Listen To Your Instincts

            For the most part in the fitness world, nobody really listens to their instincts because they buy into the latest fad or fitness gimmick on putting on 10 pounds of muscle in less than 10 days or going to an aerobics class and thinking it’s the Mecca of fitness. To really understand fitness and strength training is to learn how to trust yourself not just in the gym but be able to figure out how to do a workout anytime and anywhere. Learn to listen to that little voice.

            I have learned from a great deal of many people and have been to the gym, trained at home, at parks, oceans, lakes, even the grocery store but I never once felt like doing every single thing they teach. To trust your instincts is to listen to what matters. You can buy all the crap you want and get in awesome workouts but it all boils down to you and what works best for you. Learning from other people is great and that’s the way it should be but also it’s important to find what works best for you and it’s different for everyone.

            While I was cooped up on a hospital bed for nearly three months, I did do a little therapy but it became boring to me and not because I wanted to move along faster but my instincts were telling me that there are better ways to do this. After my third surgery and was cleared to do rehab, I shook off therapists, doctors and even my own family and friends that told me to work on rehabbing. I just had the desire to do it on my own and it took me a while but before I knew it, my legs were getting stronger, my body was shaping up and I got far better at my recovery than if I had listened to some quack with a piece of paper attached to his name. Did I get crap for it, of course I did but that didn’t matter to me and I learned to trust myself.

            Nobody has power over you but if you allow them that power, you’ll never find what works best for you and learning to find that desire to what gives you strength, health and power over everyone else. You have the power to create your own style, your own version of training and it doesn’t matter if you go to a gym or not. Learn from other people but find your own way, trust in yourself. 

Animal It Out

            As kids and teenagers we go through extreme changes and some of that is being full of energy and hyped up. As adults it doesn’t happen quite like back in the day but still we can full of energy and just have a tireless work ethic (not all but some). Animal exercises are a favorite of mine especially mixing things up to make it interesting. When you train like an animal, you’re getting your hormones balanced out, you’re learning how to coordinate and you have fun playing around with them.

            Like everyone else I also get frustrated and mad at times to the point where it’s hard to think, it happens. When you get mad, your body shifts and it can throw you off so you need to chill out. Believe it or not, a few minutes of Animal Training can wipe out that anger and bring you back down to a blissful state because of how much of your whole body needs to be congruent with the movements.

            One of the major keys to be successful in your Animal Training is to think like that animal or what I like to call your Animal Spirit or Animality. Sure there are plenty of movements to do but there’s only one that catches your eye and you do it more often than the others, it’s what calls to you and sometimes without thinking about it you just do it and why is that? Every one of us has an animal spirit within and how we obtain it is by looking inside ourselves and once you find it you’ll know.

            Another secret is to play and just have fun with the Animal Movements. When it stops feeling like a chore and more of a game, your results can be more efficient and more likely to happen. Kids love games, it gives them structure and they enjoy it. When you teach them to play a certain game with Animal Exercises, it helps get stronger and more brain efficient because they have to use it to coordinate, be aware and learn to control what they’re doing while building natural muscle and powerful tendons that can aid them in sports and other endeavors. Create something fun out of it whether you’re a kid or an adult, you can find a way to Animal it out. 

One Of The Best Workouts

           This workout can be done anytime, anywhere and you can do it lying down, sitting and standing. It is so powerful it brings a whole new meaning to the term High Intensity. It can hit you so hard it’s tough to breathe. It doesn't feel like you’re working out and you're having fun and it feels awesome.

            How do you find it and where can you get it? Some people look to watching something or using their imaginations. For me I can think of something and than it just goes from there. You can go to a certain place or it can be at home and getting the whole family involved. This workout brings families together and it just gives you a rush of endorphins.

            If you’re in a bad place in your life and you need something to lighten the mood and change things around, do this workout. It’s inspiring and nobody does it better than an awesome kid. If you want to learn from the best, learn it from kids, it comes automatically to them.

            There are at times where you just need to let it out in the best positive manner, whether it can be from Theater Of The Mind and just finding what brings it out or use it to balance out your emotions. Letting it out in the open or just by yourself either way it’s bound to happen. This is a workout you should be doing everyday because it releases bad toxins out of the body and it is the best euphoric high in the world. Who knows, you might get a set of abs from doing this and burning fat like crazy cause at times you need to catch your breath.

If you haven’t figured it out, it’s LAUGHTER!!!!

My Own Version Of A College Education

             When I was 19, I had a lot of dreams but I also wasn't in the happiest place in my life at the time. One of my best friends passed away 6 months before Graduating high school and it devastated me. I just didn't want to be around many people and I gave up doing a third year of Track & Field. Although I did go back to weight training and drama, it just didn't feel right anymore and half-assed most of the semester. I did dream of being broadcaster because I was adamant announcing for a major sports team like the San Francisco Giants or the San Jose Sharks. After a week in College I quit and it pissed off many people especially my dad. I just didn't have the desire anymore.

