Becoming Tarzan

Training to be the Ape Man isn't something that happens overnight, its a real commitment whether short term or long term. With the upcoming movie coming this summer, I'm brushing up on my animal training (mainly Primate Movements) and making my body move differently and develop flexibility in my hips and shoulders through deep squatting (which I like to call the Ape Squat) and pulling power through hanging from different grips and pull-ups from different grips. To truly dig deep into the heart of Tarzan Fitness you really need to go to the full source (with adaptations of course) by training the body in a series of animalized movements just like the man himself that has to crawl, jump, hang, swing (brachiate) and balance.

Animal Kingdom Conditioning

Animal Kingdom Conditioning 2: Call Of The Wild

For a 270 lb man, brachiating isn't an easy task, for the most part its damn near impossible but I believe i'll be able to do it again one day and be able to practice more on the monkey bars and a soccer goal if I can find one. I love moving like an ape and so since i'm more geared towards being a gorilla than Tarzan it fits me but I like to imagine myself as a much bigger version of the guy. Being 50-100 pounds bigger and doing really cool athletic things a man that size is known in theory to be incapable of doing. To get the look of Tarzan takes different training but its not impossible to build a physique using primate movements and strategically eating well and recovering well. One of the styles of training to have that full Tarzan look is to do Charles Atlas style exercises which you can find below.....

Pushing Yourself To Power

Isometric Power Revolution

& Ultimate Push-ups For The Awesome Physique

These are the same (or similar) exercises that actors Jock Mahoney, Mike Henry, Ron Ely and I believe even Johnny Weissmuller did for their Tarzan Roles (IMO Mike Henry was the best of them). I love these types of exercises too because when I don't have the space I need for the Animal Movements, I do these or Circuits from Darebee to do conditioning work. When it comes down to it, I prefer Animal Moves because I don't like to be in one spot the entire time, I want to move around and be surrounded by fresh air and being on the grass but also I don't always have that luxury in the winter time and i'm not fond of being in snow so I go with other options. That's the thing, don't resort to one single ideal or you'll miss out; give yourself options.

Another way to really tap into that Ape Man mentality is to do MovNat which is basically the highest level of Tarzan Fitness there is period. Teaches you real mechanics of crawling, jumping, balancing, coordinating, swimming, fighting and climbing. Whether you choose to train like the Ape Man or not there is always options to have to fulfill your natural and athletic potential and have a healthy body and have strong, supple tendons and ligaments. Keep your exercise to a level where you don't go to failure and utilize your natural strength/body ratio to stay in a long-term stance of training where injuries are slim to none and listen to your body as you train and recover. Personally I don't believe pushing your ass to the absolute limit to the point where there's so much pain you end up tearing or breaking something. I do believe in testing your abilities but only to a certain degree where recovery helps you build up and you can train at a high level without hurting yourself.

We can't be Tarzan everyday, its just not practical but we can adapt and have long-term health with the right training that suits our needs. Learn your options and use what's there for you at anytime no matter where you are. Train like an Animal outdoors (or indoors if you have the space), if you have very limited space use one of the first 3 courses listed above or do Darebee Workouts for circuit training. Make it an adventure to exercise no matter what and utilize your imagination and instincts to truly train anywhere, anytime. That's the true motto of Tarzan Fitness.

Grip Training On A Budget

There are those in the world that can't afford a gym or specific equipment that costs an arm and a leg but still want to become strong and fit. I love having a strong grip but I don't have that big of money for stones, a power rack, drag sled or Battling ropes; I believe in being simple and minimal of what is used for my best interest and benefit. Plus I don't have any room for all that stuff but I do have some things that you can get at a hardware store, towels and a pull-up bar for under 30 bucks. Just because something costs a big deal doesn't always mean its a big deal.

My secret to grip strength on a budget is to do things that the only weight it requires is your own. I did thick bar pull-ups by wrapping my bath towel around the bar, built up my fingers from doing gorilla exercises and fingertip push-ups to the point where I can do them explosively off the ground, hook my fat gripz to a bar and have at it yet still made progress with my grip strength. Not everyone has the ability to get expensive stuff to make themselves better and even if they could, don't take it for granted. I believe in the art of using your brain and using your money for things that matter most to you. Here's a list of what you can use for under a few bucks....

Left over tires for Hammer striking

Your towels to build pulling power

Removable Doorway Pull-up Bar

Step Stool for elevated Push-ups

Fat Gripz

DIY Sandbags

Buckets to fill water and carry

Many ways to build grip power without needing to spend a ton of money, one of the greatest arm wrestlers of the 20th century Mac Batchelor used bottle caps between his fingers and other things that made his grip so powerful, no one was able to beat him. Use your imagination, be willing to do what you can without needing a whole lot for very little. Use your brain, not always your wallet.

Apeing Up My Conditioning

Yes the first word in the title isn't in the dictionary or a full on word but you know what, it sums up what I've been doing lately. Becoming an ape is no easy feat, it takes focus, commitment, a little imagination and being oblivious to looking like a goof. People can say what they want and depict how to train like a gorilla but to truly get down to the nitty gritty, you have to move like one in order to become one. Animals in the wild don't lift weights or use machines to gain their strength; they rely on nothing but their body and instincts in order to survive. Granted if they had to move anything it be boulders, knocking down trees and carrying large specs of nature.

Nothing in the world can give you the functional strength, agility, flexibility and power more than the true animalized movements of bodyweight conditioning. Sure weights, medicine balls, jump rope, stones and dumbbells can give you great conditioning and can take you far if you use it properly and with real intentions but in all my years of training nothing compares to animal exercises; maybe its because of the way i'm drawn to them or because they give me real sense of purpose to train for life against myself and nothing else. Training this way teaches me how to handle my body from really awkward positions and strengthen my tendons from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. Its so powerful, very few understand its true source of untapped energy and fundamental strength that is useful, realistic and functional.

The gorilla is my inner animal, its been within me ever since I was a little boy and only up until about 10 years ago or so I started to truly embrace it and train in it. Other animals have their perks and all are very valuable but the ape is the king of them all. You may think differently because your inner animal is different and you can go on and on about the scientific stuff and that its truly impossible to be as strong as a gorilla or to even move like one yet, I have in my mind the belief and the personal experience and participation that when you set your mind to something and adapt it to make it work for you, possibilities are endless. Gorillas are in fact stronger than humans period but we can learn from what they have done their entire lives. Not in complete entirety because there just a great deal of things that we can't do because it wasn't meant for us to do however, when we break down the movements and put in things that are more realistic and practical it can take us to levels of strength we didn't think existed in the human body.

For the past week, I've basically done nothing but hanging, walking, jumping, running and playing like a Gorilla or Primate in my workouts. Due to lack of space and the structure of my body I can't do brachiating movements on my pull-up bar so I have to just do hanging from different grips and isometric pull-ups for now until I can find a much longer bar to work on at a park or somewhere. The ground work however will be more suited to what I'm doing but to keep the equality of pulling and pushing as best as possible. To learn more about true Ape movements get the Animal Kingdom Courses 1 & 2 to have you training like a true ape. If that's not in your budget, get either Animal Flow 2.0 or The Animal Workout DVD to get an idea of what to do to unleash your inner ape. That's all for today. Have fun and go be wild.