Big Muscles Don’t Mean Jack Shit

In every major muscle magazine, you’ll find a minimum of 3 articles that “teach” you how to build giant looking muscles. Come on are you fucking kidding me, most of these guys can’t write a single program that shows any realistic approach to building massive muscles with functional strength. Having big muscles can actually ruin your chances of having success in your exercise program, sure some are genetically built to have big muscles and still find a way to be extremely flexible and very strong. If you don’t believe that then take a look at a couple of muscle bound looking guys I know of.

 In my opinion, if you have 23 inch biceps, so what, sure they look cool and sometimes grotesque but just because you have them, doesn’t always mean you’re a strong dude. What can they really do except look good in a pose down? Big arms can only go so far but when you have strong tendons to go with them that are a whole new ball game. Back in the day when Bodybuilding actually meant something, they didn’t just train to look good on a stage but had superior strength to back it up, one of the very best of them was John Grimek who was by far one of the most massive men of his time actually pulled off some fucking awesome feats of strength such as phonebook tearing, nailbending and tearing decks of cards, I don’t even think he liked bodybuilding that much he just got stupid strong with a mega boy to go with it, next two would be Bill Pearl and Reg Park. All three of them had a powerful physique but yet overshadowed their even greater functional strength.

 Functional strength is essential to everyday life and not always in the gym either, holding groceries, opening a jar of pickles, saving one’s life and even taking up furniture for that matter. Training for everyday functions is a key to your vital success in having a strong body. Just looking good has far more disadvantages than you’d believe, seriously pal, if you have a great body but can’t defend yourself or even please a woman in the bedroom than you got some issues. I don’t care who says it and whoever doesn’t believe it isn’t helping himself very much but sex is the best exercise there is period. Now I’m not all about that, sex alone isn’t the mainstay for a healthy body or even a healthy relationship, there are other factors to be done there but with the right resources and techniques you can learn, you’re in for a hell of a good time my friend. So for my sake, value your body as a strong, functional and healthy practice and you will see certain things come about you didn’t even realize before.

 Big muscles really aren’t good enough to get by on realistic strength and fitness, just because you got a pump doesn’t mean you’re superman. Building strong tendons however, give you that level of strength that you can’t justify on just muscle building itself. It’s more important to build tendon strength rather than building muscle. If your tendons aren’t up to par, your strength is rapidly diminished and your big muscles are going to wear down on you and then who’s the bitch now.

 Bodybuilding from 1900-1960 was the type focal point of physical culture, many guys weren’t that big back then, at best the biggest guy that had a great deal of muscle of him was no more than 220 lbs. and didn’t just have a great physique but had strength that still holds records to this day. From 1960-present day, Bodybuilding has become a steroid infested culture that just lost it pride and joy of being a great physical culturist, not all bodybuilders today do steroids and some have lived long and healthy lives, it’s the habit of wanting more and more and too much of anything isn’t good for your health but yet these dumb fucks don’t give a rats ass to what they do to themselves. Today Bodybuilders are like supermodels, they put so much on themselves, one type nearly starves them to death to have that “beauty” look and the other tries to pack on so much muscle that they deprive themselves of walking like a normal human being and it’s sickening to me.

 To be truly strong, you want to have real muscles that can do things for you in your time of need or do things that give you the most benefit for the muscles you want to build. Muscle building is about learning your body, what can work for your particular structure and how to build the tissues and tendons that hold everything together to get the complete package. If you want real muscles than you need to find the realistic approaches to get them and they’re much closer than you think. Learn and find a way for you to build some raw, functional and some real fucking powerful muscle.

Living With Incredible Health

Throughout the world and more famously in Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, health is a journey of learning to find the best qualities in the body, mind and spirit. Finding health doesn’t always mean finding the right exercise, the best meditative practices, the right kind of food to eat or even believing in a higher power, all these things have great advantages but the real key to building superior health is finding your true self and how you apply it to make yourself vital, vigorous and living a long and happy life. Today however, health has become a near last-on-the-list mockery of what we’ve become in this country, too many bad foods, too many TV commercials and way too much exposure to the wrong kind of what health is believed to look like.

 Looking at certain models, pro athletes, global entertainers and hate to say this but gurus as well that really take looking at health down a spiral of bad influences and a lot of egotistical people. I’m not saying all these people are like that but seriously, you’d rather trash your body for a few bucks than to actually get a grip on it? The mind/body connection is a symbol of our yin and yang of life; one cannot exist without the other. Think of a great and beautiful looking Ferrari, what does it need, gas, oil, water and parts to keep it not only together but to drive in a smooth and ferocious fashion, if our bodies are weak, so are our minds and vise versa. Superior health starts combining the mind and body as if they’re one whole unit other wise our conditions won’t be the way we really want them to be.

 In exercise, certain methods are way overrated and have nothing to do with building health. Some people who train others don’t really have a keen sense of what real health is, certain exercises should not be done by some people but yet those who teach them don’t know what they’re getting themselves into and that’s a scary thought to think about. Real training is finding methods that bring that natural high of endorphins that help bring blood into our systems (I’m not talking pumping iron here) that help keep us young, vital and strong for real life things. There are many ways to help build superior health such as versions of qi gong, Isometrics, Muscle Control, Yoga and Animal Training that bring your body into alignment not just in the body but in the mind as well. Certain forms are tougher than others so we must progress and find what suits our bodies to bring the best of what keeps us in shape.

 When people talk about the real sources of power, they sometimes think of certain body parts or their brain being the ultimate source or the types of exercises that give the most benefit but the true power is in your imagination and your organs. The organs harvest your body’s system for blood flow and great energy. Each organ cannot really exist without the other, if even one organ is missing you are at greater risk of dying and taking 2 or more you might as well be dead. Certain exercises teach how to strengthen the organs little by little and with practice, your life force or Chi has a greater chance of keeping you alive for a long time.

 Your vitality is a key ingredient to your success to superior health because it doesn’t just mean meditating or finding various exercises, it also means how you use your attitude and your balance of negative and positive stress. A healthy attitude helps lead down a road of healthy living and using connections from various sources bring that vital success to new levels of enlightenment, sexual energy, and great blood flow to the body that brings levels of growth hormone that keeps you young and living life with gusto. Get healthy the best way possible that helps make your life and those around you at ease and balance stress that’s both positive and negative.

