Joint Health And Athletics

In sports, at least in the modern age, training for the sport itself is a solid priority but we tend to forget about keeping the joints strong and focus more on the big muscles. Don't get me wrong, athletics are freaking awesome especially in areas like Baseball, Wrestling, Soccer and Basketball. Sure there's stretching, conditioning programs and solid use of weight training for specific sports that provide an athlete's ability to excel in his field. 

Keeping a solid level of conditioning and a healthy structure outperforms the ability to short bursts of energy and utilize muscles that aren't always trained the way they're meant to. Let me give you an example of two athletes from very different sports that challenged the norm to what the majority were doing in their day....

Rickey Henderson

The legendary outfielder mostly known to play for the Oakland Athletics wasn't just incredible at Stealing Bases, he was also awesome at the way he scored runs and the strategies used to make those runs happen. Beyond his stats, he was one of the few players of his generation to have a long and lasting career that lasted 25 years. From 1979-2003, he dominated areas of the game that we rarely or even will ever see again. 

He was a throwback to a time of the deadball era and the Negro Leagues where base stealing, bunting and scoring little by little was known more than knocking homeruns and driving in runs 3-4 at a time. His conditioning was uncommon among other players of his time, while many shifted towards the muscle building and juicing up during a period of hitting homeruns at a greater rate than before, he was one of the few that didn't get injured as often. 

He wasn't much of a lifter if at all and focused mainly on 4 distinctive exercises (or variations of ) such as push-ups, squats, sit-ups & sprints. Because of that foundation and understanding the aspects of realistic stretching and mobility work, he was extremely agile, fast, had reflexes that is even to this day would be considered superhuman. His joints in his prime were the pinnacle of what a healthy ball player should be and has an awesome physique that looked the part for his level of play. 

Herschel Walker

One of the most durable and highly conditioned athletes in the history of Football. He was doing things (and still does) back in the day that would consider him a freak of nature. Out of every maybe every 10 players in his time, he was in the small percentage of players that rarely got injured. His numbers in Push-ups & Sit-ups is just as legendary or even more so than his playing career. The man was a conditioning machine that puts him right up there if not at the top with guys like Walter Payton, Marcus Allen, Jerry Rice, Lawrence Taylor & Bo Jackson for athletic ability in the sport. 

Again, like Henderson, Walker knew and understood the aspects of Joint Health and Conditioning that gave him abilities that most athletes ever will achieve and knew that although great muscles can do great things for you, having joints and ligaments as strong as steel can help you stay in the game longer than most. Now, even though none of us will ever achieve what these guys did, we can however, take inspiration and ideas to make ourselves stronger and healthier than the average person.

The importance of having strong and healthy joints go beyond just doing exercises for mobility and little stretches, it'll make a huge differences in how strength from a long term and developing an injury-proof structure will play a role in our lives as we age. Most will never understand how in depth the significance and quality aspects of having healthy joints will do for them.

As we get older, having loads of muscle will become less important than the ability to just get up and move around without feeling pain and our bodies feeling less stiff. Yes we need muscles to move, but the joints and ligaments are the things that ties things together and give us that powerful shield to help us get around without hurting. We may not be as spry or springy as we were in our youth, but we can still learn to do things that will keep us out of a wheel chair or from not being able to get up and feel hopeless. We want to still do things that give us the quality of life we deserve, like playing with kids, play a sport, get up and down stairs, climb out of bed without pain, move gracefully and powerful at the same time. 

DVD Course On Joint Health By Lee Holden  

A Gift To Myself

 Happy Holidays everyone, hope you're getting what you need for the season and being with the people you love. Hope you get plenty of cool stuff for Xmas especially for the kids, I got my shopping done a while ago for really on the two people in my life, my mom and my wife. 

It has been a hard year more than most in recent times and still here, fighting and making the most of it. The problem is at times, I get so caught up with certain things that have affected me in ways I don't wish to discuss. This season did get a little harder since I lost a family member less than a week ago and although I wasn't close to him, he was still family and I hope his kids will be ok, I wish I can be with them especially one that is only a couple months younger than me and grieve with them. 

It's difficult at times coming to grips to how much of a rollercoaster this year has been and where I want to be along with where I feel most valued at. When it comes to online stuff, yeah I sell a few things here and there and share my knowledge of fitness in my own way but especially with all the ups and downs emotionally, I got caught up in arguments and put myself in situations where ball busting was just a little over the top. 

I signed up on a forum for the 4th or 5th time and left after one day (partially because I hated the name I put up) mainly because I thought if I just stick with sharing knowledge I'd be fine, but I wasn't. The majority of people on this forum just love to knock on me and ridicule me and put a bad taste in my mouth. They're not my friends, they're a lot older but most of the time don't have much value in the way of fitness because they don't really give a damn about grouping together and helping others, they're out for themselves and just have a place to let out their old man grumpiness along with busting each others balls. That's not the type of environment I want to associate with, I need to finally accept that. 

