Pull Your Way To Incredible Strength

    

      Most people tend to do exercises that focus mainly the front of the body because that's what they see in the mirror more often. What they don't realize is that when they don't give the time to work on the pulling muscles that work the lower back up to the latissimus dorsi it makes the upper body look far worse than it needs to be. You're big into Bench Press and curls and crunches and the thigh muscles that you don't realize you're developing a hunch back and your chest is caving in as well as the rest of your body. Building strength and power in the pulling muscles help correct the posture in the chain of other muscles needed to be congruent with your body's powerful stance. Chest up, shoulders back and being able to tuck the pelvis.

 
    The wings of your body is your upper back which you can do a lot with when it comes to pulling by doing Pull-ups, hanging as you stretch, Clean & Press which works every muscle in the body and other styles of pulling that give that area the strength it needs. Muscle Control is a great way to open up the back because although you can use it to isolate the muscle, it teaches to use that muscle for particular reasons that can help keep you injury free. Watch guys like Otto Arco and Maxick who are masters of Muscle Control that can open up the back in ways most can't even fathom even today after they were around 100 years ago. They're not big dudes yet they can make the muscles look big and move with such grace and power it's practically majestic. Although small but very built they were still strong as hell and at one time were the strongest of their size. Open up your back and unlock the posterior chain.

 
    Now contrary to popular belief you don't always need weights to build back strength. You can lift other things that work the back like rocks, logs, kegs and other odd objects because they don't isolate the muscles, the whole body has to come into play including the stabilizer muscles that keep the balance flowing even when balancing is difficult. Handstands build incredible back strength because in order to even keep your body in alignment your back and your abdominals need to hold you up, your arms and legs won't get the job done unless everything is working together. Pull-ups in different variations set off a chain reaction to the back muscles needed to get yourself over the bar plus the stretching you get at the same time if you apply it right is in unison with the strength you're developing. Think about it although you need strength to pull yourself up, you still have that stretch in the torso especially the oblique muscles that gives off the power you need to complete the pull-up. Cables work great as well especially the TNT Cables from Lifeline USA because when you use the door attachment in a specific place say the top of the door and you hook the cables around and strap them into the handles you can do pull-downs that are more effective than the machines and go in different directions. Pulling down using your own resistance gives the muscles that energetic feel of actually working those muscles in that area. Picking up weight is great too and not always a barbell or dumbbell, try picking up a heavy boulder; it's not the same and you have to use more than just your back but it hits it awesomely.

 
    A key element that helps develop a super back is the strength of your grip. Grip strength is essential in all kinds of exercise because if you can't hold onto a weight or be able to hold yourself up in the pull-up you're not going anywhere. If you can't do a pull-up yet because you have a weak grip than work on that area until you can, like on a pull-up bar just hang there until you can hold for about a minute. Work your fingers, your wrists and if you have grippers don't just open and close them; close them and hold it for as long as possible, this develops a powerful grip and can help you in other areas. Your back has more strength than your grip obviously because of how the muscles are developed but your grip needs enough juice to even get the back muscles firing even more. Use Sledgehammers, Fat Gripz, Arm Wrestling Isometrics, hang with your fingers, Isometric Pull-ups all these develop an incredible grip. The little muscles can be your biggest ally so use the best you can to build your muscles that are congruent together to work in harmony. Get your back crazy strong and open up your posture.

 
Have a kick ass Wednesday everybody and keep an eye on for more articles to come. Share, like, comment and be sure to take up my offer as a bonus coaching session if you purchase $50 or more products on this site. Be awesome and have a wonderful day.

 

Aligning The Neck

   

      One of the most neglected muscles many people don't do is the neck. What most people are taught about the neck is just turning your head or going up and down or hell using a weight a strap to work the muscles. Now working the muscles is great but what about the things that hold the neck together like he joints, tendons and ligaments plus what about the spine; the bones that are the electric offshoot for the entire body and it starts around the neck line. People neglect this part of the body because it doesn't seem to be that important and the neck is just there to keep your head up. Yet people get locked traps, stiff necks, bad muscle tissue and if you sit at a computer all day, you get this hunch of a back.

 
    What is taught as stretching for the neck in mainstream fitness is nowhere near the level it should be in and what do I mean by that; I'm talking about stretching and strengthening the neck and spine in as many directions as possible without just isolating that part of the body. Say you push and pull and working beyond side to side or up and down. Your neck was meant to move in all sorts of directions. Isometric Exercises work great getting the kinks out and realigning the areas needed to loosen up the joints and releasing tension out of the muscles. There's even self-resistance exercises that move the neck dynamically in different directions as well. Go side to side, up and down, push the neck up, circles, figure 8's. It only takes a few minutes a day to do these.

 
    Nothing takes the place of Bridging for the neck and spine because it doesn't just work those areas, they hit the whole body as a unit. There are many types of bridging but the main 3 are the back bridge (or wrestler's bridge) where the objective to stretch until your nose touches the ground and hold, the front bridge where your chin is tucked and you're holding on the top of your head and the Gymnastics Bridge (or wheel pose on yoga) where it's similar to the back bridge but only your feet and hands are on the ground and the rest of the body is raised. Bridging unlocks the key areas for strengthening every muscle of the body and stretching at the same time. As you build up to holding the main 3 bridges, it's important to remember to do some exercises that "warm up" those areas and one of the best is by Wall Walking where your back is facing the wall and as you take a couple steps away from it, you bend back and walk down the wall till your head touches the floor and come back up. This exercise alone, stretches the legs, hips, abdominals, calves and if you can touch your chest to the wall in the bridge itself you're stretching every single body part. Want to jump start those hormones this is a great to do it and you can bridge just about anywhere and you only need a wall for the wall walking exercises.

