A Word On Bud Jeffries

 You were a light that shined on the world when the darkness tried to take over. A beacon of hope that there is still humility and love in the universe. Strength beyond the levels of most mortals and a man among the gods. 

You may be gone in the physical realm but your spirit now and to the end of time is stronger than anyone can possibly imagine. Our hearts have you to be a light for our dark moments and your strength becomes embedded with ours as we live on in our realm until it's our time to leave. We miss you but you will always have our back when we need your guidance in our dreams and in times of chaos or solitude. 

Tears that rain down aren't always of sorrow but of love and caring for when we think of your compassion you had for us and yours. It will never be easy or even simple to carry on without you but always know, we will never stop becoming stronger because even in times of dire straits, you'll have your hand to pick us up. 

Rest well my brother and say hi to all that came before us and may your legend and legacy live on.

Where I Originally Found Out About Animal Movements And How It Evolved

In between surgeries from my injuries, I was researching a way to rehab myself and I found Combat Conditioning by Matt Furey. Granted, I wasn't in the best shape and I always figured since I was going to be off the weights, why not bodyweight exercises? I read through it and when I was able to walk and start rehabbing, I just did his Royal Court of Hindu Push-ups, Hindu Squats & The Bridge. After about a month, I got into the supplementary exercises and some of the workouts. Three exercises I noticed in the book were ones based on Animals; the bear, the crab and the duck. They were interesting at first but something didn't click with me at the time.

For the next couple years around that time, I tried out all sorts of stuff from CC to gymnastics, Dinosaur Style Bodyweight Training, The Chest Expander, Pull-ups and others but what truly hit me with Animal exercises was when Matt's friend Ed Baran came out with the Primate Power course. It was weird to read at first because who in their right mind would want to move like a crazed Ape? I kept an open mind and gave it a shot and I loved it, it felt natural to me and I got pretty good results with it from the hanging to the Gorilla walks to switching one arm hangs and moving across a soccer goal along with being able to do multiple pull-ups as a heavyweight. It showed me a different perspective on how to have fun as you train.

Within a short time after that, Ed and his brother Andy started branching off into their own style of conditioning books and videos starting with their Gymnastic Abs course. I got into that and did decently with it and strengthened my core a bit more to get better with everything else but when they brought out their own Animal Movement course Animal Kingdom Conditioning, it took me to another level in my evolution to conditioning training. This came even more natural to me than the Primate Workouts and it began a chain reaction to the GOAT of all workouts for me. 

This course alone, changed an entire landscape from how I trained from then on. No matter what I did, every time I felt an urge, I would do the Animal Exercises and that's where the Animal Dice Game came from. I would do a suggested workout from one of the booklets that came with the book and DVDs but the dice game became my safe haven, a workout I just could not get enough of and one that helped me in more ways than I care to admit. I've made progress and stayed in shape from everything else I did and it still goes on today but none compared to the that game. It was a constant challenge where you never did the same workout twice and can do so much with it. I've played with other kids on it including my nieces and it has always put a smile on my face whenever I do it. 

I've played around with other forms of Animal Movement Training from Animal Flow to Ginastica Natural to Primal Training or MovNat type of training and Gold Medal Bodies' version of Animal Movements but none ever truly clicked than the ones I learned from Ed Baran's books and videos. He doesn't sell them anymore since he shutdown his site and focused more on just Website Designing and training others in Gymnastic Type training but the closest to his book you can find that I know of is David Nordmark's version which I call the B-Movie of Animal Exercise books. I don't want to call it a rip-off cause quite frankly everybody rips off someone in one way or another or tributes someone from another perspective but I think B-Movie is pretty appropriate in this case. Let me put it in another term, Animal Kingdom Conditioning is like a Mega Star like Tom Cruise and Animal Workouts is like a version of Bruce Campbell; likeable and a cult favorite just more low budget. 

Why The Animal Dice Game Is So Damn Fun

In our workouts, most of the time we have something set and schemed to work our bodies to a specific number of exercises in a specific order and specified time for rest. Unless you're going through a circuit, you're hitting an exercise for X amount of sets, X amount of reps and resting for some arbitrary amount of time. That has its merits and in turn can determine where you are as far as strength, conditioning, endurance or more than one attribute at the same time is concerned. 

