Friday, May 4, 2007

Never Stop Learning

Whenever you hear some know it all fitness expert say "Do what I do and you'll go far" or Never do this or that" obviously he hasn't learned much and whos to say is the ultimate expert in physical fitness. There is no ultimate expert but a man or women who knows fitness like the back of their hand doesnt stop learning what works and what doesnt, not "this works and thats all i'll ever do" thats fine with them and more power to them but will it go for other trainees and? I don't think so.

I started learning physical fitness at the age of 13 and it all began with weights and machines. I picked up a few things here an there for the last decade and to my knowledge I still got more to learn. No matter if you're a fitness enthusiast or a business man or a military officer you still learn things on a day to day basis, if you believe you know everything there is to know then you shouldnt be living or at least brag about it. Its not who knows what works and what doesnt and whos the smartest to learn from the best and act upon it.

My knowledge in fitness is pretty high at my age but yet there is at least 10 people in the world who have much greater knowledge and learnings then I have so i'm not calling myself an expert but a learner. No one has all the answers to every single question in this world even some of the smartest people in the world don't always have an answer. Its who has the answer for themselves not for everybody else.

Call me a prick or an asshole but whenever I see a gym full of dumb ass looking posers with skimpy shorts and lifting the entire rack and calls himself a fitness expert and knows how to be healthy I would just laugh and say "If you're such an expert why do you hurt so much" and not the sore feeling either but being in pain after lifting so much weight. I'm not saying he's not a strong guy thats call good with him but dude how can you can be in pain after that. Training is not about pain or strain its about feeling good and knowing that after a hard session you got some more ground to cover.

No matter what we do in life we always learn something even small things make a difference. Don't listen to people who call themselves experts and let them tell you what to do. Use your mind and heart and listen to your inner-self. Learn to observe things and act upon them in your daily life. Since I won't put any sites up for this post, thought i'd let you be the judge and see whats right for you not what I think is or what my opinion is.

Yours in Power & Might

Ben

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Matt Furey-Modern Day Fitness Icon

In this day in age there are many heroes and icons and men of immortality in the depths of time and yet I havent heard Matt Furey being mentioned in that category. Most of you know him as a controversial fitness/conditioning writer and being mentioned as a scam artist and full of shit. With all that being said heres what I would say about the guy. Hes got balls coming into the fitness world going from a highly stressed trainer to millionare businessman and still has tricks up his sleeve.

 Heres a guy who grew up in Iowa in America's "Wrestling State" and became a champion wrestler/swimmer and football player, learning all the tricks and traits of some of the strongest wrestlers and conditioners. In his teens he learned wrestling and conditioning from many books and his coaches at the time and won a few matches here and there but in college that was the beginning of the greatest years as a wrestler by being trained under legendary coach Dan Gable and showing him some of the best tricks to win a match and put him through some of the most brutal workouts that would make world-class athletes come to their knees.

 After three years he transfered to Edinboro University and put some big numbers and won the Division II championship in the 167 pound class i believe. After college he bacame a personal trainer working long hours to support a wife and make ends meat and trained in the martial arts more knowingly Shauio Chuo (Oldest Style Of Kung Fu) and won world titles and national championships. In one championship he trained for the World Championship in China. Now bare in mind that no american at the time has won a world title on chinese turf in that martial art.

 He didnt have the money to support the trip so he made a video that showed how he trained and what he used to keep him fired up and alive. It became a huge seller and it made more then enough for the trip. The day after Christmas in 1997 Furey did the unthinkable and beat the chinese on their home turf and became now the only american to do so. This would be a stepping stone of whats to become of him. After spending 16 months training people and making champions and working hard to support a family he would another trip that would change his life forever.

 He met who argue the greatest hooker of all-time (submission wrestler) Karl Gotch and he made a believer out of Furey that what he was currently doing was way off and in no way good for the body and for combat. He taught him the value of bodyweight training. It only took a couple exercises to convince him that this is the safest and most effective program. Some of Gotch's workouts were considered barbaric and inhuman and totally outdated and yet the exercises he put him through are thousands of years old and no matter what you put you're money on it can either kill you or give you a hard time, Furey used the ladder and began a program that would lead to his Best Seller: Combat Conditioning- Functional Exercises For Fitness & Combat Sports!!!!!

 Matt has written many other books and courses that take you to a whole new demension in physical fitness. Although every one of his courses are very valuable and very useful Combat Conditioning is his foundation. You can check him out and theres going to be some bad things and good things said about him one way or another you have to give the guy credit for making a living supporting his wife and 2 children Frank & Faith plus giving other people second or many other chances of reaching new goals in their lives that doesnt need to involve fitness. He may be a controversial son of a bitch but he can bring out the best in all of us one way or another.

