Maximize Your Strength & Conditioning In Short Time

 To get the biggest benefits in your strive for strength and conditioning, you learn to maximize your efforts with the best intentions. This doesn’t mean you go hardcore everyday, you want to have great recovery as well, maximum effort doesn’t mean going the hardest or the fastest, it means putting in the effort to where you're efficient and consistent with your exercise and your recovery. Doesn’t matter if you’re in the gym, at home, at a park or on the road, building effort with great intention become your greatest asset.

 Now a lot of trainers don’t always start out with giving their “pupil” a foundation and just throw them to the wolves and hope they make it out alive meaning they just have go all out all the time and believe it or not that can lead to injury, complications to your organs, brain trauma and too much too soon. The number one rule for starting out no matter what you want to do is build a foundation. This helps find where you’re at and where you want to keep going. I understand what it’s like to jump in and just hammer it out and expect results in two days or less, that’s the arrogant thinking, the key is patience. Set goals to improving, this is called Progression, it’s like Math, you don’t jump to calculus on the first day, you learn arithmetic, than multiplication, than division and so on and so forth.

 A great way to understand your goals to maximize your workouts is to learn to harness the power within yourself. From the mind to your organs to the outer body, using your power source from within will tell you to stay strong or keep off. Whether it’s Deep Breathing or learning to control your adrenalin, inner power is much stronger than your outer appearance.

 Cardio is an overrated form of conditioning that not too many people quite keep up the aspects of what they really know. If you’re running on a treadmill for 45 minutes, you’re working your body but at the same time, you’re diminishing your real lung power. Not saying cardio is bad but in my opinion, if you’re training hard and you’re out of breath after a couple minutes hell even a few seconds, chances are you’re building much stronger lungs than you would running for quite a bit. Anaerobic exercise makes you far stronger in the shortest amount of time than aerobic exercise because the difference is one gets you out of breath and the other keeps your breath going. Both are good but rarely anyone uses both when mostly they use one or the other. Using both in different workouts makes you a machine.

 To maximize your workouts, you work as many muscles as possible at one particular time. Basic principles train the muscles at their peak levels and the basic exercises are Sprinting, Presses, Pulls, Squats and Grip all of which give you the foundation to build levels of strength and conditioning you never imagined having and all work multiple muscle groups. Isolated exercises don’t have the luxury of making you very strong, you’ll only get strong in one particular area and neglect everything else. It’s like a kick ass looking salad, you don’t just put lettuce here, tomatoes there no you put croutons, beets, lettuce tomatoes, carrots, nuts and dressing so it’s all mixed and matched TOGETHER!!!

 Don’t just throw all your eggs in one basket meaning in this case don’t just put all your effort into one workout and you’re don’t for the day, spread your exercises around so your energy levels are always there and when you have that big workout, do it with a vengeance and after, rest and cool off. Again your day is not done yet and there are people out there who don’t have that amount of time to do one big workout, if they can go for it but for those who have very little time, could spread out their exercises throughout the day so they can have that sense of accomplishment. Make the effort to exercise as best as you can no matter where you are.

 To get great benefit, you need tools to help you along the way. If you got weights, do them when you have the time, stuck at a red light in your car, do isometrics by pushing and pulling on the steering wheel, got a ton of room to train, move around like a wild animal, only have a short amount of space, do push-ups and/or squats. These are all things you can do to help you keep in mind that exercise is key to keeping a long and healthy life and you make the effort to do something. There is 24hrs in a day, use the free time you have whether it’s a couple minutes or whatever and do something, you don’t have to do much to get a ton of benefit.

Wizardry By The Beach

 It’s one thing to be apart of something that sparks your interest, it’s another that when you’re interested in something and you’re near the sandy beaches of San Diego it’s a whole different ball game. Strength Training is a tough thing to do once you get a hold of it but at the same time when you’re having fun with the guys that will push you and maybe make you laugh, it’s all that much sweeter. The presenters at the Wizard Of StrengthWorkshop will blow you maybe literally out of the water down at the 619.

