Bridging And Its Benefits!!!!!!

In yoga, theres a posture called the wheel pose which to us physical culturists refer to as the Gymnastic Bridge, in wrestling theres the neck bridge (which too many people think is the worst exercise ever) and theres the front bridge which is also used in wrestling. In India where it is argumented that it was the birthplace for physical culture, wrestling had major ties to the country and some of the strongest and most conditioned men were infact wrestlers. I believe in all its forms, wrestling is the reason why there is yoga today. When it comes down athleticism and down right masterful conditioning one of the best exercises is infact the Bridge. The reason for this is, is that because in wrestling if you want to be the best and a driving force you start with bridging. For the average person however it can seem very dangerous and very disasterous on the human body when in reality the exact opposite is true.

Now when you see the wheel pose (aka gymnastic bridge) you might think someone is very flexible and has a decent amount of strength to weight ratio but if you saw the wrestler's bridge on the neck you would usually have a look of fear and no one should be doing it. I on the other hand believe if you take away the fear and see the beauty in the bridge you might be shocked to find out how beneficial it can be interms of strength, flexibility, stamina, mind power and mentle clarity. There are many ways to bridge and I will say its not for everyone if they have a major problem with their neck, back or spinal cord but for the most part for those who are healthy can do this with practice and patience.

There are many ways to bridge and there's actually a system that has been around for hundreds of years but the name of it has only been around for less then 100 its called Bridging Gymnastics. Its when you practice many types of bridges in a workout that takes less time to get winded then anything else there is. I have done over 500 Push-ups, 1000+ Squats, 20+ Handstand Push-ups, 60+ Pull-ups (none of them in one workout LOL) but nothing got me winded in less then 15min. then Bridging Gymnastics. An advanced version of this is to start falling into a wrestler's bridge on the head, have your nose touch the mat and begin to kick over and back and if you're a stud stand up. This also goes with the Wheel Pose as well when fall back into one, kick over and back and if you're very flexible stand back up. I have done the basics of this and it killed me within minutes and that should tell you how tough it really is.

What are the benefits of the bridge? Well with practice, patience and mentally aware, it gains you strength, flexibility, endurance, balance, coordination and believe it or not it can get you a great physique because it makes you breathe hard which increases your Hormones and builds muscle, it makes you solid as a rock because of the isometric contraction you have to make in order to hold some of the bridges. For health benefits it can increase your brain activity due to the blood flow to the brain, it can keep you flexible in order to move in certain directions with ease and a personal favorite, it keeps you from being obese and because of the HGH increase it can even help your sex life because of the way you have to hold a certain bridge. Before you judge whats wrong with the exercise how about you actually try it yourself and if you don't like it thats fine do something else that works for you but I guarantee from personal experience and learning from friends in Physical Culture, Bridging is one of the healthiest and most meditative forms of strength & Conditioning on the planet. Bridge well and bridge smart.

Advanced Bridging Course

Yoga For Building Muscle Mass

Most people think that Yoga is for people wanting to lose weight, get toned......not for building natural muscle mass. I happen to believe that its a bunch of crap. For men who wanted to build muscle and likes yoga or wants to get into it, the keys are eating the right foods and adding tension to the exercise. Do less reps if you're going to add tension and focus on the mind/muscle connection. Imagine if gravity is pulling you down and you have to put a lot of effort into the movement or holding the posture. For foods focus more on natural foods and less on the junk food. Not saying you need to be on a diet but you still can eat the foods you love just take a bit less off on the junk food, simple as that. When it comes to tension do not go all out and tense up as hard as possible because not only will you burn out easy but you can also injure yourself, use enough tension to move around or hold as long as possible.

Tools For Gripping Power

There are many ways to train your hands to get full on grip strength and power. If you don't have much money and yet you still think you can't get anything to build a great grip, think again my man because a lot of what you can use in your house can build a much stronger grip then most guys can get in the gym.

Example would involve a towel and a bucket of water. Fill the water to about half full to three quarters full, now take the towel and put it in the bucket to get it wet as possible now pick it up and start whatever end you want and begin to squeeze the water back into the bucket until it gets as dry as it can. This alone can take your grip to a new level of power and might unlike those puny wrist curls the so called "bodybuilders" use.

