Applying Isometrics For Strength Training Without Wear & Tear On The Joints

 Muscles don’t give a shit if the resistance comes from a barbell, a tree, machine, doorway or our own bodyweight. It responds at best using strategically applied tension. If we’re talking that raw power, pure tension hits its peak through Isometric Training.

In a long stretch of time, many have been taught that only through movement is where strength is where its at. Research and data has proven that it’s not the only way to get strong. Movement is a tool for sure and should be prioritized but Isometric Training is a tool as well and has kick ass benefits that helps overcome plateaus.

One of the earliest known research was back in the 1950’s where it showed a 5% increase in strength by doing 6 second Isometric Contraction Exercises per day at 66% effort. In 2019, a systematic review that looked at 26 studies showed that 6-12 weeks of Isometric Training increased dynamic strength by 19-23% and a rate of force development by 24-31% in athletes.

Also in 2019, a review in the International Journal of Sports Medicine also concluded that Isometric Exercise caused less fatigue than movement training; building great joint-angle specific strength. This transferred over to endeavors such as jumping, running and lifting.

The two well known aspects of Isometrics can be seen below and the importance to why both work well together and not just individually:

Overcoming Isometrics…..

The ability to contract something immoveable (Pushing, Pulling, Squatting). You can do this through using a wall, a strap such as the WorldFit Iso Trainer or a railing for example. OI’s have shown to recruit more of the muscle fibers than practically any other method with a strong carryover to concentric strength.

Yielding Isometrics……

In simple terms, you’re fighting against gravity in specific holds where you go for a period of time without collapsing. Think of the Plank, Horse Stance, Bar Hang or the Wall Sit. This carries over to eccentric strength. An essential point of joint health and stabilization.

One of the best methods or timing of a contraction is to take a hold, doesn’t matter if it’s a curl or wall push, you contract the muscles (flex) at a high rate (65-75% max effort for example) and stay within that intensity for 7-12 seconds. Breathe as you do this. Never, under any circumstances, hold your breath. Brace with intent and focus into the muscles. Relax, change the angle and repeat.

In the case of Overcoming Isometrics; this is one of the purest and safest forms of strength training. There’s no jerking, no failed reps or grinding the joints. Be able to do it anywhere and is incredible for both rehab and prehab. Creating tension is a simple skill but it’s not easy to generate. It takes concentration and mindfulness while squeezing as if your life depends on it. Look up men like Alexander Zass and Bob Hoffman.

In terms of the Yielding Isometrics; it teaches how to control while under load. If you’re not used to a wall sit, it can be humbling once you start to feel those quads after a bit. In the form of the amount of contraction, if you’re going for a longer period of time, lower the intensity level but keep yourself stabilized. Less tension doesn’t mean it won’t build strength, it builds that lasting strength.

Isometrics however aren’t a replacement for your regular training. It’s part of the journey that helps align your goals and longevity. Use them as finishers, a warm up before your dynamic exercises or on off days. Use force and not mindless movement to get the most out of your workouts.

One of my favorite books on the subject of Isos is through author Matt Schifferele’s Grind Style Series in which one course is dedicated to Overcoming Isometrics with greater scientific data points than I can explain here. It also has an entire chapter on how to bring Overcoming & Yielding together to form a hybrid that will have you building strength that is off the chains. This is worth far more than it should be and I believe one should have knowledge of the hybrid training.

Be amazingly awesome and may your strength gains be successful in your journey.

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The Food Group You May Be Missing Out On

Muscle Meat is a valuable set of nutritional properties that many people still chow down on today. Meats like Pork, Chicken, Steak (My personal favorite) and several others. However; there are other Animal-Based foods that traditionally were part of a person’s diet is slowly becoming a thing of the past. You may not see a ton of it today but it still tries to come out of the shadows and that’s ORGAN MEATS!!!

Things like the Heart, Kidneys & Liver were the dieting legends from generations before not because of being able to use a whole animal but because of the nutritional composition. When you dig deep into what is naturally found in them, it’s pretty awesome to understand why.

