Just Play

When did we begin to stop playing? Oh yeah that's right we were told by the time we reached adulthood, we had to be serious and responsible because play is for children. I'm sorry but as a society; we take things way too literal, kids losing out on having the chance of recess so they can have a longer class, we eat crap just so the corporations can keep going to the bank and the media feeds on misery and feeding us useless info that has nothing to do with us personally or figuratively. I'm not saying we shouldn't be responsible as we get older but at least let us have a little fun in the process.  One of the biggest things happening right now is the teaching of movement and bringing back the ability to move like a real human being. 

Get up and move. Do some kick ass combos you can learn from Animal Flow, do various styles of basic gymnastics like building the abs or learn hand balancing. Learn the valuable skills of natural movement like crawling, jumping, balancing, swimming, carrying, lifting and tossing. Move like your favorite animals in the wild, do Isometrics throughout various times of the team to keep up your energy and fat burning. Go do sprints that will melt fat off of you like a furnace or hell build your own little gym in your house using quality equipment to build realistic strength and muscle. Do something you enjoy and have a blast doing it otherwise you will just be like the majority of people that have told you that play is for kids and that being an adult is serious business; so is play, it can save lives and take you out of the foxhole most people call a life. 

You can be inspired by the workouts or exercises you see in the gym, on a dvd or at a seminar but we can't work the same way as the next person. We may be stronger or weaker, more or less mobile and we don't always have the same amount of stamina or drive. We do however one thing in common and that's we have the potential to develop our own style of training that is creative and work for us (or in this case plays to us). Learn what you want to do but become your own master, not be a sheep and/or try to copy someone else's workout plan. There are a lot of ideas and we can admire and blueprint those ideas but eventually the only way to be truly successful is to make your play your own. As kids we mimic the other kids we play with but no matter what we do, we end finding our own way to climb and jump and swing on the Ape Bars. There are people bigger or smaller than us, they can be weaker and others are stronger so we customize what gives us the greatest benefit. 

I personally believe in doing what comes to mind and putting it into action. Using my instincts and intuitiveness, I train according to what my mind says and my body follows. I really don't like routines because doing something over and over too many times just bore me and I want to do something new and exciting, something my body is not use to, not to confuse it but make it adaptable and constantly learning. Sure it's important to practice but certain things come up you won't expect and it's important to expect the unexpected so you train your body and mind from as many angles as possible. Think outside the box, don't always be traditional, be different and daring to do something someone else wouldn't dare to try. It is not one upping anyone, it's learning to discover what you can be best at and making that journey as you play and experiment. Move the way you were meant to and learn what playing really means and how it can bring you to a world full of wonders and imagination people would envy. Stay playful my friends.   

Bridging & Testosterone

We all can't be young forever (or can we?) and we reach a certain age when we start "winding down" and begin that process of aging and losing hair, gaining bodyfat and worse of all especially for us studs, we begin to lose our testosterone. The power of natural testosterone is a bold one and vitally important to our existence as men of Virility and Vitality. When we start to lose it, it gets us depressed and having us think of our youth. I just started that age (I'll be 31 next month) where the meter starts to go down. I don't believe in taking drugs to increase hormones unless it is a far off last resort and you're on your last leg. Personally I can't stand drugs, the only thing I truly take is a melatonin to help me sleep. We don't have to let our manhood wind down, there are ways to keep it going and do so without artificial help.

One of my favorite all-time exercises is the Bridge or what some call the wrestler's bridge or back bridge. It's more than just working the neck, it hits you everywhere from the head to the toes. It's an exercise that builds incredible internal energy and because of the positioning, it hits greatly in the hips and groin area (where our testosterone is spotted) and gives off that energizing effect you can't seem to grasp unless you've experienced it. I'm no expert but after practicing Bridging off and on for 10 years I can tell you without a doubt it is one of the most powerful exercises for your body both internally and externally. It builds radiant energy, puts you in a euphoric state that keeps you calm and aware; it's a feeding ground for super-charged strength in your legs, torches bodyfat, a strong neck and it builds great lung power from the practiced deep breathing.

