Thoughts On Steve Maxwell

I have yet to meet this amazing individual either on Social Media or in person but I have seen enough of his work that I believe I can make an observation. For the most part he clearly does not look like a guy who's in his 60's but more of a man at around 45-53 at best. One of the most knowledgeable guys on the planet when it comes to fitness, conditioning & Brazilian Jui-Jitsu and clearly that has been in the game for 40+ years. I watched his interview with Joe Rogan for the second time on his podcast, its a 3+ hour interview where he talks about his life story, the type of training he does, his traveling life and philosophy on fitness plus some history lessons.

Not many men at this stage of their life are in this kind of shape, the guy can do pull-ups, sprints, crawl, do hindu push-ups, swing a kettlebell and has greater conditioning than most guys half his age. When it comes down to it he's the type of guy many can learn from. Its not everyday you get a guy in later stages of life and lives it with a passion and is fit like crazy. He is the personification of elite conditioning taking the most basic principles of exercise and molding them into a powerful setting of training ideals that can be used by practically anyone and is one of those that teach that training should help you become injury-proof, not cause injuries otherwise something is wrong.

If you want to get an idea of who this guy is and how his conditioning is inspiring get this 3 pack combo of Steve's best work and you will see first hand how insanely conditioned this dude is. He's not a big probably no more than 5'7 around 160 lbs but yet makes many men twice his size think twice of going toe to toe with him. It blows my mind what this guy can do.

Product Of The Day: Phoenix Formula

A mythical form of re-birth is the summary of the Phoenix. A brave bird rising from the ashes with a stronger sense of purpose and powerful entities give you the strength to not only come back more powerful but with greater energy and force that will tackle your greatest obstacles and put extra zing into your body. A combination of the most powerful herbs on the planet will enhance your body's energy to go after your exercise with greater force and determination. Use it as a pre-workout formula to jump start your body's batteries and give it that jolt of raw, unadulterated strength that will make you feel new and full of life.

Darebee Of The Day: The Nightwing Workout

It's time you stepped out of the shadow of your old self and form a new line of conditioning that helps find your true individuality and hone the skills you have learned a time before that have now become your greatest weapon. Go out on your own and be your own fighter, your own brand of hero and become something nobody else could have imagined. You have been preparing and learning for this very moment, make it epic and make it your own.

A Deck Of Wild Cards

I was reading an older article of mine yesterday and it got me thinking; a workout that was simple, basic but fun to do and can be done quickly so I ended up doing it. It was a deck of cards workout that would be cool to share with that can aid in amplifying conditioning in a very cool and very unboring way.

So for today you don't get 1 but 2 workouts that can get you going. This was a very cool session of flipping a card and getting to move like a wild animal. The objective is to get through the deck as fast as you can but still on good form and getting them lungs firing. It didn't take me too long to get through the deck so it wasn't difficult but wasn't easy either. Most of the cards had me bending my legs either in a full deep squat or partial squat that really hit the muscles everywhere. You pick 4 animals to the regular cards like spades, clubs ect. but the jokers if you had two or three you pick up to 2-3 animals so you can get a variety of movement that isn't on one area of muscles but multiple muscle groups.

I have a deck of Indiana Jones playing cards that are just bad ass to use working out or not and that alone fires me up because come on man its Indy. If you can find a deck of wild animals on the cards that's even better because it gives you a better visualization; oh wait a second I think I found some here. This kind of workout can be done by anyone and you can go as fast or slow as you want all that matters is its fun and doesn't feel like working out. Here is the example I'm speaking of...

Spades= Bear Crawls
Clubs= Monkey Crawl
Hearts= Duck Walks
Diamonds= Chimp Walk
Jokers= Octopus/Starfish/Condor

You can pick other animals if you wish, be creative and do your favorites. For reps its very simple; face value is 2-10 as you see on the cards, Aces are 11-20, King/Queen/Jack is 10-15. Set a timer and have at it. If you can't get through the deck at first that's ok keep building up. Once you beat the deck go for time and really spice up the intensity but don't ever lose form and get sloppy, we want you to be safe and have fun not be lazy and injure yourself. Pay attention to your breathing, count out loud if you want I do that but my motto is to count backwards instead of forward. If it becomes too easy no matter animal you throw in the mix, double the reps and really make it interesting. Normally a deck of cards for training is usually doing Push-ups & Squats which are great i''ve done it many times but I tend to get bored with doing the same one or two movements; my philosophy is to make things interesting and enjoyable but challenging as well. Push-ups & Squats are foundational exercises for sure but eventually it can wear thin and its going to be really boring going just up and down. With Animal Exercises you move in all sorts of directions and your imagination is more open to possibilities.

