Do You Have To Be Loyal To A Specific Program?

When we learn something new that is exciting and gets us results, we tend to stick to that program and not see the others as another form of exercise. There are some die-hard enthusiasts out there using specific programs that have either become life changing, a change of pace or that it is the one-all-be-all. To tell you the truth, I know what it's like to be die-hard and do a program that just doesn't compare to others but the fact of the matter is, no program is created equal and none are the end-all-be-all.

True there are some programs I do like that i'm head over heels for like animal movements, isometrics and using a deck of cards for reps doing hammer work when I'm in that mode but I don't have that worship, needy and desperate need to do style that many people have. It doesn't make them bad people or any of those things but there comes a time where it is ok to experiment and mix things up. It has some similarities to meeting and having a relationship with some people, it's new and exciting but you don't always know the real deal until you have dug deep into the heart of it/them and see the true side to certain things.

Many people treat one program as if it was a marriage; it's rough on certain days, it's amazing on others but in the end, you can't live without it. I see it from another perspective; I don't see just one program as a thing I would do the rest of my life, I see everything I have learned and mold it into the perfect program for me. Taking the qualities, the flaws, the pros and cons plus trusting in it what I feel that invests my time and energy. It's like Weird Science where the two kids took a computer and created the perfect woman that has beauty, brains and a bit of a wild side and although it worked, they ended up learning something out of it they never expected. I take the very best that are like puzzle pieces and create a the best picture just for me but I also nurture it, take it for what it is and let it teach me things nothing else can.

What does this have to do with loyalty? There's nothing wrong with it but if you don't have a great investment in it, how can you manage your full heart and soul into it? Loyalty is a word thrown around a lot and not just in fitness and loyalty can be deadly if it's around the wrong kind of people. It is the same thing with exercise, it may look cool and you invest yourself in it but will it give anything back? Just like a relationship, you get what you put into and it goes both ways otherwise why call it a relationship? Invest what works for you and you put what you feel is worth it and if it works the way it was meant to, it'll give back more than you'll expect. Be loyal to yourself and what you invest in and the thing you put yourself into will give back, just pay attention to it.

Magnify Your Conditioning By Doing Superhero Circuits

The best workouts should not last more than 45 min. to an hour because you want to get the most out of the session and have a tiny bit left in the tank. There's nothing wrong with challenging yourself but you also don't want your energy too depleted either. Utilize your training with purpose and passion but also be smart and use it to your advantage. That's one of the reasons why circuits play a huge role in amplifying your conditioning. Take 4 exercises or more and hit them hard using repetitions you can do and go from one exercise to another with no rest. There are so many ways to train this way but for someone like me, I like the style of using a theme that would pump someone up and want to get into it.

Superhero Circuits is a personal favorite of mine when I'm in the mood to really tackle a workout. Although my interest is mainly animals, isometrics and just playing; it's fun to do something different and have a blast with it. What if you could do a workout based on heroes like Batman, Green Lantern, Black Widow, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow & Wolverine? Maybe you're not big on superheroes but into the villains; how about Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Bane or others? When you have an interest in something and it gets you fired up and full of passion and love for exercise, what do you think your results will be? Chances are you'll be in far better shape mentally and physically than just going through the motions. It may be better than nothing but if you don't have that fire, they won't come the way they're truly meant to.

Circuits are no joke and if you're not ready for them, you're in for a rude awakening when you try one for the first time. The 1st time I did the Batman Workout, I could barely breathe and was shaking from head to toe and that was the first few rounds and that was with the two minute rest periods. I progressed and got it not once but several times doing 10 solid rounds. It is a hell of a workout and if you want to get in shape fast and anywhere at anytime this will do it.

That's another great benefit of these workouts is that you can do them anywhere and anytime; in a hotel room, at the park, in a cabin, on the beach, during a work break or after getting out of bed. They're also incredible for those that travel because it's not always fun to keep traveling to a gym and if you're short on time like needing to get to a meeting or going to a theme park like Disneyland, you want to be in and out stat. Hitting the weights is always fun don't get me wrong but it's ok to step back and work on just your bodyweight and enjoy yourself the rest of the time. Another great set of benefits is that you can adjust the level of the intensity by your level of fitness, if you can't do any of the level of sets with the allotted repetitions, cut the reps in half and build up until you can do it. Whatever works for you, make it happen and eventually, you'll be breezing through some of these like a boss.


