Why Join The Matt Furey Inner Circle?

    Before I could walk again in 2005, I learned about this guy who was a wrestler, world champion in Kung Fu and practiced Bodyweight Exercises. I bought a book of his called Combat Conditioning and it seemed interesting. I didn't want to do regular rehab like most people would after an injury so I made a vow when I did learn to walk again I would do the exercises from this book to help me along the way. First month sucked as I only did the Hindu Squats, Hindu Push-ups and the Bridge. Couldn't do more than 25 squats, 15 push-ups and 30 sec. of the bridge felt like an eternity. I never gave up because although I couldn't do a damn thing at first, my legs were getting stronger and I was having more energy than I could possibly imagine. Within 6-7 months of just pure bodyweight training, I did over 1000 squats in a workout, over 300 push-ups and could hold the bridge for 5 min. anytime I wanted. I was hooked ever since I got that book and many more courses from Furey and he helped change my way of training forever. Nearly 10 years later, bodyweight training is still my main style of training adding in cables, hammers, mace and a few strongman stuff in the mix.

 

    When I first signed up for Furey's Inner Circle a few years after buying Combat Conditioning, I learned things there that couldn't possibly be worth using in public styled book or DVD because a lot of it was very different, not meant for hardcore bodybuilders or the typical gym rat. A lot of it was bodyweight stuff but adding in hill sprints, cable work and others it's just one of those things that you want to grab a hold of and never let go. I was on there off and on for a number of years but always found a way to learn something new from it and use to my style of training. You can't learn this stuff from a regular DVD/CD/Book because it wouldn't have that unique and mystical aspect of it. Think about it, if everyone knew all the secrets where is anything more to learn? In the Inner Circle you get to learn about training from a very different perspective and you get exclusive access to some of the most guarded secrets he has to offer. You think you know all there is to know about bridging? Think again. How about various squats you don't normally do or see anywhere else? I thought you knew about squat training. Why not how to run faster without adding tension to increase not only speed but to burn off fat faster than any other type of training? It's all about learning from different angles to give you the edge in health, fitness, sports and longevity.

 

    One of his recent forms of training came in the style of Neck Chi Kung. If you thought you knew about training the neck, this is goes beyond your own assumptions and what you have previously learned. It's not bridging although it helps and will make you neck stronger. This style of training is not hardcore and not meant to make you sweat hard or breathe heavily it's far from that; it teaches how to relax the neck and the body all the way down to the toes by moving in a much slower fashion to unlock and release tension from that area. First time I did this routine, I was hearing crackles from every square inch of my neck, traps, upper back and shoulders and that doesn't happen too often. I rarely if ever stay with routines because that's just how I roll but I trust Furey's judgment and do what I can to learn from him. His other style of training the neck is doing exercises based on the Tortoise because it's been said this animal is a symbol of longevity and one of its secrets is having a healthy neck. You move and hold the neck in certain positions, some I've never heard of before and they hit you like a bolt of lightning and you're not even doing a whole lot. The last thing I'll mention about this is his Bridging Chi Kung. This type of training alone is worth the price of the Inner Circle because it teaches how to relax in the hip, back and front bridges in a whole new way. Imagine holding the bridge with your arms in different positions that will make you stronger in every portion of your body and doing it only a few minutes a day; the routine lasts about 15 min. at best. Release all that tension in your back, neck, legs and torso as you sail through the day with vigor, internal power and agility unlike anything else.

 

    I like doing hardcore stuff from time to time like sprints, animal exercises, pulling on the chest expander with heavy cables, hit a tire with the Epic Sledgehammer, bend spikes, rip cards/phonebooks all kinds of stuff but I also like to train a little calmer, learn how to internalize my body and expand my energy from the inside. It's fitness on a whole other level and although it's not hardcore and bad-to-the-bone crazy, it's also tough, demanding and takes great concentration on a scale you can't find anywhere else. From walking backwards extremely slowly in 30 minutes to standing and just relaxing the body for several minutes to even sitting in a chair and letting go of the tension in my body by just breathing deeply and using a visualization technique its fitness within a different world that is needed. Do me a favor and sign up for the Matt Furey Inner Circle. At the moment you can get a yearly membership fairly cheap that is less than 10 bucks a month yet you get thousands of dollars' worth of info you can't get anywhere else. This cheap price won't last long because soon he's going to double it. It is one of the most awesome things you can do and it's far cheaper than going to a gym, buying lousy junk food, bottles of booze and even far cheaper than cigarettes that can kill your health far quicker. Be healthy and learn the very guarded secrets that will have you gaining more energy, strength, flexibility, explosiveness, stamina, mental clarity, emotional stability and can even help you in sports like never before.

 

Happy Thor's Day everyone. Be Awesome and get your hands on one of the most helpful resources on the planet.

Strengthen The Spine

    Lately I've had this one spot on the left side of my lower back that's been aggravating me. So far it's only painful when I sit or lay in a certain position but when I train or sit in a natural squat there's no pain whatsoever. So what I can I do to reduce the pain? I'm certainly not taking some kind of meds just temporarily ease the pain and unless I can't walk I'm not going to any doctor. I've decided to train my spine a little more and not just build muscles of the back (got plenty of that already) but want train the bones, the ligaments and make my spine the electric superpower it's meant to be. The spine is our foundation that is connected to the brain which wires all the nerves in the human body. If you have a spine injury, chances are you can be crippled for life or haven't learned the aspects of spinal training.

