Playout Dont Workout

I wrote about the word "WORK" in a previous post and wanted to shed some more light on it. Work to me sounds demeaning and more like a job since everybody practically works and I do believe in making a living but that doesn't you shouldn't have fun in your life. When it comes to exercise; I don't work the muscles to move, my body already does that. What I add is Play. My body is doing its job, its the engine of an awesome car; what I do to turn the key in the ignition is playing and making the muscles work for me and not against me.

It can be complicated how you perceive the word work. Many use it as a badge of honor and I respect that; I believe in finding ways to provide for yourself and your family but at the same time, people have worked so hard throughout their lives and yet there's that feeling of depression, being miserable and not being able to enjoy your life because you didn't get paid enough. There are so many people who bust their ass yet have little to show for it. It has become a cliche of "you work hard, life will bring great things", it has for a lot of people and they lived long prosper lives but others who put their whole world into working hard have been left with nothing but heartache, broken bodies, mentally gone into a downward spiral for whatever reasons and even have died. To me, for a lot of reasons the word "work" just has that negative black cloud over the head feel to it.

The word Play however sounds exciting, adventurous, daring, makes you feel good. You don't get depressed through playing, you may get frustrated at times but more often than not it brings a smile to your face and internally makes you feel warm inside. Play whether it's through a job or anything else you're passionate about or have the mentality for brings an element of grabbing life by the horns and making it worthwhile for you and the people you love. Some people make little money in their job, some made millions but when they have that mentality of play and making it amazing for them it takes on a whole different concept than "Work."

That's what I do to develop my exercise routines and my job in writing, promoting and sharing tons of stuff with you; I create play in all those things. I'm passionate about it because without play, what's the point of having fun in your life. I take it seriously and do what I can to make people feel at ease and make things simpler to understand and make it fun, funny and using certain references whether through pop culture, music, sports whatever. I don't work for a living, I play for a living.

In my training, I play with exercises and do things that make me feel good and have a good time with. Whether it's for 5 minutes or going for an hour or longer if i'm really into it, it's an adventure and making the most of what I can. I have pushed myself to the limit with a smile on my face and sometimes breathing so hard I look like I just did a marathon but I make it worth while for me.

Working Out to me is not a healthy word and it has become a perverse, cold-hearted and thrown around set of words for far too damn long. Playing Out is a far better word and you can do all the same exercises, routines and programs but at the same time it won't feel the same. When you take away Workout and put in Playout, it creates a whole new universe and carries a far better mindset of training with passion, fun and lighting up your mind, body and spirit in a new way. Test it out and see what happens.

Fun Animal Routines To Get In Amazing Shape

There are way too many rep/set schemes that play out the same scenarios. They become boring, predictable and above all just so tedious and pedantic. Do something different, make a game out of it; step aside the same thing you've been doing and challenge yourself in a very fun way.

These ANIMAL routines can be very unpredictable, challenging and takes you to a new level of creativity, imagination & conditioning. All you need for equipment is a 20-Sided Dice...Here are 4 playful routines that have exciting elements and give you something to enjoy and begging for more.

Routine #1- Cartoon Workout

Take the 20-sided Dice and roll for 5 Animals. Sample Animals....

Baloo The Bear

Kermit The Frog

Magilla Gorilla

Krusty Krab

Sher Kahn The Tiger

Do these animals for time, distance or reps/steps....3-5 Rounds (Rest after each round)


Routine #2- Animal Match-Ups

Like in sports, you have 2 animals battle against each other and you create a point system using the 20-Sided Dice where you roll and see how many times you have to move in order to get points. This is awesome if you had a buddy to do this with or do it by yourself, either way its an adventure. Create this game however you like (Personally, I like it Predator Vs. Prey or Tournament Style). Sample Match-Ups....