 
    I've learned that an animal that has lived far longer than most other animals is the one that stretches it's neck the most and that's the Tortoise. Now you normally don't think of that animal as something to learn from but in Asian cultures especially in China, the tortoise is a symbol for longevity, health, stillness and super internal power because even though it's slow it can still give off great energy and hell it can live for more than 150 years. Talk about longevity. When you stretch move slowly and let the movement or hold take fold as you lengthen your muscles and relax the body. The tortoise as it stretches it's neck feeds off its own energy in an extremely powerful way. Did you ever see Kung Fu Panda and notice the Master Tortoise, he may be a little funny because he's old and can barely move but when he's got that switch turned on, he just moves with grace and strength. Cartoons are great to watch and who doesn't love a good laugh but there are things we can pay attention to that can feed us powerful energy and have that feel of internal strength and having our mind and body stretched with delight.

 
Stay strong my friends, it's only Tuesday but it can be an awesome day if you choose to make it so. Take care and be awesome. For more details on Neck Strengthening, Sign Up for the Furey Faithful and unlock many secrets of health, strength training, longevity, nutrition, conditioning and more. There's a Special Report called Sticking Your Neck Out; this teaches specifically how to strengthen your neck and spine in different directions you haven't seen before or have been taught. Very powerful stuff.

The Power Of Sprints

    It's not everyday you find exercise programs that are effective, quick and can turn you into a fat burning machine. The ability to generate great force in a short burst for up to no more than 30 seconds is something not many have been able to understand. Sprint Training can be not just using a hill or a track/field but can also be used in other areas and you'll still be able to burn fat. Think what it would be like to melt fat like a furnace and not only take away the sluggish form of your body but develop a more improved and healthier form. You can do this in the pool, jumping rope, squats, push-ups, running with weight, Power Walking or whatever is comfortable for you but also challenging. Hell you can do it on a treadmill if you chose to but nothing is more effective than hill sprints or sprinting on a track or field.

 

    There are a great number of athletes who can attest to the fact that sprints create a super charged nervous system that burns off fat, builds muscle and increases your natural hormones at an alarming rate. No athlete however can make claim to how powerful this training is than the elite sprinters (as Unger in The Longest Yard would say) because they are so fast they make fast people look not fast. The very best sprinters in the world (especially Usain Bolt at the moment) are great to learn from how to increase your speed just by learning some simple and effective techniques that can crush your own original speed. I have recently watched a documentary on Usain Bolt on how he trained for the various Olympics he was in and watched his technique with a close and he may not be the best at the start of a sprint but once he begins cranking up at about 20-30 meters of a 100/200 meter sprint no one comes close to keeping up with him it's insane. You can burn fat at a great rate but yet you can improve by just learning a couple techniques instead of hearing that "oh it's just hard work" bullshit.

 

    It's not always the hard work that gets it done, hell your workout isn't even that long; you're resting the majority of the time and your sprints last mere seconds. So even with a few techniques and a little effort on your part, get ready to jumpstart some insane hormones. As teenagers we go through puberty and for the most part our hormones are firing and it's crazy but as we get older especially by 35-40 things begin to shift by 1-3% per year as you age and it's not higher it's getting lower. It's not easy to start with sprints but like anything else if you're new to it you can't jump in and expect to be a fat burning machine on the first day and it's definitely not something to be done everyday. No more than 3 times a week and more than 8-10 sprints a workout. When you become accustomed to training like this and going hard as best as possible each workout that also keeps your body healthy and intact, you will burning fat and generating Human Growth Hormone at a rate of 525%, that's more than 10x than the amount you would receive if you got an injection or from pills. For men this is essential to keeping a youthful body and having great energy as you age; for women testosterone isn't as high as us but you do have it and can be balanced if you train right. This isn't to help you build a staggering amount of muscle and looking like Arnold or for you women looking like Chyna but it will help you lower your bodyfat, put on lean healthy muscle mass that is not bulky and looking grotesque and you will be generating more natural hormone levels that will increase your metabolism, making your skin more radiant, power up your endurance and it won't put on a strain on your joints like jogging does.

 

    Power it up by testing this out and see what it can do for you. I'm in my 3^rd week of doing regular sprints and not only have I kept my weight down but I'm noticing the fat melting away rather quickly, sure I still have a way to go but it won't be long and as I lower my bodyfat, my eating will change to a more healthier style to get even greater results. I really don't diet and only eat when I'm really hungry and will have a healthy shake at least once a day using my Nurtibullet. Even with that kind of eating lifestyle I've still managed to stay under the weight I had a few months ago. Back in June I was nearly 262 pounds, the heaviest I've ever been in my life and now as of today I'm within the 250-255 range so I've lost over 7 pounds and put on a couple pounds of muscle just from adding sprints into my daily workouts. If I can do it so can you and I believe in you that you can make it happen, start with a brisk walk and powerwalk for 30 seconds and repeat starting 4x and build up to 8-10. Once you're able to sprint find a good field or better yet a hill that you relatively run up for 8-10 seconds and build up to 30. Twice a week might only be your best way for you for others three times a week works best but do what you can and just feel the sizzle of that fat melting off of you and underneath is a powerful body that can take down mountains and run through boulders.

 

    Hope you all had an awesome weekend and having a great Monday. Be awesome and if you want to still get coaching from me you can do so by getting $50 or more of your favorite products on this site and we can arrange to help you get started on your journey. Be safe and have a wonderful day.