It Ain’t Easy Being Green

All of us have different traits, physical structure and certain intellectual abilities, however, being different scares people period. Many people want others to see the world the same way they see and force you to not challenge their opinions and philosophies. Fitness is a lot like that too, if you challenge the system, they’ll ridicule you and make you feel guilty that whatever you’re doing is wrong and their system is the end all be all.

 People have different opinions about the would whether in sports, life, fitness, politics or whatever but if you go out f the norm and do something that isn’t according to their standards, you’re considered a freak or a person who doesn’t belong with them. In strength training too many trainers put their own egos in with what doesn’t work for them and have people believe the same thing when in fact it’s a bad way to help people. Being different and unique has a lot of qualities that certain people just can’t understand. Take for example doing feats of strength, you do things the average person doesn’t want to exert himself to and yet they give you a hard time for what you, they say everyone loves a strongman but a good number are jealous because they want that kind of strength but don’t do anything about it.

 Ever heard the song “Rainbow Connection” by the Muppets, god that’s a cheesy tune but at the same time it’s inspirational because it teaches you how to find your own path. Connecting your dreams and finding that end to your own rainbow gives you the chance to find out that you really are and that being different is powerful and a unique view as an individual. However you choose to be, make it happen for you, finding who you are is the greatest and most challenging journey, you will have road blocks but you can’t give up on what you want to become. Forcing your beliefs on someone isn’t a healthy way to approach people, take them for who they are and give them the chance to be themselves, besides who the hell really wants to be the same person anyway or follow the same program of somebody else, it’s just unethical. Nothing wrong with being inspired by somebody but you don’t have to be exactly like them. I have learned from many people over the years and mold what I find best about their qualities and make my own interpretation on them to find my own unique style.

 Many groups have this notion that if you don’t follow what they say and don’t play by their rules you can’t be apart of them. Us strongmen are really a band of brothers who give everything we have to be the best we can be and help others what we have learned from not only each other but others outside our little group. The only rules we really have is that you work hard, play hard and find who you are by becoming the strongest you can be in many aspects and not just strength. We learn from one another and help push each other, we may not agree with everyone’s opinions about various things but we have a found respect for one another and teach those who want to earn that respect. Sometimes getting respect means you go out of your element and challenge those that don’t believe in what you do. If you believe in yourself first, the rest is easy.

 Too many people back off from making something happen because they’re afraid it’ll backfire. Certain things will backfire but giving up just before it reaches its peak is a deadly game of cat and mouse, which one are you going to be. One example would be Bud Jeffries who’s had plenty of setbacks in his life and yet he pushes beyond the brink of making something happen because he knows he can, on the opposite end, take a guy like Barry Sanders, quite possibly one of the greatest running backs of all-time, was at the peak of his career and abruptly just walks away, a lot of people criticized him for that but at the same time, he gave up a true potential to become better than the biggest legends in the NFL and not just in their class of legend but a legend of his own class. Certain people just crack when it really gets awesome.

 Our greatest journey is to find out where we belong and find the best that won’t judge you or ridicule you, who will support you and give you a chance to shine in your own way not theirs, push you when its time to push you and give you the chance to bring your potential beyond the very core of your own abilities. Where you belong is up to you and if it means being different so be it, you are your own person, make it happen for you.

Steel Cords From Isometrics

Picture for a moment and see your tendons and ligaments as if they were cords of steel and it would take a ton of pressure to break if they can break. Those cords are not only stupid strong but just as supple with a dose of great flexibility and power at the same time. Would you want that kind of strength? I bet you do.

 A great notion about isometrics is the way it burns off fat in ways you duplicate with regular cardio exercise and/or weights. The amount of exertion to not move a single muscle but to contract so hard, fat is literally running out of your body is a miracle in itself. Imagine your entire body as if it’s one big steel rod that’s so powerful its scary. Think of having those Popeye forearms having held an isometric whether for 10 seconds or 1 minute, what would it feel like? One of the greatest strongmen of all-time Slim The Hammerman pointed out that just building muscles may not be quite enough to develop the strength you need but to develop your tendons, that’s real power. Arthur Saxon knew this, Bruce Lee knew this, Alexander Zass knew it too and many other physical culturists knew the secret to super strength was tendon strength.

 Isometrics can be done anywhere at anytime. Making them a habit is a key to your vital success in strength, health, mind power, even cardio and flexibility. If you learned Isometrics the way Bud Jeffries and the other old-time strongmen did them, you can create so many attributes into one session and it won’t take you that long either. You want cardio training from isometrics, hold certain positions for about 3 minutes, that’s nothing or is it? Want muscle building; try doing Muscle Control for 10 minutes and find out if you hadn’t gotten a pump yet. This type of training can break through your weak points in every exercise you do, again hold certain points and keep going until you have hit your range of motion. This is one of the best for rehab, pressing a weight, doing pull-ups, going a little further in a stretch; it’s all there for you to take.

 Arguably the greatest wrestler of all-time Gama took isometrics to a level no one before or since has mastered. As a little boy until his competition years, he would get up every morning and tie a belt around a tree and with all his might; he never took down the tree but yet when he wrestled, he threw his opponents like they toys and most of the men he wrestled were monsters not little guys. He once threw a champion wrestler 13 times in 13 minutes, you how much the man weighed, almost 300 lbs. of pure muscle. That is power and strength. When you practice Isometrics, you can learn to exert so much force that it can be the equivalent to doing an insane amount of reps. Want to know another story, how about letting Bud Jeffries tell it and believe me, knowing this story is one of the biggest inspirations to learning this type of training.

 When you exert so much force and with the proper breathing, your muscles will begin to take on a form of great vascularity and muscle pump that you can’t possibly achieve with anything else. One guy who takes vascularity to the max at a level that only a handful have achieved including the greats Bruce Lee and Alexander Zass is my boy Matti Marzel at www.ferociousstrength.com. If you watch some of his videos bending steel, you will notice that during the bends his muscularity changes and for brief moments shows the shrededness of his physique that is just in awe and needs to be seen to believe. The closest I’ve ever seen a man his size have that much muscularity is Bruce Lee and I stand by that statement.

