Make Just About Any Angle Your Strength

The legendary Catch Wrestler Karl Gotch once said that to become strong and agile you always work your muscle from every possible angle. Muscles grow and look larger than life but like everything else there’s a consequence, if you work too much muscle and not enough of your tendons, you will be more vulnerable to injury. Isometrics is the key method not to just hit a muscle from a certain angle but every angle imaginable. Holding a certain position and hammering in only that particular spot will give you a sense of great strength from that position. One of the beauties of Isos is if you hit a spot where you can’t go anywhere else, that’s where you press, pull, squat or whatever to get beyond that position and no matter how you slice it, your strength will skyrocket with enough practice.

 If Isometrics had its own star pupil it would most likely be Steve Justa. This man has got to be one of the most odd ball characters in the entire realm of Physical Culture but yet the way he works his strength and power takes on a whole new dimension both literally and figuratively trust me watch what he does sometime. Out of everything he’s accomplished in the world of Strength, I believe his most treasured wisdom is when he brings up Isometrics. A lot of strongmen credit Isometrics but no one has put them in the same realm as Justa has. His story about his hay bailing and the way he told Bud Jeffries about his dilemma about Diabetes and how Isometrics both saved his life and job is nothing short of remarkable.

 I feel that if you want to accelerate your strength and speed in any sport you do, add in Isometrics and tell me if they didn’t improve your throw or shot or even your ability to kick a ball. Isometrics build positional strength and in sports you need to have a strong position from every possible angle whether its tackling, throwing a football or baseball, shooting a basketball from a long distance or kicking a soccer ball down the field you want to have the ability to be faster than the other guy. Think about this, you’re a pitcher for the New York Yankees; you have a good arm and can throw a hefty 93 mph fastball or a ok 86 mph slider, would you want to increase your speed of the ball by 3 mph on any of your pitches? Be pretty damn sweet if I say so myself and the ball will feel lighter in your hands as if it was the size of an egg, light and strong until it cracks the mitt like speedy Gonzales running into and past a brick wall. Each position you bring the ball as if simulating a pitch from little spots here and there will get stronger to the point where when you throw the actual pitch, it’ll take off like a rocket and the batter won’t realize what the hell hit him.

 Grip strength is the basis not just in sports and the strongman business but in your specific business like carpentry, plumbing, construction, landscaping even a bagger at a grocery store, you need to able to handle things and your hands need a certain amount of strength otherwise you won’t be able to do your job very well. Would you believe that most of your grip strength is mainly isometric? It’s true if you really tested it and if you practice holding an object with your grip for a short or extended amount of time, you’re going to feel it whether you like it or not. For us strongmen, we need grip strength to perform the feats we do, sometimes the things we do don’t always involve the grip but it is practically mandatory otherwise you won’t perform the feats you want to tackle. Bending steel and tearing phonebooks are two of the purist forms of grip strength and like I said before, Isometrics are usually the most credited method for pushing beyond the limits.

 Another form of Isometrics is Muscle Control which is mostly used in Yoga, Martial Arts and Bodybuilding. Contrary to popular belief, muscle heads are pretty smart when it comes to certain things and the way they pose is just unbelievable despite how big they are. Back in the day however, a few guys named Maxick and Otto Arco took this to a level that can never be duplicated again. Their posing was unprecedented and even bringing the little muscles were just off the chain. Check them out sometime on Youtube if you can find them and just watch how they can change from one muscle to the next in heart beat its awesome.

 Now that you’ve read a little more on Isometrics, I think you’re getting a sense that there really are no excuses and you can do this method just about anywhere, if you go to church and pray you can do it, think about it you put your hands in prayer and when you ask for guidance press the hands together hard and tell me you don’t feel a little more energized? You can be in class and press or pull on the desk and you can have no one ever notice it. You can be watching a movie and flex during certain scenes so don’t ever say you don’t have time to exercise because you usually can make the time but it’s up to you to make the effort.

