Alois P. Swoboda

A man very rare you hear about in this day and age. A man of great importance is now shrouded in mystery as well as history. His impact on physical culture is still apart of our everyday experiences in exercise. His level of intelligence is very respected and honored by the people who have read, heard and knew of him. His exercise program is highly similar to John Peterson's DVRs and Greg Mangan's VRT systems. The method of physiological exercise is one of powerful subjects that continues to work even after his death nearly 80 years ago. Today you would almost need to be college educated just to understand the foundation that made him famous. Although DVRs and VRTs are more detailed today, its still an honor to learn where they were based from. Coining the term Muscle Control made sense to those who have the system even today cause after careful practice its not surprising you can control the muscles of your body. Learning this method is the quickest way to learn one's own Physiology. To learn more look at the site below.

http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/Competition/Swoboda/swoboda.htm

Bridging Gymnastics

This method according to Karl Gotch considered to be the best for superior conditioning and its hard to argue on that. Its a series of exercises that can be done by themselves or in a sequence. You start out falling into a bridge then kicking over, kicking back and if you're stud stand back up. This can be done by the following:

Gymnast Bridge

Head Alone Bridge

Head/Hands Bridge

Highly skillful and in complete unison with the body. A few min. of these can bring down the strongest of men.

Stretching In A Gym Vs. Stretching Internally

When you go to a gym and see people stretching, how long do you think they're stretching, 30-45 sec. each exercise yet how long do you think they stretch internally. After working in a gym and the way I stretched learning from Matt, Ed and others it is a huge difference. Now we've all heard the "Stretch for flexibility and lift for strength" statement and in some cases it is true but theres a difference between truth and fact. Fact is that when you physically stretch the mental stretchng must come first and then and only then you will see the secrets to stretching internally as oppose to just stretching physically. I love it when I can touch my knee with my face but I wouldn't be able to do that if I don't mentally pictured and told my muscles to relax. Anyway the next time you see someone in a gym and see them stretch I believe you can actually tell if they're stretching mentally from how they're energies pick up.

Deep Concentration Without Knowing It!!!!!!!!

Lately with the stretches I try out I find that when you stretch a certain position, you want to go further and all that but what if you didn't think about it? Forget for a moment that you want to go further and just concentrate on wanting to be loose. You're in that position and you're breathing deeply, very deeply to the point where your body starts to shut down, your heart is still beating and lungs are pumping but the feel of your body starts to just go and you're at a point where you're in a deep sleep but you're eyes are still open, you are awake but you're not aware of whats going on, all of a sudden you have your mind tell you to wake up and you're not in that same position anymore you're actually further.

I started experimenting with this and discovered that I let my mind take care of my body instead of my body taking care of itself. I'd be having a hard time in the pancake for some reason then just let my body fall asleep and deeply connect my mind to my muscles. I don't think about it I just drift off and then i'd either be touching my chin with my knee or i'd be just a few inches short of my head touching the floor in the mid position of the pancake stretch.

I have done this with other stretches too and quickly found out that i'm not in pain or straining i'm going much further then I would if I just concentrated on stretching the muscle. I wanted to share this with you guys cause its apart of who we are and what we can learn to develop the mind/muscle connection at a deeper look into what we want to achieve.

3/16-1 1/4 ich 3ft Flat Steel Bend

10 Pound Sledgehammer lever!!!

Video Of Me Bending A Grade 2 Bolt

How To Use "The Force"

Is the force real or is it science fiction like in Star Wars. Well it is and it isn't and heres why it is......Within all of us there is a energy that can be used to relieve stress or create it in a heartbeat. In that energy holds the key to health and strength in any endeavor. The force as we know it in real life means Deep Breathing. Our breath is the elixir of life according to Fitness legend Jack Lalanne and so true it is. If a 94 year old man can tell you that and prove it then how can it not. Deep breathing reduces stress, trains the body from the inside and creates strength that you just can't get anywhere else. We can live without water or food for as long as 2 weeks I believe before we start to die but we can't live without breathing. The breath is the life force that lives in all of us and all who have learned it and mastered it can use it in any way they choose. Learn to Breath deeply and you can create whatever you want in life. Now can we move objects or take over someone's minds for a period, no so don't even try it but we can create energy to take hold of super human strength or built up speed and endurance thats just off the charts powerful but more importantly we can create energy that builds mind power and create imiginations that we thought were impossible.

