Building Bridges For A Stronger And More Flexible Body

 Happy Earth Day and remember to get plenty of sun and have a blast with one another....

Getting fit is much more than just a physique and having strong muscles, it's about building the attributes that develops the body inside and out from conditioning to flexibility, agility, balance and more. It's about complete control in the best ways possible. With that in mind, having control takes practice and not rushing the process because the fine line between rushing something and having complete control can mean life and death. This is where Bridging comes in.

Bridging has been used mainly taught in wrestling rooms and MMA Training courses but some Bridging exercises have been seen in Yoga Classes and certifications under different names. It's the ability to put your body in positions that resemble a bridge (I can already hear the word DUH, so I just did it for you) and shows the unbelievable ways that the Spine is in amazing condition. The main reason Bridging is used in wrestling is to show how it protects and strengthens the neck and spine along with the flexibility and movements associated with wrestling such as suplexes (or suples as some call them) and throws that generate power in the hips. 

Some of the exercises used in Bridging might turn some people away because of the positioning of the head and looking dangerous and the thought of being crippled from doing it. It is true that for a small group of people, Bridging can be harmful and isn't to be practiced due to specific injuries towards the neck and spine but there are easier exercises for those areas. For the rest who are in good health (as long as someone approves and gives you the green light) and can start, Bridging can be extremely beneficial and even life saving in certain situations with consistent practice.

One of the few courses out there that actually shows the NECESSARY progressions to being good at Bridging is Logan Christopher's Advanced Bridging Course. It gives you the tools and exercises to build a strong neck, back and spine but also make those areas and the rest of your body very flexible whether you're small or big. Depending on a person's size and shape, some might progress faster than others while some might start already at a flexible level than those who start out stiff as a board. 

Although it's important to be aware and cautious, it's also important to understand that even a small fraction of progress is still progress. I wish I knew these exercises when I first started bridging. I got a glimpse of some of the exercises and learned to hold a bridge and even do kickovers but this course takes on a whole different level. Bridging has its perks and benefits more than what some people try to dispute. It's not meant to turn you into a contortionist or anything like that, what it does is training the body to have a different level of awareness and balance that isn't normally done from a fitness point of view. 

It's because of exercises like these that I haven't had a ton of injuries over the years and have given me the tools to train my body from all sorts of angles even though I'm a bigger guy compared to the average bridge practitioner. Below are some videos I have participated in recently and in the past that show what the body is capable of with practice and progression. From the Hip Bridge to Falling & Kicking Over, it's incredible what you can achieve when you have practiced Bridging.

Last video, the move starts at the 34 sec mark. 

The Alternative Route For The Traveling Gym

Training on the road can reap many benefits especially trying to stay in top condition whether for a sport or going on vacation. The idea is to save money while staying in shape and it's much simpler than we have been led to believe. Going to the gym can be beneficial but there isn't going to be a gold's or an anytime fitness in rural areas or up in the mountains if you plan on camping. It's something to have on hand quick and can be set up so damn fast, even the flash won't be fast enough to get to the door of a gym.

Imagine being able to pull over to stretch and get some gas pumped up, while doing so, take out a Super Band or tubes with handles and be able to get in a quick workout of curls, presses, squats and lunges in a matter of minutes and than drive off to the next part of your journey on the open highway. Simplicity is where it's at and it's mind-blowing at times for people top realize that something so light and inexpensive can bring great health and fitness to you anywhere you go. Think what you can do if you could do nearly the same exercises in the gym as you can in a hotel room, a cabin, a tent, out in the woods, at a gas station, in the parking lot of a restaurant or even down on the beach or next to a creek. 

Some of the best cables and bands are from Lifeline Fitness. I use them often on those days I want to switch things up from hammers, animal moves, sandbell training or even isometrics. Switching from curls to a press or chest pull is so quick, I can get a workout in under 15 minutes. Now some have made grievances about the lack of lifespan some cables or bands have and it's understandable. They're not meant to last for decades or even centuries but I've learned how to keep their elasticity and lifespan going that has lasted me for years of use. Once they do start to wear and tear, yeah it's time to stock up on a new supply but if they haven't torn yet and have some life left, use Armor All Wipes. Just take one or two and grip and slide it along the equipment. These will help them last a few more weeks to a couple of months, keep applying every few weeks or so and you should be fine. Ever since I learned this, none of my cables have snapped, the only ones that did, were ones I didn't apply the wipes. 

What are some of the best cables I've used? Here's a short list that I can fit into a small backpack....