 

    One of the best ways to train the spine is by Bridging. This can be done in quite a few ways; one is what's known as the wrestler's bridge where you're on your head and feet are on the floor and the objective is to touch your nose to the floor. Another way would be is to go into a bridge where your hands and feet are only touching the floor; this called the Gymnastic Bridge or the Wheel Pose. The most common bridge you see people do is the Hip Bridge where you lay down, lift the hips off the floor and the only parts on the ground are the feet, upper back and shoulders. Bridging is one of the key ingredients to developing a healthy spine that builds that natural curvature and lengthening the torso that helps you lose fat, build muscle and have a strong body overall. In the Gymnastic Bridge you're practically lengthening the entire body and it's also one of the greatest forms of isometrics because it takes a lot of strength to hold the position. In the wrestler's bridge where you're on your neck and stretching everything from the neck down. Some discredit this exercise because it seems dangerous plus you're putting pressure on the neck when in fact the exercise helps increase blood flow to the brain, strengthens the legs and torso for the stabilizing muscles and it's regarded as a great way to get into a euphoric state or a natural high that de-stresses you and brings a calming sense of mental clarity.

 

`    An exercise I've been doing lately that really helps my spine is just hanging on my pull-up bar. By doing this, I'm stretching my entire body from the arms to the legs because just hanging there the flow of the body becomes a whole other realm of electric power within every vertebrae of the spine. This alone builds incredible grip strength, shoulder flexibility, eliminating those "love handles", creates better posture and you're getting a sense of what it's like to a wild ape like an orangutan, gorilla or Chimp. I ought to do this more often and so should you. As we age our spines start to shrink and compress until we are so hunched up that just by moving or straightening feels like a crowbar smacking every part of your body. In order to reverse this, lengthen your spine a few minutes a day and if you have trouble hanging, just do what you can and build up, eventually you'll be so strong you can hang for minutes on end.

 

    Another style of training I've used for my back from the muscles to the spine is doing DDP Yoga. You know I've written about this a few times but it bears repeating. DDP Yoga brings a whole new element to strength and stretching. Bringing the spine into play is the focal point of this because DDP learned how to recover from major back injuries from wrestling all those years ago and to bring that powerful lengthening to build a solid, strong and flexible spine to live without pain. In some of his exercises like the Cobra or the Diamond Cutter, they open up the spine like crazy and when you use Muscle Control as you move throughout the movement you're getting strength and cardio at the same time. Think about it; if you have a healthy spine you have more energy, greater sex drive, be able to flow through your favorite exercises with ease and you get to open up your breathing better. A powerful spine that is relaxed and pain-free creates better awareness and better posture. You're expanding your life force because the nerves in your body are just immensely powerful and it helps your internal organs become stronger which means better hormone levels, youthfulness, recover faster, burning off fat and living well past your prime (hell with a healthy spine you may not even peak beyond your 40's or more you'll just be in superb health).

 

Strengthen that spine everyone and live with happiness, pain-free, love and energetic power. Have a great Tuesday guys. Be awesome.

Benefits Of Animal Training

    The variety of fitness programs is endless. You have your infomercials, developing one-arm chin-ups, the next phase of bodybuilding, getting cardio from the latest trainer hell there's a way to tone your arms with a damn Shake Weight. Why do we get so caught up in all the hype and broken promises of what these programs produce? The truth is, even though there are endless ways to train only an extreme few create the best results and do so in a short amount of time that is healthy, interesting and useful. Animal Exercise is one of those extreme few and here's why; aside from the great benefits you're about to read, it's a style of exercise that can be incorporated into practically any routine, can be used to amplify your conditioning for your sport and it jump starts your cardio in a much more practical way than machines ever could.

 

    Here are a few benefits on why Animal Exercise is so powerful over many other programs….

 

1. It produces greater amount of Natural Growth Hormone:
   

   
    

   Even with the latest injections of steroids and Performance Enhancers, they still can't produce the amount that Animal Exercise produces. The reason why is because when you move your whole body through a plane of motion, you're jump starting what is already natural in your nervous system. Moving like a wild animal for up to 20 minutes fires up the lungs, making you take in more oxygen and throws in powerful endorphins that feeds the blood in your body. Growth Hormone in its natural state produces gains in strength, sexual energy, lung capacity and the ability to recover. It's the compound movements that produce fast results.
   

   
    

2. The Strength Gains become your biggest asset:
   

   
    

   Using multiple muscles in a single exercise produces a great deal of strength especially in the awkward positions animal training gets into. It's not easy moving your bodyweight in such powerful movements. Sure we can't be as strong as a gorilla or a tiger hell nowhere near the strength of a Rhino Beatle but we can adapt and strengthen our bodies in ways that weights and "human" exercise can't touch. Say you can do a few push-ups but it takes a greater amount of strength to push up like a Grasshopper because you have to jump and fire up the muscle fibers even more just to get off the ground. When you move your body in ways that you normally don't move in, your muscles fire to the point where even the smallest fibers in your legs, arms, back and abdominals become generate a huge amount of strength.
   

