Getting Stronger & Limber

 At a good point to where I'm close to 100% healed up. Been doing the DDP Yoga Workouts for 24 days straight now and just feeling better and better each time. Some days I'll do beginner to intermediate, every few days or so I'll do one or two of the brutal ones and repeat that. None of them are easy and some are just so damn nasty it works me like a motherfucker but I love it. 

Starting to get my itch back with Isometrics as well and even did some Step Ups last night. Managed a total of 100 in sets of 25 per leg. Don't want to jump into my normal stuff just yet, keep a level head of the DDP Yoga and focus on building my flexibility and mobility. My strength & endurance is back at full force as well because of the continuous holds and movements of DDP Yoga.

Even tested myself with a 5 min Micro Workout of just picking up my 20 lb Sandbell to my chest, drop and repeat as many times as possible. Just working things back up and strengthening those areas and hitting many muscle groups at once. Hit 74 reps in 5 minutes lifting a total of nearly 1500 lbs. Felt some discomfort but that was to be expected because I haven't done that kind of workout in over a month. No pain though and didn't go Speedy Gonzales on it either, just steady pacing and technique intention. 

The walking has become much easier and limping almost not at all now. Went shopping at grocery stores with the wife and was pretty much cruising without a hitch. Even had an afternoon lunch and movie the same day, even walked around a park area. Happy to get things going again and our 5th anniversary is only a few days away so I'm definitely happy I'm in the shape for it. 5 years Married, Together for 9 years and couldn't be more excited for it. I can be a sappy bastard but hey, it's my nature.

Being strong and limber again is teaching me how precious and important it is to have those attributes and not take anything for granted. Being mindful and taking better care by doing things more methodically and better intent. I'll still do some things fast but not to the point where I lose my sense of awareness. Maybe that was one of the contributing factors to getting hurt again was not being aware of what was going on and just being this crazy guy doing crazy workouts. I'm still that guy but need to be more present and utilize technique and what my body is telling me. Not be so gung ho and paying more attention to what my body can do at the beginning, during and after a workout. If I need to take a break from time to time I'll take it. Not going to try to keep up the same pace, back off when I need to and go hard when it calls for it. 

Injuries are not to be fucked with. They happen and we can't 100% avoid them but we can be more intentional about listening to our bodies, especially as we get older. Some guys will just go hard until they're in the ground, others are trying to prove how manly they are by doing things that probably aren't good for their body in the long run. I'm learning daily myself this and learning more and more that I have nothing to prove to anyone but myself. I love to share demos and things like that but I'm not going to inflate my ego just to prove how tough I 'am and try to outwork anyone. It's not worth it anymore.

Health and progressing little by little is more important than how far I can go with a 70 lb Sandbell or try to do 1000 Reps with a Hammer in 25 minutes or less. Train for function and making strides without breaking down. I still want to do carries, swing a hammer, do bodyweight stuff and work the Dopa Band, it's just a matter of what is possible without risking highly for injuries again. 

Will this ever happen again? I sure as hell am going to do my damndest to make sure it doesn't and take things one day at a time. Pain in one sense tells you that you're still alive but it also brings misery and heartache to yourself and to those around you. I felt so guilty and ashamed of what I put the people I love through was just horrifying and made me hate myself. This is the lesson I'm learning right now and making little changes, do things a little differently and being more aware, not to the point where I'm cautious all the time or whatever but to more in the present and listening to my body because the very thought of doing this again after just healing would shatter my very soul. 

As for my weight, I'm right at around 235-236 right now and plan on losing a bit more weight, already looking slimmer and I have my appetite back with a vengeance. I also don't want lose so much weight I start to look older than my age lol. Maybe that's partially an ego thing but I like having my good genes and stay looking as young as I can. Just got to keep things in stride.  

A Month In Hell

 It has been a minute since I wrote anything here as of late and for a reason. My sciatica came back and I've been dealing with it just over a month now. Don't know exactly what caused it to come back, maybe a factor of things but it did happen and the pain was so severe that I could barely even stand up, let alone able to walk.