Chest Expander

TNT Cable System

Power Pushup Plus

All three have tons of cables that I can stuff into the bag and be able to close it up. I've even taken it on a plane with me and got in workouts right there before boarding began. Never miss out on getting in some good solid training that can be better for you than twiddling your thumbs on a game on your phone or just sitting in a car while you're pumping gas or whatever. Make it work for you and never forget, the world is your gym, the only limit is your imagination. Stay consistent no matter where you are and be able to save hundreds or thousands of bucks in the long run. 

The Burnout And Making The Best Of It

 At some point in our lives, we all have been burnt out whether from sports, exercise, work or performing as an artist in music or films. You can only go so far and at some point, you hit a peak and it's just wearing you down. We can at times push through and just toughen it out but does that really do anything for your mental health or physical wellbeing? If you're burnt out and you can't perform at your best and it consistently ends up being at your worst, how do you keep going without going insane?

Life is a pain in the ass, we know that and there are tough people out there gutting it out day after day whether they're at their best or when they're most exhausted and running on fumes just to squeak by. I respect those that push themselves to take care of loved ones or just themselves and make their living but also it can be hard going on and the light is just barely lit enough to where you're crawling and dragging yourself mentally or physically and it can lead to being a bitter person with life draining out of them. 

From a fitness POV, burnouts usually happen when one starts out and just goes for the kill without giving themselves time to progress and think their superman or wonder woman right off the bat. How many times are we going to read or hear that old cliché of going hard for a short period and than just being so broken down it takes a longer time to come back or even the will to come back? The thing is, it can happen to those who've been doing fitness for decades or even a few years and all of a sudden, that candle goes out. How do we come back from that? 

We can make the best of it by either changing something up, recharge and built ourselves back up or we can take that energy and put it into something that gives us that enthusiasm and interest. I can already hear the "easier said than done" set of shouting in my head and I feel you man, it happens to the best of us and it's hard finding a balance but without balance, you'll fall over and one extreme will come more than the other and you're left with scratching and clawing to balance things out again when you're already on your last breath or physical/mental effort. 

I've gotten burnt out from doing hundreds of squats a day, going too long on Animal Workouts, pushed the weights harder than I should've and put stress on myself that it becomes like depression when it's just not there anymore. For me, when that happens, it becomes a battle with your mental self to get back up and find something that helps you get out of that darkness and get back to that level of not just interest but happiness, the thing that makes you you and a level of willing to keep fighting but at a different intensity. When I need a break, I try to do things at much lower intensity like just doing Joint Loosening workouts or going swimming when it's nice out or go for a small walk or do mediation to clear my head. I still train every single day but it isn't hardcore or killing myself, it's about finding ways to refresh everything and powering up the batteries until I'm at my best again.

When you're burnt out, it can affect your performance and when you're off your game for a period of time, the performance can get smaller and smaller until you're so off it looks like you've forgotten completely how to do something right. Yes there is muscle memory and your reflexes are still there but if things aren't in sync or flowing, it becomes dangerous and not in a good way and could end up hurting yourself or others and it wouldn't matter whether it was physical or mental. 

When you're feeling burnt out or about to hit that threshold, do your best to breathe and slowly take a step back. I'm not saying this for every situation because that's not how things completely work but it's important to reassess, give yourself a bit of a breather and possibly slow the pace down. Listen to your body and your mind. 

The Elusive Isometric Power Belt

I was fortunate to be one of the few people that acquired John Peterson's Isometric Power Belt (The lengthier version) and ever since he gave me one (two actually) it has been one of my go-to pieces of equipment for Isometric and sometimes Suspension Training. For years since using it, I have achieved pretty good results in terms of strength, mobility, joint health and power in my tendons and ligaments. 

It has gotten some bad press by people who never shut up about the flaws John had and it's level of verbal abuse because it wasn't ever released to the public because John can be a perfectionist but at the same time, have trouble realizing that you can't keep promising something that goes on for years without showing or truly presenting something. Although it's sad it wasn't ever brought but it's a blessing in disguise because someone who actually owns one can show the awesome exercises one can come up with. With that in mind, it's not a complete waste.

There are other straps/belts out there that you can snatch up such as a yoga strap, the World Fit Iso Trainer, Rings, Suspension Trainers and others that are readily available. Is the Isometric Power Belt any more special than those other things? In reality, not really but it is special to me because it was a gift, it has many uses other than training for Isometrics and since I was given two, I gave the other one to Bud Jeffries during the week leading up to my wedding. Now that he's passed away, his wife is now in possession of it and if she finds use in it great, if not that's ok too because I know it's in good hands or would be passed on to someone. 

The original belt that John had previously put out was about 10-14 feet long and it was loosely based on the design that Dr. James Bailey used or designed for athletes (more notably used by prisoners that John had written about for the exercise booklet for the belt) to have greater variety of Isometric Exercises that you can carry with you in a suitcase. There were different designs that came and gone through the years like for example the Isometric Chain Alexander Zass used to supplement his isometric training based on what he did to escape prisons during WW1. 

