One Body Part A Day Isometrics

Been focusing a lot on Isometrics lately, particularly doing one body part a day from the Neck down. I took ideas from Batman O'Brien's Perfect Body Course and mixed in exercises using both Free Hand and the Isometric Power Belt. I'm already well into my second time around the exercises, hitting shoulders and arms today. Tomorrow is Legs.

Always experimenting with something since I'm not the best at sticking to a routine, but my intention is to cycle around the parts of the body at least 4 times. I'm already nearly half way there so this should be interesting. So far, I like how it's going. Mainly, I love how the workouts don't take very long and I can purely focus on the areas of the body one at a time instead of trying to do so many in one workout. It's all well and good to do multiple body parts but it can also be very draining and Isometrics are crazy enough as it is. 

After you focus on particular body part, you can go after other exercises in your arsenal the rest of the day and work on other areas. At times i'll do animal movements, do a quick workout while filming, go for a walk with my weight vest on, play around with CoreForce Energy Techniques, do some circuit training, mace play, play with the Indian Clubs, whatever tends to pop up into my head. So far my favorite body parts to train are my neck and back. I'm seeing definition and thickness from both areas and that makes me happy. Great seeing results from other areas and I'll take photos when I'm done with my version of the program but I've always seemed to form better results from the neck and back. When I do the back, I use the Belt for those doing the deadlift, upright row, lat pulldown and seated row and then finish off with the 3 minute wrestler's bridge. 

I have been gearing back towards bridging again to get some stretching, strengthening my neck and experimenting with both flat footed and heel up Back Bridges. Because of the rod in my left shin along with the scarring, I have to be careful to not aggrivate that area because it does cause serious discomfort that I don't wish on anybody. I don't have very good flexibility in my ankles anymore so when I do the Back Bridge, I literally can't flatten my feet after a certain point that others can otherwise I'm risking pain and feeling that metal pressing against my skin. Although I can Bridge feet flat for 3 minutes whenever I want, having the heels up seems to take more of the edge off on my shin and ankle and hits more of the thighs and calves and I can get a way better stretch while also bringing the heels closer to my head without discomfort or pain. Don't do things that cause pain, trust me, it's too muh of a bitch to handle for so long.

I'm doing this experiment mainly just to see what it's like to focus on one thing at a time and putting my energy into an area of the body where I don't feel the need to focus on anything else and go with the straight line of just hitting that muscle group. It's a good experiment and if it's something you want to continue to persue, do so, if you're more of working multiple muscle groups, that's awesome. Do what makes you happy and gives you results. If you're not getting the results you crave, change things up, try different things and focus on getting better. Progression is the key. There's so many things you can do with Isometrics and it can make you stronger and help drop unwanted bodyfat. Keep at it and train with intention, not for the sake of just exercising. 

My Thoughts On George Floyd And The Riots

It breaks my heart that human beings do bad shit to each other and end up on the wrong side of humanity. What happened to George Floyd was pretty damn awful and no one should have to die that way. Not all cops are corrupt but if one has a history towards certain people and isn't accounted for his actions, he needs to be removed from being a cop. I forgot the cop's name but I read they found him guilty and hope it brings some peace of mind to George's Family.

The riots in Minneapolis aren't surprising to me and it's downright stupid for the most part. Looting and destroying businesses is not the way it should've gone down. There were riots in Spokane, WA just 40 minutes from where we live in Idaho and my wife works at one of the busiest Albertsons around the Spokane area. I fear for her safety. In Minnesota however, it's fucking crazy how much shit has gone down. The reason why it's not surprising to me is because with the death of Floyd, this was the last straw for people who've already gone crazy for months because of the Covid crap and this triggered something that made many people reach a boiling point. I don't condone their actions and hope justice and order is resolved soon but it's not hard to see that other side of the coin and if you can't see that, you're either blind, ignorant or just don't give a shit.

This won't be the last death that strikes people's hearts and this isn't the last riot that reaches disasterly heights but I do believe in being prepared the best ways you can. I'm just glad that it hasn't reached our City of Coeur D' Alene and for the most part, we live very peacefully out here. Compared to other big towns, it's quiet as a church mouse. We are a gun carrying town which I have both good and not good thoughts about and my wife has a gun. I never held or fired a gun in my life so my thoughts may not be as relevant to you but I will tell you this... I grew up in Santa Cruz, CA where you had Gangs, Hookers, Corrupt Cops, Rapists, The Mentally Ill and more Homeless people than you can count the people at the Boardwalk just roaming around everyday. I never once got jumped, been mugged, beat down or stabbed and yet still walked around the darkest and dirtiest places in that town with my head held high without a gun or a knife on me. I was always ready to defend myself or those around me and I feel blessed I never had to go to drastic measures to do so.