I' am very grateful for the positive things that are happening in my life and that in itself is a gift. The gift I feel I need to give myself is to trust more of my intuition, be aware of what I'm going into and do better as a person. That sounds like more than one gift but it's a tie in. This coming year will have many unexpected things but the end game is to have a greater attitude and bask in the things that do matter more than the trash that can swarm on you if you let it. Value what works and surround myself with people that lift me up more than letting in those that make me feel like I have no value to myself or others. One group I'm very thankful for is the Isometric Group I'm a part of on Facebook and how much those guys inspire me everyday to do what I love and that it is contributing to something. 

It isn't an ego thing to give a gift to yourself if you truly understand the concept of it. It doesn't have to be physical, it can be something comforting from an emotional and mental format that is meant for you. Although I believe in helping others as much as possible, we also need to make time for ourselves and reflect on the important things that keep us going and becoming better in the process. We are only human and can do so much before it consumes and overwhelms us. We need to learn to love ourselves as much as we love the people in our lives and what we love to do. This is the only life we have and each day should be a time to know that you still can do a little better and have greater attitudes towards yourself, your family, friends and your overall health. 

Don't be afraid to gift yourself and make it valuable to you and something that is important to help you on your journey. Have the most amazingly awesome holidays wherever you and if you're just by yourself, make it fun and something that makes you happy. I'm grateful for all of you and you have helped me learn things I continue to discover. 

Muscles Will Only Do So Much

 Being muscular can be a very tempting thing to achieve, especially if you love to work out. In the fitness world, muscles could do wonders for you. You may not become a Mr. Olympia or a Bikini Winner but you certainly can do great things when you built plenty of muscle, but where does the line draw? How do you achieve a level of muscle when many in the magazines, social media and even pictures on the Wall Of Fame could be photoshopped and the build is barely even real?

In reality, having muscles is only part of the real picture. Let's face it, muscles may look great but can they really do anything or at least anything that's worth more than just getting the pump from a curl or having less than 5% bodyfat? Muscles in retrospect should be useful and functional and not just a way to hook up with another human. However, as much as muscles can be great looking, the joints should be just as strong if not stronger because having strong ligaments can get you further in life or better yet, have a better quality of life. Very few people live long enough to still have quite a bit of muscle into their 50's, 60's and so on. 

Some people don't look like they have that much muscle on them but have crazy strong joints, tendons and ligaments and tend to look more wiry than burly. Same can be said with people who have solid muscle but have powerful joints to go with them. Both have their own debates on who's the strongest but in the end, the long term mentality should be maintaining health in both the joints and the muscles, not just one or the other. A muscular body won't last forever and it's not a very pleasant life if your joints are so out of shape or worse, develop problems early with arthritis, osteoporosis, bone disease and other ailments that affect the skeletal and tissues in the body. 

Many look down on exercises that loosen up the joints and just see them as warm ups or stupid exercises but the truth is, with the right training and understanding of "lubricating" the joints, they give you greater chances of not being injured or better yet prevent soreness and recover more efficiently. From your head down to your toes, find a good workout that gives you the opportunity to strengthen and loosen up the joints in your body that gives off energy and blood flow that feels really good. 

Here's one course that can give you plenty to work with but at the same time give you ideas as to what is possible to live a quality life and bask in the glory of having meaningful strength and fitness, not just building muscle. 

  Steve Maxwell's Joint Mobility DVD 

Different Styles Of Isometrics And Some Of Their Benefits

 Variations of different methods of fitness have their place for people and depending on their goals and what one is striving for, it doesn't have to be complicated. Isometrics in and of themselves can be very beneficial to other forms of exercise. Some try to associate Isometrics with Dynamic Tension as if they were the same thing. They're not. Now you can turn the exercises from Dynamic Tension into Isometrics by resisting at a specific spot and holding it there and contracting. 

Isometrics by definition is holding a position or contracting at a point where there is no movement and the more force used, the less time it is held. When you contract at lesser intensity, the exercise can be held longer which in turn can be called what the late Steve Justa coined Aerobic Isometrics. Isometrics overall, have incredible abilities to redefine the laws of strength. 

There are different styles of Isometrics that date back thousands of years and have been used by various athletes and everyday people all over the world. One of the most famous forms of Isometrics is Yoga, yes there is moving in certain positions but you also hold certain positions for a specific amount of time (depending on the style and the instructor). Yoga at the real depths of it, is extremely beneficial and has helped many people with developing flexibility and strength especially at an older age and reduces injuries. That doesn't mean all those that teach it are beneficial.

One style of Isometrics I've read a bit about and still trying to understand it is what's called Timed Static Contraction. This style some people love a lot especially those at an older age (40's, 50's and beyond) because you don't need to do a ton of exercises, only a handful (if that) will be more than enough. The idea is take an exercise and hold one position as you execute a contraction that lasts 30 seconds at 50% intensity, you continually up the intensity to about 70-75% for 30 seconds and than go as hard as you can for 30 seconds. So for 90 seconds, you up the intensity until that last bit and you're giving it everything you have. For the amount of exercises you can do, this can be incredibly exhausting and needs plenty of recovery time. Those who are experts at it like Steve Maxwell & Drew Baye don't do more than 1-2 times a week. I can agree to that. That kind of training can be very beneficial when it comes down to cardio without straining the joints, strength building and it can be done anywhere.