Couldn't sleep in my own bed for weeks and had to sleep on a soft mattress on the floor. Not going into gross details about using the restroom so I'll leave that out. Couldn't sit upright to even eat or drink anything so I had to lay literally on my back or on my side to do those things and needed help getting supplies in order to brush my teeth or even shave. I didn't have anybody lift me up to walk because let's face it, it's not something I want people to attempt with me. When I did walk, every step felt like pin needles and a crowbar hitting my lower back and my right leg like Babe Ruth swinging a baseball bat. 

You know shit gets bad when you can't even sit down to do anything. I' am very grateful for the help I did get and made a vow to myself and to them that when I'm 100%, I'm making up for those things as if my life depended on it. For exercise, I was barely able to move my legs to stretch without feeling pain. I had to fight for every inch of movement just to even get some in. In the beginning, I focused mainly on stretching and using my Iso Bow for Isometric Training so my upper body was still strong enough to move around. A lot of crawling took place and couldn't go up a flight of stairs for at least 2-3 weeks. The pain was so horrible I didn't want anybody around me at times because I would've just been a terrible person to be around. 

I ended up losing some muscle mass in my legs because the pain was so bad I couldn't walk a couple feet without collapsing. Even the last time I went to see a chiropractor I was in such bad shape walking in and out of the building felt like an eternity. I didn't take a bunch of pain killers or heavy doses of muscle relaxers, for supplantation I took Vitamin B, some Ibprophen and a pain reliever throughout the day every few hours, a couple capsules for Nerve and blood circulation, Zinc, Potassium & Magnesium. When I did take relaxers, I took a small dose (or at least to me it was small) of them at night but that barely even helped at all as most nights I wouldn't be able to sleep. Lots of Heat & Ice as well.

One of the worst feelings other than the pain was having no appetite. I would barely eat once a day and that was just so I can take the supplements so they can kick in. Little by little as time went on, I did start eating more and ate mainly eggs, bacon and toast. The only things I drank was mainly water and liquid IV to get some extra hydration in. I would never wish this on anybody, no one should suffer like that and it did feel at times that I wanted to die because I practically knew nothing but severe pain. Because of the loss of appetite, I ended up losing 11 pounds in less than 3 weeks (roughly 18 days to be exact), it was that bad. That's not a healthy way to lose weight I don't care who you are.

Once things started to die down, I would move around more, able to stretch out as best as possible and kept up with my Isometric Training with the Bow doing Bow & Arrow Pulls, Pull Apart, Chest Squeeze & Bicep Curl. Each exercise was done with 3x10 countdown. That's really all I did for my upper body other than the crawling. I started doing DDP Yoga again, making up my own routine or what I could do. It was an instinct and researching every single fucking thing I could on how to fix myself as naturally as possible without being on a bunch of drugs. I could barely even stretch out with most of the moves at first, all the moves are embedded into my memory from doing them years earlier but getting back into it was like being in a fight with Mike Tyson. I kept up with it and ordered the DVD's to fully work them, I'm not the biggest fan of following along to a video but I needed to do something and because I was able to modify the moves, I was able to work around the workouts. The first week or 2 back into it, I made up my own routine and just worked moves as best as I could with the limited mobility I had. Shortly later, I'm able to do a good portion of the moves, modify a few here and there but my flexibility and strength was slowly coming back. After more than 2 weeks straight of doing this, I'm now able to do full on workouts without taking a break or having to pause. It's only been three workouts but those three really got me going again and my endurance is coming back as well. The third workout which I did yesterday was one of their main Leg Workouts called Below The Belt which lasted roughly 40 minutes, I pushed through it modifying only a couple of the moves and did it in its entirety without stopping (unless he said to take some water and wipe off some sweat which at times was only a few seconds). That was one of my biggest moments.

I set little goals for myself and my wife gave me daily goals to accomplish and I did them all. I'm not looking for sympathy, I did this to myself and wanted to do whatever was possible to get out of it on my own, I did have quite a bit of help on a number of things but I wanted to keep fighting and was doing things I didn't want to do and/or feel embarrassed to even talk about because I was and still am ashamed of myself. Only a few people knew what was going on other than the people with me. I didn't want to talk about it until I felt I was getting better to even attempt to write it out and was comfortable to say what I needed to. 

