Friday, May 13, 2016

Off To The Happiest Place On Earth

Well my fellow readers I'm sad to say i'll be leaving you for a while. Ok maybe 10 days. I'm off to Disneyland with my one and only on our first travel together to California. Its her first time in both the state & at the parks. An adventure we have set out since last year and have been saving up since.

It'll be nearly 7 years since my last walk into the Magic Kingdom and the time has been way too long. Never thought I'd get back there let alone with an awesome woman who has never set foot on California soil. Will this affect my training? Somewhat but its manageable. Still going to do my superhero sprint training but also a ton of walking around all the lands including the construction of the new Star Wars Land. So excited for that.

Everyone should go to Disneyland at least once in their lifetime and from my experiences, it is a trip that is worth it. A place to go to let reality walk out the door for a while and just be a kid again. Can't wait to see all the new stuff the parks have in stored for us and I cannot be more happier than to be with my favorite girl and create memories that we'll never forget. Make it happen for you and and/or your family to go and make it memorable.

Like I said my superhero training is still going on and I plan to really kick ass with it when we're not in the parks. The best part of training anywhere, anytime is that once you've got your training in, feel free to get out and have fun. Live in those moments that can only be felt once in a lifetime for most people. Disneyland is a treasure, regardless of how expensive it is, if you truly want to enjoy its glory, you will make it happen to go even if it takes you ten years. Memories are beautiful in more ways than one; see to it that you can create them.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Great Stretching On & Off Sprint Days

Whether on my days off or on from sprinting workouts, I do my best to stretch no matter what but for the most part I make stretching either part of the workout or way earlier or later in the day because I do recover quickly and even cold I'm pretty well limber. I don't necessarily believe in the warm-up stretching or the cool down method because I feel great already before and after my workouts and as far from my experience I haven't had any severe injuries.

As I get older sure stretching will be more of a priority but not the type of stretching mainstream "trainers" have you do, the toe touches and the aerobic style of stretching; my thing is to do what combat athletes do or Animal Flow/Playful Movement where you develop flexibility, mobility & dynamic/static stretching that isn't passive or typical. This style works for me especially for my lower legs because as you know I have a rod and altogether 10 pins in my legs holding my bones together. I do pull a muscle from time to time but never to the point where I can't walk or the arms are completely immobile.

Most stretching systems don't really care about the tendons and the ligaments, mostly just the muscles and that's where a lot of injuries are becoming more reoccurring than ever. The true power is in the joints so when they become strong you become stronger. Muscles are needed but everything is connected and when you neglect one thing, that other side becomes more stressed and becomes overused. When I sprint, I do my best to get the workout done as best and fast as possible while recovering well and fresh. When you combine flowing movement with key point stretching and holding deep squats you're developing crucial elements that stick within your body and as long as you maintain it, you can live a full quality life of pain-free and powerful mobility.

One of my favorite forms of mobility is the Regeneration Exercises from Mike Fitch's Course Bodyweight Athlete where you can do simple movements that hit muscles and joints in a specific way that can practiced practically anywhere and puts you into a state of mind where functionality is at a high level of precise mobility and flexibility that transcends many other forms. Don't believe me? Grab the course for yourself and develop your entire structure through powerful movements, crisp flows, regenerate your body on off days and hone amazing skills that take your training into the stratosphere. Although i'm merely mentioning this for sprints, this type of training can be used for any other training. Make it a point to not just stretch to get better but develop greater quality of life in your body that can help you do amazing things no matter what your age.


Monday, May 9, 2016

Recovery After Sprint Workouts

In order to get the best results from the program is to really get enough recovery for the body to repair itself and build a higher tolerance of training. I do recover very quickly from HIT workouts but I still want to keep myself in top condition no matter what day it is. That's why I do recovery workouts: Qi Gong, Dynamic Stretching, Mobility, Joint Loosening & others.

Recovery is equally or more important than the training itself. I've pushed myself on many occasions & still come out having great energy. Its not the best thing to be intense all the time, I've learned that the hard way doing many days of Animal Exercise and for a while was doing a deck of cards workout up to 4 times a week which even for me was overdoing it and ended up with a bad shoulder which i'm still working on to get to being pain-free. I'm a very energetic guy and when I really push myself I need to chill out; you're only as efficient as how you use and conserve energy.

Since getting back into Sprint Training with some extra bonuses, my appetite has gone up a bit and my energy levels are great but my biggest focus is how I can recover well in order to be optimal next time around during the week. That's why I like doing various stretches and joint mobility, you still have something to do just on a smaller scale. I recover the majority of the week which is best for most people, if you're a pro athlete or superhuman, sure you may go a little more but for most even above average or higher level of trainees need more time to recover or tone down the level of intensity and only go so high no more than 3x a week. Some muscles recover faster than others and there are those that have insane levels of strength & conditioning that recovery doesn't need to last very long.

People forget that yeah when they have that adrenaline everything becomes a blur and you can all sorts of things without realizing it but it does in fact wear off one way or another and you're going to need repairs and let your body fuel up. Don't forget to take time off or do much smaller portions of workouts on a day off from very intense sessions because if you are too intense the majority of the week, your body will break down real hard and you can get yourself injured or end up in the hospital. That's the thing I can't stand about most crossfit workouts, too many people don't get the recovery they need because for one their not listening to their bodies and are completely full of brain farts & two their trainers are putting them through workouts where technique is virtually non-existent including those dumbass kipping pull-ups and crazy unrealistic injury-prone muscle-ups on the rings and end up in the hospital.

Recover and know the difference between kicking ass both intensely and in recovery and getting your ass kicked negatively by some stupid shmuck who doesn't know his ass from his elbow on real recovery. Train hard, train smart and kick ass in your recovery sessions.

Friday, May 6, 2016

Making Sprints Awesome By Using The Superhero Sprints System

Sprinting is truly the key to unlocking super growth hormone & fat burning torching elements. There are many ways to do interval training but Sprints is the ultimate period. What if we spiced it up and made it the ultimate anytime, anywhere workout where you only need 1 hour a week of training this way and just do little things on your days off. The type of training where not only has the calorie burning of sprint training but combined with strength/conditioning exercise circuits that will make fat not only scream bloody murder but just might literally run out of your body and be afraid of you for life.

Weight loss is the big thing that people want to do these days but for the most part, they're doing it for the wrong reasons. Sure you lost weight and feel a little better but how is your muscle mass coming along? Are your your energy levels at a higher rate than 200% of what it was before? Is your metabolism kicking in faster? How about your natural growth hormones? Funny thing is, you can still weigh the same but have greater muscle density and lower body fat. Yeah you lost weight but there's still fat hanging around that just doesn't seem to go away and you're left with that "loose skin."

I know what it's like to not have a lot of muscle and carry around more fat than I care to mention; I understand about stretch marks and having a gut hanging over you like its meant to take gravity. You're not alone but in order to get the very best out of your goals you're going to have to put in effort. Sorry pal but there's no such thing as a magic pill or a supplement that burns off all the sugar & fat to make you look like an Adonis. However; you don't need to put in a ton of hours in order to get the physique you want. Train in a way that takes less than a half hour and keeps burning calories even hours after your workout.

Superhero Sprints is high up on the fitness food chain that takes you from flabby to looking insanely better in a matter of weeks, practice for a few months and it'll even make you look greater than that, hit a year and holy crap you can look far leaner and more muscular than you did in a 5-10 year span. This course has the makings of looking like a real life superhero with boundless energy, insane speed, incredible endurance and strength that is functional and realistic. You're a beginner? Why didn't you say so, this course has that too as it can be your introduction to The Superhero Physique University. You're not big on wanting to train outside? Unless its raining cats & dogs, snowing or meteor showers are hitting the ground, get your fresh air but it does have a program for indoor training, so really you have no excuse.  

How about the Cost? I've literally spent hundreds of dollars on top notch courses and have spent time with some of the greatest minds in the fitness field but this course is not only the cheapest course I found, its literally worth more than 100X its value. This course costs less than a monthly payment to Planet Fitness for crying out loud, less than the typical bodyweight course, less than the cost of a typical fitness video from Wal-Mart (imagine that). $9 and here's what you'll get.....

A Main Manual of the Superhero Sprints System
Indoor Sprint Training
Superhero Supersets
Backyard Intervals
Nutrition Plan
Videos Of All The Exercises in the System

You'll be able to download all these ASAP and can get them all onto your hard drive or highlight them in your browser. Get a physique like the Flash, Wolverine, Gambit, Catwoman, Ms. Marvel, Spiderman. Make the Superhero Sprint System your own (I did and got insane results from it in a few weeks).

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Strong Core=Strong Body

Its always cool in some form to have muscular areas around the body like washboard abs, toned arms, big chest, a back the size of Texas and legs that looked like they're carved from granite but at most having rippling muscles aren't always going to save you. When it comes down to it, your center line is one of the main reasons to keep you alive. Having a six-pack is awesome but in reality if its not strong and powerful, you're SOL my friend. Funny thing is, some of the strongest people in history didn't have six-packs yet lived for many years.

