Taking It To Your Limit

    We as a society like to compare ourselves to other people and most of the time it's people that are not that important in your life in the first place, unless you make it out to be. You're a strongman comparing yourself to other strongmen or you're minor league ball player comparing yourself to a major leaguer or a person someone who compares her/himself to the most fit person in the gym. This is just an example of what is wrong with many parts of the world. Just because you don't have much money or have great skills or have magnetic charisma as another person doesn't mean you should feel less about yourself. We as humans bleed the same blood, have the same organs that keep us alive, we have a brain attached to an electric cord in the spine to help us function physically; so who cares who has a billion dollars or has the genetics to be a perfectly build person, you're still within your right to become the very best you were meant to be, not to be better than others and brag/praise about it but to be better than yourself each and everyday.

 
    When you go so far in your training or a workout hell even in business transaction, your body can only take so much yet you can find a way to push even further. Go as far as you're willing to go as needed. There's a major difference between competing against yourself and competing against another person; the second one is way easier because you're pushing to be better than them but competing against yourself is a whole other sport, it's challenging and one of the most difficult tests in life. If all you do is chase after being better than someone else you're wasting your time because there's over 7 billion people in the world so don't make the mistake trying to outdo from one to the next otherwise you'll be losing far more than winning and that is the mark of a person who'd rather face others than themselves. Go as far as you need to and make the choice to get better each time even by the smallest fraction because when you face off against yourself, you're taking on the single most important of life and that's the will to let go and just be.

 
    The true importance of achieving your personal best is to learn who you are, what you're up against and find a way to break through that wall. Most don't ever achieve this because they have something holding them back everytime and it's not really an external source it's very much internal. Many battle themselves to the point where they don't realize even one small minor detail can make a huge impact and sort out issues that have been locked up. When you push to your limits, it doesn't become physical anymore, that's the easy part; it's the really hard forms of the mind and spirit that end in defeat. You won't win everytime because like everyone else, you're not perfect but if you truly understand it, you can become the smallest fraction of a fraction of people who can accept their faults, defeats and losses. You have more power and drive in you than you will ever believe because that's the mark of a human being and it's our responsibility to not only learn the teachings but to embrace what's been put in front of us. I have taken myself to limits I can't talk about because there have been things in my life that should never have happened let alone occur especially when I was younger but the universe has a funny way of taking those things and molding them into something greater and much more complex. As far as I'm concerned whatever good, bad and ugly things that happened to me physically, mentally and emotionally; I'm the happiest I've ever been at this very moment because I'm alive and feeling incredible; I give gratitude for what I have and I'm thankful for many things even those for which nobody can understand, not even my own flesh and blood.

 
    You have no reason to not challenge yourself, it's a part of life and the challenges you and I face will come in time an when they do, action will be taken one way or another but we have a choice on how we face and nobody faces a challenge the same exact way because we are different, the way we go through life is different but in similarity we face challenges that test us in ways only one individual at a time can do. Make no mistake about it, you will be taken to the limit and there will come a time where you will lose and it could break you but how you choose to accept it and overcome it is up to you. Nor me, your family or the people in your life good or bad know the true nature of your challenges and what limits that will be seen because only you truly face them and it's up to you to push back and finally see what your real strength and power is.

Comic Book Strength & Conditioning

    Within the last few years, superhero movies have become the biggest hit from video games to merchandise and even muscle building. The muscle magazines have put out the routines for the superheroes actors have portrayed on Screen from Hugh Jackman's workout for Wolverine, Chris Hemsworth's training for Thor, Henry Cavil's "secrets" for Man Of Steel and Christian Bale's top notch powerhouse training for the Dark Knight Trilogy. Safe to say that comic book fans and fitness junkies are lining up to find out more about what they're workouts are, the diet, the timing and the volume. However, for the most part, these workouts the actors go through are extremely intense, very time consuming and are at an advanced level where if a beginner even attempted one of these workouts will be begging to put on life support and/or get injured. Some of these exercises require certain equipment most people can't afford let alone even begin to understand how it works. This isn't for the average person who has a job, a family and a responsibility at home. Yet you can find a way to train like your favorite superheroes in a very unique way that is interesting and fun to do.

 
    There is a website called neilaray.com where you can find a series of fitness circuits that are related to a superheroes training system that is notable, simple and challenging. These may not be the exact routines the actors do but these offer you training you can do anywhere with enough space to suit your needs. So to help you out I want to give you an idea of what a superhero workout looks like take for example this superman workout……..