 Now contrary to popular belief, a heavyweight or super-heavyweight athlete is said to have not very much endurance and if he’s strong, he’s one strong S.O.B but in reality those myths are not only not true one man has both and it’s off the charts. That man is my friend Bud Jeffries. At this workshop he will teach you the much hidden secrets of how to achieve superhuman strength and endurance at the same time. I know what you’re thinking “how the hell is that possible and why should I listen to a guy who looks like he can’t even run a lap let alone a mile?” Well I thought the very same things, till I witnessed first hand what this beast of a southern man can do. His strength is well known throughout the Physical Culture world but his endurance is even more impressive as he can swing a kettlebell more than an hour at a time, do presses like nobody’s business and does it all with a smile on his face. Endurance is a key for long sessions in a workout and in life and he’ll give you a hell of a way to do both, I guarantee it.

 

 

 

 You know in the sci-fi fantasy world, there are aliens, flying ships that are the size of a major city and my personal favorite, there are the Jedi. The Jedi are a peaceful set of warriors that help bring the knowledge of the force, oh I’m sorry you already knew that forgive me but again, maybe you think it’s just make believe and no one has real knowledge of a force-like concept. Wrong again. The one man I can think of that has the ability to achieve super levels of strength and speed in the blink of an eye and can knock you on your ass from a few inches away is the man known as GarinBader. It’s not surprising you might be skeptical about a man like that, but once you learn his journey and understand what he believes works it’s pretty much listening to Obiwan Kenobi in a sense. He has made his living soaring through stages across the glob, dazzle with magic and spectacular music that will make your jaw drop but his true calling is teaching YOU how to build super strength and blazing speed within minutes.

 

 

 Physical Culturists come and go and they have their purpose and leave you with things from a different perspective but one man that has revolutionized Physical Culture in the last few years is a man I’ve known for a long time and every time he comes up with something or training something fierce with him, he just makes it all look awesome, even when he throws back his hair every and now and then and that’s The Renaissance Man Of Physical Culture Logan Christopher. His ideal for mind power and conditioning has been proven by top experts in the field of Kettlebell Training, Hypnosis, Superfoods, Hand Balancing, Bodyweight Training and Feats Of Strength. Not many guys can claim all these attributes but he has and what he offers at this workshop will make you think twice about what you’re already doing and giving you the tools to become something beyond your own capabilities.

 

 

 Being mobile is a element of training that many neglect and don’t always see it as a way to train for strength, health, flexibility and agility but yet it’s one of the top keys to achieve all these levels and more in your life not just physical training. Chuck Halbakken is the man that will teach you the insider secrets for powerful mobility and strength in the tendons and ligaments that will help achieve a level of power you have never imagined before. A former Motorcross rider and a authority in the strength feat of Card Tearing, he knows what it takes to have great mobility and flexibility to build strength even the smallest of places, he understands that even the little things make a huge impact and he will give you ways to create all of that. I have witnessed what he does and to me it’s nothing short of incredible. It’s never too late get a hold of great flexibility and movement that won’t tire you or hurt you. It’s that damn good.

 

 

 All of these presenters have a way of teaching you the very foundations of having levels of strength and power from every possible angle and they give it in ways no one can teach. No matter what you have learned, take it with power and vigor and let them help you achieve what you always wanted. Being open minded is a key to learn things from a different perspective and if you’re one of those close-minded people who think nothing of this than stop reading this right now. Use your mind like a sponge and absorb as much knowledge as possible because you never know when you’ll be able to use it and be prepared for it. These are the best in the world at what they do and it’s very unlikely you’ll see this group of guys again in the same room presenting, grab your seat and be sure to bring a friend with you, he/she’ll get a kick out of it too. You will leave that workshop a changed person and for the better.

Building Power And Might The Old Fashioned Way

Ladies and Gentleman, this guest post is one I've been waiting years to finally put up and today's guest is the man that got me my start in the Physical Culture world, a man who's faught his way back from a back injury to bcoming one of the strongest pound for pound athletes in the world today. You know him as the Garage Warrior but also in our circle of friends he's known as the Duke. I give you Mr. Tyler Bramlett.....

The Top 11 Things You Are Doing That Will Prevent You From Being Super Human

 

By Tyler Bramlett

 It’ is well known in strength circles that the abilities of men in the past far exceed the abilities of even our strongest men today. Why is it that with greater technology, better understanding of the human body and a firm understanding of biochemistry we are becoming weaker and weaker?