Have fun with this workout and let me know how it goes for you.

Product Of The Day: Animal Kingdom Conditioning

My all-time favorite fitness book. This course takes away those "human" exercises that can be so tedious and boring and take you to a world full of wonders, possibilities and most of all the imagination. Learn about the strength of animals as you go through this course and mimic the very best of the wild kingdom. There's exercises that have going on all fours, jumping on two feet, hopping on one leg and having you moving more naturally forward, backwards, side ways, long ways, up ways and down ways (sorry got into my willy wonka mode, I miss Gene Wilder RIP bro). It takes you into the jungle that can aid in building functional strength, conditioning, endurance, mobility, brain activity, tendon strength and much much more.

Darebee Of The Day: The Ivy Workout

Now this workout does have simple bodyweight exercises but you can make them even more fun when you ladies imagine yourself as Gotham's Villainous Goddess of Plants World (that was a mouthful). This fun workout has you doing movements that are based on that of the Ballerina & Yoga that strengthens and tones the muscles in the arms, legs and butt so you know you're training those hard to develop type muscles that women are frustrated with. Takes roughly 35 minutes to complete or you can make it shorter by either doing only 3 sets at Level 1 or you can build yourself up progressively by cutting the reps in half and go from there. If you're a lean and mean Goddess of Plants you can double the reps and see how far you get or go for 10 sets of the regular reps, if you can pull that off you would make the majority of men envy of your conditioning and not to mention having an insanely built physique of a Greek Goddess. Enjoy....

Does Music Have An Importance In Training?

I'm part of a 2-sided coin o whether to listen to music while training. Now hear me out (no pun intended) I do believe music is great to workout with but at the same time, it depends on the type of training you do. If you listen to any type of music that you love do so but look at this type of perspective; Music is great but also focusing on your mind and body as one is just as important.

Some people listen to music while training because it revs up the adrenaline and gets them into that "zone" which is awesome I do it too but also at the same time, its very difficult to pay attention to your breathing and focusing on the mental aspects of training like utilizing visualization & internal energy. Sometimes music can be distracting when it comes to training in certain aspects like Qi Gong, Yoga & other meditative practices. Maybe its just me but my preference is to listen to music during intense training where I can move with the beat and shred it up with the movement yet when I train in qi gong, DDP Yoga or Theater Of The Mind meditations I do without any music whatsoever for specific purposes; I want to pay attention to how I breathe and I want to view my mind's eye without any distractions because it works better for me that way.

It is important to have motivation and spice up that energy to train at your very best but its also important to quiet your mind and listen to your inner self so that's where music can be very distracting because you're not just blocking out your mind, you're blocking out the energy of within that can generate greater power than you think. I listen to tunes while I write because the sounds enhance my brain waves thus having more creative ideas but I also look within without music and see the writing without needing to hear the tunes.

So is music really that important? depends on your preference but in reality you want to be a master of being able to train with or without tunes; its very different when you shut out the world and your mind and another thing when you open your mind without a shred of distraction. Do what works for you but read my words and learn the difference between training with or without music. It all comes down to how aware you are and how you feel when you have done both. Trust me its very tempting to listen to tunes but for a few sessions go without tunes and focus on the breathing plus the movement. If you can't hear yourself breathe, you're not breathing correctly.

Product Of The Day: Upgrade Your Breath

Our greatest sense of power and strength doesn't come from how big the muscles are or how good we look, its the way we breathe and how it can be our greatest asset in our training or being our greatest enemy. It can help us relax, increase our endurance, enhance our speed & strength and it can even put us in a state of mind where you are calm in every sense of your surroundings. Most of all, it doesn't cost you a damn thing and yet we take it for granted. You can go weeks without food, days without water but you can die in a matter of minutes or less without breathing. Breathing is what made the weakest become the strongest, breathing is what helps you fall asleep, breathing is what gives you that strength to lift the heaviest weight, breathing is what gives you the greatest endurance & its breathing that can increase your flexibility & youth. Double your lung capacity just by using breathing techniques, activate your organs by these breathing techniques that enhance digestion, energy, blood flow and more. Grab this course and power up on the breath.

Darebee Of The Day: Boxer Endurance

How do these athletes have such crazy stamina to last 12 rounds or more in the ring? By training for that specific reason. Get those lungs firing by testing your will in this workout that will make you sweat, breathe harder than usual and breaking down those muscle fibers down to the smallest crease. Some boxers back in the day fought for more than 25 rounds. The closest I can think with that kind of endurance are wrestlers that need stamina to stay in a match from start to finish. You want an idea on how much conditioning is worth in a fight? Look up the UFC Fight between Maurice Smith & Mark Coleman.