How are the Organ Meats any different?

The protein provided in the muscle meat was always in that category of a nutrition powerhouse but the Organs hit on an entirely different level. It does depend on the Organ but in many cases, they contain….

Iron: An essential mineral involved in normal oxygen transport throughout the body.

B-Vitamins: Such as B-12 which takes on a very important task in normalizing the body’s energy metabolism and function of the Nervous System.

Vitamin A: The nutrient that involves building normal levels of vision and immune function.

Trace Minerals: Nutrients involved in a plethora of normal physiological processes.

Proteins & Amino Acids: Highly important building blocks used throughout the body.

Nutrients like these give you an idea as to why Organ Meats have played an important role in various diets. There is a problem though and it’s understandable why…..

When was the last time you ever ate any of these organs in a sitting? I’m guessing not recently and I don’t blame you. I’m in that very group that just never cared for the taste and texture and quite frankly, they’re not that easy to get a hold of in the first place. It’s rare for many these days to incorporate them into your program despite even knowing how valuable they are from a nutritional perspective.

My friends over at Lost Empire Herbs took this as a challenge and set out to develop a nutritional supplement that gives you the opportunity to process these without having to prepare them. It’s called Primal Elk and it comes in Capsule form.

Primal Elk in this manner doesn’t contain just one or two but three traditional foods. Each serving takes on 2000 mg of freeze-dried organ ingredients. They are carefully blended together in the following proportions:

70% Liver (1400 mg)

20% Heart (400 mg)

10% Kidney (200 mg)

Together, they form a supernova that can be used in your everyday routine. Don’t have to cook a damn thing. Take 4 capsules a day (best with food).

So why the American Elk???

The people at Lost Empire Herbs chose animals such as these in the Northeastern U.S. Eating their natural diet with domestic processing from start to finish.

(Source Herd also participated in a regulated Chronic Wasting Disease certification and monitoring program)

After harvesting, these organs are carefully freeze-dried and grounded before being placed into capsules. Freeze-Drying is a method of processing that removes moisture at low temperatures, making it the practical choice to prepare the animal ingredients.

What’s the result of this? The easier decision to create a supplement without needing to purchase, preparing and storing the meats yourself. I’m currently taking this as well and loving the energy it’s giving me, the strength that is maintaining in my workouts and enjoying what it’s doing for my immune system.

Is it time to rethink what’s missing from your plate?

Solid nutritional planning doesn’t always mean adding on some trendy supplement or finding some new ingredient, it’s better to invest in something that was valued from generations past. Be amazingly awesome and go Explore Primal Elk and learn more about it so you can decide what would be important for you to take.

A Bad Ass Journey To A Stronger Neck Using The MMB Pro Neck Flex Series

 

As you build your temple, whether you train alone or with a pack of your strongest allies, you’re going to develop what many neglect. Training your neck for epic strength & conditioning is the key to a door that leads to a world where other Mortals train for vanity and forget what keeps their head on straight.

One of the most valued weapons in your arsenal to build a neck that isn’t just for show, it’s a symbol of those who came before with the intent to build levels of power that isn’t easily described. The MMB Pro Neck Flex Series Kit. Being a part of the Neckzilla Family along with it’s maker Mike “The Machine” Bruce, is not just of honor, but responsibility to teach the masses about what the possibilities are for training the neck. If you want to look for the Godfather, look no further than Mike.

Most harnesses are either knock offs, outdated or don’t have the necessary needs to train the neck efficiently. Some have their perks and can work well for beginners and old school students of the game like Fighters, Football Players & Wrestlers. However; there’s a reason why the Neck Flex reigns as the King and that’s the ability to choose to use a Band or to use Weights. Lethal options that prepares you for War.

Most harnesses only have 2 or maybe 3 D-Rings to hook up to, this son of a bitch has 6. What you’re getting is next level training options to move your neck in all sorts of directions and safely I might add. Clean force that doesn’t slip, twist or give you garbage angles to train. Another is the amount of weight you can use. Hooking up a chain or a machine, it is strong enough to withstand more than one can bare to attempt. Others mainly can barely hold more than 100, some even less than 30. We’re talking close to 300 lbs with this thing. The same amount of weight Mike himself has lifted with his neck for 2 reps.

