Like A Horse And Carriage.....One Without The Other Is Worthless

 It's one of those quotes that sometimes just can't seem to get out of your head. Karl Gotch once said this about wrestling and conditioning. It is true in a very definitive format that if you want to last, it is important to be in the shape needed not just for cardio purposes but to withstand the things that involve beyond takedowns and holds. 

In the fitness world, I take this to heart when it comes to the aspects of strength & conditioning. Not just sport but in life as well. Many focus almost exclusively on the strength part or in terms of what strength may look like from a muscular point of view. Having muscle is awesome and so is having strength, they're essential to having the quality of life that leads down a path to great things but many forget to add in the cardio aspect of those things. 

When people mention the word cardio; in their mind, its usually talking about treadmills, jogging for miles and aerobic classes. Usually from a gym stand point, you are supposed to do cardio before lifting weights and not the other way around. Not always how that works. Also, there's different types of cardio that doesn't involve a machine or a group of people doing some crazy sequence in sync to club/hip hop songs. What a lot think cardio is, its coming from what they read about or have some notion on in the gym, nothing else.

When it comes to cardio in my eyes, its things like....

500 Hindu Squats

1000 Step Ups

10-20 Rounds almost none stop of working with a resistance band

Lift & Carrying Sandbags

Swinging a Kettlebell for high reps

The Sapate for Continuous Reps or HIIT Style

Isometrics (Yes they can be considered cardio if you work it right)

Supersets with weights or bodyweight

Circuit Training

Sprinting For Explosiveness

Sledgehammer Training

All have aspects of cardio that most people miss. They go beyond what the mainstream textbook cookie cutters tell you what they believe cardio is. Cardio outside of a gym setting in certain parts are more primal and the things I listed, all have a cross over to things in real life situations. Hiking & Swimming are cardio based that have real life applications. 

Now, on the basis of conditioning....

To me and I'm sure a few might agree with me here is that it's an essential element to utilizing attributes that come together to showcase being able to last and endure situational aspects. In things like MMA, you need conditioning to last in a fight otherwise you're dead in the water faster than Quicksilver saving mutants at the Manor in X-Men: Apocalypse. In real life situations whether it's on a job or being a firefighter or cop, being in condition can be life saving and be able to get people out or rundown a suspect and be able to handle them for an arrest. 

Strength & Muscle is important, in the case of building a body of armor that can move efficiently while handling weight that is crucial. However; if your conditioning is shit, all that strength & muscle is worthless flesh. Why settle for one or the other when you have an opportunity to develop them all and sustain them for as long as you can?

Gotch also said "Conditioning is your greatest hold", in this case when it comes to workouts and utilizing real life formalities, "Conditioning is your greatest asset." Strength and Conditioning go together like a Horse & Carriage, one without the other is worthless. 

Be amazingly awesome. Get in the best condition possible in whatever endeavor and remember that even the smallest fraction of progress, still leads to the big picture. Keep at it everyone. Shoot me a comment to let me know what you thought of this article and give me your insights. Want to Email me? Go to the Linktree and you can go from there. You got this. 

New Workout Toy And Getting Some Swings In

Summer is kicking up and getting outside to train should be the norm. Doing plenty of work lately with the bands and Sapate HIIT Workouts but yesterday was pretty nasty in a good way. I got the new Haxe Fitness Slam Pad and wanted to test it out. This thing is bad ass as hell. Don't need to be hauling a half tire much anymore and it doesn't take up much space at all.

Training with a sledgehammer is about as old school as you can get and it fits into training for whatever sports especially wrestling and boxing. It even makes me think of Slim The Hammer Man Farman who was one of the last of the true old time strongmen that worked in a rock quarry for decades smashing concrete, levering hammers and bending tough ass steel. If anybody had a bone crushing grip, it was him even in his golden years. 

The Pad itself really isn't all that fancy or anything but its got tough rubber that can withstand a great beating and its not really that big so you really need to pay attention to the targeting when striking. I got a real kick out of it. The hard part wasn't even the workout itself, it was hauling the hammer and that from storage to the park, training and haul it back to the storage. My cooldown was walking back home, which isn't too far but once I got home, jumped into the shower and had a pretty awesome dinner later on that night. 

I love this shit and earlier that morning, I did joint loosening, some hip and core work on the floor and a Sapate HIIT Workout doing 30/90 for 8 rounds. Before going to bed last night, I even did my 400 rep Neck Workout with the Neck Flex. I was just on a fucking roll man. Slept hard once I went bed and woke up a little tight but didn't feel sore at all. You get out of what you put in and fucking hell it was glorious. 

People in the fitness industry has made things way too complicated and simplicity is truly the way to go. The trouble is, because something isn't shiny or overly themed, simplicity has become a lost art and it shows in these wacked out videos of influencers. Smashing a hammer on a tire or a slam pad is about as simple as you can get yet receive more benefits than doing a bunch of exercises to get a decent physique. Bodyweight wise, you don't need to go crazy, just a few exercises that you work hard on and you're golden. Fitness is about the journey and finding your place in what makes the workouts perfect for you and not trying to keep up with everybody else. We all have strengths and weaknesses, its what makes us unique and certain standards aren't meant for everybody and that's ok. 

I don't expect anyone to train like me, why would they? They have their own journey and some things are crazier and psychotic than mine is but others do far less than me and still get great benefit from it. I don't like to fucking try keeping up with anyone else. Why would I? I'm either going to surpass them, keep up or get outworked by them, but I'm not going to try and attempt to see if I could keep up with anybody, it either happens or it doesn't and there's always a lesson in there somewhere. You do what's best for you. Learn what is useful and drop what doesn't. Along the way, have a blast with it, even on days where you may feel like shit, you do what's possible in the moment of time. The only real competition is you vs you. If you're a competitive athlete, you do what's possible to beat an opponent with specific training methods for that sport but outside of that, it isn't that important to try and beat anybody just for the sake of saying "oh I'm better than you therefore you are a weak bitch" no, that's just an asshole take on things and shows how insecure you are. 

Kick ass in your endeavors. Be amazingly awesome and don't forget that the smallest fraction of progress still leads to the big picture. Have a great Thor's Day everyone.  

As always, shoot me a comment about your thoughts on an article and if you want to email me, use the Linktree below. 

Applying Isometrics Just Makes Things All The More Bad Ass

Got up this morning, took two scoops of Spark Energy and hammered out some awesome Isometric Training. Hit many muscle groups and switching from one position to another either by adjusting the strap I have or doing bodyweight. 

Curls

Wall Sits

Pull Aparts

Chest Squeeze With A Wall

Overhead Press

Core 

Hybrid Squat

Hybrid Push-Up

Side Of The Legs

Back Of The Legs

Wall Lateral Raises

All for 7-12 Seconds of intense contraction. Even felt like I got a bit of cardio in there because I wasn't resting other than going from one position to another. No impact on the joints, keeping things tight and strong along with waking up the body feeling like a million bucks. 

Strength Training in its purest form. The armor that many need especially as they get older and feeling like a boss. This was a great session to get into since yesterday was quite a training day. If you read my recent article before this one, you know that I started the day with Joint Loosening and went into a Sapate HIIT Workout for 8 Rounds. I did say that I might do a Dopa Session later which I eventually did. However; I tackled my neck first doing my 400 Rep Workout with the Neck Flex, channeling the man with the World's Strongest Neck Mike The Machine Bruce. A few minutes after that little "Warm Up", I went to the park and did a 600 Rep Dopa Circuit of 5 Exercises, 12 Reps each for 10 Rounds. Sweated like Niagara Falls since it was close to 90 out and muggy as shit but it was still fun to do. 

Being a little light today since the Isometrics were my big workout for the day. May do some crawling or go for a nice walk. It is summer and getting some sun is a great thing to do. Want to get into Isometrics and get in some bad ass training without wearing and tearing on the joints? Grab Matt Schifferle's Overcoming Isometrics course which has some of the best info and training entities on the subject in many years. Get it on Kindle or as a Physical Book and learn the REAL aspects of Isometrics. Not some carbon copy cookie cutter course that is borderline boring and tedious compared to books like these. Plus OI shows originality and science behind it, some others barely squeak by with a few holds that doesn't do much in terms of real world strength, joint health & mobility and act like it's the best there is. I feel sorry for whoever has to read that stuff let alone waste money on it.  

Another great book on the subject is probably even more valuable in terms of who wrote it. Isometrics by Olympic Gold Medal Wrestler Henry Wittenberg. A classic that still hold merit after more than 6 decades since its release. If you're a true student of Physical Culture, you might want to check this shit out.  

Be amazingly awesome and get those Isometrics in. Your body will not only thank you but will have you utilizing energy and strength that is needed, not just looking better. 

The Sapate: An Ancient Bodyweight Exercise Showcasing The Near Mythic Origins Of The Burpee

 In the modern times of the Fitness Industry, people are just dying to package agony as something innovative. Micro Splits that hit fanatical gym bros with glee, some format of HIIT styles bending the rules of realistic approaches in CrossFit and those cheesy-ass infomercials that sell waistline gadgets like it's the best thing since the fucking wheel. Here in reality land, if you want to really dig into the type of training that made men practically immortal athletes and dominate a sport in their native land, walk away from the fluorescent lights of a chrome & Fern Gym (great saying from the legendary Brooks Kubik) and get into the red clay pits of India.

