Fun Animal Workout At The Park

 Yesterday, thought I'd take a stroll to the park and get in the Animal Dice Game. Roll once for animal, roll again for the number of steps of that animal. Man Eddie Baran was a genius coming up with that when he published Animal Kingdom Conditioning all those years ago. 

Went at it for 30 minutes. Walked it off when I needed to and did as many rounds as I can run with it. Lots of Crawling, Jumping, Hopping, Squatting, Going Backwards and feeling the INTENSITY. That's what I love about this type of training, expecting the unexpected and getting in some natural movement. It had been a while since I've done this specific workout so I kept things basic and not go Speedy Gonzales on it. It's still one of the best workouts I'll ever do in my life.

It's the type of training that makes muscles pop (more than just the core or abs), builds great leg strength and conditioning (some quack has said "If you ain't squatting, you ain't training" which he stole that line from Matt Furey but in reality, animal squats and leg movements IMO, are way more interesting than typical squats), makes you feel like a kid again and have that sense of relaxation afterwards that gives off vibes of feeling like a Bazillion Bucks all day long. 

Been doing this off and on since the Combat Conditioning Days and even more so since AKC came out in 2008. The fun of it just makes training come alive. It turns you into a RAGING BEAST that makes you feel unstoppable. I would at times go for more than 45 minutes on this and my longest workout was 82 minutes long, I just didn't want to stop and my energy was off the chain that day. Now does it give you the rank of Superhuman? In this day and age, quite possibly but it's important to not let ego hit you and do something foolish. Be smart about how you do it but also let it thrive in that adventurous nature.

Some of the exercises can be overwhelming at times. Hell, even though a few upper body movements can give you shoulders like boulders, don't forget that it's more about the movement than what specific muscles they build. After some workouts from this, it can make you hungry as hell, the intense movements that make you breathe hard with a fucking vengeance can build up quite an appetite. Still, it's great to get that Rugged, Animal-Like build that it can give. I still say my two favorites are the Gorilla Hop/Jump and the Bear Crawl. Giving off that Grizzly Power vibe that turns you into a fucking stud. Ok that was a bit lame and over the top huh? In reality, the classic Bear Crawl can never go wrong, it has been a staple for wrestlers and fighters for eons. It's one of the exercises Eddie taught to gymnasts as a conditioning coach to help build their handstand strength. One workout of the bear crawl I love to do every now and then is what I learned from some Blue Collar guy where you sprint or at least crawl as best as you can for 5 yards, walk back and repeat until you've done 20. The most I've ever done in this fashion is 45, I've filmed doing more than 30 in just crawling without going into Sonic Mode (this took 10 minutes or so to complete, very hard workout).

Overall, being able to train in a beautiful environment, fresh air, sweat dripping like Niagara Falls and breathing hard like it's going out of style is just awesome. Moving like a beast has a unique effect on the body and when you do it on grass, touching the earth, feeling the soil and letting it into your soul is something like no other. Animal Workouts are almost poetic in a way, it's weird but hey, weird is good in this case. Be wild, be free and be amazingly awesome. 

Sometimes Not Knowing Is Just Part Of The Fun

This morning, I wanted to get in my animal workout so I played my dice game and wrote down each set of reps per roll. Continued this until I felt like I had my fill. Came out to a total of 326 Reps of Animal Movement and felt high as a kite. Although I know the animals on the dice by heart for the last 15+ Years, it's still really cool to have that mystery as well when you never know what will pop up and it could be super easy or crazy hard but you never expect it. 

A good portion of the time when I train, I do set a set/rep scheme whether its with step ups, the dopamineo bands (10% OFF code POWERANDMIGHT), hammer workouts or even swinging the clubs but it's that traveling into the unknown that at times just feels right. That's the true beauty of Animal Exercise Training in my opinion, you can have the movement down to a T but not knowing what comes up makes you work your brain differently. It can be very invigorating and making something fun to start the day. As kids, we make up stuff and just run with whatever comes into our heads. It adds excitement and the feeling of being alive. That's what the Animal Dice Game is all about.