            After going through two and half years of going to the gym, doing a couple jobs and recovering from my broken legs, I went back to college on the encouragement of a girlfriend at the time and just took fitness classes. I really didn't have the dream of honing a degree someone else wanted me to have and just chose to take classes that seemed to make me happy. I took up gymnastics, swimming, Intro to Physical Education and Functional Fitness that including weights, cables, running and all sorts of stuff. I loved it.

            During that time between 25-26 years young, I got to teach during my Functional Fitness class. My coach saw me warm up with Animal Movements before class and asked me if I could teach those movements to the class once a week and I jumped on that like a bat out of hell. It taught me how to train not just a group of people but people of different shapes and sizes. My coach would jump in to help out beginners but for the most part that segment was mine. This drove me to find my own education.

            As of now I’m certified in Massage Therapy and a certificate of completion in Superhuman Training so to me that’s like getting a degree. The type of education I'm teaching myself goes beyond fitness and strength training; there’s History, Mythology, Film, Physiology, Massage Therapy, Chi Kung, Mental Techniques, Body Mechanics, Writing and other things. I believe what I’m doing works far better for me than sitting in a classroom filling my head with bad textbooks and boring teachers (not the fitness ones they were awesome). I get to learn from very knowledgeable people and some of the coolest cats in the strength world. I get to utilize my interests and expand my horizons that’s fun, exciting and always coming up with new ways to learn.

            Why the hell am I telling you all this? It’s because there’s more to education than a textbook, classroom, desk and some teacher. I don’t go to an Ivy League school or a highly academic academy but I get to be educated in ways these types of schools can’t teach. You want to be more educated, learn what you love to do and expand it to wherever you want to take it. You may love things that I can never understand but we both are reaching for the same goal and that’s finding what we love to do and create a future with it. Education is important in any endeavor and we aught to be educated that’s according to our interests.

            Learning should be fun, exciting, interesting, the way it gets you up for the day and you can’t wait to learn and have an adventure. Most college programs have none of that and that’s why I left for good and started educating myself and I've never looked back. When was the last time you got up in the morning and said “Time to learn some awesome stuff and have a blast”? Isn't it about time to have that feeling everyday? Have fun and learn what you can that makes you happy. That’s the best education of all.

Follow Your Fitness Destiny

           I believe that no matter who you are, you aught to follow your own destiny. It’s important to learn who your true self is and that nobody aught to tell you who you should be and that you need to live by a higher standard according to society’s standards. Fitness is really the same thing. The truth is, if you are passionate about something and it helps you in your life than that’s where you aught to go. There are many methods you can learn and my hope for you is take bits of pieces of what you learned and apply them to what makes you happy. For real fitness and getting real results find and use what brings you those results.

            In almost 20 years in fitness and health, I’ve learned a great deal of things, some work, some don’t. In that time I’ve also seen a great many people who tarnish certain things because it doesn’t suit their standards, they want to drive you away from your destiny and teach you only their methods and if you’re not on par than you’re going to fitness hell. Open your mind to different things, challenge your body and brain to what yields them a great learning experience. I have fallen to the “one true method” mindset and it nearly killed my expansion to be able to understand different ideals. Some people do only one method and for them it’s the end all be all and that’s fine but last time I checked there are 7 billion people in the world, not all of them are going to follow you.

            I want you to find what you love to do. If you don’t like something and it doesn’t help you much, that’s a clear sign that you aught to look into something else. I’ve seen countless people bicker at each other what they don’t like and tell people that because they don’t like it, it’s not going to work others as well, bullshit. If you’re a fan of kettlebells and they do well for you, then you go get whatever kettlebell course is out there and you bust your ass on them because it’s what you love, if you don’t like kettlebells, don’t buy them and don’t give others crap about it because it’s not for you.

            There are a lot of things I love in fitness like cables, hammers, bodyweight, ropes, isometrics and other things so I take bits and pieces of these things and mold them in my own unique way. That’s the true beauty of fitness is the ability to be unique and creating the best way for you to get what you want for your body and mind. Don’t let assholes who tell you that because of what you do, you’ll get injured, you’re depriving to train like a man or better yet because of what you preach and love, they’ll come up with any lame way of what is terrible about it.

            I’m not an angry guy, as a matter of fact I’m very happy about what I do and I get to learn from very amazing people; however I do get a bit irritated when I find out about people who over criticize about another person’s methods and tell them their an idiot or that you’re not an animal you’re a man, train like it; just makes me want to slap those people. Be unique, if you like doing just one method that’s great for you but I believe in learning multiple methods and taking different parts that you find suitable to your needs and goals.

            Build your own destiny, find your calling and passion and run with it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman or a man, we all have something unique about ourselves and it’s important to find what our true self is and grasp it by grabbing it by the horns and create something out of it in an awesome, positive and beautiful way. Help others find their creative side and give them the power to fulfill their own destiny, you don’t have to like what they do but if they’re important to you make them feel important and guide them.

Take care and have an awesome day wherever you are.