My personal favorite is the style of working contractions of no more than 7-12 seconds while working with multiple positions of a specific exercise such as curls, deadlifts, overhead presses and so on. This is what I started out with when I dove into Isometrics, first learning about them from Matt Furey's Gama Fitness program. It just evolved to a point where I can pin point just about about any angle I set my mind to and work exercises at multiple angles and get a hell of a cardio workout out of it plus I get more of the fat loss benefit from this style than any other for some reason. I can do these everyday and wouldn't burn out as much. This style has helped me stay injury-free the longest and it helps strengthen my legs especially my ankles. I've used it for arm wrestling, short workouts, steel bending, easy snow shoveling without the risk of getting a hernia, makes me feel lighter and stronger and so much more. 

One more for the road. This style of Isometrics was unique and not too well known because I think Steve Justa was one of a handful of people who practiced it and it's what's called Pulse Contracted Isometrics (think I just made that up) which you hold a position and work it hard by doing repeated reps at 1-2 seconds at a time. Steve did many many exercises with this at every single angle possible. The intensity is right around 90-95% but it's more a flicker than anything else. The benefits from this is that it works the little things in the muscles and tendons and ligaments at a more rapid rate and building strength that seems unexplainable. It also works the reflexes. The reps vary but Steve was doing something like 50 Reps or more per exercise or position and would total in the thousands by the end of the workout. I sometimes did 10-25 and after a few positions, I was smoked. I would research Steve Justa's books on this and see where it leads you. It may not look like much but when you practice it and go for 15-20 minutes, you're going to feel it. 

Try different things and see how they work for you. Isometrics give you strength you didn't know existed and is a "lost" secret to building the strongest tendons and ligaments possible because as we age, muscles are ok but if your tendons and ligaments are damaged or haven't done much conditioning, injuries will be much quicker to happen and it would be much harder to move around. It's a fascinating form of exercise and doesn't take up a lot of time. 

The Mystery Around Animal Exercises

 When you research Animal Movements or Animal Exercises, what pops up? Most likely you'll find ads, videos and various sequences of Animal Flow or Primal Movement. It's a popular trend and has tremendous benefits, hell I do them from time to time but what about the true and deep aspects of what animal movements are and how the came about. There isn't a whole lot written on them from that aspect.

It's a mystery on how we as humans really took to the animals and going from mimicking their behavior for hunting to becoming a recreational activity or purely for fitness. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm sure if you looked hard enough you'll find some cool stuff but it's still an enigma at times to why we have chosen animals as a fitness fad. One of the biggest known aspects of Animal Exercise or mirroring an animal is through ancient Kung Fu practices where men and women would mimic a wild animal and channel it to a fighting style and utilize it in a more graceful form of techniques and precise movement of jumps, kicks, punches and highly athletic counter techniques. 

Another outlook to Animal Movement is how we've taken certain animals and molded them to use warm up/punishment type exercises in athletics such as Football, Wrestling, Soccer and MMA. In and of themselves,. Animal Moves are more than just mere warmups and used as a punishment to keep an athlete in check. Now the idea of "Animal Movement" is not always just making up a name for a crawl, jump, hop and slither, there's something to mimicking an animal as humanly as we can without going overboard. It's true we can't exactly mirror an animal because the structure is different, the awareness is different and thinking we can be just as powerful as a wildcat, bear or a primate is way out of our league. 

Is there an answer to the mystery on why we love to mimic animals? It's very complicated but some might agree that as a species, we want to instinctively get back to nature but as far as evolution goes, some aspects of it has forced us to leave our animal like instincts and go through processes of becoming human in ways that is both good and bad. The cool thing is unlike other animals, we aren't just cut and dry to walk and have instincts of one specific animal, we have the ability to create and imitate many species to a certain extent. We'll never have their specific strengths and attributes but we can utilize what we can acquire to make the most of what is possible beyond other animals. 

The true kings and queens of exercise are the animals and it's important that we embrace the strength and conditioning of what is possible for a human to develop our bodies from a natural resource. You can lift the heaviest weights, do thousands of squats and pushups, do pull ups till the cows come home but nothing will take you down quicker and breathe hard like a madman like moving as a wild animal as humanly possible. Some people will argue that and think animal moves are just kid stuff, ok here's a test...What would be easier, 100 Squats or a 100 Yard Bear Crawl? After all, animal moves are just kid stuff right? 

An Adventure That Never Gets Old

 It's important to keep learning and finding what works best for us. Improvement should be always be a long term thing because once we stop improving, it could become boring and there isn't much Self-Discovery left. I love my workouts of Isometrics, Step Ups, Cable work and messing with either the Sandbells or the Hammers but the one thing that always brings me back and with incredible levels of enthusiasm is the Animal Workouts.

It's an adventure that never gets old and helps me find more things to discover. The random workout game I do with the 20 Sided Dice not only keeps me from doing the same order over and over again, it gives me opportunities to discover whether I'd be working hard early or later on. Anything can pop up on that thing, one day you're doing mainly lower body exercises, others the upper body or on many occasions, do a bit of both and do different variations of the exercises to make things easier or harder. It lights me up.

