You Can’t Train Indoors Forever

    I hate winter, ok maybe not hate it has it's perks up here in Pre-Canada Idaho but when it comes to training, I don't find it fun at all training in 20 degree weather or when it's snowing. I'm not bitching or anything when I train I'll do it however I want even if it means going out in Winter Wonderland but I'm a born and bred California kid ok, freezing to the general population is 32 degrees give or take more or less but on the California coast, to them freezing is like 50-55. I've kept myself stuck training indoors since late October and I'm already getting Cabin Fever and it sucks man lol. Before I moved up here, I exercised practically every freaking day outdoors, sprinted up hills, rolled around like an animal at parks, Handstands on the wharf (ok that one time back in early '06), Training with my boys in the rain and walking on my hands in the driveway, it was a blast. Don't get me wrong I still have fun moving around in my house doing Animal Flow, Handstands, Mace Swinging, MovNat and best of all Qi Gong but when I'm outside in the fresh air and the weather is sunny and warm; I'm a damn maniac. I'm telling you when Spring and Summer come in, stay out of my way or try to keep up cause I'll swimming, lifting rocks, sprinting like The Flash, listening to the birds chirp as I move with flowing energy in Qi Gong Styles and playfully moving my body doing all sorts of stuff that is fun and exciting.

 
    Training indoors can be fun if you're at home or in your favorite gym but nothing beats training out in the fresh air, being free of artificial appliances and planting your feet in nature and it teaches you something that doesn't involve your cell phone, iPad or that asshole next to the dumbbell rack texting his friend about the hot mamacita doing squats next to him. Time to blossom sweetheart, when that warm weather catches your eye and feeling the warmth of the sun it just feels good. Some people do like training in the snow and on occasion I'll mess around on the tire or do some bear crawls around the yard but for the most part those people are far tougher than I'am and I have a ton of respect for them. You have all this open space (even in places like New York or Chicago you can move around in many places), it's all about your creative imagination. My friend Bud Jeffries trains in the backyard of his house and even does sled pushes down the freaking street that is bad ass in my book. Do some cool stuff on the swing set, go run some sprints up your favorite hill, go swim in your favorite lake or the ocean, do some primal moving smacked in the middle of Central Park if you can, you have freedom and tons of things to practice and learn. When I'm down at the Lake even around a ton of people in this small area of a beach I play around with Handstands and dynamic stretches in between jumping in the water and doing different strokes (no pun intended). Make it your chance to shine even if you are terrible and just learning how to move just don't hurt anyone and don't feel bad about being embarrassed it's all apart of the process brother, in my handstand craze at the beach I have held for a short amount of time and I've also fallen on my ass looking like a complete idiot but I didn't care because I'm having fun.

 
    When people say there are ways to train anywhere and everywhere doesn't mean you do it indoors at every freaking place you go to, come on man live a little. While a couple family members are paying 20 bucks to hit the gym for an hour 20 minutes away, I'm at the beach lifting heavy rocks, swimming for meters on end, sprinting off the docks and climbing/crawling on the bigger rocks by the shore, that's the type of guy I choose to be, sure I would hit the gym a time or two but it's for one purpose only, to see how much weight I can muster to move within the time I'm there. I love being inside at times where I don't feel like going out and have plenty of options for that anyway but holy shit, you get me outside my imagination catches fire like a moth to a damn flame. There are places that are much better done outside than inside. I don't like being in just one spot to do exercise or play, I want the whole damn field, swim around the entire lake or move around a good stretch of grass just for the love of movement. Can you tell how excited I'am for the spring?

 
    The sun is not always your enemy, some people do have a condition where they're extremely low on Vitamin D and they burn up faster than usual in the sun but with that exception I think the general amount of the population can suck it up and get some sun. Sure it can get pretty damn hot in certain places so indoors is a good idea and it can also get ridiculously colder than Jack Frost's Gene Pool so, find the balance that works for you. Granted some people train in practically every type of weather, hell if acid rained from the sky some insane dude with a death wish will go train, I wondered if a guy ever got caught in a tornado while he was training for the bench press out next to his trailer park? Maybe some beautiful woman with a slim sexy body training for the Ironman get's blown into Hurricane Terrence in the middle of South Beach Miami (sounds like a slightly gay hurricane don't you think); you never know what type of weather people will train in, why not an athlete training in the middle of nowhere Siberia wearing 100 pairs of clothing in 100 below freezing winter just because he wanted to get a few minutes in before he kicks back in his cozy little house and possibly watch some Russian Stand-Up Comedy? All in all, get your Vitamin D in naturally and feel the love and warming touch of that perfectly crisp and lemonade chugging weather where you have the freedom to bask in nature's training arena and take on something you never done before and have a blast doing it.