Getting Mad? Get Out & Train

We all have certain emotions that get to us through stress, certain people in your life and many other things but getting mad and taking it out on the wrong things can lead you to a path of destruction that you will have a lot of trouble getting back from. I have had a bit of temper and it makes me sometimes the biggest ass in the world. Whenever I got mad at something, it drove me to a point where I have put holes in door with one blow of my fist and have thrown certain things at a wall or even have punched my own window and shattered every square inch of glass from one hit. I’m not ashamed to admit this and have paid a price with scars both physically and emotionally. So after a few years of self discovery I wanted to learn to control my temper.

 Anger isn’t always the healthiest thing to have because it could affect your body in ways we can never understand and if you’re prone to high blood pressure it’s as fatal as you can get. Instead of just being angry and going off on someone or hit/smash anything, it’s better to just really walk away and whoever said “Oh if you’re mad just go hit a pillow till you cool off” must’ve been out of their god damn mind because that kind of thing will make things worse for you. One of my favorite de-stressers is just training, getting out and moving around, if you have a tire and a hammer, take it and pound that tire, one teacher showed me what you can do with a heavy medicine ball and just throw it down on the ground until you can’t take it anymore. Stress can make you crazy but doing something productive to channel your rage is healthier than just running around being angry at something.

 I have learned that when you’re mad or angry and you feel like you want to hit something or somebody, might as well be hitting yourself because you’re going to hurt yourself more than taking something out on someone or whatever. You want to find a way to relax and have those endorphins kick in that give you that sense of bliss. If you really want to get a natural high, go sprint on the track or up a hill and see how long it takes you to stop being angry. Sometimes training doesn’t always help, its understandable but that’s one way to help balance your emotions. Another way to balance things out if you get angry is to just walk away, go for a walk and breathe deeply, instead of breathing in anger, breathe in blissfulness and breathe inner strength, if you live near a lake or the ocean, go for a swim or go to your local pool and do a few laps, anything to get your mind off things and be happy with yourself.

 Lashing out in a positive manner can actually help you find what is wrong with your emotions and how you can prevent going into a big rage and turn into the incredible hulk and hurting someone. Sometimes certain people can’t control their emotions so they take meds to calm them down and even that can be harmful on the body itself. There are even people out there who beat the person they love so it’s complicated sometimes. Doing something productive that won’t harm you or others or objects is a great thing to balance out certain problems you may have just use it a safe manner that way it’s a win-win for everyone. I personally have never physically hurt anyone in my life and intend to keep it that way because if I did that I’m no better than a possible murderer so being smart about your emotions is a good practice to learn and use in a safe and healthy manner. Don’t hurt others or yourself.

Follow Blindly With Pride

When you first really learn something, you don’t know what to expect, if you did, learning wouldn’t be that fun or adventurous. When you first learn to walk as a baby, do you research and follow the mechanics, no because you don’t know any better and you learn to do it yourself by putting one foot in front of the other than before you know it you’re off and running. People have this belief that following a certain people blindly without looking into who they are or what they really represent feel that it’s stupid and you don’t know what you’re talking about.

 In the strength training world or in fitness for that matter, we follow all kinds of people, programs, diets, exercises and all sorts of things. Even the “experts” who have big egos try to take down those who don’t believe in their system and that they are blind to what they should really strive for. Hate to break it to you buddy but as cool as your name is on a piece of paper doesn’t make you god among men. Not all people in this industry are like that but it’s very annoying when they give you this B.S about facts and scientific methods that are proven and they expect you to believe them. This is where instead of listening to what they say; find out for yourself what works and what’s proven in your own experiment. Testing the waters is one of the best to learn from.

 When you train, don’t just go through the motions, followyour instincts and find what works for you and when that right program just hits you and you find a passion for it, support it and use it your advantage to what makes that program work for you. I’m not saying go out door to door like a Jehovah’s witness and preach that it’s the greatest thing since the invention of the wheel, talk about it as if to encourage it. Not every program works for everyone, hell I have followed more methods than I care to count and yet I don’t do all of them. I take the very best things I’ve learned and mold them into something that gives me and only me great benefit. I give my insights and encourage those to try it out at their own pace.