 In this article I want to identify the top 11 things you are possibly doing every day that are preventing you from getting stronger, living longer and looking good naked.

Let’s get started.

 

# 1 – Not Lifting Enough Weight

 You may think your lifting heavy, but compare yourself to the weightlifting legends of the past. Guys like John Grimek, Henry Stineborn, Arthur Saxon, Eugene Sandow and Herman Goerner. Can you curl 200lbs, how about strict press 300lbs or more? In the days before squat racks Henry “Milo” Steinborn could pick a 550lb barbell off the ground lean it onto his shoulders, perform a set of squats and then return it to the ground. Can you do even 50% of this?

 If not you may need to focus on lifting heavy more often. Try to get as close to these following numbers as possible and you will be considered a strong man. 600lb deadlift, 500lb squat, 400lb bench press, 300lb clean and press, 200lb curl, 200lb bent press, 150lb one arm snatch. Go test your maxes in these 7 lifts right now and see how far you are from world class!

 

# 2 – Not Doing Enough Volume Training With Heavy Weights

 Lifting heavy is crucial, but in order to get good lifting heavy you must also practice with heavy weights. I was having a discussion with my good friend Logan Christopher recently and we both agreed that the biggest hole in both of our games was training hard moves for high volume.

 Now, this doesn’t mean repping out to failure but rather taking a challenging movement like pressing to handstand or clean and jerking 85% of your max weight and repeating it over and over again until it becomes easy. Take any move you really want to be good at and choose a challenging weight or progression and practice it over and over until you master it and it feels easy!

 

# 3 – Not Doing Enough Bodyweight Strength Training

Almost every great strongman of the past did some form of bodyweight training. The great wrestlers of India used bodyweight training to build their great strength and endurance and many of the old time strongmen used bodyweight training to bulletproof their joints and make them stronger and livelonger. So, what should you focus on?

 Here’s my top 5 bodyweight movements, handstand progressions, bridging progressions, hip and leg strength drills, pullup progressions and abdominal progressions. What are these progressions? Check out #4…

 

# 4 – Not Using Proper Movement Progressions

 The basic principal behind movement progression is that you should always be making the movements you are working on harder and harder. A simple way to think about this is in gymnastics. You don’t go for the iron cross on the first day, instead you follow a intelligently designed movement progression mastering each exercise along the way until you are the proud owner of the iron cross. For more info on this check out a new product I created called the warrior warm up a 5 step guide to mastering movement.

 

# 5 – Not Staying Flexible Enough

 Flexibility is highly underrated in the strength world of today. Very few strong men I meet have a good degree of flexibility. In fact the only 2 that come to mind are Pavel Tsatsouline and Bud Jeffries. If you can deadlift over 500lbs and do the side splits, ignore this section, otherwise listen up!

 In order for you to stay lifting in your older years, you need to build flexibility. Being flexible will reduce your chances of injuries and keep you moving for longer and longevity is the name of the game. Stretch daily and make sure you work on the following 5 stretches; Pike Stretch, Gymnast Bridge, Front Splits, Side Splits and Downward Dog.

 

# 6 – Not Doing Enough Variety (Or Doing Too Much Variety)

 Old timers all had their pet lifts, but that didn’t stop them from practicing other moves in hopes to build their balance strength and coordination. This one is quite simple. Master a handful of moves, write down 5 different things you need to accomplish before you die and work on those 5 huge goals as often as possible. From there have fun, cross train and enjoy trying different movements. This way you can have your focus but still practice variety.

 

# 7 – Always Working To Your Max

 Working to your max or working to failure sends your body a very distinct message. It says you are always close to failure or even worse in a bodybuilders case you are failing to lift this weight. The easiest way to get discouraged and lose momentum is to fail when you are exercising. So follow this simple rule…

 Never fail on an exercise, always leave when you have succeeded. I know from personal experience how many different times I thought I could add juts 5 more lbs to the bar and then failed. Take your PR’s and walk, that’s the bottom line!

 

# 8 – Not Using The Best Movements

 Obviously some exercises are better then others, if this wasn’t the caste then every dumbbell benching meathead would be all around strong rather then looking like he has toothpicks for legs. Pick exercises that work the whole body and work them hard. From there train your weak links (usually the hands and core) and you are good to go.