To build some solid, insanely strong abs and overall core is not crunches or isolated sit-ups. Unless you're in rehab or a beginner in exercise, crunches are more of a killer than anything else when it comes to Core Work. Most people people believe the Core is just abs, in fact from the bottom of your chest to your pelvis is the Core area. Those muscles working in unison develop a stronger foundation of health and fitness that virtually anything else next to legs, neck and grip. Isolating them is more cause for an injury than you were told about. You can do crunches till the cows come home and you'll never truly achieve mighty abs. Train the body as a unit with a main focus on those main areas; upper, lower and obliques.

The best exercises that I have found that truly hit these muscles are ones used in Gymnastics, Combat Sports & Sprint Training. Save your energy by learning exercises that hit all those muscles at the same time like Bridging, V-Ups, Sprinting Uphill, Side Planks, Full Body Sit-ups & others. Nothing replaces these because when you truly engage the core in compound exercises they put a mark on what brings out the very best within those muscles together instead of individually. The stronger your Core, the Stronger your whole BODY!!!

May The 4th Be With You,

Ben Bergman

Monday, May 2, 2016

Top 10 Metabolic Conditioners For Fat Loss, Increase In Metabolism & Putting More Lead In Your Pencil

That last one you didn't expect to read huh? Well increasing testosterone and keeping it at a high level regardless of age for both men & women is crucial to living a healthy life. The type of testosterone I mean by is not using steroids or Performance Enhancers where there's all kinds of synthetic chemicals that when taken improperly or overuse in a period of years basically makes men turn into women (high vocal chords, Moobs, testicular shrinkage & damaged organs) and women into men (lower vocal chords, acne, increased hairy areas other than the vagina and enlarged clitoris). You can get testosterone for free by doing High Intense Training 2-3x a week doing short bursts of exercise that lasts at max 30 seconds and resting a minimum of 1-2 minutes.

I'm sure you've heard it all before and believe me when certain things are repeated they become annoying but in this case; people need to get their head out of the clouds and stop doing what the next trend is going on. I'm sorry but very rarely a trend stays around and works. The best type of training is what's been around for centuries and continues to flourish despite the wacky world of machines, infomercials, fad diets & silly little pink dumbbells (sorry guys it ain't cute).

Natural testosterone as you may or may not know stops being stable by ages 30-35 and each year the percentage drops. I'm over the age of 30 so my levels are just starting to drop unless I do something about it. I might get a test done one of these days to see where I'm at but for the most part I think i'm safe with the stuff I'm already doing but as they say, always a way to improve. Training, eating better and being active are great ways to keep things going but to really spice up your junk or flower it takes a specific type of training that creates more blood flow, more fat melting elements & hitting that sex drive is a must otherwise your body will turn to shambles. I have a saying where "its not easy but you can make it interesting" by training hard for only a small amount of days but making it interesting for you to keep at consistently. Because I'm getting back to HIT I feel like its my duty to give you helpful tips and exercises that really turn you into a stud or a sexy goddess. So for that here are my top 10 Exercises for making these things very possible......

10. Burpees: One of the ultimate anytime, anywhere exercise that hits the whole body and pounds the fat into submission. Do basic or other variations and you'll be swimming in testosterone.

9. Animal Movements: From Bear Crawls to Frog Jumps, animals are the true inspiration for putting on functional muscle and increase in growth hormone. These alone are beneficial and when you do them fast, you won't last long.

8. Bridging: Most notably the Wrestler's Bridge & Gymnastic Bridge are full body exercises that can be done virtually anywhere and develops strength in the spine, back, abs, neck and legs (arms for the GB). On a consistent basis 3 minutes of these exercises will open up channels in the body that not only target muscles but sexual energy that in turn can help burn fat and increase sex drive.

7. Hindu Squats: Done in high numbers, this variation of the squat turns boys into studly men. The metabolic effect on this is chalk full of testosterone building and hardcore hormone happiness. Get into the 500 rep range and you will be having energy very few these days have ever experienced.

6. Moving Heavy Weight: In partials or full range, moving heavy weights builds growth hormone because of the amount of force needed, your body goes into overdrive and smacks into of the heart of your hormones.

5. Circuits: Exercises done one after another are incredible for enhanced conditioning and can be used using the above or other exercises. Darebee.com has the very best circuits that target muscles from head to toe and some workouts can be done by not so normal men and women.

Workout Finishers: A series of exercise(s) done after a workout to hit the calories even harder in the face. These are done within 1-5 minutes at best. Say you did a 30 minute workout and after a few minutes you do another 5 of exercises to really hammer the hell out of that blubber.

4. Tabatas: Exercises done in a 20 Sec. On/ 10 Sec. Off element that can go for 2-8 minutes that target fat like a sniper to the enemy in combat. This can be done with virtually many exercises (Bodyweight is best) and puts you into a state that makes you sweat like Niagara Falls.

3. Thick Bar Training: A bar ranging from nearly 2 inches or more thick in diameter really puts the whole body in overdrive regardless of the exercise. Attach Fat Gripz to your barbells/dumbbells and/or machine handles and you have a fight on your hands. Your reps will be cut in half or more just by doing this. Stick to compound movements such as Presses & Pulling. Doesn't hurt to have an insane grip in the process.

2. Step-Ups: Done in a fast paced fashion and these bad boys will make you scream bloody murder. One of the greatest and most conditioned wrestlers of all-time Bob Backlund swears by this exercise and does them in high numbers that are in the realm of superhuman. As one of the main staples of his regimen, its helped stay in top condition throughout the majority of his career in pro wrestling. This is a better alternative to running as it's easier on the knees and can be done anywhere that has steps.

1. Sprints: The mecca of making fat cry like a little bitch. Whether on flat ground or on the hills, sprints will make a man or women out of you whether you like it or not when done on a consistent basis. These suckers not only blow torch fat like a furnace but have you burning calories for up to 72 hours after a workout even while you eat and sleep. For guys if you really want to get those boys swimming and feel like you're 18 again this is the type of training to do it. For ladies, you will make fat scream louder than a house wife from Beverly Hills fighting for a prada on sale. Its the ultimate target for making hormones grow like beautiful leaves in Springtime.

There you have it. Make your training fun and get those hormones raging and turn that body into something you can not only be proud of but can possibly make you the elephant in the room (all eyes can't help but be on you).

Friday, April 29, 2016

Speed Demon

When your life is on the line and someone is chasing you, jogging isn't going to be on your mind. You will burst through and run like a bat out of hell to get away. Sprinting is not just a workout, it could very well save your life and hit your body to drill up some adrenaline in order to survive. Being a speed demon was a staple of ancient times and it's the quickest way to not only burn off fat but put on muscle that is realistic, functional and worth the effort because if you're weak and couldn't move very fast it was your ass.

When I sprint I use my imagination in a variety of ways that has one thing in common and that's to go hard and fast as possible. I imagine things like a wild animal chasing me, running down a villain like the flash, catching dinner like a cheetah, outrunning prey like a greyhound, hauling ass to away from the boulder like in Indiana Jones. There are so many ways you can increase your speed but it all starts with your thoughts. That's where the course CoreForce Energy really helps me, it helps me tap into a place I normally don't go to and not only puts me in a state of mind where my environment changes and my body naturally goes into that mode where I become invincible, ready and powerful. When you truly tap into the power of Sprint Training, you will become a fat-burning machine that has explosive strength, mighty lungs, hormone producing & muscle building.

To get the most out of your sprint training, don't just sprint and get all the benefits of what it comes with, learn the technique so you can prevent injuries which can occur if you're not careful. In the old adage of Spiderman "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility" so you have not only the power to do sprints but you are responsible for how you achieve it and make the best of it. Learn the techniques and the will to get better.

When you become proficient in Sprints and the fat is melting off your body you can hear the voice of the Wicked Witch Of The West screaming and crying like bloody murder and picture. What better way to imagine the fat melting than that LOL. If you're a horror fan, you can picture it melting by seeing your favorite character slicing and dicing victims. Anyway you want to imagine it make it your goal to hit it hard and just picture in your mind how you want the fat to melt or sound. Be a speed demon and make that workout your bitch.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Two Superheroes Inspire To Burn Fat Fast

I loved superheroes as a kid, watching the old x-men cartoons, Batman The Animated Series, Superman, Spiderman and others but I didn't get really inspired by them until a few years ago when the Avengers movies were coming together. From then on I did crazy research and different ways to train in Superhero Fashion. Of course I didn't put on a cape or mask but I was inspired to train differently and enhance my imagination. That's why it helped me get in better condition and use my imagination for workouts based on heroes like Batman, Thor, Hulk and others. What I found to be one of my biggest inspirations is the Superheroes-inspired sprinting.

