Changing Up The Squat In The Legs Deck Of Cards Workout

 Changing things up can be a good thing in order to keep interest and develop something new to stay ahead of the game. Although I'm not the biggest fan of High Rep Squats, I do understand their value and what they bring to the table in conjunction with Step Ups instead of just purely Squats. On Sunday, I decided to change it up doing my Legs Deck Of Cards workout since I was having a bit of  rough day and wanted to get some shit out of my system. I switched up the Hindu Squats I normally do and threw in the Pan Squats instead. 

The Pan Squats are another variation of the Bodyweight Squat or more specific the Goblet Bodyweight Squat. You can view the exercise here to get more of an idea but the point is that I wanted to see what I can do with it since it has been a while. I learned this simple exercise from Strongman Kevin Wikse who learned it from a Troupe Of Dancers when he put it out in his Leg Training course from Heroic Evolution some time ago. This exercise may not seem much like other versions of a Squat but it is a good one where it takes certain pressure off the knees and builds some decent strength & conditioning when done for high reps. 

The one big deference between this Squat and other variations isn't really the placement of the legs but the placement of the arms. You put the wrists and forearms together as best as you can like you're holding an imaginary chalice or (if you're religious and/or seen Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade) the cup of Christ which opens up the scapula while pushing the chest inward which constricts the breath a bit. I've been doing this exercise off and on for years and have done as many as 500 reps in a workout and it's a doozer. It was named the Pan Squat after the God Pan, the mythological creature that runs the forest and hones the sexual desire for the Nymphs. It's a representation of building healthy hormones by doing leg training and having a strong libido as Pan himself is well known to have. So in the Deck Of Cards, I did 500 Step Ups & 250 Pan Squats, shirt was drenched afterwards. 

I have always believed Squats have their place but not always looked at with a Dogmatic Approach. Conditioning is a platform that should be used throughout anyone's lifetime and having a healthy and strong libido even into older age is a hell of a perk to have. Things like Squats, Step Ups, Lunges, Split Squats and others are great for this and don't need to be done in high reps to make things work. You can hit them in different manners like going fast or doing them slower to hit the leg muscles hard and build strength from there. It's really a matter of your goals. In this case for the article, I tackled the Pan Squats with the Step Ups to get a different feel of my leg training. Unlike the Hindu Squats, the Pan Squats felt heavier cause I can feel it way more when I did the Step Ups. Hindus give more of a spring like movement which is great for building your cardio and speed, Pan Squats tend to put more tension into the leg muscles which in turn hits the lactic acid buildup much quicker from my experience. This in turn can bring greater strength and developing the muscles in the thighs. Imagine doing 250-500 of these, it's a nasty exercise despite its simplicity. 

Overall, it's just a different exercise that hits the muscles in another way, it's really nothing special or in terms of its name a GODLY exercise. I like them because every now and then especially in the winter time up here, my shin and ankles do tend to have more tenderness and putting pressure on them in certain formats causes major discomfort that makes me uneasy so I need to train accordingly. With these Squats, I can take the pressure off the knees and ankles and focus more on the thighs without feeling that discomfort. It feels good in that regard and although soreness comes easier with these squats, I can still do hundreds of reps whether in a row or in total without feeling tender in those areas. Not to mention I feel more testosterone build up from this exercise than I do the Hindus by maybe a good 20-30%. Give it a go.

Kevin has said in his course (which I'm sure he'll still tell you if you manage to get a hold of him) that when he learned this exercise from the Dancers, they would do this for probably no more than a thousand reps but it keeps them in superior condition for their chosen endeavor because it hits the legs to a degree where they can move with ease without pain in their joints since we know many injuries that occur in Dancing tend to be the knees, ankles and hips. This exercise strengthens those areas so these people can dance with little effort and with less injury. Now this isn't just for Dancing, it can be used for Combat Sports, Football, Wrestling, Soccer and other activities. 

Keep being amazingly awesome and get some bad ass leg training in. It's good for your health especially the heart.

Holy Shit It's Bigfoot

 If you get the reference, kudos to you. Can you last 3 minutes in the Bigfoot Exercise Challenge? 

It may not look like much but it is for sure a great exercise for the legs. It is a little out there especially with the name but the effects of it are more than what people think. When you first see it, where the hell is the resistance, what does the range of motion initially? Give it a go and see what happens.

