Does Batman Train With Resistance Bands?

If the Dark Knight trains in Martial Arts, Combat, Bodyweight, Weights here and there, I would imagine he would hit a band or two. There's a quote out there somewhere that says Batman never skips leg day which I always found funny because it's true. He might as well be the first Superhero to "practice" Parkour cause of all the jumping and running in between buildings chasing and catching baddies. 

Resistance Bands have been around a long time and there's always innovative stuff coming around like the X3 Bands for example and of course the Lifeline Bands such as the TNT cables but when it comes to longevity and having a hard time breaking or snapping, it seems that the latest style of cables called Dopamineo have stood head and shoulders above the rest. Maybe they're just regular bands for wrestlers to some but for guys like me who's always researching and learning, these bands are legit. Ever since I got them, I've trained solid on them and it has only been a few workouts.

From day 1, I tried many exercises, some I learned on the website and youtube  and others I tried on my own like Crab Walks, Gorilla Jumps, Hindu Jumpers and others. This band is just so much fun to work with and getting the most out of a workout in a short amount of time. The last workout was the other day doing Sprints, Hindu Push-ups, Frog Jumps, Hindu Jumpers, Crab Walks, Gorilla Jumps and a couple more. I would go until I hit a certain number of reps or until I got out of breath, rest and repeat a set or two. The workouts aren't long and I feel high as a kite afterwards along with getting stronger again. 

I had filmed doing about three exercises or so wearing my Batman shirt and using Batman Music to have a little fun with it and noticed something; even a couple months ago, that shirt was ok to wear but my stomach would pop out every now and then and felt a little tight, since I lost the weight, it felt comfortable and not as tight. I guess losing weight because of no appetite does have its perks LOL. In all fairness, I don't wish that on anyone because when you've been in that much pain and it consumes you at times, it's not an ideal way to lose weight. I' am healing and I don't feel pain in that area anymore, just annoyance and keeping up with maintenance. Hell I did a full Isometric Workout yesterday for the first time in over a month and I'm glad I did. I couldn't do Isometrics the way I wanted to when this whole thing with me was going on and I needed to test myself. 

The Dopa Bands have been a godsend in getting my body back into shape even in the first few workouts. Each workout, the pain levels kept going down and my stress was going down as well because of the endorphin high and lessening the Heat and Ice afterwards. I'm probably about 85-90% healed now and just need to pay attention to the discomfort levels and slowly build up my speed and strength. Like I said no pain but I also don't want to be pushing so hard something might flare up again so I'm gradually getting stronger and training my legs and back building those nerves and retraining those muscles. If you've read this blog long enough, you know that I'm very stubborn and rehabbing myself has worked for me. 

It's not much longer before I'm at full capacity and devouring my workouts hard again. I may look like I'm going hard but I'm not and it's not my best but that's just part of the process and being smarter about workouts and listening to my body more. This is my life and I want to continue making the best of it when it comes to fitness and avoid injuries for as long as I can. This has been the worst injury I've had in years and in a span of 5 months, I got seriously hurt twice. I've had minor aches and pains that easily were manageable and healed quickly and hurt my back back in 2017 which has since healed, but never this bad in that short span of time in the last 18+ years that I've been training everyday. It is a wake up call I'm not going to lie.

Train to the best of your abilities but within reason and be mindful of what you can do. We're not going to be training the way we did in our 20's and think we are so damn invincible that injuries never happen, they do and we can't 100% avoid them, we can however keep them at bay for as far in between as we can. I hate it that people are in pain all the time or just accept it, living with pain especially if it's excruciating for years on end is no way to live. In some cases, certain aspects of pain is inevitable but it's manageable and you can be comfortable. The idea is to live pain-free as much as possible and getting great quality out of life instead of quantifying the days until you're ready to die. Be mindful and do what's possible along with being amazingly awesome. 

Don't forget that you can get these bands at a discounted price when you use my code POWERANDMIGHT at checkout. Get a bundle pack of bands and find even more discounted stuff. Get them for group classes, your MMA Gym or wrestling room for your High School or College Athletes. Wrestlers in the world championships right now that are winning matches uses some of these very same bands. Go kill it. 

Healing Up And Taking On Different Style Of Resistance Cable Training

 Very grateful this thing is almost over and making up some lost time on training and other things. I'm walking way more now without pain; putting my headphones on listening to bad ass metal and going for 15-20 minute walks to ease back into it. Working on various flows of animal movement at a steady pace (using exercises from Movement 20XX) especially for my legs like last night which felt great and slept a little better but it still needs improvement. Things are definitely looking up. 

While researching some new ways to train, I came across these bands from this company called Dopamineo which is based on the west coast I think that these two phenomenal wrestlers started. They took the concept of bands that have been used by Russian wrestlers for decades and developed bands that lasted longer, have a greater stretch and takes the format to another level. Although the bands are more used for wrestling (Folkstyle, Freestyle, Greco-Roman), these can be used for many other sports and MMA style training. The size of the bands (or how they're stretched) utilizes a weight-class formula to determine which set is best. I ordered the heavyweight cable which is for athletes or people over 205 lbs. 

