Sometimes A Walk Is More Than Just A Walk

It's always nice to take a stroll on a beautiful summer day, either with someone, a group or by yourself. Taking in the fresh air and listening to the sounds around you. Now if you live in a city like New York, probably got to be more careful but if you live in an area where there's trees, a waterfall (artificial or natural), kids playing, a park or wherever brings you joy, it's to get a good walk in. It's one of the best exercises you can do for your health and wellbeing.

Some people power walk or use very light dumbbells as they walk or in some cases, walk with a weight vest on to add onto your cardio. Recently on my walks, I take out and put on a cable apparatus to really get things going. It's a handle, a foot strap and a cable you attach it to and you're off to the races. This takes Power Walking to a whole other level.

With this device, you can do all sorts of exercises like curls, raises (front and lateral), punching, overhead presses, circles and flys to name a few. The main exercise is a similar motion to a ski walk. This helps burn more calories than regular walking and really tests your cardio, muscular endurance, coordination and long term strength. How long can you go? For most people, a couple miles would be more than enough, for me I try to go for about 20-30 minutes non stop.

Lifeline Fitness use to carry this product but doesn't sell it anymore but it's still around if you do some research. It's a personal favorite of mine and is awesome for a lot of folks who don't like running or can't run but love to walk. The resistance isn't much but the longer you go, you will feel it and you'll be breathing pretty heavy too. The one website I did find it is on Amazon.

Burn more calories, work the tendons and the muscles at the same time, enhance your cardio, endurance, strengthen the organs and the Central Nervous System. It's low impact and gets you in shape fast. Start out with about 10 minutes and get a feel for it. You don't even have to go for a walk, you can use it in your own doing exercises that tone and enhance your metabolic system. Sometimes, a walk is more than a just a walk.

Core Conditioning With The Power Wheel

Many who go to the gym and work on their Abs, generally work in different parts or through Isolation. Doing work one area at a time and although they may look good, they won't have any particular strength that is needed in the long run. Our Core muscles aren't just for building a six pack. Back over 100 years ago, the most built athletes at the time such as Sandow, Hackenschmidt, Arco and Zass didn't do Crunches or used devices that only targeted one area; they built their bodies through hard work, gymnastics, wrestling, labor, bending steel and moving weight in awkward positions. They were the backbone of Physical Culture at that time and very few today in the mainstream fitness culture knows who they are.

Having a six pack in general is an overrated thing to accomplish. If you don't have the strength behind it or can't take a punch, what good are you to anyone other than a photoshoot? I will say it isn't a bad thing to develop it, but in order to truly accomplish having great abs, they better come with a solid foundation of strength and conditioning. To really go into the depths of your Core so to speak, you train it as if it was a single unit instead of pits and pieces of a puzzle put together.

Now, great ab exercises such as V-Ups, Dragon Flys, Side Bends, Bridging, Wall Walking and Overhead Leg Raises will strengthen your Core like crazy but the Cream Of The Crop goes to the simple Ab Wheels and the best of them all, The Power Wheel. The Power Wheel targets not only the abdominal muscles but works other areas of the body too such as the lower back, the obliques and the hips. Our Core is the center of our body and needs to be trained so we have less chances of getting injured or we train it to make it even stronger than before and rid ourselves of back pain.

Someone like Bob Backlund perfected the standard wheel to build incredible strength and conditioned muscles that to this day at 70+, he's still kicking ass in his training. The Power Wheel in my opinion is the Major Leagues of Wheel Training where you don't just roll it out, you can put your feet in and do even more exercises that has your body working together otherwise, you won't last very long. Take your Ab Training into the stratosphere and conquer what sit-ups and crunches could never do. Want to be a better athlete, use the Power Wheel, want to be in shape fast, use the Power Wheel, want better posture, use the Power Wheel.

