Workout Like Harley Quinn

Me and the wife went to see the new DC Film Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn) recently and although it wasn't that great of a DC movie, it was fun to watch. The soundtrack was pretty bad ass and the stunts & fight scenes were great too. Margot Robbie does a decent job as the Clown Princess of Gotham and is more of a Siren than a Bird Of Prey.

It is interesting how mega stars get in shape for blockbuster roles; Marvel films are notorious for having really in shape actors for the characters but truth be told, being in shape in hollywood comes at a cost for the most part. The transformations alone can be admirable but it takes a toll after a while and even can cause health problems (do some research on Tom Hardy as Bane and you'll see what I'm talking about). Training and working out for a big role makes typical gym rats look like wimps but that's because you have hands-on personal trainers that take those actors to limits the average person would be put in the hospital for.

Learning what Robbie did for Suicide Squad was pretty gnarly; a lot of HIIT workouts and working with a trainer that had ballet experience added in the mix and you got yourself some hard ass work ahead of you. I don't know how much of this training was true but it's definitely not the type of training that can go long term and for specific reasons. When you're getting ready to film or preparing for a role, you're on a time cruncher and that actor has to be ready to be in shape not just for scenes to look great on screen but be able to maintain it for as long as the shooting goes.

Some of these workouts last up to an hour or more everyday of the week and often it is within 3-6 months before shooting even starts and to maintain while being on set, you're constantly being pressured to keep the physique where the movie makers need you and that means doing little workouts between takes, eating at specific times or do a hard workout before going on set that day. The thing you'll notice in most of these workout schedules with actors is very little recovery time and that's where the toll really comes in because you're training, filming, eating and filming some more day and day out until it ends. Recovery is virtually non-existent.

 Nobody in their right mind should workout like an actor has to and although many people are envious that these people can afford trainers, chefs, coaches and anything else in between, when it comes down to it still have to put the work in otherwise their spot can be taken just like that. If you want to train long-term and develop a superhero type physique, you work with realistic goals and workouts that not only aid in muscle building but give you time to recover and be able to do little things.

One of the best methods for training for general fitness is through Circuit Training. Done enough of it myself, I can tell you that when you learn the aspects of training this way and understanding your body's level of condition and strength, you can do this for quite some time and figure out when and how to properly train the body in this fashion. You don't need a personal chef, trainer or coach to make your goals work; websites like Darebee.com have so much information and over 1000 workouts to choose from (most of which is bodyweight related so you can do them anywhere) you have everything you need at your fingertips.

One of the workouts I have done and even my wife has done is the Harley Quinn Workout which nowhere near is as intense as Robbie's workouts but can save you a ton of time while working the body at a solid level. It's not on the darebee website but you can do some research on it and type in Superhero Workouts Neila Rey in google search.

As you can see, it's a heavy emphasis on the legs and punching. Yeah it's geared towards women but guys shouldn't knock this workout, I did multiple workouts with this where I did 10 Rounds with very little rest in between, it's an ass kicker for sure. Girls, if you're a Harley Quinn fan and want to get in shape, here you go. Do this workout up to 3 times a week and see the results. If you're really ambitious and want to pack on some functional muscle and burn fat like a furnace, do this workout with very little rest to none whatsoever unless to check off that set. Go for 10 rounds and see how you do. You might even see Harley working with you and picturing the Joker running like a little bitch cause he couldn't handle a woman like YOU.

Update From My Scary Moment

Wanted to give a quick update about the moment that was scary as hell for me and how a breathing exercise went wrong.....

It's been well over a week since it happened and haven't had an episode since. I'am due for a physical and I will at some point get checked out but based on my research and what I can recall from that experience, I never had any symptoms of a stroke. No droopiness of the face, passing out/blackout, nothing abnormal in tastes or smells, no difficulty of speaking, no altered visions, no headaches, no numbness or tingling on the right or left side of my body, no particular balance issues, no temp blindness in one or both eyes and certainly very little memory loss which came back really fast.

The biggest factors that i'm pretty damn sure made that moment happen was having a panic attack after doing those breathing techniques, having a typical argument with my wife which I take responsibility for and trying to make dinner all at the same time just went into overdrive and caused me to have what was likely an Anxiety attack. I'am prone to anxiety which has lessened over the years and due to the meningitis I had as a baby, there are certain triggers to my brain that cause certain things, nothing severe though.

This was the only bad episode of this specific caliber I ever experienced in my life so the chances of it happening again are extremely slim if at all but I have taken better precautions, breathing deeply using more of diaphragmatic and using techniques based on CoreForce Energy. My energy is still very much intact, went for a walk the other day for about an hour and wasn't anywhere near out of breath and still able to do my workouts without any fatigue or shortness of breath. I feel really good but I do know from now on, chest breathing and intercostal techniques are a no-go and I pay attention to my breathing and how my body feels if i'm feeling anxious or there's a trigger.