Pretty quickly you'll feel it in your thighs and your ass. If you can do it for a good length of time, you'll feel quite the sensation (even within 30 seconds). It is no joke especially if you want to condition the legs along with strength & durability. Here's the reality, many people even at a higher level of training don't always know what works and what should be thrown in the trash (CrossFit anyone?). A lot live in this dogmatic world that consistently believes that more weight comes to more results, the greater range of motion means more results and that compound movements such as the Squat & Deadlift are the kings of developing the lower body. Don't get me wrong, those lifts are essential to many things such as powerlifting, strongman training and certain aspects of sports specific training but they're not Mount Olympus caliber either. 

Here's a shocker for you: Many movements end up being in a partial range of motion. Not only that, but also because of the dynamics and mechanics of a lot of movements, there are a ton of Semi-Unilateral & Semi-Bilateral moves that are similar to the Bigfoot Walk. Think about it for a second like a martial artist or a wrestler, if their stance is too wide, his power and speed won't be as effective plus they can be caught easier in specific positions. With a firm and balanced stance (watch a wrestler like Dan Gable or Jordan Burroughs), it's a little more closed in, it's not spread out and out of unison. Similar to a Hockey Player, he needs that balance on those skates, if his range of motion is out of sync with controlling the puck, he's going to tear a groin, skates will go berserk and he can't be at his best or even at the most basic level of play. 

This particular movement is a lot more useful to do for real life and sports. It's weird to look at but it's not any weirder than crouching and walking through bushes or practicing various stances in wrestling or other combat sports. You're only squatting down a bit but instead of coming back up, you stay in that position and move around or hold for a period of time, simple but not as easy as it looks. People with knee issues (small levels) could benefit from this exercise. It creates constant tension and you're shifting from one leg to another. 

This is just another look at the wide range of exercises you can learn from such as the ones from Movement 20XX that incorporate full body application and progressions that hit many muscle groups and can get you in killer condition and long-term strength whether you're an athlete, a complete beginner, older trainee or just those who want to be in shape for the long haul. Some of these may be too advanced for some but overall, these exercise will take you to places in your fitness journey you may haven't experienced before. 

Be adventurous, take up the challenge if you can. If you can't last the full 3 minutes that's ok, build up to it little by little. Keep striving to be better and keep being amazingly awesome.  

The Inspiration Of A Half Man Half Goat

    

     In various religions, there is a symbol of man of with horns on his head and goat legs; they like to think of this creature as a sign of the devil and that evil lurks in all those that look like him. The Satyr however is more so the opposite in my opinion. His story if you look at Greek/Roman mythology (Roman would call this Satyr Faunus) is a tale of living life to the fullest. Letting our desires become a reality in a loving and free-spirited fashion. Living life being who you are, love whom you want and celebrating until you are no longer on the earth. Does that sound like a symbol of the Devil to you? I'm not against anyone who has religious points of view but I don't like certain views that makes it sound like it's trying to control everyone and make them feel unworthy because they don't believe in what you do. Pan really loves all kinds of things (especially Nymphs but that's another story) and doesn't want you to feel unworthy. Sure we have urges that we could balance out but not controlled.

 
    Pan is a dancer and uses music as his voice. However no matter how much study I put into on this awesome symbol of love and celebration he'll always sound Irish in my head for some reason, I'll let you sink that in for a second. Back to the task at hand, one of the key aspects of his life playing the "Pan" Pipes and dancing is that he does it with passion and incredible strength and agility. Most who look at Ballet Dancers think of this prissy, stuck up and bad acting when in fact if you look close enough, Ballet has pound for pound the strongest legs in the world because it's not just tip toeing around a stage, it's using graceful skill and using the legs as the voice of the play that is taking place. Salsa Dancers at their best are absolutely incredible and the women with their beautiful bodies and amazing strength to move in ways that can make a man blush (it happens trust me). For women, they move in ways no man can and I'm not saying this to be sexist, men can move too but have to move more weight because we are denser and have greater amount of hormones being thrown out. Dancers in reality are known for not just incredible leg strength, agility and flexibility but how they use them with undeniable passion.

 
    When it comes to leg training, nothing builds your natural hormone levels greater. The leg muscles are the strongest in the human body and can withstand greater stress than any other parts. One of the best basic forms of building leg strength is the squat. Now granted I'm not just talking putting a barbell on your back and going up and down, there are many variations of the squat. One of my favorite exercises is the way Sumo Wrestlers do their squats; We know that Sumo guys are these big, humongous beasts that are mostly covered with fat and look like they can't move around very well, truth is they may not have great endurance but their legs are incredibly strong and very agile. Believe me do 100 Squats Sumo Style and you'll be feeling wobbly afterwards, they're tough. Beyond the squat, there are sprints, lunges, wall sits, jumping and moving like a wild animal; think of moving like a frog, a kangaroo, a stalking lynx or hopping with great power like a Jack Rabbit, your legs will become stronger, your tendons will burst with strength and your explosiveness is off the charts. Your Growth Hormone will shoot up and this will help you gain strength, build a powerful metabolism and help you stay young. Wouldn't that be awesome?