I know I can never even remotely do what these bad ass athletes can do with these things but I took a chance on them and want to see what I can do for maintenance training and eventually get back to strength and conditioning. They should arrive tomorrow or at max another couple days so I'm excited to test this fucker out. The videos I've seen these men and women do are insane and take training to a different level, hell one demo clip showed three wrestlers on their rest day and even the exercises they were using were explosive, powerful, fast and incredible to watch. If that's a rest day than I wouldn't want to mess with these guys even at their most vulnerable, the conditioning is just out there.

I've always admired wrestlers and their style of training from Frank Gotch to guys like Jordan Burroughs and Cain Velasquez. I went out for wrestling in high school but it didn't pan out for me and to this day I wished something was better to make me keep doing it. BTW, in that same room training, a future MMA Fighter was cut above the rest and was one of the go to guys on that team and that was Luke Rockhold. Even back then, he was awesome, I wish I got to know him more. Over the years, I learned about many wrestlers and watching guys like Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle were favorites but researching guys like Lou Thesz, Frank Gotch, George Hackenshmidt, Alexander Karelin, Ad Santel, Farmer Burns, Dan Gable, Karl Gotch and many more made me understand the true aspect of history and what it took for those guys to still be mentioned either long after they were gone or retired from the mat. 

Cables has been a part of my training for more than 15 years using mainly lifeline cables such as the Chest Expander, TNT Cables, Portable Power Jumper and a few others. They've helped immensely in keeping me in shape. I've rarely ever used cables outside of Lifeline's because that's all I really knew when it came to that kind of training. I've seen cables other athletes used and seeing skits of Lesnar training for his Summer Slam match with the Rock way 20+ years ago but never ventured out on other styles of cable training until now so this should be interesting. Always looking to evolve and gain knowledge so this specific cable is going to be fun to use. 

Because of this recent weight loss, it's going to be different in the way I train. I'm not going to be as explosive yet and hell I have some strength and conditioning to make up for so working with this cable methodically and at a pace that gives me a foundation isn't going to be easy but sure as shit is going to make things physical and test me in a different light. Am I nervous about this thing? A little but if I'm going to get strong again, adding this will be awesome. Hell, I wish I found this years ago when I was in BJJ or just doing my conditioning training but hey, it's time to slowly get back to being me again and maybe, just maybe be even fitter and better conditioned than before. I did say that when I turn 40 that I want to be in the best shape of my life and this is another tool to get me there. 

Time to crank up the volume and get my ass kicked by an object that weighs less than a couple pounds used by some of the very best athletes on the planet. Keep at it everyone and never stop being amazingly awesome.     

The Nerve Pain, The Muscle Spasms, All Gone: IT'S OVER!!!

Just the feeling of bruising but the sciatica injury is finally over. Merely keeping up with maintenance and being slightly more cautious is what I'll be doing for a while but this long ass episode has reached it's finale. The pain was enough that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies and being so damn limited made me frustrated, irritable and drove me crazy. 

What made me notice that it was gone? I had an idea in mind that was risky but my intuition was telling me it was going to work. I tested myself in a Bear Crawl Sprint Workout that was 10 seconds on, 20 seconds off for 5 minutes. Aside from feeling a little tension, I busted through that workout with ease without a shred of pain, not even a little bit. How's that for irony: A sprint workout told you you were injured and the next sprint workout tells you you're healed. Funny how the universe works.  

I'm back and it feels fucking glorious man. I still believe in my heart that if I wasn't in good of shape before, this injury would've been far worse and the healing would've taken way longer. That's the thing, if you train with intent to help prevent injuries as much as possible and be able to heal quicker when you do makes all the difference in the world. This one didn't heal as fast as I wanted to (I' am edging close to 40) but it did heal when it was meant to. I felt my flexibility coming back and my strength was right there when I needed it. Conditioning is really a life saver and in my mind, the fountain of youth.

If you've never experienced Sciatica, I really hope you never will. I feel so grateful not just for what I had to do but I'm grateful to my wife and my mother for being there for me even though I was a royal pain in the ass and feeling so damn guilty that I didn't want to burden them. Putting them through that especially my wife was something I never want to do again, neither one deserved to see me like that. I owe them big time and I will always take responsibility and heat for what I did to myself. I can't and will never blame anything or anyone other than myself. Life is too damn short and you do what's possible to make the best of things. 

This was probably one of the most humbling experiences of my life and part of it is starting to show on my age and my ability to heal but in a weird and twisted sense, I needed to go through this in order to understand how important certain things are in life and that it was another one of life's tests where you learn and figure out what you have to do in order to rebuild yourself inside and out. This put another perspective on why I love to train and why it continues to push me even in tough times. The majority of the time, all I did was stretching which to me is still training, I never once led up or took a day off because if I did than I would be giving up on myself and the people who need and I wasn't going to let that happen.

Even on days where I had doubts this thing would ever heal, the voice in my head told me to keep fighting and battle the demons from within. Trust the process, do what needs to be done and be humble and grateful for what you have around you. It goes back to that old notion "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility." Be safe, kick ass and keep being amazingly awesome. 