I have received comments about this incident on this blog and I thank you so much for your support and giving feedback on your own experiences. I have also learned of concerns from people in a place where they're also known to have little to no sympathy or remorse towards me and I want to thank them too. We all have this one life, take care of yourself but don't be so cautious it takes away what life also has to offer. I've been in far worse situations and have survived near death on multiple occasions, this was just a really bad night and it has passed.

I'am in a twisted way grateful for what happened because it was a lesson that had to teach me what can happen if something were to go wrong and I feel blessed to be in the shape i'm in and able to pull through without going through what could've been far, far worse. If I wasn't in shape, the ER would've been without question. Take care of yourselves and sending all of you (even the assholes on a certain forum) positive vibes and a peaceful day.

Isometric Deck Of Cards Workout

Doing a deck of cards workout is quite challenging, especially if you put in specific reps for each suit. Although it's far more common today, these workouts were the foundation for many athletes and not always fore recreation or plain fitness. The most infamous athlete to do this type of workout was Karl Gotch but other athletes such as Ray Lewis, Mike Tyson, Ric Flair, Antonio Inoki and Herschel Walker would make the deck an alternative at times when it was needed.

You can put just about any exercise you want in a deck but it's more efficient if it was done bodyweight style because that way you get it done anywhere especially if you're traveling. Sometimes it's good to add a little flare to the deck or even change the entire complexity by doing something very unique. I'm talking about Isometrics.

Even with all the science and expertise, not many today still can't grasp the idea of Isometric Training. Unless you talk to guys like Bud Jeffries, Steve Justa, Steve Maxwell, Jarell Lindsey and a few others, Isometrics have become somewhat of a lost art as a pure common form of fitness training. Now let's take Isometric Exercise and apply it to the deck of cards. How the hell do you do that?

 Instead of doing the typical repetitions, you hold the positions for a count of seconds or breaths. Just holding for seconds alone can be tough but holding positions for breaths is a whole other ball game. What do I mean by this, well after you shuffled and flipped a card, say a 5 and it was a push-up; you do one full rep of a push-up but you count down from 5 in the upper, middle and low positions of that push-up and come back up and move onto another card or you can take 5 breaths in each position and then move on. For squats, I prefer wall sits but you can hold the half squat if you wish.

Now imagine going through a whole deck of this caliber. For the Matt Furey Exercise bible, it's the Hindu Push-up, Wall Sits, V-Up Hold & Tablemaker. If you drew a joker, that's 25-50 counts of a wall sit or you take in breaths which can last longer than seconds, could be a few minutes. It's a very different type of workout where you're focusing not so much on the muscles and speeding through, you're working the tendons and ligaments; strengthening bones and building strength from the inside out. There's no time limit for this workout because you never know how long you hold a position. This takes breathing to another level and you're going to feel amazing.

Now if you were to hold an abdominal exercise such as the sit-up or in my case the V-Up Hold, that's a bit more difficult to hold because this requires more balanced strength and it's definitely a full body hold and most can't hold it for more than a couple seconds. When I get that card, I would hold for as long as I can, come down and hold it again, repeat that until the count for that card is done (sucks the most if you get a face card). It's still a great exercise to test your balance and strength in a fixed position.

I've only done the Isometric deck on a couple occasions and the last one was a couple days ago. It's a different feel and you will sweat, maybe swear and learn a whole new meaning to the words Tendon Strength. This is like a concept martial artists such as Kung Fu masters, Karate guys and Shaolin Monks who would hold stances for extended periods of time and have strength not many can explain. The mindset to do this workout is in a class by itself and most people won't get through it.

Try it out for yourself and see how you do.

Finished The Matt Furey Exercise Bible In Under 30 Minutes

When I first began the Matt Furey Exercise Bible now over 3 weeks ago, it had been a long time since I finished a deck and previous attempts I couldn't finish because I felt bored. Something clicked in me to just go for it again and get myself back into shape with those exercises. The first time I went through the deck it took about 45 min.

I wasn't discouraged but I felt like I could do better and went after it day after day for weeks. At one point during a 5 day period, I would switch up the numbers on the cards or I would double the squats on the cards which for my numbers came out to 308. I know i'm in shape but this was a different kind of conditioning, a whole other ball game.

One of the important aspects of card workouts is to be prepared for what lies ahead because you're doing a different workout every time you shuffle those cards. You can do the same exact exercises but it'll never be in the same order. That's one of the things I loved about doing 500 Squats with the cards, same numbers, same goal but the order was always different.

The thing I learned from Furey is that, you can do the speed aspect of the workout with the cards but they can be done in ways beyond speed. You can do multiple variations of the exercises, you can do them slow, you can hold positions or add more reps, there's no limit to what you can do with them. For the exercises done (Hindu Push-ups, Hindu Squats, V-Ups & Tablemakers) sometimes i'll speed through but at the same time I want to have the best form possible while having solid breathing. The workouts themselves are tough as it is.

