Training In A Different Area Can Be Scary

              

               Going to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier later on today I thought I’d share with you an aspiring way of how training in different areas like Cap getting used to a new world while he was frozen under ice for many decades. Steve Rogers comes from a totally different era where men wanted to save our world from Nazis and life was vastly different. As a young man roughly early-mid 20’s he fought with the best intentions and was a wholesome type guy with a few touches of being a superhero. After being frozen for many decades, he’s living in an entirely new world where everything he knows is gone and needs to learn fast how to adjust to life in an era where image, war, relationships and technology are vastly different. What does this have to do with training?

            Exercising and working out in a different area than you’re use to can be night and day and very scary. You’re not use to moving and exercising muscles and joints in awkward positions and usually you’d be on a treadmill, pumping up muscles with isolated exercises and going to an aerobics class it’s not a bad thing. However, moving like a wild animal or attempting Handstands is very different and requires a whole other realm of coordination, concentration and technique so how would you adjust to that or better yet adjust to smaller workouts using compound movements that hit the whole body? It can be scary I know.

            Like Cap, to better yourself in a totally different area you need to have the intent on getting better and at first you’ll most likely fail but that’s how you learn and pick yourself back up. Use your imagination and believe each day you’re getting a little better even down to the smallest fraction. Learn to utilize what you already experienced and work with using that part of you to create a better version that will have you getting results. Some people just stick to one thing only and they’re so use to it, it scares the living hell out of them when something different comes along. The world changes and so does training certain things, if you do the same things over and over you’ll be getting the same results and it can get boring.

            Be who you are no matter how the environment seems. Be a little open minded, it’s ok to be skeptical but don’t just push it off, give it a chance even if it’s for a short period of time. We all adjust differently and how our bodies respond to the way we do things, certain things work, some don’t and we have to fin what works best for us. I feel for Captain America who has to adjust to a life that no longer holds up to what he knew before he was frozen and that’s how fitness is, it’s so different from when our parents were kids and how over the years things evolve and some just don’t cut it so we learn to adjust and learn various things that bring us results and do better at them because it’s what we love to do. 

Take A Walk To Get Stronger

           Walking is the simplest thing in the world. You put one foot in front of the other and you’re off. Walking is both a mind and body tool. You can lose weight by walking, you can build great ideas from walking and you can get stronger both inside and outside from walking, walking while training is a powerful tool as well. A course called Muscle Reminders has one part on how to exercise as you walk. Another great tool is Lifeline USA’s PowR Walk Pro where you use cables for your arms as you walk an alternative to using little dumbbells. There’s always a way to make yourself strong as you walk.

            The one exercise I’ve been experimenting with lately is the farmer’s walk. This exercise consists of one or 2 objects that you pick up and start walking with whether it be kettlebells, dumbbells, gripping a sand bag in each hand or whatever. I like to use buckets because it’s cheap and easy to set up. You can get a bucket at just about any hardware store as big as you need it. I got my buckets at Wal-Mart for about 5 bucks each and they’re huge. I feel it up with water and a rock/stone I have around the yard. I get it set up and grip the handles then pick up and start walking around the yard. The weight comes out to 123 lbs. total and it’s brutal.

            To make the farmer’s walk more of a challenge, I use my Fat Gripz and attach each one to the handles. Now this makes things more brutal and it will get you breathing hard quick even more than if you just used the handles. Imagine picking up that much weight with the handles being thicker and needing to grip harder just to keep from dropping them. Some use a little pipe to attach and that’s great too if you want but I like the fat gripz because they’re available right there.

            Building mighty hands while walking is pretty bad ass in my book. This helps build your grip like crazy especially if you’re in sports or a weightlifter/strongman or whatever you’re into. Grip strength is essential for overall development and when you use thicker handles your body goes into overdrive and you can be breathing harder faster than usual. You don’t need weights but if you got em, go for it but using simple tools can also be beneficial and can cost you far less money and still get more bang for your buck. Take a walk on the wild side and utilize it to build strength, get in great condition and develop stamina like a madman. 

Training Comes With A Price

            What you believe in is your choice. Some people prefer weights over bodyweight, some loath weights and find them useless for any given strength; the truth of the matter is to find what’s suited to you and really only you. When you become comfortable in the way you train, take it a step further and challenge it a little, mix things up, make the exercises harder, experiment with different tempos, speeds and play.

            Not everyone will agree with what you do and that’s ok. You are unique and your body responds differently, so train according to how your body responds to the training you create and experiment with. Me personally, I like different styles that I mold into my own. I do a little gymnastics, a little weights, animal movements, natural movements, bending steel and whatever I can come up with. If you’re into one particular style and that’s it more power to you. I'm a big man and I've been told I shouldn't be able to do the things I do but you know what, I love it and that’s what is important.

            Be open and share who you are but also use it as a positive influence. There are great trainers and fitness guys out there who are awesome at what they do but their attitude needs a little shaping. I’m not asking you to change who you are, you're awesome in your own right but a positive attitude is a key to success. I believe in helping others and giving them tools with a smile and bringing love and care to help them be successful but there are some out there who are bitter and treat certain people calling them whiners and whatnot, this isn't the military, these are human beings trying to find what can work for them.

            Have a kick ass attitude, sometimes a little tough love to help reach their potential but to a degree. If you're overweight and want to drop a few pounds, I'm not going to tell you upfront you're fat or put you down like some people I know but I will tell you this; the battle is on you and how you win it is up to you, if you want to lose weight, take it one step at a time, I’m not going to hold you your hand but to be motivated is to believe even for a fraction that you can make something happen. If you're rail thin and need to put on some muscle, same principle applies, believe even if it’s down to the smallest fraction that it could be possible, it’s a start and progress upward one fraction at a time.

            I know what it’s like to not be motivated, to give up, being depressed because of my weight or because I'm not as strong or fit as the guy next to me in the gym, I've been there and I've had a wake up call that is a little extreme than most people. You are a very strong person even if you don’t know it yet, the power is there and it’s edging to come out. You're not a loser and you don't need to listen to some bullshit people who drag you down, you are mighty and you are powerful, it takes practice but you can bring it out. That to me is the price of training, to find your true self and how you apply it to everything else in your life.