In recent times, an old timer named Bruce Tackett made a somewhat crude version of an Isometric Strap called The Hook where you can attach handles to the strap and do Isometrics from there, it was also used for suspension training and a DYI version of the Chest Expander. Quite frankly it was a pretty ingenious idea and I wished I had gotten it but never got around to it even though I said I would. Most of that product went to his Sierra Fitness Forum members while one of them got pretty damn shredded from using it. Yoga straps have been around quite a while but the World Fit Iso Trainer has been one of the upcoming brands of Isometric Equipment that has had quite a bit of success. 

This version of the Isometric Power Belt is twice as long as its "older brother" and has a stronger form of handling heavy amounts of weight (like it can take up to 7000 lbs before it tears a part or something like that) so not even the legendary Zass or Bud Jeffries could've torn this thing a part bare handedly. This thing is a combination of many straps/belts in one piece of equipment. John even planned on releasing a book of exercise for the belt (the belt itself is 28ft long BTW) but never released it so it's even more elusive if not scrapped but all I did was take the exercises from the original booklet and amplified them along with making a few additions of my own like Arm Wrestling, Bow and Arrow, Handcuffed, mimicking shoveling snow and used exercises from the book Overcoming Isometrics.

The belt is just another piece of equipment I use in my training and it's neither better or worse than the rings or the World Fit but I'm glad I have it and if John ever releases it one day (which 999.999% sure won't happen) it be a nice thing to add to a collection. I'm also probably the only person with this specific belt that has filmed working out with it so if you ever want to see it in action, here are some videos.....

Fingers As Strong As Talons

Our hands are much more than a few digits that can grip and hold onto things. They're an enormous asset to how things are made; from buildings, to art, music, fitness or starting and ending wars with single gestures and signals. Many times, we take our hands for granted and don't realize how valuable they really are. Like anything else, we've used our hands for evil and have done horrible things to other creatures and human beings but we've also done wonderful things, heroic things and mind-blowing things that can be still talked about to this day. 

Some are born without hands and others have lost the ability to use their hands yet some of those same people have done great things and made the most of what they're limited to. Having a good set of hands are meant for great things but others go on paths that causes blood to spilled, use technology to derail or send messages to kill another person and have caused trauma to many who are young and old. Our hands are a gateway to what we learn and where we are going until we die. 

In the fitness world, we mainly use our hands to grip a bar and either press and pull something whether it's a free weight or machine but in other areas, we take our hands to another dimension when we develop the ability to tear things apart or bend tough steel, lever sledgehammers, snap spikes or do other crazy things. Bud Jeffries use to combine lifting with old time strongman feats such as holding heavy weight while also tearing a deck of cards or bending a spike. That takes incredible concentration and control of the nerves and muscles. Very few in the world was able to do that. 

Another great example of Hand Strength & Dexterity is the legendary Concert Virtuoso Garin Bader. Not only does he have incredible power and agile fingers to do a workout with, but also work the piano or other instruments with ease, dazzle an audience with magic and the ability to work his fingers in such unique ways it's mind blowing. If you want to know more check out his Finger Gymnastics Course. I've seen and felt first hand how powerful he is and he does it without much effort yet you feel like you're in a vice when he gets a hold of you. 

I'm not big on high reps when it comes to push-ups because to me it gets boring after a bit and if you do them too long over a period of time, you can get complications in the shoulders and elbows. I prefer Isometric Push-ups or Slow Tension Push-ups since you don't have to do much to really feel it and Isometrics really tackles the muscles and the muscle fibers than just typical push-ups. I also get a kick out of holding positions in the push-up where I can hold for a few seconds than go to the middle and bottom, working it both isometrically and dynamically. Here are a couple videos where I demonstrate the Push-up from different perspectives....

Another favorite where I don't have to do a ton of reps but get incredible benefit out of is Fingertip Push-ups. These are much harder for obvious reasons and it's a test of the strength in your tendons and ligaments. Just holding a Fingertip Plank is hard enough, now trying to do multiple reps. You'll mostly see MMA or other sports athletes do these because they have the ability to really dig into the nitty gritty of your grip strength and building those forearms like steel cords. These three videos should give you an idea of what I mean....One is just your typical form of Fingertip Push-ups, another is just using three fingers of each hand and the last is where I do 1 Push-up but it's so damn slow that it takes about a minute to complete using tension and control the entire time. 

 

As you can see, when you train the fingers, they can enhance your fitness and other things in your life that have meaning to you. Having strong fingers are great for massaging, better grip control for lifting and carrying, be able to climb better, pinch power, bend stuff, work with tools and more. Strong hands equals a strong body.