 A key secret in superhuman strength through isometrics is not how much exertion you put into it but how your mind brings to the exertion whether it’s 40% of your power or 100%, the mind makes the body strong so when applying isometrics, dive into the mental side as well and the physical will come right after. This type of training can take you to levels of strength that can only be explained by experience and by those who are best to teach it.

Opening Your Mind To A Whole New World

When it comes to mental strength, people look at certain methods that help open the mind but not enough to walk through the door itself, very few methods do this such as some meditation, chi kung, postures in yoga or even muscle control can be a form of mental training. I have practiced this type of method and it’s given me a new look of the world both reality and imaginative and that’s coloring Mandalas. Mandalas are the different shapes and sizes of patterns that can have many angles and never knowing which one’s come next. To me it’s the adult version of a coloring book.

 Coloring in a Mandala takes practice but it’s a fun and healthy practice as you look inside your mind and see which colors go with certain patterns and shapes. Sometimes depending on your mood, you will find colors to draw in based on that particular mood and you won’t even realize how you did it. The best way in my opinion from personal experience to color mandalas is to use big bright colors that sparkle throughout the patterns and each color represents what you have brought to life. The beauty of this is, there’s no right or wrong and you don’t need to think too much about it. After good practice and finding what colors suit you, you can make your own masterpiece and turn it into your own Picasso or Degas painting that just captures the human eye and opens up a world only you possess and feel as your own.

 As far back as ancient Asian and Egyptian cultures, developing patterns and drawing was a form of meditation to teach the mind and body how to see the world through their own eyes. The Samurai are famous for this type of meditation because they weren’t just trained for battle and the life of the sword but were trained in many arts to view the mind from many angles and from different backgrounds of the mental side of the martial arts.

 One of the very keys to practice while coloring mandalas is to not concentrate so much on what colors go with what pattern, it’s to just learn to be calm and instinctive and opening up your imagination. Just choosing a color to go with a certain pattern isn’t going to help you be calm and instinctive, you choose the colors but the colors will do the work for you as you instinctively color in that pattern that gives you inner comfort and gives you the power to create what you want. This is one of the best ways to be creative because when you look at various patterns no matter how big or how small, you will find one way or another to use your imagination and see the colors in your mind. Even better is to come up with your own patterns and coloring them in. There are pre-made patterns you can find on the net and print them out so you can do what you want with them.

 The great end to coloring mandalas is what comes to life after whether 10 min or 1 hour of drawing it. Bringing a mandala to life is one of those moments that just give you a rush of pure unbelievable happiness that only happens when you make it happen. One way to look at it is, breathing is essential in all forms of training whether physical, mental and spiritual and when you breathe into your mandala, it almost seems like as if reading about God breathing life into Adam and becoming this awesome being with feeling, a body and a soul that is born innocent and pure. Not that I’m religious or anything but for those that are, drawing mandalas is one way to look at different aspects such as that notion from the bible. Find your own mandala, create it the way you want, not how it should be but what you make it to be.

 As kids, coloring was fun to do and saw different drawings of animals and designs of cartoonish delights, as a painter, you see the color and picture beforehand and you grasp it as if you can reach out and touch it with your very own hands, sculptors have that exact same passion and mandalas are no different. At the bottom you’ll see a mandala I colored in over a year ago and it’s still as beautiful today as it was being colored in at the time I did it. It’s fun to see something you can appreciate not just as a person but a creative individual.

There Is A Magic Pill

Now that I have your attention, got you didn’t I? In reality nothing gives you results like a serum given to Steve Rogers turning into a Captain America. However, you can get magical results from putting in the effort and finding a whole new you in the mirror after doing great workouts and giving yourself the rest you need. Tablets can kill you, putting in the effort is actually safer and more efficient. If you want magic, find a wishing lamp, good luck with that.

 With a realistic approach and finding the right resources and programs for your goals, you can achieve great weight loss; build great strength, staggering flexibility and surreal stamina that triathletes would envy. It’s the time and effort that you put in that gives you the best results you can achieve. You don’t have to spend hours in the gym and working out so hard you pass out; you can bring that magic with only less than 30 minutes a day and doing less than you need to. Let’s face it, for most people, you don’t have a lot of time but you want to make the effort to get in shape but don’t know how, it’s really much simpler than you’d think.

 Morning workouts are best if you’re in a hurry to get to work or dropping kids off at school. Stretching is a key ingredient to start off your day, get up a little earlier than usual and do less than 20 minutes of stretching that loosens the joints and ligaments while also building good solid functional strength and flexibility. Magical results happen only in the Disney movies so what would be the point of just wishful thinking when you can make the results happen. If you want to be in the best shape, you got to learn from the best. Building a foundation from the very people who want to help you instead of just taking your money and making you feel like crap is one of the keys to achieving the results you want. Real magic comes from effort and making it happen.

 Do you think a magician just happens to make his tricks seem as easy as apple pie, no? He makes the effort to make magic look believable and awe-dropping. Magic doesn’t happen overnight like Cinderella or Aladdin, it’s a journey of learning who you are and what you can teach your own body and mind to create the things you want. Magic is creativity and magic knows what to create without anyone else knowing the secret.

 I’d like you to meet a real, world-class magician that has taken audiences to new levels of awe-inspiring tricks and spectacular ways of controlling magic as if it was so real you would never know if it was. His name is Garin Bader and this man alone has revolutionized strength training and entertainment in a way that can’t be duplicated and is one of the best entertainers of his time. Do you think he just happens to know magic and music along with strength training on a whim or at the snap of his fingers? At the moment he does but it’s more than a 20 year journey that goes into that effortless result of tricks and power. Let’s put it this way, a man who paints a five minute masterpiece was asked “wow, you did that so fast, how did you do that?” the painter says “that’s more than 20 years that went into that 5 minutes.” Now I’m not saying you need to do 20 years of training to make the best results but the real magic is making the journey to get the best results you want and whether it takes you a few weeks, a few months or whatever, it’s all about Mastery, making it second nature, real magic isn’t about tricks, it’s about mastering your own being and making the impossible possible.  

