I'm Back & Ready To Get @ It

I'm back and it is crazy awesome. Disneyland was the best trip yet with my favorite girl and making awesome memories and did a ton of walking plus Isometrics. I have written before about Theme Park Isometrics and that it helps with boredom and keeps you on your toes. While in line for various rides and meet & greets, I did Isometrics from many angles and intensities ranging arm wrestling poles, pulling on chains, isometric wrist rotations, pulling up on rails, pushing against the walls, gripping the handles of a ride, chest presses, isometric punches, wall sits and much more. It gave me insane energy as we walked on average 8 miles a day in the parks and to/from the hotel.

I even gave an Avenger a run for his money during a photo op in California Adventure near the Animation Academy & the Hyperion. See For yourself.....

I had him on the ropes and I could really do this all day but the guy needed to have fun meeting fans and keep up with another Marvel hero that was just crawling with charisma; think you may know the guy....

Isometrics just give you that insane internal strength & power you can't get anywhere else. You can literally do them anywhere, anytime and at virtually every angle. I think even a Star Wars villain was sensing my strength and needed to be sure he can use his own abilities on me but he just couldn't come to grips with it. Tried to get in my head....Poor bastard never had a chance...

To truly learn the value of Isometrics within the beauty of training in reality is the ability to expand your mind to possibilities you didn't think existed. There are many that are so shallow & can't grasp the concept to truly train anywhere anytime. You have strength in you that hasn't reached its greatest potential. Adding in Isometrics with you give great power but as Uncle Ben says "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. 

Time to get back to doing my thing and remember no matter what, you can do things that can make a greater impact than you can imagine. Kick ass & be awesome. 

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.

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.

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.

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).

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.    

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.

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

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.