A Phoenix: The Story Of The Rising Generation

My name is Jarell Lindsey, age 20 circa August 16th. Strength has been a lifestyle for me since youth. It may not have been my strength, and it may not have been physical, but strength was always surrounding me. My father was a man who had great endurance; he worked long hours in order to provide for my brother and I, albeit there was not always enough to sustain us properly. Even when suffering a series of strokes and heart attacks, he kept his naturally sarcastic demeanor and vitality. He was my hero, and I looked to him for my own strength. Even when he passed (I was age 10), I felt that his pure endurance kept his spirit around to protect my brother and I. 

My mother was a woman who had great mental strength. She possesses a series of unfortunate ailments, the most distinguished being diabetes and multiple sclerosis. By the time I reached age 4, her legs could no longer support her and she had to use a wheelchair. Steadily, she lost the ability to write or feed herself, her speech deteriorated, and her overall health just went south. Yet her mind, amidst all the turmoil she faced, stayed fresh. There was rarely a moment when you could not catch her smiling. All other troubles began to feel trivial to me; what troubles, I wondered, could I truly have when this woman has looked multiple times in the eyes of the reaper and smiled! All of her intelligence, incredible memory, and wisdom stays with her even to this day.

My brother-in-law and uncle were men of great physical strength. My brother-in-law is a man of average stature (around 5'10”, 180) with the capability to lift the rear of a car, perform incredible sets of pushups without a notion of tiring, and enduring a baseball bat strike to head and shaking it off. He refused to allow limits to be associated with him. He actually introduced me to some isometric exercises young, way before I knew what they were or their capabilities. Furthermore, my uncle is a man of almost equal stature. He performs morning runs often, and has the capability to bench press upwards of 240 lbs. He is also 80 years old this day. He refused to allow the supposed limitations of age prevent him from having the strength and physique he desired. 

So what did this mean for me? I was not the weak and sickly child turned superman. My entry into this world was rather lucky; I was a month premature and suffered from chronic sleep apnea and asthma, but I grew out of both into an averagely healthy young child. Yet, seeing such instances of strength around me, even in sickness, gave me the drive to pursue the world of physical culture. But, where would I begin?
When living with my uncle, I attended the local YMCA with him quite often. I would lift weights there, but I disliked that I would perform such taxing exercises with very gradual strength development. I put my all into the exercises, but I felt that there could be more. I did as any kind in the modern era would do for a problem: I consulted my friend Google. The results that I found were endless, but I understood what I wanted; I wished to have a great level of strength without adding too much bulk to my stature. Reading about Bruce Lee gave a lot of insight on having a small stature, yet with power and strength. 

My uncle taught me to search for the definition of words I didn't understand, so I did so for this one word I saw: isometrics. I couldn't fathom the results I found. A man named Alexander Zass could snap chains across his chest? This diminutive fellow called the Mighty Atom could drive nails with his hands? There was an Indian catch wrestler with over 5000 matches, no losses? Considering all of these men performed isometrics, I felt as though I'd found a jackpot. It didn't seem I even needed to spend money I didn't have on training equipment for this. By coming across Paul “Batman” O' Brien's website (Isometric-Training.com), I was able to learn many training methods and transform my physique in a short amount of time. Yet I sought more. I read Chinese philosophy texts. I read Shaolin training manuals. I read the Yi Jin Jing and qigong books. I even came across Maxick (my personal favorite strongman) who possessed complete control over every ounce of muscle at his disposal. Upon discovering the Power and Might blog, I learned about all of these things and more at once, fueling my thirst for knowledge even further.

Perhaps I have performed more knowledge amassing than actual training, as my physique is nowhere near my goal in strength (having a similar level of muscular control as Maxick). However, if I can manifest just a fraction of the strength of the people who have impacted my life, I'm sure that those goals are less than impossible. If you have any interest in learning the things I've learned along my strength journey, visit my website at www.muscularstrengthsystem.com

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at jarell@muscularstrengthsystem.com

Breathe While You Train

             I've said it before and I’ll repeat till you get it through your thick skull, learn to breathe while you train. It is the single most important aspect of physical and mental conditioning. It is the one thing that keeps us alive more than anything else. You can go days without water, weeks without food but a few minutes without breathing is killing you. The power of the breath is essential as it can help you stay in the game far longer than if you just started hyperventilating in the first couple minutes.