DC's The Flash & Marvel's Quicksilver are the speed demons of Comic Book Culture and my biggest inspirations for doing Sprint Training. Out of the two clearly Flash takes the cake. He's more humorous and just has that bad ass outfit with the lightning bolt attached to the center. Whenever I do sprints he's one of the first to have me imagine having that speed, the force to drive hard and run hard for short bursts. Sprints are at the top of the food chain for burning off fat faster than any other method period. I was never much a jogger even before my leg injuries but for the most part, jogging isn't going to help you develop muscle and burn fat the way you think it does.

Not saying running isn't good cardio exercise if that's what you enjoy cool but if you plan on developing powerful legs and burn calories like crazy, long distance cardio won't get you there. HIT workouts burn off far more because of the amount of exertion that is applied and the ability to really tackle insane fat burning and muscle building (functional muscle that is). Jogging can burn calories no question but it isn't going to store energy the way sprinting does. Look at the difference between a sprinter & a distance runner, its pure night and day. The distance runner has great stamina but has very little muscle to show and looks like a person who's about to wither and die as oppose to a sprinter that has a great deal muscle mass, far lower bodyfat and looks like he could be on steroids.

Sprinting intensifies the Fast-Twitch Muscle Fibers and stores more energy into the cells and speeds up your hormones that create better recovery, makes you look younger and fills your lungs with oxygen more than you know what to do with. Although you're breathing far harder and feel like you're going to die, you're actually making your body produce more hormones in order to facilitate those energy cells to the lungs. I'm no scientist or biology professor but I know how my body feels after sprinting and it helps with my legs because I have a rod and 8-10 pins in my legs that hurt at times just from walking but no pain from sprinting.

Quicksilver is an amazing speedster and burns off more fat than any other hero in the marvel universe so he needs to eat like a madman just to keep fueling his muscles. For that much speed to run on and the amount of calories burned a person of that caliber would need to eat up to 20,000 calories a day or more so for a human, it be maybe 25% less than that depending on the person. Don't always assume because someone eats a ton their going to look like a beast; some people have very high metabolisms and need more calorie fueled intake in order to satisfy the body's needs. Some of us like myself have lower metabolisms meaning we can't burn off as easily and our bodies store more. I'm training myself to increase my metabolism in order to burn off the stored fat my body that isn't easy to get rid of. I do train hard as you have seen some of my past workouts but I'm also learning to be a bit more strategic, I do still eat quite a bit because of the muscle mass I produced over the years and keeping to a better minimum of not eating and drinking too much crap (I like food leave me alone lol) so I have to train differently to where unwanted fat has no choice but to burn to a crisp and putting my body through higher intense cardio. That's where sprinting comes in.

Its not easy but this is the fastest way to make this happen and little by little making better choices of food (I still eat a good amount of veggies & fruits) but I like sprints and its warmer out these days and see where it'll take me. Speed up and get cracking on those sprints brother, no more than 2-3 sessions a week.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The 2 Most Famous & Leanest/Fastest Animals That Teach You To Burn Fat Fast

In my latest quest to transforming into a Wild Jungle Man (My girl calls me Monkey Man), I've been learning through self-experimentation that burning fat isn't that easy but if you stop and think about what really hits everything in order to get that fat burning machine running? I've done it many times but I always wondered what animals are the fastest of their species and how do they stay lean their entire lives. Although most animal movements generate great levels of natural growth hormone and metabolism only less than a handful are the pinnacle of burning off fat like a hot plate to butter.

Next year will be 20 years of being in fitness starting with lifting weights in junior high and in all that time I have found only maybe 3 methods that truly target metabolism-increase, natural hormone-growth and the ability to decrease fat faster & that was Sprinting, Animal Movements & Isometrics. When I went to get my physical for the first time since I was in High School, I found out my metabolism was low and my blood pressure was quite high so I went back to the only thing I can think of that hits those 2 things in very different ways by one thing going up and the other going down. I went back a few weeks later and my blood pressure dropped 30 points and my metabolism went up a percentage.

That one thing I came up with was doing my Superhero Sprints program 3x a week and making it my mission to make those numbers hit in opposite directions. It worked like a charm but I went off the wagon a short time later. Although I still have those numbers in good hands I've just changed things around.

So what are the most famous speed demons of animal kingdom? Would believe their a Dog & Wildcat? It's the Cheetah & the Greyhound. These lean, mean, fighting machines are insanely fast and have muscles in places that are surreal. A Greyhound can run the 100-Meter Dash in under 5 seconds which hits at about 45 MPH, that's freakishly fast and the cheetah's highest speed on record was roughly 70 MPH. How long do they last at their top speed? Most likely no more than a few seconds to a minute. The need for recovery is greatly increased but because of the stupid crazy amount of fat and calories being burned even completely at rest, its increasing their hormones and it helps put on lean, functional & insane muscle from their necks down to the damn paws.

Humans are such a complex and mysterious species but nonetheless, we can get nearly he same effects of that kind of phenomena. No we can't run that fast no matter how hard we try, the top speed on record I believe is 28 MPH and that's less than 10 seconds at full blast. However, do due the nature of our body's unbelievable system of blood flowing, strong organs & mighty powerful hormones we can create great effects on the nervous system to generate greater amount of hormones than the leading lethal injections that pro athletes use to get ahead in their sport. When you sprint hard for 8-30 seconds you are generating insane amounts of blood in order to oxygenate the organs while also expanding your lung capacity plus increasing growth hormone naturally to recover and strengthen all the muscles in the body to produce your metabolism. There's an old saying "You don't need to do much, for doing a lot." This applies very well with sprinting.

Now are there other ways to do this other than sprinting? Yes, there's jump roping for 10 minutes, swimming hard for 25 meters, doing animal movements really fast for a short burst; anything that gets you out of breath fast. Sprinting however is the cream of the crop on this in my opinion. This even helps burn fat even if your diet isn't that good; its possible and I've seen changes in people. No more than 3x a Week and if you're a complete beginner, power walk as fast as you can until you need to catch your breath and build up to a full on sprint. This is the ultimate way to fat loss and builds muscle fast.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Train To Master Yourself

Its not a bad thing to follow someone's methods but its not the best thing to follow someone else's pace or workout. If you do so, you will become second-rate in a third rate system. The very best body shapers & conditioned trainees molded their style all on their self mastery. Train in the exercises you're interested in and learn the technique; the rest is up to you. I like the way certain workouts are put together but like to put my own touches on them because I want to feel they're mine.

Mastering yourself takes discipline but it can be interesting. Learn systems that make you feel amazing and feel like you can accomplish anything. However; following someone else's pace to me most of the time is completely boring and unless you're in a team sport, its best to set your own pace, your own style and your own life. Following someone at their pace takes away a piece of yourself because you're a slave to their style. An extreme few of these systems let you have freedom to do what you want and live with real purpose.

Make use of what works and throw what doesn't in the trash. Its really not fun to be someone else because for one their lives are not always as glamorous as you think and plus even if you could keep up with them you can't look exactly the same as them so why bother trying to do the same speed and tempo on a video that for all you know is just a marketing scheme to program you into their little foundlings. Be your true self and master your own body inside and out.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Progression For Improvement...Not Taking Your Body To The Limit

When I finally got out of the hospital after the three surgeries on my legs, I was cleared to start rehabbing. For those that don't know my story, you can find it in the archives of the blog. What i'm about to say might piss people off and even may confuse them to what they were "taught" at the gym by those so called "experts" that tell you the only to get better at something is to push the limits. For the most part at least in my experience is complete bullshit and I don't care what your reaction is, I'm telling it from my point of view and outlook on my philosophy.

Training early on in my self-rehab was a pain in the ass, i'm not going to lie, it hurt and I couldn't do much but I never pushed it to the absolute limit otherwise i'd be back in the hospital. I started out doing only squats, push-ups and bridging; couldn't do jack for squats, barely can handle a few push-ups and was nowhere near my nose touching the mat. I instinctively learned how to progress through those exercises without pushing myself too hard. I was determined to improve my body's ability to heal and progressed little by little everyday without fail and why? Because if anyone was going to screw it up I rather have it be me than putting a burden on some Physical Therapist. I believed down into my soul that I was going to improve. Once I hit greater numbers I moved on to other forms o exercise and training and used that same philosophy of progression.

The truth is, the more you push to the limits the greater the consequences become to get injured, out of commission and doing something you'll end up regretting. I get it that you want to find out how far you can take it and in a certain period of time. It's human nature to test the limits and when it comes down to it in certain situations we either go all out for a specific purpose or something else. Our bodies are very well equipped with a natural healing, cooling, heat & nervous system but if we compromise those natural settings, how can we properly function in good, solid health? When you progress through natural productivity and mindfulness with the intuition to listen and feel how your body reacts when it is starting to reach its peak you're starting to see the bigger picture. Its very difficult to control how our Adrenaline hits and we are so pumped we forget what's going on in our body and lose sense of what's happening in our surroundings.

