New Influence By Superhero Beast Boy

Unless you're a hardcore DC Comics Reader and a fan of Teen Titans, not many know about the young superhero Beast Boy. I just learned about him a couple days ago while watching the new DC Animated Movie Justice League Vs. Teen Titans. Hell of a story and one of the best coming of age stories I've seen in a while. The one character that caught my eye that I believe stole the show was the young and green skinned kid named Beast Boy (real name Garfield). His power is the ability to transform into any animal that he has seen whether illustrated or up close; that to me is one hell of a superpower and has struck me in the heart because I love doing animal type movements.

How he got his powers is more tragic than awesome; growing up with parents that practically abused him and ended up contracting a disease that is deadly to any animal including humans except for a West African Green Monkey. The only way the kid can be saved was by being injected with a serum that turned him into a Green Monkey to wear off the deadly virus.  Unknowingly, this cured him but with a heavy price as it kept his green skin from ever turning back to its natural color and surprisingly gave him the ability to morph into any animal of his choosing through his mind. Some good came of it as he went on a path to make something of himself and join up with a group of kids that were a team of basically the younger version of The Justice League the Teen Titans.

For nearly a decade I've practiced different styles of Animal Movements that always has me running back to no matter what I tried otherwise. It has become a part of me to practice this form of exercise and conditioning; my love for it grows everyday and I do my best to get better and be in better shape for it, its the only form of exercise that is fun to me and it's helped shape my philosophy towards fitness in general. Learning about this Superhero just hit me like a strike of lightning, I find myself drawn to this character because like him when I set my mind to an animal I start moving like one, the only drawback is I can't morph into one like him which makes me a bit jealous but what can you do.

The ability to become an animal as you see fit is a very awesome thing to do; in the real world we can't have that luxury but we can adapt to move like one and picture ourselves in our minds to be that animal. Imagine having the strength of a gorilla, the speed of a cheetah, the endurance of a tiger & the agility of a gibbon; being able to hone your body's abilities to strengthen your muscles from the most awkward angles and moving with crisp precision of a wild animal. Just seeing this Superhero and having that ability has now convinced me that moving like an animal is my destiny and embrace it more than any other method. I don't mind lifting heavy weight from time to time, smashing a tire with my Thor Hammer or slamming a Sandbell to the ground but nothing compares to moving like a wild animal. It gives me greater purpose in my fitness journey and allows me to be free without stricting to a single method of rules and sets/reps that determines strength or endurance.

Move like an Animal & you can't go wrong......

Animal Kingdom Conditioning: Survival Of The Fittest
Animal Kingdom Conditioning 2: Call Of The Wild
(Get The Kids Involved) Wild Animal Fitness For Kids
Animal Workouts DVD
Animal Flow 2.0

Not Just Primate Muscle

Many love to see muscles whether big or small on a man. For the most part, being muscular in a realistic sense (not bodybuilding muscles of today) can make you look intimidating but never underestimate the power of what's within your muscles. To me muscles are cool to look at from time to time on some people but in the end, I always wonder if there's real strength behind those muscles? Believe it or not a small portion of the muscle building world has very strong people. The reason why is not just the muscles but the strength of the tendons and ligaments that truly hold the muscles together.

Since I've talked about animal moves lately I should warn you that when you train this way, you'll build muscle but not grotesque looking muscle and you'll be strengthening your joints and the tendons throughout your movements. This builds functional muscle or what I call Primal Muscle. This goes beyond the world of muscle muscle muscle and digs deep into the cortex of your body's natural order of things. Building Primal Muscle takes work, a lot of work but it doesn't have to be boring and dull, it can be fun, exhilarating and very unconventional.

When you strengthen your tendons, you're strengthening the entire core of your physical structure and over time your body begins to change; abs begin to show, denser muscle begins to appear in your shoulders, arms, back, feet & legs, solid power in your fingers, elbows, ankles and knees plus new found flexibility and stamina. You won't see the type of muscle that's in a magazine where it's painted, brushed & photo-shopped, there will be real useful muscle that can be used in any situation and can amplify your way in sports, military, law enforcement & competition. Some of the very best athletes & personnel have used animal moves to build speed, power & intense strength and you can do the same.

Work & play towards developing primal muscle that is useful, practical and realistic. Doesn't matter how old you are whether just a little kid burning off energy or someone older wanting to relive their youth in a different format it is possible when you do the moves that suit you and your goals. Kids love imitating animals and don't care how goofy they look and people who want to do something fun will test out different things. Build Primate Muscle folks, its an adventure.

Daily Animals

Regardless of your training whether for competition, conditioning, strengthening or developing a highly good looking physique there always should be an animal you aught to do between workouts or on your days off. Animal training builds the muscles in different positions that other exercises can't touch. That's because most exercises have an up and down, side lift position as oppose to an animal exercise that hits you from so many angles its not even funny. When I do other workouts like circuits, bridging, VRT or whatever I do my best to move around like an animal the rest of the day because I love to move and keep my body energized.

People like to cram their workouts within a short period of time (an hour or less) and that's fine more power to you but I feel regardless of time, do little things throughout the day so you stay freshed until you're ready to pass out at bed time. When I travel and am around people I don't always have time for a major workout until its night time; I make it a point to exercise no matter what I'm doing, do some work while waiting at the airport, do some jumping movements before my family photoshoot back in march, do isometrics at a restaurant while waiting or in between eating my food. Unless you're at a job 24/7 you can make time to exercise regardless of how busy you are.

Do something for me this week or during your current regimen, on your days off or in between sets of your exercise, do one animal that you like for 5 minutes; it can be 1 minute here or there, 5 minutes straight, 2 min. in the morning, 1 min. in the afternoon and 2 min. at night or however you do within a total of 5 minutes. If that animal is too difficult for you, do bear crawls or hop like a frog in place I don't care, you only have to do one animal for 7 days straight. Build a habit of doing something different that you don't normally do or haven't done before. Don't just rush into an advanced movement, start slow, get the mechanics down, learn the awareness of your body's positioning.

Animal movement is far better for you than those machines at the gym, sure they're good from time to time but unless you're in rehab or plan on doing a bodybuilding comp, stay away from the machines as much as possible and use your natural body to move. Its scary and it may look silly but you know what, you might burn off more fat and build denser and defined muscles just by moving your body around for a few minutes in different directions. This gives you a complete outlook of being an overall trainee. To learn more about animal style training check out my Wild Kingdom section at ben-bergman.branded.me. Get your daily animal in, no matter what. Have fun and be safe.