When it comes to conditioning, I want to do exercises that I can go to one after another without rest and test my abilities to a certain degree. You've seen the superset workouts I've done along with darebee circuits being written but none of those compare to the animal workouts I do; specifically, the animal dice game. Not only is it different, but it also tests your strength and conditioning from another perspective that you don't get from circuits or just supersets.

With circuit workouts, you know what's coming, you do the same sets, same reps, nearly the same amount of rest and changing it up can make or break where your level is at. Not the animal dice game. You never know what's coming, it's unpredictable, just like the jungle. It fools you into thinking it can get easier and than all of a sudden, poof you hit an animal doing steps or distance that is hard and ready to take you out. You're constantly moving in awkward directions and your brain is continually being forced to send messages to the nerves and coordinate with those awkward positions without warning. You're challenging your body practically on every roll and the more you add, the harder it gets. It's so random, it forces you to be prepared for the unexpected.

Now, you don't just have to make this game full of of just steps or distance; you can make it interesting for other parties who want to join. You can roll for an animal and whatever comes up, you can race, tag or do a relay. The only limit is your imagination. You can go as long as it will allow you to but for my recommendation, don't keep going until your arms or legs are ready to fall off and you're going to have a damn stroke. Do enough that is good for the day and still have some energy left in the tank. It's meant to be a game, not a chore or some crazy balls to the wall workout that resembles something like crossfit. 

It's fun because it takes away the predictability of a typical workout whether from bodyweight, bands, weights or machines, it's just you being free and using your body in unique ways and developing a level of fitness that you can't get anywhere else. Animal Movements have had the dumb notion for decades as warm up exercises for sports programs or thought of just exercises meant for kids. They're more than just warm ups and whoever came up with the idea they were meant just for kids clearly never saw a well conditioned football player or wrestler. They're ancestral and have abilities to turn a person into a very fit one and have levels of strength that last, boundless energy and an unbelievable form of conditioning that would make an MMA Fighter's jaw drop.

With the dice game, you'll never do the same workout twice and you'll never know what comes next. Whenever I do it, I'm always up for what comes after each roll and sometimes I'll change an exercise on a certain roll to make things interesting but with the endless variety and how intense the workout is, it doesn't take long to get your ass kicked. I've done long and short workouts with this workout and I will tell you first hand, you'll always be on alert because any roll can come up something easy or so damn hard that you'll need a break within seconds. How much time do you rest? It depends on how many rolls you do until you feel out of breath but for the most part, there's no limit. When I need a break, I'll walk around and breathe deeply until I feel ready to go again which on average, maybe 1-3 minutes but that's just a guess. 

Get wild and take on the jungle with a vengeance. Unleash the beast within and have a blast doing it. 

The Night Owl With Energy To Spare

 Having great energy whether you're young or a little older, can be a great blessing but also has its drawbacks especially for those who have ADHD or even ADD for that matter. For some, have no clue what to do with it and either party or need some form of stimulation in order to even feel calm and relaxed. Some will take drugs, get drunk or have a little too much fun behind closed doors in order to just chill out and go to sleep. 

I've been a night owl for as long as I can remember and have energy to spare the majority of the time. When I was in grade school till High School, I would stay up for periods of time watching shows like Raw, Smackdown, Seinfeld or watch game shows with my dad until I was ready to pass out but many a night I would just be wide awake and want to do something. I would read a book or listen to something. When I was about 13 or so I once read an entire Goosebumps Book in one night. On weekends, I would watch Nick At Night till 530 in the morning since I didn't know about working out or try to do something to not wake my dad or the grumpy neighbors next door. 

By the time I was in High School, staying up was the norm for me since I still didn't have a freaking clue on how to get rid of excess energy so I would listen to Adam Corolla & Dr. Drew on the radio till I fell asleep which at times ended up around 230 in the morning and still had to get up for school. To say I really got my sex ed from a radio show was not that big of a stretch and learned more from that than any class I took on the subject. To this day, I don't know how I still had the little energy I had to still go to school, do shot put & discus, do drama class/rehearsals and do my studies along with weight training and basketball on less than 5 hours of sleep every night. 

