People ask this question quite often and before I reveal the answer lets take a little insight to whats good and what isn't:
There are courses out there on everything fitness from Bodybuilding, Feats Of Strength, Body-weight Exercise, Yoga, Tai Chi, QiGong, Power-lifting and many more. We all have certain interests and ideas of what makes us fit and where could we get the best information. Almost everything has been done so there isn't anything new under the sun. We also have different body structures so certain things work for us and some don't. We can't all have the same body so why should we do certain things many others do. Some of us are genetically gifted others are not so since they can't do one thing there's always another. There's an old saying "One door closes, another opens" so if we don't have the ability to train a certain way another door could be opened for new and surprising opportunities. There are also things that just flat out not good for any of us and for the fact that is if we do too much we could hurt ourselves, I've done that plenty of times and I know somebody has been through hell worse then I have. Its not easy choosing what works what doesn't. Someone says something another disagrees and puts pressure on you to do what they know or better yet get you to turn your back on the thing you love and you find out it worked for you.
So to answer the burning question...............No. There is not a course out there is considered number 1 in the world and for good reason. You have to figure out what that reason is. Do what works for you and start at a level you are comfortable with and push yourself at your own pace. There are a great deal of courses out there that you can take up but only a few will work to your strengths and weaknesses. For me I like to combine certain things and that creates my own course of health and fitness which happens to work. You have a brain find what works, experiment, research and look inside yourself and you will find something that suits your needs. Don't listen to what others say find it for you and you will be your own master and developer of your own body.
Yours in Strength & Health,
Ben
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Jack Lalanne....Fitness Pioneer & Living Legend
They call him the "Godfather" of Fitness and they call him a legend. I believe that not only the 2 are true but they even go beyond the great wisdom of the man. He is one of my greatest influences and inspirations to be fit and be happy with myself. The story of this great man has more words then I could ever write. I'll do my best to put it in my view of this powerful infuence to millions of his students:
At a young age little Jackie was like a lot of the young boys of the early 20th century, sickly, ate a lot of junk food and had short fuses. He was hooked on ice cream and the such and didn't exercise and just didn't put in the effort to give himself the change. At age 15 his mother took him to see one of the biggest names of the fitness industry and that was the late legendary Paul Bragg and he talked about nutrition, daily exercise and a clean living and that changed Jack Lalanne forever. At the height of the great depression that destroyed people's financial and emotional well being, Jack learned the power of exercise and nurtition and opened the first Health Spa in the U.S that gave people the oppertunity to change their lives and physical as well as emotional success. He created machines that would revolutionize the fitness industry and encouraged people from all walks of life to get fit and become a new and a new well put human being. All this around the ages of 22 and up. He made a solom vow to get people fit the best way he knew how. He studied many things from under the sun from chriopractic to nutrition to anatomy and physiology. Within 20 years after his successful practice as a physical culturist and lecturer he decided a very rare thing that only the physical culturists of the past did and thats to stay fit and strong after the age 40 when at that time most people barely lived to be 50. This was such a shocking hobby at the time for just about every american in the U.S and he proved that by doing 1000+ push-ups and 1000 pull-ups in over an hour on a tv show in 1954. Doing this feat and things before this feat gave him the oppertunity to do something never seen before in the history of television and thats teach his methods of exercise on a weekly exercise show. This became the longest running fitness show in TV history. At each birthday every few years or so he would put himself in a situation where he would do a feat of strength/endurance that he felt fit his fancy and every feat he did never was broken again. Throughout the years Jack continued to practiced what he preaches and still does it to this day at the age of 94.....Thats not a typo, 94 years young and still has the strength of men nearly 3 times his age. Who else can say that about someone let alone men his age who can't walk nor move without assistance. To quote him about his practice "I can't die, it'll ruin my image" that is by far one of the best quotes ive ever read and all I can say is Jack is an immortal human being and very rarely you see men of his stature in this day in age.
It is an honor to have this man as one of many influences of physical culture and continue to read and listen to his powerful wisdom and humor cause in todays society looking good is the way to go to get ahead in life but he never believed that to be true and nor do I. He sais it best "Exercise is King, Nutrition is Queen put them together and you got a kindom."
