Adapt Your Training Like A Wrestler

    I'm not going to talk about guys in WWE but the type of wrestling I will be mentioning will be more towards Catch Wrestling, Amateur style and some others. You can learn all the techniques you'll need in your arsenal and you can even go for days without needing a second wind but there will come a time where you can't play out the same scenarios and play the same style everytime. It's awesome to learn things you want to do and practice those ten thousand times but yet one of the best secrets is how to adapt and still efficient. When it comes to pro wrestling I'm a fan of the more scientific portion or for you fans technical wrestling where to me that looks more believable than the crap you see mostly on TV. When you train, learn the skills that will give you the edge and practice with efficiency as best as possible but at times those skills may not always work in your favor so you need to know when that curve comes sliding in. If you ever watched a great wrestler or read about how they are so powerful in their matches or fights you'll notice one thing that separates a good average wrestler to a damn elitist is his adaptability.

 
    Whether you're training for sports or just to get in shape a key thing to remember is when and how to change things up and work within your own prowess and adapt. If you do the same things too often, sure it'll be a reflex and it can become like a second language to you but what if those skills don't always come in the way they were meant to so how can you win your own battles? Being able to adapt gives you an advantage and teaches you how to be intuitive of when the time comes and how you'll handle the situation or workout in this case. Like in wrestling, a guy may wrestle the same guy a time or two and he'll be able to understand how that guy operates but what about the next guy who he hasn't done anything with and needs to know which holds to go to and change up his motive and where to get the guy in the right spot within an accurate time? Same thing happens in workouts, you can be awesome in one workout but may not have the same energy or feel and some exercises that aren't in your routine give you another outlook on how you flow through it. You never know what you'll get into so my advice to you is learn as much as possible and research what works and what doesn't because if something doesn't work then you got problems but if you find a program or series of them and customize your own version that works for you, you are on your way to mastering the very best within your natural style.

 
    There are a variety of exercises to choose from so learn and pick your favorites that give you the greatest benefit however; every once in a while or as often as you want, learn exercises you normally don't do but have an interest in. Create an arsenal that has you being efficient in how you recover, the amount of intensity you can provide, the volume that gets you peaked and if you ever happen to get injured but still know what you can do it'll be there right inside your mind and you can turn it into action. Being adaptable takes your results to another level and using different tempos, speeds and whatever can be useful that produces what you want to progress at your own pace. Make it a habit to adapt and improvise.

 
    A lot of people can't fathom the amount of intuition they already have. Being intuitive can make you dangerous in how you do things but in a good way. A great wrestler looks at his opponent like it's a chess game, he may not always find the right moves fast but he is intuitive and feels out his opponents next move and where he'll go, he will instinctively finds the mistakes and takes advantage and go for the win, doesn't always happen in a matter of seconds it might take him a round or 2 but when it happens it's a site to see. When you train, you may know certain exercises by heart and they're like a muscle memory but you may not want to do the same old routine, so you change things up a bit. Using your intuition to read out how your workout goes and it doesn't matter if it's 5 min. or 1 hour you'll find that when you turn things around and seek out your next exercise you'll fire it when you turn on that switch. I never do the same routine in the same week, I get bored easily so in order to stay at a level that I want to be at I have to switch things up and do exercises that I intuitively go for. You may not be able to do the set up you planned for so don't give up, face it in a different manner and go with your instincts. Like a wrestler, whether he wins or loses his instincts will always get the best of him because if he makes a mistake he's done but if he finds a way to get a move on his enemy and instinctively finds the right moves at the right time he will dominate. Learn to dominate my friend.

Grip It By The Horns

    Being able to crush something in your hands is a powerful entity. What would it feel like to destroy metal in your hands, lift more weight, having to pay attention as you shake someone's hand or better yet, have a grip so powerful it makes the rest of you that much better? One of the most fascinating things about training is the variety of ways for you to become practically superhuman. Your hands are your tools to develop strength and power in ways the average person can't even fathom. Compete with a mighty grip that will have your opponents running for the hills, how about being a ball player and knocking dingers out of the park without steroids or PEDs, using your strength in an MMA fight and being to swing a heavy hammer with ferocious intensity. Having a crushing grip is a great thing.

 
    The strength to be able to grip long enough to handle a heavy weight or your bodyweight can help you in other endeavors. Rock Climbers have some of the strongest fingers on the planet and have tendons that are like eagle's claws and being to hang on one arm is just incredible. One of the most basic ways to begin doing pull-ups (or advancing for that matter) is to practice as if you were a wild gorilla or ape. No I'm not talking being an actual ape but learning to a degree how to gain grip strength just by hanging on a pull-up bar. Hanging by your hands builds strength not just in the fingers but elongates the spine, stretching the shoulders and eliminating fat from your obliques. Another great way to train is to use thick handles like Fat Gripz that you can attach to your barbell or dumbbell set (I prefer cables but that's just me) and tackle your workout like the old-time strongmen. Thick bar training has many distinct advantages and not just for building a mighty grip but build natural growth hormones, thick and powerful tendons, superhuman like power in your entire body from your neck to your toes. Why not swing a heavy sledgehammer for a long period of time, this alone builds insane strength and a grip that even Slim The Hammerman would be impressed by. Hold on tight if you want to develop grip power.

 
    The ability to squeeze with intense focus where the whole body is in play, you're on the verge to developing a powerful physique with real strength and muscle that is useful and resourceful, not petty and weak like a modern day bodybuilder. The old-timers knew of this long before this generation of roid-heads can possibly notice. Men like Reg Park, John Grimek, Bob Peoples, Brooks Kubik knew the real deal when they found it and that was training the grip in complete detail and not just using thick bars but odd objects and specific feats that required the outmost concentration on the grip and the body itself. When you have to squeeze hard enough to lift or hoist something up it doesn't have to be a barbell or dumbbell but yet you're turning on the juice in your nervous system and unlocking those muscle fibers to fire more than they normally would and unleashing your hormones into overdrive. A mighty squeeze for a mighty body.