I'm almost completely healed, I have no pain in my back and only feeling discomfort in the nerves in my leg. I'm able to cook and do dishes again, able to bathe without collapsing or having to lay on the bathroom floor to ease the pain, able to walk down the street and back, hold a deep squat without being in agony, walk around with little limping and able to work around things I couldn't even attempt when this started up again. I'm not taking anything for granted and will be smarter about training and making things I normally didn't an asset. I'm not going to push myself the way I used to, I'll still challenge myself but not be gung ho as much and only go hardcore when I'm absolutely confident enough I can get through it unscathed. If I'm doing high reps of anything anymore it would be the Dopa Bands for circuits and Step Ups for leg conditioning, other than that, keep things just enough to be healthy and strong in the long run with better mindfulness. I'll still do some stuff with kettlebells, bands, hammers and bags but not go as crazy, just enough to feel good. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I appreciate all of you and if you're ever in a situation like I was or worse, get the best possible help you can and take care of yourself the best way you can. Be grateful and understanding and know that there are people who would have your back, those are the real people that make the world a better place. If you want to do your best to avoid this type of thing, get DDP Yoga, its worth it. Do what you can with it and make it a part of you, it's one of the best things out there and am very blessed I'm able to do it again. 

Here are pics I took yesterday to show the progress I made. I may look whiter than Casper's head and because of the weight loss, I' am a lot slimmer than I used to be. I'm currently at around 237-238 lbs at the moment. Have an amazingly awesome day and do your best to be positive even in the toughest moments. 

I’m Talking About DDP Yoga

    

   Yoga for decades even centuries has had a reputation for being a soft, spiritual plus a tough form of exercise. It's supposed to enlighten your body and give off an emotional release with spiritual guidance. The type of Yoga I'm talking about doesn't enlighten (unless you let it) and will beat you to the ground with the way it is taught. It can still be spiritual but in a more aggressive way with a touch of kick ass cardio and Muscle Control that will jump start your heart rate. Diamond Dallas Page has taken one of the oldest systems in the world and taken it to another level with his style of hardcore training and no impact conditioning and strength training.

 
    I was taught in my early 20's that if you want to get the best out of your training, you learn to be self-reliant; listening to your own body and understanding your own physiology to create the workouts that ae suitable to you and your goals. DDP Yoga embodies this concept when it's leader suggests (even demands) to "Make the DDP Yoga program your own." I love that and that's why I continue to do it. It's the ability to modify whatever you wish to work on and you can make the exercises as easy or as hard as you need to. Granted there are some exercises that elite athletes have trouble with it still becomes a factor when you create more strength, gain flexibility, build a powerful body and taking a beating from the workouts. Don't take my word for it, give it a shot yourself. It's not any of that P90X or Insanity crap that can actually hurt you more than help you. This system is so unique it takes classic strength training mixed with martial arts and cardio into a series of exercises some may have seen but with a whole new twist. It is this unique style that gives off powerful energy as you will find out from doing these exercises.

 
    To become efficient, you must practice and stay consistent. Now there's a difference between practicing poorly and practicing good form, one way or another if you practice enough, the results will come from that practice. I do the DDP Yoga program nearly every day, practicing the moves I want to get good at and get better at. I do follow a workout from time to time but in my experiences, I follow my own workouts by arranging exercises to my liking and not trying to imitate another person because it's not fun trying to keep up with someone on a video. This does not mean you shouldn't do the workouts, if you want to do them go for it, study them and put some zest into them. To truly experience making DDP Yoga your own, you study the exercises as best as possible like his basic Diamond Dozen or certain exercises in the workouts he performs and build that around what you want to do and making them into your own style of a workout. Be consistent and you can't go wrong.

 
    The number thing that you won't be able to control is that if you follow a workout or create your own; you better be prepared to get your ass kicked. There's no way around it, it will take you to the woodshed and pin you down for the count. You will sweat, you'll be screaming obscenities and you will be breathing harder than a wrestler who just spent an hour on the mat (slight exaggeration) but you get the picture. Be bold and take the beating with a positive image that you'll become fitter, stronger, healthier and gain more flexibility without ever attacking the joints. Too many people only work on muscles more than joints/tendons/ligaments because it's the muscles that stand out. What about the very things that holds those muscles together, if you pull a muscle sure it hurts but it'll heal faster than a joint because if that attachment breaks it takes far longer to heal so isn't it fitting to strengthen those and have them be strong? Get the workout that has taken the world by storm. It has saved the careers of some of the biggest names in wrestling like Chris Jericho, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and the Bad Guy Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall. It has changed the lives of countless people who have banded together in a membership site which you can join for free and get encouragement and support from these very same people.