Training Like A Superhero

Ever since we were children, we were fantasized by the extraordinary powers of Super Heroes, if you were a DC Comics fan, you were in awe of Superman, loved the gadgets of Batman, wanted to wear the ring of the Green Lantern and if you were a woman, you wanted to battle like Wonder Woman. As a Marvel fan, you wanted to see Spiderman swing through the streets of New York, watched and read about the X-Men and wanted to triumph like Captain America and so on and so forth. Super Heroes are our every fantasy of being strong, fight for injustice and have powers beyond belief than you come back to reality and for some your life sucks to you. It doesn’t always take a Super Hero to do extraordinary things, some people are just like you and me but when that light turns on and you have to run from a mugging or rescuing someone, you can find the strength that goes beyond the levels of your own abilities and I’m here to tell you, you can make those things a reality.

 In reality, we can’t even fathom of having powers or the great minds of our favorite Super Heroes but we can however with the right amount of training, we can turn on that imaginative switch and have the power to pull off many things we couldn’t do before. Think of the Flash, to me he’s the fastest hero next to Superman with blazing speed and explosive strength. Increasing your speed isn’t that far of a stretch. If you learned to tap into your mind on how you can bring your speed up even a small percentage would you do it? If you want blazing speed, you do sprints or move in an exercise very fast. Doing this will not only build your explosiveness but will jump start your metabolism like a bat out of hell. Another look at increasing your speed is through Isometrics. Isometrics teaches you to hold a certain position and stay there, in other words a non moving exercise. If you don’t believe me try it out for yourself.

 When it comes to reflexes, I immediately see Captain America or Spiderman. Their senses are so keen and accurate that whatever jumps at them turns to dust. One of the best ways to learn your reflexes is playing handball, take a tennis ball and bounce it off a wall and see how quick you catch it. One guy who emphasized this greatly was the late Karl Gotch. Reflexes help your awareness and your accuracy to react quickly. Reacting to something will help poise your confidence to get a sense of things around from every possible angle.

 No hero used a hammer better than the Mighty Thor. Hammers are the axes of explosive power, strength, and lever strength. We are fascinated on how a hammer can be used in ways that can’t be duplicated with weights, machines or even bodyweight exercise. It’s also a great stress reliever and you want to pound the living hell out of a tire. To learn Hammer Strength is to take up just that and practice many elements from levering to swinging to holding and everything in between.

 If you took the strongest men on the planet and molded then together, you still won’t have the strength like the Incredible Hulk. Back in the late 70’s, Lou Ferrigno brought the tall, green and powerful to the Silver Screen and nobody did it better than he did. To have that much strength to the point where it would make Hercules scared out of his wits is to build a level of mind and body together to create a level of strength that’s beyond belief. In the movies you see Hulk throw tanks, choppers, and toss cranes like they were softballs. How would that would a realistic approach to training for Hulk-Like strength and power? Progressing lifting heavy objects is one way to do it but if you don’t have access to a gym or weights, you can always find a way to do tire flips, toss kegs, lifting logs, holding up heavy barrels or do partial lifting and get the most bang for your buck. Creating this level of strength has to come from the mind as well and learn to surge that power and tap into level of electrical charge that resides in all of us.

 Spiderman is really the only superhero that has somewhat of a normal build, lean, not heavily muscular and has great definition but has enormous strength for his size and you can develop that as well. If there were any real Spidermen in the world it would be rock climbers, those dudes are just freakishly strong and can climb up the highest of mountains. Another way to be a bit of a web-swinger is learning the strength and agility of a gibbon where you brachiate on your hands like in hand balancing or moving across the monkey bars at the park. Progressing in this manner takes patience but with time you can move in ways that the average person would run for the hills from. Almost like becoming a real life Tarzan. If there was a real life Spiderman in the fitness world, Brad Johnson would be just that. The way he moves is just insane and nobody can do pull-ups like he can.

 We all have special powers within us whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual it all depends on what gives you the most benefit to develop powers of your own. Finding that power within you is more reachable than you would believe. Once you find it and can tap into it anyway you want, you will see what it’s like to have great powers and using them to benefit your goals and to help others. Practice them, learn them and tap into them the best way you can possible because there’s no greater feeling than developing your own superhuman powers.

Isometrics & The Limitless Possibilities

Since ancient times, Isometrics has been used for many forms of strength, health, war and longevity. Think of the Archers of Greece and Mongolia, those guys went through a series of combat training techniques that in order to successfully shoot an arrow through the bow, they had to use muscles they normally wouldn’t use on the battlefield. The strength of those bows was so fierce that they practiced on bows that could not be pulled all the way back. When they finally had the bows in battle, the velocity of the arrows was amazingly fast. Speed is another cornerstone of Isometrics, not just strength.

 In the early 16^th century an Indian Buddhist traveled to China and taught the monks how to get in shape because at that time, Shaolin practices was mostly meditation and building on enlightenment but not for also being in physical shape. This Buddhist sat in a cave for nine long and meditative years to find the inner strength to not only rebuild him but help rebuild others. After the near decade long hideout, he began training the monks in a way they have never practiced before and one of their requirements for reprogramming their philosophies was to practice Isometrics. After many practices and a few 500+ years later, these monks are now considered the real life Jedi and masterful athletes of many arts in Kung Fu, Win Chun and other forms of Martial Arts.

 Wrestling is man’s oldest sport, it’s a fact whether you like it or not and it’s by far one of if not the most disciplined sport in the world. The training is tougher than any other and with its many styles going as far back as ancient Egypt or earlier; it is one of the most rigorous forms of training by far. In the early 20^th century and in the modern era, two wrestlers took isometrics to the extreme in their style of wrestling was Dan Gable and quite arguably the most feared wrestler of the modern age and that’s The Great Gama of India. In my opinion, no two wrestlers were better at using isometrics than the two I’ve just mentioned. When Gable was in school, he uses to grip class desks so hard that at one time, it ripped right off. His pinning style was so fierce that not even men twice his size could get out of it, that’s how powerful he was for a guy who was no more than 155 lbs. He went undefeated in the ’72 Olympics and didn’t surrender one point during his quest for the gold. Was Isometrics part of the reason, you tell me? Gama however was a massive man of power, strength and conditioning that no man before or since has topped. When he uses to rise in the early mornings before training, he would take a belt and wrapped it around a tree and do with all his might to rip the tree out of its roots. He never took the tree out but after many years of doing this, he threw guys around the pit as if they were rag dolls and they weren’t small guys either, he once threw a 290 lb. wrestler 13 times in 13 minutes. He was undefeated in a staggering 5000 matches and just about every known wrestler at that time never wanted to take him on, not even the two biggest names of the time Frank Gotch & George Hackenshmidt. Again, did Isometrics play a role? You be the judge.

