Your Breath Is Your Power

    The most important aspect of life is the breath. We can go for weeks without food, days without water but can only hold our breath for no more than a few minutes. One of the key points in life is how we breathe. Some are shallow breathers and have trouble going through life because of stress or having negative impacts in their daily routine. Others who breathe deeply have greater power internally and their mental state is balanced and emotional balance as well. One of the oldest exercises in existence is the ability to breathe deeply and not just in a workout but throughout the entire day no matter what you're doing. To really get in tuned with your body it starts with your breathing. When you add in mental techniques you have a rich outlook on how you release incredible strength and power without needing to get psyched up or mad at something that just adds tension. There's an old saying by Martin "Farmer" Burns; "Deep Breathing Exercises Alone, Can Make Many A Weak Man Strong And Many A Sick Man Well."

 

    As we go through our lives one of the most common things that happens to us is building tension in the body and it comes at times where it is not needed. Our shoulders shrug up, we become stiff in many places including the back, neck, knees, arms and wherever you can think of (get your mind out of the gutter) so what do we do that is another common theme when it comes to tension; we take the easy route by popping muscle relaxers and other pills to help us relax when we can learn to use our natural way of healing by breathing. Sure some people have trouble because of Asthma or needing to be on a respirator but even with that unless you have a severe case almost 99% of the population can learn to breathe deeply and release tension naturally. Sometimes we create tension just by thinking and stressing ourselves out. We're all human and there are those who a stressful job, has to take care of kids, deal with certain people and just flat out have something negative going on that causes the tension which can lead to weight gain, inflammation, bad posture, heart disease; you'd be surprised what comes up when shallow breathing and mental negativity plus stress is in play.

 

    When it comes to strength, I'm not just talking about lifting heavy weight or doing an incredible feat with only your body but the type of strength I'm talking about is when you learn to breathe in certain situations and the way you handle yourself through your breathe by moving with the breath, you can develop incredible power and speed that is unbelievable to the human eye. When you open the chi in your body (life force) you put incredible strength into how you physically do things, you think clearer, your awareness shoots through the roof and your imagination opens new doors and by doing this is by breathing and doing so using techniques that require you to move with your breath or the way you stand/sit/lay down ect. The strength you can have has a superhuman element to it and the old-time physical culturists, hindu wrestlers, yogis, the great scientific minds and others knew this long before it became a mainstream thing. It doesn't matter if you're an athlete, scientists, stock boy, waitress, construction worker or someone in law enforcement if you learn to breathe with power and deep understanding you can change the very landscape of how your life can be great. With Deep Breathing, your attitude changes, you become mentally aware, you have more energy and your quality of life adds up. That's the true strength.

 

    Deep Breathing exercises are a powerful de-stressor because they open up the flow of energy within the body and when you practice regularly, you can sleep better, strengthen the internal organs and have a more relaxed state. You can do things quicker, your mind is sharper and the release of endorphins increases by ten fold. Whether you move or hold certain postures, the better your quality of breathing you will have a more charged system that takes out all the crap that is blocking you from having a quality life. Get into the habit of deep breathing and see what changes occur as you practice it consistently. Research on what can work for you and help you live better and healthier.

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.