Strengthening Your Nerves For Great Health

    Strength doesn't always come from the physical, it comes from all of the body's energy; your physical, mental, spiritual and emotional. Your nerves are what electrifies the body's system of running normally with the cells moving where they need to go, your blood flowing with great power to the muscles and fibers, and how you remain in a state of emotion. Our spines are one of the greatest acts in the nervous system, it's the electricity that flows from the brain down and if any of that flow is compromised either by a broken bone or discharge within the brain, your whole body is affected. Training the body from the inside out is crucial although most don't realize that when all they care about is how they look or how big the muscles are. Your nerves are no exception, when you exercise you're using that electric impulse to move your body in the positions your body is able to withstand, there are however certain exercises that actually make your nerves stronger and one system is called Isometrics. Isometrics for those who don't understand is when you push/pull against an immoveable object using your own body as resistance and not moving. You are squeezing every fiber in the body for a period of time and as you correctly breathe, you're utilizing your body's nervous system to jumpstart everything.

 
    With regular practice and finding creative ways to do them, doing isometrics can strengthen your nerves and help you build a calming and powerful demeanor. I know that sounds like a contradiction when you are striking every muscle in your being into a non-moving exercise but believe me they work wonders. When you squeeze (or flex), you're amplifying the blood's flowing mechanism and when you relax after a contraction the blood begins to flow at a more relaxed state and even generates more of it to the cells. This is why it's helped with people who have had injuries, strengthen the bones and joints because when you have that powerful flow of antioxidants and fresh blood going into those areas, they help regenerate the body's functioning abilities. If you are in a stressful state of mind, Isometrics can help relieve that stress by flexing various parts of the body and once relaxed more blood flow becomes imminent and this can calm down your stress levels. You can do this type training virtually anywhere and any time.

 
    I have already talked about blood flow but yet it's worth talking about it more because our blood is one of the major keys to help our body's system. Think about it with people who have been injured, killed or whatever, what's one of the most common things that happen; the loss of blood and when that happens, the body begins to shut itself down and goes cold. If your body can't produce the blood it needs, your heart begins to fail, and the vessels in your organs stop working and your brain stops functioning. When you practice Isometrics, you're creating more fuel for your body's system which is a beautiful thing in of itself. Although Isometrics is not a stand-alone method, it can aid in your exercise goals in ways you never thought possible. Think what it would be like to be much stronger in a specific position, be able to have the grip strength to lift your favorite weighted exercise, be able throw a ball with greater speed, jump higher, run like the wind and even have the strength to save someone's life. This type of training has been used in various ways for eons from the war mongering romans to spiritual yoga masters, wrestlers, Astronomers (they had to train in isometric form so their muscles can be strong while floating in anti-gravity otherwise they would atrophy) and athletes from all kinds of sports because this type of training didn't just give you an advantage it helped you from getting injured.

 
    One thing many neglect to learn is the proper way to breathe, sure we breathe everyday, we have no choice otherwise we die but the way we breathe can determine our strength and our weakness. When you see a bodybuilder on stage posing and he's flexing hard one of the things you may or may not notice is that most of the time he's holding his breath which can lead to a series of problems including muscle tears, ripped tendons, and even a brain hemorrhage if they're not careful. A great method of breathing which I use to help in my training of isometrics is to flex the muscle and take in a deep breath, once I get enough of the inhale, I breathe out still flexing and making an "sss" sound until the exhale is completely done; I learned this method from a couple people and it's helped others get stronger, lower blood pressure and strengthen the abdominal muscles which in turn strengthens the organs. It's building great power from the inside out. Another method of Isometrics is holding the exercise for an extended period of time and only contracting at a lesser percentage. Say you held the push-up position (The Plank) and held that position, don't push so hard into the floor but contract the muscles for about 30% of your max level and hold for 30 seconds to a minute. When you contract at 70-100% you're only going to last a few seconds, 7-12 at best because if you hold an isometric longer than 12 seconds say try 30 seconds to a full minute at a very high percentage you're setting yourself up for injury which can lead to tears and popped vessels which you don't want. In the longer isometric holds, you just breathe as naturally as possible. So get on it and become as strong as possible. It's a new year and it's time make a new you; stronger, healthier and more confident in your life.

Producing More Growth Hormone

    I'm vitally against the use of artificial steroids and always have been not because of the scientific and media crap that is portrayed but because there are better options for you than risking your health for some trophy or to look like a pretty boy in a speedo. Unless you're in need of something artificial that could be life-saving and it helps you with some major disease than maybe there's that exception but for the most part you're better off learning how to do things more naturally. With the right info and the right tools you can jump start your hormones that naturally helps you increase metabolism, healthy caloric intake, help you stay young and vibrant and even give your libido the power it had when you were a teenager.

 
    It has been shown that normal cardio routines actually diminish hormone balance within an extended period of time your muscles start to lose what is truly needed. I'm not saying endurance training is useful, it is and it's an important component for optimum health but yet if you're getting the amount of balanced muscle mass and fat burning ratio than you're just wasting your time. I believe more in fat loss than weight loss with the exception of those that are heavily overweight and need to drop the poundage needed so the body can function properly. In order to truly fire the nervous system and your muscular structure at an optimum level your training needs to be intensified so the muscles can generate as much power as possible within a short period of time. This can happen with training methods like Sprinting, Battling Ropes, Animal Exercises, heavy weight lifting/odd object lifting and various styles of concentrated isometrics. The more muscles used in a single exercise ups the ante of increasing growth hormone. After say a 30 second burst from a sprint your body shifts into overdrive and when you're huffing and puffing and feeling like you're going to die, that is actually opening up your body's system and jump starts that process of increased blood flow to the muscles and powering up the heart muscle and firing your lungs to produce more oxygen.