    
      As you can see it's an intense workout but it's not a long one either so you can get in some training in a short amount of time. Circuit Training is when you go from one exercise to another with little to no rest which can be up to say 6 exercises and then you rest for a good period of time. Now I'm all for a challenge but to get the best out of these workouts is to adjust it according to your level and making it your own. But for the most part most of these workouts are bodyweight only which is perfect for someone who doesn't have a lot of time on their hands and can get in a workout as fast as possible. I must warn you there are many of them that are tough as hell so don't judge a book by its cover yet others are pretty simple and can be done in under 15 min. so be your own judge. If you're a fan of superheroes and want to have that interesting way to train like one this is one way to do it. I'll help you by giving you a tip on a weekly type regimen if that's what you choose to do, you can make it however you want and they got plenty of superhero workouts to choose from so here's a pretty decent routine for the week you can do but remember, adjust accordingly and if you feel like you've had enough that's ok, it's all about progress….

 
Mon: Superman
Tues: Thor
Weds: Batman
Thurs: Green Arrow
Fri: Captain America
Sat-Sun: Off

 
For the ladies there's something in there for you too
Mon: Supergirl
Tues: Wonder Woman
Weds: Off
Thurs: Black Canary
Fri: She-Hulk
Sat-Sun: Off
If you prefer a different way go for it our choice, make it a hell week for various avengers, day on/off mixing your favorite heroes from your favorite comics/movies whatever you decide is your call.

 
    You do not need steroids to get super fit. It takes time, patience and effort but you can still have a blast with it by utilizing your imagination to ignite your strength and energy. When you do a workout like these, picture as if you were that superhero, busting your ass to prepare for crime fighting and stopping the bad guys. Think about it guys, for the Batman workout, picture as if you're training to get ready to kick the crap out of the Joker, for the gals picture being Wonder Woman in that bad ass get up and training to take down the demons with the golden lariat. Infuse that power inside you to jumpstart your body's energy. When you can utilize this technique, you can actually double your strength, speed and your endurance. Sure do some progressions but this can give you a 5 step start.

 
    Have fun with this, experiment, picture in your mind beforehand which hero you want to be and believe in it. Work within your own level of fitness, if it becomes too tough back off if you need to, use your instincts. As you get stronger, your imagination grows with it. Mind and body working together creates explosive opportunities not just physically becoming fit but building your individuality and personifying your inner hero. Take a chance, make your mark and become a hero yourself.

Are You Too Old To Train

    Once someone reaches a certain age, most feel they're beginning to wind down and letting their age get to them. Sure as we get older we lose a few things here and there but there's a lot more to gain in my opinion. I'm only 30 but yet starting at this age things will get low but at the same time; I feel way fitter, stronger, agile, more flexible and can move pretty good for my size. I don't believe we should stop doing our favorite things or challenging ourselves as we age. This mentality is based on a person's mind set, once you reach a certain age it's over and you can't do the same things you use to and live life like you did when you were younger. I have talked to and met people way over 40 & 50 yet they have this aura about them and a zest for life and challenging the norm. One of my dear friends Bud Jeffries is in his early 40's and has lifted heavy weight since he was a teenager, do you think because of his age now he can't get any stronger or fitter? Nope, he is breaking personal records left and right and is now stronger, fitter and far healthier then when he was in his 20's. Garin Bader of CoreForce Energy is over 55 and is one of the fastest, strongest and most noble people I've ever come across. Back in November of 2010; I spent the day with him learning his ways of training and the core of his system to even the degree where we tried to see if he had enough strength to push my 240 lbs. frame around and yet without he practically knocked me from one side of the room to the other and he was less than 205 lb. at 6'.

 
    Another example of not letting age be a factor is a man named Lawrence Farman; in strongman circles he is honorably nicknamed Slim The Hammerman for his exploits lifting extremely heavy sledgehammers. Working in a rock quarry his whole life he developed strength that is unmatched to this very day. He believed in his early 20's he was pretty strong (that's an understatement) yet at 40-50 he thought he wasn't just dangerous but felt invincible. Think about that for a second, feeling invincible at that age is practically unbelievable even back in his day. He is now at the young age of 80 and can still go way beyond 99.9% of men his age, still lifting hammers that would break the average 25 year Old's wrist like a toothpick. He is an inspiration to me because he kept challenging himself, was still driven and kept achieving things decades after he should've stopped. He is a man among men, not just a towering presence (6'6) but a larger than life figure in the field of Strongmen.