Pehlwans or otherwise known as practictioners of the art of Kushti, which is a very old discipline of traditional wrestling where athletes perform in the dirt. One of the major exercises that is arguably the heart and soul of the art is a grueling move named the Sapate. From today's point of view, the Sapate looks like the caveman's version of the Burpee. Now, if we tried to compare this exercise to what we know of the Burpee today, it's like comparing Wolverine's Claws to a damn Butterknife. The Burpee was first in the game by Royal H Burpee who was an American Physiologist that tested people's cardiovascular fitness that didn't include the push-up or the jump. The Sapate on the other side of the coin is the bridge gap that blends the Hindu Push-Up (Dand) and the Hindu Saquat (baithak) into one superpower.

Performing this bad ass exercise has a somewhat meditative focus to it but with great intensity. Squat down as if doing the Hindu Squat, place the hands on the ground and explosively thrust the feet back diving the chest near the ground, arching your spine toward the heavens like a Viper striking before driving the hips (if possible). A solid rhythm is in place each rep and to be in as good of form as you can. Many wrestlers in this sport of wrestling don't do something 30-50 reps; They'll do insane numbers like in the triple and quadruple digits almost daily to develop a gas tank that would even test Captain America. 

However; it cannot be understood enough that the raw and ferocious power of the Sapate is first and foremost, an entity in the sacred environment of the Akhara. Kushti, as an art is more than just sport and competition, it is a discipline that is considered Holy. In Akharas around the region, before he even takes a step into the dirt ring, a wrestler or group of wrestlers bow before an alter that is dedicated to the Monkey God Lord Hanuman. The God that is the poster child of Strength, Humility and believe it or not Celibacy. 

The dirt pit or ring is filled of soft earth. It is treated with respect and holy devotion. Wrestlers will ritually rub the dirt and mud to their skin that supposedly protects their gripping ability, abrasions from the constant hand to hand techniques and in a way submerging themselves into the earth. 

When it comes to the Sapate itself, it is a key ingredient to this act of athletic endeavor that it takes on the form of of superior conditioning so a competitor can go sometimes for hours in matches. It's one of the grandaddy's of Physical Culture that blends traditional sport and combat which strips it down to the roots of what we can understand the essence of being an athlete. 

Give this move a go. You don't need to do as many as a wrestler but you can test what you're capable of in various ways. You can do a max set and increase little by little, or you can do it HIIT Style doing as many reps as you can for 30 Seconds, Rest for 90 Seconds and repeat that for a total of 8 rounds. Learn to get used to the movement itself, go a bit slow and find the rhythm, as you can get stronger and more durable, add some speed to it but don't lose your form. Remember to treat moves like these with Respect and it will reward you later. Be amazingly awesome and hope you enjoyed a little history.        

Training Through Grief And Emotional Rollercoasters

 When certain aspects of life hit you especially after losing a loved one, you still give yourself the time to do what gives you the ability to process in your own way and get the most out of what is possible. Even if its just finding a way to play around it. For me, it was my training.

During those 3 days, I did a total of 4 workouts. First day was traveling day and getting settled in. I did Isometrics at the airport to keep active and then after unpacking and winding down, I went out and did a 500 Rep Circuit with my Dopa Band. Feeling the cool ocean air and just getting that groove in. Nothing hardcore or anything, just doing what I love. It was good to be active and doing what was possible for me in the moment.

Second day, I got up around 430 in the morning cause sleeping just didn't happen a whole lot considering what was going to be a hell of a day. Around after 5 or so, I took my band out, feeling the cool, crisp air in the California Fog. Didn't feel that cold to me but it wasn't very warm out either, then again, what I put myself through did help heat up my body and looking like steam coming off of my body while I trained. I did a 720 Rep Circuit of 6 Exercises, 10 Reps each for 12 Rounds. It was my only workout of the day and I'm glad I had the discipline to do it before things rolled.

Third day, another traveling day, getting up at 4 in the morning to hit up a flight with a layover and then to our final landing which hit around 2 ish. Didn't even get home until sometime after 5 for certain reasons and the only workout I really wanted to do was a round of Isometrics with the WorldFit Iso Trainer. Just enough to get that burst of energy blasting and strengthening the muscles and tendons after a long day. 

Working out in this series of events is more than just discipline, it's knowing that despite the chaotic rollercoaster rides that includes dealing with loss, there's still something you can do even for a few minutes that brings maybe a bit of comfort and making the effort that you can do a quick thing for yourself so later you can be there for others in the present moment. I'm not saying its required or anything but I do encourage you that if you're going through tragedy or dealing with something of this caliber, find an opportunity to do even a small micro workout to help you cope with what has happened around you. When things like this come around, emotions can be very high but can also make you crash hard and people can do some crazy shit when emotions run high and a good workout is a far better choice than certain alternatives.

Those workouts (or at least that morning circuit) gave me the strength I needed beyond the physical to help me be present with the people I care very much about and just be. Sometimes we get anxious and full of adrenaline that it briefly makes us unable to think clearly and possibly go off the rails. For me, it was about fighting back what would've made feel things more than I already was and lose some focus on what mattered that day. It helped me focus but also allowed me to express my emotions in the way I needed them to be instead of possibly becoming unpredictable. 

Our world may have stopped for a short time but it gave us opportunities to learn how we move forward individually and as a family. From an individual stand point, we all did things differently but it also bonded us. As a family, yeah we are scattered and live lives in different places but when push comes to shove, when we are all together, we have our quirks and our interests in things but we also have each other and knew that we were going to be ok. Even in the end, my grandma knew we were going to be ok.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and keep being amazingly awesome. 

The World Stood Still For 3 Days

 The last 3 days have been a rollercoaster that took a toll on all that were a part of the events that unfolded. All had their own individual set of grieving but it was the togetherness that kept things moving forward. Emotions were at their peak levels, some were higher than others but you knew and felt the raw and authenticity of those emotions even beyond reasoning or understanding.

For 3 days, the world stood still as my family prepared, went through and going through the process after of saying goodbye to my grandmother. The funeral in and of itself was the toughest of them all for obvious reasons but it was also a sight of genuine love and coming together that made that tough day not so much easier but tightening what we all needed. Each other. The woman that truly started it all with us was laid to rest with every generation that came after her celebrating her life and bringing memories that will last a lifetime. When I say every generation, it's not an exaggeration; her two children, her 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren all attended. She lived to see all these people be born and grow. 

My grandmother left behind a legacy that is the stuff of legends. Born into a world that had arguably the greatest boom in American history, lived through the great depression, saw many presidents sworn in, saw a man walk on the moon, held multiple jobs, ran an antique store, raised two kids by herself, retired at the age of 83, was still a child when the Babe hit 60 and so much more. But, like the above, saw every generation born and grow, the oldest being almost 24 and the youngest being around 8, not many people can say that. She was 105 and gave us something to remember and cherish.

Our world will never be the same again especially to her two kids, my father and my aunt. To us grandkids, no more nights of laughter, confiding and being with the person that helped shape us individually. If there was ever someone who knew how to keep fighting to the bitter end, it was her. She was the closest to us that was considered immortal and if the words "There can be only one" had a name, it was my grandmother's. For her great-grandkids, they learned the hand that held us before them and will live on knowing where they came from and what she represented in the very depths of the human soul that will never be duplicated. 

I'm grateful to have seen this woman live for so long it's still mind boggling. To have lived as long as she did with the way she ate and drank, it ought to be scientifically studied. I don't think there was ever a time she turned us away, she lifted us up when we were at our low points, she carried our pain, our sorrows and she taught us what it means to be a family.

I had the honor of helping her go into the earth next to at least two of her siblings and her parents. I helped one of my sisters read a passage in the bible so she wouldn't do it alone. I got to read my Beacon Of Light Article to all who attended the luncheon after the service upon request of my dad and was happy to do it. I was helped by a nephew, my brother, my uncle and my brother-in law to carry her to the hearse and to her burial place. It was one of those surreal moments that will never fade. 

My siblings, cousins and I all have memories that will carry in our hearts forever and she gave us all something that will never leave us, her hand on our shoulders as she watches us continue on in our lives to be there for the ones we love as she had done for us unconditionally. I will miss her everyday and use her lessons that have been instilled since the day I was born. She was and always will be the greatest strength that our family ever had.   

The Raw Power Of Catch Wrestling: A Look At The Nebraska Tiger Man John Pesek

We live in an era where man chase the latest gadgets and trends. Apps that give you all sorts of info that can lead to shortcuts in Fitness. Sometimes, it's cool to look back at a time when men built their might the old school way. The grit, the farm work, roughhousing and a simplistic but no bullshit approach to wrestle or fight that tested their wills and every fiber in their being. One of these men was John Pesek aka the Nebraska Tiger Man stood tall as a legend in that type of era. 