Healing Up Well

 Training to get back to your full strength is never easy and can be frustrating because you're at limited capacity. Some of the simplest tasks can be difficult but you push through because you don't to just lay around and not do a damn thing. With the way my hip has gone, it's healing up pretty damn well. Been seeing a chiropractor and going for a few more adjustments and had a massage yesterday which really loosened everything up.

Little by little I'm doing what is helping with recovery like the Isometrics, Stretching, Step Ups, some Crawling and other things. Yesterday, I did some sledge striking for the first time in a while with my 31 lb Giants Hammer, getting in 120 reps. Could easily do more but didn't want to push it any further than I had to. I felt it for sure but I wasn't in pain (merely discomfort). I expect things out of myself and not to prove how tough I 'am or trying to hide the pain but to progress little by little while being aware of what I can and can't do. Sometimes we push ourselves beyond what we know is right to do and rarely it comes out good, most of the time it ends up biting us in the ass.

It's not just knowing your limits either, it's about understanding them and finding ways to adjust so you can maintain or get better as time goes on. It's easy to act all macho and that pain is temporary and keeping that "pain is telling you you're not dead" mentality but unless it's under severe circumstances, for normal everyday life, there are ways to make the pain worse and add time onto it and not get rid of it completely. Learn the difference between pushing through pain as if your life depended on it and recovering so you can be efficient. 

My hip is getting better to the point where my flexibility is coming back and it's not shooting down my leg so much along with not being able to sit right. When you know things are working, it gets better as time goes on. When it's not working, you need to reassess so you can find the right "formula" for you to recover. Experiment and be aware of what feels right and what doesn't. We all recover differently and it's not a good idea to push the same direction of a method because some things don't work for certain people and injuries and pain tolerance is different. Work with your own style to get back to your strongest again without pain and suffering.

Train to be efficient, don't train to suffer more pain than what you're already dealing with because that could lead to problems not just in the physical but the mental as well. I know what it's like to be in pain but also take the frustration with that pain onto others which is never a good idea cause you might say things in the heat of a moment that can never be taken back. Pain can do a number on us and no matter how much we deny it, it can put us on a path that hurts others along with ourselves in the end. So train to get yourself out of pain so it doesn't cost you more time later. 

Keep being amazingly awesome and have a kick ass day.   

The Root Bodybuilders Wish They Knew

I don't know if you knew this but bodybuilders are quite often on the verge of being the cutting edge of Nutrition. They don't just do whatever it takes to get ahead of the game like injecting and pumping themselves full of illegal drugs like synthetic steroids, they're also gunning for what's even better. For those that choose to not go to the dark side it becomes an even greater importance.

If you dig deep enough in the Bodybuilding World, you'll be hearing about all kinds of natural herbs that very powerful effects. One of those mighty herbs is called the Maral Root. Its name comes from a kind of deer called the Maral Deer that feed on it. To be specific, the male would battle another male during the mating season, then it would dig out the roots, eat them and restore its strength. The Locals noticed this odd behavior and started using the roots themselves for the following reasons:

*Recover Optimally
*Heal (Recover) From Various Ailments
*Last Longer In The Sack
*Improve Mild Depression
*Enhance Or Even Increase Memory
*Greater Work Capacity
*Increase Adaptogenic Properties
*Enhance Anabolic Properties

In Russia, it is prescribed to their athletes to aid in recovery from intense training. Many people heard of the Chinese Olympic Athletes such as swimmers and those in track that won a ton of Gold Medals used Cordyceps. This wasn't the ONLY herb that they ingested, they also took in Rhodiola, Eleuthero and of course Maral Root. Now what makes this root so damn POWERFUL?

It has quite a few different natural plant sterols that really do the trick. One such substance is called 20-Hydroxycdysone which increases what are called protein synthesis at the most cellular level in the body. This leads to greater muscle tissue. Maral Root also has what are called ecdysterones, a hormone that is usually found in insects and crustaceans, not usually in us humans. This type of component has been seen to show many Physiological effects and could at least be partially responsible for its anabolic activity.

Studying Your Own Mind And Body

            It’s important to study certain aspects of life but it doesn’t always come in a textbook, a paperback, a movie or watching something on TV. The art of experiencing these certain aspects is essential to how we want to live our lives. I love learning not just my own physiology but my mental capacities as well. When you learn to experience and find out what both parties are capable of, it opens up more doors than you can imagine.

            A key ingredient to be in good health not just physically but mentally as well and that’s learning about your inner self. Meditation is great for this but why not go beyond that. Tapping Into Your Imagination and picturing a whole other world where you are the king or queen, kind of like having the power of the Gods of Olympus within your very own mind. Finding your inner self is not just going into your body from a mental perspective but to find out what other aspects of who you are that defines your personality, your actions and behaviors. It’s the experience of finding the true power from within.

            If you want to get in awesome shape, you experiment with certain exercises or methods that give you results you want to strive for. Granted most people want that quick fix or the magic pill that will super health, a beautiful body and great strength. It takes time and patience to come into the results you want. However, don’t bring yourself to doing workouts that are a chore and feeling like a punishment otherwise it’s not going to come the way you want it but don’t also just jump into a program so hardcore you’ll end up burning out the first few days or less and not want to do anything else. My idea is to play around, research, find what interests you and build your own way of getting in great physical shape.

