My Recent Visits And Lifts At The Gym

I officially have had a membership to a gym for a few weeks now and mainly going once or twice a week at best, no more than three because I still love my bodyweight training and can do that anywhere and go in just to have fun moving heavy stuff around. It is quite an experience and have met a few people and have had a great time lifting some iron again and some new lifts I've never done before.

My lifts are not that special since I have no where near the strength some of these guys have but it is thrilling to be alongside them and try things out. I have learned a little on lifting stones but due to back issues still I haven't hit a heavy one as much as I'd like but that will change soon. I have picked up an 88 lb. stone which is pretty easy for me although I Am a beginner, picking it up and pressing it for reps and learn the technique. My next stone is around 150-155 lbs. I'm lucky I can still move some hefty dumbbells and like a Dinosaur, just do basic stuff no bodybuilding or to look like a pretty boy, not my forte. Carried up to 90 lb. dumbbells across an area of the gym for at least a couple revolutions in the Farmer's Walk. Haven't done this since I first trained with my friend Tyler "Garage Warrior" Bramlett.

One lift I'am surprised I can still pull off is benching more than my bodyweight. I haven't touched the barbell bench press in roughly 10 years and ended up benching 285 at the end. My max however was 305 back in the day but within a near 15 year period, 20 lbs lost is not that much if you really think about it and this is after years of push-ups, pull-ups, animal exercise, isometrics and other things so I'm actually happy. Doing the Log Press for the first time was quite an experience, learning the bar alone was 100 lbs so I was up for a challenge and managed up to round 150 for 5 reps or so. Doing the Yoke for the first time was a real eye opener and a humbling experience I'll never forget. Without weight on the corners, it is 200 lbs. alone (52 pounds below my bodyweight) and started out with that and carrying it across an area of the gym. My max carry was around 435 and for a first timer at age 33 and never carried that much weight in my life, it was incredibly exciting. My max weight however without carrying was a partial squat lift of 525 lbs. (more than doubled my bodyweight).

As I started getting a bit of a bug, I wanted to amp things up a little bit. For the most part I'm no really interested in deadlifting or benching anymore and focus mainly on odd object lifting, thick bar training (fat gripz) and other strongman style training at the gym. I decided to bring my fat gripz to the party and see what I can do with a thicker bar (they have an axle barbell but you never know who wants to play with that) so I have done just overhead pressing, rows and curls with them. My best lift in the overhead press with the FG has been 185 lb. for 1-3 reps for multiple sets, would love to hit 200 soon. DB Benched with the 65-70 lbs dumbbells with the FGs and curl with 30-40 lbs. for multiple reps. Without the FG I can still curl for reps with more than 50 lbs with DBs so that felt awesome to be able to do.

Now I'm not doing anything heavier than I need to do and never train to failure. I only do things I can instinctively do and I never reach a point of pain, sure I can go far heavier but why would I need to, I have nothing to prove. Some guys like to push their limits and see how far they can take it which is fine for them and kudos for their efforts but for me, it's about having fun and just playing around. I'am serious about going into a lift yes but not to the point where I'm maxing out and being in pain, I lift what I can and be able to walk straight and still lift my arms up without joints hurting.

Usually after a lifting session, I put on some swim trunks and go in the pool for a finisher or to cool down and let my body recover. This really helps the process and will do a little more training later in the day like animal moves or core training. Deciding to drop my guard a bit on joining a gym and seeing what I can experience and take in with it, very inexpensive and the only gym with an actual strongman room, that sold me right there. It is not my intent to be a full fledged strongman from that area since I already have done strongman stuff like steel bending, phonebook tearing and levering hammers. This is more of an adventure and learning certain skills. It is a blast and more than just doing lifts, I'll play basketball every now and then, I love to swim when the opportunity arises and help encourage guys around me, some of them are intimidating looking but after 20 years of off and on training in all sorts of areas, you get used to it being around big guys and learning from them as they can learn from you. Some of them are just young kids in their early-mid 20's and have a ton of potential so hopefully I can pass on some of my wisdom and share knowledge with them.

Eleuthero Root Extract

If you’re like most Americans today, you’re very likely under a decent amount of stress. 

We tend to be have a fairly stressed culture since many of us are chasing the American dream. 

Can you relate?Today I’ve got 2 simple tips to share with you, for when you’re feeling a little worn down, stressed out and like the world is on your shoulders. 

(Note if you think Tip #1 is obvious, keep reading because Tip #2 is something you may not have heard of before and helps tremendously)

Tip #1. Exercise.

This may seem obvious, but it’s far overlooked.

You need regular exercise at LEAST 5 days a week. And you should be breaking a sweat on most of those days.

This is extremely important since sweating helps detoxify your body, balance your hormones and boost your metabolism.

