Be A Sponge

For over 10 years I've been learning and absorbing everything that peaks my interest in the fitness world. Although my main interest is Animal Exercise I love finding out cool stuff about training that is unique, off the wall and very off to the side non-mainstream styles of programs. Taken in so much yet use very little which is the best possible way to get what you want or the type of work you're willing to put in.

You can learn 10,000 things in your lifetime but most likely you'll end up using only a fraction of what you learned in order to get the best possible results. We can't use every single thing 24/7 otherwise we won't be able to sleep and take in what can be truly useful. When it comes to fitness I believe its important to utilize our senses the best way possible in order to get the best results when it comes to losing weight, building muscle, burning fat or whatever; hell we can do multiple things in order to get what we want out of our learning but like Bruce Lee once said "Use what works, throw away what doesn't." Everything you have learned may not always work in a particular situation so you pick little things here and there and take what you can get out of it.

Learn what you can and take it in like a sponge, its important to have as much knowledge as possible and using the very best to get what you want. Its like being in a fight, you can know 10,000 ways to take out a guy or cripple him but in the end you may only use no more than 5 moves at best. Absorbing what interests you keeps you motivated and finding out what brings you joy and taking in what YOU want to learn. I can be a stubborn SOB when I learn from people and if I don't have an interest in it, its not going to work out very well. When I really take in what interests me, my creativity comes out, I find fun ways to write and share things with people. When you learn as much as possible, it develops your individuality and finding things about yourself you didn't know before. I would have never thought back in 2005 that I'd become a writer that is being followed by people all over the world, make money from selling products, afford food or save up for trips, save up for a ring for my girl or buy cool toys, books & my favorite movies all because I promoted something I love and talked about it. That's the reward for learning and taking in what I can use. It can only get higher and you can do the same thing and do it even better than I can ever do.

Make the best of what you learned and put it to use that works best for you. Share with other people, help them learn and give them tips that help develop themselves. We all can learn from each other, the question is what is it you have learned that you have used to be successful? Even if you have failed there's always something to learn to pick yourself back up. I'm constantly learning this because yes I have failed in a lot of areas of my life but I've also been successful in many areas too so it is possible to make the best of things no matter how bad or good they are you always have a shot. We all fail and succeed at some point in our lives but no matter what, we can choose to do something from what we have learned and absorbed.

Product Of The Day: Advanced Bridging Course

Our spines are our most valuable part of the body that we mostly take for granted. If you sever your spine, you can be paralyzed for life and lose a piece of yourself you can never get back. When you lose those nerves from the brain to the spinal cord it can be very challenging to live life at its fullest. Its very important to strengthen our spines and keep them as injury-proof as possible. I've hurt my back a time or two and because of those times I almost felt paralyzed and can barely move and every muscle hurt just to get out of bed. When I learned Bridging Exercises, I began to feel things that I never experienced before, it helped me regain strength in my spine, legs & feet, my neck got stronger to the point where I was pain-free or close to it and opened up my posture. I got so good at it that I can fall back into a bridge without hands and (using my hands) kick over without hurting myself. At over 250 lbs. that's not an easy feat to do and feel amazing that I can do this at my size. This type of training can save your life in more ways than you'll believe. Become more flexible, agile and do amazing things all from learning the aspects of the Bridge.

Darebee Of The Day: The 100 Seconds Workout

It almost sounds too good to be true to get in amazing shape in 100 seconds. I mean come on, aren't you suppose to get the best results from 30 minutes of cardio and an hour of weights? 100 seconds is only a minute and 40 seconds so how the hell is it possible to get exceptional results? By putting in a great deal of High Intensity training that is anaerobic (Without Oxygen) and burns off fat the fastest way possible. When you do a Level 3 workout (all 7 sets) that's a total of 12 minutes worth of training. When you do this workout up to 3x a week maximum, you can burn fat like a furnace and build lean muscle mass that increases Growth Hormone up to 520% capacity, that's 10 times more than the leading injections that athletes and actors take to build muscle and look younger and its all done using your own body's capabilities no matter what your age or sex. Build up to this and this workout can literally be done anywhere and anytime.

 

An Ancient Angle for Workout Recovery

In Chinese medicine there’s the concept of the Three Treasures.

Jing, Qi and Shen

Shen is your spirit.

Qi is the everyday energy you use for all things.

And Jing is your foundational energy.

While all three are important Jing is considered the most, because without it, you can’t have the other two. Without it you’re dead!

With an abundance of Jing you have tons of energy reserves, bounce back from injuries, and would certainly recovery quickly from even the toughest of workouts.

Unfortunately, most men find that they take longer to recover from workouts as they get older.

 You could say this aging. You could say it’s less helpful hormones. But the Chinese would say it’s because of Jing, which encompasses both of those things.