Born in 1894 on the farm near Ravenna, Nebraska, John wasn't the type of athlete that stepped foot in some controlled air conditioned gym or practiced some off the wall program. The man wrestled because in that time, that was one of the main activities a boy had to do. Just like Dan Severn did decades later in Michigan. He got into scraps with cowboys in the harsh prairie lands under what was called Rafferty Rules. In other words, just fucking survive and be dominant.

You wouldn't find this guy playing the role of a strong motherfucker, he just was. Came up the ranks training with another legend in the Catch Game, Joe Stecher. John in a short amount of time, earned a reputation for being one of the deadliest hookers of his generation in Catch As Catch Can Wrestling. For those playing the home game and don't know what a hooker is, I'm telling you right now it's not a prostitute, giggalo or escort. These guys weren't flashy showmen that can put on a performance, they were the cream of the crop when it came to submissions. I'm talking ankle breakers, cranking joints, tearing ligaments and making grown men scream in agony with vicious holds that turned the mat into a damn torture chamber. These were the men you never wanted to test.

Pesek had those quick reflexes mixed with farm strength and power that made him the stuff of nightmares for opponents. Guys like this weren't the ones that separated Strength Training from Fighting or whatever form of Conditioning. With them, you got the total package bro. With John, he worked the land, took on anyone that dared to find out what he or the opponent were capable of and developed a physique for the time that can dish out and take a hell of a beating that would put most men even today in the hospital. He even had the distinct honor of being a "policeman" for Billy Sandow and Ed Lewis. A policeman was the guy who was more of a mercenary that was sent in to take care of challengers that didn't follow the script in worked matches. When it was called for a shoot (meaning the real thing), Pesek would deliver. He tore guys a part, put them in the ER and commanded respect the hard way. 

-Here's a fun tale of some old school wrestling that shows the legitimacy of John's abilities    

He had a real shoot against not just another incredible wrestler of the time, but a 1920 Olympic Silver Medal winner in the name of Nat Pendleton (although there's controversy surrounding the loss which several high level people believed he won the gold medal). Back in 1923, promoters wanted a legit contest to help settle some business. So, they opened up the cage and let the tiger loose. Not only did Pesek just dominate Pendleton with leg locks and full on control, he killed the match in just under 41 minutes within two straight falls. You have to remember now, Nat was a tough wrestler, tough as hell in his own right but even he was no match for the Nebraskan farm boy in the realm of Rough & Tumble style of wrestling. That's one of the beauties and dangerous forms of Catch, it rewarded men that could really go, not just look the part and play by the rules. 

Like many of those transitioning from the real contests to the crazed spectacle, Pesek was smacked right in the middle of it. He was one of those guys however that didn't love the way things shifted. He was a true hooker and shooter where he preferred the skills, raw strength and enduring pain that decided a winner. Crossed paths with Joe Stecher multiple times, even pulled a double cross that showed he wasn't into playing the game of the promoters. He wasn't called the Nebraskan Tiger Man for nothing, it wasn't just some off the wall nickname, it was real and like a Tiger, he couldn't be tamed. That, was what made him an icon of his generation. 

Later on in his life outside of the ring, he bred Greyhounds and wanted to live on his own terms. He passed on in 1978 but his spirit still carries a powerful entity in anyone with intensity and ferocity. He didn't need Social Media attention or have the perfect program, he had balls the size of grapefruits, heart of a mighty Tiger and skills that very few or arguably ever could match. It's something we should all learn. Get at it, be real and be amazingly awesome. Those old timers are watching.     

Sometimes, Some Crimes Go Slipping Through The Cracks

 Bernarr Macfadden once said "Weakness is a crime. Don't be a criminal." in most cases, he was right but if you ever read the book Mr. America by Mark Adams, there were some questionable things the man did that made you think twice if he was a little off in the head. However; it's important to know that building strength and health can keep you out of a jam and avoid certain unlawful activities when it comes to fitness.

Nobody's perfect and we all slip every once in a while where it can be a workout, a missed meal or go off a program. It's the consistency of staying so called "weak" that can be criminalizing but it's mostly on ourselves. certain things aren't always in our control but we do what's possible to keep things in check.

On that note, when it comes to bodyweight training, the most common exercise in many aspects is the Push-Up. Whether the typical Regular Ones, Hindu Style or Isometric Holds, Push-Ups are the ground work for building strength and conditioning beyond just being an upper body movement. It is a test of control and a test of what you can do with just you alone. They can be done anywhere and can make someone very successful in various aspects of life. 

Some only do one format, others learned multiple variations that they can use in their arsenal. You have incredible knowledge at your fingertips on doing types of push-ups that will send you into realms beyond your imagination. That sounded really corny and a marketing cliche didn't it? For real though, it is important to understand what certain push-ups will do within certain muscles in the body because not all push-ups are created equal and that's ok. Some start out with a few and expand to doing hundreds at a day at some point, others may prefer doing a certain amount of reps to get a pump or to stimulate the muscles in order to build strength and then there are those who just like holding at certain points of a push-up in an isometric fashion. However you do them, as long as they don't hurt you or cause harm to the shoulders and elbows, you can have great success.

Train to what gives you the best benefit. That's the true nature of the game. If you want to go nuts and do hundreds of push-ups a day, go for it if it helps you stay strong. Just remember, doing that is just one aspect of the puzzle, it's not the only way to results and not everyone is meant to do hundreds a day. There are people who do have joint problems and doing tons of push-ups can make things worse so find a solution that doesn't make you feel pain in your joints. Hell, most of the time these days, I'll do no more than a couple hundred myself and that's it, other times, I'll do my 1 minute push-ups where I hold the top for 30 seconds, then hold at parallel and not touch my chest to the floor for another 30 seconds. I'll repeat this kind of push-up for several sets. In some workouts I'll superset them with a 1 minute Horse Stance and do up to 5-7 supersets. 

The most push-ups I've ever done in a workout was 600 doing different variations and could do 250 doing a deck of cards with Hindu Squats. I like doing Fingertip Push-ups from time to time and like the Mishra Dand style in honor of the ancient wrestlers of India. Find what works for you and kick ass in it. I believe in you and you fucking got this. Be amazingly awesome. 

 

Unlock Cheat Codes Hidden Within The Lost Art Of Muscle Control

How's it going guys, happy Revenge Of The Fifth. What's in stored for today's possibly EPIC Post? Well, it's something I don't write often about but it is an important aspect of physical training and it's within the realm of Isometric Training that isn't just for bodybuilders and wanna-be posers. It's the type of training that also strengthens and even sharpens the mind. Learn how to command the muscles and see what you're capable of when you channel the mind/muscle connection in one of its best forms. That's where Muscle Control comes into play.

The lost gem of the old school Physical Culture Era (more notably the Bronze Age) that transforms how you move, feel and perform at an insane level. This isn't the type of training that leaves you wrecked and beat up for days on end. Muscle Control fits right in the concepts of developing realistic and sustainable fitness that includes real world strength, conditioning and mental toughness. It's about isolating the muscles that get you to channel your focus into contracting and relaxing those muscles with precision. Think of it as flipping a switch in your body. You call the shots.

Let's Learn A Little Lesson On Some Of The History On Muscle Control

Forget the modern bro-science bullshit for a moment. This style of training exploded in popularity back in early 1900's thanks to men like Maxick, Otto Arco & a few others. Maxick in particular was a sick lad living in Austria and transformed himself into a legendary figure that would baffle most Classic Physique contestants today. Born in 1882, he battled and fought against issues of the lungs, dropsy and even rickets. His own parents tore up his home set of weights to prevent him from continuing training because they thought it would make things worse. What the fuck was this kid supposed to do now? Turns out, he began experimenting on consciously contracting his muscles and learning how to control which ones flexed and let the other relax using willpower and focus.

This became his sanctuary and when he turned into basically a comic book looking Superhero, he teamed up with another athlete who practiced Muscle Control named Monte Saldo to bring out what became known as the Maxalding System. A detailed mail-order course on that taught how to program this style of Isometric Training. It took off like a damn rocket and blew the roof off the Physical Culture scene. It wasn't just about posing, it also let you know that Maxick was a legit athlete that practiced Gymnastics, Strongman Feats and Weightlifting. Because of his mastery, he was able to lift insane weight for a guy his size. 

Before the days of Steroids, Commercial Gyms and the Billion Dollar Supplement Industry, methods like Muscle Control produced many men with incredible physiques and strength that were the talks of the street. It was beyond size and power, it was learning how to control your body that carries over to other areas of life and sports. With the desk jobs of today, this type of training is more relevant and needed than ever. 

Bad Ass Benefits Of Muscle Control 

Why add this to your routine? Let's break it down into 6 points of benefit that gives you an idea of where we're going with this:

1. Higher IQ in the Mind/Muscle Connection

Do you ever get the feeling some of those muscles don't "Hit Right" during a lift or even using your own bodyweight? This is where it gets fixed. With Isolated Practice, flexing places like the lats, pecs, abs or individual parts of those muscle and others, you are strengthening those neuromuscular pathways. What this means is that the muscle recruitment becomes better as you do exercises like Pull-ups, push-ups, deadlifts, band work or animal moves like Bear Crawls for example. You're winning the battle and becoming stronger without having to fight those uncooperative muscles.

