go an hour or more in a match if they needed to.

 Money wasn’t a major deal at the time until Hack and Gotch came around and for them, they were practically the first two athletes to draw a major wrestling card as they had a series of Championship matches that lasted god knows how long but they kept at it until they had a final match in 1911 at Chicago’s brand new Comiskey Park where Hack lost another match to Frank Gotch.  Other then that unless it was in the Carnival shows, betting on a wrestler was as much a gamble as horseracing (maybe less). Side bets came left and right and most likely there were guys who took a fall to get a big payday like shaving points in a basketball or football game today. Like any gamble, there were guys who won and lost money on a good wrestler and very few great ones like Santel, Gotch and Jenkins ever lost a match before they ended up crippling their opponents. Like any athlete you want to bet on a man that is good, strong and intelligent in how he uses his opponents. Once the promoters began running shows in various cities around the country and the real style of wrestling faded, the gamble wore off and ticket profits became the stuff of legends.

 There are an extreme few wrestlers today that are as good, some better and some far less then the wrestlers of the past. If I had to name a few would be Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Dan Severn, Kurt Angle, Kazushi Sakuraba, Brock Lesnar and Matt Hughes that are keen wrestlers to tearing down their opponents, yes I realize a few of these names were in WWE at one time but seriously, I’m talking before they even talked to guys like Vince McMahon. Any wrestler whether in the WWE, UFC, King Of The Cage or even what use to be PRIDE in Japan should pay homage to those that came before them, learn their history, learn where they came from and how to model themselves after. It’s more worth while knowing your history then knowing your techniques. Knowledge is power, wisdom is strength, and conditioning & technique come last. Whoever is the greatest wrestler doesn’t matter and really shouldn’t ever matter, what does matter is what did you get out of learning from the best whether it’s from one wrestler or ten of them.

Fire, Passion & Powerful

Three words that I can describe this guy whose come right out of the bushes and began a journey of strength & health unlike anyone I’ve seen before. I’m talking about my man Matti Merzel. He’s one very unique individual that you only see once in a generation. A man who’s come so far in a short period of time that one can only wonder how far he’s going to push the limit. This is the same guy who was in the army in Israel and became a mean, fighting machine.

 There’s a lot of great qualities about him but one thing that gives him away more then anything in a good way is his intensity for becoming strong and powerful at a small size. One would not think of him as being strong but that’s where ignorance is bliss. I’ve seen and talked to some of the strongest people on this planet but Matt has that aura of him that takes on a whole new meaning to the words “holy f*cking s*it.”

 He’s a warrior by nature not only being in the military but in his specific feats of strength he performs. I’ve seen him break wrenches, rip phonebooks, held handstands and whatever the hell else he does and in every feat, there’s a fire in his veins that just never seems to wear out unless he wants it to. It’s hard to believe that strongmen have that much intensity and love for what they do but within Matti it’s a little different like with every living breathing strongman. The power he posses should not be human and most likely isn’t but nonetheless, like they say “with great power comes great responsibility.”

 There’s John Cena in the WWE who’s the face of the company and is a living, breathing athlete. The reason why I chose Cena to compare to Matti, not because of athletic ability, not for being a wild character but because like Cena, Matti has a passion for what he loves the most and he lives, breathes, eats, talks, thinks it every single day of his life and he believes nothing will get in his way of succeeding. It’s that passion that you only see once in a lifetime, it’s that passion that you can’t fathom unless you experience it but it’s also that passion that puts you ahead of many others and your only way is not to climb down but climb up and in the words of Rocky Balboa “Its not how hard you hit, its how hard you get hit and still willing to keep fighting.” You can’t teach that in a school or a gym or in an office, you learn it by fighting through it with heart and will power more then any average person. It’s that fine line between ordinary and extraordinary.