I've taken my body to heights I had never experienced as a teen so since I was 21 years old I've hit levels of strength some people I know thought was ridiculously impossible; like being able to one-arm hang on your weak arm at far over 200 pounds is no easy feat, it doesn't look like much but when you had an illness that nearly killed you and switched your brain chemistry that hit the nerves in your body it becomes rather miraculous. How about not being able to do one pull-up at 18 to do multiple reps by 22, do over 20 handstand push-ups in a row with only less than a few weeks of handstand training, go from hurting after 10 squats to doing over 1000 in less than 6 months after surgery. This isn't to brag or show off my accomplishments, its to remind you that if you're willing to progress with intent and belief on improving yourself, you don't need to push the limits. Progression unlocks the door to ultimate strength and doing so as injury-less as possible. Pushing your limits in my opinion 95% of the time will make you weaker than stronger because you can only be so strong or fast or endured for a short period of time.

I hear about all those injuries people put themselves through with some of those crossfit workouts where there is no regard for safety, recovery and progression and just bust through regardless of your body's ability. It's not just crossfit, its other areas as well. In sports, military, law enforcement and survival training are the only true areas where pushing to the limits is in my regard because they train that way in order to fulfill a requirement of specific conditioning, training and mental toughness that the rest of the population can't seem to comprehend. We are taught to train the same as pro athletes or world-class military men and women and that's not practical. Train to improve, not to go balls out because it looks cool. The body is not meant to be put on that level of stress and if you believe you can train the same as these high level athletic people than you're more naive than I thought; even the highest level of athletic and tough people have gotten injured, broken bones, killed during drills & even have made multiple mistakes where it cost others either lives or other problems.

Progress through your own area of mastery with the intent to become stronger, faster and more endured on natural levels of the body's abilities to be strengthened, recovered, levels of stress (Physical & Mental) and the functioning of your brain. That's right your brain is affected in how you train because if you push too hard regardless of what you can do, the brain sends waves into the nervous system and will break down your ability to function by the stress of your organs, tendons, joints, ligaments and muscles you keep trying to build. When you progress through realistic application and the will to improve; overtime you will learn to deal with greater stress, your organs can flow with greater ease in advanced levels of training, the strength in your brain can send more powerful neurons into your body to deal with greater strenuous holds or movements and your joints can take more physical demands. When you push the limits, its going to peak whether you like it or not and your body will begin to break down starting with your nervous system, keep pushing, your tendons can split and you'll break out pieces of what's holding you together in the first place, keep pushing even further, your organs will break down and by then if not beforehand you could die and for what, just so you can be the tough man in his big boy pants?

Be smart about your training regardless of what it is; you are one person with one body that sheds the same blood as the rest of us. Do what works for you but also listen to your body. Push it on a scale that helps you get better without hurting yourself or going to failure. Don't throw your body away just because you wanted to be a big shot and wear the big boy panties, strengthen to become better not to grow weaker.    

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Isometrics & The Animals

Got back into Isometrics lately doing the Self Resistance style pitting muscle against another muscle so I can put on some definition. This is mostly due to changing things up and getting my mind out of boredom. No I'm not giving up on my animal exercise but I might tone it down to a few times a week instead of everyday because as much as I love it I get bored easily.

Making a certain method an integral part in your training can possibly enhance your strength and conditioning so that's where the Isometrics come in. It hits your muscles from a static position with max effort or at near max effort. Most don't realize that this particular method is one of the most difficult to concentrate on because unlike moving your body or a weight, your focus needs to be on point of the muscles you're pushing or pulling. Next to Sprints, Isometrics are the next best thing to burning off fat and building dense muscle plus being able to do it wherever you want.

Doing Animal movements can be taxing so its important to know when to back off and keep your joints healthy and your tendons strong. Some animals you can do everyday but a number of them require jumping or brachiating and that is something to watch out for if you're not used to it. Its fun as hell but you got to protect your body too. I took a day off of animal stuff due to some crazy weird thing with my right foot, just walking on it felt like a crowbar hit it so I stepped back but didn't stop training, just went a different route.

Animals do Isometrics too but not like us humans where we are so damn analytical; animals use a natural state of it to survive in some cases like the Sloth when he holds on to a tree branch; you know how much strength you need just to hold in that position for a period of time? Its crazy. The big cats when they stretch, they flex every muscle in their body, ants hold up to 50x their body weight as they carry food to their home; that's pure isometric strength there.

Do some Isometric Exercise and you can't go wrong.

Monday, April 18, 2016

New Influence By Superhero Beast Boy

Unless you're a hardcore DC Comics Reader and a fan of Teen Titans, not many know about the young superhero Beast Boy. I just learned about him a couple days ago while watching the new DC Animated Movie Justice League Vs. Teen Titans. Hell of a story and one of the best coming of age stories I've seen in a while. The one character that caught my eye that I believe stole the show was the young and green skinned kid named Beast Boy (real name Garfield). His power is the ability to transform into any animal that he has seen whether illustrated or up close; that to me is one hell of a superpower and has struck me in the heart because I love doing animal type movements.



How he got his powers is more tragic than awesome; growing up with parents that practically abused him and ended up contracting a disease that is deadly to any animal including humans except for a West African Green Monkey. The only way the kid can be saved was by being injected with a serum that turned him into a Green Monkey to wear off the deadly virus.  Unknowingly, this cured him but with a heavy price as it kept his green skin from ever turning back to its natural color and surprisingly gave him the ability to morph into any animal of his choosing through his mind. Some good came of it as he went on a path to make something of himself and join up with a group of kids that were a team of basically the younger version of The Justice League the Teen Titans.

For nearly a decade I've practiced different styles of Animal Movements that always has me running back to no matter what I tried otherwise. It has become a part of me to practice this form of exercise and conditioning; my love for it grows everyday and I do my best to get better and be in better shape for it, its the only form of exercise that is fun to me and it's helped shape my philosophy towards fitness in general. Learning about this Superhero just hit me like a strike of lightning, I find myself drawn to this character because like him when I set my mind to an animal I start moving like one, the only drawback is I can't morph into one like him which makes me a bit jealous but what can you do.

The ability to become an animal as you see fit is a very awesome thing to do; in the real world we can't have that luxury but we can adapt to move like one and picture ourselves in our minds to be that animal. Imagine having the strength of a gorilla, the speed of a cheetah, the endurance of a tiger & the agility of a gibbon; being able to hone your body's abilities to strengthen your muscles from the most awkward angles and moving with crisp precision of a wild animal. Just seeing this Superhero and having that ability has now convinced me that moving like an animal is my destiny and embrace it more than any other method. I don't mind lifting heavy weight from time to time, smashing a tire with my Thor Hammer or slamming a Sandbell to the ground but nothing compares to moving like a wild animal. It gives me greater purpose in my fitness journey and allows me to be free without stricting to a single method of rules and sets/reps that determines strength or endurance.

Move like an Animal & you can't go wrong......

Animal Kingdom Conditioning: Survival Of The Fittest
Animal Kingdom Conditioning 2: Call Of The Wild
(Get The Kids Involved) Wild Animal Fitness For Kids
Animal Workouts DVD
Animal Flow 2.0

Friday, April 15, 2016

Not Just Primate Muscle

Many love to see muscles whether big or small on a man. For the most part, being muscular in a realistic sense (not bodybuilding muscles of today) can make you look intimidating but never underestimate the power of what's within your muscles. To me muscles are cool to look at from time to time on some people but in the end, I always wonder if there's real strength behind those muscles? Believe it or not a small portion of the muscle building world has very strong people. The reason why is not just the muscles but the strength of the tendons and ligaments that truly hold the muscles together.

Since I've talked about animal moves lately I should warn you that when you train this way, you'll build muscle but not grotesque looking muscle and you'll be strengthening your joints and the tendons throughout your movements. This builds functional muscle or what I call Primal Muscle. This goes beyond the world of muscle muscle muscle and digs deep into the cortex of your body's natural order of things. Building Primal Muscle takes work, a lot of work but it doesn't have to be boring and dull, it can be fun, exhilarating and very unconventional.

When you strengthen your tendons, you're strengthening the entire core of your physical structure and over time your body begins to change; abs begin to show, denser muscle begins to appear in your shoulders, arms, back, feet & legs, solid power in your fingers, elbows, ankles and knees plus new found flexibility and stamina. You won't see the type of muscle that's in a magazine where it's painted, brushed & photo-shopped, there will be real useful muscle that can be used in any situation and can amplify your way in sports, military, law enforcement & competition. Some of the very best athletes & personnel have used animal moves to build speed, power & intense strength and you can do the same.