Animal Movements are not just for warm ups in martial arts or to sprint on the football field with, the movements in and of themselves are pretty simple and people think simple and easy are the same thing, they're not. They can be tough as hell especially if you play the dice game and you choose to do double reps or a set of yards per animal. One day, me and the wife took our niece out to a park to get us some fresh air and to knock out some excess energy the kid had. I took the dice game to a different level and we played tag. I would roll and whatever animal came up, either me or her would try to tag the other while being that animal. The objectivity is to give enough space for the person to get a bit of a head start and the person tagging has to keep moving until they tag the other. It took about 5-6 rolls until she was down for the count. Afterwards, she caught her breath and went on the swings or watch the dogs roam around. 

It doesn't take very long for those workouts to kick your ass. If you can last even 10 minutes, that's more than most can handle. The movements work so many muscles it's not even funny. Try playing tag and you have to do the Frog Jump, that round may only last less than 30 seconds because you would have to break to catch your breath and if the person trying to get away from the tagger is gassed, you have a greater advantage of winning. How about doing a race or doubling the reps per animal, it can get brutal fast. That's the beauty of it though, you don't need long workouts to make something work.

Training should have an adventurous element to it because if it becomes boring and you don't have that excitement, you won't last too long being consistent with it. It can be hard for sure but once you get the idea of turning it into play, the hard part is taken more as a challenge with a smile. It takes you back to your childhood where being carefree and full of imagination was at the peak of our minds. It puts you in a calmer state after a workout or should I say Playout, it develops coordination and balance, let's not forget incredible strength and conditioning. It also creates stronger brain functions because for one, you need to be quick and because of the coordination, you have to constantly stay balanced and perform with greater cognition. 

It does take time learning them and if you had previous injuries like many of us, you might have to coordinate differently and work an animal move best suited for you. When I do a Frog Jump, most of the time I only jump less than a few inches off the ground whether in stationary or moving forward and backwards, it works for me. Because of my leg injuries, trying to jump like Michael Jordan or a high jumper would be not good for someone like me so I have to do things accordingly. I definitely don't do explosive movements involving the upper body like jumping using the arms because it's not good for my shoulders, wrists and elbows so I came up with movements for the upper body that better suits my way of moving.  

Be adventurous, take a chance and find what works best for you. Unleash your spirit animal and move the way we should be moving. 

December Results 2021

 I'm not the biggest fan of posing for pictures. Quite frankly I don't even consider myself a ham since picture taking wasn't always my favorite thing to do but every now and then, I like to show off some of my progress. As you know my training changes quite a bit but the results speak for themselves when I get into something or stay as consistent as possible with what I feel like doing. 

I'm a fanatic on conditioning but not in the habit of wanting to get shredded and have a ridiculous low level of body fat so I'm actually happy with the results I've accumulated. These are the results of my work with Isometrics, Hammer Training, working with cables such as the Chest Expander & TNT Cables and Animal Movements. The Isometrics have done quite well for me lately and keep the exercises to basic elements of curls, deadlifts, upright rows and Overhead Presses doing at least 2-3 positions for each exercise, the other Iso Exercises supplement to the basic ones are Arm Wrestling, Zercher Squat, Step Up, Bow & Arrow, Handcuffed and Overhead Pulls. I do my best to work as many angles as possible for that day, also added in Isometrics for shoveling. 

Not looking to grow 24 inch pythons (even if I wanted to, probably wouldn't be good on my 5'10 frame and look like I can't wipe my own ass) but having strong arms along with having a good build for them has its perks lol. Being laid up in a hospital bed all those years ago, I had to rely on the strength and condition of my upper body at the time to hold me up as long as I could whether it was getting into a wheelchair, into the tub, or keep me up in my walker. I never want to wish that on anyone. It was my drive to maker my arms and the rest of my upper body as strong and functional as possible so I spent many years developing them since and you've seen what I was able to do. 

Having a physique has its perks but it's only secondary to what really matters and that's having the strength and the conditioning to go with it, otherwise what's really the point if you look good and can't do a damn thing in the process? You don't even need to have a greek god looking body to be in top condition, besides, having a great body doesn't always mean you're healthy either, being carved out of granite won't last forever and sometimes, having a very muscular body takes a toll on the joints and tendons or even your heart. That's why I love Isometrics so much, it keeps those tendons and ligaments strong in the long haul and helps reduce injury in your later years.

Stay strong and keep developing yourself inside and out making the most of it. Health is one of the biggest things that we need to have in this messed up Pandemic. Get strong, stay healthy and keep kicking ass my friends. 

Is Society Really That Terrible Today?

 Great day to wake up and shovel snow.....said no one ever. Seriously though, it felt good to get up, stretch a bit and take care of some snow on the ground, it can be quite riveting. A lot of people today talk about how bad our society is as a whole and how back in the day, things were better. Some of these same people are those "make America great again" types that just never caught on. Yes there are pros and cons, rights and wrongs with how society has evolved or devolved in some cases but is it really that terrible?

Societies rise and fall all the time and we won't be an exception. Yes social media has it's fair share of issues when it comes to people of certain varieties but let me ask you a question....For those who like to cry MAGA or think society was better during a certain decade, do you really want to go back to a time where women couldn't vote? Go back to a decade where soda was in ads that featured babies, doctors telling people to smoke to lose weight, where a woman was practically a slave to a man, where someone with different skin couldn't or didn't have the choice to sit in an empty seat in the front on a bus, where a "just say no" campaign never statistically worked and drugs were running rampant? That's more than just one question I get it.