2. Efficiency Along With Better Relaxation

Control is not about tensing up per se. It's learning to relax the antagonists so you don't get dragged down. This helps with amplifying your endurance, reduce unnecessary tension and improves the blood flow. When I do my own training with the bands or Isometrics, it gives me opportunities to push hard but not gas out within seconds. You've read about the 500-1000 rep circuits and the Deck Of Cards Workouts, there's a reason why I'm conditioned enough to get through those things and it's not just progressively leveling up to them. That's just part of it. 

3. Joint Health & Prevention Of Injuries

By individually controlling the muscles, you build stability around your joints that strengthens the tendons and improves even your posture. When it comes to things like Bridging, Band Work and Suspension Training, it comes in handy. Lessens the wear and tear and enhances Longevity.

4. Laser Focus Mixed With Mental Toughness

This is where guys like Maxick nails the hell out of. Controlling the muscles builds willpower and heavy concentration. The mind cannot wander when you're isolating the serratus or holding the "vacuum." This will help carryover things into the real world: stronger discipline and clearer thinking along with the mindset of "I own this" during those tough workouts and/or daily challenges. 

5. Functional Strength & A Physique That Has The Go With The Show

Carving the definition and teaches those muscles to contract with a vengeance. Combine it into your regular training and watch results blossom like a wildflower. Don't chase the pump; command to the degree where you're not just posing, you're moving with style and confidence. 

6. Sustainability & Accessibility

Don't have a gym? No problemo ladies and gents, you can do this anywhere: Standing in line, during a work break or as a finisher to your workout. Micro Workouts, easily adjustable. Matter of fact, it's perfect. You're not going to fry your CNS unlike constant max efforts. You'll recover better and train more consistently.  Train smart, train often just in the ways of Power And Might.

Honorable Mentions: Improved Breath Control, better digestion, leveling up in your sports performance and possibly have carryover into rehabbing or managing back pain through Core Stability.

How Can One Get Started?

It's best to not complicate it. Keep it basic: Stand relaxed and try to flex one of the pectoral muscles, then the other. Isolate the abdominals in sections, practice Vacuums for the Transverse Abdominis. Use the hands to feel and guide at first, hold contractions for only a few seconds, fully relax and repeat. Work through various groups like the chest, back, shoulders, arms, legs and core. Progress to combinations and then move onto controlling while doing certain movements. Pair it up with the routine you're on. Work it as a warm up or finisher if you'd like. It'll make things click better.        

Not saying to ditch what you already do, give it a whirl so you can raise your training to the next level. It's a missing link for many who may look strong but lack the command.

Be amazingly awesome and hit me up on your progress using the linktree that leads to my email and social media outlets. keep at it and I hope you're enjoying the journey. 

Are You Thinking 4th Dimensionally When It Comes To Training?

More like in 3D but hey, Doc Brown was onto something LOL. Anyway, one of the things Bud Jeffries taught me was to think outside of the box and expand your imagination to how you can train without always relying on conventional wisdom. Let's face it, the man was a genius when it came to training and the way he thought about things was part of his unique personality and been tested by world class people. For this post today, I blame him for putting this concept into my brain (in a good way of course).

For a few days, I was digging into my thoughts on what could be different in terms of what we can do to train the brain and learn multi-task exercise or in this case, training Multi-Dimensionally. Yesterday, I put this to the test and although it's a work in progress (isn't any training style?), I let out a side of me that took the inspirations of Matt Schifferle, Bud Jeffries and the guys at DopamineO and molded them into a very different and somewhat of a mind-fuck way of exercising. 

Let's start with why I wholeheartedly blame my mentor and brother in strength for this. Bud was a major advocate for Isometrics and came up with some crazy ideas on how to apply them in terms of using not just little implements but using rocks, chains, kettlebells, bodyweight, tires and things you don't look at from a normal point of view. In one of his Seminar DVDs on Isometrics, he applied what he calls 3D Isometrics or 3D Training where he takes weights and other things and go for Isometric Holds on one end while moving dynamically with the other. An example would be, taking a chain and hold it in a mid overhead press or use a strap to create a stopping point with one hand and as he applies the pressure, takes a kettlebell in the other hand and does overhead presses with it. 

This challenges your muscles to fire in that mind/muscle connection to the next level while applying control to two or more things at the same time. I remembered this and was thinking "what if I applied something similar but with the band and Isometric strap?" When we trained together, he always had something cooked up even when he was just shooting the breeze, he had thoughts going on about what he could do differently while applying the basic styles whether it was with hammers, kettlebells or even the steel bending. The way his brain worked was just mind blowing.

So, I applied Bud's Isometric IQ into working with Schifferle's Hybrid style of Isometrics and utilized the Dopamineo band's dynamic moves of rows and waves to create one powerful element. I made a demo of this and still working on some of the kinks in it, not to mention this was post workout of 5x5 Sprints with the Band. 

The strap I'm using here isn't available anymore but the WorldFit Iso-loop would work just as good if not better for some. In the demo, I start out with going into a Hybrid Squat where I would apply isometric pressure trying to stand up and open up the legs at the same time while doing a row with the band in either hand. What does this do? It forces you to work the legs creating strength and stimulus in the legs and back while dynamically rowing to apply the muscles from the upper body at the same time. This challenges the brain to fire the nerves creating a Super Exercise.

The next one was interesting because of doing two different elements of pushing and pulling at the same time. This was doing an Overhead Press Isometrically and creating a Wave and Pull at the same time. The unique thing about this is that while you're creating a wave that takes a certain level of coordination to do, you're also pressing and holding onto the strap as hard as possible without letting go of the press itself. This type of multi-tasking is way harder than it seems because the focus is chaotic yet stabilizing and controlling two very different aspects. It's one thing to do both pushing styles but to do pushing and pulling at the same time is on another level of insanity. 

The final one wasn't as difficult as the Hybrid Squat and Overhead Press. This was more of just trying to stand up in an isometric squat while using both hands to do the wave and pull move, It still isn't easy to coordinate because you're trying hard to straighten the legs but you're also finding the flow in a complete different move while in it. It's that unique element that makes you appreciate what is possible and what can be beneficial. 

In a normal training circumstance, we are taught to move singularly, up and down and focus on things that work the body from angles at a specific level of straight forward focus. Things like Push-ups, Curling a dumbbell, pressing a kettlebell overhead, bodyweight squats with foot patterns going up and down. The coordination is different but you can teach certain things easily with simplistic moves and holds. This however, goes out the fucking window because it forces you to move and hold while in a chaotic state yet be in control. Coordination is on another planet but also you have to think in different aspects than just what is normally understood. 

It is an advanced form of exercise. It's still using basic things, it's easier to learn an isometric exercise and dynamic moves individually but to challenge the construct of fitness intelligence by putting those elements together is a whole other sport in and of itself. Like I said earlier, it's a work in progress but it gives off a whole new vibe of what you thought of as exercise. It's not meant to be some kind of circus act or anything, not like me or someone else teaching and showing how to perform as if you're doing a barbell squat on a stability ball, that's just stupid and dangerous. What I'm showing here, is a different level of Fitness Intelligence to enhance your ability to create exercises that have more to give and offer in terms of function and strength than just conventional styles that most have already seen. You don't see stuff like this almost at all. 

It's not reinventing the wheel, it's opening up and expanding knowledge to where we learn what our capabilities are beyond just typical exercise and routines. What are you willing to give a go that's a little out there but has real benefit? Let me know in the comments or go to my linktree and find me on social media. Be amazingly awesome and keep at it. 

Hindu Pushups: Forgotten Old-School Bodyweight Exercise For Upper Body Conditioning

If you’ve spent any time digging through the pages of Power and Might or other old-school training archives, you know the greats didn’t mess around with fluff. They wanted exercises that built real-world strength, endurance, and joint integrity in one shot. Enter the Hindu Pushup — also called the Dand — the backbone of Indian pehlwani wrestling for over a thousand years. This isn’t just another pushup variation. It’s a full-body conditioner that turned generations of Kushti wrestlers into broad-backed, barrel-chested powerhouses long before the barbell was popular.  

A Quick History Lesson  

The Dand traces back to ancient India, where it was part of the daily vyayam, or physical training, of pehlwani wrestlers. The most famous practitioner? The Great Gama, undefeated wrestling champion who reportedly performed 2,000-3,000 Dands and 3000-5000 Hindu Squats daily. By the later part of the 20th Century, Physical Culturists like Karl Gotch and Matt Furey brought the Dand stateside, preaching it as the antidote to stiff, barbell-bound physiques. The old-time strongmen understood: you don’t need fancy equipment to build a body that can perform.  

The Influence on Modern Training  

You’ll see the Hindu Pushup’s DNA all over modern fitness if you look close. Yoga’s Sun Salutation? The downward-dog to upward-dog transition mirrors the Dand’s flow. Even some military calisthenics drills borrowed from it in certain variations. Why? Because it works. Unlike a bench press that locks you into one plane, the Dand forces your shoulders, spine, hips, and ankles to move through a loaded, dynamic arc. Old-school coaches called it “active flexibility under tension” — strength that doesn’t make you stiff.  

How to Perform the Dand  

Start with the hands and feet on the floor, hips high, head between your arms like a downward dog. 