            In the process of being in great condition and health is like using the right pieces to a puzzle. This isn’t just for physical exercise but developing your mind power as well. Finding the right pieces comes from experimenting, learning how your body works towards certain methods or exercises because not all workouts are created equal (wink wink Crossfit) and what do you picture in your mind that brings those pieces together to make complete. Learn to create your own puzzle.

            It’s a constant state of learning. I don’t just study exercise and programs I find interesting, I also study things that make my brain work like reading, writing, how the nerves work in my body, my awareness of my surroundings, thinking in different patterns because when you do mental training it could save your life from developing dementia, Alzheimer’s, doing the same things over and over. Keep things fresh, learn new things, and find what makes you happy. Study who you are both physically and mentally but make it interesting and fun so you can find the best qualities of who you are and what you want to become.

Be Awesome my friends.

Developing Real Jedi Powers

 As you can probably tell I’m a huge fan of Star Wars but I’m more interested not just in the Space Opera but its true meaning and that’s the ability to use the Force as a means to become stronger physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. It’s not always what you see in the films but yet what you don’t see is the real importance. I’m not saying you’ll be able to move objects by making them float in the air or you’ll develop magical powers and ignite a light-saber, what I will tell you however is what is real about the Force and what you can do to develop realistic Jedi Powers.

 Miracles happen all the time but what if we learned to harness certain levels of our own power to do certain things that leaves a mystery to the untrained eye. One of my favorite Jedi Powers is the ability to heal and recover much quicker. A known factor in the realm of Physical Culture that has been almost lost today is the way you breathe. Your breath is a big source of your life if not the biggest source. If you learned how to breathe in such a way, you can learn the ability to put yourself in a state where your body heals itself from certain diseases or wounds. Legendary Catch Wrestler named Martin “Farmer” Burns wrote in his 1914 mail-order course which you can get here stated “Deep Breathing exercises alone can make many a weak man strong and many a sick man well.” This statement is as true as you’ll ever get. Healing using this fashion can reap rewards in ways you can’t imagine. I have had bruises, cuts, scrapes and open skin wounds from bending some of the toughest steel you can imagine, once I learned how to harness my breathing to heal, I healed much quicker and gotten stronger every time I did this. How is that possible, it’s something you got to find out for yourself.

 What if you learned to harness the power to create super strength and speed at a moments notice? This Jedi ability isn't that far of a stretch. Scientists have said that with all the strength and speed we develop, we’re only using 5% of our brain at max level. I believe you can achieve this with a few percentages higher and do so without years of training or getting frustrated because of its difficulty. It’s a lot simpler than you may believe. Is it easy? No, it takes practice and patience but if you put your mind to it and learn to infuse your body at the same time, you achieve levels of strength and speed that can practically triple it within a short period of time but again everyone’s different, it can happen within an hour, a few days, couple months who knows but the principle still applies

 Meditation is a very powerful tool once you understand how it works and not always what a book or a guru says, it’s the ability to understand it for yourself and how you harness it. A lot of us Westerners have the notion that meditation is just sitting or standing and trying to bring in positive energy and block out bad stuff, doesn't always work that way. The power of meditation is the ability to create energy by infusing the mind and body together through different factors including breathing, thought, visualization, at times movement and other things. Some people have trouble finding a way to meditate when they sit or stand, I happen to be one of them because its very difficult for me sit or stand still so I use moving meditation, using my body to connect with my thoughts and my breathing. This way helps me be more centered and be more connective spiritually and when I use a certain thought to connect my breathing, things happen in ways I can’t explain, things like calmness, positive attitude, my strength is higher, my thoughts are more clear and my imagination becomes a reality. Others are better at standing or sitting and building greater energy that way, its all about what works for you.

 A great Jedi ability is learning to increase your instincts. Developing this can be used in meditation but as good as it is, there’s more into it than you might think, instincts is using your intuition, being aware of your surroundings, sensing certain things by feel, touch emotional connection and your reflexes. One of my favorite movies is based on a book by Dan Millman called Peaceful Warrior. Having met the author and seeing the film I get a sense of what transpired during his time as a gymnast trying to find his place and learning from an old man named Socrates. Socrates taught the value of learning to use everything around you as a source of finding your own abilities and building them. The mind is a very powerful thing and if you don’t practice using your instincts, it can play tricks on you and may even deceive you. In one scene of the film Socrates puts his hand on Dan’s shoulder after the boy says “There’s nothing going on”, the moment that hand touched his shoulder, Dan began to see things differently and noticed certain sounds, his sight heightened and felt things more than usual like the wind blowing and many other things all in the glimpse of a few seconds, after that, he turns to Soc and the old man says “There’s never nothing going on.” Think about that for a minute.

 Still don’t believe there are some form of Jedi’s out there, well wrong again because the closest I can think of who have the ability to harness instincts, strength, speed, reflexes and spiritual power are the Shaolin Monks. When it comes to athletic and mindful abilities, these guys rank at near top of the list. They don’t just train to be strong and powerful, they train with love, peace and acceptance just like a true Jedi. They teach how to harness your inner power through Chi or in other words life force. Harnessing your Chi can bring wonders to your health, athletic abilities, strength, flexibility and many other things. One way to look at harnessing this Power is to learn what’s called CoreForce Energy by a man I highly admire, respect and recommend named Garin Bader. Remember when I talked about harnessing your Strength & Speed at a moments notice, this is one of the biggest topics this course goes into detail.