 
    The benefits of this system are so long I can only mention a few but each one is worth the price of the program many times over including…..

 
-No impact on the joints
-Building great cardio that will burn fat and gain muscle by creating your own dynamic resistance
-Gaining flexibility that will give you energy and that youthfulness you had when you were young
-Lose weight and build muscle
-Help gain new athleticism for your sport or athletic endeavor

 
And many more

 
Take a chance and get this program and live your life at 90%. When you buy the workouts you will also receive MP3's of all the workouts so you can listen to them anywhere. Follow DDP on Youtube and others on Twitter. Own your life NOW!!!

 
Be awesome, happy Monday everyone and welcome to the DDP Yoga Express. It ain't your mama's Yoga.

Yoga With A Bad Ass Attitude

   

     I like certain programs that are unique and sticking to the basics, not complicated and has some great use for the imagination. One day I decided to check out what DDP Yoga was because I heard about ex-pro wrestler Diamond Dallas Page doing this Yoga gig. As a researcher and an athlete it helps to learn a thing or two from people you've actually heard of and a system that you have studied on. When I saw what it's about, I was in awe and it was refreshing. This isn't your typical studio vegan health nut Yoga, its Yoga with an attitude. I studied the exercises as I possibly can and tried a few of the workouts and it just clicked. I don't like doing other people's workouts, as you know I love creating my own workouts with various systems. This works.

 
    I already knew quite a few of the poses in the DDP Yoga system from other programs I've studied and used but he makes them a little different. He uses Muscle Control (calls it Dynamic Resistance) to turn the exercises into a cardio type workout while also building strength and flexibility. The exercises are similar but he names them very differently, mostly after certain pro wrestlers and football analogies but that's cool to me and makes the workouts interesting. He doesn't sugarcoat anything and goes right between the eyes. It's amazing how this guy expresses himself in a unique way. He won't tell you it's going to be a sweet and old fashioned workout, it's going to be tough, you'll curse and you'll be sweating your ass off; he'll actually say that. For me, it's awesome to find something that is unique and having fun with it and believe me I make my workouts as easy or as tough as hell as I want and I wouldn't want it any other way.

 
    His advanced program DDP Extreme isn't just tough, it makes elite athletes look like chumps. One of the exercises he does is push-ups but in a damn handstand non supported; the man is 6'4 around 230 lbs. That's insane and his flexibility is incredible. I've tried a few of the exercises and I was dying after a few minutes, he does this for practically a whole hour. It does look like a bit of an infomercial when you first see the promos of it and normally I wouldn't look twice at things that have to do with Infomercials but it caught my eye and I like to think he's got that bad ass physical culture side to him that is raw, uncensored and in your face and I love that. If anyone can do his Psycho Workout all the way through you have my respect.

 
    Dallas is the real deal. Most ex-wrestlers have trouble having a life after being in the spotlight, believe it or not this guy became a wrestler when most athletes are ready to retire. He just made it happen and led a new career that gave people faith that you can make a difference not just for other people but more importantly for yourself. He has helped thousands of people and even practically saved two great wrestling Icons Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) and Jake "The Snake" Roberts from their own self destructive paths. Dallas has seen it all practically in wrestling, he's won the world title 3 times, wrestled the biggest names in the wrestling business and knows the hardships of being on the road and being plagued with injuries. He made a name for himself a second time around and turned one of the oldest forms of exercise into one of the most hardcore systems around. Take a look at DDP Yoga and see for yourself how awesome it can be and that it's no longer a smooth ride to blissfulness, you earn it with sweat, tough exercises and more expressive personality.

 
Be awesome guys and Dallas, you are one incredible man and I thank you for what you have done.