   
    

3. Short Workouts are essential to your development:
   

   
    

   When you go to the gym, how long does it take you to get there? How long did it take you to get dressed for your workout? How long is your workout? The thing is, the amount of time being put into from these 3 questions alone can be greatly reduced to the point where if you drove to the gym, got dressed and started on your cardio, you could've had a much shorter workout in that amount of time. It is not rocket science to know that if you want to make the most of your day, you can't be training 2-3 hours at a time because for most people it's downright impossible. With training in Animal Exercises, you can get in a great workout in less than 20 minutes without ever having to leave your house or go very far and you don't need to dress up like a fitness model, just sweats, a t-shirt and some comfortable shoes (don't recommend heals or flip flops) or go barefoot your choice. The exercises are very intense and it doesn't even need 20 minutes worth of training, 5 minutes is great if that's all you can do. You can get more done without compromising your home life. Think about it if you're trying to raise a family or have to travel for your job and the only good hour you have to anything is spending time with the people you want to be with or chill out after a long day.
   

   
    

       Getting kids involved is a priority nowadays. In this country, childhood obesity is through the roof and less than a few people are out there doing something about it. It's been said that today as oppose to 30-50 years ago, kids are mostly likely to not even outlive their parents. That is sad, I've been around children all my life from when I was in Daycare till I became practically family to the woman and her family that helped ran it and I've seen a lot of kids come and go but very few if any were obese when she took care of them. We played tag and ran around, play ball in the street, even played hockey in the living room. Most of the time exercise is boring to kids and many P.E teachers just put them through generic types of exercise like a sport or too much running that doesn't really go anywhere. Exercise is supposed to fun, exciting, teaching the value of teamwork and friendly competition without their minds going numb. Animal Training gives kids a chance to not only strengthen and build muscle but increase their level of awareness, bring down aggression and build calmness and relaxed states of mind. It doesn't matter if you're in first grade or in High School, a kid can have a powerful body from both inside and outside. Help each other, make a game out of it and you can even use it to get more out of their sport because the movements strengthen not just the muscles but the tendons and ligaments that can help reduce injury and have greater stamina during the game. Parents, get involved to. A family that trains together, bonds together because you're not just giving your kid a chance to better themselves but building a bigger love as a parent and showing them that when you work as a team and have fun.
   

   
    

   More Benefits Of Animal Training…….
   

   
    

   1. The fun you can make that produces even greater results:
      

      
       

      Most programs are rather boring and generic. When you lose interest, you can't get the results you want and it sometimes can be depressing when you feel like crap after a workout even though you sweated everything out. With Animal Exercises you can make it however you want. One of the best ways to get the most bang for your bucks is making a game out of it. Play tag with your friends, have a race or make a cartoon version of it using your favorite animal characters, sure it looks goofy (pun intended) but who cares, you're getting something out of it. When you are excited to exercise and feel like a million bucks afterwards you're not just creating a strong body but a strong connection to your emotional and mental state of mind.
      

      
       

   2. Being able to adapt that teaches you how to move your body:
      

      
       

      We can't move exactly like a wild animal because we aren't structured like them but we can however, move our bodies that simulates the best we can with our physiology. It's not easy moving in awkward positions yet we can use our bodies that is suitable to our anatomy and move with the best of intentions. Say like moving like an Alligator for example; using our own anatomy we can move in the push-up position by widening our arms and legs to simulate looking like that animal. It's about using your imagination and paying attention to level your body can handle, you may need to start moving slower to get the mechanics down or not just so high. The Frog is a favorite but because of the way my legs are I can't jump very high otherwise it will hurt like hell so I need to adapt and still get great benefit from it. How about practicing moving with less limbs say moving on one leg; if you get injured and can't use that leg your body is still strong enough to move around because you have adapted to that position. How about moving backwards to use muscles from another angle, this puts the body in another phase of strength.
      

      
       

   3. The variety of progressions that gives you a level that can work for you:
      

      
       

      Variety in this manner is a great thing to look at. We may not have the same structure to move in a powerful like someone else can. Some can jump higher, others need to jump low because of how their body is tailored to that aspect of training. The way we use our legs may not be the same, some move great with a much wider stance as oppose to someone who's more comfortable in a more narrow position. It's also important to pay attention to your level of fitness because if you're starting out you may not be able to move as fast as someone with a higher level of speed, tempo or placement of hands and feet as well. I'm very good at moving like a gorilla in a diagonal position but not very good at moving exactly forward as the exercise implies so I adapted to what my body can handle and work well into a greater level of progression. Find what works best for you and look into how you move well and moving in a manner that won't hurt you or your way of training.
      

      
       

   4. There is no isolation involved, just like an animal in the wild:
      

      
       

      The most common theme in fitness is that if you want to get strong, you have to isolate every part of your body in 50 different ways. Unless you're in bodybuilding or in rehab, isolation shouldn't even be a thought. With Animal Exercises you simply can't isolate the muscles because in order to move efficiently, you have to use more than one muscle. Multiple muscle groups are the key for a single exercise because you need more than just the arms or legs to become good at an animal exercise no matter what it is, the stabilizing muscles are involved to protect the lower back from injury and they're also used in how you balance in a specific movement or series of movements. A gorilla doesn't curl or bench press, he's climbing, walking/running on his hands and use his mighty hands to hold onto a vine in order to keep from falling out of a tree. A bird that flies doesn't do dumbbell flys or do shoulder raises; he moves his wings to reach high altitudes and holds them in position to glide and soar around the sky. Move with efficiency using the muscles needed to move.
      