With the band, the sky is the limit to what you can accomplish. For me, I work this thing for 500 Rep sessions across several exercises with control, tension based entities and technique that has kept my neck at 18+ inches cold. In those sessions, it could hit 19 or more. Is it necessary to do that level of Volume? No, it’s not meant for everyone. You can though train using less sets and reps with greater tension and slower pacing. I like to move fast but not jerking anything. The band itself barely weighs anything, so you can travel with it and workout anywhere. The amount of tension is only 19 lbs which doesn’t sound like much but trust me, it’s more than enough for everyone.

Could you combine this with other neck exercises like Bridges or Self Resistance? Absolutely, there’s no rule that says you can’t. It is important though to work around what your goals are. If you’re just wanting a strong neck but aren’t a wrestler or Race Car Driver, Self Resistance & Neck Flex Band Work is more than enough. It’s about health and injury prevention, not making a statement to how superior your training is to others. Train it with intent to limit or even prevent Concussions. Neck Training that builds thickness but also mobility create shock absorbers, a stronger jawline and better posture.

Be amazingly awesome and get your hands on the king of neck harnesses: MMB Pro Series. It’ll put you in a realm of men that are hard to kill or even choke. Use my Coupon Code POWERANDMIGHT to take $11.11 off your order. Browse around for other kits if you’d like. Go kill it and remember….Even the smallest fraction of progress still leads to the big picture.

Core Conditioning With The Dopamineo Bands: An Epic Engine Of Power And Might

 

Crunches aren’t always going to save your ass. If there was an exceptional tool that not only targets the muscles but demands the trunk to fight, produces force and stabilizes; the Dopamineo Bands are one of those tools.

Traditional or even conventional weights have their place when strengthening the Core, but in most cases, there’s a way to cheat using the one plane of motion. The real exception would be doing halos with a plate or kettlebell. Otherwise, you’re facing more of the gravitational pull where throughout the range of motion, it’s the same weight. With the bands however; when anchored and pulling, tension increases throughout the range of motion. The abdominal muscles, transverse abdominis, the obliques and lower back can’t be isolated or have one try to compensate for the other. It’s constant micro-adjustments that prevent you from being out of position.

This is the aspect of realistic conditioning comes into play. If you develop a six pack with this, you’ll have the go and not just show. Utilize the idea of becoming fit with Core Strength that has the go and can slim down the chances of injuries.

Here are a few exercises of what I mean of targeting the Core. It’s not even isolating the surrounding muscles themselves, it acts as a full unity of the whole body.

5 Core Exercises With Dopamineo Band

As you can see from watching the video, each exercise works beyond the muscular structure and aids in the ability to generate speed, explosiveness, power and control with precision. This isn’t training like a bodybuilder, it’s an act of a fighter’s conditioning methodology. This still can jack the heart rate up so you’re getting the cardio benefits but also taxes the grip and creates a level of stamina when you’re tired.

Work into these exercises slowly, learn to control the movements but also keep a focus on the muscles being used. As you get stronger, start speeding up little by little but don’t hurt yourself. Start with a lighter band and work your way up, or use what I work with and that’s the Chosen Higher Green Band which works for everyone from Beginner to Seasoned Vets. If you want to work with a heavier band such as a Middleweight or the Heavy Band, that’s up to you and you’ll be feeling it one way or another.

Skip the boring ass crunches and train your Core like a beast. Get it so freakishly strong that it can take a hit but also is injury-preventing. Be amazingly awesome. Go to Dopamineo.com and choose your band. Use my Code POWERANDMIGHT to take 10% OFF your order. Anchor that son of a bitch, brace yourself as if you're about to take a hit and start chopping, twist, pull and rotate.