 
    If you still crave life and have a zest for adventure even at 100, do what you love and find out what you're capable of, some people just let themselves go and die before they have a real chance to find the real parts of life that they can make of themselves. There are folks in their 60's-90's in the senior Olympics, lifters over the age of 70 breaking world records, a woman at 86 does gymnastics and look at Jack Lalanne who died at the age of 96 and was doing what he loved everyday. You don't have to be the biggest, the baddest or the strongest but if you want to be adventurous, spontaneous and have incredible energy you have the power to do that. Challenge the norm and say no to those who say you need to stop, need to let go, sit out your golden years. If you get the chance look up a man named Stephen Jepson who is in his 70's and has the energy of a man half his age or more; he's got a video out there called Never Leave The Playground, it's an awesome and beautiful thing to watch.

 
    Living with strength grows with age and wisdom not just mentally but physically as well if you put in the effort and utilize your interests. Compared to these folks I'm still a young buck but yet I'm doing things at 30 I couldn't even fathom when I was in my 20's hell even my teen years. I've got many decades left and I intend to enjoy them, do things that are fun, challenging and interesting. I think it would be awesome to do 100 squats at 70, swim 500 meters at 80, hell I believe I'll still be bending spikes in my 60's. So as the headline asks; are you too old to train? That's up to you to find the answer, not science, not religious beliefs or the people you love; only you.

Strengthening Your Nerves For Great Health

    Strength doesn't always come from the physical, it comes from all of the body's energy; your physical, mental, spiritual and emotional. Your nerves are what electrifies the body's system of running normally with the cells moving where they need to go, your blood flowing with great power to the muscles and fibers, and how you remain in a state of emotion. Our spines are one of the greatest acts in the nervous system, it's the electricity that flows from the brain down and if any of that flow is compromised either by a broken bone or discharge within the brain, your whole body is affected. Training the body from the inside out is crucial although most don't realize that when all they care about is how they look or how big the muscles are. Your nerves are no exception, when you exercise you're using that electric impulse to move your body in the positions your body is able to withstand, there are however certain exercises that actually make your nerves stronger and one system is called Isometrics. Isometrics for those who don't understand is when you push/pull against an immoveable object using your own body as resistance and not moving. You are squeezing every fiber in the body for a period of time and as you correctly breathe, you're utilizing your body's nervous system to jumpstart everything.

 
    With regular practice and finding creative ways to do them, doing isometrics can strengthen your nerves and help you build a calming and powerful demeanor. I know that sounds like a contradiction when you are striking every muscle in your being into a non-moving exercise but believe me they work wonders. When you squeeze (or flex), you're amplifying the blood's flowing mechanism and when you relax after a contraction the blood begins to flow at a more relaxed state and even generates more of it to the cells. This is why it's helped with people who have had injuries, strengthen the bones and joints because when you have that powerful flow of antioxidants and fresh blood going into those areas, they help regenerate the body's functioning abilities. If you are in a stressful state of mind, Isometrics can help relieve that stress by flexing various parts of the body and once relaxed more blood flow becomes imminent and this can calm down your stress levels. You can do this type training virtually anywhere and any time.

 
    I have already talked about blood flow but yet it's worth talking about it more because our blood is one of the major keys to help our body's system. Think about it with people who have been injured, killed or whatever, what's one of the most common things that happen; the loss of blood and when that happens, the body begins to shut itself down and goes cold. If your body can't produce the blood it needs, your heart begins to fail, and the vessels in your organs stop working and your brain stops functioning. When you practice Isometrics, you're creating more fuel for your body's system which is a beautiful thing in of itself. Although Isometrics is not a stand-alone method, it can aid in your exercise goals in ways you never thought possible. Think what it would be like to be much stronger in a specific position, be able to have the grip strength to lift your favorite weighted exercise, be able throw a ball with greater speed, jump higher, run like the wind and even have the strength to save someone's life. This type of training has been used in various ways for eons from the war mongering romans to spiritual yoga masters, wrestlers, Astronomers (they had to train in isometric form so their muscles can be strong while floating in anti-gravity otherwise they would atrophy) and athletes from all kinds of sports because this type of training didn't just give you an advantage it helped you from getting injured.