 Isometrics is practically the very best system in the world that teaches you to break through your weak points in the range of motion category whether you’re a lifter, gymnast, fitness fanatic or an athlete, this type of training will skyrocket your strength and speed to levels you have never imagined before. When you hit a rough spot in your training it’s frustrating to push beyond it and Isometrics done with a proper structure can increase your range of motion beyond its own limits.

 One of the most awesome displays of Isometrics is through Muscle Control; you flex and relax the muscles. This is probably one of the very few times that isolation is a good thing. Mastering this teaches you to infuse your mind and body together as you learn to contract various muscles from a single point on the body that contracts and relaxes. One of the best known masters of this was Otto Arco, not only was he superhuman in this type of training but this helped him wrestling, hand balancing, Gymnastics and weightlifting. The way he could transfer from one muscle to the next was nothing like anyone had seen before or since.

 In my opinion from personal experience and learning from some of the best in the world, Isometrics is one of the golden keys to developing superhuman strength because it hits the body in ways weights and bodyweight exercise in their ranges of motion can’t touch. Just the feeling of flexing so hard for a period of time and then relaxing is one of the best highs you can have. There are a limitless amount of exercises to choose from to do Isometrics and can be done just about anywhere at anytime. It develops the mind/muscle connection in a way that can’t be duplicated and it’s one of the toughest forms of strength training there is but the rewards are endless. Take the time to practice Isometrics and you will see how it can be applied in ways you never thought of before. It’s well worth the practice.

The Simpler The Better

Ever since cardio machines and big monster machines that work only 1 or 2 muscles, exercise has become a confused and out of whack form of strength training that just won’t cut it. Sure there’s Hip Hop Abs, 8 minute abs, Tae Bow, P90X and other infomercial products that are “designed” to give you the body of your dreams. Hate to break it to you but once it does happen or “if” it happens, your body will look great but your health will be in the slammer because they expect you to train hard all the time for the rest of your life and that’s just not ethical.

 The machines that are designed to work a certain muscle is not a realistic approach to functional training and should really only be used for rehab or if that. Isolating the muscles may make you stronger but you’re only stronger with that particular muscle. To build a functionally strong and healthy body, you only need a few exercises and the less you have the better.

 Back before cardio machines and cables, there were dumbbells,barbells, gymnastic rings and a few racks, which was all that was needed for the old-time lifters and strongmen of the day. They didn’t isolate the muscles and were far stronger and healthier pound for pound than most people today in our obesity, diabetic and cruel twisted world. Would you believe that a man back then only lived to be no more than 50 yet a number of physical culturists lived long lives and actually got better as they aged say for instance George Hackenshmidt lived to be 90, Jack Lalanne was 96, Bodybuilder John Grimek lived to be in his late 80’s and believe it not even a man as little as Joe Greenstein aka The Mighty Atom lived to be in his mid 80’s. Simple training with the right mindset and program that works can give you a long and healthy life.

 One of my all-time pet peeves from certain people in the fitness industry believe that they’re system only works and nothing else does so it’s their end all be all mentality and try to brainwash people into believing that. In reality there is no one way to any exercise system. I use to believe that too until I broke my legs and had to learn how to walk again. I learned to be open-minded and try certain things and if they work, great if not than I get rid of it. Having an open mind gives you limitless possibilities to find what works best for you but knowing and doing the basics lays the foundation to what you can really accomplish.

 It’s never a good idea to torture yourself and be frustrated trying to achieve your fitness goals. I was frustrated for quite some time when I first started training and read about routine after routine after routine in the fitness magazines that no matter what I tried to accomplish something else was telling me that I sucked and needed to do something else. The moment I learned to stop that, everything became clear. You don’t need to go to a gym, you don’t always need thousands of pounds of equipment in your house that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Save your money and if you want to get something, make sure you really could use it otherwise you’re just throwing yourself in debt.

 Remember that military tag line “The Few, The Proud, The Marines.” Great line and remember how many words are there, I counted 6. Six words and it already have a powerful statement. So look at it this way, the fewer exercises you do and you master them, the more powerful and stronger you can be. Here is a new tag line for you in your fitness endeavor “The Few, The Proud, The Basics.” Simple, easy to remember and sends a power message that you don’t have to do everything under the sun, just a few simple things and you’re on your way to fitness glory.

Kids & Exercise

When you’re a baby, everything is new to you and you explore all sorts of things. Babies are the most observant at this stage of life. As things progress, you begin to crawl, stand, take a few steps than before you know it, you’re off and running. As we get older, we lose sight of being observant and wanting to explore and new things.

 “The world is a mighty big place” which was said by great author and Physical Culture specialist Brooks Kubik. As we get older, the ability to learn increases but the will to learn is very different. Exercise should be one of those frontiers that needs to be explored as much as possible to see what works for us and what doesn’t, gives us the best results, helps us recover after a hard workout and what to use to make our bodies stronger. Wild animals are no different except for the fact they don’t know or even realize that they’re training. A young cub or ape learns its environment through movement and observing the surroundings plays with its own kind to train them for survival.

 Getting older is something we can’t control but we can also grow younger by using the right mindset. Taking a lesson from Peter Pan who never grew up (Unless you saw the movie Hook), he gave us the chance to see what it’s like to have fun and smile with the best of intentions also fighting for what we believe in. My best friend’s dad is the ultimate grown up kid in my opinion and although he lives a responsible life helping his wife and having raised 4 kids, he still treats everyday as if it were a kick ass day (most of the time).