The Real Truth To What Being Fit Means

 On Social Media, I have seen many people say about getting fit and telling people they need to be this or that. They act like they know what they’re talking about and put in all their generic opinions or textbook ideas to tell people to be fit. The thing that really hits me at times is that, they never have a definition to what being fit it. When I ask to define it, most of the time it’s complete silence and no replies. Out of maybe a few dozen times if that, only 2-3 people have ever defined it the way that is realistic and actually accurate. Other than that, it’s either complete silence or I get “being able to walk 10k steps a day”, do “X mount of push-ups” and whatever copy and pasted standardized tests that may seem good on paper but still hit a foul ball when it comes to the true aspects of fitness.

Different people define fitness usually what they’ve been taught or read about. Very few experience exercise or working out as part of a journey and not to bounce off some influencer’s arbitrary idea of where someone is in order to be considered fit. It is true that as an individual, being fit can be subjective because not everyone lives up to the same ideals and lives by the same code of a trainer or an author of best selling books. Hell, I never say one method as the end-all-be-all that is the kind of being fit. I have tried so many things in my life from weight training to gymnastics, isometrics, kettlebells, sports specific training, prehab, rehab and other things but I always broke them down to what gives me the benefits for that period of time.

In some cases, people will define fitness by the method they use and believe that’s the way to be fit because it will solve all of life’s problems; do burpees everyday, lift weights 3-4x a week, do cardio after weights, do 100 push-ups before breakfast, 500 Squats within this period of time. See how all are different or at times intertwine with each other? It’s selective through sometimes fixed or manipulated efforts to control the narrative of what it means to be fit. Some will say Yoga is better than weights or that the Bench Press is a better indicator of upper body strength than a Pull-up or whatever other compound movement. Says who? Certain tests change as time goes on kind of like the science that is constantly evolving or in some cases, loses common sense in order to trust it more than trusting yourself.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in scientific aspects of fitness and some of the growth it has accumulated but I don’t put 100% of my trust in it because I’m also an individualist who practices what gives a person their best chance that isn’t always meant for the other person. Growth also comes from experience, the mistakes, the accomplishments, where you were and where you are now. Things change and fitness for better or for worse doesn’t always cater to individuality, it caters to in many ways what is popular and profitable in comparison to changing a person’s life that creates real success not always through the exterior but internally, psychologically and where their path leads.

What is the true definition of what it means to be fit? The truth isn’t always in black and white, you have to think of the gray areas as well and understand that it’s not about this, that or the other thing. My idea based on experience, perspective and my own journey…..

Being fit is the practice of being capable. To do things that carry over to aspects of life beyond the equipment, the rep/set schemes and the protocols of various methods. You don’t have to look like a Greek God in order to be fit, some of the fittest LOOKING people on the planet aren’t as fit as they appear and those who don’t always fit the standard of a beautiful physique are often overlooked. You can do all the squats, the lifts, the HIIT classes and Pilates you want but if you get injured quicker, don’t have the stamina or strength that lasts as long as needed outside the gym or a sport and putting what you believe to look good instead of strengthening the organs that keep you alive, your fitness acts more of a facade than the realistic outlook.

Looking good has its perks. There’s nothing wrong with it in and of itself but if it’s overprioritized and used in a manner that doesn’t balance out being able to maintain certain things, all that will do is bite you in the ass and create heartache. Fitness is more about being able to do things and continue to evolve or adapt once the peak physique can’t stay at a high level anymore. Now, if you have the ability to look like a million bucks but also have the condition that benefits real life situations, that’s awesome and can be a lethal combo. Very few people in the world achieve this and it’s not in the realm of impossibility but it is important to be realistic of what is achievable for you and not what someone else forces you to believe to make money off of you. That’s the nature of the beast sometimes and the best thing we can do is to so what’s possible in the moment, not push or force what could be a decade from now.

What does being fit mean to you? It’s not as easy to answer as you may think so set your mind to meditate on what is believable and real according to your own understanding and experience. I would love to know what you come up with.

Until then, be amazingly awesome. Be mindful and remember that even the smallest fraction of progress still leads to the big picture.