 Another look at a Jedi are the Samurai, they didn't just practice living and dying by the sword, they practiced poetry, painting, combat, powerful movements, meditation and a plethora of other things. The man Socrates Dan learned from had a saying in the film “You practice Gymnastics, I practice everything.” Just like the Samurai, Soc practiced not just one thing because if you only put yourself to one ideal and not look at other things in life, you’re limiting yourself. Another look at it is if you believe in one thing and it gives you meaning and teaches you everything else, the rest don’t matter. In the movie City Slickers with Billy Crystal and Jack Palance, good old Jack tells Crystal’s character “You know what the secret to life is? One thing, just one thing, you find that out the rest of the world don’t mean shit.” It’s how you look at things from a different perspective.

 Now out of all things philosophical about Jedi and having great powers, what about the power of the Dark Side? In reality the Dark Side is the other side of the coin, it’s learning too soon and taking it for granted, using your powers for personal gain, anger, hatred, lust for power, all the things that a true Jedi practices to avoid. In spirituality there’s God and there’s Satan, the foundation for good vs. evil and overcoming unexpected obstacles when you’re being overpowered by something or somebody. Really, no one is born a monk, a murderer, a sadist, Christian, Jewish, Islamic or even a lawyer or a cop, its developed overtime who we become from different influences, background, history and Creed. The Dark Side clouds the judgment of everything around us and it’s a factor of taking the easy way out, cheating and bullying others to get to the top. A real practice is to look at things from various perspectives, how to build a positive and productive outlooks. Some fall to this side of the coin too late, picked it up early in life or got caught in the middle and had to make a choice.

 Don’t fall for what you can make a real impact on and believing in the good of others and being happy with yourself. Avoiding the Dark Side isn't easy, it’s a constant challenge and the real power is within you to find out where you go and what you’re willing to do to get there.

Training Ideas For A Sunburn

Recently I went to a lake here in hot Coeur D’Alene via Hayden, ID and had a blast, went swimming, bent some nails, chilled out on the dock and hung out with a friend but that very night I had a sunburn that looked so f’cking red, it looked like I was spray painted. It was pretty bad and whenever I get sunburned, I feel stiff and my muscles ache like crazy. The next morning, my body ached like crazy and couldn’t sleep most of the night anyway.

 Although I looked like I was torched, I didn’t give up on exercising. Yes the burn felt like crap but that wasn’t going to stop me from doing the things I love. Now it’s not always easy to train on a sunburn and you tend to dry up faster than usual, this is where water becomes your most dearest friend. Although I didn’t train with the same level of intensity, I decided to change things around and this is where your mental training is taken to the test. I have found that because my aching joints and muscles, I have to be extra consistent in training those areas especially being burnt on the whole back, shoulders and arms; you want to keep them from getting stiff even though it does hurt a little.

 Loosening up your joints is essential and you want to stretch the muscles as best as possible without overdoing it and water is a key because you have to keep yourself cool, poor it over your body and also drink it to keep hydrated. Sweating is also a good idea as well. Sometimes you might need to keep yourself indoors because a sunburn can be bad enough to where if you go outside without proper lotion or sunblock you’re going to feel worse. I realize you might have jobs working outside so the best advice I can give is drink plenty of water, keep your joints and muscles mobile and where clothing that helps keep you cool.

 You want to keep tabs on the areas of the sunburn because if you don’t you’re going to regret it later, trust me I’ve done enough times to understand it’s better being safe than being stupid. Your body heat can also be a cooling system and one of my favorite forms of dealing with a sunburn is to take cold showers, use very little hot water to clean yourself off with soap and shampoo but after that, start turning the water down to almost as cold as possible. You can stay in cold water longer in a sense because the heat of that sunburn is already overwhelming. Turn the cold down every few seconds to a minute so your body can get use to it being cold and do plenty of deep breathing, this can be a very relaxing meditative method. I love cold showers and I do them often because of its health benefits.

 Training indoors while you’re home can help aid in your sunburn as you can use a few fans to keep yourself cool and train so you can sweat to help clear out your pours. My type of training for a certain time being until the burn becomes a little less painful is to  do plenty of flexibility work and believe it or not Muscle Control. I have found Muscle Control to be a very good form of training for this type of thing because when you flex and relax the muscles, blood flows throughout the body and helps the skin radiate that glow and eventually, helps your system repair itself thus possibly healing the sunburn quicker and generate stronger cells to keep the skin healthy. Peeling is just apart of the process kind of like a phoenix rising from the ashes, your skin dies and new skin is ready to come out of the woodworks.

 Keep your body and skin healthy plus keep your muscles and joints mobile so if this should ever happen to you, you will have a few tools at your disposal and also do some research on natural lotions and sunblock to find what can work to help heal faster and more efficient, most sunblock and lotions these days don’t do much. Keep having a kick ass summer and stay strong and healthy.

Got Carpal Tunnel???