Yours in Power & Might

Ben

Friday, April 27, 2007

Poker Conditioning

One of the best ways to get in super condition is not through bike riding or running for miles on end. Take out a deck of cards and draw/shuffle them 2-3 times. Now flip a card over and do a number of reps of squats or push-ups. Try finishing the entire deck with good form. At a good clip this shouldn't be more then 25-30 min. Its one of the most brutal workouts you can be put through just ask the japanese wrestlers.

 This type of training was built by one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time Karl Gotch. Nicknamed "The God Of Pro Wrestling" in Japan cause not only did he influence pro wrestling and martial arts but a real test of ones conditioning training. He put the wrestlers through workouts that would make Dan Gable think twice about. Not only can you get a hell of a workout but it makes your mind much sharper and more balance for your workout and how much you can handle.

 Try out the push-up and squat workout and after doing the entire deck try other exercises like v-ups, isometrics ect. If you want to get into super condition w/out the use of weights and find other forms of training in the deck of cards these are the way to go.

Matt Furey

Scientific Wrestling and look for Submission Master and Conditioning For Combat Sports

Yours in Power & Might

Ben

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Strongest Bodyweight Practitioners: The Gymnasts

You won't find another athlete that is as strong using his/her own bodyweight then a gymnast. Gymnastics is a sport where you must use your body from many angles and most of them are very difficult. You would see a gymnast on the still rings, pommel horse, high bar, platform ect. and notice how they move themselves through such grace and power. There are well over 200 elite gymnasts in the world and there is a reason for that. Today when it comes to Olympic Gymnastics you first think of the Hamm twins. They're probably the greatest brother duo on the planet no question and they're huge for they're size at what 150 pounds.

The women are just as awesome as the men but I wish that the women had the chance to do other routines like the rings, you never see a female gymnast on the rings, I certainly havent. How awesome would it be if you saw a female athlete on the rings and having the strength to swing, hold and do the iron cross. Unfortunenitly many people don't see women having that kind of strength, to me thats total BS. They can already do unbelieveable routines and yet the one event they never do is the rings. I hope one day we see an olympic female gymnast do that event and win the gold.

Back to my writing here lol. Gymnastics is one of the hardest sports in the world next to wrestling. It takes balance, coordination, strength, flexibility and speed. One of the main ways to develop strength in gymnastics is through handstand training: walking on your hands, HS push-ups, free hand hops and walking up steps. It takes such great strength just to hold one of these, and you must keep the body tight at all times or you're on your ass or head. I haven't gotten up to free handing yet but I can do pretty well walking back and forth, side to side on the wall and i've put up some good strength in my upper body. Nothing makes you stronger then walking on your hands, think about it, we walk on our legs all day cause thats how our body is developed but imagine having the ability to walk on your hands, you know how much strength you're building. Crazy.

Whenever I watch gymnastics on TV i'm always impressed by what they do and I never believe the judges give them enough credit. My favorite event is obviously the rings cause its the one event where it tests your entire body through range of motion, your grip, muscle control, your core, shoulders, arms, back, hams, quads every muscle needs to be controled in order to hit the right movement or you're gonna fall. Hope I go to a USA Gymnastics event soon cause that'll be huge to me cause I practice a bit of gymnastics every day, even just doing bridging or walking on my hands with the Power Wheel its still a form of the sport.

If you want to see how gymnastics are in film check out the movie Stick It. Good story and a real teenage flick but has some surreal stunts.

Want to learn how to walk on your hands or practice handbalancing heres a couple guys that'll help get you there and one of them has a book coming out very soon keep checking daily with John Peterson's Site.

www.bronzebowpublishing.com

www.mattfurey.com

www.superstrengthtraining.com

Gymnastic Abs

Gymnastic Handstands


Yours in Power & Might

Ben

Monday, April 9, 2007

The Lifeline Power Wheel

This unicycle device can turn you into a machine, period. It has 2 sets of ways to work the core and entire body, one way is holding onto the handles and the other is strapping your feet in. Our midsections play a major role in our muscular development. Our abs built our entire strengths and weaknesses so in other words if you don't have strong abs you won't go far. Now with this device we can built strong, powerful abs without having to do sit-ups and crunches.

One of the best exercises that this 5 pound unicycle gives you is the ability to walk on your hands. Now our lower body is 3 times stronger then our upper cause we walk around all day long, but if you knew how to walk on your hands imagine the strength you will create. Its one of my favorites and my #1 reccomendation for a strong core and a powerful upper body. Although that exercise is a major one, the one exercise everyone knows is the Roll Out where you grab onto the handles and roll out as straight as possible either from standing or from the knees.

No matter what if you're a strongman, a tri-athlete or better yet a professinal/olympic gymnast the wheel can give anyone a run for their money. This is by far the best piece of abdomanial equipment and far better then the "ab sissor" or that crazy stupid looking "Boflex" The wheel can make those abs like granite and like it says "Strong abs create phenomenal power and might."

Want the Power Wheel here are the 2 best people to buy from.

www.bronzebowpublishing.com

Lifeline USA

Lifeline Power Wheel


Yours in Power & Might

Ben

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