      
       

          Hope you got enough to go on to understand that it's not just a program of different exercises but it's a program that brings excitement, logical variety to use the muscles the way they were meant to. Having fun and getting a kick out of making the most of your body without spending a whole mess of useless time. Build greater endurance and strength in the shortest time possible and building an awareness that you can't get from other forms of fitness and you can do them just about anywhere with no equipment and without needing to go to a machine infested gym. You can kick ass with intensity, sweat and doing it without breaking a smile. Play into them and find the right progression that you can build on to take you to the next level.
      

      
       

          Be awesome guys and welcome to a new week.
      

   
    

   
    

Animal Training To Burn Off Steam

    There are at times where we can be so hyper and we can't sit still that we need to move. It may not always be because we drank a highly caffeinated coffee or soda but it's our nature to not always just sit around all the time. Don't you find it odd that after sitting most of the day that once you get up you need to move around a while and feel tense and aggravated? I get really fidgety sometimes and my body is trying to tell me "Get up dumbass and move." Now there is thing called restless leg syndrome (which I think of one of the symptoms is breaking out in the river dance) so how do you get a hold on that and relax the muscles? I'd say if you need to move or blow off steam for whatever reason (hopefully not when you're at work or in the bathroom) than go do some animal exercises and just do what you need to do until you are completely wiped out.

 

    Even if we are not hyper and fidgety, we sometimes get angry or frustrated and we need to find a way to blow off steam that way. Here is another reason to do animal exercises, it shows when you move your body in awkward positions at a pretty decent clip it unleashes endorphins that distress the body and after exhausting yourself, in your mind you forget what you were mad at and you're too damn tired to be mad. Anger is an emotion and frustration is the feeling of that emotion. It doesn't matter why you're angry all that matters is you need to chill out. Do some deep breathing because when you get angry, you become shallow and you tense up and you're losing command of your inner power. It isn't not natural to be angry but you shouldn't hold it in or let it out too much otherwise you're losing what can be beautiful and loving from another point of view and letting go of the attachment. I get that way sometimes (actually often) because there are certain people who just piss me off and I feel hurt even though I need to learn that I should accept that's the type of people they are and not be attached to them hurting me, it's not an easy process (30 years of learning) but it helps me train to get my anger out of my system.

 

    One of the most difficult things in life is getting kids to behave and calm down when they want to run around and get into things or want to play more than they should. That's the problem with kids today, they don't get enough time to just run around and have fun when all they do is sit in a classroom. Also that's also one of the reasons why obesity has become the modern day plague in our country because they make kids not have enough time to exercise and they're taking away things that could actually keep them chilled out while in the classroom. They're taking down Jungle Gyms and the Monkey (Ape) Bars because of whatever reasons and I understand you don't want a child to get hurt. Hell in some country (maybe even our own) they're banning cartwheels because it's deemed too dangerous, give me a break. Before you know it they're going to ban walking because it's too dangerous and a kid can lose his leg or some ridiculous nonsense. If you want a healthy child than you got to let them move around and do it without making it a punishment. In Wild Animal Fitness For Kids it teaches how to structure a kid's exercise program that makes it fun and interesting for all ages and it even teaches not only individuality but also teamwork and friendly competition that is safe, beneficial and can even help your kid be smarter because of how it hits the brain when they exercise. I realize I'm not a parent or a teacher so I shouldn't be telling you how to raise your kid however, I've been around kids my entire life from all ages and have seen plenty of things to know that a kid wants to move and find things interesting to enable their imagination.

 

    When we blow off steam, or burn the energy, we relax and mellow out. It's those endorphins that kick in and taking care of the body and channel our levels of stress. With animal exercise, you are moving with your entire body not just parts like isolating muscles but every muscle in the body. When you use most of the muscles, you're gaining more muscle, burning off fat, jump start your metabolism and increasing growth hormones that aid you in staying young and keeping you recovered. For both adults and kids this is essential to making your body a machine that can go and have a positive impact on your muscular system and your central nervous system. One of things I love to do with animal exercises is playing a game where you roll a 20 sided dice and playing around with whatever animal comes up whether it be a bear, frog, ape, bird or whatever and just play around with it till it's time for me to stop. When it's over, I'm more relaxed, calmer, happier and at times hungrier than a bear in spring time but that's a good thing because food is fuel (depending on what you eat). Have fun and play while moving like a Wild Animal because it is not just a way to get super fit and strong but it can help you let go of the unwanted tension you have in your body and help you put more spring in your step so do speak.

 

 

Happy Friday everyone and get the animal fitness courses I've mentioned in this article because nothing gets you fit as fast that is fun and awesome to play with. When you move like an animal, it's not a workout, it's an adventure. Be awesome and have a wonderful weekend.

It Ain’t Your Mama’s Yoga

    I have written about DDP Yoga a few times and it doesn't get any harder to talk about the benefits and why it is one of the best ways to train. Almost all Yoga Programs have the same memo; build inner peace, sweat out the toxins, be at one with the universe and so on which is awesome and I'm all for building a spiritual connection but DDP Yoga is practically a whole other sport. It's nowhere near the level it should be in and it's bad-to-the-bone incredible when it comes to building strength, fat burning, isometric poses, flexibility and best of all Muscle Control. I started training it in June so for three months off and on it has been a blessing. I do all kinds of training but this has helped me lose weight that I needed and didn't change much of my eating habits. I was 261 three months ago and although still could do some crazy stuff, my flexibility was lagging and didn't want to keep doing the same type of training so I turned to DDP Yoga and now I'm down in the low 250's and edging closer to the 240's which has been over a year since I was at that weight.