As time went on, the speed through the deck came naturally and I was getting better and better. My tension in the lower back was fading, I was doing V-Ups like they were nothing as to feeling tense pain when I would do reps, the squats went by faster and my endurance in the push-ups got better. I switch things up again and lately I started doing not one but three variations of the Hindu Push-ups since I heard Karl Gotch's voice in my head going "Always work your muscles from every possible angle", so on cards under 10 reps, I would do them palms down, higher numbers were with the Push-up bars either facing vertically or horizontally to work other muscles.

On tuesday, I tested myself and set a timer to see how fast I can get through the deck (wasn't trying to go for a world record). It felt like things were flowing and my energy was there, my mind was super focused and my form felt flawless through all the exercises. After it was all said and done, I stopped the timer at 28:41. I was in a state of disbelief because in years I haven't touched 30 minutes or less in a deck of cards workout unless it was 500 Squats. My conditioning game was on fire that day and after doing one breathing technique for recovery for 30 seconds afterwards, it literally felt like I could go through a whole new deck. Felt on top of the world and smiling both inside and out and had an amazing sense of pride and love for what I had pulled off.

Setting a goal is a great thing but to really go after it, it takes more than just pushing through obstacles, it takes something you are invested in with being interested and having a fire within you that burns even in the toughest of times because there were days where I wanted to quit but something inside me told me to keep going, see the bigger picture and feel as if you witnessed it in your mind's eye that you can do this and you have the balls to run over that "Governor" in your head. One of the things that kept me going day after day doing this was how I would focus on my breathing and try to remain relaxed as possible without being sloppy. I would tell myself outloud to "relax" and feel the flow of the exercise and not worry about speed. It worked and now as far as I can tell, this workout feels like physical meditation.

 We all have a fire within us, the question is, how hot do you want to make it burn? There's a difference between cozy & warm and fire so damn hot it turns blue. Cozy fireplace warm is the type of fire within that the majority set their goals to, they set it and once they achieve it, it doesn't have a ton of value; some but not high and then there are those who have flames that are so hot, anyone who comes near the person burns to a fucking crisp. Their flames are so powerful, nothing can stand in their way and nobody can put it out no matter what they attempt.

I'm proud of what I accomplished with sincerity, not ego. No matter what your goals are, they have bigger victories later that build up and if there's a peak, be the ruler up high in that mountain.

One Of The Scariest Moments Of My Life

For years, I've practiced various methods of conditioning, deep breathing exercise, strength training and developing flexibility and endurance; very few things however have scared the living hell out of me and recently it was one of those moments and also nearly put me in the ER. I recently bought Jon Hass' E-Book and Video Evolve Your Breathing Program and I figured it was a way to learn some new techniques to enhance my conditioning and performance. This nearly became a tragedy.

From this experience only, I tried out the exercises he laid in his course and although I never experienced them before in that manner, it didn't feel weird at first until I was getting dinner ready that night and something terribly went wrong. The exercises I did were Chest Breathing & Intercostal; my chest started feeling as someone hit me with a bat or something and my breathing became very shallow, I stood in the middle of the kitchen feeling nearly paralyzed because although I was conscience, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I lost my train of thought, my brain didn't feel connected to my nerves so I can move my body and it almost seemed as if I had a mini stroke.

I was disoriented for what seemed like minutes but according to my wife, it was a couple hours. Normally it takes me a good 7 minutes or so for the dinner I was making but this time took me over a half hour because I completely forgot how to make it. Something with those exercises triggered something in my brain that took me to a place where I wasn't me and I was just a pole in the middle of a room. Those that know me, know that I have a memory that is very unique and a solid sense of balance but for that moment, it was completely gone and my body was nearly shutting down on me, I have no clue how I was still even standing and conscience.

Once I felt some form of composure and intuitively knew I was in a good state of mind, I started breathing the exercises I knew like the back of my hand and I was back at 100% with complete sense of my memory, my control of the limbs, the balance and completely aware of everything around me. Only one other person knows about what happened but my wife was the one who witnessed it and I can't bare putting her through that again. I cannot put myself through those exercises again.

We breathe through life because if we couldn't breathe, we'd be dead but yet certain techniques can make or break your nervous system and it's extremely critical to pay attention to how you do breathe. I don't know if i'm the only person who had this experience or people before me experienced it but I do feel the need to warn you that certain techniques can be dangerous and don't want to imagine anyone going through what I did or worse. I have read both sides on Chest Breathing & Intercostal but after this experience, I know first hand, these techniques can be a hazard to your health.

The best breathing techniques that have given me the optimal performance and conditioning were Diaphramic Breathing, The Breath Of Fire Technique and Exercises that ties in with Garin Bader's CoreForce Energy Program. I also use techniques to remain as calm as possible, even through tough workouts as I stay relaxed but not loose.

There are techniques that have been around for thousands of years but that doesn't mean they're meant for everybody. Be as safe as possible as you train and never to the degree where you could end up in the hospital like I nearly did or worse. Learn to use the breath as your power and breathe with intentions on building a strong nervous system and cardiovascular as well.