From here:  

Swoop: Bend your arms and dive your head forward, skimming your chest just above the floor.  

Scoop: As your hips drop, press your chest up and arch your back, ending in an upward-dog position.  

Return: Reverse the motion by pushing your hips back up to the start.  

Here's a visual demo....

That’s one rep. The movement should be smooth, almost wave-like. No pausing, no jerking. Breathe in as you go down and into the arch, breathe out as you push back.

Here's a demo of doing the exercise with added resistance using the Dopamineo Band.

Benefits That Build a Battle-Ready Body  

Shoulder Health & Mobility: The sweeping arc takes your shoulders through full flexion to extension under load. This is prehab and strength in one. Old-time lifters swore it kept their rotator cuffs bulletproof.  

Spinal Durability: You get thoracic extension, lumbar control, and hip hinging every rep. It’s decompression and strength for your spine — something crunches and planks can’t touch.  

Work Capacity: High-Rep Dands build serious muscular endurance. Lungs, triceps, chest, lats, and quads all fire together. Gama’s 3,000-rep sessions weren’t for show; they built gas tanks that didn’t quit.  

Posterior Chain Wake-Up: Unlike flat pushups, the Dand loads your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back as you drive the hips up. It ties the front and back of your body together. 

Let’s be clear: this is a traditional wrestling exercise taught to youth worldwide for a very long time. Anyone who twists that into something inappropriate is telling on themselves. Matt Furey even illustrated it in cartoon form for Combat Conditioning so kids could build healthy habits. Don’t let bullshit "gurus" steal proven training from the next generation.

Why It Still Matters for Health & Strength  

Most modern trainees are desk-bound, chest-tight, and hip-locked. We bench, we curl, we sit. The Hindu Pushup is the reset button. It opens the chest, pumps blood through the shoulders, and restores that athletic “flow” the old-timers had. You can do it anywhere — no gym, no worries. Add 50-100 Dands at the start of your day or do them in sets, as many as you can in a row, in a HIIT type format or on your off days from weight training. Either way, these are awesome for keeping things intact and staying in shape for the long haul. 

The iron game has come full circle. Fads come and go, but the Dand remains. It built champions 100 years ago, and it’ll still be building them 100 years from now. Put away the gimmicks. Get on the floor. Do the work. Be amazingly awesome and wish you success in your endeavors. 

Strength Training Anywhere Using Isometrics

 When it comes to strength training, there are plenty of ways to do it but one of the most grossly underrated forms of it is Isometrics. You don't need to move at all, just contract at any given angle and breathe into it. Simple enough right? For sure but how long the intensity and contraction goes depends on what you shoot for. Guys like Steve Justa was famous for practicing Isometrics in many different ways from long duration holds that lasted at times for 3 minutes to what he called Pulse Reps or Isometrics where you contract for 2-3 seconds and repeat for reps on countless exercises from squats to arm wrestling pulls, deadlifts, pushing and twisting. Another was The Mighty Atom that used Isometric Training to build that power to bend and twist horseshoes, bend and even bite down nails, break chains and other things.

Isometrics are more than just strengthening for things like weights and steel bending, they are a crucial element to prevent injuries and problems in the joints, tendons and ligaments. Many these days shrug it off as boring and believe they don't do much but as we age, it's going to become possibly your best friend. When you train them consistently, they help you move better and even enhance your flexibility and mobility. They give you that suit of armor from within that format of strengthening the body that reduces the chances of osteoporosis, tendonitis, tennis elbow, arthritis and maybe MS but that may be stretching.

Some of the strongest men on the planet used Isometrics to amplify their feats beyond logical understanding. Even the great Warren Lincoln Travis who was known for lifting extremely heavy weights in partials used Isos as one of his major components. Even was a counterpart to the Mighty Atom, although their strengths were night and day, they both understood what they were best at and were the strongest in. WLT was a lifter and Atom was a Steel Bender, very different types of strength but both were phenoms at what they did.

For  everyday people? Isometrics can have an impact on their daily lives where they can handle groceries, moving furniture, open a jar of pickles, mow the lawn, chop wood, climb stairs and all kinds of things. When you push/pull/squat/grip in all sorts of directions, you're building strength that has true function and importance. If you're a gym goer, you can do isometrics by holding weight at certain angles like the mid point of a db or bb curl like you're carrying a tray, hit a stopping point in your squat to build strength for that position, even on machines where you can hold the mid or end point of a lift and hold it. Many different ways you can do Isometric Training. 

One of my favorite things to use is the World Fit Iso Trainer where you can mimic just about about any movement in the gym isometrically. My basic exercises is the curl, deadlift, zercher squat, overhead press, lunge and seated row. Those alone have helped me prevent knee pain, elbow problems, shoulder issues and other things. You can even use it to strengthen pull-ups, assisted pistol squats, rows, push-ups and more like the TRX. Take it with you anywhere and enjoy workouts that don't put wear and tear on your joints. 

Be amazingly awesome and be successful in your goal setting, wish you nothing but the best in what works for you. 

Want to get in touch? Check out my LINKTREE for all my Socials and Email. 

5 Updated Exercises On Youtube And Still Killing It With The Dopa Band

 Training these days has its moments where sometimes it can be a pain in the ass but other times, everything is just right and feeling like a Super Saiyan. My Dopa training has it's fair share of ups and downs of doing everyday since Jan. 1st but I'm keeping at it and have hit roughly 35,000 total reps with it doing 500-1000 a day and done a few HIIT workouts where you do as many reps as possible, so it can be brutal some days. Will I hit 50,000 by the end of the month or going into April? Who knows?

With the circuits, I would change up the type of muscles I want to work on or at least target. Not so much to isolate them cause with the band, it's never isolating, it builds stabilization and you have to be in control at all times otherwise it's not going to look very pretty LOL. Some days I'll do chest presses and rows for the chest and back but sometimes I'll hit the upper arms and do curls and pulls for the triceps. I switch up exercises doing squats by either doing my Uppercut To Squat combo, Resistance Squats where I hold the band at it's tightest, Butterfly Power Squat Combo or Hook around the arms and do squats that way. Core work is mainly doing the Propellers but I'll do another exercise that hits those particular muscles. 

When it comes to the gym, it's cool going there and playing around doing mainly Pull-Ups, Dips, Bench, DB Curls, Sandbag Work and working with the rack. I'll do Farmer's Carries with 65 lb DBs in each hand and walk the length of the gym and do sets of that. This past week, on Thursday, I decided to try Rack Pulling for the first time in ages. Partials were always fascinating to me cause you can move much heavier weight while only moving less than foot, often merely inches. So on this day, I pulled 225 for 20, 315 for 10, 385 for 5, 405 for 3 and then on the final set, I wanted to go even further. I put another 25 lb on each side and got 2 reps. Remember, yeah I'm not pulling at full ROM but I put everything I had into this and the bar came off the rack with 455 lbs. That's the heaviest I've worked with a Barbell in more than a decade. Here is one of those reps....455 Rack Pull.

With the band, I've been testing out different exercises to film and see what they can do for others and since I've had some repeatable ones, I thought I'd add some new exercises to my playlist so people can get an idea of what's possible with this. filmed several exercises and put up about 5 yesterday that got a little bit of attention right away so I'm proud of that. These 5 alone can be used for circuits or regular sets and reps schemes to work on technique, control and strength. These aren't done fast like some of the others, these are deliberate, methodical and focused based. Each working the muscles as they need to be and because it's a heavier band, the stabilization is more laid out. 

Oblique Twists

Hammer Curls

Tricep Pulls

X Reverse Flys

Chest/Push Press

Each done with more of a closeup on how they're done. My intention was to show the muscles being worked as much as I could and utilize the techniques with great detail. It was fun doing these before my workout doing a circuit of Chest Presses, Oblique Twists, Resistance Squats, Front Raises & Wave Pulls. Typical 10 reps each and only rest was marking it off. I didn't focus on speed, more on control and technique along with building strength in those areas. 500 Total reps by the end, felt great. 

Have an amazingly awesome day everyone. Keep at it and kill it out there. Train with passion, drive and heart. Don't be an ego maniac that thinks his way is the only thing that matters and if you don't go along you're a loser. Usually when I hear stuff like that it makes me think of THIS. Those people are not worth your time and effort and they're just bitter children trapped in an adult body or better yet, think they're intelligent when in reality they act like a 13 year old who didn't get past 5th grade, believe me I can say far worse things but you get my point. It happens sometimes. We can all learn how to be strong and kind like Goku, it's not always easy but it's better than acting like a person who's got that engine running but nobody behind the wheel. 

Be a part of the Dopamineo Clan and use the code POWERANDMIGHT. 

Micro Workout For The Legs To Wake Up The Body

 

One of my recent articles was talking about a good routine of animal crawls to do in the morning to wake up the body and even the brain. Here's another option you can work on if you'd like especially when it comes to leg strength, hip mobility and getting the heart rate up for a few minutes to start the day.

