Old Time Wrestling & How It Can Turn You Into A Machine

When it comes to conditioning for wrestling there are many ways to do it. Look at how Dan Gable conditioned the most dominant team at University Of Iowa for 21 seasons with 15 National Titles. His methods were second to none and should be learned by any type of coach for the sport or athlete for that matter. At the same time there was a man who took conditioning to a very unique level and because of his teachings he conditioned a wrestler by the name of Frank Gotch. His name was Martin “Farmer” Burns.

In his course Lessons In Wrestling & Physical Culture he uses a form of deep breathing to help regain and maintain health, strength and fitness. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything in this course and I highly recommend you check it out at http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Burns/lessons/lesson01.htm.

 Without question he was one of the most unorthodox wrestlers/teachers there was at the turn of the 20^th century. He developed techniques in both fitness and wrestling to create the ultimate package to see who is tough enough and who is willing to take his training to a whole new level. Farmer himself had wrestled sense he was very young and had a staggering number of victories losing in only 7 matches. At age 50 he can still take down and mangle an opponent within seconds. At that time being 50 was ancient and the average age wouldn’t go beyond 60 let alone 50. So that should tell you how powerful this small man was and weighed no more then 175 pounds. The techniques he taught not only gave a wrestler a chance to win matches but also to save his own life. This was important for the common man of that period when survival was needed the most.

 Another key factor that he taught was very important and that’s pacing ones self. For a wrestler it’s a game of chess and you must be steps ahead of your opponent but it must not be quick nor faster then needed. When you get accustomed to the conditioning it teaches you to pace yourself and conserve your energy while your opponent wears out his. This became very complex and effective that it still stands today for MMA Fighters. Its no wonder the Farmer was ahead of his time.

Because of these effective strategies it was passed on from generation to generation. One of them was a wrestler who took the name Gotch and made a name for himself in Europe, Japan and a stint in America. His name was Karl Istaz (Gotch). Like the Farmer himself Karl took conditioning to a degree far beyond what most would consider today as insane or brutal. Either way it became apparent that if you want to wrestle your conditioning comes first. This goes hand and hand like a horse and carriage, one without the other is worthless.

If you want to see Gotch & his students in action then go to Scientific Wrestling and pick up a copy of Conditioning For Combat Sports 1 & 2. There might be a Interview DVD in there as well which in my opinion is treasure among treasures as Karl sits with Scientific Wrestling Owner Jake Shannon as they discuss the old-timers, a bit of Karl’s Career and his fond of conditioning. If you choose to do so I would also recommend you pick up the Authoritive  Encyclopedia Of Scientific Wrestling series. It’s a series of books filled with interviews, wrestling techniques and definitions of wrestlers and holds. It even has some on the Farmer. As a man of history and Physical Culture I encourage you to find your own history and learn from the best in the game. 100 years ago Burns helped carry on a wrestling tradition that still stands today and his techniques are not only more unique but even more effective today but yet is becoming a lost art. Help carry on a tradition that is sacred and willing to fight for.   

Becoming Tarzan

Can that really happen? I mean come on who the hell wants to be like the ape man? Well it turns out more people then you know. The fitness on this guy is incredible. He can swing through the trees and climb with the best of them and is strong as hell. It’s no secret that Tarzan is the type of athlete some of us wish to be. Have a great physique, profound strength & stamina and the natural functional ability to handle everything thrown at him. To me he’s a mans man.

If we want to try to imitate the conditioning of Tarzan we must first observe his behavior. He learned what he can do by observing the only family he knows and that was the Gorillas of the jungle. He learned how they walked, climbed and swung through the vines of the forest. He learned to understand their strength and power through fierce battles and studied their anatomy. Contrary to popular belief Tarzan was pure genius. He learned how to survive by learning from possible one of the strongest species on the planet.

Now that you have observed what he does its time to put that into play by practicing the movements. Now before I go any further I just want to state that yes Gorillas have different body structures then we do and have a advantage that we can never imitate but it’s not a bad thing to get really strong in the areas that we can work on. Practice how they walk and how they hang on trees (a pull-up bar or a soccer goal would be better suited). Learn to move the best way you can. Focus on the whole body and not just the muscles but the tendons as well. I know you’re probably sick and tired of reading about tendon strength by me but the fact of the matter is if your tendons aren’t strong enough you won’t get very far in your quest to be super strong.

Doing a workout like this alone can be very rewarding in terms of building strength, stamina, flexibility and not to mention muscle building from having HGH levels shoot through the roof. Moving like an ape can be the ultimate jungle workout for you because you don’t have to spend a lot of time doing it and it gets you out in the open air like the Ape Man himself. Is there really a course on this particular type of training? I believe so and its in Ed Baran’s Animal Kingdom Conditioning Courses: Animal Kingdom Conditioning & Animal Kingdom Conditioning 2: Call Of The Wild. These 2 courses alone can create the ultimate jungle workouts and I believe the Ape/Monkey Exercises are well worth the price for both courses. You can still do the other animals but the Ape Exercises are closer to us humans and its time we start getting into shape.

Why not get a course for the kids with Wild Animal FitnessFor Kids? I’m sure you’ll find some ape training in there for your little ones and it won’t look like training but playing and having fun because that’s what real training is about is having fun. Do you need the strength of Tarzan? No, but you can become stronger then the average human and dominate your life by becoming the strongest you can be.

Creating Your Own Style Of Training

Its difficult to realize that you can in-fact become your own personal trainer. The first thing to do this is to learn as much exercise as possible. The more you learn and observe your own physiology; you will find your own routine. Another goal to keep in mind is keep track of your workouts and a journal is the perfect tool for this. Whether you want to workout 3X a week or 7X a week keep track of what you do.

Anybody can learn to be their own trainer. It took me a few years to finally understand it but now I can create any workout I want with the amount of exercises I know. Now you don’t need to build years to understand it. Having a personal trainer isn’t a bad thing but the problem is a lot of people get discouraged and many trainers don’t teach the value of your own experience and train for you. Very few can and I happen to know some. The easy part is exercising the hard part is learning on your own. Observe yourself and learn the movement of an exercise you want to master. Really you don’t need to do 20 exercises in one workout just do no more then 8-10. I train 7 days a week up to 3 times a day because that’s what I’m comfortable with and it makes me happy. For you once a day 3 times a week is doable.

Nothing in fitness is more enjoyable in knowing your own style of exercise and my best advice is to learn everything you can. Do what you can learn what you want to learn. Becoming your own trainer can bring you a lot of benefits in your life. You don’t need to pay for a gym/trainer, you save money which you can use for other things that are important in your life like your family. I have learned well over 500 exercises in my lifetime maybe even more but do I need to do all the time? Hell no I don’t even like some of them. That’s another beauty about being your own trainer you pick the exercises you want to accomplish a goal. If you don’t know where to go to learn then you’re in luck because these are the best that I know of that will take you to great heights and they all give you something you want to accomplish. Go click on the links below and find what interests you.

Legendary Strength

Stronger Man

Lifeline USA

Lost Art Of Hand Balancing

Dragon Door

Stronger Grip

CoreForce Energy

Bodyweight Exercises For Women