I was never a partier and wasn't one of those guys who got drunk and did crazy stuff on weekends with his buddies. I just worked out, ate, did my work with my writing and mainly either was with my girlfriend or staying up all night and sleeping till noon or later. Still going to tahoe for family vacations and all that and barely sleeping even then and when I would really pass out at times, I could sleep for 12-13 hours straight. Now in my late 30's, I still have trouble going to sleep at night but not as bad as it use to be. What I have found is that when I do my animal workouts about an hour or so before bed, those were the ones that knocked me on my ass and I could easily pass out. 

I'm also one of those guys who just can't go to bed early no matter how tired I' am. I might drift off around 8 or 930 at times but it feels more like a nap cause I would just be ready to go again in under an hour after drifting off. Between 11-1am is when I'll finally be ready to sleep but in order to do that, I got to do a workout intense enough to get those endorphins kicking in and breathe hard enough that when my breath is calm after a period, I'll easily sleep. It's also not fun being a light sleeper either; going into a deep sleep is not easy for me and I have pretty good hearing that even sounds that are very mild can wake me up out of nowhere. 

It is a blessing that I have a ton of energy and some might envy that but if you have any opportunity to sleep when it's needed, be blessed to be able to do that. I'm not saying I wish being lethargic on anyone even myself, but to be able to sleep in a snap of a finger would be a godsend to someone who's hyperactive. If I'm really hyped up and need a great workout, I up the intensity of my animal workouts by doubling the number of reps/steps of my animal dice game. It's shorter but so vicious that once it's over, I'll be out like a light and one of those rare times I'll sleep heavily and not hear a damn thing or feel so relaxed it's easy to get comfortable. 

Sometimes I'll forget to workout and not sleep very well at all so, I just need to accept the fact that my most productive way of getting to sleep is through intense exercise and keep going until I feel worn out. Use your energy right and get rid of excess energy in the best way you can but do your best to not fall to drinking heavily or popping muscle relaxers and other pills or drugs to feel sleepy, that shit will do more harm than good.  

Were Isometrics A Major Key To The Great Gama's Undefeated Wrestling Record?

When it comes to Physical Culture and the study of classic or ancient fitness, the Great Gama's story is a great one. In this day and age, many in the fitness or even in MMA world have no idea who Gama was or even what he represented when it came to the significance of wrestling and its ideals based in Middle Eastern Culture. To give you an idea of who this guy was, in his career that spanned decades, he never lost a single fight/match ever and his wins were in the thousands. To this day, he's the only wrestler in history to have accomplished this. Two key ingredients to his success was his overwhelming conditioning and the use of Isometrics.

When you look at the history of this extraordinary athlete of the late 19th, early 20th century, you'll find that he's got a powerful bond with the method of Isometrics. He's credited the method for developing strength that is just absolutely phenomenal. It was even written in a book about another Physical Culture legend, Joseph Greenstein (AKA The Mighty Atom) who had met Gama on his journey with a Russian Strongman. As a boy at the time, Atom had witnessed the power and athletic ability of the mighty wrestler and asked the man himself how he could throw and outwrestle large opponents with ease. 

Now when you look at the reality of Gama's conditioning, the numbers he displayed for reps are grossly exaggerated, however; despite what he did, you can't knock what he was capable of and understand the magnitude of what he put himself through in order to be the most successful wrestler of his time if not the entire time wrestling has been around. The man use to tie a belt around a tree first thing in the morning and tried to throw it for quite a period of time. It was never possible mind you but when you push, pull, grip and squat in various positions for a few seconds to several minutes at a time, you're developing strength that is an added bonus if not critical to the actual movements themselves. 

The fact is, regardless of what you're training, the biggest factors are intensity and progressive resistance. Studies have shown that intense training can increase strength and muscle growth but also to add resistance and challenge the body's ability to adapt. It's hard but there are ways to be smart about it. Overall, Isometrics can give you abilities in your athletic endeavors that can give you advantages like Gama had and develop incredible strength, speed and agility. 

As we get older, it's still good to be athletic and have great energy, but the true purpose is to keep your body strong to prevent bone loss, muscle loss, osteoporosis and decreased strength in the tendons and ligaments. A key component to Isometrics is the benefit of developing the body's ability to prevent injuries as much as possible. So, were Isometrics the key to Gama's victories, who really knows for sure but I believe and many that know about him believe that with Isometrics, the strength you can possess takes on a whole new meaning to the word Superhuman.