 
    One thing many neglect to learn is the proper way to breathe, sure we breathe everyday, we have no choice otherwise we die but the way we breathe can determine our strength and our weakness. When you see a bodybuilder on stage posing and he's flexing hard one of the things you may or may not notice is that most of the time he's holding his breath which can lead to a series of problems including muscle tears, ripped tendons, and even a brain hemorrhage if they're not careful. A great method of breathing which I use to help in my training of isometrics is to flex the muscle and take in a deep breath, once I get enough of the inhale, I breathe out still flexing and making an "sss" sound until the exhale is completely done; I learned this method from a couple people and it's helped others get stronger, lower blood pressure and strengthen the abdominal muscles which in turn strengthens the organs. It's building great power from the inside out. Another method of Isometrics is holding the exercise for an extended period of time and only contracting at a lesser percentage. Say you held the push-up position (The Plank) and held that position, don't push so hard into the floor but contract the muscles for about 30% of your max level and hold for 30 seconds to a minute. When you contract at 70-100% you're only going to last a few seconds, 7-12 at best because if you hold an isometric longer than 12 seconds say try 30 seconds to a full minute at a very high percentage you're setting yourself up for injury which can lead to tears and popped vessels which you don't want. In the longer isometric holds, you just breathe as naturally as possible. So get on it and become as strong as possible. It's a new year and it's time make a new you; stronger, healthier and more confident in your life.

Producing More Growth Hormone

    I'm vitally against the use of artificial steroids and always have been not because of the scientific and media crap that is portrayed but because there are better options for you than risking your health for some trophy or to look like a pretty boy in a speedo. Unless you're in need of something artificial that could be life-saving and it helps you with some major disease than maybe there's that exception but for the most part you're better off learning how to do things more naturally. With the right info and the right tools you can jump start your hormones that naturally helps you increase metabolism, healthy caloric intake, help you stay young and vibrant and even give your libido the power it had when you were a teenager.

 
    It has been shown that normal cardio routines actually diminish hormone balance within an extended period of time your muscles start to lose what is truly needed. I'm not saying endurance training is useful, it is and it's an important component for optimum health but yet if you're getting the amount of balanced muscle mass and fat burning ratio than you're just wasting your time. I believe more in fat loss than weight loss with the exception of those that are heavily overweight and need to drop the poundage needed so the body can function properly. In order to truly fire the nervous system and your muscular structure at an optimum level your training needs to be intensified so the muscles can generate as much power as possible within a short period of time. This can happen with training methods like Sprinting, Battling Ropes, Animal Exercises, heavy weight lifting/odd object lifting and various styles of concentrated isometrics. The more muscles used in a single exercise ups the ante of increasing growth hormone. After say a 30 second burst from a sprint your body shifts into overdrive and when you're huffing and puffing and feeling like you're going to die, that is actually opening up your body's system and jump starts that process of increased blood flow to the muscles and powering up the heart muscle and firing your lungs to produce more oxygen.

 
    Unlike spending thousands of dollars on artificial crap that could end up killing you, the methods I just pointed out are not only free but they're legal and they don't come with gross side effects. The media may have portrayed artificial steroids really exaggeratedly but the fact of the matter is, when you inject/swallow/insert you're putting chemicals into your body that aren't in a natural state and there can be dire consequences. Why settle for destroying your hard earned paycheck that ends up having possibly disappointing results when you can do it using your own body's capabilities and more using proving methods that has helped people get a good level of balanced muscle mass and bodyfat. When I'm talking about muscle mass I'm not talking about the grotesque look you see on bodybuilders; I'm talking about the type of muscle mass that gives you natural health and good solid levels of growth hormone that has looking young, vibrant and athletic. One of the best methods to add in for this is taking Cold Showers to learn more about the health benefits of Cold Showers check out The Art Of Manliness, it's a pretty cool read.

 
    Another thing that makes a huge difference on using natural methods and artificial steroids is the work of your organs especially the kidneys, heart and liver; when you use natural methods of quality intense training and recovery periods, your organs become stronger and generate more power to maximize your overall health and sexual energy (trust me especially for us guys we need this) as oppose to artificial injections and unnatural chemical replacement that can cause damage to the organs and inflate them in a way that puts too much strain on the central nervous system and can cause your body to internally destroy itself. Now I'm not a physician or a doctor but unless proper precautions have been legitimized (and even that is slim) but in theory it can ruin your health to lengths you can never come back from. Sure it's been said that chemically enhanced steroids have helped those with major diseases and help balance things out hormonally in both men and women but that's where the exception ends because it's medically used within the resort where there aren't too many option and/or the individual can't produce their body's system naturally. The majority of people however, don't need that artificial crap when you have methods proven by old-time physical culturists, natural supplementation in organic foods and using sleep balances. Stay strong, be healthy and use the best methods that give you the greatest benefit both long term and high quality of life.