Not every kid is shooting up a school, not every attention monger is on social media and not every celeb or pro athlete is an asshole or does drugs. We have become so angry with what others do that we forget that this isn't the only time in history where people wanted attention, where a person with great influence actually did something good and an athlete is celebrated for his accomplishments, not what he did outside of his chosen sport. Society today does have problems and there should be accountability for sure but do we really have to hold those accountable for even trying to do something decent like I don't know actually showed kindness and compassion? 

I think the real issues are not always in Black & White. Everyone isn't always protesting about something in their community but everyone does have a story no matter how boring or extreme and some people go down a wrong path, some thrive and become successful but no matter how you put it, there will be others who want to destroy someone's way of life for god knows what reason. Society as a whole isn't perfect, neither was any society anywhere at any time, it's flawed, it's crude and downright awful at times but there are great times too, places where people take care of each other regardless of your background. 

Now, are there a bunch of dumbasses living among us?  Of course, you can't have a society without a bunch of morons roaming around, sometimes they can make things entertaining but more often than not, they teach us lessons that we don't always realize like what not to do and what lines you don't cross regardless of the circumstance because it is important to realize what really matters. Not everyone survives that but what doesn't survive, something that comes along will, it can be a vicious cycle but also some beauty comes out of it depending on what it is. 

When I was growing up in California, I saw crazy things go down and been around alcoholism, survived an earthquake, survived meningitis, seen what people are like on drugs and observed some really shady dealings. Been around kids of all shapes and sizes and while some I knew lived great lives, others had very toxic people around them and went down dark paths and knew a couple people who've killed themselves. Seeing and being around some of that, you'd think I would be another statistic and go down a path of drinking like many I knew, getting into drugs and all that, well I didn't and there were times in my life I thought about it but something never kicked in me to drink like a fish or smoke like a chimney or do enough drugs to not care about the world around me. I've seen terrible things in society but I never lost sight of what amazingly awesome things happen in society as well. It doesn't make me special or anything, just that I do understand where someone is coming from at times.

Not everyone has it easy growing up in various societies and communities no matter where you are whether it's a rural area, conservative, liberal or whatever. Deep down, some of us will choose life in a very different way than what statistics say and others naturally or forcefully go down roads that very few will ever climb out of. Make your choices and do what works best for you and the people around you. Do the best to your abilities to be there for someone and show compassion until there's a reason not to be and protect each other. Societies rise and fall all the time and very rarely has there ever been a society that wasn't divided in some form. It takes work but at best, live your best life and don't try to destroy someone else's because it's not in your bubble.   

Getting Stronger Without Needing To Go To Failure

 It's easy to get caught up in that warrior mentality of pushing yourself so hard that getting sore, going to failure or even getting injured is considered a badge of honor. Now, I'm not saying don't challenge yourself or half-ass a workout by going through the motions, train to make yourself stronger little by little because over time, it adds up.

Unless you're a competitor, in law enforcement, the military or a pro athlete, pushing yourself to the brink is not always the way to go to make yourself better. When I performed feats of strength such as nail bending, hammer levering, tearing phonebooks or shaping long pieces of steel, I would hammer out what I could do and sometimes I pushed so hard that I did injure myself on a few occasions. Luckily nothing was damaged to where I couldn't do anything but there was a price to pay. 

I believe in training hard without question, however; you can only go as far as you're willing to go and it's important you keep your mental game and body awareness in check. We understand that if you get hurt and you can't keep up with your responsibilities, you're no good to anyone but do we really get what that means? I'm lucky I'm able to train every single day without failure but when I got hurt, I have to adapt, modify and improvise at times in order to do things to help others plus still take on responsibilities that are asked of me. 

Strength is not just physical but mental as well and it's important we understand the differences and similarities between the two. We learn how to progress and do so at our own pace, not the same as everyone else because everybody is different and if we act on the same progressions and the same pace as everybody else, it's not going to pan out well. We learn as we go along and find our strengths and decrease our weaknesses little by little. 

Some days are easier than others but as we pace ourselves and pay attention to our energy, our awareness and the way we can recover, our strength in certain areas will go up even by a 1/10th of 1%. Some never see that or want to think that it's possible, if they're not stronger at a 5-10% increase in a day, they see it as a failure and not a success. Success eventually happens and failure is more of a lesson than a defeat. Now, this isn't the same if you're a policeman, a soldier, a fireman or whatever, if it comes down to life and death, failure can be fatal so building strength and awareness is a completely different area. You train for a specific purpose and do everything that's possible. 

Work on building your strengths little by little. You may fail at some things and you may push to the brink where you can't hold on or move anymore (which I highly don't recommend) but never give up on making yourself better even by the smallest fraction because the tiniest or most microscopic improvements can make the biggest differences in what happens next. 

The Hammerman Now Walks Among The Elite In The Heavens Of The Old-Time Strongmen

There are strongmen and then there's Lawrence Farman. A man who admired the legendary strongman figure of Joe Greenstein, AKA The Mighty Atom and worked hard as hell in the rock quarry, breaking stones and rock day in and day out since the early 50's until he late 90's or so. In between, he learned the craft of strongmanism; bending steel, breaking chains and driving nails through boards. His most unique feat was the reason for his nickname, The Hammerman. The Lifting and Levering with the heaviest sledgehammers that would make John Henry's jaw drop.