 

    The thing with Diamond Dallas Page is that he's not your typical Yoga instructor that gives you spiritual guidance and how beautiful life is; he's vulgar, hardcore and straight to the point. He doesn't beat around the bush and he will get in your face if he notices something up. He doesn't push someone around but he will whip your ass into shape and he'll do it without blinking an eye. I like that in guys who want to help people, no need to sugarcoat anything just right between the eyes and being up front about it. Because of that attitude it makes him more relatable to people and some might be uncomfortable about the way he talks but he'll just move on and being who he truly is. Like a lot of wrestling fans during the Monday Night Wars I watched DDP on TV wrestling the biggest names and I enjoyed it, I even saw him live in San Francisco at WCW's SuperBrawl and that was a rough crowd especially where me and my dad sat, we stayed the entire show although we nearly left about 10 times. Anyway, it's great to find an athlete that not only saved his career and build a new one that made him even more famous but also other wrestlers that have fallen off the deep end because of living life in the fast lane and depression.

 

    Because of wrestlers like Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Chris Jericho, Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall, Goldust and other pro wrestlers, the wrestling business is shaping up to become better in terms of ring work and the agility that Jericho and a few others possess that make up an awesome match show that a wrestler doesn't have to age and be broken down. Sure guys like Hall and Roberts won't get in the ring anymore but there are guys that still have a chance to make an impact much later in their careers. When you open up the muscles and really stretch the kinks out, you'll feel like a new person and for a pro wrestler to feel that every match while on DDP Yoga it's practically a meal ticket to making a career that will shape the very foundation of their craft. I've been a wrestling fan ever since I was 11/12 years old and although I don't really care much for the storylines anymore (let's face it after the Attitude Era, stories aren't as effective anymore) but I always admired the ring work these guys put in especially the high flyers and technical wrestlers. When I see some good Chain Wrestling, Psychology being played and numerous submissions and suplexes I'm a happy guy. DDP Yoga could shape the wrestling business in a way that's never been done before and give the guys and gals another tool that can keep them doing what they do best and stay that way even past their prime. The painkillers and steroids I believe will be less and less if DDP Yoga became the workout for wrestlers and keep them strong, healthy and out of the fast lane.

 

    I've done some Yoga in the past but DDP Yoga was worth the effort because it's not just the exercises and the way DDP trains people, its how it's presented and it's relatable. No cookie cutter bullshit, no saying of doing it my way or any of that. He lets you learn what you can do and build yourself up and in some cases some of the people that are true practitioners do the exercises better than DDP and he's cool with that. It's about making it your own and sharing your journey with others in the program. I've talked to some of these men and women and they are incredible people. I've even talked to DDP a couple times even on his radio show and as nervous as I was, he was still an open guy and was being himself. That's why DDP Yoga is worth getting and it may not have the largest impact in your life but it can help you achieve a level of fitness many these days never believe to be possible. It is never too late to get into awesome shape and you don't need to look like a super model or a bodybuilder but a person that is shaping your body both inside and outside with an attitude and zest for life.

 

Have a great Thor's Day everyone and remember to look at DDP Yoga. It will change the way you look at fitness forever. It has no bullshit hype, no actors to fill the mats in the videos but real life people who have transformed themselves into the best that they can be and are still going. Get at and as DDP says at the end of a workout BANG!!!

The Adventure Of Movement

    As adults especially in today's society, we overanalyze movement and how it is supposed to suit us as oppose to just move freely and how it makes us better and fitter. As kids movement was practically mandatory for our everyday lives; running, playing tag, jumping, climbing on jungle gyms, digging in the sand, playing ball with friends on the streets or at a field and not having a care in the world. As we get older what happens to us; bad backs, eating a ton of crap, drinking a beer with our buddies and working until we can't even lift a finger cause of developed carpal tunnel or overdoing work that puts too much stress on our bodies and we "never" have time to just chill out and be free. Movement is supposed to be fun and exciting, the way we can adapt and learn our body's capabilities. Sure we have more responsibilities and making a living but that shouldn't stop you from having an awesome time and just move with glee.

 

    The key elements to moving naturally is running, jumping, climbing, swimming, lifting and moving in various practical directions, also the way we sit and crawl. Now lifting doesn't always mean moving dumbbells and barbell around but why not a rock or a keg to move onto a truck, lifting up yourself like in a pull-up or holding a handstand. We have been planted in our brains the last few decades that in order to get strong, we need to lift weights which is not entirely true because dumbbells and barbells have only been around maybe over 100 years as oppose to countless centuries of humans moving heavy boulders, Egyptians moving Pyramid stones to build monuments, loggers chopping down than moving heavy logs, pulling carriages out of the dirt and mud and what about moving a wheel barrel uphill to your cabin with firewood to keep your family warm in the winter. It's using the practicality of moving a heavy object whether just lifting or carrying it for that matter.

 

    Making movement an adventure would really begin with the imagination. You imagine being in a certain situation that has you moving in a specific and real life manner; say you're a under a house and need to crawl out, you can either go on all fours with the knees off the ground, your feet and hands are on the ground but your hips are off the ground like a crab walk, on your stomach and have to stay low or being on your back and using your shoulders/hips/feet to move out. There are all sorts of ways to make movement interesting. I like to imagine myself as Indiana Jones going into the catacombs of the temple of the Holy Grail and if I don't want my head or my body to be chopped up I need to kneel (or squat down) and roll, balance on the letters of Jehovah, walk across the path of god leaping from the lion's head (the bridge to the knight). Move with intent and creativity that is useful to help you stay healthy and strong, not just looking fit but being fit. I'm not a religious person and I normally don't associate myself with any organized religion but when you have a bad ass like Indy needing to move in serious ways in order to get to these religious artifacts and/or supply yourself with internal life from one of the last three Arthurian knights, you need to have an imagination to have that much fun. Your imagination enhances the adventure as you move even if you're in your house and can't go outside for some particular reason.