 
    This is most crucial if you ever want to develop real strength and muscle and that's training to where if it came down to it, it can be life-saving strength you'll need to help someone in need. I've helped my family over the years (not always on free will) move other people and help carry very heavy pieces of furniture, shoulder-carrying a thick carpet, bed frames, drawer sets you name it and I was mostly called upon because they were impressed by my strength. Now helping someone move may not always be "life-saving" but if there was ever a situation and you have that powerful grip to use, make it happen and turn on that power within you. Even the most ordinary and average person can have some superhuman qualities in the blink of an eye when that adrenaline starts flowing but if you already have that within you already, imagine having a super grip beforehand. Train with intensity when you can and to make your workouts shorter but effective throw in some grip exercises to ease yourself along the way. Basic, simple and uncomplicated to create some serious packing power

Spread It Around

    Why would you settle for on big workout in your entire day? Maybe that's the only one you'll have time for because of other commitments or responsibilities. How long would be your big workout of the day, an hour/less/more, I guess it would depend on your effort and dedication to get what you need to do done. I have had my share of long workouts from 30 minutes up to 90 or more in one shot (I did try out for wrestling and those were brutal). Some people just don't have that amount of time but whatever time you have, use it wisely. I'm more in tuned to train throughout the day doing little exercises here and there for a few minutes. There was a course you can look to called Muscle Reminders but unfortunately it's not available at the moment but you do have another option and you're talking to him.

 
    Do you really want to sit on your ass all day withering away? I hate that, I love to move around, even when I was confined to a wheel chair I did little things not because I had no choice but also because I'd get bored. There are no excuses to do a few things here and there. Exercise helps your brain, bring blood flow to your body, and keep you energized. You can work out almost anywhere and you can even hide it if you know the right tools. What about being at your favorite grocery store picking up food for your family; get one of those little baskets and as you walk up and down the aisles with food in them, do a couple curls with each arm, maybe a row or two. When you get the big ones on wheels, you can go into an aisle and when you stop, grip the handles with one or 2 hands and squeeze for 5 seconds every few rows or so to build up that grip strength. How about at the office in that little cubical you may work in; instead of just typing away getting possible Carpal Tunnel and elbow/shoulder tendonitis, every few minutes or so press your feet into the ground for a few seconds, flex and do curls while sitting in your chair, using muscular tension simulate doing pulldowns or press on the arms of the chair for a few seconds. You can even exercise while at a stop light (don't ever do this while driving) by gripping and pulling/pushing or the steering wheel for 3 seconds in various positions or clasp your hands together and press hard for 3-5 seconds. Your home or the gym aren't the only places to train anymore and never really have been.

 
    You absolutely do not need to do hundreds of exercises everyday, not many people can even fathom remembering that many. Just do enough throughout your day that feels good to you. Experiment with different things, now it may look very odd to be doing push-ups in the middle of the grocery store or squats in line at a movie so save those for the park or wherever not many people are around but do little things that aren't obvious to notice, Isometrics are great for this, like at a restaurant while you're eating, put your other arm on the table and press into it for a few seconds or squeeze the sides in various directions, nobody really notices these things yet you're getting something out of it. At an event that requires your presence (boy that sounds stuck up don't you think)? You can even do a thing or two there, like talking to a colleague or someone you just met, try to squeeze your legs together without actually bringing them together flexing those adductors, or you flex your abdominals and breathing deeply and naturally. You can practically get away with some of the best exercises on the planet and no one would suspect a thing even in plain sight. Pretty cool huh?

 
    Everyone and their dying grandmother has a favorite TV show or movie they like to watch. I don't know about you guys but cable is way overrated and takes the fun out of watching your favorite shows or movies on regular TV. However if you happen to have cable (I'd be shocked if you didn't) and you hate those dumbass, unworthy piece of shit commercials what can you do until the show comes back on? Many things but a set of push-ups/squats/sit-ups ought to do the trick, there's 10-30 seconds per commercial that goes for about 2 minutes or so, so you can knock out about 10 reps an exercise or if you happen to have rubber cables, make the time to do some training, a few curls, presses, pulling movements, why not go knock out some pull-ups or handstand push-ups if you can do them. It doesn't take a genius to figure out some basic exercises to do. In a Wheel Chair, work your arms and do dynamic resistance to simulate various exercises like dumbbells. Learn an experiment as much as you can. Keep the blood flowing and burn calories throughout the day by doing small exercises. I like Netflix and Amazon when I don't want to put on a DVD/Blu-Ray so whenever a show is over and about to go to the next one, I stop and move around for a bit even just a few stretches. In the summer I do my best to stay outside as much as possible, getting that vitamin D, going swimming, taking a nice long walk, play at the park or mess around in the backyard and so should you if you live in a beautiful area. Make your training your own, make the effort and do what you can.

 
Philosophical Fitness: Ever wonder why most fitness trends or fads suck? It's because they're temporarily looked at as this big huge thing that's suppose to help people and bring new ideas to help develop the individual when in reality they're money grabbing leeches that feed off people's gullibility and tell you what is legit and what is wrong with anything else. Just like a TV show, it'll be on than it will leave within a period of time, sometimes short, other times longer than expected and you're either going to be hooked or you'll change the channel. Follow what's in your heart, learn and stick to what made you hooked on it in the first place, because you love it and cherish it.