Getting the legs going to start the day can have incredible benefits especially if you plan on going for a hike, move around at work or climbing stairs. Having conditioned legs go a long way and as we get older, it becomes more crucial in being able to stand up without help and move with as much ease as possible. Nothing wrong with wanting strong legs from weights but that's only a piece of the puzzle if you do that kind of thing. When it comes to squatting with weights, my main form of it is doing squats with a sandbag, hammers, maces, kettlebells or a 45 lb plate. I don't do barbell squats whatsoever anymore and haven't done it in roughly 15 years. 

Bodyweight Squats are a different story, the multiple variations you can use at your disposal have their place. Shit I do 100-200 squats with the band everyday lately and it keeps things rocking and rolling man. It's more than just doing a typical squat, it's being able to control your body and move with power, explosiveness and even durability. Stationary Squats like Hindu Style, Sumo, Air, One-Legged all work and are beneficial for those who do them consistently. Sometimes however, it's fun to play around with certain aspects of exercises. 

One routine I like doing is what I call the Step + Squat where it's basically walking and squatting at the same time. For those who want an idea of how this goes, check out the VIDEO here from the Bioneer. It's a great micro workout to get the blood flowing and play for a bit, you can do this anywhere and do it in intervals, in a row or in sets. Whatever works for you. For today, it's about doing it in a interval fashion. If you're new to it, get the feel for it just by taking a step, squat down, come up, take another step and repeat to get the technique down. Pay attention to your form and control. Once you get an idea, start timing it. You can start with 20-30 seconds of work and 30 seconds to a minute of rest for a couple rounds. Work up to maybe 5 rounds and then add time like 10 seconds and then reduce the rest to 45 seconds. Over time, work up to going for a minute or longer and rest for 30 seconds or less. For a micro workout, 3 rounds is great. This is roughly 4 minutes total, if you want to add rounds, go for it, personally, I never went past 7 rounds which is a total of around 10 minutes for the whole workout. 

Micro Workouts are awesome for anyone who is short on time and wants to get something quick in or help get their energy levels up during the day in increments. For more info about this check out Matt Schifferle's book Micro Workouts. They're bad ass time savers and can get you jazzed up whenever you need a pick me up. Push-ups, Squats, Isometrics, Intervals, whatever you'd like to do for a few minutes at a time. They can even be used as a finisher to your regular routine to spice things up. 

For more on Squat Walking, check out this VIDEO as well.

Be amazingly awesome and get your body going so the blood flows with strength and power. You got this and wake up springing into action. 

Strength In The Gym Vs Strength Everywhere Else

In most cases, being controversial may get you noticed but there's always a line drawn and some overstep that line and act like they're better than everybody or a better expert. I'm not one to cause controversy or have an opinion that is controversial but sometimes it happens without being intentional about it.

Some cause controversy because they're attention seeking jackasses or just don't give a shit about the consequences and believe they can get away with murder when in reality, they're really a joke and have no real value. For instance, for a guy who looks like he needs to eat sandwich telling other people how to get jacked while struggling to do a few pull-ups yet claims to do 25 in a set and never once proved it just talks out of his ass, that's a red flag in my book or those that believe smoking like a chimney yet are in better health is a flex, it isn't.

When it comes to strength in the gym, more often than not, many people's abilities only stay in the gym and struggle to be able to do other things outside of it. It's rarer than people lead on that gym training carries over to other aspects of physical activity. There are guys who can squat hundreds of pounds, yet have a hard time going up and down flights of stairs or able to haul furniture. I've seen jacked up guys deadlift crazy weight but can barely do a few push-ups that have a lockout. It's not so much sad or shameful but it's more on the lines of being conditioned mentally to believe that if you can do whatever in the gym, it transfers over to everything else, not necessarily true. It's not an opinion, it's pretty damn factual.

It's not to say you shouldn't go to the gym to get strong, but it is important to understand the concept of certain logic and knowledge that one thing may not help the other but sometimes, it's the other way around. Some are very strong outside the gym and can do some pretty gnarly stuff if they rarely or ever been in one. Laborers for example aren't always going to look like the Hulk but some of those guys are stupid strong in the areas they work in and make bodybuilders and gym goers look weak in many things. However, you're not going to see a ton of laborers doing 400 lb deadlifts or Benching 500 lbs. It's a very different type of strength and there are some laborers that have this thing about bitching and moaning about people in gyms not being strong in the real world when in reality, it's not all that black and white. 

Personally, I believe in the idea that whether you train in a gym or not, having strength no matter where you are should be practiced and have knowledge on. In truth, the gym is everywhere, a building is just part of an idea. That may sound like I'm knocking gym fanatics but I'm not, strength has its merits in many forms but if you're just choosing the gym, unless there is equipment that holds meaning for outside situations or able to build strength that can hold its own outside of it, you may get a wake up call that your Dumbbell Presses aren't always going to save you from hauling awkward boxes all day. 

Dumbbells, Barbells and Machines have their place in building strength, have been for decades and have helped many people but if all you focus on is those things and not see the value of other equipment or yourself, you're closing off knowledge and application that can one day save your ass or someone else. Many of the old timers learned not only to lift a Barbell, but to do things that required strength beyond the Barbell, for some it was a big part of their development, for others, it was another cog in the machine that was building a physique that had not only strength but can go as well. 

If you're only strong in the gym, there will be things that won't help you deal with other things in life. However, if you have the knowledge of both gym training and outside formalities, that bolds a better way of handling yourself if it was just one or the other. Many people will never need the gym at all and that's awesome. I for one, don't NEED the gym to make myself strong and conditioned, I go because it's something to do and have fun with, making it part of the journey, not relying on it. I've gone years without walking into a gym and made progress in my training career, you've seen the demos and the results of what I can do. I don't love the gym but I don't hate it either, for me it's just a place. 

What I do understand though is that many think they need the gym for whatever reasons when in fact, it's more of finding a stepping stone to becoming something more of what they were before. It's not a bad thing at all but if the gym is your only sanctuary and don't utilize things outside of it, than you have become conditioned to believe that you need to rely on the gym itself in order to make yourself a better person when there is a whole other world of possibilities. 

Become strong in the gym that has carryover to the real world if you choose to do gym training. If it doesn't carry over to the outside world, it's going to bite you in the ass one way or another. If you do things outside of the gym, that's bad ass and can rely on that particular knowledge alone but if you added the gym to those things, you're also gaining knowledge of what can be useful to you. There are many ways to build strength but it's up to you to find that balance and rely on what is useful versus one concept over another. 

Be amazingly awesome and stay strong and healthy for as long as you can. If you're a gym goer, keep at it and hope that strength carries over to other aspects of your life. If you don't go to the gym, build your strength so that it can be helpful to others and yourself. 

Legs Like A Beast That Last

 The Bigfoot Walk Challenge. Do you have the balls to hammer this for 3 straight minutes or more without crumbling? This weird and to be honest awkward looking exercise is criminally underrated for building real leg power. Yeah, it looks ridiculous – like you're trying to sneak around in some monster costume – but holy shit, the burn it delivers is no joke. Believe me, after doing it, even for me it made me a believer.

Most guys look at it and think, "Where's the weight? Where's the full squat depth? This can't be doing anything." Then they actually give it a go. Boom, quads and glutes light up instantly. Keep going for a real duration (30 seconds or less for most people that start on it, and they're already gasping), and you'll feel that deep, screaming tension that tells you this thing is the real deal. No bullshit, you have my word. Here's the truth, many "advanced" lifters are too stubborn or brainwashed to admit: a ton of what passes for smart training is just dogma wrapped in ego. The need and obsession to pile on more plates, chasing full ROM like it's the holy grail, and worshipping the back squat and deadlift as the only lower-body and back movements that are worth praying to.  

Time to face the music. Most athletic movements – especially in stand-up fighting, martial arts, sprinting, or any sport where you actually have to move explosively – happen in partial ranges. Not ass-to-grass heroics (have you seen a wrestler or even baseball player work in a full squat?). Not locked-out max-effort grinds. They're dynamic. Constant tension, weight shifting, quick adjustments. Sound familiar? That's exactly what the Bigfoot Walk forces you into.  

You're staying in that quarter-to-half squat sweet spot, legs under constant fire, shifting from one side to the other like you're stalking prey or circling in a ring. This isn't some isolation machine stuff, it's functional leg endurance that translates directly to the mat, the cage, or the street. Athleticism isn't just about your 1RM. It's about strength-endurance, being able to stay powerful rep after rep, minute after minute, without gassing out. Yet the old paradigm has everyone chasing low-rep heavy singles like that's the only path to greatness. If you're a powerlifter, that's great or doing things for strongman comps but it rarely transitions into the real world. When you move furniture, it becomes a whole new ball game.

Conditioning your legs in this kind of partial, tension-loaded position builds that springy, agile, explosive base that loaded barbell squats often miss. You get more pop in your step, faster recovery between bursts, better stability when you're shifting weight mid-movement. There have been guys who can back squat 500+ pounds but when they try to maintain power output for even 60 seconds in something like this, it will show things they're not going to like. Their legs are strong in some capacity. But in real movement? It's a wake up call bro. This bastard exposes that gap fast.  

How to do it? Drop into a comfortable athletic stance, knees bent maybe 20-45 degrees (whatever feels strong but challenging), chest up, core tight. Then start "walking" forward while staying low, driving through the heels, keeping that constant knee flexion. No standing up tall between steps. For beginners, a foot forward would have you noticing things, as you get stronger, up the length of a step but not to the point where you might as well be lunging, this isn't what we're getting after. 