 When it comes to following a blind method of training, nothing broke that barrier more than how Slim The Hammer Man became the world’s strongest man for the specialty feats he performed such as chain-breaking, scrolling steel and his trademark, Hammer Levering. An old man taught him the best ways to tap into the mind and go after a feat that just seemed impossible yet made it happen. This was decades before the internet and cell phones, so the only way to do something is just that do it and see where it leads you. In a sense, Slim followed this old man’s methods blindly by just focusing on what worked and didn’t work. He eventually found that itch and developed his own style of training just by experimenting with his own research and look what happens, he became a beast of a legend, sure he hit a few rough patches along the road to success but it didn’t matter.

 There are millions of blind individuals in this world and it’s a shame that they can’t see the world and look into the eyes of the people they treasure the most but not all is lost, sometimes if you watch really closely (no pun intended) those same individuals develop other senses that are more powerful than the gift of sight. The main proven method today is Eco Location where the senses are sought by vibration kind of like a bat in a cave where the method came from. Why am I telling you this? Have I gone off course and just went off topic? The answer is no I haven’t. I’m telling you this because like blindness, when you follow a certain program or experiment with it, you might find some new senses and find that although you can’t tell if it’s going to work, your body will tell you to either adapt or fail. Your mind is very strong, your muscles adapt and your awareness gives you a keen sense of how certain things will play out. When you find that right moment and all that experimentation pays off, you’ll increase these senses and you’ll be able to adapt to that program however you want.

 One of the greatest masters of wrestling Billy Robinson pointed out that in the beginning, you learn, yet in the end you’re still learning. There’ really no such thing as ultimate mastery. If you stop learning and act like a total expert with an ego than you really haven’t learned a damn thing. Mastery is learning how to learn. You never stop finding that key program or exercise or method that keeps you going for life, you develop new things, new ways to come up with what you learned. Also kinds of like Yoda’s quote “You must unlearn what you have learned.”  If you stop learning and not using your mind, how will you be able to know who you really are and what you can help teach others? Teaching is great tool but yet teaching while also learning about yourself gives great insight to how you follow something while others do the same. Following someone blindly isn’t always a bad thing, just make sure you don’t get hurt or end up killing yourself, give it time and if it doesn’t work for you, move onto something else, keep learning and keep building your own senses to what brings you that ultimate high.

Big Muscles Don’t Mean Jack Shit

In every major muscle magazine, you’ll find a minimum of 3 articles that “teach” you how to build giant looking muscles. Come on are you fucking kidding me, most of these guys can’t write a single program that shows any realistic approach to building massive muscles with functional strength. Having big muscles can actually ruin your chances of having success in your exercise program, sure some are genetically built to have big muscles and still find a way to be extremely flexible and very strong. If you don’t believe that then take a look at a couple of muscle bound looking guys I know of.

 In my opinion, if you have 23 inch biceps, so what, sure they look cool and sometimes grotesque but just because you have them, doesn’t always mean you’re a strong dude. What can they really do except look good in a pose down? Big arms can only go so far but when you have strong tendons to go with them that are a whole new ball game. Back in the day when Bodybuilding actually meant something, they didn’t just train to look good on a stage but had superior strength to back it up, one of the very best of them was John Grimek who was by far one of the most massive men of his time actually pulled off some fucking awesome feats of strength such as phonebook tearing, nailbending and tearing decks of cards, I don’t even think he liked bodybuilding that much he just got stupid strong with a mega boy to go with it, next two would be Bill Pearl and Reg Park. All three of them had a powerful physique but yet overshadowed their even greater functional strength.

 Functional strength is essential to everyday life and not always in the gym either, holding groceries, opening a jar of pickles, saving one’s life and even taking up furniture for that matter. Training for everyday functions is a key to your vital success in having a strong body. Just looking good has far more disadvantages than you’d believe, seriously pal, if you have a great body but can’t defend yourself or even please a woman in the bedroom than you got some issues. I don’t care who says it and whoever doesn’t believe it isn’t helping himself very much but sex is the best exercise there is period. Now I’m not all about that, sex alone isn’t the mainstay for a healthy body or even a healthy relationship, there are other factors to be done there but with the right resources and techniques you can learn, you’re in for a hell of a good time my friend. So for my sake, value your body as a strong, functional and healthy practice and you will see certain things come about you didn’t even realize before.