Spheres And You

   

      In the CoreForce Energy Course, there is a section as you follow forward with the course that talks about Sphere Training. This section to me is worth the entire course in itself because it teaches you where to put these powerful magnetic and electrically strong spheres around your body to enhance your movement and gain strength/speed. What can you visualize to make yourself stronger and more fluid? When you think of something, a result comes into play. Our thoughts are more than we perceive to be. As you come to understand in how to create the sounds and where you put the spheres, you'll see how you move with such power and using the muscles in precise moments. Think what it would be like to move with great strength in your sport, walk and talk with a great energetic presence.

 
    As you learn the spheres and bringing emotional content with full power and belief, you'll start to notice you're not fighting to be fluid and strong, you'll be feeding it. It doesn't matter where you put them and where you want them to go, if you practice with great intention and utilizing your imagination you can create movements that can amp up your heart rate that can burn off fat, learn to move and hold in awkward positions and still be strong enough to throw a punch and/or kick. The true strength relies in our imagination, to be congruent with our muscles and spring into action just by using a thought and following that with movement. This isn't some mumbo-jumbo magic trick or the thought that you can't possibly be strong from different angles, I've used this method enough to know that when I turn it on and bring my imagination into play, I walk more fluidly, I feel stronger in my Yoga poses and move much quicker without the tension that would normally come around. It's still a practice to learn and not just creating sounds or trying to see where to put these spheres; it's adding emotion, raw power through your thought. If you just make the sounds, put the spheres somewhere and not put any emotion or thought into, you won't have that power and fluidity that comes up.

 
    Just because something isn't physically there doesn't mean it's not real to you. I'm very visual person and have a vivid imagination so I can pick up rather quickly the images but some people aren't. For some they have to physically see something in order to understand it and it can be tough. So in order to look at this from a certain perspective, it takes practice but it doesn't need to be a drag. Make it fun and interesting for you, see what you want to see in order to feel and letting the strength come. You can't physically see the spheres but they're everywhere in your mind, it's just a matter of where you want to put them to get the biggest benefit of the movement(s) you want to accomplish.

 
    To get the biggest benefit of this type of training is to not only see them in your mind but you have to believe they're there. When you believe and it becomes so powerful, the next step is taking action and you create what you want out of it. It doesn't come easy but it's worth learning. Imagine being able to carry heavy suitcases, fight without fatigue, run down the field and no one can catch up with you, hit the ball out of the park with intense but fluent strength and think what it would be like to walk up stairs without putting strain on your knees; be pretty awesome huh?

 
Happy Monday everyone and Be Awesome.

There is Fitness And Than There Is DDP Yoga

           For most people Yoga is a tough, hot and just a simple style of postures ranging from easy to nearly world-class. Yoga has been around for countless ages. What most don’t know is that Yoga originally were for warriors, older folks and for wrestlers in the Middle East because the training gave them the strength, agility and flexibility to be able to handle battle and matches that can last long periods of time. For the older folks, it was a way to stay in shape as they got older and were some of the wisest people of that time. It’s kind of fitting when an ex-pro wrestler takes an ancient art and turns it into something different, a little edgy and it has a lot of benefit for any ages. It’s not the typical style(s) most people have heard of, it’s practically revolutionary.

            Back in the WCW days especially during the Monday Night Wars you had some of the best talent in the business including Hulk Hogan, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), Scott Steiner, Lex Luger, Sting and a man named Diamond Dallas Page. DDP was in his early 40’s and only been in the business a few years, most at that age have been in wrestling more than 15 years or more. It’s not everyday you see a guy that age and that less amount of experience (years wise) and can handle his own not just physically but to control the crowd and get them psyched for his signature move; The Diamond Cutter. After the MNWs have ended, DDP signed with WWE and had a great build up to face the Undertaker. They had some good matches but Dallas was just plagued with injuries as most wrestlers do so he ended up retiring.

            After a number of years trying to get over the injuries, he gave Yoga a shot and this made his comeback in a whole other realm. He created something different out of it and made it in his own way and it worked. He bring a whole new meaning to the term Awesome Training. I’ve done some Yoga in the past doing various holds and postures from books and DVDs that had similar styles just a different format but DDP Yoga is just great in the sense where I know what it’s like to make things unique and different and I love doing Muscle Control and he adds that element in his program, he calls it Dynamic Resistance.