Feel the quads and glutes ignite right away? Good – that means your legs have serious work ahead. Burning after 20-30 seconds? Still a lot of room to grow. Always room for improvement. If you can cruise through 60 seconds feeling like it's nothing, you're getting somewhere. I'll do this for 5 minutes at a time sometimes twice a day and it's incredible. Been a minute but it's still one of my favorites to get into.

The main goal for martial artists, fighters, or anyone who wants usable athletic legs: this should feel effortless under a minute. Like you could keep stalking around indefinitely without your legs turning to jelly. When that burn hits hard, embrace it. That's your signal – the legs need this exact stimulus. 

Hammer the Bigfoot Walk consistently (start with a couple sets for as long as you can, rest 2-3 minutes, build up duration), and you'll notice real changes: quicker footwork, more explosive takedown defense, better gas tank in rounds, even carryover to power output because you're training the exact ranges and tensions you use in combat. Whether for 5 minutes straight or going for 3 sets of 3 minutes, you're getting some strong ass legs. 

Compare that to grinding heavy back squats week after week. Sure, you'll get bigger numbers on the bar... but how often do you actually hit full depth in a fight or in sparring? How often do you need to generate force from a dead stop with a bar on your back? Exactly.  

This exercise is simple, requires zero equipment, can be done anywhere, and it brutalizes your legs in the way that actually matters for performance. Raw, honest work that builds legs that work when shit gets real. Grab a timer, drop low, and start walking like Bigfoot on a mission. Time yourself. Be honest about how long you last before the burn forces you to stand up. Then come back harder next session.  

Build that engine. Build that endurance. Build legs that don't quit when the fight drags on. Keep killing it, stay amazingly awesome, and let me know in the comments how long you lasted on your first go. You Got this.

For more exercises that will build durable and conditioned legs, head on over to Movement 20XX and learn the valuable training system that will work your body in a way that's fun, challenging and most of all about as natural as you can get. 

Nearly 300 LBS Starting At The Bottom

 Yesterday, something in me had the bright idea to see what I can do at the gym by doing the Bench Press but starting at the bottom and using the Fat Gripz. Wanted to see how I do since I rarely if ever trained in that specific position. There is no momentum so when you're going, you're pressing with a different level of strength. 

I started with 135, got 10 reps which was pretty damn easy and could've done more but that wasn't the goal. Next set, 205 for 10 reps as well. Not too bad, it wasn't easier and had at least 1 more in me but again, not what I was shooting for. Third set, 225 for 5 Reps. It was starting to really hit me that this lift was incredible to try and managed to hit multiple reps but it was a struggle to hit 4 and 5. Fourth set, 245 for 3 Reps. This was getting into Territory I have never been in before and those three were fucking hard.

I had to think long and hard what I wanted to hit up. I felt strong but I had no clue since I'm in uncharted waters here and having strength I didn't even know was there. Should I go for 255? It was a possibility and I had it in me to try but a voice in my head said go higher. How about 275-280, this was getting ambitious and most likely out of my league. With a regular Bench Press getting it off the rack straight arm, come down and push back up, I could've done that but this was going for something entirely different, I wanted to find a weight that made me question my sanity. I don't go for max lifts much anymore and the worst could happen is losing form and dropping the weight back onto the rack without hurting myself (much). I decided, you know what, I'm going for 295. Even I was thinking how nuts this is and it's nearly 300 lbs pushing for pure power and again, no momentum. I had to summon the surge of strength from CoreForce Energy and have myself believe I was like Goku gearing up to being a higher level of a Super Saiyan. 

I filmed this to show if I could do it or not with no fluff, no made up number and show that it was real whether I missed it or not. I wasn't going to fake this and if I missed it, at least I gave everything I had. I loaded up the 35 lb plate each side, sat there on the bench for a brief period, get my focus and fire myself up. I got under the bar, find my grip on the thick intimidating handles, tensed up my breathing and my muscles and went for it. I was fighting with every fiber of my being. The struggle, the weight telling you you can't do it. I pressed hard, pushing & pushing until finally for a second, I locked out my arms as best as I possibly can muster. I did it, I fucking did it, I moved weight that was less than a couple inches from my chest and it was nearly 300 freaking pounds man. 

I don't know where it ranks me among guys who have done this, quite frankly I don't think I want to know. There are guys who can do far more than me and even done it on a 3 inch thick bar but what separates me from them is that they've done this for years, building levels of strength I can't even fathom and they're trained for this especially for Powerlifting. I'm no where near having the strength of a Powerlifter and it's not my dream to be one. To tell you the truth, I hardly ever trained any form of Benching since I was 19-20 years old when I maxed out doing a normal bench for 305. In the last month, I've only done maybe 3 Bench Press workouts and in the last 21 years, I've only done a bottom starting bench only one time prior to this on a damn smith machine and that was back in 2022 or so. Never in my life before this day have attempted this style of lift with Fat Gripz. So, to pull this off with no consistent training at all really, this was a proud moment for me and I got to do it in my 40's. 

This was awesome to have done and I get to keep this for moment for the rest of my life. I love being this strong and knowing that when you're so passionate about what you do, things will happen in the most unexpected places in the most unexpected ways. I'm grateful for this and if Bud is up in Valhalla somewhere looking down, I hope I made him proud. Thank you for taking the time to read this and hope you enjoyed it. Keep killing it in your journey and be amazingly awesome. 

Baby Baby Tell Me More Of Your Lies

 Ever done a workout that was so intense and powerful that when it's all said and done you just think to yourself "Holy fuck, did that really just happen?" Like it wasn't supposed to be THAT good but you come out of it not just smiling but feeling like you can take on the fucking gods. It has happened to me a time or two, those moments where everything is in place, you're locked in battle and when it's over, you're left standing with something beyond yourself.

Some workouts take us to another realm of what we can possibly achieve, others at times are just getting through and then walking out without thinking twice about it. The moment where it becomes epic is when in that point and time, it becomes an entity you didn't know existed. That rush of adrenaline, the feel of power surging and the awakening of strength that makes Zeus think "Glad he's on our side". We all have a power residing within us that we haven't let out yet. Could we achieve it on our own? Absolutely, it takes practice and guidance but once we understand where to unlock it, it opens the door to another world.

Certain things can trigger this power; it can be a memory, that voice in your head, your imagination, training with a friend or a group of people, listening to music, it can even be triggered by strong emotions. Unlocking it isn't the hard part, that's just the first step, the hard part is to consistently do it and be in control of it to the point where even in certain times of life, it's like flipping a damn switch. 

 It's like music, it creates vibrations and moves your mind. Not everyone is going to be hit with the same music, we all feel things differently. I'm an eclectic, I enjoy and feel things from different genres of music from metal to classical to 60's soul and/or rock and even Mongolian Folk Rock like The Hu. Now when I train, there are specific genres I put on or specifically songs that fire me up like from Miracle Of Sound, Ozzy, Godsmack, Peyton Parrish and others, closer to hard rock and metal. I don't put on things like ABBA or Hanson for that matter, I don't feel anything from those other than "switch to something else for the LOVE OF GOD". Some might be into them and get something but in my opinion, even Bud Jeffries has said to me while we were training that ABBA is the unmanliest music to work out to LOL. 

When I don't have music on, I can still go like crazy but something just hits me differently putting on a kick ass song or a playlist. I feel even more alive and have hit PRs listening to certain songs. The times I don't have a playlist or a song to start with, I use my imagination and think of either people beside me and telling me to keep going, or I picture something with the exercise I'm working on and make a game out of it or something epic to strive for. It works very but for me, music enhances all of those things. When I used to train with Logan Christopher from Lost Empire Herbs, we didn't use much music to do stuff, we had each other to push ourselves and learned things from one another that made us better in our sessions. Sometimes we used music and killed it with the things we did. Shit, his hand and thigh lifts at his height and weight were fucking unbelievable. The way he juggled a kettlebell was a sight to see, I can do a flip or two but he was doing things with as heavy as 70 lbs like it was baseball. 

You see, music brings vibrations that fires the neurons and takes us to places that we may not be able to do without it. I'm not saying you can't do great things if you don't listen to music while training, you sure as hell can, many have but a lot of us love music and use it to make our sessions look like we can take on the world by storm. Whoever tells you not to listen to music at all because it's distracting or just background noise while you train hasn't felt the true power of it and doesn't have a clue what it can truly do in a session. It's great that you don't and still have the power to make something incredible but don't you dare tell someone they can't and not experience something that can unleash something within them that turns a workout from going through the motions to something wild and epic. Music is power, music is a part of life and music can charge a person's strength to new heights. 

Be amazingly awesome and use that playlist you love or start off with a song that fuels you more than a Pre-Workout. Just an FYI, the title of this article is lyrics from a song I started listening to recently that is just beautiful, has a classic 80's rock vibe and gives me goosebumps. Although the story is about something else entirely but it still has a bad ass sound, great riff and vocals that are banging. 