Work & play towards developing primal muscle that is useful, practical and realistic. Doesn't matter how old you are whether just a little kid burning off energy or someone older wanting to relive their youth in a different format it is possible when you do the moves that suit you and your goals. Kids love imitating animals and don't care how goofy they look and people who want to do something fun will test out different things. Build Primate Muscle folks, its an adventure.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Daily Animals

Regardless of your training whether for competition, conditioning, strengthening or developing a highly good looking physique there always should be an animal you aught to do between workouts or on your days off. Animal training builds the muscles in different positions that other exercises can't touch. That's because most exercises have an up and down, side lift position as oppose to an animal exercise that hits you from so many angles its not even funny. When I do other workouts like circuits, bridging, VRT or whatever I do my best to move around like an animal the rest of the day because I love to move and keep my body energized.

People like to cram their workouts within a short period of time (an hour or less) and that's fine more power to you but I feel regardless of time, do little things throughout the day so you stay freshed until you're ready to pass out at bed time. When I travel and am around people I don't always have time for a major workout until its night time; I make it a point to exercise no matter what I'm doing, do some work while waiting at the airport, do some jumping movements before my family photoshoot back in march, do isometrics at a restaurant while waiting or in between eating my food. Unless you're at a job 24/7 you can make time to exercise regardless of how busy you are.

Do something for me this week or during your current regimen, on your days off or in between sets of your exercise, do one animal that you like for 5 minutes; it can be 1 minute here or there, 5 minutes straight, 2 min. in the morning, 1 min. in the afternoon and 2 min. at night or however you do within a total of 5 minutes. If that animal is too difficult for you, do bear crawls or hop like a frog in place I don't care, you only have to do one animal for 7 days straight. Build a habit of doing something different that you don't normally do or haven't done before. Don't just rush into an advanced movement, start slow, get the mechanics down, learn the awareness of your body's positioning.

Animal movement is far better for you than those machines at the gym, sure they're good from time to time but unless you're in rehab or plan on doing a bodybuilding comp, stay away from the machines as much as possible and use your natural body to move. Its scary and it may look silly but you know what, you might burn off more fat and build denser and defined muscles just by moving your body around for a few minutes in different directions. This gives you a complete outlook of being an overall trainee. To learn more about animal style training check out my Wild Kingdom section at ben-bergman.branded.me. Get your daily animal in, no matter what. Have fun and be safe.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

The Strength Of Primates

Its becoming a habit of transforming into a Primate (Ape, Monkey) these days as i'm testing out more ways to move like a wild jungle animal or hanging from the pull-up bar in various positions. Currently at my size I can do 5 pull-ups from various grips and that number will get a little higher each progression. That doesn't sound like much but at 268 lbs. its pulling a ton of weight (literally). That's the fascinating thing about primates is their crazy strength and power.

There's no true way of telling how strong a primate is; take for example the chimpanzee....


The strength of a chimp is so surreal its not even worth laughing at. Moving on all four limbs the majority of its life using their arms just as long puts them in the category of superhuman strength. Tested at a zoo they had a female chimp deadlift a heavyweight. The amount was roughly 600 lbs. or more using only one arm. That's freaking insane once you wrap your brain around it. Now think about the Lowland Gorilla.....


It has been said that the gorilla's strength in theory is the equivalent to 10-20 of the strongest lifters on the planet. Personally I believe its slightly exaggerated but not by much, overall that kind of strength is something you don't want to mess with. When it comes down to it, the gorillas are the strongest wrestlers of the animal kingdom, try to take down an ape of this magnitude and your life will be over in an instant. The crushing hand power is unbelievable and the tendons are basically like solid steel. 

We can never be as strong as a primate because of various reasons and the majority of exercises to even practice would be way too dangerous. Their structure may have the closest resemblance to us humans but in fact they have different variety of joints and tendons in areas we can't comprehend and that's why during their lifetime the healthiest primates swing through the trees with ease, walk on their hands and feet like its a cake walk and climb so damn fast it makes rock climbers look like wimps. The most athletic of all primates is the Gibbon hands down.....


As you can see because of the long arms, its built to swing and swing far greater than an acrobat ever could. Because of their genetic code, gibbons can be as tall as three feet from head to toe but their arms stretch as high as 5 feet, talk about a hell of a reach. They have the most agile grip in the primate world because of the way they swing they can change grips within an instant going from tree to tree. To even get close to a fraction of that strength and flexibility the safest way to train is to practice hanging and moving about on a bar, soccer goal or any long stretch of bar; the monkey bars are perfect for this. Do you know which primate has the strongest hands pound for pound? Its the Gelada Baboon....


Although it walks and sits like a dog, the gelada's hands are so powerful it'll rip the bone off your fingers. They live in the highlands of Ethiopia where they climb upside the mountains everyday and have their gatherings. Climbing up and down slopes as steep as these talks a serious amount of focus, strength and agility. Their fingers aren't that big compared to other apes and monkeys but they're so full of tendon strength it makes them a category of power all by themselves. They're the only monkeys to be able to handle that kind of stress. They weigh no more than 45 lbs. (females about 23) but pack so much power they can destroy a 200 lb. man in seconds. The closest you'll ever get to having that kind of strength is if you're an advanced level rock climber.

They say bodyweight exercises are not good for strength and only good for endurance...Depends on how you look at it. I personally believe through specific styles of training, body-weight fitness can be carried over to other areas of strength. If you're going to deadlift 1000 pounds yes i'll agree body-weight alone won't get you there but you can build tremendous strength within other areas. I rarely touch weights (barbells & dumbbells) these days but after many years of thickening my hands and building great back strength and leg strength I can still walk into a gym and still pick up 100 lb. dumbbells and pick up a hand and thigh deadlift of over 300 lbs. I've even done multiple reps with full weight of the lat pulldown machine and machine chest fly over 200 lbs. 

Don't underestimate the power of your own body. With the right training, bodyweight exercises can thicken muscle tissue and power up on your tendons to a degree of strength that makes you hard to put down. Imagine being an arm wrestler and training in the ways of an ape along with your specific training of the sport, most would find it difficult to even make you budge. 

Want to build real strength using Primate/Animal Methods? Get these courses below.....






Want to see more of a visual of cool Primate Movements? Here's a video I found of a guy doing 5 variations of Primate movements you can do in your home (with enough space) or outdoors to play on...

Did some of these earlier just to mess around and were a lot of fun. I'll be filming my style of Primate movement in the near future. Be on the lookout for that one. Get wild and have a blast guys. Be awesome. 



Monday, April 11, 2016

Becoming Tarzan

Training to be the Ape Man isn't something that happens overnight, its a real commitment whether short term or long term. With the upcoming movie coming this summer, I'm brushing up on my animal training (mainly Primate Movements) and making my body move differently and develop flexibility in my hips and shoulders through deep squatting (which I like to call the Ape Squat) and pulling power through hanging from different grips and pull-ups from different grips. To truly dig deep into the heart of Tarzan Fitness you really need to go to the full source (with adaptations of course) by training the body in a series of animalized movements just like the man himself that has to crawl, jump, hang, swing (brachiate) and balance.

Animal Kingdom Conditioning

Animal Kingdom Conditioning 2: Call Of The Wild

For a 270 lb man, brachiating isn't an easy task, for the most part its damn near impossible but I believe i'll be able to do it again one day and be able to practice more on the monkey bars and a soccer goal if I can find one. I love moving like an ape and so since i'm more geared towards being a gorilla than Tarzan it fits me but I like to imagine myself as a much bigger version of the guy. Being 50-100 pounds bigger and doing really cool athletic things a man that size is known in theory to be incapable of doing. To get the look of Tarzan takes different training but its not impossible to build a physique using primate movements and strategically eating well and recovering well. One of the styles of training to have that full Tarzan look is to do Charles Atlas style exercises which you can find below.....

Pushing Yourself To Power

Isometric Power Revolution

Ultimate Push-ups For The Awesome Physique

These are the same (or similar) exercises that actors Jock Mahoney, Mike Henry, Ron Ely and I believe even Johnny Weissmuller did for their Tarzan Roles (IMO Mike Henry was the best of them). I love these types of exercises too because when I don't have the space I need for the Animal Movements, I do these or Circuits from Darebee to do conditioning work. When it comes down to it, I prefer Animal Moves because I don't like to be in one spot the entire time, I want to move around and be surrounded by fresh air and being on the grass but also I don't always have that luxury in the winter time and i'm not fond of being in snow so I go with other options. That's the thing, don't resort to one single ideal or you'll miss out; give yourself options.

Another way to really tap into that Ape Man mentality is to do MovNat which is basically the highest level of Tarzan Fitness there is period. Teaches you real mechanics of crawling, jumping, balancing, coordinating, swimming, fighting and climbing. Whether you choose to train like the Ape Man or not there is always options to have to fulfill your natural and athletic potential and have a healthy body and have strong, supple tendons and ligaments. Keep your exercise to a level where you don't go to failure and utilize your natural strength/body ratio to stay in a long-term stance of training where injuries are slim to none and listen to your body as you train and recover. Personally I don't believe pushing your ass to the absolute limit to the point where there's so much pain you end up tearing or breaking something. I do believe in testing your abilities but only to a certain degree where recovery helps you build up and you can train at a high level without hurting yourself.