 

    Bring out that inner kid in you that wants to be free and move around; crawl, jump, run on the beach, go swimming, climb a tree (or do pull-ups), pick up a heavy rock and walk 10ft just to drop it, sprint down the dock and dive into the lake (just be careful). It's living to be happy and using practical and exciting meaning to move and love being able to just play. Money cannot buy happiness, useless materials can't bring a smile of joy and adventure has no boundaries. Yes making a living is important but never believe just because you make a few bucks here and there think it's going to solve all your problems. Want to be fit, move but move with joy, learn what works for you, get out for a few minutes and just be free and be yourself. Being cooped up can be a bitch and it's not always healthy (trust me I've been there) and make it wonderful. Be happy on your own terms, don't let some bullshit force come in and kick you to the ground, you have the power to fight back because your happiness starts within you not on the outside.

Smallest Fraction Factor

    When you see a fitness program you're really interested in or want to see what it's like, you jump in right away and just think you're so advanced and it's going to turn you into some kind of superman/woman. What happens when you do this; a lot of things, injuries can occur, you burn out too quickly and quit plus after doing it for like a week you think it's like every other program and it won't work. This is what the majority of people do when they join a gym, buy certain equipment or have some trainer down their throat pushing them when they can't possibly be ready. A lot of people feel that they need results within the first day and because their possibly far overweight it's not going to work for them and they discouraged. You want to talk about tough, take it from me, after my accident and learned to take my first steps again I dove into a fitness program that consisted of not 10-20 exercises but 3; squats, push-ups and bridging and I couldn't at first do 25 squats, 10 push-ups and a 30 sec. bridge felt like an eternity. It's about doing what you're interested and progress by even the smallest fraction.

 

    I call this the Smallest Fraction Factor because when you start out with something it doesn't matter if you're into Powerlifting, Hand Balancing, Pull-ups, Steel Bending hell even Crossfit; you learn the techniques, build yourself a foundation and start with little increments. Say you want to be a Powerlifter which consist of the Bench Press, Deadlift & Squat so you build up to a heavy weight that you can handle but that doesn't mean you go for a world record every workout. You progress the weight little by little because after a certain period of time and being smart about things you're making progress to lifting heavier and heavier weight over time. Sometimes you don't always do the full range of motion in a workout, sometimes you do partials to get strong in certain positions that will help you along the way in the full range of motion. Pull-ups are the same way, you may not be able to do a full pull-up at first so you start to just hang to build the grip strength and do so in different places of gripping the bar, as you get stronger you begin to pull yourself up but again don't be discouraged keep at it and as you pull-up hold the position you're stuck in and isometrically flex the muscles hard in that position, as you get better go up a little higher and same thing, flex the muscles in that position. You see little bits and pieces create a bigger entity. It's like putting together a puzzle with very small pieces, it takes patience and it takes thinking so when you do get all the pieces together what does it create? A big picture right?

 

    Like pieces to a puzzle, you're creating a small increase that makes the biggest impact later on. Think of a really incredible painter, he/she just doesn't slab on a few coats of paint and oil to create a picture they see it in their mind, the shapes, the abstracts, the colors and bit by bit they begin to see a beautiful piece of artwork. The smallest goals in your training can become your greatest ally because you're working towards something big right, so like the puzzle use the pieces that you have and even the smallest piece can fit into the big picture that you're creating. Create the picture you desire with the pieces you have in front of you.

 

    Why is Progression the key to all training? It's because when you start out, you just aren't strong and fit enough yet but you do little things here and there, increase weight by a mere couple pounds, hell some increase only a quarter of a pound and yet later on become extremely strong. In the pull-up, go up in mere inches and before you know it you're getting your head over the bar. In Hand Balancing, you start with a wall and as you get stronger, you move out to just using the ground and hold yourself up freely. Progress with great intention and be intelligent about it, use what's useful to get you to the next level even if it takes you a long time. Work into your goals that are reasonable for you and be adventurous with it. Too many people take things way too seriously and never make it fun enough to progress even quicker. Sometimes your goals don't always hit when you want them to and that happens but remember, you're doing something not many others will shoot for and that is what makes you unique.

 

Do the best you can and build yourself up with great emotion and fire burning within you. You want to be greatly fit and don't want to put in a whole mess of time, get yourself a copy of DDP Yoga and even if you can't hold yourself up at first or can't do a push-up, don't worry it will come and even by the smallest fraction of a movement you can make it happen. Be awesome and have a blast.

Unleashing The Beast Within

    There comes a time in your training whether it be within a few weeks, days maybe even months when your body begins to tell you something. You start to feel like something just isn't right even though you may have gotten great results and/or you just need to go a different route and not feel like you're dreading the same shit over and over. I love sprints and from personal experience they are a key to burning off fat faster than any other method and will put on muscle quick but after nearly a month of them, my body and my mind have decided to tell me to move onto something else. This has happened to all of us and we can be the most dedicated trainee we can be but also it's time to do something new, exciting that will bring you results you haven't felt or seen yet. It's time to change it up a bit.