 Want to see the passion, fire and love for Physical Culture? Head over to Ferociousstrength.com and look at the already plethora of articles he’s written that are just over the top with info that not many this fast has accomplished. I encourage you to read this man’s story and find what makes me a real fire-breathing athlete in our realm of Physical Training. Give him a chance and he’ll make it worth your while and then some as he will help you take your training to a whole new level. This is a dawning of a new Era and it will be an Era all will never forget.

The Animal

There’s a movie of the same name that’s been around for over 10 years. It’s a really funny comedy if you’re a fan of Rob Schneider. I’ve seen it many times over the years but after learning more on exercise I’m looking at this movie from a different perspective. It’s one of those scenarios of being bullied and turning it into triumph.

 The story goes of a wanna-be who wants nothing more then to be a cop. The problem with him is that he’s a classic weakling and has symptoms of asthma and a lack of confidence in himself. He goes through an obstacle course for police training that keeps blowing up in his face and fails on the last piece of the course. He even goes as far to make himself lean and mean by buying a bodybuilding supplement called “Badger Milk.” After seeing in the infomercial what the product “does”, he orders it and tries it out and even likes the taste.

 One day there’s a call in a robbery and with all the other cops out at a sporting event, this lonely, weak looking guy takes the call and gets in his sad and pathetic looking of car. A wild animal is in the middle of the road and almost hitting it Schneider’s character swerves and starts rolling the car down a long mountain. Being more dead then alive, a man drags him out and carries him to a barn where he happens to operate on him. After being in surgery, the weak guy wakes up and find his way back home.

 What this surgery got him was a weird success of an experiment where he has different organs of wild animals like a horse, chimp, wild cat and what else was put in him. Because of this, he develops Wild Animal Instincts and he becomes stronger, faster, more stamina and aware of his surroundings. Not going to give you the rest of the movie away because I’m not that good at giving a play by play.

 What I’m getting at here is that you don’t need a doctor to turn you into an athlete when you can develop into one yourself. Building strength and fitness does take effort but if you want it bad enough, you will develop your body in ways you couldn’t imagine before. You can gain strength and power by moving your body in awkward positions just like the wild animals and nothing is stronger, faster, more agile and intimidating then a wild animal.

 During parts of the movie, the character finds it difficult to control his urges for food; sexual appetite and the way things happen that makes his instincts go haywire. Now even though this is exaggerated in the film, in real life, urges happen in us all the time. When you develop your body through great exercise, hormones are being built and you build levels of metabolism that shoots through the roof.

 Our instincts are as old as time and one way or another we follow what we feel, even if it’s wrong at times but when it comes to exercise, we want a great body and be able to do things that seem impossible. Throughout the years our priorities towards fitness slows down and being more civilized and use proper manners towards what’s wrong and right. Our instincts remain the same but are told what we can and can’t do and don’t use our full potential as not only a human being but using that wild animal that resides within all of us. Learn to use your instincts and when you exercise, learn the best things for you that make you strong, powerful and animal-like.

 Unlike in the movie where he developed powers overnight, that won’t happen in real life. If you want to be strong, athletic and functional, you got to put work into it but it doesn’t have to be stressful. You can create a program that’s fun and can be done just about anywhere. One of the key elements of success to having a great exercise program is to enjoy your exercise and be hungry for more. The more you love it, the more likely your results will come and when you add your imagination and think like an animal.

 I encourage you to go and get the movie because it’s not just good fun comedy but you can learn a thing or two about being weak and making it a habit to become strong and healthy. Have fun and get out there and go animal.

Fitness Russian Roulette

Ever heard of that ultimate and ruthless gamble? You have one bullet in a gun and you never know which part of the barrel it’s in. It’s a matter of life and death and you never know how long you’ll live until BANG!!! You’re dead.

 In the fitness world this type of gamble happens more often then you might think. You have that one chance to find the results you want, you keep trying this or that but in the end, that one bullet will come up on you and because of your stressful efforts you failed and bit that bullet. People gamble so much for their bodies that the odds of them succeeding are 100-1 in my opinion. Very rarely that bullet of failure falls out of that metaphorical gun and you just happen to accomplish a goal and you felt awesome about it.