Sadly, as we age our Jing tends to dwindle downwards from various stressors, lack of nutrition, sleep and so much more.

Some say the only thing you can do is preserve the Jing that you’re born with….

But the ancient Taoists believed that certain practices could actually replenish and build it.

These include certain forms of qi gong…

And a select few herbal supplements.

He Shou Wu is one of them.

If you’d like to bounce back from your workouts like you use to you need to check this out.

And remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is one thing that you can take for the long term and it will just continually support you better and better.

That means your recovery will stay high throughout your life.

Recover Like A Boss & Be Awesome

Darebee Of The Day: Running Through The Minefield Workout

Get that adrenaline pumping and the sweat dripping with this high impact routine that will guarantee the lungs being on fire. Increase that explosive power and drive through the torture that will give your legs a run (pun intended) for their money.

Neck-Rupturing Centrifuge Science…

Wow!



Science certainly investigates some odd things and in odd ways, but this one may just take the cake.



You know how ants have the reputation for being the strongest creatures on the planet pound for pound? (Or perhaps more accurately milligram for milligram)



Recent research has looked into how true this is…in a very odd way.



It is estimated that ants can carry about 1000 times their weight. To test this, Castro, Nguyen and Lilly anesthetized ants and glued their heads into a centrifuge.



They then sped this centrifuge faster and faster until the ant body ripped from its head.



Castro said, “We had to put a Plexiglas barrier around the centrifuge to protect the grad students because the ant bodies would go flying at the moment of rupture.”




I guess that gives new meaning to the term “bullet ant.”

What a way to go!




They found that the force applied was from 3400 to 5000 times their bodyweight, well above the 1000 time idea they started with. (Of course lifting and withstanding force are certainly different things).




And did you know that ant extracts have been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine?

In fact, it's such a potent remedy that it has been called The Herb of Kings.




Anyone that has taken them as a pre-workout supplement has noticed that “feelable” energy they seem to provide.




Find out more details here.




Get Ant Strong & Be Awesome
References:
Nguyen, V., Lilly, B., & Castro, C. (2014). The exoskeletal structure and tensile loading behavior of an ant neck joint. Journal of Biomechanics, 47(2), 497-504. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021929013005459

Darebee Of The Day: Cardio Step Workout

There are those days where you don't want to so intense. A gentle workout that will get your heart rate up without all the impact. Think of it as a recovery type workout or something to do because it just feels right for that particular day. Have fun.

Rise from the Ashes like a Phoenix

In Greek mythology the Phoenix was a bird that lit on fire and was consumed from it. Then from the ashes it would be reborn and come alive once again.

Do you feel like you need to be reborn to greater health and vitality at times?

A powerful class of herbs known as the “Superior Herbs” in both Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda can do that for you.

Why settle for an herb or supplement that may help you with a symptom you’re suffering from?

The other option is to get a powerful formula of some of the VERY BEST herbs in the world. Something that can support your health, your hormones, your immune system, just about everything in your body.

My friends at Lost Empire Herbs put together Phoenix Formula for this reason.

This blend of four herbs has some of the most powerful stuff on the planet.

Shilajit - The Destroyer of Weakness and Conqueror of Mountains, the #1 substance in Ayurvedic medicine

Polyrhachis Ant - The Herb of Kings and #1 Qi Tonic in Chinese Medicine

Pine Pollen - The Superfood of the 21st Century and a Rare Source of Phyto-Androgens

He Shou Wu - The Ultimate Jing Fortifier and #1 Anti-Aging Herb in Chinese Medicine

You have to try this out.

Rise My Friends & Be Awesome

Darebee Of The Day: The Right Side Workout

You have two choices when you get up in the morning, you either wake up and pumped for the day or you will wake up feeling like the world is going to be crappy. Either one will be the one thing that determines your entire day, choose wisely. A workout that jump starts your morning can be a powerful thing even if its for a short period of time yet can wake up the muscles with a vengeance and can be all done before you even get out of bed. How cool is that? Talk about NO EXCUSES!!!

Will The Animals Inherit The Earth?

Maybe not in a literal sense since a lot of species are dying out although plenty still flourish. In a fitness sense its not likely but it will make people think twice about what to look for in a program. There's always going to be that age old question of who or what will inherit the earth but for today let's focus on what becomes of the way to animal training than to crazy schemes like Crossfit, P90X, Insanity, Triceps Extensions On Bosu Balls or any other form of crazy training.

