Finding Your Passion In Fitness

            We are all passionate about something whether we realize it or not. Some never get a chance to use that passion to share with the world, others make that passion into a way of helping others in a productive way and then there are those who have a passion that makes no sense to anyone else. Fitness is no exception to be passionate about like an athlete who is passionate about his sport or a Journalist being passionate about reporting somewhere in their city, state or somewhere in the country/world. The question is, why do it, what makes your passion so great that you went into it in the first place? What makes you get the results you want and does it help in your life in some shape or form?

            For me, fitness is my undying passion, its my second language, its in my blood and it puts me in a state of mind that finds creativity, love, compassion and intensity for whatever thing comes also in my life. I eat, sleep, breathe and think training 24/7 (maybe not as big as Jack Lalanne or other Physical Culturists) yet I put my own take on it and live it on my own terms no one else’s. When I was a chubby teen, I just fiddled around, picking up a weight or 2 in P.E. In High school, weights were big with me and did my damndest to be the strongest I can be without drugs or any of that crap and managed ok, not great. In my 20’s after my accident, it just became an obsession and absorbed everything I can on it and for some they thought I was going through a phase, others thought I was nuts and then there were those who think it’s “just a hobby.” It’s beyond a hobby, it’s my life and I’m in it until the day I die.

            When you’re passionate about something and others think nothing of it, they don’t understand and they’ll never get it because they don’t see what you see, feel what you feel and get the fact that you are doing something that has meaning in your life when they do their thing day after day and feel miserable and never follow their true path. For me, fitness goes beyond the workouts, way past the basic lifts or bodyweight exercises and exceeds way more than what I expect it to be because I love the variety, the creativity, the way to see the world through history, film, philosophy. That’s the true look at fitness as a passion for me, it may be different for you because of your background and that’s great because we all have different ways to look at things, it’s not bad, good or whatever it’s your interpretation on what you see.

            To really know what you’re passionate about, it’s the consistency of what you see, feel and learn about whom you are in terms of your interests and how it makes you keep going and learning. Keeping consistent in what you do and love shows your passion on a very different scale. In fitness, we all do some form of exercise and if there’s something we like, we keep it around until another form of interest rolls around. Some like being on the elliptical, awesome you’re doing something but yet what are you truly getting out of it, are you finding the results you want, does it make you happy to be doing it? You see there’s a fine difference in what you do and what comes out of it. When you’re passionate about a workout, it’s not a work out, it’s an adventure and you put your body in a state where you love it even though it can be tough; on the other side of the coin, to you it’s just an exercise and nothing else, you dread and feel like crap, you’re sweating good but it’s just a pain in the ass and when you’re done you go about your day and then you put yourself through it again and again until it doesn’t become an interest it becomes a habit.

            It’s easy to be passionate about something but it’s hard to be consistent with it and that’s where the real fun is, it’s learning how to use it and keeping it on your toes plus when you share it with the world, share it not with people who don’t give a damn but to people that share similar passions yet still different. Love what you do and keep it with you no matter how hard people are on you about because there will always be that one person or more that’ll have your back and encourage you to keep loving and following your passion with heart, intensity and a love that goes with it.

Be awesome everybody.

One Of The Best Workouts

           This workout can be done anytime, anywhere and you can do it lying down, sitting and standing. It is so powerful it brings a whole new meaning to the term High Intensity. It can hit you so hard it’s tough to breathe. It doesn't feel like you’re working out and you're having fun and it feels awesome.

            How do you find it and where can you get it? Some people look to watching something or using their imaginations. For me I can think of something and than it just goes from there. You can go to a certain place or it can be at home and getting the whole family involved. This workout brings families together and it just gives you a rush of endorphins.

            If you’re in a bad place in your life and you need something to lighten the mood and change things around, do this workout. It’s inspiring and nobody does it better than an awesome kid. If you want to learn from the best, learn it from kids, it comes automatically to them.

            There are at times where you just need to let it out in the best positive manner, whether it can be from Theater Of The Mind and just finding what brings it out or use it to balance out your emotions. Letting it out in the open or just by yourself either way it’s bound to happen. This is a workout you should be doing everyday because it releases bad toxins out of the body and it is the best euphoric high in the world. Who knows, you might get a set of abs from doing this and burning fat like crazy cause at times you need to catch your breath.

If you haven’t figured it out, it’s LAUGHTER!!!!

My Own Version Of A College Education

             When I was 19, I had a lot of dreams but I also wasn't in the happiest place in my life at the time. One of my best friends passed away 6 months before Graduating high school and it devastated me. I just didn't want to be around many people and I gave up doing a third year of Track & Field. Although I did go back to weight training and drama, it just didn't feel right anymore and half-assed most of the semester. I did dream of being broadcaster because I was adamant announcing for a major sports team like the San Francisco Giants or the San Jose Sharks. After a week in College I quit and it pissed off many people especially my dad. I just didn't have the desire anymore.

            After going through two and half years of going to the gym, doing a couple jobs and recovering from my broken legs, I went back to college on the encouragement of a girlfriend at the time and just took fitness classes. I really didn't have the dream of honing a degree someone else wanted me to have and just chose to take classes that seemed to make me happy. I took up gymnastics, swimming, Intro to Physical Education and Functional Fitness that including weights, cables, running and all sorts of stuff. I loved it.