We can't be Tarzan everyday, its just not practical but we can adapt and have long-term health with the right training that suits our needs. Learn your options and use what's there for you at anytime no matter where you are. Train like an Animal outdoors (or indoors if you have the space), if you have very limited space use one of the first 3 courses listed above or do Darebee Workouts for circuit training. Make it an adventure to exercise no matter what and utilize your imagination and instincts to truly train anywhere, anytime. That's the true motto of Tarzan Fitness.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Grip Training On A Budget

There are those in the world that can't afford a gym or specific equipment that costs an arm and a leg but still want to become strong and fit. I love having a strong grip but I don't have that big of money for stones, a power rack, drag sled or Battling ropes; I believe in being simple and minimal of what is used for my best interest and benefit. Plus I don't have any room for all that stuff but I do have some things that you can get at a hardware store, towels and a pull-up bar for under 30 bucks. Just because something costs a big deal doesn't always mean its a big deal.

My secret to grip strength on a budget is to do things that the only weight it requires is your own. I did thick bar pull-ups by wrapping my bath towel around the bar, built up my fingers from doing gorilla exercises and fingertip push-ups to the point where I can do them explosively off the ground, hook my fat gripz to a bar and have at it yet still made progress with my grip strength. Not everyone has the ability to get expensive stuff to make themselves better and even if they could, don't take it for granted. I believe in the art of using your brain and using your money for things that matter most to you. Here's a list of what you can use for under a few bucks....

Left over tires for Hammer striking

Your towels to build pulling power

Removable Doorway Pull-up Bar

Step Stool for elevated Push-ups

Fat Gripz

DIY Sandbags

Buckets to fill water and carry

Many ways to build grip power without needing to spend a ton of money, one of the greatest arm wrestlers of the 20th century Mac Batchelor used bottle caps between his fingers and other things that made his grip so powerful, no one was able to beat him. Use your imagination, be willing to do what you can without needing a whole lot for very little. Use your brain, not always your wallet.



Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Apeing Up My Conditioning




Yes the first word in the title isn't in the dictionary or a full on word but you know what, it sums up what I've been doing lately. Becoming an ape is no easy feat, it takes focus, commitment, a little imagination and being oblivious to looking like a goof. People can say what they want and depict how to train like a gorilla but to truly get down to the nitty gritty, you have to move like one in order to become one. Animals in the wild don't lift weights or use machines to gain their strength; they rely on nothing but their body and instincts in order to survive. Granted if they had to move anything it be boulders, knocking down trees and carrying large specs of nature.

Nothing in the world can give you the functional strength, agility, flexibility and power more than the true animalized movements of bodyweight conditioning. Sure weights, medicine balls, jump rope, stones and dumbbells can give you great conditioning and can take you far if you use it properly and with real intentions but in all my years of training nothing compares to animal exercises; maybe its because of the way i'm drawn to them or because they give me real sense of purpose to train for life against myself and nothing else. Training this way teaches me how to handle my body from really awkward positions and strengthen my tendons from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. Its so powerful, very few understand its true source of untapped energy and fundamental strength that is useful, realistic and functional.

The gorilla is my inner animal, its been within me ever since I was a little boy and only up until about 10 years ago or so I started to truly embrace it and train in it. Other animals have their perks and all are very valuable but the ape is the king of them all. You may think differently because your inner animal is different and you can go on and on about the scientific stuff and that its truly impossible to be as strong as a gorilla or to even move like one yet, I have in my mind the belief and the personal experience and participation that when you set your mind to something and adapt it to make it work for you, possibilities are endless. Gorillas are in fact stronger than humans period but we can learn from what they have done their entire lives. Not in complete entirety because there just a great deal of things that we can't do because it wasn't meant for us to do however, when we break down the movements and put in things that are more realistic and practical it can take us to levels of strength we didn't think existed in the human body.

For the past week, I've basically done nothing but hanging, walking, jumping, running and playing like a Gorilla or Primate in my workouts. Due to lack of space and the structure of my body I can't do brachiating movements on my pull-up bar so I have to just do hanging from different grips and isometric pull-ups for now until I can find a much longer bar to work on at a park or somewhere. The ground work however will be more suited to what I'm doing but to keep the equality of pulling and pushing as best as possible. To learn more about true Ape movements get the Animal Kingdom Courses 1 & 2 to have you training like a true ape. If that's not in your budget, get either Animal Flow 2.0 or The Animal Workout DVD to get an idea of what to do to unleash your inner ape. That's all for today. Have fun and go be wild.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Why Is It Important To Be Creative?

Why is it important to be creative? Is it to become someone more than the rest, is it about being better and more reliable on your imagination than to do someone else's style? In my mind, being creative in fitness is the toughest thing you can ever be. Doing someone else's style makes you lower than your true potential is. That is not to say you can't learn or be taught a specific way so you can learn your own style later; it just means what you want to do can be learned through your interest, will to commit and the idea to find yourself in what you believe works.

Throughout my life, I never liked being told what works and what doesn't, I made the choice to be creative because my brain operates differently than the majority of people. I learn from a lot of people all the time but that doesn't change the fact that when it comes down to fitness, i'm very self reliant. I feel alive and focused as I create my workouts or my own style of training. My soul is free and I'm able to generate greater inner strength through my creativity. In nearly 20 years I've learned how to lift, hold a handstand, put up heavy weight, bend bars, bend backwards into a bridge, struck a tire with a Thor Hammer and a near 60 pound sledgehammer, I've hung onto pull-up bars with one arm and taken on some amazing lessons from very gifted and stupid strong individuals that believed in what I'm capable of.

Going from one program to another time to time is fun because you're constantly picking your own brain and seeing something new that you may have not seen or felt before. The truth is, I always go back to one particular style of training that keeps me in shape like a lightweight at around 270 and that's the Animal Movements more specifically Ape Training by hanging, moving like a wild gorilla or chimp. I found out that basically I was destined to be an ape like person. My mother jokingly told me that my father got a card for either my birthday or he got it for father's day who knows but she said that in it, it had talked about a chimp and apparently my father seemed to believe that was what I was going to be because I somehow to him acted like one; now I move and train like one and didn't even realize until I got so into it it became natural to me. My creativity is natural for me because if I ever tried exactly what others do, I become disoriented, uninterested and I shut down. I can't do someone else's system to the T very well because my brain isn't programmed for that.

Some people find it difficult to be creative and so they become followers and be more like sheep or soldiers, follow a leader and let him lead you the way, go down their path because that's what they feel is right. Truth is, anyone that is remotely creative in any shape or form are the scariest people on the planet because not only do they think for themselves, they can free themselves without thinking twice about it. Creativity also brings ridicule, attacks on your self-esteem and its a pain in the ass to make people understand what you want to create. People want to suppress those that have critical thinking and shut down what may bring them hell but all in all, they're jealous of what you have the potential to be successful in. Marketing gimmicks, commercials, the news, endless stupid reality shows and magazines that print bullshit that really has no relevance to your true self.

When you train, learn what the mechanics are and make it into your own style that fits your goals and what you decide to accomplish not what others feel is better for you. Do I believe in certain people when it comes to programs and various systems yes wholeheartedly but I do not follow they're rules or believe in everything they do. They're different in their own ways and not all have the same philosophy. I learn what I want to learn and I pay attention to things that interest me, I have never been able to learn by what someone tells me to do so one of two things go down; I either have someone show me up close and personal the mechanics and I go from there or I observe in a book or DVD and learn if it works for me, if its not exactly what they do then I make it my own until I have mastered it. That's how my brain works, I'm not some little puppy who rolls over when I'm told to, I do my own damn rolling. It is important to be creative because in reality good or bad, its the only way to survive at times; not everything goes according to plan and you're never the same person everyday. Be creative because its who you are, learn what's important and make it your own otherwise you're just another dog mastering commands.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Building A Grip Without Needing Weights

Weights in most aspects of Physical Culture is ideal to developing strength and unbelievable power and physique but it's not always the case. In other words, you don't weights for everything unless you're looking for a particular way to build strength. For grip work there's a lot of ways to develop mighty mitts but i'm here to tell you that weights aren't always needed in this manner. I have build a powerful grip without having to do barbell and dumbbell work, I mainly use only a couple maybe three implements that would be considered "weights" but in truth they're just a measuring stick compared to how I really found my grip power.