I love the feeling of getting up and just play. I get to move around, crawl, hop, jump, balance and all sorts of other things until you've had enough. Kids have that natural energy and as we get older, that natural energy begins to fade and become analytical along with "am I doing this right?" mentality. We overthink and let out that inner kid that yearns for having fun and discovering things. Sure it's important to understand the basics and move effectively but it's also revitalizing how we use our brains and how we apply certain things to everyday life. Now that doesn't mean a Bear Crawl has the same effect of knowing what groceries to get, that's just weird but being able to move and creating or developing strength so you can do everyday things like being able to carry loads of groceries in one shot or being strong enough to help someone move furniture from time to time is a valuable asset.

When I would play this game for stretches of time, I would end up doing a total of thousands upon thousands of repetitions and never end up doing the same workout or at least in the same order twice in a row. It's just so fun that it can be addicting. It's not really about knowing if you got enough conditioning or you're developing enough strength and mobility, it's just a game and you get to play as often as you want. It becomes something you don't have to think about much and just go out there and be a kid. Yeah the adult part is writing down stuff and see where you end up but the kid gets to move and use their imagination. The attributes come naturally and you're doing what the majority won't even attempt. After that workout this morning, I naturally felt happy, awake, relaxed and joyful; not that I feel those things anyway but life hits you at certain points and having those things helps balance things out. 

Playing a game like this makes the world feel right, not worrying about a bunch of shit, not getting over anxious about stuff but to just play and for mere moments feel like you're invincible and living out the animal kingdom in your living room or out at the park. Reality does hit many hard and sometimes harder than others but getting the opportunity to play and live out millions of years of evolution for a few minutes just hits differently and reality isn't all that bad. It's the unexpectedness, the mystery of not knowing and being prepared for things you're not always ready for. Yeah in that workout in reality 326 reps isn't a whole hell of a lot, but the continuation that leads to those 326 reps and that each step is one step closer to being in better shape and being in great health is the cherry on top of a bad ass cake. It is a journey and traveling to new places, you never know where you'll end up but at the end, you were meant to be there. 

To get an idea of building the basics of animal movement, get Animal Workouts, to progress so you can do flows and combos with more advanced variations, snatch up Movement 20XX (One of the very best courses on the planet for developing awesome strength and conditioning through Animal Movement). Be amazingly awesome and don't be afraid to be a kid during your training.   

More On The Animal Dice Game

No matter what program or playout I end up doing, sooner or the later the bug (pun intended) will bite me to say "go back to the animals, they're your favorite." One of the things I have observed in MMA or Wrestling (the real kind) is that you never know what to truly expect from an opponent, the random things that could happen in their strategy can strike you at any time. Randomness can be your best friend or your worst enemy if you never expect the unexpected. Your brain is going a million miles an hour and what you may not know may end up hurting you in the end. That's what I love about doing Animal Moves and playing the dice game.

If you know how to move like a wild animal, whenever it comes up you're prepared to do it but another animal can come up at any time and if you don't know the moves, your instincts can go in the wrong direction. That's the reason why I made the best decision to learn about Animal Movement, it can be very unpredictable because you may not even know which direction to go but if you have practiced enough of the movement and it becomes a second language to you, you have conditioned your body to move that way and you're prepared for it even at the most random moment.

The dice game goes beyond taking random steps of an animal and I have personally have journeyed my mind and my body to be ready at all times whenever an animal comes up and I know all the animals I have learned like the back of my hand. Although it's a game of physical movement, it challenges your brain to be quick and strong to the point where you know what animal to go with but because the game is never the same twice, you're on constant alert for what comes next. It teaches you the unexpected. Just like in sports you don't always know what's going to happen but if you have programmed yourself to expect the unexpected, it gives you an advantage over your your opponents and when you add the conditioning into the mix, you're a monster among men.

It has taught me to use my instincts on another level, create a greater sensitivity of what can be applied next and has made me physically stronger than practically any other program I have done before or since. With animal moves, you can go in any direction; up, down, sideways, backwards, forwards, diagonal, horizontal, create shapes as you move and so on. Many people believe they're only good as a warm-up when they don't realize it can be the most challenging playout of their lives if they opened up their mind and see the other side of the coin. I challenge anyone to play this game and see how they feel after 20-30 min. I have gone nearly an hour doing this and I was done, many won't go 10 min. and 20-30 sounds like forever. If it's too easy, double the reps or triple it; if you can go for a half hour tripling the amount of steps per animal, that's impressive. It's a deadly game but that's the point, it makes you deadly.