You don't need more than a few minutes to really feel what the Power Wheel will do to your muscles. It can make you so sore the net day, you would feel like you got hit with a Crowbar. The basic exercises is really all you need such as: The Roll Out, Hamstring Pull-Ins, Pike Ups, Knees To Chest and Walking On Your Hands. The more advanced exercises such as Alligator Walks, Plyo Push-Ups, Walking Pike and the 100 Yard Challenge are for the Sadists who want to test their limits. A few minutes with this thing will do far more than taking a ridiculous amount of time doing thousands of crunches. Want Punch-Proof Abs, strap into the Power Wheel guys.

Staying In Shape While Camping

When there's an opportunity to go camping, it's usually wanting to get away from civilized life and responsibilities while finding a place of solitude or among a small group of friends and recharge the batteries. Being outdoors among the wilderness, surrounded by forest, animals at times and listening to the sounds of the creeks and rivers. 

Growing up in California, I only camped maybe a couple times in the first 27 years of my life. Camping out with friends in Yosemite was fun and my friend Tyler brought along his Kettlebell and we did swings next to the fire. That was a blast. For the last 8+ years since I've lived in Idaho, I've gone camping now 3 times and all have been in a 5 year period with my wife and her friends. 

Camping can be fun but it's also an opportunity to find out what kind of shape you're in. The things I love to do camping is finding big odd rocks to lift, chop some wood, swim in the creek and practicing some qi gong or meditation techniques near water. I've always been a water kid, swimming in oceans, lakes, creeks, rivers and basically just being drawn to it. This past Saturday, we went up for a night and I brought my Indian Clubs with me and got in about 500-600 Swings standing on a small rock inches from the creek. It was a riveting experience and feeling totally at peace.

Being out in nature is a powerful experience and not just seeing trees and all that, it's the experience of feeling the earth and listening to the sounds of the birds, wildlife and water that flows the way the universe intended to be. You learn to be helpful among people, you play a role when camping and whether you are alone or with a group, you find out things about yourself. I'm not big on making a fire due to trauma and I'm really not the type of guy who would camp by himself but I love it when I get to help chop, break down and carry firewood and the person doing the fire gets to do his/her part. I learn to use my strengths and gain knowledge of what I'm weak at and little by little have them become my strengths. 

I do believe in that i you're going camping, you need to be in some kind of shape, maybe not professional athlete kind of shape but some form because if you're among people or by yourself, it can be awkward at times pitching a tent, chopping wood and carrying loads of it is hard work and swimming among a river or creek can at times be rugged and learning how to take the cold water. Ok maybe you don't need to be super strong to put up a tent but you do need some brains, coordination (especially if you find a spot where being at an awkward angle might happen) and the understanding of putting it up properly with some covering because if it rains or the tent isn't set up properly, you're in for a rough night. 

Being in shape has it's perks and not talking Gym Rat kind of shape. I don't think too many gym guys who have built their bodies using machines and metal can last very long chopping wood and than having to carry it. Most pretty boys wouldn't last ten seconds in a cold river or creek and many "gym strong" guys wouldn't have much strength to carry up a heavy cooler up rugged terrain or a small hill. For men (and women at times), you learn what real strength and conditioning is when you camp. 

This is why I love training using hammers, maces, sandbells, rubber cables, ab wheels and skipping; they give you tools to be in shape for the real world and learning how to use your body at awkward angles instead of just straight up and down. Train for the real world and utilize your knowledge to help others. 

Indian Clubs And Rope Skipping

Getting the body to wake up or getting out of a funk from being groggy can be a difficult task for many, especially those who have to be at work in the morning rushing out the door and sometimes forgetting your pants. Some take a nap and wake up still feeling like their energy is depleted. I'm not a morning person and had plenty of times where I napped and still felt tired and unmotivated.

Exercise can be a hell of a wake up and often times, better than a cup of coffee because you're releasing tension and opening up the body from the inside, creating energy and getting those endorphins in. With coffee, people drink it to get the caffeine and give their body that jolt of adrenaline and even help eliminate some waste but the trouble with most caffeinated drinks, that crash can drain you so bad that even recovery is difficult and gaining that energy back. 