 What about the game of Chicken? You know that gamble like in jousting where one guy lives and the other might not and one chickens out and turns the other way? Throughout the years this game has had cars to “toy with” and it doesn’t turn into a game anymore, again it becomes a matter of who might live or might die. This is where exercise and the person training can become very dangerous either physically or mentally. You’re scared that you’re not going to beat that exercise whether its weights or not and there is that piece of you that just gets so frustrated that instead of confronting it, you turn around to save your own ass.

 If you want to beat the game of chicken and Russian Roulette then the one thing you must develop to stop having that one bullet come up and hit you right through that thick skull of yours is to learn the love of enthusiasm. Learning this trait can bring you beyond the peak of turning dead end results into a consistent state of not only making your results possible but learning to keep them. It’s very important that you love and believe what you do and use your love for finding what works and keeping it a challenge.

 There are two sides to every coin like ying and yang. One cannot coexist without the other. In order to build a solid foundation of both positive and negative sides to the coin you keep flipping over and over, you have to watch how your enthusiasm takes hold. If you have trouble finding what works and don’t know if anything is going to work, that’s the negative side of the coin. Now if you’re successful and know what works for you how do you kill two birds with one stone? Simple really, learn to smile when things don’t always go your way but one way or another you will be successful.

 One of my key successes in having a solid foundation in a fitness program is to learn what you’re getting into without knowing what you’ll get out of it. What I mean by that is you learn certain exercises or many of them and you know which one’s work and which don’t so you challenge yourself to see what results you will get from them. Many people fill out the sets and reps schemes and work the same reps in the same set. You do this for strength and that for endurance. For me, I gamble my exercises. In almost every workout, I never know what numbers are going to come up and when they do sometimes I’ll keep them as they are or double even triple them but I can always change course at the blink of an eye and make it an adventure instead of it being generic and dull. That’s what you want to make your exercise program, an adventure. You never know what’s going to happen but you damn sure want to find out. It’s like walking into the jungle, you never know what’s in it but you’re going to have the ride of your life whether you like it or not.

 There’s also another metaphorical gun you should avoid that has not just one bullet but beyond the loaded rounds and that’s the verbal gun. The majority of people will tell you that you can’t achieve something great and you won’t make something happen because you’re no good. This type of Russian Roulette is far more dangerous then being scared of being a failure. To avoid that stress and anxiety picture all those people that tell you that you can’t be successful. Picture them as if they were bullets in a loaded gun and if you even attempt one shot, most likely it will hit you hard. What you do is in your mind is think of taking that gun out into the ocean where no one will find it. Take it as far out as you can where no one can hear them or see them. Take out all the bullets and throw that bitch in the ocean and let it sleep with the fishes. You are a wonderful person who should succeed and if you want it bad enough you’ll go get it and not let one negative person stand in your way. Don’t pull the trigger.

The Forgotten Lift

Before anyone said “How much can you bench?” Before there were cardio machines reigning gymnasiums and long before the testing powers of Power lifting, there was one lift that gave you the most praises for your test of strength and that was the overhead press. This was the lift that told you how you belonged in the Physical Culture world and the two variations that became the stuff of legends were the Bent Press and the Two Hands Anyhow which means lifting 2 objects any way you can.

 In this day in age it’s very difficult to find almost anyone doing these lifts. The closest would be doing them with a kettlebell, rarely a dumbbell and almost never with a barbell. Why have these lifts fallen off the radar? Good question. Olympic Weightlifting has dominated the strength world and so has Power lifting and the Strongman competitions and have other tested feats of strength. However, these two lifts alone are one of the very pinnacles of what true lifting strength is and it’s also one of the most difficult to train. Yeah I can understand there are safety rules and injuries that can accrue but really, there are more dangerous lifts then these two bloodhounds.