            The one thing I always look for is how fun a program can be and mixed in with what I already am doing or can supplement with. DDP Yoga is fun to do and I find it fascinating about Dallas’ passion and his eagerness to bring power and awesome charisma to his style of training. I’m not big on fads or who is the best guru or any of that crap but I admire what DDP has done and the exercises he shows are pretty cool and it’s something I would continue to learn.

            For the most part if you know what I represent and have read countless times; I don’t really follow programs to the letter and for good reason. I take and learn exercises that interest me and mold them into my own unique style and change it up often because I do get bored and want to have a change of pace. I don’t like following other peoples workouts because it makes me feel that if I did, I won’t have the creativity I so crave and practice. So no offense to DDP or any of the badass men and women I’ve learned from but don’t expect me to actually go through the pre-set workouts. I practice creating my own style and molding exercises I’ve learned.

            DDP Yoga can easily be put into other styles. Some people like just doing a person’s program and that’s awesome, just not for me. He is a one of a kind athlete, passionate and love for what he does and I admire guys like him and hope one day get a chance to speak with him either on the phone or in person.

Be awesome guys and have a great start to the week.

A Bridge Worth Crossing

When most people think of the bridge they seem to believe it’s just a neck exercise when in fact it goes far beyond that. There are different variations of the bridge which I will discuss in a little bit but they all have one thing in common, it’s a full body workout that will stretch you and the isometric benefits some of them have is incredible.

Like I said it’s not just an exercise for the neck, it can get you breathing harder than being on a cardio machine bar none and its more accessible as well as you can do it pretty much anywhere with a limited amount of space. If you’re an athlete, bridging can give you significant power in your suggested sport for a few examples….

Baseball: You need strong and supple hips and core power to swing the bat or line up the drive to throw the ball.

Football: You’re defending or holding off the line and think of being able to drive the legs powerfully and with speed.

Wrestling: Bridging is the king in wrestling circles for many reasons. Think of your throwing your power when you drive your opponent into the mat, being able to kick over out of a pin or use your neck to slip out of a hold. It’s not jut building a strong neck; it gives your whole body a boost.

Basketball: Now most would never associate bridging with basketball but it has its benefits. Bridging helps build explosiveness and isometric strength so when you jump for the ball to block, rebound or when you getting ready to drive through the lane that explosiveness will come into play.

Read the rest of the Article here.....http://warriorfitness.org/2013/12/09/a-bridge-worth-crossing/

My Secrets To Daily Training

If you want to build the greatest foundation for creating great programs for you and your goals you must absorb as much information as possible. They say knowledge is power, well the more you learn and the more you experiment, you will start becoming your own trainer.

When you train, get a feel of how the exercises are in the beginning and work your way up at a pace that's comfortable for you. Listen to how your body responds to soft training and tough & brutal type training. Work on things that give you a sense of power and a sense of well-being. Learn to use your instincts when your body gets tired and how your body responds to certain exercises. There are some exercises you shouldn't do which is fine but you need to find out which ones work and which don't.

There's a big difference between training for an hour at one time as if you trained a full hour throughout the day. Your concentration is different and your structure is different. Your speed and pace is different. This is where you need to learn on how to pace yourself in a workout. Spreading an hour throughout the day is a good ideal because you get to focus on the things you want to work on. For this benefit it helps you with your schedule as you may not have a lot of time to train but doing things here and there set the pace for how the rest your day goes.

Many people can't find that amount of time dedicated to a workout. Now working out for an hour straight or resting in between sets within the hour can be a good thing as well but your mind structure is different cause you are training for a long time and concentration is key in this case. Training at a good clip for an hour straight is also different especially on specific exercises that can be ballistic and tough plus in my experience doing tough workouts for an hour just makes you feel not that good and your body doesn't have the capacity to train hard for that long.

I feel the best benefit of training for an hour straight shouldn't be hard training at all. It should be soft, concentrated and meditative. Work your joints, tendons and ligaments while taking the time to do deep breathing because working on these elements can create huge jumps in your training later on as you can do more speed and concentration on shorter workouts and work your body the way you feel needs to.