This has become a common ailment more then any other time in history. You’re at an office typing all day, playing an instrument till you can’t stand it, gripping too hard on something and yet you can be in a cast for long periods of time if you hurt the fingers. Should it be common to be in handed cast, unable to use your hands the way they’re meant to? I really don’t think so but society today gives people certain things that not only hurts their hands but destroys joints and tendons. If you want to prevent this from happening then you need to learn to keep your hands healthy and strong.

 Another common theme in carpal tunnel is surgery and does it really help? Are your hands any stronger or healthier from being repaired? Most of the time the answer is no because it’ll happen again and before you know it, your hands will be so messed up, you won’t be able to pick up even a toothbrush. Our hands were designed to repair things, fix things, write, pick up, twist and circulate many things that are needed. Now if your hands are so severe from broken bones and don’t have much of a chance than that’s an exception but the fact of the matter is, a broken hand will heal. I have hand problems all my life and don’t have much nerve control on my right hand yet I won’t let that stop me from doing the things I love to do and be able to help people when they need me.

 I firmly believe without a doubt you can heal your hands without surgery and you can make them stronger and healthier then at any other time in your life. When you find the right exercises, you will find out what it’s like to have pain-free hands that flow like water with rich oxygenated blood flowing with strong tendons and ligaments that can tear off a person shirt or even in my physical culture brethrens' cases bend steel and be able to handle use the hands that will have you gasping. It is not too late to have powerful but graceful hands and fingers.

One of the greatest athletes with lightning fast hands was Bruce Lee. The way he handled other martial artists was second to none and his punching and kicking wasn’t just strong, he can also do push-ups with ease on his FINGERTIPS!!!! His fingers and hands were so strong that he can knock a heavy weight man back 5-10 ft from an inch away. Imagine having that kind of power.

 I have known athletes, musicians, entertainers, postal workers, strongmen and carpenters and each one of them must have an immense amount of hand strength to work specific things at a high level. Three musicians I know, a Pianist, cellist and a guitarist all have a gift to play their instruments at a level where everything is precise and graceful with raw emotion and power in their hands that where if none of these attributes were in play, they wouldn’t be able to do their specific instrument.

 Strongmen need strong hands to be able to lift heavyweights, bend steel, rip phonebooks, Juggling kettlebells ect. If they’re hands weren’t strong or fluid, it would be impossible to demonstrate mind-blowing feats of strength. Postal workers are very fluent in how they sort mail and carry loads of it to the trucks, this requires some strength in the hands and fingers otherwise the mail won’t be going anywhere.

 Carpenters have some of the toughest hands around because of the stress that’s put on their hands with tools ranging from hammering, nailing, twisting and holding down certain objects in order to be cut or sawed. The strongest fingers and hands definitely go to climbers whether rock, mountain or even climb and move around certain obstacles on Ninja Warrior.  Rock climbers are the closest to the primates (Apes and monkeys) that have that raw, animalist strength and tendon power that you can’t help but be in awe of. Without those strong hands, don’t look up if you see a guy fall.

 Grip strength and Grip agility is essential not just in certain professions but for daily life. How often do you have trouble opening a jar pickles, most likely often. If you’re hurt and you can’t use your hands than you’re screwed and what can you really do? If you want to be pain-free and have hands that are steel cords but flow like a river than you must learn to use certain exercises that will make that happen.

 A good friend of mine named Garin Bader who is the creator of Core Force Energy, has been a pianist and athlete all his life and very rarely if ever had problems with his hands and this is after learning martial arts to practicing 8-13 hours a day playing the piano to even gliding across the stage on a silk swing during his Musical Magic performances. If you were ever to learn about having powerful and fluid hands, this is the man to learn from.

 Training this way can help heal and revitalize the hands’ circulation and give them the ability to breathe with strength and power in ways you never have imagined before. Don’t ever worry about Carpal Tunnel again and give your hands the food they need in order to help your life in the ways you want to make happen. Never worry about surgery, don’t get hurt opening a door and really don’t trash your hands to the point where they’re use is slim to none. Make those hands strong and your whole body will be strong.  

The Indiana Jones Mindset

The character is the ultimate embodiment of an adventurer. Seeking new civilizations and bringing them to the forefront for all to cherish. He is a man’s man with great intentions to stop those who oppose all that is decent, resourceful and good productivity. We can all learn from quite possibly the greatest explorer in the history of film. What does this have to with training and great workouts? We can symbolize on finding that great quest on finding the greatest exercise or the ultimate workout or even the most productive program. Each workout is never complete without having some kind of adventure.

 We learn all kinds of things and the people that we learn from is just as important as the workouts themselves. There are those that are in it for the glory and never give you the right road to success. Consumed by greed, money and luxury, there are trainers out there that are like that and rather hurt you and take your money then give the valuable info that can help you live longer, get stronger and become a better individual. To me those are people like René Belog (Lost Ark), Mola Ram (Temple Of Doom) & Nazi General Vogel (Last Crusade). They want to destroy what’s awesome about real training and finding the true nature of strength, conditioning and personal health.