 The man that not only made these two lifts famous but owns records that haven’t been broken in over 100 years was none other then quite possibly the greatest one-handed lifter of all-time Arthur Saxon. Saxon was a lifting god among the average man back in the old days of vaudeville and stage lifting. He and his brothers Kurt and Herman was the trio of strongmen acts that were unlike anything then and now. Their feats of strength were the talk of the world at that time and trained in very unusual ways. They drank beer, lifted, ate enormous amounts of food and trained day in and out for many, many years. In Germany, weight lifting and beer were the biggest draws and no one team of individuals did it better then the Saxon Brothers (aka Henning Family).

 When you talk about records you might think 762 career homeruns, 33,000+ career points in the NBA, 56 straight baseball games hitting 1 ball a game, Bret Favre’s consecutive games played in a NFL career, 100 points by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962 and even Wayne Gretzky’s most goals in a season, Saxon’s Bent Press should be right up there with them. His record of pressing 370 lbs. with one-arm stands the test of time and is a record that could never be broken. Think about that for a second, 370 lbs. with one arm. The majority of men can’t pick that much weight with two arms and yet one man defied the odds. His record of Two Hands Anyhow is 448 lbs, also an unbroken record.

 Those that have attempted to break these records have been on the receiving end of a failure. No one has come close and if it does get broken, I want to see it happen and I can probably see one guy I know do it and he’s determined to do it hell or high water in the coming years. It really is one of the ultimate challenges in the world of strength. Majority of men can lift something with two arms but to lift something with one-arm is a test of power, grit, world-class ability and the strength of a lion.

Internal Conditioning

A lot of mainstream gyms today help you build your body from an external point of view as in you see what’s in the mirror and for most that’s the only thing that counts. Some even go on extreme diets and do extreme type workouts that not only can hurt you from the outside but more on the inside. Have you ever thought of what it’s like to feel alive both in and out?

 Building the body from the inside is a key ingredient to your fitness success. The reason why that is it’s because your body is a system of not just bones and tissues but your organs as well. The organs are what are keeping the body alive. You have your heart, liver, lungs, spleen, kidneys and the largest organ of them all, your skin. Too many people neglect training these areas because to them either they take it for granted or don’t realize how important they are.

 Working the body internally is not just taking a few deep breaths no, its loosening the joints to keep them fresh, strengthening the organs to keep your energy floating like a beautiful river stream, it’s opening up the meridians (pressure points) in your body that help you stay energized and vibrant. Deep breathing is essential to any program but when you learn to target certain parts of the body that can help cleanse the body of toxins and breathe new life into your system.

 In Chinese medicine, it’s said that there are 300 pressure points on the body. Now whether there’s more or less I don’t know I’m not a doctor but because of that many you only need a few to help energize and vitalize the body. Did you know that certain pressure points hit spots on the body that hit in places that you never thought they’d hit? There’s a pressure point on the body that’s within your own hands that can help relieve headaches. Didn’t know that did you? There’s even a pressure on the wrist that opens up the heart in a way that vitalizes it and helps blood flow. How about a certain spot just below the navel where it gives you sexual energy like crazy and no it’s not your sexual organs. My personal favorite is a certain spot on the sternum that after I slap it a few times I end up smiling more than a kid on a Christmas day.

 Now do you have to be a hardcore gym rat to practice this type of training? Hell no. Most of the time it’s usually for people who have crossed over to the middle aged range but who says you can’t do it far younger say in your teens, 20’s or 30’s. They say life goes downhill after 40. I don’t believe that for a damn bit. I may be in my 20’s and not that far from 30 and I do this type of program almost every day and for good reason. It wakes my ass up more then a cold shower, gives me more energy that I need throughout the day for both my mind and my body and it puts me in a blissful state that you can’t get from anything else.

 Let me put it this way. You strengthen your organs and joints you get stronger internally and the amount of energy you develop can be used in other forms of training. You have a much higher chance of living longer if you practice a program like this. It’s not that difficult to learn and you can do it anytime, anywhere. You can even do it just before your regular training or do it in the morning before you leave for work, ditch the coffee. Your long-term health is in good hands if you practice it regularly. Build your body from the inside out and get your body on the track to superior health and vitality.

