A Push-up Workout For The Ages

    

      Most people know what a push-up is, it's one of the most basic forms of conditioning and can get you into supreme shape. There are literally hundreds of variations of the push-ups and each advanced style is just as beautiful as the next when mastered. I have seen and done many types of push-ups, my biggest workout using different variations came to a total of 600 reps. You are about to learn a really cool style of push-ups which I will show in a video soon so don't miss out.

 
    One of the ideal aspects of physical strength and conditioning is to create a style that is suitable to an individual. No workout is the same for everyone so we must learn what we can do to better ourselves. You can learn the most basic principles but the mind must also be in play in order to get the workout you're striving for and practice. Simple training doesn't mean easy, it's just taking basic points of exercise and not making it complicated. I'm about to give you an idea that will change the way you think about push-ups.

 
    I saw Bud Jeffries do a video on his Push-up Matrix series and it showed how to move your body in the push-up and finding certain movements that give it another perspective of building strength and agility. He did a couple letters and I thought to myself that'd be interesting so I took that idea and it became this. Write in Push-ups. Think about it, how cool would it be to do letters while in the push-up like for starters writing your own name. Here's how you do it, get into a push-up position and move your body as if you're writing a letter in the alphabet. Sounds weird huh? But that's the idea, training in a very unique way and making it challenging. I've tested this and wrote the first three letters of my name in the push-up and was breathing heavily after that. Most trainers would say that push-ups are only good for endurance, well try it Sherlock and see how you do. My full name is Benjamin Justin Bergman; that be a hell of a workout alone.

 
    Use your imagination, do something out of the norm and screw the rules (in a positive way of course). This type of training has a new meaning to the term Mind/Muscle Connection because you need to think as you are moving and this can build brain power and it charges up the neurons in the brain. It's a crazy idea but all great ideas started out skeptical. Give it a whirl and see how you do. Start with your name in capital letters whether short or long it's up to you. Make your push-ups interesting, if you can do letters, try numbers and if you're a stud (or bad ass woman) do push-ups in cursive, talk about strength and brain building.

 
Have fun guys be awesome and use your imagination, it's the greatest nation ever.
     

Training Under Stressful Times

    At this moment in my life something unexpected has come up. I have the "pleasure" of moving. Notice came around the day before Independence Day and it was just one of those "what the f*ck" moments and I'm leaving for California sooner. For those that know, moving can be extremely stressful, it was for me back in '11 when I moved up to Idaho and had to adjust quickly to the seasons and surroundings of a new state and town. However as stressful it can be now, I believe something awesome will come out of it, a better place, better surroundings and fun will be much greater.

 
    Despite helping move very heavy boxes (and one day doing 5 hours of moving those boxes into storage) I still train everyday even for a few minutes. Why do I do it; it makes me happy and distresses me. Although I'm having slight shoulder issues on my right side in the front deltoid, I still manage to have great workouts and recently it's because of DDP Yoga. I've been raving about this crazy Yoga thing for a while and I will get more on it in a later article but I will say this, it is challenging as hell but it's also fun and interesting. I'm not fond of doing someone else's workouts although I will from time to time to ease up creating a workout from the exercises but still I'm happy and I don't like being frustrated otherwise I can't get stuff done.

 
    This is where you have a choice. Even under great stress you still have a choice to find something that makes you happy (not easy but it's possible) or you can choose to mope and just be miserable. Being miserable is easy and many people rather just rather let go of everything and end up feeling like shit. You have a choice. I choose to hold my head up high because I've been in far worse situations. When I couldn't walk at the age of 20/21 years old there were times where I felt I could never walk or run the same way again but I chose to do something about it and ended up rehabbing myself with no doctors or physical therapists because I wanted to fight for my body and make it stronger on my own terms and in doing so, I learned many things about training especially on an emotional level. I chose to be happy and yes I do have my moments of frustration and anxiety but I'm human it happens but to balance it out I do things that keep me smiling and loving what I do. It's a choice.

 
    Although moving is a real pain in the ass and there is someone who you live with is looking for places to live and it's stressing them out it can divert back at you, you can make the best of things and make moving an interesting adventure even if you have to down the road. Do things that give you hope and something that brings joy to your life; for me its training, writing and reading a few books. It may not be the same for everyone but you get my point. Use that part of you that gives off radiant energy and love so when things later on occur it was meant to be, everything happens for a reason. Be awesome and do the best you can to be happy even in tough situations because being miserable is a disease and it causes too much crap in your life like depression, sadness, grief, not letting anyone you love help you; it's a bitch I've been there believe me. Take it up a notch and use what you love to help you bring joy into a stressful situation. It's a hell of an experience.

 
Be awesome everyone and do what you love.

Orion’s Arrow

    

       Not expecting a title like that huh? When most think of Orion it's usually about a mythical god known for a series of stars (Orion's Belt) but today it's about the strength of his Bow & Arrow. Back in ancient times, one of the most premier weapons of the age that was efficient to either the soldier or the hunter was the Bow & Arrow. Pulling a mighty bow in battle or to hunt food for your family was a key to man's survival of the time. Two great legends of myth that took the arrow into the very hearts of the people were the stories of Robin Hood and Odysseus. Each men had unique skill but had very similar outcomes to their stories. They both won the heart of a woman, they saved a kingdom from tyranny and they were both sharp men as much as their arrows. The Bow & Arrow was and still is to this day in some circles a test of man's skill, strength, accuracy and eye coordination.

 
    If you wanted to pull the strongest of bows, it didn't come overnight. It took most strongmen decades to pull some of the strongest bows the world had ever known. The Bow of Hercules is legendary for its near superhuman level in order to pull it back let alone shoot an arrow. Remember the story of Odysseus, in order to even win the heart of his wife and kingdom he had to strung the toughest bow in the kingdom itself and according to legend no man but him could not only string it but pull with every ounce of power to drive the arrow through the series of axes that were so narrow the arrow had to dead on accurate. The key type of training you learned to pull super strong bows was Isometrics. Think about it, at first you can barely pull the bow so in order to get to its maximum pull, you had to pull inch by inch isometrically. Because of this it took a warrior many years to pull back the strongest bow.

 
    In modern day, we don't always use Bow & Arrows unless it was for recreation or sport and although we still use it to hunt, it doesn't have the same affect that it had before in the ancient world. So one of the things we use to simulate the pulling of a bow is using Lifeline USA's Chest Expander. With this tool of rubber cables attaching to handles, we can hit our shoulders and upper back from angles that neither bodyweight or weightlifting exercise can touch. This can be used to an athlete's advantage because when you hit certain angles, you're creating strength and muscle you normally wouldn't use and I needed. It helps create flexibility and power that just has that raw strength very few methods can match.

 
    Now think what it would be like to test your strength and will against the toughest pulling cables and not only learn it from a specific program dedicated to it, but also use your imagination and picture being the very legends who handled the Bow with ease. A few minutes a day pulling from as many directions you can come up with and a program that can guide you to develop superhuman muscle in those particular areas of the upper body. With having that much flexibility and strength, think what an advantage you can have when you do other exercises like push-ups and other movements that you couldn't hit before and could do with ease. The Orion Program will test you in ways you haven't been tested before. Developing strength not just physically but mentally, spiritually and emotionally as well. It's not about just pulling a bow anymore, it's a test of your imagination and harnessing your body's brain power to create strength from your mind to the muscles and more.

 
Happy Monday my friends, be awesome and have a great start to a new week.