 

    Your body can speak to you if you listen closely. There can be times where it's screaming in agony even though there's silence all around you and you feel something that isn't right, that's your body giving you signals and it doesn't matter whether you're sore or tired but in your mind there's something to give here. We can push to our absolute limits and we won't always listen to what our bodies are telling us because we block out the pain or the agony which is not always a good idea but if you pay attention let your body be heard. Unleashing our inner beast is not about pushing to the outmost limit but about letting it out in a certain time that we need it and then let it rest until we are ready again. You can't expect your body to be pushed to the limit and then keep going for days on end, you'll end up injured and/or burnt out and you won't get the results you deserve so you'll end up with what you'll get. It is perfectly fine to just go hard for a while and then rest when needed.

 

    One of my all-time favorite training methods is doing Animal Movements. You mimic the style of animal that is powerful, strong, and fast and develop strength in awkward positions that you normally don't go into and using muscles you didn't realize existed. They are the perfect prototype of the term "Less Is More" because they don't take a long time to do and you're unlocking a part of yourself that you normally don't use in the gym or wherever else. They make training interesting and exciting, there's no need for sets and reps you can just go for distance and/or time if you wish and you have more freedom. If you happen to find an animal that you like to move more often than the others that's another way of listening to your body. It is telling you that you are moving like your Animal Spirit or as they say in Mortal Kombat your Animality. If you want to do long workouts with them great but it's also ok to do them even shorter because they take up the whole body to be able to do them and the tempo changes, you move from one animal to the next and you can even set them up for playing. You don't need to do a ton of exercises to get results, pick a few and hammer them out for up to a half hour or less and you're golden.

 

    If you listen to your body, you can actually hear the beast within you and when you're ready to unleash it, look out and get ready to jump start your hormones, create a better metabolism and develop strength and other attributes you haven't seen before or in a very long time. It's not easy listening to the body because people believe in order to get results they have to push themselves more and more and let the mind take care of your body and not your instincts; now some of that is true when your mind pushes you more but also you have to take care of yourself and rest when you need to. Think of the wild animal, it doesn't push itself to the limit so they can have a great body, they need to survive otherwise they're a goner so they use their instincts by moving fast when they need to, resting when they need to and use their strength when it's called upon them. We can learn a lot from this because as humans we are the most complicated species on the planet and we don't listen to ourselves and our bodies when they may need us the most or not needed as much. Believe that you can get strong and healthy but also listen and learn to read signals within you. It's like the concept of Three Bears; there are things that are too big to handle, others that just don't work well for you but there's something that is just right and it works well in your favor, learn to harness that and listen to that beast within you. Use your strength when it's called upon, train with the intent of pushing your body just enough and rest when needed. Simple, easy to remember and also have fun and make it an adventure instead of an unwanted chore, you'll notice the difference when you find that out.

 

Hope everyone had a great weekend and get the start of a new week off right. Unleash the inner beast within and be awesome. 15 days left until I take down my offer as a bonus for buying great stuff on here.

Why Build An In Home Gym?

    

      Actually it should be create your own in-home gym but the principle still applies. Now most people who want to work out feel like they need to join a gym. They pay sometimes up to $100 or more a month but on average it's between 40-60 a month and how often do you go? Have you gotten results, do you just slack off or bust your ass? How about what you use like mostly machines or cardio and how about your aerobics classes? There are times like a lot of people do where they just spend money to join up and not even go at all so what did you really gain out of it? I think for some people the gym is awesome and it can be if you really know how to work into it and have fun plus you get to do crazy things (then again crazy is a sin at Planet Fitness go figure) but also it can be a pain in the ass when you have to drive there which in a nutshell you have to pay gas eventually, there are people at the gym who complete idiots and at times complete assholes who only think of themselves and you have sweat all over the equipment and the hygiene is not always pleasant. I say save your hard earned money and invest in a creative home gym.

 
    When you build up your gym over time you don't need to get the machines or the cardio crap but a few things here and there that don't take up too much space and there's enough for you to train with. You can even put a few things outside and train in the outdoors where there's fresh air and you're getting your vitamin D and not some screwed up heated gym with a fan blowing. Some of the strongest and fittest people in the old days made gyms out in their backyard, a barn, ran sprints on their speck of land because back then gyms were an extreme few and you'd be lucky to find one that wasn't in a major city like Philadelphia, LA, New York, Chicago or even San Francisco. When you have equipped yourself with certain things that are simple to use and not complicated, you can use them anytime you want and nobody will ever bother you to ask for them in the middle of your training. Whatever is available to you would be right there. For me I have my own little living space with enough room to train and have some space for my stuff in the back wall. If you rather put them in a box awesome, when you're ready take out what you want and have at it. Get yourself some Lifeline Cables to supplement your weights because they're easier to travel with, get some kettlebells if you're into that and put them in a space that's convenient for you, why not a few sledgehammers you can pick up at Home Depot and a tire from the junk yard. Be creative and if you can't afford all the things you need than do what you can, find deals for cheaper things that won't break when you first use them, get a pull-up bar you can hang on the door and take off when you want for under $40 and far better useful than $2000 pull-up rack. Find what you can and invest overtime.