 Training like a wild animal teaches both kids and adults how to have fun and not worry of just exercising but making it worth while and get to explore new ideas of movement and wonder. Kids today need more of that structure than ever before because of the rise in obesity and children not getting enough exercise in both school and out of school. When I was a kid going to daycare, I ran around all the time and playing with the other kids and doing wild and crazy imaginative stuff, I still get to do that for myself now in my late 20’s and still wanting to explore and shoot for new ideas to play around with.

 Kids deserve to be healthy and strong and teaching them a structured form of exercise is not only to keep them from getting diseases like heart problems and diabetes but exercise has been shown to increase the strength of the brain which means they can grow smarter in certain cases so the blood flow is just right. You don’t even have to tell them its exercise it’s more like play and adults can learn this too. Play tag, race, and create an obstacle course or whatever you’d like to do but also do it with them. Family exercising is a great thing to do not just to help you get in shape but for your kids as well and only needing a few minutes before they play video games or watching TV. There are kids however that have certain issues like a disability or are hyper even at a low self-esteem and exercise can help balance those things out.

 Nap time is crucial for a child’s development when it comes to growth and giving the adult some time to relax, put the kid through a little animal exercise by helping him pick out his favorite animal, play with him and sooner or later he’s going to want to sleep whether he likes it or not.  Children need structures but it doesn’t need to have corporal punishment or as a way of torturing the kid but to help him enjoy his disciplines and giving him/her the chance to learn responsibility in a safe and fun manner. It’s all about giving them what they deserve without them ever knowing it.  

There’s No Suffering In Exercise

Back in the early 90’s there was a baseball movie called A League Of Their Own and one of the most famous lines of that film was “There’s No Crying In Baseball.” If you ever get a chance, check it out it’s a great movie and one of Tom Hank’s best performances after Big. Now what does that have to do with exercise? Well, some of us do cry while training, sometimes if we get hurt and others when we accomplish a goal. Many people in fitness feel like exercise is torture and think its just another day in the gym, in the end they end up suffering and that’s something that should never happen. “There’s no suffering in exercise.”

 Most trainees put so much stress on themselves that they drain their emotional strength and mental strength to keep up with them. That’s one of the ideal problems with the fitness magazines and routines they put in there. Forget for one moment trying to look like a Ronnie Coleman or a Jay Cutler and try to realize how ridiculous these routines actually are. Almost every routine you’ll find has no realistic approach to progression and people don’t realize how painful some of are as well. I had bought a Iron Man encyclopedia when I was weight lifting back in the early-mid 2000’s and tried every possible routine to see which one worked and at one point one did work but only for a short time. I was promised that I would build strength and muscle if I did this routine often but yet one came, the other didn’t and I’ll leave that a mystery to you readers.

 You suffer because someone told you to do this for strength, that for endurance, the other for flexibility and some go awful crap for building big chests and biceps I mean seriously, who the bloody hell can manage all that let alone doing 30 min. of cardio before doing your weights and god forbid that if you can’t handle it, they’ll tell you you’re weak and shouldn’t train at all. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. To get out of your suffering, research what you want to learn, test exercises you want to do, work on the technique that suitable to your body’s structure and build your own routine. Everyone can be good at something, just because some trainer tells them their lousy and have no real strength tells me that they’re nothing but low-life scumbags. The real way to get results is to make a goal, find what works, work on technique and make the damn thing fun.

 Flipping the coin of suffering and enjoying yourself doesn’t have to be one or the other, your goal is to enjoy yourself, challenge yourself and master what you want to learn. Trainers come and go but your health is a life-long quest and if you want to make the best of it, quit seeing it as suffering and set your mind to looking forward to it and have a smile at the end. I have suffered just like everyone else at the gym and I hated training at one time and if you hate doing something you love there’s a major problem there. Mentally program yourself and you will find that if you make one little change, it can have a big impact not just building your body but building your life all together. Don’t suffer, be happy and make things happen for you.   

A Top Notch Method For HGH

Quick fixes are the biggest trend in fitness today. They want results fast, easy and with little effort as possible so for fitness trainees and celebrities alike for a movie they inject themselves with pills, steroids and needles to get that look that they always dreamed of. Not saying all do this but a good sum of them does and they’re more likely killing themselves than getting healthier.

 Artificial enhancements are quite dangerous and I’ve seen what it’s done to people and very few ever stay healthy with the right cycles but that’s another thing all together. Generating natural levels of Hormones is actually a lot simpler than you would think. Sure as we get older our hormone levels begin to drop as much as 5% by age 30 possibly younger and that shouldn’t be happening. To get the best out of saving money on supplements, pills, injections and those “creams” that some athletes use, work on specific type training. Moving at a clip where it takes a short amount of time to start breathing really hard is a sign that you’re building high levels of hormones which growth is a factor.

 Sprint Training done up to maximum 3x a week is a sure way to get your hormones firing like crazy. Hill Sprints are even better but if you don’t have a hill near by then find a long track or a big stretch of land. Now if you wish to not do sprints there is another option and that’s moving like a Wild Animal. Animal Training gets every muscle group in your body going right off the bat and the more muscles being used the more chances of fat being burnt, muscles are building and your growth hormone will skyrocket faster than a speeding jet. Think of it this way, imitating a wild animal isn’t just building great hormone levels but it also helps you stay young and fit plus its fun to do.

 The greatest athletes are of the Wild Animal Kingdom. They’re strength; power and agility are the most inspired forms of our world. Think of a silverback gorilla doing a one finger pull-up out of the crack of its enclosure or a lynx trending many miles with its incredible endurance and let’s not forget one of the largest cats in the jungle and that’s the Tiger, it’s tendons are insanely strong and can drag its prey weighing well over 500 lbs. Who wouldn’t want that kind of strength? Functional Movement is keen to our development and makes the body function far better than isolating the muscles which can cause injury and destroy joints. Moving like a Animal is the type of fitness that cannot be duplicated by any other method.