Chimp Vs. Tiger

Bear Vs. Lynx

Frog Vs. Duck

Condor Vs. Rabbit


Routine #3- Tag

Remember that game we did as kids where we had to tag somebody and they were it? Well, let's make it animal style. Game can be played by 2 people or more. The "IT" person has to roll the dice and whatever that animal comes up, everybody has to be that animal to make it fair.

Routine #4- Race

Test your mettle in the ultimate speed game. Roll the dice for the animal you and a friend get to race as. This is a distance workout that can be done using feet, yards, meters whatever you want. This alone will knock you on your butt and get you in Sprinting Shape that burns fat like a furnace, builds muscle and kicks your metabolism into high gear.

These are just ideas to get into playing around with animal exercises and forgetting the old schemes of how many reps for strength or endurance, amount of sets in a certain period of time and doing nonsensical exercises that isolate the muscles. This is THE MOST FUN WAY to get in shape and can be done just about anywhere. I did one of these routines in my house without breaking anything from running around so much. I like to write down the amount of steps I took and total it for the entire session, giving me an idea of how much I put into it. Doing just one of these routines alone I took a total of nearly 600 Steps/Reps all together. That's a lot to move your own bodyweight around.

Get moving and have a blast doing it. Don't ever be bored again and make it an adventure.

Get In Shape By Playing

Not too many people like the word WORKOUT. Me neither, it sounds negative and sounds way too serious. It has that first syllable "Work" so why does it truly need to be called that? You already WORK by going to a job, unless you're doing Personal Training as a profession it shouldn't even be a part of the vocabulary. I'd say let's play. Play to me is a better term for exercise and for good reason. Sure it's important to take care of your body and utilize a strong will to make the best of it in a kick ass manner but Workout means something derogatory to me. It's like a valley girl saying "EEWWW." LOL.

Think about it like Music; you don't say you work music, you play music. You don't say you work baseball or football, you play them. Play sounds happy, fun, exciting, creative, loveable and awesome. How many people can you name that would say "I love to Work"? Not too many but what about saying "I love to play"? Many of us have forgotten how to play, we loved it as kids and felt like we could do anything, be anything and come up with the most outlandish things we found creative, funny and productive. Now as adults, we at serious, put on an act for "The Man" and behave "our age." I'm not saying you shouldn't be professional or have a specific attitude in your job, all I'm saying is lighten up and have a little more fun.

Life as it is can be a pain in the ass, some jobs make people miserable and full of hate for the world; how the hell can you truly function as a human being like that. That's why when I train, I make it an experience of joy, having a good time, learning in a unique and exciting way. Being creative is what made this country both good and bad. The good doesn't always get recognized; the bad ends up being in the headlines the most because what does bad create? Moolah. Our world would be a more non-violent place if we stopped trying to kill each other over who has the bigger dick. With women stop being jealous and manipulative to each other, be grateful for what you have and not bitch about what you don't have. That sounded a little sexist but seriously, we have taken play out of our lives and replaced it with constricting rules, jealousy, greed, hunger, back stabbing and robbing of our youth.

Play is what brings us together as a community, having a good time and becoming fit in a fun way. That's what I love about Animal Movement; it's full of creativity, fun ways to exercise, unique in strengthening the body from all kinds of angles, using your imagination, taking on challenges that are interesting and smiling. I have a saying I use often "Nothing gets easier, but it does get interesting." When you use words like that, it makes others feel at ease, puts something in their brain that isn't full of negative phrases such as "Life's a bitch, deal with it", "Perk up, be a man", You can't have everything." Too many people treat the world like it isn't pretty and doesn't bring real happiness. The world is beautiful and full of amazing creatures and jungles, mountains and amazing growth; it's the people that are screwed up in the head, not all but many and humans are the reason why life is a pain in the ass.

This is what I mean by getting in shape by playing; its not just exercise, it's developing a mentality and learning a loving and positive way to help others find awesomeness and beauty in one another. Competing with a great attitude, teaming together like a family, living happily in amazing ways. It won't be easy but it will be interesting.