 Big muscles really aren’t good enough to get by on realistic strength and fitness, just because you got a pump doesn’t mean you’re superman. Building strong tendons however, give you that level of strength that you can’t justify on just muscle building itself. It’s more important to build tendon strength rather than building muscle. If your tendons aren’t up to par, your strength is rapidly diminished and your big muscles are going to wear down on you and then who’s the bitch now.

 Bodybuilding from 1900-1960 was the type focal point of physical culture, many guys weren’t that big back then, at best the biggest guy that had a great deal of muscle of him was no more than 220 lbs. and didn’t just have a great physique but had strength that still holds records to this day. From 1960-present day, Bodybuilding has become a steroid infested culture that just lost it pride and joy of being a great physical culturist, not all bodybuilders today do steroids and some have lived long and healthy lives, it’s the habit of wanting more and more and too much of anything isn’t good for your health but yet these dumb fucks don’t give a rats ass to what they do to themselves. Today Bodybuilders are like supermodels, they put so much on themselves, one type nearly starves them to death to have that “beauty” look and the other tries to pack on so much muscle that they deprive themselves of walking like a normal human being and it’s sickening to me.

 To be truly strong, you want to have real muscles that can do things for you in your time of need or do things that give you the most benefit for the muscles you want to build. Muscle building is about learning your body, what can work for your particular structure and how to build the tissues and tendons that hold everything together to get the complete package. If you want real muscles than you need to find the realistic approaches to get them and they’re much closer than you think. Learn and find a way for you to build some raw, functional and some real fucking powerful muscle.

Living With Incredible Health

Throughout the world and more famously in Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, health is a journey of learning to find the best qualities in the body, mind and spirit. Finding health doesn’t always mean finding the right exercise, the best meditative practices, the right kind of food to eat or even believing in a higher power, all these things have great advantages but the real key to building superior health is finding your true self and how you apply it to make yourself vital, vigorous and living a long and happy life. Today however, health has become a near last-on-the-list mockery of what we’ve become in this country, too many bad foods, too many TV commercials and way too much exposure to the wrong kind of what health is believed to look like.

 Looking at certain models, pro athletes, global entertainers and hate to say this but gurus as well that really take looking at health down a spiral of bad influences and a lot of egotistical people. I’m not saying all these people are like that but seriously, you’d rather trash your body for a few bucks than to actually get a grip on it? The mind/body connection is a symbol of our yin and yang of life; one cannot exist without the other. Think of a great and beautiful looking Ferrari, what does it need, gas, oil, water and parts to keep it not only together but to drive in a smooth and ferocious fashion, if our bodies are weak, so are our minds and vise versa. Superior health starts combining the mind and body as if they’re one whole unit other wise our conditions won’t be the way we really want them to be.

 In exercise, certain methods are way overrated and have nothing to do with building health. Some people who train others don’t really have a keen sense of what real health is, certain exercises should not be done by some people but yet those who teach them don’t know what they’re getting themselves into and that’s a scary thought to think about. Real training is finding methods that bring that natural high of endorphins that help bring blood into our systems (I’m not talking pumping iron here) that help keep us young, vital and strong for real life things. There are many ways to help build superior health such as versions of qi gong, Isometrics, Muscle Control, Yoga and Animal Training that bring your body into alignment not just in the body but in the mind as well. Certain forms are tougher than others so we must progress and find what suits our bodies to bring the best of what keeps us in shape.

 When people talk about the real sources of power, they sometimes think of certain body parts or their brain being the ultimate source or the types of exercises that give the most benefit but the true power is in your imagination and your organs. The organs harvest your body’s system for blood flow and great energy. Each organ cannot really exist without the other, if even one organ is missing you are at greater risk of dying and taking 2 or more you might as well be dead. Certain exercises teach how to strengthen the organs little by little and with practice, your life force or Chi has a greater chance of keeping you alive for a long time.

 Your vitality is a key ingredient to your success to superior health because it doesn’t just mean meditating or finding various exercises, it also means how you use your attitude and your balance of negative and positive stress. A healthy attitude helps lead down a road of healthy living and using connections from various sources bring that vital success to new levels of enlightenment, sexual energy, and great blood flow to the body that brings levels of growth hormone that keeps you young and living life with gusto. Get healthy the best way possible that helps make your life and those around you at ease and balance stress that’s both positive and negative.