Are Tendons More Important Than Muscles When It Comes To Strength?

When I watched the Slim The Hammer Man DVD about Slim Farman who's considered to be the remaining of the old-time strongman who has the superhuman ability to lift big poundages in sledgehammers. In the video he says that Tendons are very important in your quest for strength. Why is this and I started gaining my own observation.

 Tendons are part of the attatchments to certain parts of the human body like the the joints and such. When we talk about feats of strength there are 2 ways to figure out how strong a person's body is, when lifting heavy weight you would think he'd have strong and powerful muscles but in terms of bending, tearing and breaking, were looking at how tough a strongman's tendons are in his wrists, fingers and forearms.

 These are 2 totally different concepts so heres how I feel can be put into place. We build muscles all the time, we can't make more muscle tissue but they can grow, even with women they can grow to a certain degree as oppose to men who grow them to gargantuan proportions as you see in bodybuilding but what about the tendons. These are the things that help in everyday life and more and more people don't seem to want to take care them and they develop arthritis and joint pain and all sorts of ailments.

 There are many types of strength and we all can develop certain qualities to them and without question I feel Slim was right when tendons are important when you want to develop superhuman strength. I work my tendons almost all the time through bending, tearing, joint loosening, finger work, massage ect. My tendons over the last few have become so strong that when I massage somebody (I'am Certified by the way) that I can dig into the tissue hard and quick and have the ability to give people a massage just using my pinkies and their jaws drop when I show them which finger I was using when I push into the tissue and massage the joints.

 It is apparent that if you want to have strong tendons the key is to keep them healthy at all times just like the rest of the body. So to answer the Title question, it depends on how you look at it from a certain point of view and I do believe that if you want true world class strength, the tendons should be worked more and the muscles will follow.

P.S if you want to get The DVD on the Hammer Man I highly recommend it if you want to learn what it takes to be a real strongman and how to develop strength thats just unbelieveable.

www.dennisrogers.net

Be back soon for another Strength Post,

Maximus Bendius

Power Of The Animals...... 2nd Addition

I have studied physical culture for well over 10 years now and I've seen plenty of awesome things and plenty of dumb things. I have read, put effort into exercise and even listened to some great individuals. Through all of this I don't believe without question physical culture wouldn't be possible if our older species the animals hadn't been around. They are the true originators of exercise and survival. Not the exercise where they get up in the morning and do this or that no what I'm saying is survival practice. There's nothing more graceful nor beautiful not even stronger then an animal in the wild. Since the dawn of man we have feared and loved the raw power and strength of such a creature. In martial arts a wild animal is sacred and cherished through one's particular art. In China they mimicked many animals to train in their art of combat and look how powerful they were not by just the looks but the inner spirit and strength they have shown from generation to generation. In India (Some call the birthplace of Physical Culture) they tackled animal movements to take them to great heights in their art of wrestling and from time they became some call the greatest wrestlers of our time and if you don't believe me look up the Great Gama India's athlete to our Dan Gable. When you look at someone moving like a wild animal it looks a little silly and down right funny but at the other end of the spectrum I wouldn't dare mess with him/her cause it may look funny but its deadly within the experience and hard earned effort he/she has developed. Moving like an animal gives you a new way of individuality and claiming our birthright to be strong, in great health and limber. When I train in the way of a wild animal I wanna feel I can transform into one as I move freely and powerfully with that way I know I'm not only getting strong in and out but have fun while doing it. I have learned many ways to move like one but once you gained the knowledge you have the power to create your own way of moving like one. We will never be as powerful as a wild animal but we can damn sure become stronger then the average human and it takes less time to get to a gym and get dressed then train. It could be done anywhere anytime so never underestimate the power of the animal.