 Here are some of the best exercises you can choose to master; snatches, clean and presses or jerks, deadlifts, squats, bench pressing, dips, handstand pushups, pullups, bridging gymnastics, bent presses, etc. Look to the exercises that used to be done in the 1800’s to find a comprehensive list of awesome drills you should use

 

# 9 – Eating Low Quality Foods

 Fueling your body poorly will hinder you from making any real progress. The old timers ate piles of high quality natural food and did nothing else. So fuel your body with high quality organic foods and focus on eating the foods with the most bang for the buck.

 Here are my favorite muscle building foods: Organ meats (liver, kidneys etc.), bone broths, all meat, fish and eggs, all veggies, some fruits, nuts and seeds, high quality grass fed dairy and superfoods like pine pollen, goji berries and more.

 

# 10 – Not Focusing On Recovery

 To sustain hard training you also have to be an expert at recovery. Many of the strongmen of the past did this for a living. Meaning they woke up, lifted weights, practiced bodyweight movements, worked their grip, ate good food and then rested, stretched, got massages, took cold baths and slept as much as they could.

 If you want to be strong healthy and recover well from your workouts, make sure you stretch, get periodic massages, sleep well and focus on how well you are recovering. Someone once told me that there is no such thing as overtraining, just under recovering, I believe this!

 

# 11 - Ignoring Your Internal Energy

 The shaolin monks probably are one of the best examples of mastering their internal energy or life force. Their focused meditation allows them to perform superhuman feats of strength and endurance. You need this too!

 In order to build your vital life force and increase your ability to perform the impossible I highly recommend a minimum of 10 minutes a day collecting energy. This doesn’t have to be in the form of a seated meditation. You can instead go for a walk (preferably barefoot), and breathe deep, imagining your are inhaling white light and then exhaling all the bad stuff.

 Guys like Bud Jeffries and Logan Christopher are mixing meditative practices and energy work within their training to enhance their strength and power. Try adding in 10 deep breathes before each heavy lift and see what it does for your overall training.

 Well, there you have it, the 11 things I see that could be holes in your game. But I don’t want to leave you empty handed and feeling depressed because you don’t measure up to the men of the past. So here is what I want you to do so you can get the best results from this information.

 

1.      Identify which of the 11 things you are weakest in

2.      Write a plan to change that weak link and apply it for 21 days

3.      Revisit this list and identify the next weakest link

4.      Write a plan to change that weak link and apply it for 21 days

5.      REPEAT!

That’s all there is too it, Good luck!

 

Tyler Bramlett is the creator of www.garagewarrior.com a Blog dedicated to helping people get stronger, live longer, look good naked, find your purpose and live the life of your dreams. He is a highly knowledgeable expert in performance based training, nutrition, psychological motivation and he is the author of The Warrior Warm Up which can be found at www.thewarriorwarmup.com

The Unknown Benefits Of Handstand Training

In the world of Physical Culture, a lot of things come and go, some things work, some don’t and others just have a way of taking things to a whole new level and one way to look at is looking at the world upside down. In training of the handstands, this teaches you to look at things from a different perspective and I mean this literally, when you hold a handstand either up against the wall or free-handed, you have to teach your body how to use it from a very different light. Think about it while you read this.

 It’s not easy at first to get into a handstand, believe me I know how you feel. At first it seems scary, like waking up in a different place and don’t understand where you’re at. With practice, you learn to shut that off and become comfortable in your new surroundings. Eventually when you hold a handstand, you will find out right away that you can’t be very loose otherwise you’ll fall. Keeping the body tight is essential to your progress. Holding the position isn’t just an exercise, it’s a test of will.

 Tighten up the body in a handstand is the foundation for Hand Balancing and when you hold it for a period of time, you’ll find out about the benefit of increased blood flow to your body especially in the brain. Flex your body in every position, point your toes, flex the calves, squeeze the legs together, tighten your torso and press your hands into the ground as if you’re going right through it. What this teaches is to use the body as a complete unit, powerful, strong and tight like a steel rod.

 Practicing on the wall is a start and whether or not you aspire to be a gymnast or an acrobat but the most important thing is to keep your body relaxed while in a flexed position. I realize that sounds like an oxymoron but yet you will soon understand the concept that holding the position itself brings great benefits to your body, making it strong and shrinking fat and building muscle while increasing strength in your tendons and ligaments.