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Sometimes You Just Have To Let Loose And Go Ape S*it

Working out can be a real chore to some people and forcing themselves to do something for the sake of just doing it can hinder progress. Whenever I'm in a rut or just need a break from regular training, I just go all out and be wild. Moving like my spirit animal the Gorilla. It creates a more fun atmosphere and just cut loose and be me. Being yourself in your training can be scary and want to be someone else because you're too concerned of what others may think.

There are times where I just don't know what to do because i'm not a routine guy and when I try to be it doesn't last long, not that i'm not motivated, just not interested and want to be different. I love doing different workouts but there's something about moving like a wild primate that just feels right and when my instincts kick in, I don't have a choice I just go for it.

Now when I mean going Ape S*it, i'm not talking about bouncing off the walls and smashing everything in a ground and pound style; it's crawling, hanging, jumping and just letting everything out in a productive way. It's one of the things that gets me in a better mood utilizing animal movements. It's letting me have the freedom, the ability to really use my imagination and create what I WANT, not what everyone thinks I may want or have to do.

Let loose every once in a while. Might do you some good. Be wild, be free and just go. If you can't be yourself, you're not really training.

Is It Better To Look Good Than To Feel Good?

In the 80's on Saturday Night Live, Billy Crystal played a character that was an aristocrat that would rather look damn good than to feel good about himself. More like a hollow outlook on life that many people tend to follow without realizing it. The motto of his character Fernando was "Darlings, it is better to look good than to feel good you know what i'm saying?" Now what does this relate to? Well for decades, even centuries, image is a powerful thing and it has made many people successful, many others suffer but also makes it an importance beyond the reality of the body's true meaning.

Image is just a speck of the real outlook to how a person can be physically, mentally and emotionally. It brings up the targeted audience in the fitness industry where image far outweighs the feel of a person. You see the pictures in the magazines, on the stage, on tv; looking directly at you and judging the appearance. Just about anybody can look good with the right tools and elements that make up the image of that individual but yet what is the image? What is the first thing you notice about a person with tattoos, a rock hard body, the way they sit, their posture or the way they do things in your surroundings? It's a rarity to say "what do I feel" than to say "what do I see".

A lot of us have an issue with our image and who or what we want to be on the outside but what about the inside? The irony is the feelling tends to come out more what you just see from the exterior but many can also hide what they feel by projecting themselves into a world that what you see is nowhere near what's on the inside. You'll ind people that say "what you see is what you get" but the trouble is that it is more rare than we want to believe whether someone says it or says it to themselves. I at times see a horrible image of myself and hear doubts, fears and feel hopeless but yet I don't always show that. We hide our emotions and our feelings because in some cases, we are taught to do that and only show what we want you to see because if you knew the truth, it would make us vulnerable and conflicted plus it's breaking down the world we built around ourselves we strive to keep locked and sealed.

Looking good can make you successful and even maybe get you an endorsement or having your face on a box of cereal or in a commercial selling stuff that is already sketchy in the first place. Just looking good however, comes with a price and if you let it consume you, it throws away the real aspects of your true self and letting the outside judge you more on the exterior than what the interior really has in stored. I'm no model, I don't have six pack abs or 20 inch arms, for the most part I'm just solid physically but my true self has passion, compassion, emotional rollercoasters, a memory that is both a blessing and a curse, I'm very happy most of the time but I do have my downfalls of being a pain in the ass at times, it's a fact lol. I don't strive to look like a greek god or even come close to looking like a young Brad Pitt, but I do what I can to be good hearted, train to the best of my abilities, play, have fun and be good to somebody who's having a rough time.

You don't need to be crazy good looking to live a full life. The funny thing is, what you see from a good looking person is like this; they look like Zeus or Aphrodite on the outside but on the inside they can be like Medusa or Hades and you won't even know it until it becomes painfully obvious and then it's too late. Some people who don't have the MIS (Model Image of Society) are the sweetest, most caring and all around amazingly awesome people on the planet. It takes guts to really feel something than to cover it up with an image some are not proud of and are ashamed to wear.