 The people that give us the true meaning of strength and fitness show us how we can learn for ourselves and show us the true path to becoming strong, athletic and conditioned for the things we want to do and love to do. Some do have expensive things to help us but they want to teach us, how badly do you want it, do we have what it takes and how far forward do we want to go? Training is all about learning, finding who you are, where do you want to go in life and sometimes there are road blocks…Financial troubles, not finding that magic pill, what you’re doing is right or wrong, we all have had these issues but there are ways to work around them and still give yourself that adventure you’re always craving. The best I’ve learned from taught me how to push myself in ways no one else could, they gave me a sense of hope and they gave me the power to find my own path in what I can accomplish.

 We will never know if there actually is the Holy Grail that is from the bible, the one cup that caught Christ’s blood in the crucifixion and said to have powers of healing. The truth is, we’re all searching for ultimate power of healing or even the fountain of youth. The search is the search of the divine in all of us. I believe from a fitness standpoint that the Holy Grail is finding the right way to train that keeps you young, healthy and vibrant that keeps you pain-free and live a long, happy life. Very few have found that Grail. Jack Lalanne was one of them, George Hackenshmidt, Paul Bragg, Charles Atlas and a few others. It is that one true quest that keeps us going, finding what works and what doesn’t, learning where you will go.

 Like the Temple Of Doom, you are caught in a web of deceiving jackals that want to destroy your very well being and make you believe in something that not only can bring you to the brink of destruction but destroy your own personal beliefs for life and love. In the beginning, you’re crawling through a dark, mysterious and frightening cave, never knowing where you’ll end up. You find deadly creatures that not only look ugly and fierce but can also kill you in the process. You fight off the creatures a bit and each phase of this dark tunnel; more things tend to find you challenging your deepest fears. Sharp and destructive spikes rain down and you have to fight for your life to get out. You eventually walk out but the ultimate challenge is not too far ahead. Your ultimate challenge is fighting off the one thing that you fear the most and that fear is in yourself. This fear at times can take over you like an addictive drug that controls you more then your own well being. In order to destroy it, you must find that fire within you and set that fear ablaze and bring that spark of life back into glory. Those that don’t want you to have that spark or fire within will try to take you down into the depths of hell and make you they’re own little puppet. Never become someone else’s puppet, pull on your own damn strings and use whatever fight you have left.

 When it comes to the Ark, you are looking at one of the most prominent objects in world history. It is an object that in legend if its power is harnessed, you will be invincible. Reality check, no one is invincible but we can learn to harness the power of regeneration. Our bodies heal from certain injuries and therefore can help you be stronger in some cases. The human body is one of the greatest mysteries of all-time. We can learn anatomy, physiology, neurology and whatnot but the whole mystery of how powerful the body is just incredible. Regenerating is a major key in our body’s system and helps us build ourselves back up from some of the fiercest things like disease, aging, injuries and painful mental attributes. Now there are certain things that our body can’t recover from but with the right tools and with great people to learn from, we can harness our own healing powers and prevent certain things that can destroy what we need to keep healthy the most, ourselves. For most of our society today, we have lost touch of what’s important and that’s being healthy and living a long life. Diseases like obesity, lung cancer, heart problems, drinking and osteoporosis have plagued our way of life and we need to get back to what’s important. Being fit is a tough gig but it’s never too late to start working your way up and having the adventure of a lifetime.

 People need this, want that, this works, this doesn’t, we need this type of equipment, this machine blah blah. Why not just shut the hell up and look at what you’re doing. You’re putting more on your table then you need to and you need to see what the big picture is. Look at Indy, does he have a boatload of things to carry around that people tell him what he needs and should have? Hell no. He has a small change of clothes, a satchel, pistol, whip, his body and mind. He doesn’t use the latest gadget or tries to find a local store to get food, he’s in the f*cking jungle. Having less is more then enough. In fitness, you are seeing thousands of exercises, machines beyond the radar and equipment that you can’t possibly store in a small space. The less you have, the more you might gain something. There’s nothing wrong with variety but choose the things that will suit your needs. Find the best things that will give you superior results and give you success in your workouts. For the most part all you need for life if your own bodyweight, if you want variety then go here and see what can work for you. Use what you can and become the strongest and healthiest person you can be. There’s nothing that should be stopping you.

Internal Conditioning

A lot of mainstream gyms today help you build your body from an external point of view as in you see what’s in the mirror and for most that’s the only thing that counts. Some even go on extreme diets and do extreme type workouts that not only can hurt you from the outside but more on the inside. Have you ever thought of what it’s like to feel alive both in and out?

 Building the body from the inside is a key ingredient to your fitness success. The reason why that is it’s because your body is a system of not just bones and tissues but your organs as well. The organs are what are keeping the body alive. You have your heart, liver, lungs, spleen, kidneys and the largest organ of them all, your skin. Too many people neglect training these areas because to them either they take it for granted or don’t realize how important they are.

 Working the body internally is not just taking a few deep breaths no, its loosening the joints to keep them fresh, strengthening the organs to keep your energy floating like a beautiful river stream, it’s opening up the meridians (pressure points) in your body that help you stay energized and vibrant. Deep breathing is essential to any program but when you learn to target certain parts of the body that can help cleanse the body of toxins and breathe new life into your system.