 I’m giving you this tip not to progress to handstand push-ups which you should eventually progress to but to teach you the value of Internal Power meaning you’re strengthening the body from the inside out. Isometric Handstands bring blood flow into the body meaning stronger organs, increased flow to the muscles and strengthening the very things that help hold the body together meaning bones, tendons and again ligaments. This is what I like to call Isometric Practice, fusing the mind/body connection to build strength in every form of your body both internally and externally.

 I realize I have repeated a few things here but a lot of people don’t see how certain things work and a lot of people think that if you want to get stronger, lift weights, ok let’s test this theory, you picked a few barbells and dumbbells and you worked them hard, now test yourself in the handstand and see how strong you still are. I bet you, you won’t last more than a few seconds. Strength does not always mean picking up the most weight or how big your guns are and it certainly doesn’t matter how you look. Strength in different arenas gives the body variety of what it can do, it’s not just meant to pick up a weight, hell even in the old days of Physical Culture men and women didn’t just lift, they wrestled, did gymnastics, were circus performers, entertaining strongmen all these things and yet were strong and many different areas and sometimes lifting weights had nothing to do with it.

 It’s all about looking outside the box and using your body in ways that other things can’t transfer over. If you’re interested in Hand Balancing, practice it not just to hold a handstand but hold it and move it with intense will from your mind and your body together, you will see things from a new light you never thought of and find some unknown benefits that they didn’t teach in the course. You’ll know once you experience it, it’s a feeling you can’t get from anything else.

Making Little Things Count

Have you ever crammed for a test before whether it was in high school, college or studying for a high degree? We all one way or another have done this, you study a little and lay off for a while but just before test day, you have to get everything sorted together all at one time just to even make it there. A lot of people in the fitness world or even going to the gym have done this and where does it really lead them? They have to rush to the gym, change, get their cardio and weights in and that’ll be their workout before they really feel exhausted and out of it when they get home and have no energy. This is not the positive and productive way to exercise.

 No matter what you do throughout the day, you can get a little exercise in here and there using small effective exercises that leave you with energy instead of draining you. Think about it, when you get up in the morning, you can do a few stretches to get your day started, you can even do Isometrics when you’re in the shower getting ready, hell you can work on your grip strength while brushing your teeth. These are things to think about that you don’t need to rush to a gym and get in your workout. Spread your exercises out even at your office, even sitting at this chair at this moment, I’m pressing one arm into the chair and typing with the other; see you can exercise while working without anyone knowing it. You don’t ever have to complicate or compromise your workouts because you feel you have to go to the gym.

 We all get tired at some point during the day, what if we used that little energy we have to do a few exercises and just start bursting with energy instantly? You can even do exercises while sitting at a red light in your car, don’t believe me, test it. You’re at a red light and it’s going take a bit of time and traffic is all over the place, or it’ll take less than a minute for the light to change, grab your steering wheel at the top, bottom or sides and push or pull for a few seconds and switch positions, or squeeze it for no more than seven seconds, you just did an exercise or two that will keep your blood flowing and energy stays up.

 There are no excuses in exercising, if you can grab a cup of coffee at a Starbux, you can do a couple exercises while waiting in line. Learn to make time, your body will thank you for it, if you have a few seconds in the office, use it, if you’re sitting in a restaurant waiting for your food, use that time to do a few seconds of an exercise. There are people who say they’ll make time but never do because of their schedules, hate to break it to you but you can do it, just be willing to use when you can.

 Nobody has time for everything, that’s a fact and it’s understandable, you don’t have time for a half hour of cardio and an hour of weights, besides, unless you’re a gym rat, you won’t want to use that time because you have things on your plate you need to do  especially if you have kids. Spreading out exercises throughout the day can be beneficial to you no matter what kind of schedule you have; you don’t even need to do a ton of reps when you have the time, just do a few. Your body is a machine that needs fuel to keep you strong, like a very beautiful Ferrari, it needs water, gas and oil to keep it running right and all those little parts to keep it from breaking down, your body is the same thing, use that spare time to do something and your body will keep on running until you are ready to sleep. It’s all about looking outside the box and learning certain things that can be of use to YOU!!! Make it count, it’s the little things that make a big impact.