 
    Leg training when you do it correctly and not risking injury or trying use so much that you tear something; you extend your energy to your sex organs. Wow did I really just write that, did I break the fourth wall? Sex is a beautiful thing, sure there are idiotic ways of showing it but true and passionate sex is incredible. When you learn to do incredible training with the legs it jump starts the system in that area more than anything else. Add in flexibility training and you got yourself a winner. It's not all about how much muscle you have or how flexible you are (it does help in some ways) it's about how you bring that passion and energy into it and then using that energy for something else. It's learning to channel yourself and understanding how you balance yourself. It's different for each individual but the common theme is that good and smart leg training will lead you to great health in many forms. No matter your age, you can increase your hormones naturally if you apply yourself the correct way for you. So next time you think Pan is the devil and all that, think of it in a different perspective. The power he possesses with his legs can actually show you ways of strengthening your body that you didn't think of before. Love one another and share this incredible life with as many people as possible and channel your energy in a very positive and productive way.

 
Happy Monday everyone and get your hands one of the most unique systems on the planet the Pan Program.

 
    

Get Them Legs Moving

            For most of us guys, our legs were meant to be strong, powerful and muscular, not look like a bird. I've seen guys in the gym, at parks and other places where their upper bodies look like they were made out of granite but from the waist down, they look like a flamingo on a bad day. Granted I understand for some people, muscle isn't built that easily but yet some have pretty damn strong tendons and a body that is more ripped, defined and looking like iron cords but yet at the same time, they’re still strong in some form or another.

            To get an understanding of how the legs are vastly important, when done right and at a certain pace that’s built up, the legs are the very core to our fertility and our growth hormone levels that help burn fat, build muscle, recover faster, burn calories and balanced increase in Testosterone. Ever heard of the Satyr Pan? He is one hell of a god (or deity whatever stories you read). He can teach us more on leg training than most care to learn but for certain reasons, we would rather give him crap for his lust, uncontrollable sex drive and for “looking like the devil.” In the stories I've read, he has a passion for life and loves the ladies (in this case Nymphs) but he also teaches us how to be free and explore our true selves while being happy and living with gusto and virility. In my opinion, when it comes to leg training, he shows more on how to gain “Our loins” than anybody else by dancing, having a zest for life from within and building our testosterone levels that can go to great lengths without the need for drugs or any of that crap.

            Powerful legs go a long way (literally and figuratively) because we follow them wherever we go, we walk, we run and we even them to exploit our “Assets” in the media. Think about it, for women, legs are the very foundation to get someone’s attention, beautiful and lithe legs with a great waistline and a beautiful butt. For guys, our legs are the key to gaining virility, super strength and boost in natural growth hormone that builds muscle, loses fat, gain strength and testosterone that shoots through the roof more than any lethal injection combined because it gives that natural balance in muscle and tendon strength.

            Think of the energy you can possess if you used real, basic leg training that gives you a meaning to your life, be able to run, jump, squat, dance and be able to live with strength, unimaginable endurance and a love from within that has you smiling without thinking twice about it. Real physical power comes from the legs and it can open the door to health and fitness like you've never had before. Build up patiently and you’ll see the many wonders of health and strength from using your legs.

Tips For Boosting Testosterone Without Steroids

          Many athletes today use those dumb and overwhelming dangerous steroid methods to boost their career stats, recover quicker, heal faster yet it’s slowly killing them. This isn't just for athletes but with men and women, who want to look better, feel like their invincible and will help them get noticed quicker because of its “anti-aging” affects. Why rely on something that is dangerous to your health when there are ways to boost yourself naturally and more safely.

            Your Willpower is like a steroid if you learned how to use it right, when you put your internal strength at a level that gives you that boost of adrenaline, fire and the desire to create instant magic. Imagine being able to create thoughts and make them into actions that can help you be successful in just about every endeavor you desire. As an athlete, you want to boost better running, jump higher, recover quicker, hit more homeruns, score more touchdowns and even win a medal at the Olympics. In fitness, being strong and fit is a major desire for just about everyone but some prefer one over the other. To be strong and fit, you think into what you want, use what’s called Theater Of The Mind to picture yourself as if you were watching your own movie, a movie that has a story to tell, that breaks into the very core of what you want to achieve. If you learn it right for you, you can create just about anything you want.