Finding The Flow Of Your Training

All of us have different perspectives about the flow or high we get when we train. It can be a real hardcore workout, smooth and methodical, powerful or having the feeling of just taken on the world and won it in a glorious fashion. When you find how you flow through your workouts, you’ll be getting a sense of what true strength and power lies, not in the muscles but in the mind.

 What is the perfect workout? Is it hitting a certain sets and reps? Is it perfecting the very best exercise performance? Or is it just finishing everything and going home to rest? The answer can be any of those three things but to me the perfect workout is neither one of them. The very perfect workout is when everything comes together and you flow through it like the waves of the ocean. It’s when you create something special that you rarely ever do and it’s powerful and strong but at the same time it’s peaceful and vibrant. Very few people experience that but again it’s never the same for everyone so your definition will most likely be different then mine but that’s the beauty of it.

 Nine times out of Ten your workouts will be great or boring or even good to call it a day afterwards but that one time, that workout will make everything else look like nothing but you accept it and it gives you a sense of accomplishment. All leading to that one moment where you feel the world is yours and you take it in your hands and you felt like you were Zeus himself on the top of Mount Olympus. It may for you often or very rarely it doesn’t matter, what does matter is how you portray that one conquering moment where everything falls into place and you enriched in glorious freedom of power and might that even for a brief second, it consumes you and you want to keep that moment.

 There will be times in your workouts where everything falls into place and you have secured your perfect training session. How can you make this happen? Well, honestly it takes more then a couple workouts. Takes practice and patience and never expect the perfect workout to come, let it come to you and when you least expect it, it’ll happen like a bolt lightning.

 Don’t just find your flow in your workouts, you can find your flow in other things. Did you know the ancient samurai weren’t just warriors of combat and lived/died by the sword? They were artists, poets and men of honor. Like them, the Shaolin monks, the Vikings, the Romans and other ancient warriors of combat they learned many aspects of life that had nothing to do with war or fighting. When you learn many other things, that’s where everything with you comes together to create your own moments of self-discovery and find how things work for you. Find your flow and you’ll find who you are as a person.

How To Deal With Minor Injuries

Anything can happen in a workout especially when it comes to injuries. You can break a bone, sprain an ankle or you can pull muscles. One little minor injury however happens often in the strongman world and at times its common in gymnastics and that’s tearing of the skin. You get a cut or a bruise and you automatically think your training is done. Well hate to burst your bubble but you can still train while you heal but might need to cut back (no pun intended) a bit.

 I went for a personal record this past St Patrick’s Day weekend and ended up having my skin being torn in two different places in my right hand. Now I’ve dealt with this before and have had big time bruises from bending and tearing stuff and I can assure you it’s no picnic but that doesn’t give me an excuse to stop training all together. Taking a little time off from certain training can do you some good but you should also focus on another realm of training.

 When you get a cut or a bruise from a workout its not a laughing matter if you just left it alone. If you want to heal faster you have to treat the wound and if it’s at a point if it’s too severe then you need to see a doctor. Other than that is sure to treat your injuries with ointments and stop training at a hardcore pace and let yourself heal. Healing is just as important as building muscle and from recovery. I stopped some training because my hand is not in the shape to be in but I don’t stop training. I can train my legs more, do qi gong, practice muscle control without gripping my hand as a fist, all sorts of varieties I can do till my hand is back in the shape I want it to be.

 Switching things around for healing purposes can be a great and rewarding experience. Practicing Internal Training is a healing method of training just as it can be used to train the mind and your whole body. As you begin to heal, you’ll notice that as you get stronger, your mind becomes stronger because you’re learning how to handle different things for different situations. We’re all different and do our best not to get injured but it does happen in the most unexpected ways and no matter what the injury is, we should treat it well so when we get back, we can learn certain lessons on how to prevent that ever happening again.