A great routine you can do to wake up the body and wake up the brain is swinging the Indian Clubs & Jump Rope. Some people, like me aren't all coordinated with a regular Jump Rope so we use an alternative that anyone can use called the Ropeless Jump Rope. You can do all sorts of skipping movements with it and it'll never smack you in the ankle or foot. The Indian Clubs are incredible for building stamina and upper body conditioning while strengthening the shoulders, elbows and developing agility. They also work the brain because of the specific exercises to execute as you work the wrists and follow the centrifugal force.

You can do this routine as a superset, or do one series of exercises with the clubs and head straight to the rope. It builds awesome upper and lower body conditioning as you get into the high reps. For the clubs, I do sometimes up to 50 reps per arm for 100 total reps of an exercise and go up to 500-700 Reps for that workout. For the rope, sometimes i'll go 10 minutes straight or do no more than 500-1000 skips depending on how my body feels that day. This routine energizes the lymphatic system, strengthens the shoulder girdle, strong feet and ankles and works your reflexes. 

It's a very light workout, doesn't do a ton of impact on the joints and can be done just about anywhere at any time. A lot of us need energy to do the tasks that is needed from us and that's where we might be tested for our stamina and be able to keep going without fatiguing. As we get older, recovery becomes a bigger necessity than the training itself and we need to be able to keep on our toes and get plenty of rest, it varies for certain people but the principle still applies. 

So if you're in need of motivation to wake your ass up and get that blood pumping for the day, give this a shot and see what you can do. If you're to club swinging or haven't skipped rope in a while, do lesser reps and skips and build yourself up. Start with 10 reps per exercise and work up to 100 skips, after that build from there. The workout doesn't need any more than 20 minutes, that should be enough. In the beginning, start with 1-5 minutes. 

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Meditation Finisher

Training in a variety of ways reaps many benefits beyond the physical and the development of the body. There are workouts you can do that don't take very long and can be used as what's called a Finisher where you do your regular workout but at the end, you do an add on of getting that extra boost of hormones, energy and fat burning entities. This last no more than 10 minutes and if your workout isn't long to begin with, than 3-5 minutes is more than enough.

Finishers are awesome for burning those extra calories and keep burning long after the workout. It can be 3-5 exercises where you just blast right through (safely of course) with little to no rest for as many rounds as possible or they can be like a metabolic booster where you do tabata types of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off or go through the exercises, rest 15-30 seconds than repeat for several minutes. Been a while since I've done one and maybe I just try one out today, you never know.

Now, if we did a finisher to boost our calorie burning, what if we took the Finisher approach and used it as one for Meditation? That might sound contradictory because why meditate and than just go like a madman for 5 minutes? Here's my idea of a different kind of finisher; you do a series of meditative exercise (Qi Gong, Yoga, Tai Chi, Dao Zou, Joint Loosening) for say around 30 minutes to an hour, just de-stressing and calming the mind and body, letting go of worries, fear, criticism and build clarity, endorphins, positive energy. As a finisher for no more than 10 minutes (minimum of 3) do a series of techniques of visualization, deep breathing and boosting even greater clarity and positive energy. Something to give that little oomph of even greater mental conditioning, emotional stabilization, eliminating negative energy at a bigger rate, just like getting rid of unwanted fat.

Here's an example of what I mean by Meditation Finisher.....You do the Dao Zou Program for 30 minutes, swimming in an ocean of peacefulness, mental clarity, brain power and effortless control of emotions by acceptance of the universe and shielded from negative thoughts and energy. Boosting your cognitive abilities and having the radiant energy of a zen monk. As a finisher, you listen, visualize and focus with emotional content the voice and sounds of Garin Bader's 5 minute session of The Magical Imagineering Theater. It's a mental fat burning audio of seeing your goals achieved and picturing yourself in a Success Arena/Theater in your mind. Taking mental pictures of being at your absolute best and most successful even if it hasn't happened yet. It opens up the door to your imagination and creating a new outlook of what YOU can achieve as long as you FEEL it, DREAM it and BELIEVE in it.

To me, the MIT is so damn powerful that every time I listen to it, something always happens within a short period of time. No more than a day or two, I see sales pop up, more money is made, getting positive reviews and clicks/views jump up almost doubled. It is just so amazingly awesome to feel such incredible energy and being able to send it out without strenuous effort. Now this doesn't mean you listen and not do anything. It helps you take action but with incredible passion and energy; you get into a greater flow that makes negative stress seem far in the background. It gives you the belief that the universe is on your side and developing that LAW of ATTRACTION.

