Robin Hood & Little John Walking Through The Forest

Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly, what a day. Love that opening to Disney's Robin Hood. This past weekend starting Thursday, me and the wife went out camping at a great spot in the forest up on this mountain here in Idaho called Fernan. Had a bump in the road the first day but we made it and got everything set up. After setting up the area, I started chopping wood and she would get the fire going. Teamwork baby.

Friends came up the second day and stayed with us until yesterday. Always a great experience with these guys: Her best friend, Bestie's BF, they're friend, friend's son and BF. Between us guys, we got some good chopping and hauling some chunks of wood. Partying it up, cracking jokes and having the time of our lives. Some of us have a nickname like there's Fire King, Fire Queen, Wind Queen, Fire Prince, Wood King & my wife's new one Fire Fairy. Still haven't gotten one yet but I'll take whatever cause they're good people, usually it's between strongman and lumberjack. 

I'm not even talking about those campgrounds where you pay to stay in some cabin, we go to these spots where you can set up camp at a closed in area and just claim it for the time you're there. Chopping wood isn't just an essential aspect of being out in the wilderness, it's fun and when you got those logs that are stubborn as hell, you break out the Chopping Maul to finish the job. Between us guys, there was always some great chunks of wood to split. 

When these people get together, you never know what comes out of their mouth and having more than "That's what he/she said" moments than a church goer can handle. Sharing stories, making each other laugh, bouncing off each other verbally and just living it up. Blast some tunes especially while chopping, our favorite is playing The Hu's Wolf Totem. That song just sounds tribal and awesome when we got the ax and maul going. 

It's not just the connection to nature you experience, you learn about people and having little moments that form a bond and getting the most out of being your true self. Being your true self isn't always easy, in my experiences ever since I was little, I've had to hide certain aspects of my personality and not have that "put it all out there" kind of thing. For some, they evolve and just run with it, others only give themselves their true self to a small group of people or just one person. As I got older and with the help of my wife and others, my openess expanded massively and just go with it. These days as I continue to learn, I only show my true colors to those who are worthy of it.

When it came to workouts other than murdering wood to keep warm, I also did Isometrics, Deep Breathing, Deep Squat Holds, Joint Loosening, Exercises With A Towel and meditation in a cold creek. Being active in the woods is a huge difference than just working out at a park, your home or the gym. There's a good time to chill and bask in the glory of nature but being active as best as you can has a great impact on being aware and alert cause you never know what's out there. I've seen moose walk and trot by, seen a lynx while driving up there, there are bears, mountain lions and other critters roaming. Like I said before, these aren't typical camping spots, some spots are at times a half mile to a mile apart and animals can creep up at any given time. A good portion of the time, animals will leave you alone.

This is one of my favorite things to do in the summer, I was never a camping kid growing up and before I moved to Idaho, I only camped once with friends in Yosemite. When I got together with my wife, it was either take a trip camping or leave my ass home LOL, guess what I chose? I picked up on some things and still learning little things here and there but over these last 7 years, camping is quite fun. Just the bonding and working together as a team and the family of friends that do their part and being there for one another is an experience I always cherish. 

Orion’s Arrow

    

       Not expecting a title like that huh? When most think of Orion it's usually about a mythical god known for a series of stars (Orion's Belt) but today it's about the strength of his Bow & Arrow. Back in ancient times, one of the most premier weapons of the age that was efficient to either the soldier or the hunter was the Bow & Arrow. Pulling a mighty bow in battle or to hunt food for your family was a key to man's survival of the time. Two great legends of myth that took the arrow into the very hearts of the people were the stories of Robin Hood and Odysseus. Each men had unique skill but had very similar outcomes to their stories. They both won the heart of a woman, they saved a kingdom from tyranny and they were both sharp men as much as their arrows. The Bow & Arrow was and still is to this day in some circles a test of man's skill, strength, accuracy and eye coordination.

 
    If you wanted to pull the strongest of bows, it didn't come overnight. It took most strongmen decades to pull some of the strongest bows the world had ever known. The Bow of Hercules is legendary for its near superhuman level in order to pull it back let alone shoot an arrow. Remember the story of Odysseus, in order to even win the heart of his wife and kingdom he had to strung the toughest bow in the kingdom itself and according to legend no man but him could not only string it but pull with every ounce of power to drive the arrow through the series of axes that were so narrow the arrow had to dead on accurate. The key type of training you learned to pull super strong bows was Isometrics. Think about it, at first you can barely pull the bow so in order to get to its maximum pull, you had to pull inch by inch isometrically. Because of this it took a warrior many years to pull back the strongest bow.

 
    In modern day, we don't always use Bow & Arrows unless it was for recreation or sport and although we still use it to hunt, it doesn't have the same affect that it had before in the ancient world. So one of the things we use to simulate the pulling of a bow is using Lifeline USA's Chest Expander. With this tool of rubber cables attaching to handles, we can hit our shoulders and upper back from angles that neither bodyweight or weightlifting exercise can touch. This can be used to an athlete's advantage because when you hit certain angles, you're creating strength and muscle you normally wouldn't use and I needed. It helps create flexibility and power that just has that raw strength very few methods can match.

 
    Now think what it would be like to test your strength and will against the toughest pulling cables and not only learn it from a specific program dedicated to it, but also use your imagination and picture being the very legends who handled the Bow with ease. A few minutes a day pulling from as many directions you can come up with and a program that can guide you to develop superhuman muscle in those particular areas of the upper body. With having that much flexibility and strength, think what an advantage you can have when you do other exercises like push-ups and other movements that you couldn't hit before and could do with ease. The Orion Program will test you in ways you haven't been tested before. Developing strength not just physically but mentally, spiritually and emotionally as well. It's not about just pulling a bow anymore, it's a test of your imagination and harnessing your body's brain power to create strength from your mind to the muscles and more.

 
Happy Monday my friends, be awesome and have a great start to a new week.