I'm not saying I have an extremely high level of testosterone but I do however have powerful energy radiating through me throughout the day and my body festers in the essence of Physical Spirituality and part of the reason is from bridging; it puts blood flow into my brain, puts me in a trance-like state of relaxation and also has me feeling more fueled up than an 18 year old at his peak. One of the main keys of this is by how I breathe; I use to be a shallow breather and still have my moments but the moment I get to bridge whether it's for the front, back, wall walking or the gymnastic bridge I learn to breathe as deeply as possible and when this happens, I get stretched more, I unlock that internal energy all the way from my toes going up and feel like i'm on steroids; full of energy and fat burning metabolism running through my veins and having that "wild" feeling in certain areas where guys just can't get enough of. Breathe deeply in the bridge and you'll feel things you wished you had long ago.

Don't practice just one variation of the bridge, learn the very best of them and when you get into doing a sequence o what's called Bridging Gymnastics, it becomes a whole new realm of super-powered strength, flexibility, agility and high levels of fat torching nothing else can touch. I dare you once you're able to; attempt that style of training. You fall back into a bridge, kick over and kick back and repeat. The most I've ever done in that sequence is about 30 reps total and I came out looking like I just ran a marathon. This can be in either the back bridge or the gymnastic bridge whatever you feel would work for you. 15 minutes of this type of training will have you spanked and down for the count but don't fret, the benefits are all worth while. I highly recommend you keep water on site and I encourage you to take cold showers because you will sweat and you will be heating up a bit. Cold water therapy enhances the fat burning process and juices you up naturally & helps with recovery big time. This type of training is not to be done everyday, do what you can up to 3 times a week, 4 at best and get plenty of rest. You think you won't gain new levels of testosterone after this type of training, find out for yourself. Even basic bridging exercises hit your body like crazy and if that's all you want to do cool, you're still making progress on beating the aging process.

One Pathway To Stronger Arms

There is no one all-be all of doing things but certain things work out in more ways than others do. For us guys at least most of them want to have those mighty python arms of cannonball biceps and triceps looking like horseshoes and shoulders that scream strength. For Women, it's having more toned arms that have an athletic appeal since they don't want that fat hanging over their arms. So what are the possibilities of building stronger arms; lifting heavier weight, hand balancing, pushing and pulling heavy objects, pull-ups, push-ups all kinds of ways but one of the toughest and most rewarding I believe is by Walking On Your Hands. There's Handstand walking but that could take a ton of time to learn although I still say make an effort, the wheel barrel exercise where a person holds your legs as you walk on the hands or you can strap yourself into the Lifeline Power Wheel and learn to stabilize your core while walking on your hands.

Our legs are the strongest in our bodies period. Imagine for a moment, you can possibly have the equivalent of legs to arms ratio in terms of potential strength. You know how powerful you would be? Especially in your favorite sport? The possibilities are endless. Now I realize that could never happen because our legs can take much more mass and have greater structure compared to our arms; however, if we were to strengthen our arms by walking on them and for a brief few moments feel as if they were our legs, our strength can skyrocket from this type of movement alone. Super powerful tendons and muscular strength/endurance very few will ever achieve.

The power in walking on your hands is unlike any other. Sure enough you don't want to overdo it and want to work the back as well. The stabilizing muscles make you work harder than you can imagine. Just walking 20 yards alone can create some serious strength yet there are those who can walk 100 yards or more on their hands; that's crazy strength and endurance going on there. In order to get into position with the Power Wheel, you need to strap your feet in get into a plank and start taking one step at a time, the balancing at first is awkward as hell but as you learn to control the legs and Core Muscles, you can go for a longer walk but your arms will tire out eventually and it might be only a few feet in the beginning. When you go from feet to yards or meters it takes some serious core strength to do this and six pack abs won't always help you, the look isn't nowhere near the amount of real strength needed to pull that off. Some of the strongest men on the planet have trouble walking a few feet.

Some people like to specialize in certain muscles to get shape, well walking on your hands will very much shape them up because if your arms are weak you won't get very far. The Power Wheel teaches you how to control your core and legs in the confines of the straps and will tell you how weak or strong you are. At first you may wobble trying to keep the wheel from going to the side and learning to contract the legs and core isn't easy to do but it is possible with the right practice. Start just holding a plank, then begin doing push-ups, when you first walk; take a step with one hand and isometrically press into the ground then do the same with the next hand build that strength, eventually you'll be walking with relative ease. Want to make it harder after that, do walking push-ups or power push ups by plyometrically jumping forward. Walking on your hands is serious training and it's fun to play with if you got some good space to move around. Go for it and see what happens.