A Cocktail Of Exercises

    Anyone with a brain has been in a bar at some point in their life whether it was for a few minutes or a few hours. So if you have or had, notice the most common set at the bar table; the plethora of drinks to choose from. You can have practically any type of drink you want whether it's one type or a mess of them in one shot (not just a shot of tequila). Now I'm not encouraging anyone to drink because quite frankly I don't drink at all and can go my whole life without taking a sip of anything again. The reason I'm putting this out is because although it's not safe to kill your liver but on the plus side there is a creativity to mixing things and having a blast doing it. Ever see the movie Cocktail with Tom Cruise? Classic. It's a bartender's job to not only make the drinks but have a certain flare to it, now some guys are very dull and just bore the hell out of themselves mixing stuff up but then there are those who flip the bottles in the air, putting some zest into their craft and even have a presence felt across the room because his way of creativity is very powerful.

 

    When it comes to fitness, there is creativity being made all over the place but how you choose to use that creativity is a whole new ball game. There are a ton of exercises to choose from and you don't need to do 100's of them in a single workout, matter of fact pick a few of your favorites and play around with them and put some zest into them. Use your imagination. Make yourself powerful from the inside. The fun of mixing things together and putting body language and energy into them makes an exercise go from dull to awesome in the blink of an eye. When you mix things up that include strength, flexibility, endurance, tempo, speed and imagination you're creating a type of training that brings everything together and brings out results. Now you can just do exercises that are only for strength, flexibility, endurance or whatever and can still be creative but why settle for one thing when you can have the whole package. Think of a great dancer; it's not just how they plant their feet and turn and spin, it's how they bring out that passion and fire within them that gives them the power to make people see from every angle of the room and putting powerful art into their dance, the way they kick and spin is different, their feet move with grace and strength and their structure changes. Mix exercises that you love and put together a workout that is fun, exciting and make it unique.

 

    One of my favorite things to do is combine programs together to make an interesting workout, take for example Animal Flow and Combat Conditioning in a certain sequence:

 

4 step Beast Walk

Switch To Crab and move 4 steps

Go into Tablemaker and hold up to 30 seconds

Come down and go into an overhead leg lift

Bring legs back down and go into V-up

Come down and go into Crab Reach

Switch to Beast and push the legs out into a push-up position

Do 5 push-ups

Jump legs in till you are a deep squat position and hold for one minute

 

This sequence in one set can be your whole workout for the day and it hits every muscle in the body. Just so were clear I came up with this sequence at the top of my head just now. There are other combos and programs to choose from, at times I like to mix energy drills with DDP Yoga to give it more flare and a challenge. Keep the body moving and not spending a ton of time doing it unless you're really into it and it feels great. Give it a whirl and use your imagination no matter how crazy it seems because remember, those who invented the best things we use today were at first thought were crazy and unimaginative. Be creative.

 

    You have one body, one life and it's all yours. Make the choices that would make your own destiny and however you choose to do things, one way or another there will a positive or negative sides towards it and people will criticize you no matter what you choose. If you want to be fit and healthy, make the choices to make that happen and not just for the outer appearance, make the choice to be healthy and fit from the inside as well building emotional power, spiritual strength and a rightful attitude towards life. You can have the most beautiful looking body but if you have no personality or a loving attitude than what's the point, same can be said if you have a great personality and a loving attitude but you're letting your body wither and fade so to get the full benefit of being fit and healthy it's both using the mind and the body as if they were the same thing. Be awesome and find your creativity and live with power and a smile.

The Batman And Robin Complex Of Fitness

    

     The most famous duo in the history of comics bar none IS Batman & Robin. They have been icons for decades and have taught us all in many ways how Batman (Teacher) and Robin (student) have learned not just how they feed off each other but how one learns from another and not just be a sidekick. A teacher gives information in a manner which the student learns to find the answers. No teacher reveals all their secrets because in order to become your own person, you have to find something within yourself and plus you can't exactly be like your teacher, you are unique and it doesn't matter if you're better or worse the point is you're different. These two caped crusaders are a spitting image of the leader and the follower and it happens in every aspect of the world not just superheroes, so how does this apply to fitness?

 
    Let's face it, Batman is the man when it comes to superheroes, he has no powers and no superhuman strength yet he's smart, cunning, risk taking and knows how to kick ass when he needs to plus he never kills. Most who know of him go nuts over him but more tend to be like Robin than they want to believe or even realize. You see in fitness a trainer tries to find someone to train or follow their system and it's not always about a trainer, it's following a system from a single person or group of people that want people to follow and believe in. Someone who studies a system of training and follows the person who created it and believes in him/her is like Robin; eager to walk in their footsteps and befriend them so they can learn from their idol(s). Robin wasn't always eager to follow Batman, he needed convincing and guidance to bring himself to not only be Batman's golden boy but also a friend/brother/partner in crime. When we see someone we want to emulate, we don't always jump in and act on worship and asking for guidance, sometimes we have to be lured in and see certain things they want us to learn but it takes a little time and before you know it, we are at their feet just waiting to taught something and become the best we can be. Some leaders are not like that at all, they can be downright mean and only care about themselves and don't care who follows them as long as they keep on coming. When the student gets better or in this case a trainee gets better at certain exercises, gets fitter, stronger, more flexible whatever somehow they will either keep following the same type of people or become greater than their teacher and move on as an individual.