The best part is… after just ONE good workout you can lower your stress levels dramatically.

So if you’re under ANY stress… go for a run, hit the gym and push your body.

Tip #2. Supplement with Adaptogens, like Eleuthero

First of all … what are adaptogens?

Adaptogens are a type of substance (often herbs) which build your body’s resistance to stress.

They do this by working on your adrenal glands (which are responsible for your body’s production of hormones) . . .

You can think of adaptogens as body armor that fight off stress INSIDE your body.

These are great to consume when you’ve got a busy schedule, a heavy workload, and especially when you need all the help you can get to relieve stress.

Some adaptogens have been proven in human studies to lower cortisol (the stress hormone) in stressed individuals by 30%. That’s epic.

One of my favorite adaptogens is Eleuthero.

It’s often called Siberian Ginseng … since Russia gave it to their athletes to boost their performance . . . and it was mistaken for ginseng.

So if you’d like an easy boost in stress reduction, I highly recommend you:

1. Hit the gym

2. Try Eleuthero out today (it will protect you from ongoing, day-to-day and chronic stress… which is the type known to affect us worst).

Not only will Eleuthero help reduce stress, but studies have shown it can help you lose weight.

… one 8 week study on Eleuthero found a 43% increase in the body’s ability to burn fat.*

Try Eleuthero risk free, from my favorite and most trusted herbal company, Lost Empire Herbs.

Animal Exercise & The Connection To Our Brains

As infants, there is natural order in the world, we cry, we're hungry and we laugh but more than that, we have natural progressions from crawling to standing to walking bipedally. As we get older, our natural order of things start to become unnatural; we sit too much, we don't crawl as much, we don't stand very long unless it's in a line at a bank, mcdienolds, burger queen or supermarket and even, it doesn't feel really natural. The brain becomes accustomed to the surroundings and have that mentality of "Monkey see, Monkey do." We stop being our natural selves and buck up for society's sake and trade our natural movement for desk jobs, driving people around and other sorts of unnatural tendencies.

We even have forgotten our true nature of exercise and replaced it with metal machines and isolating the body to make it look pretty. We have lost the ability to understand ourselves individually and become a part of the pecking order of doing trends and following orders. We have forgotten our universal spirit of the SELF.

A major reason I have built a level of specializing in Animal Exercise is not just to learn a movement and mimic something wild in the jungle; it is to understand the natural connection to ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally. Add in some spiritual connection but not through religious entities but through the universal element of the soul. Going beyond just the movement, it is recreating the natural order of the human body and sustaining lifelong health, strength (not just physically), agility and other attributes that constitute what was already within and bringing it out.

The connection to our brains as we move and hold within the mechanics of the animal moves opens up new neurons in the tissue and revitalizing the electrical stimuli in the spine, muscles, tendons and ligaments that protect our body. Animal Exercise may not turn you into an Einstein or an Issac Newton but with consistency and controlling the movements whether slow or fast, your intelligence can increase overtime and jumpstart the hormones in the body like when you were a kid. It has been proven that exercise can have an impact on the brain and help generate great power for motor skills, coordination and spatial awareness.

Think about it, in order to move like a bear, crab, ape, bird or reptile, you're forcing the brain to send impulses to the muscles needed in order to move in those positions. You are naturally sending the nerves into overdrive and provide the electricity in the spine in order to hit step by step, move for move and even hold for hold. You are recreating the natural order of the earth and strengthening your body from the inside out starting from the brain to the spine, to the organs, to the muscles and to the nerves.

Children beyond more than benefit from learning this type of training and it's not just for the sake of exercise, it is creating an exciting, stimulating and active form of development. Think what it would do to your kid if you had them do just 5 minutes a day to get going doing Animal Exercises, what they can do for their brains, the development of their motor skills, their imaginations and the ability to strengthen their minds where intelligence can be enhanced? Now this doesn't mean you force it on them, that can easily push them away but instead, make it a game, let them naturally find their stride and help them move like a wild animal. It is a great way to make friends, be interactive, play and harness their natural abilities to be on the path for whatever they go for in life. Adults can benefit from this as well but it is important to not be analytical and progressively let things flow and do what you are capable of and build from there.

Get that brain stimulated and unleash your Animality.

Animal Moves Develop Muscles At Awkward Angles

The world of fitness is a mighty big place; you have your plethora of exercises, programs, supplements, equipment and workouts galore. Many of the programs today don't have any real emphasis of the full muscular structure starting from the inside, it is always what you can build on the outside. That's why you see many people do exercises based on bodybuilding more than real function. I'm not knocking bodybuilding in general, if that's what you want to do than by all means but it is important on what information you learn about.