Not many people know this about me but I once had to help break up a big fight between two guys at a Gold's Gym when I was 19-20 years old. Two crazy muscle bound bloodhounds were going at it at the entrance inside the Gym and one of the members was screaming for help, I was about 30 feet away and rushed over there and was one of three guys to get one of them off each other and hold them back. It was only for a minute but that was one of the scariest things I had to do. I could've just sat there and kept going on with my workout but something snapped in me to go help someone in need. It may have been just one of those days where some guys had to bloody each other up but it could've been way worse, so yes I've dealt with seeing the ugliness and the hurt others put on each other especially in an environment where we're supposed to keep something like that from happening and help each other get in shape.

The world is always going to have some form of nastiness and hatred towards one another. It's not going to change any real time soon. We can damn sure however, show people love and kindness when it is needed the most and defend those who can't defend themselves. We can show love through a hug, a note, an article, giving someone a shoulder to cry on or just listen. I was raised to show as much kindness as possible but also be there for people to defend them or myself. I'm not the easiest person to deal with and everything I do for the people around me is coming from a place of love whether it comes off as that or not.

Someone like George Floyd deserves Justice for what happened to him. Did he have the most beautiful past, hell no, but he should never have had to die the way the he did and I hope there is some peace coming to his loved ones. As for the riots, I do believe action should be taken and do their damndest to not have anyone else harmed or murdered. A member of my own family is a cop and an uncle who's a Vietnam Vet was also a cop. I don't believe for a second there isn't a corrupt cop out there but there are plenty of cops who are the best people on the planet and fight everyday to keep their city safe and I'm proud that they serve and protect to the best of their abilities.

The Realities Of Having A Journal Or Diary

Many people write or type in a journal or diary to let out their most powerful thoughts, observations, goals and feelings. It isn't a bad thing to do and it certainly isn't terrible to find something to cope or get things off your chest and leave it in writing. However, unless you're super careful, the odds are someone sooner or later will find that book or entries somewhere at some point in time. Some journals however have been kept locked away to never see daylight again or have been burned to be kept from being found out.

If you ask me, the most secretly kept book in the U.S is highly likely the President's Book Of Secrets that contain things that could change the very foundation and the core of this country for better and far worse than we can possibly imagine. In smaller cases, have you ever found someone's journal or they found yours? What do you think of the person now that you learned what they really thought or what they truly found out about you. Some journals contain entries that can make or destroy a relationship, others talk about how happy they are and what they love about the world and the people around them. 

The reality is whether you have a secret journal or have an open one on social media like a blog or Vlog, it's important to understand that there is a possibility that everything you write or type up, could potentially put a target on your back. I often times felt obligated to write in a journal and today with my fitness journal, I found out that I missed one or two entries and can't remember which days I missed. I have quite a few workout journals that never got to the end and it just makes me mad that I missed out writing in them. 

This isn't a way of telling people not to have a journal or anything like that, if that helps you be successful and you write things that you need to let go of in a certain manner, go for it and I really hope it brings peace and success for you. If you're a blogger like me or someone who puts their thoughts and "rants" on film, you will whether from the get-go or later on, some people who will mock you, despise you and do everything in their crazy minds to prevent you from doing what you want to do and discourage you to stop and find a way to hate you. Granted everybody has an opinion and will go into deep lengths about it (I've done it on a couple occasions lately on Youtube and Facebook) and sometimes, you just got something to say whether it's good or terrible. 

I know fully well what it's like to get caught up in keyboard wars and utilizing Free Speech and express my opinions and observations. When you talk or write, be prepared for what people might say or do. Most of the time, people will just shoot their mouth off and nothing else comes after that but people can be cruel and harsh and act like they don't give a shit and try to destroy you. A written Journal might be the most precious thing they have in this world regardless of what is written; it's their escape, their sanctuary, a fortress of solitude, excalibur, the holy grail of their livelihood and their biggest secrets laid out just for them alone. 

One of the biggest problems with Social Media is the overkill of Freedom Of Speech, words can pound you into an oblivion more than a fight or gun or stabbing ever will. People have died because of things like Cyberbullying, feeling like no matter what they do it's better to not live and being damned if you do and damned if you don't. Seeing from both sides the good and the bad of what Social Media can do to a person. It's a matter of teaching, helping and using a positive format that people can go to or write into that makes them feel safe regardless of what they write, to not be judged, ridiculed and to be themselves. 

There are pros and cons to having a Journal or Diary whether it's for writing down how cute that boy or girl is, the feeling of happiness or sadness, being loved or being abused, scoring the winning touchdown or missed the ball in the most important game of your life at that very moment; anything. Sometimes we write things we don't always mean and it's better to write it down than shout it out and make things far worse. There's a saying that one moment could change everything and whether it's good or bad, that moment will determine how things will go on if at all. A journal can hold a secret so powerful, it could destroy or skyrocket a person's perception for the rest of their life. 