 The great benefit of doing this form of conditioning is that it’s more like playing than working out, you are free to move however you want and you get to build muscle without straining yourself so much. The key ingredient is not just physical but mental as well. When you stop using the word “workout” and use “play” your mindset changes completely and believe it or not when you play around with these movements, your results will come faster than expected and you’re having fun in the process. It’s never too late to feel young again and progress at your own pace and play your way up to a challenging animal. Have fun and make it a habit of playing instead of working when it comes to exercise, it’s a whole different feeling.

Gorillas & The Avengers

Never thought you’d read those two things in the same title huh? For the most part, the movie is F-ing awesome. It’s the top grossing film of the year by far and I’m glad to share in the fun. Seen it three times so far and it never gets old. Seeing four of the coolest superheroes is a joy to be hold.

 Ever since seeing it and writing my Can You Become Your Own Avenger series (which you can find on this very blog), I’ve gone Avenger crazy, buying shirts, video games and even the comic books which I’ve never really done in my entire life. If anything brought me into the world of comic books it was the Avengers. You might say I’m overly obsessed with the Marvel Comic but truth to tell, I’m not just a fan and reading & writing stories but I’m also looking for the next best thing in revolutionizing fitness with methods that can go hand and hand with superheroes like peanut butter and jelly.

 I was at a bookstore the other day and wanted to pick up a couple comic books of the Avengers and out of the plethora of graphic novels and short stories I picked up what looked like to me the most bad ass Avenger comic and that’s Marvel Apes. Now it’s not everyday that you find cool superheroes but they put a spin on them using your all-time favorite animal in the jungle as the Ape-vengers. I’d say that’s a double whammy in my book.

 Now I realize this comic is a bit of a spoof with a little gore and graphic violence but really it’s just another great concept that people can relate to. Apes are our original ancestors whether we realize it or not and to be awe of their strength and agility would be an understatement. Training like an Ape should be a natural thing to do but because of civilized laws and the way to be proper and better yet the way you exercise is very “controlled.” Developing Ape-like strength and fitness is essential to staying fit and young. Having fun at a playground or going to the park an moving like a wild animal is a kick ass way to keep yourself healthy both physically and mentally.

 Studying Apes and Monkeys is an ongoing research and sometimes they take that research a little too far and I won’t go into detail because you’ll just want to beat the hell of the people who do push the boundaries of right and wrong. In my opinion, these primates are extremely intelligent and in some cases they’re far smarter than we want to believe. When you see a silverback gorilla, some will think it’s violent and that’s just not true. It’s only violent if it’s provoked and to protect his family and followers. I would never want to mess with a primate, they’re strength and agility is just off the charts and freakishly powerful.

 Moving like an Ape teaches the body how to move in awkward positions and strengthen the tendons and ligaments in ways that can’t be duplicated. Whenever someone says “Get Gorilla Strong” most likely they’re referring to extreme heavy weight lifting which isn’t a bad thing if you’re into that but “True Gorilla Strong” means you move, walk, run, climb and swing like a gorilla or other primate.

 Back to the Ape-vengers, reading these stories is like reading about superheroes from the Planet Of The Apes, it’s the same characters but more well let’s face it, Ape-Like and in some ways I prefer that than the human Avengers. Imagine for a moment that if the Avengers were already tough and physically intimidating, than you add in having the strength of an Ape, whoever stands against them would be the dumbest villain ever.

 What would it feel like to see Captain America swing on the vines with ease, what would it look like to see a version of Spider-Man moving like a gibbon, how about Ironman looking like a Mandrill and not only having great brains but will beat your ass to a pulp in a fight and what if you had Ape-Like Wolverine or a Gorilla version of Thing from the Fantastic Four? I’m sorry but unless technology is used, the chances of any villain winning a fight are going from slim to none. Find your own inner Ape and take your strength to levels that will stand the test of time in your life.

The Ultimate Warriors Of Strength & Health

Sounds like a kick ass title huh? Well hate to disappoint you but this isn’t such a positive one. This is mainly a comparison of an 80’s wrestler that took the world by storm but led a series of downfalls and how that’s like with a lot of guys in the fitness industry today. Back in the mid-late 80’s a mighty wrestler full of muscle, charisma and drawing ability captivated crowds and was even thought to be a successor of Hulk Hogan. The man’s name was Jim Helwig better known as The Ultimate Warrior.

 Like anything in business, sports, entertainment you want to make an impact, being different and having a unique look. Warrior certainly had that impact as his ability to draw a crowd was only matched closely to the likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and a few others of that era. The way he would run to the ring and shake the ropes, clothesline his opponents and press them up overhead and toss them like rag dolls. The last time I ever saw him wrestle was during his last run in the mid 90’s in the WWE. Warrior certainly was cool looking and was built like he was carved from granite.

 Charisma can be a powerful tool and it captivates someone’s attention and draws them in. That’s a lot like the fitness experts and bodybuilders of today, you’re drawn to their look and how they present a presence that you can’t help but notice. This is where looks can be deceiving and no matter how much you’re drawn to their presence, there’s a dark cloud hanging over them, not all but quite a few.

 One of the things you will learn about Warrior was that as much as he was a crowd favorite, the fact of the matter is he was a horrible wrestler, didn’t know any good holds, had the reputation for not making too many moves look good and didn’t really care at all for wrestling. Money and Fame was his primary goal and I would find it hard to believe he had any history of the business and just wanted to be a crowd pleaser, take his check and just go to the next town. A lot of trainers today are like that too, they’ll show you a few things then leave you in the dust just to get a large check. If you took on at minimum of 10 trainers in gold’s or spa fitness gym, how many actually know their history? Truth is less than one most likely and the only two people they would ever really know of are Jack Lalanne and Arnold Schwarzenegger, maybe Lou Ferrigno but that’s about it. It’s really sad to say the least.

 It pisses me off so much at times that you have an expert in the field of fitness and they hardly have any history background on the world of Physical Culture. Go to a modern gym just about anywhere today and mention names like Otto Arco, John Grimek, Maxick, Martin “Farmer” Burns, Bernarr MacFadden, Karl Gotch, Fred Grubmeyer, The French Apollon, Arthur Saxon and quite possibly the original Hulk George Hackenshmidt. You’d be lucky to find one trainer that knows two of those names, if any higher; he’s not your typical modern trainer.