Flawless Victory

 2 Words 90's kids love to hear when they played Mortal Kombat. Yesterday, I was messing around with Push-Ups and wanted to find out how my technique stood out doing just regular style, no handles, no PUGS, no fists, only the classic. Turned out better than I thought.

Push-Ups in general are weird for me since I'm a bit more one sided than the other so it wouldn't matter the variation, it was going to have some balance issues even if it's not noticeable to the naked eye. Yeah sure I've done plenty of them over the years and continue to do so but in ways that suit me and not what I've been told to do. In some sessions I'll do 100-200 and can do quite a few in a row without struggling much but I get just as much out of the Isometric versions without always going for reps. The Hybrid Push-Up variation from Overcoming Isometrics is my personal favorite and it's tough as shit as it builds strength from another perspective.

Before my 500 Rep Band Workout, I figured I'd see how my form was and do 25 in a row. I didn't focus so much on speed although I could explode up well, I rather focused on my control and balance. Safe to say it was one of the best sets I've ever done in quite a while. Were they completely flawless? Maybe not, there's always room for improvement but they were pretty fucking strict as best as I can make them and utilized tension in my back, legs and core while moving down to my chest to the floor and back up. 

See below.....

They weren't anything special, after all, they're just boring push-ups right? The truth is, if one wants to do 100's of them a day, that's awesome and it works for just about about anybody (emphasis on Just About) but for someone like me who likes to move things along and not spend a ton of time on them, I like to put my attention on creating the stimulus by performing them in a slower fashion, using as much tension as possible to move but only able to get 12-15 reps and I'd be spent for that set. Some like to do them in a partial format going as far as to only the mid point and back up doing Time Under Tension that way, I've done as many as 50-60 in a row doing that and it builds a hell of a pump. Guys like Mike Bruce do that and he's shredded while being in his 50's. It all depends on what you want to do.

Push-Ups is always going to be a classic and it's important to know them as a foundational and part aspect of strength training. If there was anyone that was the true GOAT of push-ups it's Jack Lalanne in my opinion, others like Herschel Walker & Mike Tyson were phenoms with them but Jack was in a class all by himself with the incredible things he did along with his inspiring training modalities. 

Use little progressions to build solid levels of strength but as long as you stick to the basics and focus on the technique and control of the movement beyond the numbers, you can go far. Here's a free guide to multiple variations from beginners to advanced with workouts and little challenges you can go for. Doesn't cost you an arm and a leg that some try to scam you on and don't have any real progressions that mean something. Some courses don't even give you a starting routine or how to progress to being able to do more, they just expect people to do whatever how many push-ups and determine how weak or strong someone is with no context other than calling them losers or worse. It's stupid and degrading.

Progress in your own time, once something becomes easy, do more or do a harder variation. A key thing to remember is, you always have room to grow, don't go to such extremes where the risk to injuries becomes greater. Train so you can minimize injuries. Some tend to push so hard themselves it's like they're asking to injure themselves on purpose. The hell kind of way is that to train? That's just needing to be on meds man. 

Be amazingly awesome and drop down and give me a few. See what's possible to build real world strength, not chase numbers to prove how above you are someone. 

Unleash The Essence Of A Fighter Dinosaur Style: 100 Strength Training Tips For Combat Athletes

 Do Dinosaurs fight? In this case, it sure as hell does. A legendary section from the Dinosaur Training course that first roared to life as a two-part article in The Dinosaur Files newsletter. We're talking way back in the late 90's, when the world was still chained to fluffy fitness fads and dumbbell curls for show. But, it has been seen that the mighty have risen! This wasn't just ink on paper; it was a thunderclap that shattered the status quo, and the echoes? They're still shaking the foundations of training halls worldwide.

Back then, The Dinosaur Files was the underground bible for those who craved real strength – not the polished, pretty-boy kind, but the primal, beast-mode power that turns men into legends. That two-part series on the "100 Tips"? It exploded like a keg of dynamite. Hands down, it may have been the most popular article ever to grace those pages. Feedback poured in like a tidal wave – letters, calls, smoke signals from the trenches. Trainers, fighters, and everyday warriors hailed it as the gospel of grit. Why? Because it wasn't about chasing mirrors or pumping for selfies. It was about forging unbreakable bodies for the real fight – combat, survival, dominance.

Fast forward through the decades, and watch the transformation unfold like a epic conquest. Those ideas Brooks unleashed? Once labeled "pretty far-out" by the skeptics – the keyboard critics and the barbell benchwarmers – they've clawed their way into the mainstream. Dinosaur methods aren't fringe anymore; they're the gold standard for combat athletes grinding it out on mats, in rings, and under the lights. Some of the best grapplers and strikers of all stripes adopted these secrets and ascend to glory. Hell, at least two World championships in grappling arts have been claimed by athletes who trained Dino-style. Think of it, a fighter wrapping his hands around gold, his body sculpted not by machines, but by the raw, unrelenting principles of old-school power. That's the Dinosaur roar echoing through victory!

But it doesn't stop in the cage or in a dojo. No fucking way, this revolution has stormed the fields, courts, and pitches like an unstoppable horde. Football players at high school, college, and pro levels? They're Dino devotees, bulldozing through lines with that unbreakable core strength. Rugby beasts? Charging like rhinos, thanks to the same brutal basics. Basketball phenoms? Leaping higher, enduring longer, all fueled by these timeless truths. One NFL head coach – a titan in his own right – was so fired up by these workout ideas and philosophy that he bulk-ordered copies of Dinosaur Training for every single player on his roster. How bad ass is that, an entire team of gridiron gladiators, each clutching the manual that turns potential into powerhouse. They didn't just read it; they lived it, pounding the iron with purpose, emerging as champions forged in fire.

And let's talk rugby royalty – the legendary All Blacks. One of their top strength coaches, a master of might, weaves Dinosaur methods into his programs like threads of steel. Those warriors from Down Under? They're not just playing; they're dominating with the kind of functional ferocity that only comes from embracing the basics: heavy lifts, grip work, odd-object training that mimics the chaos of battle. It's no coincidence they're perennial powerhouses. Then there's the NBA angle – a famous strength coach, back when he was molding the Chicago Bulls, was working with none other than Michael Jordan – the GOAT himself – and he credited Dinosaur Training for elevating their game. Picture MJ, soaring through the air, his explosive power amplified real-world strength over gym gimmicks. That's the ripple effect, brothers – from the hardwood to the end zone, Dino principles are the secret weapon.

Now, for those who think this is just sports fluff, let's crank it up a notch. Dinosaur Training isn't confined to arenas; it's infiltrated the front lines of real-world heroism. A man who specialized in tactical self-defense for Canadian law enforcement – yeah, the Mounties themselves – was a die-hard fan. He didn't just nod along; he integrated these methods into his curriculum, teaching officers how to harness raw power for survival scenarios. A Mountie, red serge and all, drilling Dino-style: sandbag carries for endurance, thick-bar pulls for unyielding grip, abbreviated workouts that build unbreakable resilience. In the heat of a takedown or a pursuit, that kind of strength isn't optional – it's life-saving. Yes, the guardians of the North train like Dinosaurs, proving these secrets transcend games and enter the realm of duty and defense.

What makes these 100 tips so enduring? It's the purity, the primal essence. We're talking about ditching the bullshit: no endless sets, no fancy machines, just heavy basics done right. Squats that build legs like tree trunks. Deadlifts that forge a back of steel. Presses that turn shoulders into boulders. Grip work that made the hands into weapons of destruction. Odd lifts – stones, barrels, anvils – that prepare you for the unpredictable grind of life. Mental toughness drills that turn doubt into dominance. Nutrition that's straightforward: fuel like a warrior, not a dieter. Recovery strategies that honor the body's roar, not its whisper. These aren't trends; they're timeless truths, drawn from the old-time strongmen who lifted before science tried to sanitize or even complicate strength.

Many have seen the evolution firsthand. In the '90s, folks scoffed at abbreviated training – "Too short? Not enough volume?" Now? It's the smart path for busy athletes who want results without burnout. Grip training was niche; today, it's essential for grapplers locking in submissions (Imagine trying to get out of a Double Wrist Lock when the guy applying it is like a vise). Functional strength over isolation? Combat sports live by it. Even periodization with Dino twists – waves of intensity, deloads like a beast in hibernation – has become staple. And the community? It has exploded. Forums buzz with Dino stories, gyms echo with the clang of real iron, and social media warriors (the good kind) share their triumphs.

Don't just read about these incredible tips – embody them! Whether you're a weekend warrior, a pro athlete, or a first-responder honing your edge, these principles are your forge. Start simple: Pick three basics, hit them hard, recover smart. Build that Dinosaur mindset – relentless, unbreakable, ever-evolving. I've done a few things in honor of this course because I believe in the power of the primal. From those newsletter pages to world stages, the proof is in the pudding.

As we charge into the future, remember: Strength isn't given; it's seized. These are your arsenal. Grab 100 Strength Training Tips For Combat Athletes, apply the fire, and watch your world transform. Are you in? Drop your Dino stories below, I want to know what it did to help you in your journey. Be amazingly awesome.

Here's a powerful song to amp you up that makes Pre-Workout look weak. WarChants man. Hear the Goblin War Drums....