More and more, animal exercise is becoming more popular due to the Primal Movement & Animal Flow workouts that focus on moving more naturally utilizing movements unilaterally, all four limbs in various positions and developing the body's natural function to jump, crawl, balance, coordinate & control the awareness of movement. When it comes down to it, the animals are the originators of Bodyweight Exercise period. Sure you can claim that the Romans started doing bodyweight exercise, tribes in Africa began it and it expanded throughout the continent into Europe, the Pacific and everywhere in between, the shaolin monks with their style of Animal Kung Fu, warriors of India & the middle east are believed to start the Physical Culture revolution but in reality; the wild animals are truly the real ideal for bodyweight training because the most famous species such as the birds, bears, cats & snakes were observed and people of ancient times started to mimic their movement, studying anatomy and behavior. Over time, we have faded away towards humanized form of exercise to develop our own species and teach what brings more to the table.

Exercise has been formed in millions of ways throughout countless centuries in endless names of cities, countries, tribes, civilized culture & ritualistic groups. There's nothing new you can come up with that hasn't been done before; its merely just re-invented into a different style kind of like how stories are told, many are repeated but using different characters, storyline & other entities. However when you dig deep into the very depth of evolution, religion, storytelling, exercise & living; a form of animal was observed and man got creative and interpreted what he observed and developed his own style of life.

Think about it, in religion what are the most evil animals named? A snake, a goat, bird & a cat. In Greek Mythology, you have the Bull, a 3-headed snake and a lion; in classic fairy tales you have a Dragon, a series of forest animals, sea creatures & a Cricket. In India, Hindu Mythology has the Monkey as one of the ultimate gods, in films we have werewolves, golden terriers, a shaggy dog, Cat loving Villain in Batman. In Comic Books you have a Black Panther, A Beast, an animal shape-shifting Teen Titan, a man who controls Ants, a Rat who trains Ninja Turtles there is countless animals being used in every area of culture on the planet.

In exercise terms, the movement of animals are the true beginnings of fitness & conditioning. They can be used to strengthen your body regardless of age, race, creed & whatever else, conditions the lungs for various sports, gives kids something fun to do, They are the pinnacle of functional strength training. Weights, Hammers, Maces, Sandbells and others are all cool to get in shape with and aught to be used in some form but animal training in its simplistic form is the fastest and most fun way to get in shape. Will the animals inherit the earth? we will never know but they are a part of history's greatest beginnings and it greatest up to date powerhouses.

Product Of The Day: Wild Animal Fitness For Kids

A course dedicated to help children overcome anxiety, hyper-activity, obesity, depression and many others that plague many children today. I wished I had this when I was younger like 10 or so, maybe my life might've been different if I had this for exercise. It's very unique in the sense that its not a typical workout book but a well-written aspect of giving children & families the opportunity to not only teach exercise using fun elements of fitness like games, lessons & progression that leads greater brain activity, muscle/bone building, endurance, fat loss, balanced energy & mobility that kids in this day and age need now more than ever. With over-excess of technology that includes cell phones, ipads, video games and more its become a bit of an epidemic where kids need exercise to build not just a functional body but more importantly a greater mind. It has been said that compared to 100 years ago, kids today are far weaker than their parents as thy got older and that to me is a damn shame. Strength is not always in the muscles but the strength of one's character, sure teens have attitudes which is understandable in most cases but not when they don't have the strength to help others or be able to run, jump, climb, crawl with fatiguing and being strong enough to hold themselves up. With this course it can aid in getting kids in shape in fun ways that are disciplinary as well so take a look and get the course, its far cheaper than a gym and its way less time consuming (They can get a workout in as little as 5 minutes a day to start).

Darebee Of The Day: The Jade Workout

Create the body you want using this Combat Formed workout that develops skill & strength in areas that women want to be hit. Let the workout do your bidding, make it work for you instead of you being against it. Train hard, Train Smart and be empowered.

Thoughts On Steve Maxwell

I have yet to meet this amazing individual either on Social Media or in person but I have seen enough of his work that I believe I can make an observation. For the most part he clearly does not look like a guy who's in his 60's but more of a man at around 45-53 at best. One of the most knowledgeable guys on the planet when it comes to fitness, conditioning & Brazilian Jui-Jitsu and clearly that has been in the game for 40+ years. I watched his interview with Joe Rogan for the second time on his podcast, its a 3+ hour interview where he talks about his life story, the type of training he does, his traveling life and philosophy on fitness plus some history lessons.

Not many men at this stage of their life are in this kind of shape, the guy can do pull-ups, sprints, crawl, do hindu push-ups, swing a kettlebell and has greater conditioning than most guys half his age. When it comes down to it he's the type of guy many can learn from. Its not everyday you get a guy in later stages of life and lives it with a passion and is fit like crazy. He is the personification of elite conditioning taking the most basic principles of exercise and molding them into a powerful setting of training ideals that can be used by practically anyone and is one of those that teach that training should help you become injury-proof, not cause injuries otherwise something is wrong.

If you want to get an idea of who this guy is and how his conditioning is inspiring get this 3 pack combo of Steve's best work and you will see first hand how insanely conditioned this dude is. He's not a big probably no more than 5'7 around 160 lbs but yet makes many men twice his size think twice of going toe to toe with him. It blows my mind what this guy can do.