When it comes down to records and what someone can achieve, Slim The Hammerman was above and beyond the very fathom of what it means to achieve a level of strength the way he did. His strength and prowess among the strongmen of his time and generations after almost sound like it should've been myth, but in fact was not only very real, made it legendary in ways that put him in a class that should be in the ranks of Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Ed Strangler Lewis and Paul Anderson. 

Slim passed away at the age of 87 and although he is gone from this world, his spirit will live on in the memories and hearts of strongmen the world over. I regrettably never got a chance to meet him but I did have a phone conversation with him once a few years back thanks to fellow strongman Chris Rider. We talked about Atom and Slim's life and how he achieved financial success in his work. How he lifted the hammers using a mental technique he perfected and gave me advice on what I can do in my own strongman endeavors. It was an honor to even talk with him and swapping stories, my favorite is how he gave his high school the bird as he walked out the door and made something of himself.

For all intents and purposes, his records in levering will never be broken. His world record of lifting 2-28 lb hammers that were attached to each other is not only unbelievable, but the mere fact that his wrists weren't even 100% when he made the feat. He achieved this in the mid 70's at Madison Square Garden as the Atom watched by his side. He was also a man among giants, at 6'6 and a max weight of 230 lbs of pure muscle that was sinewy and the toughest of tendons and ligaments anyone could ever thought of. His grip was so powerful that men in recent years who've shaken his hand can attest to the incredible strength he still had. 

Slim, you were a man among men, a strongman's strongman and one of the hardest working people the world had ever known. RIP big man and say hi to the Mighty Atom for us. 

Work With Isometrics To Prevent Injury As Much As Possible

It's snow season and it's that time of year where in many parts of the country (and areas around the world), shoveling snow is practically mandatory. Some use Snow Ploughs but for the most part, a shovel is their only hope to get rid of snow when it's dumped on your car, covered up around your door step, your backyard or the driveway. When you're not use to exercising and you don't have a choice but to shovel snow, it can be very difficult on some people and they can hurt themselves or worse, have a heart attack (it does happen more often than we care to admit).

It's a blessing that I've never been injured shoveling snow and it's actually one of my favorite forms of exercise. For a decade now over the winters here in Idaho, snow shoveling has been a big factor in how my fitness is being tested and although it's something many people do, how many get hurt doing this simple task? Depending on your area and how wet and/or heavy the snow is, it can vary in weight and how your body handles the stress. It's hard work at times but it can be quite fun.

At our house during the winter, I'd be up around between 5 and 7am working the driveway so my wife can get out in the morning to head to work. When the ploughs would come by, at times they'll inadvertently create a berm that blocks the driveway which at times creates heavier snow to move. It's a pain in the ass but you do what you need to do man. I'm one of those few people who actually loves to shovel snow and gets a lot of satisfaction out of it. Put some music on, twist, turn, lift, carry and have a blast. Often I'd be shoveling multiple times a day so the conditioning really kicks into gear. 

Now, what do Isometrics have to do with shoveling snow. For one, when you have to twist and turn, you're using muscles not normally used so the joints surrounding those muscles need to be strong and durable otherwise you're running a greater risk of injury. Number 2, Isometrics can be a key ingredient in how you can maintain and even increase the strength of your tendons and ligaments in order to be efficient, fast and have suppleness/flexibility so you can get the job done without hurting yourself. Does shoveling snow to be considered manual labor? I'd say so and it's important to have a solid level of conditioning and strength because if you don't cover all the bases, there can be complications. 

Isometrics have been a staple for many for centuries and most today can't understand how valuable and even necessary to train with Isometrics. A priority as a human being, is to be strong and conditioned at just about any given time and gives off a sense of honor when it's used to help others and not just as a individual. I love training with Isometrics because I can work so many angles in a short amount of time and strengthen those weak areas I might have and be able to gain strength from places most don't think can get strong. 

Isometrics don't just strengthen joints, muscles and the tendons & ligaments, they provide somewhat of a shield to prevent injuries as much as possible. We can't 100% avoid injuries but if we can reduce the risks as much as we can, wouldn't it be worth it. The amount of exercise for Isometrics is limitless but find what works best for you and make the most of what's possible to be as strong but feel light as a feather. That's the beauty of them, they can make you feel like you're walking on air, be faster, move with greater ease and handle physical stress in a better fashion. Read up on my article about Isometrics building a structure like Wolverine's Adamantium Skeletal Structure. 

Isometrics are truly the lost secrets of building incredible strength and the greater we can build on them, the better we can handle other tasks in life. Be strong from every angle imaginable and enjoy the fruits of fitness in an awesome way. 

Overcoming Isometrics: Isometric Exercises for Building Muscle and Strength (The Train Smarter Series)

Isometric Power Pulse Method

Super Isometrics for Maximum Strength and Muscle Gain

Developing The Isometric Mind : All 7 Volumes

Taking Ownership Of Your Fitness

We are our own self critics and have a hard time making certain things our own. Taking ownership of something is not just about responsibility and making it a priority, ownership is when you are driven to make the most of what is possible and making it not just your own but providing the means to keep it for yourself. From a fitness point of view, ownership is not so much of running a fitness brand or making videos, it means you put in the work and making the most of what is possible.

