The Bodyweight Exploits Of Spiderman

                

               Out of the many classic superheroes, Spiderman seems to be the most athletic in the sense where he doesn’t have the weightlifter physique or the bodybuilder look but he moves like an athlete should. He has the most control in his body to weight ratio and moves with unbelievable grace and power at the same time.

                In Bodyweight Training, you learn to control your body through movements that require no equipment (unless you do pull-ups). For the most part when people begin lifting weights they don’t realize that mastering your own bodyweight ought to be more important before even touching a weight. I’ve seen guys in the gym who can lift more than double their bodyweight but can’t hold their own in a single push-up or pull-up. Handling your own bodyweight goes a long way in learning how to contract and extend the muscles with fluidity and great power. Some use Yoga to do Bodyweight Training, others learn how to master their body through Handbalancing or Gymnastics.

                Mastering your body in various directions can give you strength that weights can’t touch. Think of it like this, a man can bench press 400 lbs. but most likely can’t do 400 push-ups; the two exercises are different but one uses more muscles than the other. I’m not saying if you could do 400 push-ups you’ll automatically lift that same number but yet you have mastered an exercise that requires deep concentration, working more than the upper body and there are many variations you can do. To master your bodyweight, you work from as many angles as possible using as many muscles in a single exercise. Karl Gotch once said “you don’t need to do much, for doing a lot.” You can have ultimate mastery when you can control your body in very difficult movements or holds like a free standing handstand, one-legged squat, finger pull-ups, front levers with one arm, the iron cross on the gymnastic rings, the various planch positions these are all examples of what great mastery can achieve.

                When most learn bodyweight training, they usually go through the motions and just learn an exercise. Now here’s a small tip to create bigger results; learn to use your imagination. Creating a vision in your mind and applying it to your exercises can generate even greater strength because a different thought creates a different result. When you do squats, instead of just counting reps and thinking of just squats, picture in your mind something cool that makes you do squats like if you have to duck from a hazardous object like Indiana Jones did in the Last Crusade or doing Hindu Squats and imagining you have to row a boat where you squat down and rowing the oars, think of the result coming out of that and how much fun it can be and not dreading just the exercise. Thinking differently with feeling can give you far greater results than just going through the motions.  Picture yourself being superhuman and training to save your city from evil.

                Spiderman is one of those superheroes most can relate to, sure he has super powers we don’t have but like anyone else, he can be hurt or worse get killed. He doesn’t have that overpowering physique most heroes have; full of muscle and all that, he just seems like a regular guy when he’s not being a superhero. Don’t forget, some of the ordinary looking people can have extraordinary gifts. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Be awesome everyone, have a badass weekend and have fun. First day of summer is tomorrow, the longest day of the year, make it a blast.

Conserving Your Breathing

            The breath is the most important factor in the human body. We can for days without water, weeks without food but yet we can only live a few minutes holding our breath. The way we breathe in the fitness world is a bit strange at times. You can breathe in and out your nose or mouth; breathe in through the nose, out the mouth or in the nose and out the nose. There are many ways to breathe but during exercise apparently we have to breathe in and out one time with one rep. That’s how we’re normally taught, even in bodyweight type exercises like the squat and push-up, inhale up, exhale down or vise versa.

            What if we switched gears a bit so you can get a few extra reps without breathing in and out every single time? Learn to breathe differently, conserve your energy and your breathing. If you’re breathing too much, too early, you may get wined. It’s like a wrestling match, you need to keep your body strong and supple and part of that is your breathing, if you get winded too quickly (or as they say in pro wrestling you Blow Up), you won’t be as efficient and you won’t be able to handle the stress and possibly end up losing. What does the breath feel like, sound like and where does the driving force of it come from. Do an exercise like push-ups, inhale for 2 reps and exhale for 2 reps, you just did 4 reps in one breath. Now do it a little consistently. It’s not easy and it takes getting use to but you can get more out of your reps with the control of your breathing power.