Journals may mean something to someone, other times it's just a book someone put thoughts down and nothing else ever happens and than, there's that thought of being able to still be optimistic that whether someone finds out what you wrote, talked about or typed up, it brings better clarity for all sides and people can still live their lives and not be feared of what they put down. It doesn't happen all the time, but it isn't impossible to happen.  

Creativity Within Simplicity

Mastering the basics is what we must do in order to advance to greater stages whether it's in sports, business, writing and fitness. If you don't master the basics and just jump into an advanced stage without any understanding or the concept of the steps, 99.9% of the time, you'll fail. Very rarely you see someone squeeze by and thrive. Although we process things differently, it's amazing what you can accomplish if you had an understanding of the small steps to reach the biggest heights.

Basics however, in my opinion, shouldn't be boring or lacking in interest. If you find yourself bored or in need to find a way to work those steps, make it worthwhile to you. Everyone is a genius but in order to succeed, we need to find our strengths that utilize what we can do as an individual. The basics are the foundation to what success brings. The better you can climb, the better you'll be successful.

One exercise that is so simple yet tough for most people is the Ab Wheel Rollout. It toughens up the Core and conditions the body that many don't understand the concept of. Crunches and Sit-Ups are good to an extent, they can however cause an injury and too many reps won't make those any stronger. The Ab Wheel isn't foolproof for injuries either but if you have a weak Core, you'll find out soon enough but with practice and learning how to engage the muscles, it can build strength and conditioning that Crunches & Sit-Ups won't even touch. 

Athletes from all over have done some form of Ab Wheel Training and one of the most successful was Bob Backlund who used the Wheel to develop a level of conditioning the General Population can't even possibly fathom. His strength was unusual for a man his size (6' around 225-235 in his prime) and he can go into 60 minute matches without getting tired. His rep count on the wheel consistently was in the hundreds and unlike many of his fellow wrestlers, he was in constant physical condition. 

Now you don't need to do hundreds of reps to get the full benefit of the wheel, just doing them in sets of 25-50 is more than enough and if you're doing 100 or more in a row, you're in elite class. The most I've ever done in a workout was 200 and not in a row. I would use a deck of cards along with doing step-ups to mix it up, calling it the Backlund Deck Of Madness. It's a total of 500 Step-Ups & 200 Rollouts. The most I've ever done in a row was 50 before I got bored.

How can you up the intensity of the exercise? You can do rollouts from Standing (One of the toughest exercises ever and puts a ton of stress on the back), you can do rollouts with two implements for each hand, a really creative way to get some big time intensity is to slap on Fat Gripz and just do the basic rollout from the knees. This really engages more muscles and targets more of the arms along with kicking your Core's ass. If your Wheel has foam on the handles, cut them off and slap on those Gripz. Squeeze the handles and start rolling out. Don't just plant the hands and rollout, work those forearms and that will automatically engage the upper body. You won't do a ton of these for reps but you'll still be building crazy strength and conditioning.

This is just an idea of how to use your creativity with simple exercises. Make it interesting and fun. You're already busting your ass training, why not have a little imagination to go with it, you might be surprised with the results.

Here's a video of doing the basic Rollout for high reps, about 35 to be exact (I wasn't counting until I saw the video and ended up repping out my age lol, pretty funny huh?). 

Here's a pic of what the Fat Gripz look like on the Wheel. Grab a pair here and try it out on your wheel. 

Sometimes Shorter Is Better

It's never truly easy to get in an hour long workout either at the gym or at home. Many people travel everyday for work or commute and work sometimes up to 12 hours a day and have to drive back which is an even bigger pain in the ass. Training is not always about being the fittest, the strongest or the most dedicated, it is often times just getting in what you can even for a few minutes.

Exercises throughout the day can be very beneficial especially if you're incredibly time restricted. Got kids? That's an even bigger obstacle but never believe for one second it is impossible to get in a workout just because you can't do it for 30 minutes or more straight through. For the average person it takes a ton of motivation and dedication to get in a good long workout in the midst of working, commuting, grocery shopping, cleaning the house, taking care of the kids, it's a lot, but not impossible.

Get up a few minutes earlier before getting ready for work and do some stretching or push-ups and squats, that might be your whole workout for the day which is perfectly fine. Do some Isometrics on your break at work for 5 minutes or do some exercises that don't make you sweat within a minute. When you get home and you're wrecked from your shift, do some deep breathing exercises or a couple mobility drills for your ankles, knees and hips. One thing you can use is what's called the Fit Tap App that works for androids, iphones, Ipads and maybe a couple others. This App gives you exercises you can do throughout the day; they're random so you never know what'll come up next. If an exercise doesn't work, do a modified variation or skip to the next one. You can create a good workout from this or spread it out.

Exercise when done right, gives you that extra boost of energy and puts you into a better state of mind. It strengthens your immune system and gives you greater mental clarity. I love it that it also boosts your brain and keeps you on your toes to stay active. Get the FitTap App and get moving, your body will thank you for it.