From day one, my priority to myself is being as fit as I can be to live a quality life, make it interesting and fun along with using it productively whenever I can help others. The beauty of ownership in my eyes is not just being responsible for what I train with but also being to train however I wish at any given time. No one can take that away from me and I love what fitness has given me.

If you want to be in the best shape, it's up to you to get everything you can out of it and making it worth it for you. It takes work, there's no magic pill that will give you a 50 inch chest, 20 inch neck, 24 inch pythons or legs that can outrun a deer overnight. You want to be fit, you need to make yourself fit, no one will do it for you. You can have the best trainers or have the very best DVD's, Books, Podcasts or webinars that will provide you with the secrets and modules for a successful fitness transformation, but all of it is useless if you don't do something about it. 

There will be days where you may not want to work out or don't have motivation but if you take ownership and have the knowledge to get the most out of yourself, you can do something even for 1 freaking minute. If all you did for the day was a wall sit or 10 pushups, that's fine, matter of fact it's great because you still made something happen, that's still putting in work. Little by little down to the smallest fraction, if you put in the work, things will add up over time.

You know the old saying "health is wealth", well when you own your fitness and you hold onto it like Thor with Mjolnir, putting in the work provides greater income for your body. It's like running a business which can be hard and tough at times but with flow, harmony and acting as a team, things will be successful and you can run it with an ironfist because it is YOURS!!!!

Be successful in your fitness endeavors and everything else you do. We only have this life and it shouldn't be wasted. Help others take ownership for their own fitness and use that success as a driving force to be the very best for you.  Be amazingly awesome. 

Elderberry

Cardio Is For Girls And Conditioning Is For Men

 From a fitness standpoint, that sounds like Men Are From Mars & Women Are From Venus but in this case, only one word is needed....SEXIST!!!! 

During my workout this morning (260 Step Ups & 88 Ab Wheel Rollouts), things were rolling in my head and this was one of them. It's one thing to understand what an individual needs and how they adapt to certain things but to put two completely separate entities for different sexes is in certain cases, a crock of shit. Cardio is to get your heart rate up and keep it at a certain point. Most think cardio is using the treadmill or aerobics or spin classes but in reality, it's a little more complex than those things. 

Conditioning in this day and age means different things but for those playing the home game, conditioning is able to last for extended or even short period of time with gas left in the tank, at least from my point of view. There's even a thing called Cardiovascular Conditioning which means a person's stamina and strength have a lasting effect that can go for quite some time. Think of it this way, in a fight, if you get winded quick and can't even go very long, chances are greater that you'd be down much faster. 

Here's a simpler term of how someone "may" determine the difference between cardio and conditioning....30 minutes on a treadmill would be considered cardio but 30 minutes of step ups would be considered a level of conditioning. To me, if you can focus and control your breathing for an extended period of time or even for several minutes without a break, it's all relative to a certain degree regardless whether you're a man or a woman. 

I'm sorry but here's my outlook on this....Women have every right to be in as top condition as they can at the maximum of their abilities and there are some crazy stamina that women possess and it's not always from steroids or PED's. Some women can even outlast men in a lot of areas and pound for pound can be crazy strong whether in the beginning or the end. Biologically, yes there are different factors due to body composition and strength ratios, that's really the only takeaway but in the end, conditioning is what a man or a woman has a right to possess. I don't give a damn who you are, if you can outlast an opponent or even yourself and have a solid percentage of gas left in the tank, you're a bad ass and don't let anyone tell you different.

According to some people, cardio is only meant for women because it keeps their weight down and are not meant to strength train because god forbid if a woman has any strength that is greater than a man (because not every man is as strong as some women), manliness goes right out the window yet a man needs conditioning and lasting strength because that was what he was born and bred to do and if he's weak in any way, he's not a man, he's a pussy. I say fuck those people. Everybody has a right to be in the best shape at their maximum as natural as possible. If both sexes were in great shape and can do great things, what's stopping them from reaching their potential.

I'm getting off track here and going into a rant. Everybody is different and whether you're a man or a woman or transgender, non-binary, they/them or whatever, being in shape is your universal right as a human being and depending on your condition, it takes faster times, it can take longer to be in shape but regardless, you are awesome and whether you see cardio or conditioning as different methods or you do both, it's up to you what kind of shape you want to be in. Strength relies in all of us and it's up to you to make the most of it. 

Ashwagandha

Why Simplicity Has Its Perks

 It's funny how we tend to complicate things when it comes to exercise and fitness. The problem with the complications mainly is how workouts are done or interpreted from the magazines, the overwhelming feeds on social media and the "influencers" that think they know fitness but don't have a damn clue what the hell they're doing.

Some look at the basics as boring and actually believe they don't do much after mastering them. The question is, have you really mastered them? The basics not only lay the foundation but they're a guide to build true mastery which in terms of today's fitness enthusiasts, doesn't seem to be the nature of what it means to truly master something. If you get the basics down, it doesn't mean you don't need them anymore, there's always a way to make the basics harder but also to reflect on how you can successfully develop a solid program or workouts that gives you success in your goals.