            Breathing helps you conserve energy and the more you practice it, the more energy is reserved. Its power can be used any way you want if you know how to use it. It can be used to help you in a strength exercise or it can help your endurance over a period of time. Different athletes use different breathing patterns for how they stay in their sport but the principles stay the same, if you can’t conserve your energy, you won’t last very long. Learn to breathe and learn when to use it to your advantage.

            Deep breathing is an awesome way to keep your energy intact and granted sometimes if you’re in a fight or in a match against another opponent or team your breathing tends to be tested which is a good thing because you learn how to handle it when it’s time to make it count. Even in a training session in the gym or your home workouts, you want to learn how to breathe while you exercise and while you’re in between sets because after a while it takes a toll on you so you learn to keep your breathing as best as possible to keep going.  It’s the reason it keeps you focused no matter what you’re doing.

            There are tricks to help your breathing while you train. When I do my deck of cards training, sometimes once I get to a certain part of the deck I have to keep my breathing intact because it becomes so intense you have to take in as much air as you can. After you do a set of push-ups or squats for example, although you want to keep going without much rest as possible there’s that other part you can use where you take in as many breaths as the number of reps for the next set, that way you’re not taking up too much rest and you’re conserving your energy. You can use this method for different exercises and different areas of fitness. Another great trick I learned to keep your breathing at bay is what I learned called the Hoffman Walk which was termed in Brooks Kubik’s books on the adventures of the old-time strongmen Legacy Of Iron series, after you do a set of an exercise, you walk and breathe deeply till you’re ready to tackle the next set, you’re not sitting down and you keep moving without stopping so this helps with your endurance.

            Get the concept of breathing and how it can help you in any endeavor and it doesn't always have to be training, it can be how you prepare for meetings or conferences in business, or how you handle shopping without tiring out before you get to your car (this happens with a lot of people believe it or not) and it can help you stay in the game in your sport so you can keep up that reserved power to stay driven and help your team keep going. Breathing is life and life is breathing. 

It’s Hard Being Alone

            Some people like to train alongside someone, others prefer training alone and some even make the choice to be alone. Why is that, is it better or is it more distracting when you have someone training with you? Certain people train alone because there’s more freedom, do what you want, unless you’re in a gym and you have that issue waiting on someone but yet when you’re really alone in your workouts, there are no distractions, you’re the king/queen of your own challenges and the only thing that stops you is you.

            Every once in a blue moon, I train with other people, very rarely these days since I’m not much of a gym guy and there’s an extreme few who actually want to put in the work instead of walking around like a zombie. Friends however can be the best thing about your training, if they have a similar enthusiasm and love for training, they’ll be there to kick your ass and push you to levels you couldn't do on your own. In my own experiences I've been around enough guys that just made me want to be better and be tougher when I do get to be on my own because I’ll be hearing them in my head.

            When you are alone, it’s tough but it makes you learn things about yourself that is different than just training with other people. You learn that you’re the only competition and there’s no one to tell you any different. Self reliance is one of the keys to finding out what you’re best at and what to do when things don’t work. You can always ask for guidance but in the end, it comes down to you and how you want to make things happen. Challenges go deeper, your thinking is different and the way you push yourself goes far beyond anything else. You’re competing with yourself and when you fail, you can’t blame anyone but yourself.

            If you truly think you’re alone when you train, in most cases you’re not. Yes you have no one physically around to get you going but remember Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio, you have that conscience within you to help guide you to whatever it is that you want to achieve. If you listen closely, it can be your best friend or your greatest enemy but if you learned to use your mind and use your imagination, you can have the greatest workout without anyone there but in your mind, someone was there all along cheering you on, telling you to keep going, driving harder and taking you on a roller coaster ride that doesn't always want to end. It’s always great when you train with friends but when you train by yourself with that little piece of imagination it can create a major impact and show you the true meaning of Training.