Just listening to it once can have an impact on you, listen to it 2-3 times a day, success can come so easy, you thought it was a dream. You can achieve anything in the MIT, the next step is taking action. Boost your mental powers even more with a Meditation Finisher and see where it takes you.

The Spirit And Mysticism Of Animal Exercise

The mimicking of animals has been around for centuries, if not eons from the days of the hunter observing and understanding the movements of a wild deer, wolf, bear or any big animal in order to make a kill to the Shaolin Masters who practiced moving in animal like sequences for combat, moving meditation and defense to the modern day man using Animal Moves as recreation and health benefiting qualities for a better, functioning body. It is a timeless method of exercise that corresponds with the understanding of nature and it's tough yet beautiful construct.

As children, it benefits in a most crucial time in their lives because of the practice and development of gross motor skills and coordination to master the balance and strengthening of the human body both inside and outside. For teenagers and adults alike; the movements from a basic concept, build a rugged body but also teach how to form patterns within the brain and learning the ideas of functional muscle building and the will to test their abilities in agility, endurance, strength, durability and flexibility. It is meant for all ages but like every other method, it has to be tailored to the level their currently at whether it's the complete beginner or the superhuman like qualities that form incredible conditioning.

Crawling alone, tests ones ability to learn how to balance his/her body and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the human structure. It can be both serious and fun at the same time. It can be a game or used as a punishment but when it comes down to it, it is a continuous cycle of being lost yet found again. The movements or names of the movements may have changed over the years but almost nothing has changed in the fact that it comes back again and again. When you give it a chance and open the doors to its possibilities, it's beyond an exterior looking concept of exercise, it is a door to unlocking the secrets of nature within all of us.

It is slow, it is fast, you can move in different directions, make up it as you go and use it as hard work but seen with the illusion and belief that is playful. Although it is watered down so many times, you can't take away the fact that when you use it as much of an interpretation of movement that humans can handle, it becomes a beautiful form of making the body strong for years to come. It has been broken down to concepts of Yoga, Breakdancing, "Primal" and gymnastic entities and that's where it becomes confusing. Cheetahs don't tie themselves in a pretzel or mimic a tree pose, the Gorilla doesn't do handstands or dance around to the cha cha, a Flamingo doesn't do tumbling moves and a bear doesn't move and always focus on opposite arm and leg movements; they run, jump, crawl and fight for the will to survive otherwise they'll be killed. 

The most awesome yet challenging aspects of animal movements is how to move at a moments notice in unexpected conditions. An example would be the Animal Dice Game; for most, it is just a random set of exercises and you count the steps/distance of that movement but the real depth of it is beyond just a game, it is an ideal experience of being prepared for the unexpected. In the jungle, it's unpredictable and things can sneak up on you at any time so you have to be ready for anything that'll come up and be on your guard. It's that fight or flight mode and also being ready to pounce or run in the blink of an eye. The idea is to teach the person an intuitive mindset that although you are practicing, you must always be ready and if you lose focus, you're a goner or you'll get hurt. It's about play but also learning preparedness and being able to change movements on a dime.

Workouts become play but even the most serious student of the method knows how tough it can be and practices the mindset of using it as way to master their body that most methods can't teach or apply to in a real situation. It is way of tackling your ability to condition the body for other things in life. It isn't easy for most people climbing a flight of stairs or being able to get up off the floor without feeling pain but if you had strong legs, arms that last and core strength to twist and turn without discomfort, you're on your way to being in condition to do those things easily. It can also aid in weight/fat loss because it is a multi-dimensional, multi-muscle grouped set of movements that burns calories like a furnace with the right applications of the movements.