Product Of The Day: Phoenix Formula

A mythical form of re-birth is the summary of the Phoenix. A brave bird rising from the ashes with a stronger sense of purpose and powerful entities give you the strength to not only come back more powerful but with greater energy and force that will tackle your greatest obstacles and put extra zing into your body. A combination of the most powerful herbs on the planet will enhance your body's energy to go after your exercise with greater force and determination. Use it as a pre-workout formula to jump start your body's batteries and give it that jolt of raw, unadulterated strength that will make you feel new and full of life.

Darebee Of The Day: The Nightwing Workout

It's time you stepped out of the shadow of your old self and form a new line of conditioning that helps find your true individuality and hone the skills you have learned a time before that have now become your greatest weapon. Go out on your own and be your own fighter, your own brand of hero and become something nobody else could have imagined. You have been preparing and learning for this very moment, make it epic and make it your own.

A Deck Of Wild Cards

I was reading an older article of mine yesterday and it got me thinking; a workout that was simple, basic but fun to do and can be done quickly so I ended up doing it. It was a deck of cards workout that would be cool to share with that can aid in amplifying conditioning in a very cool and very unboring way.

So for today you don't get 1 but 2 workouts that can get you going. This was a very cool session of flipping a card and getting to move like a wild animal. The objective is to get through the deck as fast as you can but still on good form and getting them lungs firing. It didn't take me too long to get through the deck so it wasn't difficult but wasn't easy either. Most of the cards had me bending my legs either in a full deep squat or partial squat that really hit the muscles everywhere. You pick 4 animals to the regular cards like spades, clubs ect. but the jokers if you had two or three you pick up to 2-3 animals so you can get a variety of movement that isn't on one area of muscles but multiple muscle groups.

I have a deck of Indiana Jones playing cards that are just bad ass to use working out or not and that alone fires me up because come on man its Indy. If you can find a deck of wild animals on the cards that's even better because it gives you a better visualization; oh wait a second I think I found some here. This kind of workout can be done by anyone and you can go as fast or slow as you want all that matters is its fun and doesn't feel like working out. Here is the example I'm speaking of...

Spades= Bear Crawls
Clubs= Monkey Crawl
Hearts= Duck Walks
Diamonds= Chimp Walk
Jokers= Octopus/Starfish/Condor

You can pick other animals if you wish, be creative and do your favorites. For reps its very simple; face value is 2-10 as you see on the cards, Aces are 11-20, King/Queen/Jack is 10-15. Set a timer and have at it. If you can't get through the deck at first that's ok keep building up. Once you beat the deck go for time and really spice up the intensity but don't ever lose form and get sloppy, we want you to be safe and have fun not be lazy and injure yourself. Pay attention to your breathing, count out loud if you want I do that but my motto is to count backwards instead of forward. If it becomes too easy no matter animal you throw in the mix, double the reps and really make it interesting. Normally a deck of cards for training is usually doing Push-ups & Squats which are great i''ve done it many times but I tend to get bored with doing the same one or two movements; my philosophy is to make things interesting and enjoyable but challenging as well. Push-ups & Squats are foundational exercises for sure but eventually it can wear thin and its going to be really boring going just up and down. With Animal Exercises you move in all sorts of directions and your imagination is more open to possibilities.

Have fun with this workout and let me know how it goes for you.

Product Of The Day: Animal Kingdom Conditioning

My all-time favorite fitness book. This course takes away those "human" exercises that can be so tedious and boring and take you to a world full of wonders, possibilities and most of all the imagination. Learn about the strength of animals as you go through this course and mimic the very best of the wild kingdom. There's exercises that have going on all fours, jumping on two feet, hopping on one leg and having you moving more naturally forward, backwards, side ways, long ways, up ways and down ways (sorry got into my willy wonka mode, I miss Gene Wilder RIP bro). It takes you into the jungle that can aid in building functional strength, conditioning, endurance, mobility, brain activity, tendon strength and much much more.

Darebee Of The Day: The Ivy Workout

Now this workout does have simple bodyweight exercises but you can make them even more fun when you ladies imagine yourself as Gotham's Villainous Goddess of Plants World (that was a mouthful). This fun workout has you doing movements that are based on that of the Ballerina & Yoga that strengthens and tones the muscles in the arms, legs and butt so you know you're training those hard to develop type muscles that women are frustrated with. Takes roughly 35 minutes to complete or you can make it shorter by either doing only 3 sets at Level 1 or you can build yourself up progressively by cutting the reps in half and go from there. If you're a lean and mean Goddess of Plants you can double the reps and see how far you get or go for 10 sets of the regular reps, if you can pull that off you would make the majority of men envy of your conditioning and not to mention having an insanely built physique of a Greek Goddess. Enjoy....