 
    

The Evolution Of Fingertip Training Is Here

    We sometimes underestimate the power and strength our hands are. We need for a great deal of things like building, climbing, fixing things, folding papers, using specific tools and countless others so when we don't have the strength to use our hands for like a job or something you don't get paid. Yet when we don't realize the strength we need and have it's also sad that the tendons and ligaments aren't as strong as they should be. I've said it before, anybody can build a substantial amount of muscle no matter how small or big but it's the tendons that make the biggest difference and when they're not strong, the chances of an injury are greater. Our hands are more than meets the eye; the touch, the energy and electrical surge throughout our nerves is something most of us forget we have.

 
    I have read many courses in the near 18 years in the fitness field but nothing is as thorough and in your face as the brain child of Matti Marzel's Ferocious Fingertip Course. He's got this incredible and unique mind to tell you bit by bit about the fingers in a way that is so unique it ought to be just for pro athletes who want that competitive edge but yet he wants to share his style and secrets with anyone who wants to learn. I have corresponded with Matti off and on for nearly 4 years and in that time, I learned a ton from him. He's the type of guy that doesn't hold back on anything, he'll tell you off even if it isn't necessary but at the same time, once you see what he represents under the surface it takes a special person just to even understand him at times. However, he is one of the most eager athletes I know that truly has a heart for Physical Culture and wants to do as much as possible and make things happen. He is the spark plug of a new age in Physical Culture and without question he is pound for pound one of the strongest dudes on this planet bar none, I'm shocked Stan Lee's Superhumans didn't catch up with him because his character alone is just as crazy as his strength.

 
    He has some incredible energy and his intensity is just out there and I mean that in a positive way but all of that is just as insane as his course. This course is practically an encyclopedia of developing strength and conditioning using the fingers in more ways than you can imagine. From Push-ups to Levers, Handstands to Pull-ups, Tucks, Hanging, One-Arm Holds, Feats Of Strength and a whole mess more in this monstrous saga of Fingertip Training. He uses some awesome references in this bad boy that take on a life of it's own. Being influenced by many people and sources in Pop Culture like Bruce Lee, Jack Lalanne, Bud Jeffries, Dragonball Z, Rock Climbers, Shaolin Monks and much more. No one has taken on Fingertip Strength quite like Matti. In my opinion, if you want to get the best out of your fitness through the use of your fingers down to the very bone in the modern era, this course will do it guaranteed.

 
    If there is one thing I know for sure especially after learning about fingertip conditioning, you will never look at physical training the same way again. This course can be useful for many athletes and those who want to take it to another level in their training. If you're a baseball player, think of the strength in your swing you can have if you trained the tendons in your lower arm, pitching with hands that are nerves of steel and throwing with even more velocity to get the runner out. If you're a grappler, your fingers will be so freaking strong you'll be tossing guys just using your trigger finger. Into Strength Feats? Think of the power in your tendons to rip phonebooks easier, tear decks of cards in split seconds and bending steel as easy as a clothing hanger. What about being a Firefighter, you need strong hands to handle a hose, strong body to carry another person to safety and definitely need that grip agility to climb those long ladders. Rock Climbers have by far the strongest fingers of any athlete so if you added even remotely a fraction of this course to aid in your rock climbing you'll be even stronger and with that strength I'd be afraid to shake that person's hand man or woman. I encourage you to learn about this course when it's in full fruition and channel your energy into the very core of your hands as you will learn the value of hand strength like never before.

Sprint Like A Madman

    When it comes down to fat burning, speed is the dominant factor next to strength and power. People believe that in order to get into that fat burning zone they need an hour of cardio and possibly another hour of weights when in fact one simple method makes nearly everything like a cakewalk and that's Sprinting. Imagine having a lean and strong muscular body that can burn off calories like a furnace, accelerate your metabolism like lightspeed and give unwanted fat a boot to the ass faster than you can say "A monkey's uncle." Think for a moment if one burst for 8-30 seconds and then rest for up to as much as 5 minutes and repeat that about 5-7 times up to no more than 10 and be able to burn off fat more than doing 1 hour of cardio would you want that? There's no magic pill for a quick fix but if anything came remotely close it's a Sprint Training
program.

 
    We have become an overweight and uneducated society and we have been fed lie after lie in infomercials, magazines, corporate fitness hacks and marketing gimmicks that promise you a greek body in an extremely short amount of time and don't get me started on that Biggest Loser crap it's complete bullshit and it's not what real fitness is. When it comes down to it, the best sculpted and athletically muscular athletes are Gymnasts and Sprinters because they have to utilize every single muscle in the things they do, sprinters utilize the arms just as hard as the legs and if you ever watched Usain Bolt or Michael Johnson you'll know why. Some people can put on muscle more than others and I get that, I'm no fitness model myself but when I'm on a sprinting binge for a several months things change rapidly and I notice way more definition in my musculature than when I do other forms of training. What would it be like to you if you can sleep better at night, engage more growth hormone without taking a single drug, have nearly the type of muscle you had in your younger years, less prone to injury and have a firing lung capacity that would make marathon runners blush? Look far younger and be able to eat nearly whatever you want, I may be younger than most of you guys but even at 30 coming into 31 this July; I still have people tell me I look younger than 21, it's fun to get carded at casinos nowadays. Want to know one of my secrets (besides having that baby face), it's being able to be on a program that takes even less time to get to the gym and hammer out that raw power and feeling like the Flash.