            One of the key ingredients to successful testosterone boosting is using the strength and power of your legs. Your legs are the very foundation for a youthful body that strives to become not only fit, but crazy strong. When I talk about leg training, I’m not referring to jumping up and down on a Taebo or a P90X video; I’m referring to building strong and powerful legs through basic elements that give you strength, stamina and flexibility. Squats are incredible and with certain ones especially that fit to your interests and your structure, you can boost levels of natural growth hormone you never expected to get.

            For men, picture having strong and mighty legs that can go distances, have strong tendons that can carry over to lifting and/or carrying heavy objects, climbing with ease and have endurance like crazy, for women, picture having sexy and head turning legs that are lithe, beautiful and strong that can make you outrun most men if you’re in danger, having great flexibility that even gymnasts would be impressed by. It’s all within your reach if you want it bad enough, to develop that mind/muscle connection internally without ever needing something dangerous can kill you more than help you in the long-run (pun intended).

            For some, people use cardio to get fit, others use high intensity training. I feel both are essential but yet the shorter the better. They each have pros and cons but each one has more to offer than you realized. I’m not talking about walking on a treadmill or running 10 miles a day, what I want you to know is that cardio can mean different things for example, if you’re doing circuit training for say like 30 min. and it keeps your heart rate at your peak levels, that’s cardio.

            High Intensity Training is a bit different, your workouts are shorter and you bring more of the muscle fibers into play that normally won’t work in the cardio sense. An example of this would be Sprints, you run at a high speed for a certain short period of time say like for no more than 30 seconds. You won’t be running at full 100% of your speed because that can last only for a couple seconds because everything that is fired in won’t have that long to tangle with. Doing sprints at 4-10 sets is great and you don’t need to do them everyday, no more than 2-3 times a week and this alone can burn fat faster, boost metabolism, raise your growth hormone up to 10 times more than the latest steroid injection or pill.

            My last tip for now is the use of Cold Showers. This method has been used for countless centuries and for good reason. You see, hot water back in the old days was more of a luxury than anything else because unless you found a place that has hot water like in the springs or something, you would most likely have used cold water. Let me rephrase the first thing here sorry, I meant to say Cold Water Therapy. Cold Showers is more or less than a couple hundred years but Cold Water like Ice Baths or being under a waterfall or jumping in a cold lake/ocean is more likely to happen. This method helps your body in more ways you can imagine.

            It sucks jumping into cold water or has it poured on you but it builds mental strength just as much as it could help you in a physical sense. When you’re cold water, your body heat shifts into overdrive and unlike hot water which hits the skin more, cold water hits the skin but your body heat shifts more to the organs to keep you warm. When you feel like you’re having a heart attack and you’re breathing heavy, that’s what the heart and lungs are doing to keep you warm. When this breathing happens, it feels like you’re going through hell and like a workout it puts you into another state of mind. Deep breathing in Cold Water brings a whole new way of thinking into your body, letting it work for you and feeling like you can take on the world. Cold Water can help you burn fat; lose weight, build definition in the muscles because of the involuntary muscle contraction and it teaches you to build your body internally. It’s very relaxing afterwards and it gives you a sense of clarity and peacefulness, also it wakes your ass up quicker than a slap in the face.

            Treasure these tips, not many want to reveal these to you because they feel if they keep it to themselves they’ll feel like they’re better than you and you’re inferior to them. I don’t want to do that to you, I want to help you and give you ways to help yourself and build strength in as many ways as possible naturally and without doing anything dangerous or put you in a state of fear. Be smart but also be tough and have fun.

The Most Natural Steroid

             It doesn't take injections to build a healthy and strong body. A lot of people feel that if you’re in shape you look beautiful and have big muscles and can do anything. Unfortunately that’s not always the case. Sure there are some kick ass looking people out there but that doesn't always mean they’re in great shape from within. What most don’t realize is that how you train the body from within puts a whole new emphasis on what comes out as you see. Some athletes take steroids to amp up their game and most end up looking like a cartoon character than a healthy human being. There are more natural ways to gain lean healthy body mass and still have great strength both inside and outside.

            When it comes to growth hormone, it’s that component that gives us natural mass and great beautiful skin that also keeps our metabolism high which means more fat burning and more natural muscle. When our growth hormones are compromised especially as we age it becomes even more important because if we just let things go and be a past thing and believe we can’t have a beautiful and lithe natural muscular body then our bodies will become frail and we’ll lose bone density and become old and withering. To prevent this, it’s been said that intense training at a short amount of time helps keep the metabolism high and the fat loss more stable.