To find out more of this Living Legend go to:
www.jacklalanne.com
Yours in Health & Strength,
Ben Bergman
At a young age little Jackie was like a lot of the young boys of the early 20th century, sickly, ate a lot of junk food and had short fuses. He was hooked on ice cream and the such and didn't exercise and just didn't put in the effort to give himself the change. At age 15 his mother took him to see one of the biggest names of the fitness industry and that was the late legendary Paul Bragg and he talked about nutrition, daily exercise and a clean living and that changed Jack Lalanne forever. At the height of the great depression that destroyed people's financial and emotional well being, Jack learned the power of exercise and nurtition and opened the first Health Spa in the U.S that gave people the oppertunity to change their lives and physical as well as emotional success. He created machines that would revolutionize the fitness industry and encouraged people from all walks of life to get fit and become a new and a new well put human being. All this around the ages of 22 and up. He made a solom vow to get people fit the best way he knew how. He studied many things from under the sun from chriopractic to nutrition to anatomy and physiology. Within 20 years after his successful practice as a physical culturist and lecturer he decided a very rare thing that only the physical culturists of the past did and thats to stay fit and strong after the age 40 when at that time most people barely lived to be 50. This was such a shocking hobby at the time for just about every american in the U.S and he proved that by doing 1000+ push-ups and 1000 pull-ups in over an hour on a tv show in 1954. Doing this feat and things before this feat gave him the oppertunity to do something never seen before in the history of television and thats teach his methods of exercise on a weekly exercise show. This became the longest running fitness show in TV history. At each birthday every few years or so he would put himself in a situation where he would do a feat of strength/endurance that he felt fit his fancy and every feat he did never was broken again. Throughout the years Jack continued to practiced what he preaches and still does it to this day at the age of 94.....Thats not a typo, 94 years young and still has the strength of men nearly 3 times his age. Who else can say that about someone let alone men his age who can't walk nor move without assistance. To quote him about his practice "I can't die, it'll ruin my image" that is by far one of the best quotes ive ever read and all I can say is Jack is an immortal human being and very rarely you see men of his stature in this day in age.
It is an honor to have this man as one of many influences of physical culture and continue to read and listen to his powerful wisdom and humor cause in todays society looking good is the way to go to get ahead in life but he never believed that to be true and nor do I. He sais it best "Exercise is King, Nutrition is Queen put them together and you got a kindom."
To find out more of this Living Legend go to:
www.jacklalanne.com
Yours in Health & Strength,
Ben Bergman
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Handbalancing & Could You Use It For Training????
In the Golden Age of Physical Culture where exercise and nutrition were at its dominance and Strongmen ruled the world all over there were a great deal of those men and women who were exceptional hand balancers ranging from Sandow to weightlifting legend Doug Hepburn. This was another source of training for them as it gave them not only upper body strength but a powerful kinesthetic awareness.
They had learned from acrobats in the circus and wanted to imitate them, some did and others wanted another form of strength. Today rarely do you ever see strongmen and other experts in fitness doing this form of training. These days the only way to see true hand balancing and awe dropping feats is from its show-business orgins now known as Cirque Du Soleil where the world best acrobats/gymnasts perform. Its just awesome seeing someone hold themselves up o they're hands and on objects, but imagine doing something not as far fetched as this but can do it yourself. Wouldn't that be awesome?????
I certainly have done some HB and have been able to hold up on my hands for a few seconds but even then it feels incredible. So to answer your question from the main title, YES!!!! You could use it in your training cause been able to hold handstand without a wall takes balance, skill, coordination, strength and well rounded flexibility. All those into one single thing that could turn into a powerful show of moves and then some. Now is it for everyone???? No but most could depending on your weight-to-body ratio and structure. Where could you learn it, its 100's of dollars to see Cirque De Soleil, most hand balancing books are worn out and out of print these days but there is one place that gives you the secrets and teaches the true art form of it. Look below to go to it.
Hand Balancing Mastery Course
Ultimate Guide To Handstand Push-ups
Hand Balancing Stands
Free Handstand Video
Lost Art Of Hand Balancing
Yours in Strength & Health
Ben
They had learned from acrobats in the circus and wanted to imitate them, some did and others wanted another form of strength. Today rarely do you ever see strongmen and other experts in fitness doing this form of training. These days the only way to see true hand balancing and awe dropping feats is from its show-business orgins now known as Cirque Du Soleil where the world best acrobats/gymnasts perform. Its just awesome seeing someone hold themselves up o they're hands and on objects, but imagine doing something not as far fetched as this but can do it yourself. Wouldn't that be awesome?????