 Some people take it too far and get injured more often then they should be healing. Now a scratch or a bruise is one thing but certain severe problems can arise and it can haunt you and bite you in the ass. Believe me from personal experience, you don’t want that and never push hard when you’re making a recovery. When you’re healing, take some time out of your training and think into your body, learn to electrify your body and practice building strength from inside the body like the organs and tendons. When I got hurt from bending steel and cut my hands, it was not pretty and it looked like it will be a long time before I get back to doing what I love, but in a two day span of using some ointment and very bandaging along with internal training, I’ve seen major improvements in my hands and now it just feels bruised more then a cut but less painful and the healing process is incredible. Now that may not sound true but let’s face it, I’m a terrible liar. Some people don’t heal as quickly as others which is understandable and it takes longer to get back from certain things but if you learned to harness the power of your mind and practice building your body from the inside, that’s where real strength and healing come from and you’ll be surprised how quickly you can heal from doing these kind of practices.

 Some say that the little things can make a huge difference. I believe that with just about anything. Doing big things all the time can lead to a downfall and you won’t know how to develop little goals of challenges. When I learned about the injury Paul Levesque (WWE Legend Triple H) had with his quad tear back in ’01, he said during an interview that if you want to get back into something, you set little goals for yourself. Small goals can create a monster positive outcome not just as a recovery and getting back to something but it’s the journey that makes all the difference to make one big explosion and you’re back stronger, hungrier and more determined then ever.

 Never believe the training is ever over. It’s just taking a break while you learn and experience the type of training you can take on and conquer so when you get back to regular training, you’ll have a new found respect and appreciation of what you can accomplish. It’s not always about pride or ego; it’s about becoming a stronger individual no matter what the obstacle is. I never want to see any one of you guys out there getting hurt but if it does happen to you, do what you can to get back and learn the best and safest ways to do it.

Muscle Control Resurrected

There is such a thing as building beautiful muscles without ever training with weights. It’s not always calisthenics that does it but with the proper techniques, you can build awesome looking muscle by doing the lost art of Muscle Control. This method of exercise is one of the most unique in the world and it’s very powerful.

Muscle Control has been around for centuries since it became famous by a teacher who traveled to China and taught the out of shape monks how to fight with peace but also build their bodies both internally and externally. This is a form of internal training, using your mind to create the tension. It became more famous later on in the Golden Age of Physical Culture in the early 20^th Century by strength stars like Eugene Sandow, Maxick, Otto Arco, Sig Klein and many more. This was the true way to building strength and build muscle in ways unheard of at the time.

The real days of Bodybuilding were in the era of the stars I mentioned above. Their physiques were unmatched then as they are today and even back then before steroids and the overwhelming franchise of supplements and infomercials, these men taught the public through their mail-order courses how to live the life of a healthy, strong and vibrant individual. Most of these men outlived the majority of the average life capacity of the time which was between 47 and 60. Even after they had reach their peak in the world of fitness and healthy living, their bodies still looked vibrant and powerful as their strength was just as incredible as well.

Did I forget to mention that these stars have phenomenal strength as well? Matter of fact sometimes they did Muscle Control exclusively and still had incredible power left over. Take Otto Arco for example…One of the best overall athletes on the planet at the time was also one of the first 3 men in his weight class to lift double bodyweight in the overhead press which was unheard of for a man at less 155 pounds. Controlling the muscles individually can help increase some of your lifts if you do that as well because it teaches the muscles when to contract for a specific lift or stunt.

Powerful muscles can make you healthy in the long run as well. Practicing this method helps build internal power as it can increase your breathing capacity and strengthen the organs and not put rough stress on the tendons. When you learn the art, you will find some very rare techniques that not only give great definition and power but keep you healthy and vibrant. These exercises worked then and they’ll work now and if you’re practicing professional bodybuilding, your competition will ask about how you’re building these sculpted and chiseled muscles.

Take your time to learn these, you don’t need to rush and just jump into the exercises. Learn them, do them and practice, practice, practice. Before you know it, you’re going to look like a person that was carved from granite and have the body of a rugged athlete. Have fun and trust the power within you.

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.