 
    With all forms of exercise, technique is just as important as the workout itself but yet if you're being chased down by a bear or having to run down a suspect hell even race to save someone's life, technique is the last thing on your mind. Your imagination however can speed up the process (pun intended) along with trained technique can make you unstoppable and putting those weak ass pizza loving bums at Planet Fitness or any gym of that caliber to shame. Picture yourself as your favorite superhero with blazing speed like Superman, the Flash, Quicksilver even someone as fast as Blade; when you open up your mind and focus on something that charges your body and brings everything into motion you can add your speeding power by three fold. I'm not going to lie it takes effort and it's tough training plus you're going to be huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf out of breath from trying to blow down the brick house. Never be tense as you sprint, to be as relaxed as you can but use the muscles needed for that burst.

 
    The best part about this type of training is that you can do it for up to 1 hour for the entire week and that's only doing up to 3 workouts in that week total, 20 minutes per workout and the majority of that time is resting. If you have hills, even better because of you fighting gravity and having to push even further and the most you need to go up is 60-70 yards. You can do it at a track or a field near your house. I do my sprints at a field which has two baseball diamonds and a long stretch of grass, before I moved from a few miles, I ran at this little park that stretched about 55 yards. Don't go at your maximum the first time around, I know it's exciting to do and believe me I've been there but you need to set a base of progressions. If you're totally new to sprinting or haven't done it in a while start with 4-5 bursts and build up to ten per workout so for maximum benefit 30 bursts a week is best. Look into it, make sure you keep your joints and muscles warmed up because sprints can be brutal if you don't have supple and flexible joints trust me it's happened to me a time or two but believe when I say this, sprinting is far safer than jogging 10 miles because over time taxing the joints in the ankles, shins and calves can lead to injuries as oppose to sprints that have a few bursts that can increase the strength in the joints because they need to jump start more than usual and it brings another element to tendon power.

Physical Spirituality

    We all seek something within us that brings us peacefulness, love and something to treasure in our lives. Some turn to religion, some hit rock bottom and have crawled back up to find what is truly strong within them and others have a way of making themselves feel alive in some form; for me it's physical training and moving through various planes of motion whether it's bodyweight, moving rocks, swinging the mace or going after a tough circuit. Most people exercise to look better, lose weight and gain strength but they forget what they're doing for themselves within. To truly find the power of your exercise, you can't have the same routine or fiddle some shmucks marketing gimmick; it's doing something a little different, thinking outside the box, following your intuition and enlighten yourself with your creative endeavor. How you get creative is up to you but the best you thing you can learn is to value and subdue yourself in your imagination.

 
    The facets of the Mind/Muscle connection is not just melting the two together but finding a powerful way to utilize the two as if they were the same thing even though one's physical and one's mental. Think into your body as your train and never force something that isn't going to work, find that flow that brings you to a higher level of strength without needing to add unwanted tension. There's a difference between relaxed and loose; being relaxed is when you flow through nearly effortlessly using the muscles needed when applied, loose is when you put no effort into the muscles and moving like the blob. When you think into your muscles and your tendons you're opening up a door you've never in before and it brings a new realm of possibilities. It's better to be relaxed as you exercise rather than being a complete noodle and bringing tension that can lead to injuries.

 
    I'm a spiritual person in the sense where I believe in having a higher sense of being and utilizing what works for me to gain strength both from the inside and outside. Some say spiritual means religious and they're totally different, I'm a free spirit and share my passion. Nobody is forced to read my stuff, I don't care what color your skin is and I certainly don't care whether Jesus is your lord and savior or not, I believe in others and helping them find their passion. I get high off physical activity not drugs or drinking or partying and when I do what makes me happy, I gain energy within myself and it makes me confident and spiritually powerful; I don't know how else to describe it. Most who exercise don't always feel enlightened because they're so distracted from watching TV on the treadmill or fiddling their ipads while they wait for their next set of the bench press and there is definitely no enlightenment when some chick tries to show off her ass while she squats so some jackass notices her. There is beauty in true enlightenment when you are focused on what's important in that moment as you train, you aren't there to gain a BFF or try to do the same type of workout the guy next to you does; you're there to build your body and play around with your favorite exercises that is going help you achieve your goals. When I'm in the gym on that extremely rare occasion, I do what I need to do and walk out of there strong and empowered, not to chit chat about the damn weather to some roided freak with a Narcissist complex or share thoughts about my long lost cousin that I found living in Sheboygan; if I feel the need to talk, I ask questions about training and get ideas on what I can do to be better. I find what it takes to feel great, have a blast and have fun as I train. That's what it really is about.