 
    Unlike spending thousands of dollars on artificial crap that could end up killing you, the methods I just pointed out are not only free but they're legal and they don't come with gross side effects. The media may have portrayed artificial steroids really exaggeratedly but the fact of the matter is, when you inject/swallow/insert you're putting chemicals into your body that aren't in a natural state and there can be dire consequences. Why settle for destroying your hard earned paycheck that ends up having possibly disappointing results when you can do it using your own body's capabilities and more using proving methods that has helped people get a good level of balanced muscle mass and bodyfat. When I'm talking about muscle mass I'm not talking about the grotesque look you see on bodybuilders; I'm talking about the type of muscle mass that gives you natural health and good solid levels of growth hormone that has looking young, vibrant and athletic. One of the best methods to add in for this is taking Cold Showers to learn more about the health benefits of Cold Showers check out The Art Of Manliness, it's a pretty cool read.

 
    Another thing that makes a huge difference on using natural methods and artificial steroids is the work of your organs especially the kidneys, heart and liver; when you use natural methods of quality intense training and recovery periods, your organs become stronger and generate more power to maximize your overall health and sexual energy (trust me especially for us guys we need this) as oppose to artificial injections and unnatural chemical replacement that can cause damage to the organs and inflate them in a way that puts too much strain on the central nervous system and can cause your body to internally destroy itself. Now I'm not a physician or a doctor but unless proper precautions have been legitimized (and even that is slim) but in theory it can ruin your health to lengths you can never come back from. Sure it's been said that chemically enhanced steroids have helped those with major diseases and help balance things out hormonally in both men and women but that's where the exception ends because it's medically used within the resort where there aren't too many option and/or the individual can't produce their body's system naturally. The majority of people however, don't need that artificial crap when you have methods proven by old-time physical culturists, natural supplementation in organic foods and using sleep balances. Stay strong, be healthy and use the best methods that give you the greatest benefit both long term and high quality of life.

Training Until Eighty Percent Fatigued

    From today's training with the TNT Cables I wanted to test a theory on the exercises I performed. This theory is based on your intuition, awareness of muscle fatigue and knowing when good form starts to diminish. This can be used in both a strength workout, endurance workout and/or both depending on what you want to focus on. It is performed within a percentage of your fatigue level meaning once you have hit a certain amount of reps, your muscles begin to break down. Within this concept, you do as much of the exercise you are willing to put into but you don't keep going when your form becomes poor. You can always do another set if you wish but instinctively know when to let go and move on. When I mean 80% fatigue I mean in the sense where those last few reps of good form and you have had enough, this doesn't mean you try to end the exercise by hardly being able to move.

 
    This isn't anything new but learning a different take on it may help you find that piece of training info that will give you more of the results you're looking for. You see the muscles break down within a period of time after or during such intense work and they need to repair but what if you don't completely break them down and only hit a certain spot they're just almost at that stage and move on. Taking a breather and breathing deeply and taking as much time as needed for the next exercise so your blood flow can run smoothly and letting the muscles "get some air" so do speak. Experimenting with this is only for doing a single set possibly two or three depending on your energy levels and repping it out until you only have a couple reps of good form. This isn't a speed exercise although if that's what you choose but it's more important to focus into the muscles being worked and breathing right otherwise you're just making yourself crazy and if your form becomes poor, your fatigue levels are too much.

 
    The type of training here is not for merely getting a pump out of the exercise to hit a peak in the muscles although it does feel good but what we're attempting to do here is being to hit the muscles at a certain level of degree where staying in good form reaches it's end and you'll know this when a certain amount of reps become slower to move but can still hit the range of motion needed. Training this way whether with light or heavy weight and low rep/high rep schemes using your mental awareness of how the body feels within a period of an exercise can help you find where you're getting strength and cardio at the same time. If you're a bodybuilder this can apply there as well but this is for mere strength and cardio purposes and knowing the use of good form. Odd Objects can be used for this but because of the unstablizing factor of moving a weight such as a log, heavy rock, keg, barrel; good form won't always play a factor because you may not pick a weight the same exact way as you would a barbell, dumbbell or cable but do believe in the realm of possibilities, it just takes some experimenting to figure out what works for you.

 
    The results of this is amazing and as I experiment more with this theory I'll let you know more of the results but as I theorize it, I do believe you can gain great strength from doing this and the recovery factor is being utilized in a different way. Don't do this every day but maybe 3x a week at best because you want to get the best recovery possible and letting the muscles repair themselves at a good rate. I recommend with all types of training is to take a cold shower after a workout to help the muscles speed up the process and exhilarating your metabolism and hormone levels and let the repairing go faster in a natural way. Experiment with this and let me know how it goes. Listen to your body and never go to the point where either you're using bad form or can't move the muscles needed otherwise you're fatiguing beyond what I'm telling you here. Also you don't need to do a ton of exercises, no more than 10-12 is needed because you want to focus on the exercises and using as many muscles as possible in one exercise. This is nearly like Dinosaur Training, using the basic exercises and hitting them hard with peaking at a level of fatigue that won't be painful or prone to injury.