Treat it as play but don't treat it as if it was the easiest thing in the world, it is hard, it's tough to do and if you do it wrong you'll painfully find out why. It is not meant to be easy but with seeing the simplicity of it, it becomes a world full of wonders and will have an effect on your psyche and your soul. Some see it as a myth in the sense of how it's used as a movement for only as a warm up and nothing else but others see the spirit of it in the sense it is a general outlook of developing a conditioned body and turning weaklings into strong individuals and overcoming an obstacle of generating the human condition within our natural selves. It is used in many cultures with their own versions but it is a gateway to learning nature in our own way. 

Conditioning The Hands

When I was in High School, I went out for the Shot Put & Discus. Wasn't all that good at it and didn't really do it for competition, I did it because my dad did the same thing at my age but I wasn't anywhere near his level. My best throws were a 32 ft shot put and 110ft Discus Throw. My training wasn't all that great either and because of it, I developed tendonitis and wrist problems. I even went to rehab at one point at 16-17 years old and it didn't really do me any good. 

At the time I was a busy bee doing School, S & D and Drama at the same time. Safe to say, my sleep and recovery wasn't very good and I use to stay up most nights until 1-2 in the morning because I was too wired. For some odd reason (and getting my own version of sex ed) was listening to Adam Corolla & Dr. Drew's Show on the radio to help me fall asleep. So what does this have to do with Hand Conditioning? At a young age, it sucked being hurt and not understanding how to keep my body in good condition whether for the Sport I was doing or thinking I could heal easily and not have problems. I didn't understand a damn thing when it came to training and just followed everyone else because it was easier that way and I paid the price for it.

Later on in my life after High School, I was going to the gym, still not understanding what the hell to do, had no one to teach me anything and ended up hurting myself to the point where before the age of 20, I woke up at times feeling like an 80 year old man with arthritis and pain in places where I didn't think existed. After studying Combat Conditioning and getting myself back into shape, I started learning other aspects of exercise that weren't just for muscle building and having a good set of lungs. Learned more about the tendons and ligaments, the smaller aspects yet important stuff of the human body. I remember my studies of anatomy when I was going to Massage School and used some of that to train myself. 

I learned right away some of the weaknesses in my lower arms, wrists and hands when I was doing Matt Furey's Carpal Tunnel Program and felt the need to not only improve, but eventually throw all the pain I had from a few years before out the fucking window. Started studying up more on training the fingers and building suppleness in the wrists. It was around this time I was also practicing strongman feats such as bending steel, ripping phonebooks, levering sledgehammers and others. My hands were getting stronger and started noticing that I wasn't having painful days like I use to. The one course (which isn't up and sold anymore as far as I know) that really skyrocketed my progress with Hand Conditioning was Garin Bader's Finger Gymnastics DVDs which to this day is still in my possession. 

Finger Gymnastics opened up a whole other world of possibilities for building strength, flexibility, dexterity and mobility in my hands. I was even noticing very small results from certain exercises with my right hand that I never noticed before. If you read the story about my Meningitis, you know that my right hand has some nerve damage and individual dexterity is virtually non existent but with this course, it taught me how to use my brain and my movements to create another outlook on the way I move my hands. For decades, it was difficult just to feel any sense of normalcy with my right hand, about 75%+ Dominant in my left hand and always felt out of my place to what I had to do with that other side. This course was what I needed more than 20 years prior to when I first learned about it. For me, it was the Holy Grail of Hand Training.

If you talked to Garin or learned the aspects of CoreForce Energy, he can show you incredible exercises that will open up your eyes and shock you to what you can do if you practiced these hand exercises. I was able to play golf with Right Handed clubs, took up gymnastics and could hang with just my right arm on the horizontal bar for a good period of time, better coordination in my other exercises and strongman feats and I was able to give better massages to the point where people thought I was using my elbow but it was my pinky, they couldn't tell the difference. 

To this day since learning Finger Gymnastics, I don't have tendonitis, have very supple yet strong wrists, my finger strength has increased to where I could pick up my 70 lb kettlebell with the middle finger of either hand, my forearms feel like bone yet flexible and elastic and more. 

Strengthen your hands and turn them into powerful weapons of awesomeness. To find out more about Finger Gymnastics, talk to Garin Bader at garin@coreforceenergy.com or you can find him on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/garin.bader.