 Another unique and quite frankly a bizarre trait of the Ultimate Warrior is the way he did promos and interviews. 80% of the time you wouldn’t know a damn thing of what he just said, it sounded cool but it was confusing the rest of the time. He almost like he spoke in tongues and was high as a kite for some of the things he talked about, like the planets or some evil warlock on a distant earthly place and the gods in the heavens it was just breathtakingly awful. Some guys today have that same concept, they try to tell you an exercise and some of the time you wouldn’t have a clue of they’re actually saying. The way they hype themselves up like on the cover of a magazine or bring out a fresh new product on the infomercials that looks great at some point but in the end when you get the product it looks like crap and you thought it would great to get because of what was advertised. It’s one thing to believe in what you’re doing is right, it’s another thing when you show no signs of any life when you keep going in different directions and people won’t know where you’re coming from.

 It’s really deceiving when someone believes in their own hype. Warrior is no exception when his ego reached a brink when he actually changed his name to Warrior and got rid of his original name Jim Helwig. Why he did it, no one knows but one thing is for sure, that spotlight will always have a glare in his eye and never wants to let go of it. Fitness gurus have some of those same problems and never realize it is a problem till it’s too late. One bodybuilder who I won’t mention was a semi big star in his time and had muscles everywhere and had 23 inch arms and can pull off the best poses of his competition, after doing so much steroids and drugs over the years the guy can’t even curl a 45 pound barbell anymore because of the overbearing muscle he has and his tendons are shot to hell.

 It’s never a good idea to let fame get to your head no matter how famous you are because it will take a toll on you physically, emotionally and psychologically. Once that light goes out, it’s very difficult to get that back. Money and Fame are just words but people take it beyond levels of bad nature and just lose sight of what’s really important. Never lose sight of who you truly are and although you can be quite a character, don’t ever turn into that character. Find who you are and stick with it, be your own person and not some outlandish figure with a thirst for power. Make use of who you are and don’t ever forget where you came from good or bad because in the end, somewhere in your heart there’s good in you and you have the power to make that happen.

Got Carpal Tunnel???

This has become a common ailment more then any other time in history. You’re at an office typing all day, playing an instrument till you can’t stand it, gripping too hard on something and yet you can be in a cast for long periods of time if you hurt the fingers. Should it be common to be in handed cast, unable to use your hands the way they’re meant to? I really don’t think so but society today gives people certain things that not only hurts their hands but destroys joints and tendons. If you want to prevent this from happening then you need to learn to keep your hands healthy and strong.

 Another common theme in carpal tunnel is surgery and does it really help? Are your hands any stronger or healthier from being repaired? Most of the time the answer is no because it’ll happen again and before you know it, your hands will be so messed up, you won’t be able to pick up even a toothbrush. Our hands were designed to repair things, fix things, write, pick up, twist and circulate many things that are needed. Now if your hands are so severe from broken bones and don’t have much of a chance than that’s an exception but the fact of the matter is, a broken hand will heal. I have hand problems all my life and don’t have much nerve control on my right hand yet I won’t let that stop me from doing the things I love to do and be able to help people when they need me.

 I firmly believe without a doubt you can heal your hands without surgery and you can make them stronger and healthier then at any other time in your life. When you find the right exercises, you will find out what it’s like to have pain-free hands that flow like water with rich oxygenated blood flowing with strong tendons and ligaments that can tear off a person shirt or even in my physical culture brethrens' cases bend steel and be able to handle use the hands that will have you gasping. It is not too late to have powerful but graceful hands and fingers.

One of the greatest athletes with lightning fast hands was Bruce Lee. The way he handled other martial artists was second to none and his punching and kicking wasn’t just strong, he can also do push-ups with ease on his FINGERTIPS!!!! His fingers and hands were so strong that he can knock a heavy weight man back 5-10 ft from an inch away. Imagine having that kind of power.

 I have known athletes, musicians, entertainers, postal workers, strongmen and carpenters and each one of them must have an immense amount of hand strength to work specific things at a high level. Three musicians I know, a Pianist, cellist and a guitarist all have a gift to play their instruments at a level where everything is precise and graceful with raw emotion and power in their hands that where if none of these attributes were in play, they wouldn’t be able to do their specific instrument.

 Strongmen need strong hands to be able to lift heavyweights, bend steel, rip phonebooks, Juggling kettlebells ect. If they’re hands weren’t strong or fluid, it would be impossible to demonstrate mind-blowing feats of strength. Postal workers are very fluent in how they sort mail and carry loads of it to the trucks, this requires some strength in the hands and fingers otherwise the mail won’t be going anywhere.

 Carpenters have some of the toughest hands around because of the stress that’s put on their hands with tools ranging from hammering, nailing, twisting and holding down certain objects in order to be cut or sawed. The strongest fingers and hands definitely go to climbers whether rock, mountain or even climb and move around certain obstacles on Ninja Warrior.  Rock climbers are the closest to the primates (Apes and monkeys) that have that raw, animalist strength and tendon power that you can’t help but be in awe of. Without those strong hands, don’t look up if you see a guy fall.

 Grip strength and Grip agility is essential not just in certain professions but for daily life. How often do you have trouble opening a jar pickles, most likely often. If you’re hurt and you can’t use your hands than you’re screwed and what can you really do? If you want to be pain-free and have hands that are steel cords but flow like a river than you must learn to use certain exercises that will make that happen.

 A good friend of mine named Garin Bader who is the creator of Core Force Energy, has been a pianist and athlete all his life and very rarely if ever had problems with his hands and this is after learning martial arts to practicing 8-13 hours a day playing the piano to even gliding across the stage on a silk swing during his Musical Magic performances. If you were ever to learn about having powerful and fluid hands, this is the man to learn from.

 Training this way can help heal and revitalize the hands’ circulation and give them the ability to breathe with strength and power in ways you never have imagined before. Don’t ever worry about Carpal Tunnel again and give your hands the food they need in order to help your life in the ways you want to make happen. Never worry about surgery, don’t get hurt opening a door and really don’t trash your hands to the point where they’re use is slim to none. Make those hands strong and your whole body will be strong.