To truly understand Grip Strength we need to look back to what makes us very strong or very weak in our hands. It takes a tremendous amount of strength to bend steel, rip a phonebook and/or lever a heavy sledgehammer so to really make that strength possible is to not do something else but get down to the dirty soil and reach down and use those actual tools to build your grip strength. Another way of building great grip power without the iron is doing hangs from a bar or rings; these alone can build an insane grip because in order to even hang you need to have a bit of tightness to grip the handle and just stay there. Some can't hold for more than a couple seconds, some can hold far longer its a matter of practice and focus on the intention.

Finger Tip Push-ups is also a favorite since its very basic and simple exercise yet many can't do it due to issues in the wrists or fingers. The objectivity is to utilize what works best for your goals and achieving progress little by little. I love to move around like an Ape and since my mind is getting more geared towards that Tarzan like state and doing Ape style movements I'm doing exercises like Hanging from the pull-up bar in different grips to hit the tendons and muscles from other angles, walking or jumping like a gorilla by being on my knuckles and putting my weight onto them the majority of the movement and building that pull-up power by isometrically flexing in various stages of the actual pull-up. Training the fingers and hands is essential to building a complete body that is full of strength from a variety of angles.

Training to use as minimal equipment as possible without relying the barbell and dumbbells is very effective and its more natural. The Sandbell is one implement that is great for your grip and no I don't consider it weights, this is more functonal and can be used for practically any movement. I believe without question the best of the best when it comes to pure natural grip strength and powerful tendons are mountain climbers, these guys/girls have pound for pound some of the strongest hands on this planet period. They are the closest to our Ape ancestors by having fingers that could literally tear you apart if you fought them. You don't need to be a mountain climber to build this kind of strength but you will need to find a rock climbing wall or build one around your house or for the cheap route get eagle claw straps to wrap around your pull-up bar and go from there, I've tried these and they're tough as hell and I only managed maybe a couple reps the last time I tested them.

Don't believe for a second grip strength is purely getting from wrist curls and weird machines, if you truly want a mighty set of hands, you need to get dirty and do exercises that really target the hands and fingers while engaging the entire body, isolation isn't going to cut it. Its not a knock to anyone but from personal experience and seeing some of the strongest men on the planet within mere feet up close I know for a fact real grip work comes from those who target the hands in a specific manner that digs into the tendons and builds insane eagle like claws for fingers. Train your grip with a vengeance and you'll learn how tough you can really be with the power of a gorilla.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Coming Full Circle With The Sandbell

There are plenty of exercises that really hit the Core Muscles hard but one of the best ones can actually trim your waistline in a very short amount of time. Using the Sandbell, the 360 Exercise produces a heavy target not just on the abs but the entire upper body structure of the arms, shoulders, back and grip; this exercise takes control and focused tension on the muscles used. When practiced correctly, this one exercise can develop powerful and muscular abs.

The constant shifting of the weight makes it even more amazing as you have no choice but to keep control of the bell or else you might hear something crash unless you're outside and you hit a window or a fence. When it comes to weight; I believe to develop great mastery and full flexibility and strength in the exercise itself, be sure to take on no more than 20 pounds, that may not sound like a lot but because of the control and accurate amount of tension it's going to feel way different. I have heard of the 40 lb. 100 rep challenge and for the most part it's basically a marketing ploy. I'm going to give you a quote I made on a forum where it'll give you a complete outlook on why the weight doesn't make you the man, but the consistency:

"Its not the weight that makes you a man, its the consistency to train and learn the value of your body's capabilities according to your range of motion, awareness & the will to stay in peak condition without risking injury. More often than not, ego breaks more than the body does. The physical injuries are just icing on the cake because people buy into the fact that if they don't train beyond their natural abilities they're not worth a damn. I've pushed myself hard for more than a decade and only got one small minor injury during that entire period."

Read that with complete mindfulness. Don't buy into the notion that bigger is always better, you don't need to go to extreme reps with a lot of weight to get amazing results. Pace yourself little by little down to the smallest fraction and you'll still get results. I'm a big dude and never needed to move a ton of weight to become strong, the things I have done were carried over because of my training. Trust me when I say this, no matter how big or small you are, you can get crazy strong with minimal equipment and no more than 20-25 lbs. worth of actual weight. 

Be in control of your exercise or it will hurt you more than just physically. When it comes down to it, if you want powerful Tarzan-like abs, this is a top exercise to make that a reality. Practice with focus, intention, muscular tension (Muscle Control) and awareness of how your body moves within the exercise. Make it work for you and if you want to increase weight, do it for progressive reasons, not to prove how strong you are. Train smart and train awesome.  

Monday, March 28, 2016

Train For Yourself

I go over different workouts all the time for various reasons and at times it does become overwhelming from trying to do whatever just for the sake of doing it. I don't believe in trying to fit into someone else's ideals because they're stuff is so perfect. People forget that no matter what they make themselves out to be, nothing comes close to doing something for yourself because it leads a path to finding your true self. Practicing many systems and exercises over the years, I became very strong mentally and physically by doing things that suit who I'am.

Training to be like somebody else only makes you 2nd or 3rd rated in the sense where it makes you lose sense of what and who you are further and further away from what's truly there in the first place. Does that make sense maybe, maybe not but don't believe for one second you can't be the strongest version of yourself. It's not something you can just achieve overnight, it takes years of searching, learning different things and know your faults, weaknesses and how you pick yourself up.

I train for me because I know more than anyone what I've been through, good or bad and that fitness is not just a fad or even a lifestyle; its beyond those things. It's my universe, it's what brought me to do the things and choices I make everyday; its my blood, my skin, my soul, my breathing. People can call their way of life a style or something to temporarily do to pass time but they'll never understand what it's truly like to live your training no matter what you do or where you go or who you are with. I have had people tell me that because I do what I do everyday has become easy for me; truth is, it gets harder everyday because I constantly have to find something that's exciting, fun, quick, long, space or hardly any to do something. The only thing easy for me to train everyday without fail is the thought of if I don't do it at all, I lose a piece of my soul and that is something I can't live with. 

Train because you wanted to, not because you crave it or because you don't have a choice, do it because its a part of who you are. I can talk all I want about what works, what doesn't and how this should be and what that sucks and here's the blueprint & all that other crap, it all boils down to what you want to do and you go do something whether it's to experiment or do a routine or hell because you thought something was cool, you're going to do something anyway but do something because you knew in your heart, deep down in your guy that's what you wanted to do in that time. It's not easy being your true self in your training believe me I deal with it everyday yet it brings me to what I love and what it does for me and only me. Train for yourself, no matter what.

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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Jungle Fever & Bodyweight Training

I'm hearing the call of the Jungle daily. The experience of moving like a wild animal puts you into a state of mind that not many other systems can touch. Your mentality becomes different and you're channeling that animal spirit within. Repetitions are great and everyone should strive to reach a goal of certain amount of reps in their regimen; however, I'm more for the quality within the quantity instead of just making useless reps at a pace where the form is sloppy and the potential for injury is greater. Nobody's perfect but always strive for quality in your practice.

That's the thing with animal moves and bodyweight training in general where the better quality of your movement the greater your strength, flexibility & endurance comes into play. Everything counts; train your body to become instinctive. How your body reacts to a situation in more extreme cases will either save your life or get you killed and the same goes for saving a life as well. Your movement development interacts with your instinctive nature. Train your body to instinctively act on the ability to crawl, jump, balance and be able to withstand unpredictable durations in situations that you never know how long can go whether in a split second or an hour or more.

The thing with bodyweight exercise overall is not just the luxury of training anywhere, anytime we have all heard it but it's also an opportunity to learn the true secrets and capabilities of our physiology & anatomy. Animal moves whether its from Global Bodyweight Training or from somewhere else, teach us how to control our bodies to become instinctive and be able to react to things you wouldn't expect. It's one of the reasons I have mixed feelings on systems like Crossfit; although it has amazing benefits in certain areas for some people and I like the randomness with the circuits and style of lifting and using your bodyweight it becomes a problem when quality deteriorates and only quantity matters. I believe if you're going to do something random or looking to shape up in a circuit style of training, make quality just as equal or more so than the quantity of the workout.

Practice mastering your bodyweight and find that animal spirit in your training on animal movements. Don't just learn how many push-ups or pull-ups you do in a set or see how fast you can do 100 Squats; learn the value of the quality in the movements more than the quantity because whether sooner or later in your workout if you become sloppy and keep pushing through, you will get injured and its going to be a bitch paying for medical bills because you decided to be a smart ass. Take it from me, I have performed some crazy stuff over the last 10 years and rarely ever got injured.

Be Awesome Everyone,

Ben


Animal Flow Workout: http://tinyurl.com/powerandmight-AnimalFlow

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Monday, March 21, 2016

Flowing In The Animal World & Exploring

Animal movement is so joyous and fun to do, period. I love the crawling, the jumping, balancing and just living it up. Yesterday I went into my Animal Flow workout and just felt amazeballs without needing to move all that hard for 10-15 min. like I usually do. Just flowing around and being creative integrating transitions, travels & switches that was more slow paced but still challenging.