            Sprint training is one of the fastest fat burning methods that have ever been done. When you do sprints right and you can do them on a track, a hill or maybe you can sprint in place you don’t last very long, maybe no more than 30 seconds at a your best clip. You can do this up to no more than 2-3x a week. The reason why you don’t need to do them everyday is because they jack up your system so high that you have no choice but to rest and recover. Believe it or not when you sprint, the majority of your workout is resting. Build up and if you’re ballsy enough for 1 day a week, do one sprint at a very long distance say a maximum of 200 yards. This type of training alone can increase your growth hormone by more than 500%, that’s 10-15x more than the latest injections or artificial steroids.

            A very important factor to remember is that to get the best out of building lean body mass and healthy muscle is to do plenty of leg training. Our legs are the very foundation to how our bodies generate the sexual energy in our system. Think about it, our lower body has more than half the strongest parts in the human body. I’m not saying you should neglect your upper body but yet I've seen more than my fair share of men and women who have a great upper body but have flamingo legs. Paint them pink and people will mistake them for a freaking bird lol. Train the legs often and have fun with them. Some of the strongest legs on a human come from Ballet, try it sometime, it’s not as easy as it looks. Animal training has plenty of leg work like Frog Jumps, Duck Walks, Bear Crawls, Kangaroo, Rabbit and others. Squats are very powerful in building muscular strength and vitality as well as virility. Great leg training increases sex drive, incredible energy and mighty endurance to keep going in what you love to do.

            Build strong and powerful legs and you’ll see how far you get in your endeavors. For men you can build natural testosterone and have muscular and mighty thorough bread legs, for women, you can have those firm, tight and enduring legs that will make men’s heads turn. Strength & Vitality at it’s best.

Thoroughbred Legs Are The Driving Force

            They say if you have strong legs, you have a stronger body. When it comes down to it, our legs are the driving force for superhuman conditioning. In football, you need strong and fast legs to run down the field, in basketball, you need quick footwork in order to defend or move with the ball, in Baseball; your hips and legs help hit homeruns and steal bases and also running down the ball for a diving catch. If you’re in the military, we need our legs to carry our comrades, our equipment and to run down the enemy in combat. Law Enforcement needs strong legs to take down suspects in the toughest of situations. Let’s face it; our legs are our best weapons.

            In mythology, one of the strongest deities is the Satyr Pan. Although he has a reputation for having a crazy sex-drive and having courting many nymphs, he’s one of the strongest and most agile creatures in the stories. His entire lower body is that of a goat which gives him a distinct advantage in running down his enemies but also defend himself with powerful legs. He is a symbol of virility and superhuman leg strength. Our legs give off more energy than just about everywhere else in the human body because it is the center of our hormones.

            Our legs are the center of our hormones. If you do it right, we give off natural growth hormone which helps us in health, vitality, strength, stamina and an increase of testosterone. For men this is crucial and it’s important to put in good amount of time dedicated to leg training. Our bodies shift into overdrive when you use our legs. One of the key ingredients for mighty legs is to do sprints. For up to no more than 30 seconds we run down somewhere as fast as we can muster. Marathon training is good in some cases but if you want lean muscle mass than you better move fast. Like the Satyr, Animal Training is very good in increasing your testosterone levels to a great degree, say like doing frog jumps, duck walks, running like a bear or sprinting like an Emu, these will create a shift in the body that will develop powerful muscle but increase your conditioning at the same time.

            The foundation for powerful legs is the Squat. You don’t need to lift weights to get an awesome leg workout but with the right tools, you can have that option and is just as powerful. Bodyweight Squats however give off more hormone induced energy in my opinion because there are many ways to do a squat but if you do them in high numbers, a Satyr might have some stiff competition. Another great form of training to get your legs going is doing Isometrics. When you do Leg Isometrics, you’re working the body from all sorts of angles and strengthening the tendons and ligaments that keep the body together. Imagine being on the gridiron and pivoting, running and moving in a diagonal direction on the field and never getting injured because of your strong tendons.

            How many injuries can you count where an athlete or the average person got injured and it was due to torn muscles and ripped tendons in the legs? Countless. I definitely share some ground with this from my injury back in 2005. I had to rebuild my body from scratch and constantly had to work my legs to where it was pain-free. To this day I still have some discomfort because of the rod and pins holding my bones together but can still knock out over 100 squats without batting an eye and maintain great flexibility in my legs that I could never do when I was in my teens. Take the time to work on your legs. For women, you want those sleek and toned but strong legs, squat and get in some leg work because strong legs create a strong person. If you got legs, make them super strong, fast, agile and powerful because it becomes crucial when you need them the most.