Why Build An In Home Gym?

    

      Actually it should be create your own in-home gym but the principle still applies. Now most people who want to work out feel like they need to join a gym. They pay sometimes up to $100 or more a month but on average it's between 40-60 a month and how often do you go? Have you gotten results, do you just slack off or bust your ass? How about what you use like mostly machines or cardio and how about your aerobics classes? There are times like a lot of people do where they just spend money to join up and not even go at all so what did you really gain out of it? I think for some people the gym is awesome and it can be if you really know how to work into it and have fun plus you get to do crazy things (then again crazy is a sin at Planet Fitness go figure) but also it can be a pain in the ass when you have to drive there which in a nutshell you have to pay gas eventually, there are people at the gym who complete idiots and at times complete assholes who only think of themselves and you have sweat all over the equipment and the hygiene is not always pleasant. I say save your hard earned money and invest in a creative home gym.

 
    When you build up your gym over time you don't need to get the machines or the cardio crap but a few things here and there that don't take up too much space and there's enough for you to train with. You can even put a few things outside and train in the outdoors where there's fresh air and you're getting your vitamin D and not some screwed up heated gym with a fan blowing. Some of the strongest and fittest people in the old days made gyms out in their backyard, a barn, ran sprints on their speck of land because back then gyms were an extreme few and you'd be lucky to find one that wasn't in a major city like Philadelphia, LA, New York, Chicago or even San Francisco. When you have equipped yourself with certain things that are simple to use and not complicated, you can use them anytime you want and nobody will ever bother you to ask for them in the middle of your training. Whatever is available to you would be right there. For me I have my own little living space with enough room to train and have some space for my stuff in the back wall. If you rather put them in a box awesome, when you're ready take out what you want and have at it. Get yourself some Lifeline Cables to supplement your weights because they're easier to travel with, get some kettlebells if you're into that and put them in a space that's convenient for you, why not a few sledgehammers you can pick up at Home Depot and a tire from the junk yard. Be creative and if you can't afford all the things you need than do what you can, find deals for cheaper things that won't break when you first use them, get a pull-up bar you can hang on the door and take off when you want for under $40 and far better useful than $2000 pull-up rack. Find what you can and invest overtime.

 
    One of the greatest things about having a home gym is that there's nobody to distract you (unless you have neighbors who are complete jackasses, trust me I've been there) but you don't have excuses, you can turn on your own music instead of listening to random tunes at the gym (some are good but I don't find it training acceptable to listen to Michael Jackson or similar tunes that just don't work for me) and even more importantly you can focus on what you truly want to do instead of having to cater to people by moving out of the way, listening to some dumb ass on his cell and see some jerkoff laughing playing angry birds on his IPad. The only person that can distract you is you in this case. When you're done training, your shower is right near you, have your own clothes just a few feet away and you can eat what you need right in your own fridge. Look at it this way; you save yourself a shitload of gas money, you're investing in your health, you save time by using only a fraction of your training time to do your responsibilities at home if you're trying to raise a family and you don't have some perv gloating at you (sorry ladies but it does happen whether you realize it or not) and you can wear whatever the hell you want.

 
    Last thing that has great benefit to training at home is that with certain things (like Cables, Push-up Handles ect) you can take them on the road with you if you choose to do so. If they can fit in your car and you're going on a trip it's very beneficial. I have the Lifeline Chest Expander which you can use for many things and I've taken that with me down to my trips to California because it's extremely light, can put it right in my clothes bag and get some awesome training in when I have the opportunity. A Kettlebell or Dumbbell might be stretching it because if you're going on a plane you might as well check it in instead of a carry on but on the bright side if you're at home and have some of those things you can get in some great heavy loaded training that makes cardio machines seem obsolete. I love being able to train at home, can do what I want whenever I want, get a great workout in under 30 minutes then hop in the shower, change, watch my favorite movie and kick back all within 10-20 feet. It's greater freedom and you get to spend time with the people you love and don't have to worry about being stuck in traffic just so you can run on a cardio machine. Invest but do it wisely, research and look into what can be beneficial for you and hell if you have kids, have them work out with you, a family that trains together bonds together.

 
Have a great Thor's Day everyone and get strong, be healthy and get in the best shape you can. Be awesome.

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.