The old school style of bodybuilding isn't really on piecing the body like a puzzle, it is to structure the whole body as if it was a single unit using multiple muscles in a single exercise and working the tendons and ligaments along with muscle training. The simplicity is to use as basic form of exercise as possible without relying on the isolated machines people use. We're talking about Presses, Pulls, Squats, Grip Work & Ab Training. These in turn build realistic muscular power and strength along with agility but that isn't always enough.

Many of the single best equipment for old school training has you doing up and down movements, if you were to focus more of the tendons you would do partials at specific positions of a movement or you hold the exercise in a static (non-moving) position. If you want to add this type of training that is more functional, lookup Bud Jeffries, Brooks Kubik, John Grimek, Otto Arco, Maxick, John Davis and others of that caliber. 

Up and down movement are phenomenal in their own right along with using the most basic tools and little to no machines (Rehab & Isolated Bodybuilding are the only reasons they're good for) but to get the most out of the functioning of the muscles along with the bone structure this is where nature thrives. Animal Exercises do not isolate the muscles as they work you from multiple positions and angles.

The awkward positions like say in a crab walk or a lizard crawl, build strength in a unique way as oppose to singular type movements in weightlifting or machines. When you move around like an animal, you're forced to use the whole body and twist, turn and generate power in the joints rather than just going up and down. If you already lift weights, I would suggest get Fat Gripz as they force the muscle fibers to fire regardless of the exercise and due to gripping hard enough to move, you're generating greater strength and growth to the muscles. Add animal moves to the mix and your strength will have limitless potential. Other bodyweight exercises are great but they can't compare to the animals.

Get the most out of your training using methods that are simple yet can kick your ass. Don't see yourself as pieces of a puzzle, look at the bigger picture and utilize training that encompasses the full potential of your body not just in the muscles but the tendons, ligaments, joints, organs and overall bone structure. 

Superhero Fit Using Animal Exercises

If you could transform into an animal, what would it be? What attributes would want for that animal? Many superheroes have incredible attributes of Super Strength, Unlimited Endurance, Mega Speed, Flexibility beyond belief and have incredible senses. Animals also have some attributes that have them existing and surviving for eons.

The cheetah is the Flash/Quicksilver of the Animal Kingdom, ability to take down a prey in the blink of an eye and starts off running before a car even starts. Animals like elephants, gorillas, bears and even the Dung Beetle have incredible Strength & Power to take down some of the most versatile animals on the planet. A Tiger has insane stamina and can cover an area up in the triple digits in miles, it's tendons are so powerful that if shot and killed, it's believed to still be standing on its legs. Flexibility is a great attribute that helps stay loose and works well being able to stretch for any occasion; the sea lion has staggering flexibility where although they're a little on the heavy side, they can stretch far back enough to their heads can touch their spines, that's incredible.

Animal movements help you in a unique way to gain strength and conditioning that most "human" exercises cannot touch. This is mainly because while most common exercises have you going up and down, the animals have you going in all sorts of directions (long ways, short ways, left, right, east, west, sideways, backwards, forwards ect). Superheroes need to be able to handle levels of strength and durability from all sorts of directions in order to survive in a battle. Take Batman for example; he's an incredibly skilled martial artist that moves in different directions and able to detect upcoming moves regardless which direction it is coming from, he ducks, blocks, kicks, punches and wrestles from time to time in as many places to fight as possible.

The Animal Moves give you long-lasting strength and endurance that can have you keep going even when you think your tank is running empty, they have you crawling, jumping, balancing, dragging and using every muscle your body is known to have plus gives the tendons and ligaments some strengthening as well. Many athletes use animal moves to keep them in the game, one of the most common animals used in sports is the Bear Crawl; moving on all fours puts another stamp on building the body fast than if you were to just run or walk on your legs. Animal moves have also been known to naturally jack up hormone production and develop youthful physique-like qualities such as shapely arms, firm ass, thoroughbred legs, a chest filled with lung power and abs that are incredibly powerful and functional. The moves can be used for cardio, flexibility training, strength-endurance, agility and more.

Superheroes have some of the most powerful physiques around although you won't have comic-book type muscles, you can naturally develop muscle mass and burn off fat as it also helps with increased metabolism. Move like a bear, a cheetah, gorilla, duck and many other animals that scream fitness and awesome conditioning. Get superhero type muscle that isn't just for show and become wild and free.

They don't take that long to do and it is very difficult, almost impossible to be bored from them since you're moving in different directions and using muscles you don't normally use. All you need is no more than 20 minutes at best and only about 5 minutes to start. It save you time and they can be done by anyone and for all ages.

Animal Kingdom Conditioning: Survival Of The Fittest

Animal Kingdom Conditioning: Call Of The Wild

Wild Animal Fitness For Kids

Animal Kingdom Workouts DVD

Animal Kingdom Workouts Book