 
    One of the greatest things about having a home gym is that there's nobody to distract you (unless you have neighbors who are complete jackasses, trust me I've been there) but you don't have excuses, you can turn on your own music instead of listening to random tunes at the gym (some are good but I don't find it training acceptable to listen to Michael Jackson or similar tunes that just don't work for me) and even more importantly you can focus on what you truly want to do instead of having to cater to people by moving out of the way, listening to some dumb ass on his cell and see some jerkoff laughing playing angry birds on his IPad. The only person that can distract you is you in this case. When you're done training, your shower is right near you, have your own clothes just a few feet away and you can eat what you need right in your own fridge. Look at it this way; you save yourself a shitload of gas money, you're investing in your health, you save time by using only a fraction of your training time to do your responsibilities at home if you're trying to raise a family and you don't have some perv gloating at you (sorry ladies but it does happen whether you realize it or not) and you can wear whatever the hell you want.

 
    Last thing that has great benefit to training at home is that with certain things (like Cables, Push-up Handles ect) you can take them on the road with you if you choose to do so. If they can fit in your car and you're going on a trip it's very beneficial. I have the Lifeline Chest Expander which you can use for many things and I've taken that with me down to my trips to California because it's extremely light, can put it right in my clothes bag and get some awesome training in when I have the opportunity. A Kettlebell or Dumbbell might be stretching it because if you're going on a plane you might as well check it in instead of a carry on but on the bright side if you're at home and have some of those things you can get in some great heavy loaded training that makes cardio machines seem obsolete. I love being able to train at home, can do what I want whenever I want, get a great workout in under 30 minutes then hop in the shower, change, watch my favorite movie and kick back all within 10-20 feet. It's greater freedom and you get to spend time with the people you love and don't have to worry about being stuck in traffic just so you can run on a cardio machine. Invest but do it wisely, research and look into what can be beneficial for you and hell if you have kids, have them work out with you, a family that trains together bonds together.

 
Have a great Thor's Day everyone and get strong, be healthy and get in the best shape you can. Be awesome.

Pull Your Way To Incredible Strength

    

      Most people tend to do exercises that focus mainly the front of the body because that's what they see in the mirror more often. What they don't realize is that when they don't give the time to work on the pulling muscles that work the lower back up to the latissimus dorsi it makes the upper body look far worse than it needs to be. You're big into Bench Press and curls and crunches and the thigh muscles that you don't realize you're developing a hunch back and your chest is caving in as well as the rest of your body. Building strength and power in the pulling muscles help correct the posture in the chain of other muscles needed to be congruent with your body's powerful stance. Chest up, shoulders back and being able to tuck the pelvis.

 
    The wings of your body is your upper back which you can do a lot with when it comes to pulling by doing Pull-ups, hanging as you stretch, Clean & Press which works every muscle in the body and other styles of pulling that give that area the strength it needs. Muscle Control is a great way to open up the back because although you can use it to isolate the muscle, it teaches to use that muscle for particular reasons that can help keep you injury free. Watch guys like Otto Arco and Maxick who are masters of Muscle Control that can open up the back in ways most can't even fathom even today after they were around 100 years ago. They're not big dudes yet they can make the muscles look big and move with such grace and power it's practically majestic. Although small but very built they were still strong as hell and at one time were the strongest of their size. Open up your back and unlock the posterior chain.

 
    Now contrary to popular belief you don't always need weights to build back strength. You can lift other things that work the back like rocks, logs, kegs and other odd objects because they don't isolate the muscles, the whole body has to come into play including the stabilizer muscles that keep the balance flowing even when balancing is difficult. Handstands build incredible back strength because in order to even keep your body in alignment your back and your abdominals need to hold you up, your arms and legs won't get the job done unless everything is working together. Pull-ups in different variations set off a chain reaction to the back muscles needed to get yourself over the bar plus the stretching you get at the same time if you apply it right is in unison with the strength you're developing. Think about it although you need strength to pull yourself up, you still have that stretch in the torso especially the oblique muscles that gives off the power you need to complete the pull-up. Cables work great as well especially the TNT Cables from Lifeline USA because when you use the door attachment in a specific place say the top of the door and you hook the cables around and strap them into the handles you can do pull-downs that are more effective than the machines and go in different directions. Pulling down using your own resistance gives the muscles that energetic feel of actually working those muscles in that area. Picking up weight is great too and not always a barbell or dumbbell, try picking up a heavy boulder; it's not the same and you have to use more than just your back but it hits it awesomely.

 
    A key element that helps develop a super back is the strength of your grip. Grip strength is essential in all kinds of exercise because if you can't hold onto a weight or be able to hold yourself up in the pull-up you're not going anywhere. If you can't do a pull-up yet because you have a weak grip than work on that area until you can, like on a pull-up bar just hang there until you can hold for about a minute. Work your fingers, your wrists and if you have grippers don't just open and close them; close them and hold it for as long as possible, this develops a powerful grip and can help you in other areas. Your back has more strength than your grip obviously because of how the muscles are developed but your grip needs enough juice to even get the back muscles firing even more. Use Sledgehammers, Fat Gripz, Arm Wrestling Isometrics, hang with your fingers, Isometric Pull-ups all these develop an incredible grip. The little muscles can be your biggest ally so use the best you can to build your muscles that are congruent together to work in harmony. Get your back crazy strong and open up your posture.

 
Have a kick ass Wednesday everybody and keep an eye on for more articles to come. Share, like, comment and be sure to take up my offer as a bonus coaching session if you purchase $50 or more products on this site. Be awesome and have a wonderful day.