I certainly have done some HB and have been able to hold up on my hands for a few seconds but even then it feels incredible. So to answer your question from the main title, YES!!!! You could use it in your training cause been able to hold handstand without a wall takes balance, skill, coordination, strength and well rounded flexibility. All those into one single thing that could turn into a powerful show of moves and then some. Now is it for everyone???? No but most could depending on your weight-to-body ratio and structure. Where could you learn it, its 100's of dollars to see Cirque De Soleil, most hand balancing books are worn out and out of print these days but there is one place that gives you the secrets and teaches the true art form of it. Look below to go to it.
Hand Balancing Mastery Course
Ultimate Guide To Handstand Push-ups
Hand Balancing Stands
Free Handstand Video
Lost Art Of Hand Balancing
Yours in Strength & Health
Ben
Monday, June 9, 2008
My experience W/ the Push-up Power T's
These 2 little peices of equipment have made a huge difference in my strength training. These were a gift from my good friend and brother of physical culture John Peterson and believe me what he told me about them I didn't believe it until I tried them out. Got them and the moment I tried my first rep it was disasterous to say the least and here i'am a guy who can do 12 pull-ups at a bodyweight of 220 pounds, can knock off 200-250 push-ups within a day and hold out a sledgehammer until it touched my face and back and yet I fell on my face trying to do a push-up with 2 crazy looking T handles. It wasn't easy getting in the right position and struggle to keep balance. I trained at him hard and learned to channel my mind/muscle connection and low and behold I did 5 reps with the best form possible. Now you must understand that if you have an idea of what isometrics is then you know how difficult they are, now lets add movement to it. You have to contract every single muscle in your body just to keep balance and takes in deep deep concentration. I'am not up 18 reps in a few sets within a very short amount of time with 13 consectutive reps in a single set. That takes a ton of strength and if you're not winded after doing that many you're either not doing it right or you're superman.
Check them out at www.transformetrics.com go to the forum and look for topics on them.
Yours in Health & Strength,
Ben
Check them out at www.transformetrics.com go to the forum and look for topics on them.
Yours in Health & Strength,
Ben
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Push-ups!!!!!!!!
It doesn't cease to amaze how many people are missing out on the wonderful benefits of push-ups.........If there was one type of calisthenics that could give you strength, flexibility and endurance plus not to mention an awesome physique it would be the push-up and its variations. Many physical culturists around the globe for the last thousand years made the push-up they're ideal training exercise.
Now a lot of people plus the "experts" say the push-up only works the triceps, shoulders, upper back and chest and if they want to be stronger they should do the bench press. Now if you really looked beyond then just running your mouth you would know that the push-up actually works more muscle groups then the bench press.
It takes good strength/endurance to work all those muscle groups at once. There are hundreds and hundreds of variations of push-ups and even the most basic ones can turn you into a beast of a man, for women your working the muscles you wanted toned. When you hear someone say "when you do 50 or more push-ups you're only building endurance not strength" well how many people can actually do 50 push-ups even better how many can do 50 push-ups using a different variation, like:
Handstand Push-ups
Planche Push-ups
One-Arm Push-ups
Fingertip Push-ups
Superman Push-ups (Arms Extended)
Now point someone to me who can do any one of these 50 times in one set full range......
Never fall for the "push-ups are ok but Bench will make you stronger." You can get strong on the bench no question but with a heavy price, the heavier you lift the more prone to injury then doing push-ups.......When you master the push-up and the way you are comfortable positioned you can have not only an awesome physique but the strength, flexibility and endurance to show it.
Now a lot of people plus the "experts" say the push-up only works the triceps, shoulders, upper back and chest and if they want to be stronger they should do the bench press. Now if you really looked beyond then just running your mouth you would know that the push-up actually works more muscle groups then the bench press.