Basics however, doesn't mean they're easy and how we see as basic, at times may be too advanced for some people, so we modify them to suit us and make us better. Many just want to jump into the advanced variations of workouts and exercises because they feel cocky and think they can handle it. If anyone can advanced so quickly and handle it without hurting themselves and have a clear head, they might as well be superman or wonder woman. We have to look at the basics objectively without overthinking the idea that they're too basic or simple.

Let's look at the Jedi as an example, even the most powerful were once padawans and had to learn how to control their movement, emotions and way to look at things from a perspective. Some advanced quicker than others but very few ever made it to Grand Master or even a highly advanced Jedi Knight if you look at how many Jedi have trained throughout the eons. Another example would be the Wizards of Harry Potter, all Wizards (and even moguls) started out learning basic spells, flying on the broom (like a nimbus 2000) and had to understand the difference of what to defend or attack. If they didn't have these basic skills, those like Dumbledore, Voldemort or even Harry for that matter wouldn't be able to pull off some of the amazing (and terrible) things they can do.

Simplicity takes on a life of its own when they are mastered and understood how to apply them for the individuals needs and goals. You wouldn't think picking up a heavy bag of flour is a big deal and doesn't do anything but in reality, you're using all sorts of muscles to pick it up and either hoist it over the shoulder or Bear Hug it and carry it to a destination such as the back of a truck, stacked up against other bags in a warehouse, going up a flight or two of stairs to deliver or whatever. Doing something so simple can actually kick your ass depending on what you do.

The perks of doing simple things from a fitness perspective is....

1. Mastering a skill 

2. It doesn't take a ton of thinking

3. Learning your body's mechanics to handle other tasks

4. Developing a sense of timing 

5. Working the body to advanced to other areas of either workouts or labor (or both at the same time)

6. It makes other methods interesting to learn once the basics are in your brain

Be simple in what you do as much as possible. Learn certain skills that give you an advantage in what could be useful down the road and use simplicity to avoid injuries as much as possible because if you get hurt, you're no good to anyone. 

Heavy Resistance Cables For Strength Training Without Barbells & Dumbbells

 Weightlifting & Weight Training have a place in the world of fitness and I prefer the classic courses like Arthur Saxon's The Textbook Of Weightlifting or George Hackenshmidt's The Way To Live and of course Dinosaur Training by Brooks Kubik. These books are the pathway to success in how the old timers trained and what made them successful.

Now as great as weights can be, not everyone can afford to buy weights for their home and some aren't interested but would like an alternative. Resistance bands are great for this because for one, they're light to carry around and two, you can use them to workout anywhere and create your own gym experience.

Some of my favorite exercises are with the cables, specifically the Lifeline Fitness Cables such as the TNT System, the Chest Expander & the Power Push-up . Just these three alone can give you a killer workout. Some of the best athletes in the world use cable training like this and have been successful with them. The chest expander in particular is an apparatus the old time strongmen used (back then using Steel Springs) to strengthen the upper body and even developed great physiques using them. The legendary Earl Liederman used them as part of his course that included Self Resistance exercises similar to Charles Atlas' Dynamic Tension course. Even the great wrestler Lou Thesz pulled an expander in his day.

The idea of being able to travel and still train with cables is a great way to keep yourself going without always relying on the gym. My personal favorite is the TNT System from Lifeline because not only can you do quite a few exercises from having it on the ground, you can hook it up to a door attachment and do exercises like you would use a machine at the gym. The big difference is with cables, you have to be stable enough to work the muscles needed for the exercises you want to do and that creates incredible core, back and leg work in addition to doing pulls, chest presses, sit-ups and even arm wrestling type movements. For the door attachment exercises, I like to go a little heavier than normal to really target the back muscles because for the most part, I do a lot of exercises that require more of the chest and triceps, so when I work my back to even things out, it pans out great with the cables.

During some workouts, I'll go heavy as I possibly can and with the the TNT Cables, I would do as much as 240 lbs. of Resistance which is two black cables and a magenta cable in the three slots of the handles. They have helped me get stronger in other areas of training. The very best workout I would do with this system is do supersets of various cable exercises with Step Ups; say do 5 sets of 10-20 curls and 20 step ups back to back with little rest and then go into presses and step ups,  attach the door increment and do sets of pulldowns and step ups. This would be done with a lighter set of cables for cardio conditioning purposes and target everything with very little rest in between rounds. Some of those workouts took as long as 40 minutes, brutal.

The heavier the resistance, the less reps you'll have to do (like that doesn't sound SO obvious) but when you start going into ranges of resistance that you can only do under 10 reps, you're swimming into some deep waters of strength training and you better be prepared to really push or pull because those cables will throw you off if you're not careful. You need a strong core to stabilize you so you're not being pulled around like a rag doll. 

I made a video yesterday doing Curls with the TNT Cables that are the two black cables (100 lbs of Resistance Each) and I did about 14 total reps (7 per arm) and that was hard as hell since I really had to squeeze and pull hard in order to get them up. These bad boys are no joke and I don't know if they're many people in the world who can do this. It was quite a feat that's for sure. You don't need to go heavy in order to get in a good workout, just medium sized resistance is more than enough for most people and condition your body like a mad man (or woman) and kick ass anywhere and anytime.