 In Chinese medicine, it’s said that there are 300 pressure points on the body. Now whether there’s more or less I don’t know I’m not a doctor but because of that many you only need a few to help energize and vitalize the body. Did you know that certain pressure points hit spots on the body that hit in places that you never thought they’d hit? There’s a pressure point on the body that’s within your own hands that can help relieve headaches. Didn’t know that did you? There’s even a pressure on the wrist that opens up the heart in a way that vitalizes it and helps blood flow. How about a certain spot just below the navel where it gives you sexual energy like crazy and no it’s not your sexual organs. My personal favorite is a certain spot on the sternum that after I slap it a few times I end up smiling more than a kid on a Christmas day.

 Now do you have to be a hardcore gym rat to practice this type of training? Hell no. Most of the time it’s usually for people who have crossed over to the middle aged range but who says you can’t do it far younger say in your teens, 20’s or 30’s. They say life goes downhill after 40. I don’t believe that for a damn bit. I may be in my 20’s and not that far from 30 and I do this type of program almost every day and for good reason. It wakes my ass up more then a cold shower, gives me more energy that I need throughout the day for both my mind and my body and it puts me in a blissful state that you can’t get from anything else.

 Let me put it this way. You strengthen your organs and joints you get stronger internally and the amount of energy you develop can be used in other forms of training. You have a much higher chance of living longer if you practice a program like this. It’s not that difficult to learn and you can do it anytime, anywhere. You can even do it just before your regular training or do it in the morning before you leave for work, ditch the coffee. Your long-term health is in good hands if you practice it regularly. Build your body from the inside out and get your body on the track to superior health and vitality.

How To Deal With Minor Injuries

Anything can happen in a workout especially when it comes to injuries. You can break a bone, sprain an ankle or you can pull muscles. One little minor injury however happens often in the strongman world and at times its common in gymnastics and that’s tearing of the skin. You get a cut or a bruise and you automatically think your training is done. Well hate to burst your bubble but you can still train while you heal but might need to cut back (no pun intended) a bit.

 I went for a personal record this past St Patrick’s Day weekend and ended up having my skin being torn in two different places in my right hand. Now I’ve dealt with this before and have had big time bruises from bending and tearing stuff and I can assure you it’s no picnic but that doesn’t give me an excuse to stop training all together. Taking a little time off from certain training can do you some good but you should also focus on another realm of training.

 When you get a cut or a bruise from a workout its not a laughing matter if you just left it alone. If you want to heal faster you have to treat the wound and if it’s at a point if it’s too severe then you need to see a doctor. Other than that is sure to treat your injuries with ointments and stop training at a hardcore pace and let yourself heal. Healing is just as important as building muscle and from recovery. I stopped some training because my hand is not in the shape to be in but I don’t stop training. I can train my legs more, do qi gong, practice muscle control without gripping my hand as a fist, all sorts of varieties I can do till my hand is back in the shape I want it to be.

 Switching things around for healing purposes can be a great and rewarding experience. Practicing Internal Training is a healing method of training just as it can be used to train the mind and your whole body. As you begin to heal, you’ll notice that as you get stronger, your mind becomes stronger because you’re learning how to handle different things for different situations. We’re all different and do our best not to get injured but it does happen in the most unexpected ways and no matter what the injury is, we should treat it well so when we get back, we can learn certain lessons on how to prevent that ever happening again.

 Some people take it too far and get injured more often then they should be healing. Now a scratch or a bruise is one thing but certain severe problems can arise and it can haunt you and bite you in the ass. Believe me from personal experience, you don’t want that and never push hard when you’re making a recovery. When you’re healing, take some time out of your training and think into your body, learn to electrify your body and practice building strength from inside the body like the organs and tendons. When I got hurt from bending steel and cut my hands, it was not pretty and it looked like it will be a long time before I get back to doing what I love, but in a two day span of using some ointment and very bandaging along with internal training, I’ve seen major improvements in my hands and now it just feels bruised more then a cut but less painful and the healing process is incredible. Now that may not sound true but let’s face it, I’m a terrible liar. Some people don’t heal as quickly as others which is understandable and it takes longer to get back from certain things but if you learned to harness the power of your mind and practice building your body from the inside, that’s where real strength and healing come from and you’ll be surprised how quickly you can heal from doing these kind of practices.

 Some say that the little things can make a huge difference. I believe that with just about anything. Doing big things all the time can lead to a downfall and you won’t know how to develop little goals of challenges. When I learned about the injury Paul Levesque (WWE Legend Triple H) had with his quad tear back in ’01, he said during an interview that if you want to get back into something, you set little goals for yourself. Small goals can create a monster positive outcome not just as a recovery and getting back to something but it’s the journey that makes all the difference to make one big explosion and you’re back stronger, hungrier and more determined then ever.

 Never believe the training is ever over. It’s just taking a break while you learn and experience the type of training you can take on and conquer so when you get back to regular training, you’ll have a new found respect and appreciation of what you can accomplish. It’s not always about pride or ego; it’s about becoming a stronger individual no matter what the obstacle is. I never want to see any one of you guys out there getting hurt but if it does happen to you, do what you can to get back and learn the best and safest ways to do it.