It takes good strength/endurance to work all those muscle groups at once. There are hundreds and hundreds of variations of push-ups and even the most basic ones can turn you into a beast of a man, for women your working the muscles you wanted toned. When you hear someone say "when you do 50 or more push-ups you're only building endurance not strength" well how many people can actually do 50 push-ups even better how many can do 50 push-ups using a different variation, like:
Handstand Push-ups
Planche Push-ups
One-Arm Push-ups
Fingertip Push-ups
Superman Push-ups (Arms Extended)
Now point someone to me who can do any one of these 50 times in one set full range......
Never fall for the "push-ups are ok but Bench will make you stronger." You can get strong on the bench no question but with a heavy price, the heavier you lift the more prone to injury then doing push-ups.......When you master the push-up and the way you are comfortable positioned you can have not only an awesome physique but the strength, flexibility and endurance to show it.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Training To Be At Peace!!!!!
I haven't been on in a while.....Been working on new training principles both mentally and physically while having fun in both Swimming & Gymnastics. But today or should I say tonight since its 11:23 pm I want to talk about being at peace with your workouts:
We all start out not knowing what the hell we are doing so we sometimes move too fast to get where we want to go. Almost everybody goes through this so heres a tidbit to make your progress seem like childs play. When you begin your workouts learn where you are right there at that very moment in time. What is it do YOU want to accmplish in your training? When you start to exercise learn to cope with the space around and keep an open mind to your exercise. Keep as best form as possible. When you exercise smile be positive with yourself. No excuses for what you can or cannot do. When you are done with your exercise put yourself in a state where there was never a dull moment and theres always room for improvement.
You are never bad at what you do, but you are always going to do better, question is how do you want to be better. Being at peace is a big difference then cranking out reps, anybody can do reps but not everybody can be at peace at what they do. When I train I wanna think of my body as the universe and my mind is what I want it to work on and thats not only hitting reps but where i'am right there in my moment my only moment. When you work on your own moment in time and you are alone in your own training wherever you are you can and will be at peace and theres no better time then now this moment.
We all start out not knowing what the hell we are doing so we sometimes move too fast to get where we want to go. Almost everybody goes through this so heres a tidbit to make your progress seem like childs play. When you begin your workouts learn where you are right there at that very moment in time. What is it do YOU want to accmplish in your training? When you start to exercise learn to cope with the space around and keep an open mind to your exercise. Keep as best form as possible. When you exercise smile be positive with yourself. No excuses for what you can or cannot do. When you are done with your exercise put yourself in a state where there was never a dull moment and theres always room for improvement.
You are never bad at what you do, but you are always going to do better, question is how do you want to be better. Being at peace is a big difference then cranking out reps, anybody can do reps but not everybody can be at peace at what they do. When I train I wanna think of my body as the universe and my mind is what I want it to work on and thats not only hitting reps but where i'am right there in my moment my only moment. When you work on your own moment in time and you are alone in your own training wherever you are you can and will be at peace and theres no better time then now this moment.
Friday, January 25, 2008
DVRs For Muscle Building!!!!
Dynamic Visualized Resistance. This type of training teaches the person to control what kind of resistance they imagine. Lets do a bicep curl for example: You imagine that you're lifting the heaviest weight possible it weighs a ton and only you have the power to curl it. Now flex your entire arm as hard as possible and start to curl that weight until it nearly touches your shoulder. What you just demonstrated is tackling your mind/muscle connection.
The exercises for this particular bodyweight training can create the body you want, you want powerful muscular arms, back, chest, abs, traps then add high tension and do low-medium reps. If you want that tone athletic look and being lean and mean then ease up on the tension from medium-high reps. This is a form of muscle control and body sculpting without the wear and tear on the joints and tendons from weights.
I have a thick muscular body at 210+ and all I do is this type of exercise plus other types of BW training. If I had to pick the number one system that creates the outmost form of muscle control its DVRs. You can do these anytime and anywhere and they will energize you throughout the day and you can get functionally stronger and when you have the ability to control your muscles anyway you want then you got the secret to rejuvinating, theraputic and muscle sculpting exercise.
The exercises for this particular bodyweight training can create the body you want, you want powerful muscular arms, back, chest, abs, traps then add high tension and do low-medium reps. If you want that tone athletic look and being lean and mean then ease up on the tension from medium-high reps. This is a form of muscle control and body sculpting without the wear and tear on the joints and tendons from weights.