Image on the outside is like a painting made of colors, expressions and little details that take on a life of their own but the feeling is in the self image, it goes beyond the colors, the expressions and the little details; it is a larger world that is the hardest to master and to express the emotional content and hitting a surface that for many take decades to find, some never reach it because to them, feeling something is a weakness and if you express those feelings, you're going to lose your image. So let me ask you again.....Is it better to look good than to feel? Some people have both, many have one or the other, the real question is, which one do you plan on using to make yourself real to the world?



Herb Of The Day: Sea Buckthorn 

Animal Isometrics And Developing Strength In An Even Greater Unique Aspect Of Muscular Power And Conditioning

I see things differently and not always look at one aspect of training as the end-all-be-all. Isometrics are very underrated compared to other forms of mainstream fitness yet it is one of the most important elements that will take your strength, speed and agility to a whole other realm where possibilities are endless. You can do Isometrics just about anywhere and anytime whether using equipment or not and it doesn't matter if you're a beginner or an advanced athlete.

Isometrics have been used for centuries and have been done in ways we still have yet to discover. It has helped men and women get strong and powerful from a variety of positions that are endless and have aided them in countless sports, everyday life, rehab, military training, yoga, wrestling and law enforcement. One form of isometrics that I have rediscovered is through the holding positions used in Animal style movements. Now what are isometrics exactly? It is the element that has you holding a position against an immovable object or against yourself.

For Animal Isometrics, these will build strength from angles not normally used in typical Isometric fashion. If you were to do a crawling movement, you can take a step and then press your hands and feet into the ground as hard as you can for up to 10 seconds or less. This builds the foundation for holding yourself up and engaging your body in a unique way. What about jumping or leg movements? Well for example the Frog Jump; obviously you can't hold an isometric in mid air unless you have the gift of flight so how about holding the frog jump in mid squat to full squat and contracting the muscles hard in that position. Breathe out doing an "sssss" or "fffff" sound, never hold your breath on any isometric contraction as this can lead to hypertension, unwanted blood pressure and even headaches.

For beginners, this builds that foundational strength and creates that surge of power in the tendons and joints. Balance is crucial especially for those over 40. When you can build strong tendons and ligaments, the rest will fall into place. Another great aspect of Isometrics especially utilizing in mimicking animals where you can lessen the intensity of a contraction and just hold yourself up in a position and stay there as long as you can. If you can hold a crab exercise for over a minute, that builds some serious tendon strength, how about a flamingo hold? Being able to squat or balance on one leg for five minutes is tough as hell but imagine the strength you'll have in your knees, ankles and overall leg power and explosiveness.

If you're an advanced athlete and have done animal movements for a while, start holding positions and see where your strength takes you. Imagine being a little faster, have greater intuition and developing a greater skill in the mind/muscle connection. You'll have lesser chances of getting injured and think of the strength you'll have if you're in a combat sport. If you're in MMA, think about what it be like to be explosive and take down your opponent with ease, have pinning power beyond belief, punch with such force that a knockout is inevitable, be able to slap on submissions because your grip will be so strong that they can't get away and be able to squeeze without much effort that you'll be like a freaking anaconda.

Make Isometrics a part of your arsenal, especially in the ways of the animal.



Herb Of The Day:  Thor's Hammer Formula

The Effectiveness is in the Combination
All of these together is designed to be stronger than just one alone. If you talked to a consultant you might be able to figure out which of these four steps is the needed one for you. But why not just take care of everything all at once?

Just a single herb can work wonders for any one person. However, people are different. So when you have a blend like this of five herbs, you’re better ensured of getting great effects as they all work through all the different possibly dis-functions.

And as you’ve seen, the effects of these herbs extend beyond the one main function we aim it at. There will be side effects. Good ones! Though you may take this formula for performance in the bedroom don’t be surprised when you notice better health and effectiveness in other areas of your life.*

One wife commented, “That’s the hardest your d*ck has ever been!” Another guy said, “Is this thing going to stop?!?”*