            Doing the same old thing can lead to boredom and as the definition of insanity is; doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Here at Power & Might, I look to help you find and give information that can help you from another perspective. Thinking differently, helping you get more out of what most people teach. Deep Breathing is one of the most powerful aspects of Physical Culture because it doesn’t just help you become physically strong but mentally strong as well.

            Fluidity is another important aspect of your training. Like Bruce Lee has stated being like water, it’s fluid, powerful and can give life as well as destroy it. Moving with grace and power is far more important than grunting, making little mad faces and being narrow dimensional. Expand your power; one course that is the center of this is CoreForce Energy, teaching how to expand your power, your breathing and your imagination to instantly get stronger and faster. Open up to building a stronger body from within and take your strength to levels that you thought were impossible.

Be awesome my friends.  

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. 

Superhuman Fitness

            Training has a meaning for different people and most of the time; they never take action to drive for what they really want. They want results fast but never put in the effort to put in the work it takes to get fit and strong. Some use aerobics as a workout and if that’s what they like more power to them but that’s not the kind of fitness I’m talking about. Others have used Crossfit to get in awesome shape; I’m all for pushing yourself but again not the kind of fitness I’m talking about. So what kind of fitness am I talking about?

            Taking fitness to a superhuman level requires not just effort but the will to progress by mastery. When you go to the gym, how many people do you see going from exercise to exercise like it’s a supermarket? They pick exercises and throw them in without looking at the big picture. Like a grocery list, you want to get what’s on it and not subject yourself to getting more than you have to. Take that concept and put it into training. Find the exercises you want to master. The fewer you want to master the better because it teaches you how to focus on what you’re doing and progress to a higher level of the exercise whether it’s more sets/reps, a more advanced version, changing the speed and tempo whatever. Mastery is a key to reaching superhuman potential.

            The biggest key is your imagination. Without it, you’ll just strolling along, not making any real progress, you might get some results but no where near the results you’re looking for. When you’re training, think into your exercises, picture yourself in a certain situation. Lifting Odd Objects like a keg or log for example; picture as if you’re in a place where it’s crucial for those things to be lifted. You’re in a big warehouse and those kegs of beer or whatever you see in them need to be carried onto a truck and sent out, time is of the essence and if you don’t make your quota you’re going to lose your job. Random I know but if it’s your job to make a certain quota wouldn't you want to keep it?

            You can use your imagination for anything you wish. Got a Sledgehammer and a tire, picture yourself in the woods, chopping down some lumber to take home and either built your home or bring in firewood to help keep you and your family warm so they don’t freeze to death. Each time you hit that tire, there’s more wood to put on the fire place, more wood to build something. Like Isometrics, push against the wall and picture yourself as if you’re in ancient Egypt and you’re moving blocks of heavy stone to help build the pyramids, or picture yourself in a secret chamber where gravity really takes you down (for you Dragonball Z fans) and the only way to stay up and move is by Muscle Control that gives you the strength to do any exercise you wish. 

            These are just examples but whatever you’d like to come up with be sure to focus and never let go of it. It’s like being able to fly like Peter Pan; sprinkle some pixie dust and think happy thoughts so in real life it be your feeling and energy as your pixie dust and your imagination is your happy thoughts, bring them together and magic happens.

            A food for thought if you want to become superhuman is to be challenge yourself at the right time and know when to back off but never being satisfied. When will you know to challenge yourself? It’ll come when you feel the need for a challenge, push yourself a little harder, do a few extra sets and reps, and test a new variation whatever it might be but sooner or later it’ll happen. Stepping back after a challenge doesn't mean you’re giving up, it means you want to get better and you need to rest up but again it doesn't mean you’re done. 

         Progress your way up, take a step back if you need to and challenge yourself often. A Superhuman doesn't prance around like a pretty boy, he challenges himself, he rises above those who don’t have the drive but also help those find that drive and show them how they can rise themselves. Want to be Superhuman; you have the power to be. It’s within you.