 
    Finding that connection through your training and your mental strength is to see it, embody it and use it to live your life with fondness, being happy and taking action for what you want to do while having a good level of discipline at the same time. There is a stronger version inside everyone one of us and it's up to you to find that stronger version of yourself. Sure we all have different types of responsibilities and having a hectic life especially if you got kids and a marriage and having to deal with jobs and making sure you got food to eat but with all that even, you can still find that spiritual connection within yourself and there is no excuse for that. Do what you can to make yourself happy, you can't please everyone and certainly can't say to every damn thing but at the end of the day whether it's 5 minutes or 1 hour, devote time to who you are and set your goals little by little even by the smallest fraction. Gain enlightenment in your own way, mine just happens to be through physical training hence the term Physical Spirituality.

Sometimes You Just Have To Back Off

    For a little over a week now I've practically dived into some crazy circuit workouts from Neila Rey and have smashed through most of them hitting their Level 3 objectives. As I'm going through the Batman Workout, I felt good but something didn't seem right, it wasn't pain or anything physically debilitating but around half way into my 4^th round of the circuit I just felt the need to stop because in one simple moment I felt completely burned out and needed to stop. I rarely ever stop right in the middle of a workout when I'm nearly half way into it but yet intuitively and listening to my body I was just done. That's the thing with me, I have a strong intuition an extreme few really know about and know my true side to things. It has become my rock and my understanding of awareness within not just my surroundings but my internal instincts. I have used it more than just physical exercise but also used it to pick up on things, not like a psychic or anything like that just have a bit of universal instinct to get certain things right away or see something and know exactly where I've seen it before. When you have that particular thing about you, don't ever ignore it, it can be your greatest ally in your life.

 
    Since I had the need to back off and do something else like just moving and utilizing the Animal Flow type movements just to feel like I really accomplished something is my intuition guiding me and letting me know it's ok. I really wanted to do that workout and I felt like I let myself down but looking at it from how my instincts hit and telling me to let it go it felt really good. Sometimes you just need to back off, regroup and take in a deep breath. I'm not superhuman or have the speed of the flash or the strength of superman, I'm only human and my mind and body just needed to notify me. Make the best of things and when you're ready to come back, do it with a vengeance because you're coming in stronger and more focused than ever.

 
    It does get to me when I can't train the way I want to sometimes but I can't dwell on it because I know in my deepest level of my heart and soul there is a way to turn things around and move on. Some people just push so hard they don't realize what they're doing to themselves until it's too late. I have known strongmen who needed to back off even for just a day to regroup because like in the middle of a performance something just doesn't seem right but they do the best to their abilities to finish what they can; let's face it if you tear something in your arm or in your leg unless you're on adrenaline or have the understanding of blocking that "governor" you're not going to be at your best for your next feat, it happens. What you do is take a deep breath, realize you need to focus on something else and deal with it. You will be at your best the next time around and it will be better than you expected. Happens to me at times and plenty of people I know because if you slip up when you're not at your best there can be serious consequences.

 
    Take it in stride and understand that once you know you're ready to come back, things will feel differently and you'll do even greater than before. I knew if I kept going on fumes, eventually I might've ended up possibly passing out, get injured or worse end up in the hospital so I understood what my instincts were telling me. Right now I'm still feeling the effects of that workout, the workout wasn't even that difficult, I've belted through tougher workouts than that in my sleep (slight exaggeration) but if my body was shutting down that early in the game I needed to take notice and deal with it by stopping and taking care of myself; drinking water, breathing deeply and walk it off. Sure it sucked because I was really into it but I don't settle for less than being at my best, if I'm off by a mere percentage say 15% than it's not worth it to me to keep pushing that hard. When I push hard and I can still go as hard as when I started that's when it's worth it but not if I end up passing out or doing something I'll regret. I know I'll be ready next time around and make sure my recovery is at its priority. So when you train and you feel mad at yourself because you couldn't finish, wise up and know that you did what you could and focus getting back to being at your best. Many people quit for a long time because of that one moment where they just couldn't do it anymore; they push themselves so hard that once they run on fumes it's going to be just as strong when in fact if you're not as strong as you went in something's up and you need to deal with it and not act like that's it and be done forever, it's a little setback. Challenge yourself but at the same time, take care of yourself and do what you need to do to get back at it stronger and more enduring the last time. Be hungry but also be aware and listen.