 
    If you have ever read about the story of Robin or have seen a few cartoons here and there, you'll see he becomes Nightwing. His own man, out of the shadows of Batman who has similar skills but more unique and has a style all on his own. Like I said before you can't be exactly like the teacher (Batman) because let's face it no one can come close to Batman not even a fraction but yet you can be different and even better in some ways because you have a different mindset, looking at things from another angle, you have been trained well but you cannot be the same exact person because nobody is exactly the same. You have made a great leeway and have been trained by the very people that came into your life, it's time to venture out or you can keep going as a follower and never leave, it happens.

 
    You have the power to become your own Character. Someone who is different, has a story of their own, has different ways of seeing the world and things will happen for you one way or another but the way you choose your path is your own cross to bear. Some people want to be like Batman and be able to do all these incredible things, seek out those who have wronged and bring them to justice; others want to be like Robin, someone who lives in the shadows of his teacher and wants to learn from them and follow their path in his image (plus, who wouldn't want to be sided with Batman). There are those however who want to become their own character, live their story on their own terms, teach if they wish to and seek out others in their own unique way. We are all individuals who have an origin and in the fitness world we learn from others and we teach others on how to get fit, strong, looking awesome and becoming better as a person. How will you play it out and what path are you willing to go down to?

 
It's Friday and that means the weekend is near (or starting now for some). Have a blast everyone, have fun, be awesome and keep in touch. Share, comment, pin and let me know what you thought of this article.

Why Quick Fixes Are A Joke

    Say a young teenage kid just turned 16 and has a full license to drive and up right in there gets a car because they told daddy they wanted it. The kid hasn't had much driving experience and has that thrill of getting into a car and wanting to drive fast, smooth out the drift and believe their invincible. That's the attitude of most people in the fitness industry, they believe that if they take something or follow some idiotic program promising them muscle in a ridiculous amount of time they will get the muscles they "wanted." That's the type of people I call the "I want it now" folks, you know those mindless yaps who have no interest in making an effort to get truly strong and healthy for themselves; they want a body now and they're willing to risk their health just to look good without considering the consequences. The magic pill that will turn them into supermen or that little itty bity program that turns women from an overweight sappy housewife into a picture-perfect goddess in 6 weeks or less. Jesus Christ how low can you go?

 

    Ever read those obnoxious magazines? I'm not talking about just the muscled ones but those moronic diets they put in US Magazine or the latest trend that will have you shed 20 pounds in less than 2 weeks if you eat this one thing. Even those online marketing pitches that just want to make you cringe. The type of bullshit that leads people to believe that without effort they can look like the superheroes they see on TV or in the movies. I'm a superhero fanatic and always look forward to seeing the big cats of the big/silver screen in action but I also know when to be realistic and do my research. It doesn't matter if it's in a magazine or in an online scheme there's going to be some shmuck ghost writer who never touched a weight or moved his body in any form that builds the slightest amount of muscle in his life will make you a sheep to a Shepard promising you guarantees of beautifully sculpted muscle and being able to achieve it inside of a few weeks or less. To me that's a low blow to us guys who help you find programs that are not only real but deserve more recognition than the latest diet that some celebrity endorses or building a superhuman body that isn't realistic.

 

    When people take the easy route; they get excited, jump right into some program that looks incredibly awesome with promise of having a body that a supermodel or bodybuilder would envy and within a few weeks or less what commonly happens? Someone gets injured or gets burnt out and then quits and actually believes all programs are like that because it didn't work out for them. I've been down that road myself where I wanted to have a bodybuilder's body and read up on all the workouts the best bodybuilders produced and yet came out looking like someone ran me over with a mac truck and ended up looking more like Allen Covert in Little Nicky (bad reference I know) than Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando. Ever see those yahoo Crossfit guys and ladies, they look extremely fit and they look like the superheroes you see on TV but what you don't see is the nagging injuries that are wasting their life force more than gaining it. Being hardcore can only last for so long and when it comes to Bodybuilding, most don't realize it takes years to get to where those guys are at, if you had good genetics you'd be lucky to even stand up to the bottom of the Mr. Olympia barrel let alone the top guys. Quick fixes are for those who have no spine to make the effort that can not only be healthy and fit but keep it so without damaging the joints and ligaments that could plague them later in life.

 

    There is a hidden truth in the fitness world that most refuse to accept and it is called consistency. When you find a program that delivers results and gives you an idea to build a foundation on and progress at your own pace, with consistency you will have found the one true thing that never gets around the average person. I personally don't believe in the hype or the belief that I will have the perfect body inside of a few workouts a week, if I see something that interests me and shows something that seems like fun and enjoyable I do it and I get it. I have exercised every single day for nearly 10 years straight and have been in fitness for nearly 18 years and I will tell you that if you can't enjoy and challenge yourself on a consistent basis than someone is leading you on and are taking advantage of you. I've trained on some of the best and worst fitness programs there is from weightlifting to gymnastics, bodyweight training to odd object lifting, strongman to kettlebell training and even had a small stint doing powerlifting type stuff and the one thing that has kept me on my toes and out of taking a day off is the value of time and consistency in what I want to do. It takes time to learn things, the mechanics, the way your body handles things and that no one person can do the same exact things. Don't accept a quick fix, be different and break a few rules in a positive and healthy way. Have fun and learn from guys who have done realistic, smart and use of consistent training that builds real muscle, doesn't take a mess of time and brings out the strongest version of yourself.

 

Happy Thor's Day everyone. Never settle for the easy way to train, train smart, train hard and have a blast doing it without getting injured, taking drugs and following your instincts.