I have a thick muscular body at 210+ and all I do is this type of exercise plus other types of BW training. If I had to pick the number one system that creates the outmost form of muscle control its DVRs. You can do these anytime and anywhere and they will energize you throughout the day and you can get functionally stronger and when you have the ability to control your muscles anyway you want then you got the secret to rejuvinating, theraputic and muscle sculpting exercise.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Adding a Variety To Your Grip!!!!!!!
We all do various things to add grip strength, use weights, kettlebells, self resistance, Isometrics......Towels???
How in the hell can someone use a towel to add grip, I mean dude the only thing a towel is good for is something you dry yourself off with when you're done with the shower or drying off at the beach. Now what i'm about to reveal if most of you don't know this or never done before this is something to look at. Take ant type of towel, now take a bucket. Put about half to three quarters of water in that bucket. Take the towel and put it in the bucket and get it as wet as possible. Now take one end of the towel and start twisting the water out back into the bucket and work your way down. Seems simple and easy right? WRONG!!!!!!!!! This is one of the most brutal exercises you can imagine and will infact pump your lower arms like never before. If you can make it all the way to the other end of the towel then you have some great strength/endurance in your wrists and forearms. This not only can give you a great pump but if you're into bending then damn you're gonna have some strong hands man. Don't take my word for it try it out for yourself. You only need a towel, a bucket of water and a little commitment you can develop strong powerful hands all in a few min. a day. Check it out and tell me your arms don't get tired after doing half the towel.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
How in the hell can someone use a towel to add grip, I mean dude the only thing a towel is good for is something you dry yourself off with when you're done with the shower or drying off at the beach. Now what i'm about to reveal if most of you don't know this or never done before this is something to look at. Take ant type of towel, now take a bucket. Put about half to three quarters of water in that bucket. Take the towel and put it in the bucket and get it as wet as possible. Now take one end of the towel and start twisting the water out back into the bucket and work your way down. Seems simple and easy right? WRONG!!!!!!!!! This is one of the most brutal exercises you can imagine and will infact pump your lower arms like never before. If you can make it all the way to the other end of the towel then you have some great strength/endurance in your wrists and forearms. This not only can give you a great pump but if you're into bending then damn you're gonna have some strong hands man. Don't take my word for it try it out for yourself. You only need a towel, a bucket of water and a little commitment you can develop strong powerful hands all in a few min. a day. Check it out and tell me your arms don't get tired after doing half the towel.
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Friday, November 23, 2007
Whats More Important? Doing Something Easy Or Something Hard?
In this world too many people want to take the easy road to get ahead of the compitition. Same thing happens in Bodybuilding and overall fitness. Yes bodybuilders work hard to build their bodies but yet they rather do roids then show true hard work. Not all of them do this but most. But what is doing something hard? Overtraining, Putting more effort or simply just put everything into it. We've all done all three but I feel the most effective is add effort and the hard work will pay off. Nothing should be taken the easy way out. If they did there wouldn't be the fun in having a challenge for yourself of what you want. You can't have someone make goals for you, you have to make them. For fitness there are many versions of hard work but no matter what you do there is always something there to challenge you and you have to put in the effort. Heres an idea: The easiest thing to do to quit but the hardest thing to do is to keep doing what you love. Which are you willig to take?
Ben
Ben
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Pull-Ups for Grip Strength!!!!
We've all seen someone do a pull-up but do you actually know what kind of strength they're building? Its not just pulling strength or building a powerful back but in fact they are building phenomenal grip strength. But now very few people know how to develop grip strength through this exercise. The exercises in this type of training build the grip in great many ways. From the type of exercises I've used it helped my bending strength a great deal. For a beginner hanging from a bar is a great start and even the advanced trainee can benefit from this as you can do various ways to tag the entire body to its core to create a grip that can crush steel (take it from me I do a lot of bending) and add a little power to your weightlifting if you so chose. You can increase the reps in your pull-ups if you are stuck. Now we all know if you have to get a phenomenal physique you have to tie the body together as pairs, Back/Chest, Triceps/Biceps, Hamstrings/Quads. Pull-ups are a piece of the puzzle its up to you to find the other pieces.
Pull-up Strength Training Workout
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
Pull-up Strength Training Workout
Yours in Power & Might
Ben
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