            During that time between 25-26 years young, I got to teach during my Functional Fitness class. My coach saw me warm up with Animal Movements before class and asked me if I could teach those movements to the class once a week and I jumped on that like a bat out of hell. It taught me how to train not just a group of people but people of different shapes and sizes. My coach would jump in to help out beginners but for the most part that segment was mine. This drove me to find my own education.

            As of now I’m certified in Massage Therapy and a certificate of completion in Superhuman Training so to me that’s like getting a degree. The type of education I'm teaching myself goes beyond fitness and strength training; there’s History, Mythology, Film, Physiology, Massage Therapy, Chi Kung, Mental Techniques, Body Mechanics, Writing and other things. I believe what I’m doing works far better for me than sitting in a classroom filling my head with bad textbooks and boring teachers (not the fitness ones they were awesome). I get to learn from very knowledgeable people and some of the coolest cats in the strength world. I get to utilize my interests and expand my horizons that’s fun, exciting and always coming up with new ways to learn.

            Why the hell am I telling you all this? It’s because there’s more to education than a textbook, classroom, desk and some teacher. I don’t go to an Ivy League school or a highly academic academy but I get to be educated in ways these types of schools can’t teach. You want to be more educated, learn what you love to do and expand it to wherever you want to take it. You may love things that I can never understand but we both are reaching for the same goal and that’s finding what we love to do and create a future with it. Education is important in any endeavor and we aught to be educated that’s according to our interests.

            Learning should be fun, exciting, interesting, the way it gets you up for the day and you can’t wait to learn and have an adventure. Most college programs have none of that and that’s why I left for good and started educating myself and I've never looked back. When was the last time you got up in the morning and said “Time to learn some awesome stuff and have a blast”? Isn't it about time to have that feeling everyday? Have fun and learn what you can that makes you happy. That’s the best education of all.

Unleash Your Creative Potential

           As long as I've been training since I learned to walk again in 2005, I always believed in finding a creative way to train. It’s been my mission to find certain exercises that are unique and out there because when you do the same old boring crappy workouts that these magazines or infomercials are telling you do, it’s diminishing your right to find what works best for you. I have no problem doing basic movements but I also wanted to add an element of fun to them.

            The best way to use your creativity is to use your imagination. The way you think into your exercises will define how you believe the workout to be. One of my favorite exercises as of late has been what I call being a Thorsmith; what that is just basically taking a heavy Thor Hammer and hitting a tire with one hand. Now to most that just seems pretty boring but not if you think differently. The way I look at it as, I’m not hitting a tire and my hands are bigger in my mind than they normally are, plus I'm imagining I’m in an awesome place where strength is instant, I’m building my body from within and I don't imagine a tire being there but something that I'm building from scratch and it’s not a sword or a wrench but my muscles and my tendons. This is one example of how to turn a simple exercise into a super charged workout with just your thinking.

            Although the word workout may have a different meaning to some people but to me whenever I hear the word work-out two things cross my mind; one being if you don't have a positive thinking process and are too serious you’re just working and not getting anywhere. On the other hand if you feel alive and just effortlessly train without thinking harshly you're really playing and having a blast and getting results out of it. That’s where your imagination comes in and the way you apply yourself to your training.

            There are a number of dumbasses out there that tell you that they're way is the best and whoever is different doesn't know any better and being different makes you weak. Screw them. You are one person, you train however you want and if it’s different than everybody else so be it. I'm encouraging you to be unique and different because you can’t do the same things everyone does. You will always be stronger in something that someone else isn't; it’s not yours or anybody’s fault and being different is a gift not a curse. Don't let anyone tell you that you can’t do something great. If you have a vivid imagination, use it it’s yours and you have the power to make yourself successful. Whoever tells you different and gives you crap about it, they're jealous of what you have and they don’t look at you when they say it, they look at themselves and hating that they can’t do what you’re capable of. Show who you truly are and share it. 

You Are Awesome

            We all have dealt with many things in our lives. Some have gone through far worse than any of us, some haven’t experienced certain emotional pain yet and with heart I hope no one does cause it sucks. However, the shit you have dealt with in your life can become your greatest blessing because it teaches you how to overcome and become a much stronger individual.

            Now a common question that comes up in a person’s life is What Makes You Unique? Every answer varies. Some people have great gifts and great skills, some are even blessed with certain abilities and either choose to use them productively or rarely use them at all. Being unique truly is a gift in itself because although you stand out from others, you’re the one who gets to decide how much of your uniqueness you want to use. You can even be an outlaw in some cases because you choose to not follow others rules and find your own creativity while giving your ability to become a great person work for you.

            The one thing I always want to emphasize is that no matter how old you are, black/white/brown/yellow/Asian, African, American, French whatever; embrace who you are as an individual because no matter who you are, there will always be a group of others who will tell you to be something else or better yet someone else, people who will tell you that you can’t express yourself and show who you are as the genuine article. It’s extremely difficult, pointless and really idiotic to try to be like someone else. That person is already taken, create who you want to be and never stop believing you’ll be able to achieve it. Influence others who want to be different, show them it’s ok to find your own secrets to becoming a great and unique human being.

            What really makes you awesome? It’s not always how strong you are physically, how manly/womanly you are, how you use your mental and spiritual abilities and even not always how shy you are in the beginning; it’s how you embrace yourself and represent who you truly are and the power you can have to make others notice, it’s that law of attraction that uses guidance. You are one kick ass person and don’t let anyone tell you different, make yourself fun to be around, be good to people, help them out every now and then. Be the genuine article and you’ll find what great things can happen in your life.