Me personally I rarely ever train for a whole hour at one time or throughout the day as I get bored very easily. I have some ADD type moments in my workouts because ten minutes to me is too long and I need to regroup and think about what I want to do. This is where shorter workouts are more simpler then doing the same routine of 30 minutes of this and an hour of that. I have a bit more time to kill then most people ad even I can't do that much work, its boring, not fun and makes me want to punch someone in the face for whoever came up with that idea.

Pacing yourself in a training session is critical because you don't want to go so fast you lose your form and you don't want to go so slow that you get bored and just hate what you're doing. Work on finding your own pace and speed according to how your body responds an your mind is in the right place while maintaining the best form possible. Its not bad to go fast in a workout, hell that's a favorite for me because I want a great workout in the shortest amount of time as possible. Its not bad to go slow either so you can focus on certain exercises like holds and working your flexibility safely and productively.

One of the real keys to being your trainer is to change up your exercises and tempos on a frequent basis and make your body need to adapt. This is sometimes called muscle confusion but in my line of training its making progress on developing fresh and exciting workouts. I have to change up all the time but I'll use the same exercises while mixing them up and working at different paces. Some exercises I move fast on, with others its more focused and more on movement. I also hold certain positions for a certain amount of time. This works the muscles and tendons in a different setting and is sometimes more relaxing then just moving and moving.

There's no one way to train and everybody trains differently no matter how much you teach them. A lot of trainers make the mistake of trying to show a student an exercise exactly the way they think it should be taught and the student just doesn't always get it right and its not their fault. A person should work an exercise according to his/her body structure whether they're small, average, thin, muscular, overweight or tall & short. I learned this the hard way from a teacher I once had who taught us how to do side steps and plyometrics. I'm 5'10 and well over 240 lbs. and have some arthritis in my leg due to my accident years back and although its strong and flexibility in some areas, in others it isn't and she tried teaching it exactly the way it worked for her which cannot and logically cannot work the same for someone my size or smaller. I ended up hurting myself and eventually quit after nearly a month. So even with all my training experiences from doing hardcore training methods and doing stamina training that makes most people want to puke it be hard to believe that I needed to quit after going through that.

Learn the exercises you want to learn, master them and work with them as often as possible and supplement other exercises to work weak areas and to help you recover. Doing this type of progress and finding what works best for you puts you ahead of the pack and you learn the ultimate key of training of becoming your own trainer and that's Self-Reliance. Don't ever copy someone else's program but your own because you won't be achieving first rate training, you'll be a second rate wanna-be and this is something that should never happen to you. Don't go looking for a trainer and be second rate student, look to yourself and learn what you want to learn for yourself and become a first rate teacher of your own ideals and programs.

Yoga For Building Muscle Mass

Most people think that Yoga is for people wanting to lose weight, get toned......not for building natural muscle mass. I happen to believe that its a bunch of crap. For men who wanted to build muscle and likes yoga or wants to get into it, the keys are eating the right foods and adding tension to the exercise. Do less reps if you're going to add tension and focus on the mind/muscle connection. Imagine if gravity is pulling you down and you have to put a lot of effort into the movement or holding the posture. For foods focus more on natural foods and less on the junk food. Not saying you need to be on a diet but you still can eat the foods you love just take a bit less off on the junk food, simple as that. When it comes to tension do not go all out and tense up as hard as possible because not only will you burn out easy but you can also injure yourself, use enough tension to move around or hold as long as possible.

Another Look At VRT Bodybuilding

Recently I have been easing my way back into a system called VRT Bodybuilding which is a set of exercise that you only use tension for by visualizing weights and various fitness equipment. Say you're doing a dumbbell curl, instead of picking one up and let gravity take its toll on you, you visualize how heavy a dumbbell is then squeeze the bicep muscules and curl up as if you just lifted a heavy weight. For the most part this system is awesome for not needing to go to the gym and you get to use your imagination. You don't even need to visualize weights think in your mind what it would feel like to lift a boulder or pushing the pyramids or better yet pulling a train. Think of whatever you want and it can help you become a better trainer and using the Mind/Muscle connection at its maximum for your benefit. I practice this off and on using qi gong type movements or throwing an object, pulling on a rope or better yet pushing down the tower of piza. The keys to this system is imagination and tension and once you've mastered that you'll know the true meaning of muscle control.