Bending steel fries the entire body when you put your all into it and it turns hands and forearms into cords of steel especially if you bend rebar. Another hosehold tool to use is believe it or not your towel rack in your bathroom, what you do do is if you have one of those long racks is to grip the rack, now lean back as much as you can until you get to your fingertips then shoot forward and roll the wrist, do this about ten times, now just reverse the movement by under gripping the rack and lean back until it reaches the fingertips, now shoot back and roll the wrist, do this ten times. After doing this exercises my wrists and lower arms were pretty pumped. Work into this carefully and do not overdo it, ten reps is only needed.

When it comes to equipment for the hardcore grip fanatics, thick handled bars are great especially hammers, maces, clubs because when you have to grip something just to be able to move it is functional strength in itself. Now I must caution you, I may not be an equipment fanatic but if you were to use them do them for a short period of time but do what works for you and train smart.

Another Look At VRT Bodybuilding

Recently I have been easing my way back into a system called VRT Bodybuilding which is a set of exercise that you only use tension for by visualizing weights and various fitness equipment. Say you're doing a dumbbell curl, instead of picking one up and let gravity take its toll on you, you visualize how heavy a dumbbell is then squeeze the bicep muscules and curl up as if you just lifted a heavy weight. For the most part this system is awesome for not needing to go to the gym and you get to use your imagination. You don't even need to visualize weights think in your mind what it would feel like to lift a boulder or pushing the pyramids or better yet pulling a train. Think of whatever you want and it can help you become a better trainer and using the Mind/Muscle connection at its maximum for your benefit. I practice this off and on using qi gong type movements or throwing an object, pulling on a rope or better yet pushing down the tower of piza. The keys to this system is imagination and tension and once you've mastered that you'll know the true meaning of muscle control.

Turning Sports Video Games Into A Great Workout

For those of us who like video games its always fun when you have the controller in your hand and playing out your favorite characters or players in a sports game. Thought i'd try out an Experiement and so far I'm finding out fun and enjoyable plus I get to build muscle and get in shape. I like to MLB 10 The Show on my PS3 and I'm in the career mode where I have a really great hitter I made up. He hits homeruns, drives in RBIs, smacks doubles and triples and so on and so forth. I decided that during the game I would do some pull-ups and chin-ups since its a fav. upper body workout. Before I get into the workout I'm gonna say that because you never know what you'll get so this isn't an actual set and rep scheme and if you do play a game this also includes batting practice. Also since its cutting down to if you actually workout while playing video games because not many of us gamers do workout so this is something to try every once in a while so the people you are with arnt giving you crap about sitting on your ass. Also this can apply to different Exercises as well including Push-ups, Squats, Sit-ups and various holds. So for Baseball here is a pull-up program to try and if you dont have a pull-up bar just do push-ups. So whenever you get a hit here are the following numbers. Whenever you are on a base after that hit thats the number of reps you do Example:

Single: 1 Pull-up or 10 Push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups

Double: 2 Pull-ups or 20 Push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups

Triple: 3 Pull-ups or 30 Push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups

Homerun: 4 Pull-ups or 40 Push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups

Now thats if you play a baseball game and are just doing Career Mode so its just something to try out. If you're playing with all Nine players then LOL.....Just pick at least 2 of your favorite players in the lineup.

If you're into football and want to experiement with this then you might have to cut the reps a bit untill you can do the maximum numbers that i'm giving you so if you are willing to give this a try here is something to test yourself on:

Touchdown: 7 pull-ups or 25 push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups

Field Goal: 3 Pull-ups or 30 Push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups

Safety: 2 Pull-ups or 20 Push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups

Extra Point After TD: 1 Pull-up or 10 Push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups

Like I said do what you can and if you're strong enough do the amount of reps.

For Hockey its pretty basic so when you score a goal you can do 1 Pull-up each time or 10push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups each time you score.

Now I realize the chances of anyone doing this is slim and very few will actually try this yet i'm just spreading the word on fitness ideas that don't require a gym and with very little to no equipment whatsoever. If you have a Wii Console same rules apply and if you have a game that has you do exercise then just do that but for the diehard PS3 and Xbox this is all we need for now. So if fatigue sets in and you just simply can't handle it anymore then just play the game and record in a journal what you did. It be kinda cool when you have done plenty of exercise and yet play your favorite game all at the same time, your body will be happy and your love for games will be even more enjoyable. If you actually do this workout and whatever sports game you have my advise for you is that play as many games as you want but when you're not working out and just playing video games play for like an hour then go outside and do something or move around a bit so you're not just sitting there and twiddling your thumbs and fingers. Have fun with this and try other exercises and see how they work for you. Also for future refrences make sure for you young guys/girls....Do your damn homework.