The ability to explore your body as it moves in different patterns isn't easy by any stretch (pun intended) and it gives you feedback on what to work on and help yourself find your weak spots to generate into strength. My animal spirit is the Ape, I'm not questioning that and I feel whole heartedly that to be true. However you move will develop what you lean towards that spirit within you. We all have one and that's the beauty of exploration, its both a physically and mindful practice that everyone should do. It doesn't matter how old you are or where you come from; unleash your instincts little by little and see what brings out the best in you. 

The urban jungle can be scary and its up to you to find out what truly makes you animalistic. I know that sounds a little philosophical but so what? Animal Movement is not just moving in various motions; it's about channeling your inner self and bringing out what makes us who we can truly be. People are being held back because of various reasons; it isn't proper, it makes us look savage, it's uncivilized whatever the case may be. I'm still learning how to be more open with who I'am because growing up, it was very difficult to show my true self to practically anyone because let's face it, I grew up around a lot of guilt and ridicule and no matter how hard I tried; something always made someone defensive, poke fun at what I was trying to do and tell me it's impolite to be open about things or in other words "hold it in or suffer the consequences" that's how I felt. 

Over the years as I step by step was coming more out of my shell things started happening for me; showed people what I can do, be upfront about things and be accepted. My training has opened up a whole other universe for me where I can be myself, have fun, live without regret. Because I grew up around a lot of guilt not because of things I've done but the people who walk on it and hearing the soles squeak, it's instinctive for me to feel that way so around certain people I shut down and parts of me become emotionally painful. That's one of the reasons why I train, it helps me be open and be happy with who I'am and little by little i'm transitioning that mindset without needing to train but always keep my focus on the very thing that has helped me survive many hardships and helps me be a better man to the woman I love in all of this world.

Whatever you're going through, find something that helps you be a better version of who you want to become, channel your pain into something glorious and creative that gives you purpose and happiness. It's not materials that help you flow through life, its what keeps you flowing within yourself and making bad ass things happen. For me it's exercise and exploring, for others it may be something else but I'm telling you, nothing gives you more of a soul search than learning about your animal spirit and unleashing it without being fearful of it. Explore your true nature and make it awesome for you.  

Friday, March 18, 2016

Animal Conditioning Using Playing Cards

A couple years ago, I was testing out my conditioning as always and I went for a deck of cards workout that was made famous by the late Karl Gotch. Normally it be push-ups and squats so often I would do the whole deck which took me no more than 45 min. to an hour. As of late I've been wanting to do the deck again but with an added twist; I decided to not do only push-ups an squats but Animal Movements.

As you may have read on my facebook page I've been killing it with the Animal Dice Game where you roll a 20 sided dye once for an animal and a second for the amount of reps/steps you take. A couple times I added in a deck of cards to make things a little interesting. Instead of rolling twice, you only do it once to get the animal and you flip a card for your reps/steps. This is pure conditioning as it's going to be in my opinion; you can say there are better exercises but this is the ultimate in randomness and having to do unexpected movements and it's never the same workout which is a good thing if you're in sports or want to amplify your stamina for manual labor, continued strength, lung capacity for running or whatever.

Shuffle the cards as you normally would; have your dye in hand and roll it for an animal then flip the card to take your steps. This workout should roughly take you around 30 min. to complete and rest as little as possible; if you need a break, do deep breathing and drink that water, never sit down. Most decks are at around 52 cards, mine has 55 including 3 Jokers. Here's the repetition scheme for your cards.....

2-10=Face Value
K/Q/J=15 Reps
Ace=20 Reps
Joker=50 Reps

So pick 20 Animals you'd like play with or get them out of a Animal Kingdom Manual or from the DVD and go from there. Have fun with it, make noises if you want; it's not meant to brutalize your training but to help you have a good time while going through something very tough. This is great for kids, athletes in sports such as wrestling, MMA, Soccer, Football, Boxing, Spartan Race ect. My personal deck I use is Here and here's a set to get some 20-Sided Dye. This is an amazing workout with no special equipment and can be done practically anywhere at anytime. I do this in my den or outside when it's warm but if I'm in a hotel room or a very small room I do what's called a Caged Style workout where you're only allowed to move in a short amount of space. I have figured out how to do animal movements anywhere so don't let anyone tell you you need a very wide range of space.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Tarzan Is Calling To Me Once Again

Couldn't stay away from my Animal workouts for long. Over the past few days I've been hearing the call from the Ape Man himself & he's making me work harder than ever before. The jungle has been nuts since he got me playing the Animal Dice Game again. With the way he's kicking my ass lately I have hit more than 40 rolls of animals; the show off over here has been warming up with even higher numbers; my highest set of rolls is at 58, that's a lot of movement ranging from 1-20 steps at a time.

Even in the last 4 workouts; 57, 58, 42 & another 42 rolls I'm feeling it everywhere and my core is just getting hit the most because of the contraction to protect my lower back from injury. The endorphin high is incredible and I love feeling really good afterwards. This is pure conditioning and can really put you in Jungle Shape, basically gaining stamina and overall body to strength ratio. Although I'm over 265 lbs; I feel like an athlete under 220 and look like i'm around 235. If you really want to burn off fat and put on real muscle, this is the ticket hands down.

As much as I love my sprints, Isometrics & Hammer Work; the animals are the top of the workout food chain at least to me when it comes down to building insane strength and endurance for bodyweight work. You don't need to do that many rolls worth of animals to get the full benefit, only 5-10 to start and 20 min. worth of work is all that's needed. How much would it cost to you to get fit only 20 min. a day and gain strength, power, stamina & speed all in one workout?

Animal Kingdom Conditioning- $127 ($0.35/day for an entire year)

Animal Kingdom Conditioning 2- $67 ($0.18/day for an entire year)

Animal Flow 2.0- $59.95 w/ DVD ($0.16/day for an entire year)

Animal Workouts DVD- $29.95 ($0.08/day for an entire year)

If you really think about those numbers, that's still under $1 a day to train for an entire year alone just learning about animal exercises and that's still cheaper than the average gym. Just one of these courses alone can save you a couple hundred bucks a year at a gym that you need to drive to, get stuck in traffic, dress into workout clothes and get ready to get on a treadmill and the weights which you might have to wait for at several minutes at a time usually. Get your greatest benefit by saving time and money on a long-term perspective. I can hear the jungle man calling to you now and letting you know its never too late to get in Jungle Shape.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Best Workouts & Equipment While Traveling

I like a lot of things that training has provided but you can't always do what you want when it comes to certain things. Traveling for example can be a pain if you had to lug a kettlebell around or in dying need of a gym that a Hotel has (if that's what they call a gym) specific equipment. That's why I believe the best traveling form of exercise is Bodyweight; can be done in your hotel room, out in the hallway, at a park or hell on a plane (yes I literally have done movements seated on a plane).

Some people would like to travel with equipment that could be useful and resourceful. When I travel I usually take only 2 specific types of equipment that are light to carry but effective regardless of where you are. That would be the Chest Expander & the TNT Cables, they have been lifesavers for me as they give me the type of training I'd like to do that can be done just as in the gym. Hook the door attachment to a door, strap the cables in and you're good to go. Basic exercises like Pulls, Presses & Squats can be done with the cables. The Chest Expander is just as awesome if not more convenient and has nearly as many exercises to choose from. 

When it comes to specific workouts while traveling, hands down Circuits. Doing these for 20 minutes is all you need to get in good shape. The Darebee Workouts work best for training in hotel rooms, waiting for a plane or wherever. I once did a workout that involved stretching & Bridging exercises while waiting for a plane at the airport. I'd rather do a circuit in a hotel room or outside somewhere where i'm staying so I don't sweat all over the place. When it comes to equipment, resistance bands are best and to me Lifeline Fitness carries the best kind and very affordable. Do workouts that are within the 15-20 min range or less unless you're on vacation and may have more time you don't need to train any longer than that. When I'm in Lake Tahoe, I take advantage of my surroundings and head down to the lake to lift heavy rocks, swim, crawl amongst the rocks, climb ladders of the docks and anything else that suits my imagination. 

I get it some like to use a gym and maybe some may need it like Pro athletes or musicians, entertainers or whatever but for the most part unless you're a bodybuilder, powerlifter, strongman you don't need to go to a gym while you travel. Have some imagination. If you got a good small amount of space; you can do some crazy training. Since me and my girl are heading to Disneyland for her first trip to California we'll be walking the majority of the time but in the hotel, mostly calisthenics & resistance training will be used but at the parks in line for rides; Isometrics baby. Push, Pull, Wall Sit, Squeeze & flex in various positions as you stand in line. Be open minded and be resourceful with what you have. Use the environment and use your imagination and you'll never ever need the gym again. Value what you have and make use of your surroundings. Don't make excuses to not train. 

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