Comfort Zones And Expanding On Them

 Some people are so adamant against others or themselves being in the comfort zone when it comes to training. It has to be so hard that it makes you tough and resilient. Plus, the more difficult it is, the better off you'll be. Who the fuck really came up with that? 

Training is about discovery, the ability to find what works and expand on it. Sure some things are tough, but they become a bit easier with even the smallest of progressions. To me, once I get good at something, I want to make it better, not so difficult that I can't really do much. People throw comfort around like you're either lazy as hell or you're not willing to toughen it out. The truth is, when you become comfortable in this scenario, it doesn't mean you stay in that area. It's about expanding it and getting better. 

When I first got back into DDP Yoga, I couldn't even remotely get into positions that I can do now. I had to modify them (in some exercises still do) to where I can be comfortable to keep myself going. As I increased my flexibility, I expanded where my comfort level was in the positions I was doing. The workouts were still tough and are hard to do on some days but my comfort level to what my body can do increases as I progress little by little. 

Life can be a royal pain in the ass as is, it's not always going to sunshine and rainbows, everybody in most cases understands that but that doesn't mean that you try to be so tough that it makes you bitter and or give the right to put people down and call them names because they're not as tough or hard as you. Not saying you have to be a goodie two-shoes but it is important to have an attitude to what makes your life meaningful and what is comfortable while facing certain challenges.

When I workout, I can seem like some crazy nutjob doing all these things and making some things look easy but it's because I'm comfortable at being able to do those things and listening to my body. Do I go further into a routine at times, hell yes but it's because my body and my energy allow me to do that and I'm comfortable with it, it doesn't make me lazy or that I'm not allowing myself to go to my limits. 

You learn certain aspects of your capabilities when you progress. Once you get comfortable at a certain point, make an add on and get comfortable with that and keep using that momentum. Some things are tough to do like carrying a heavy rock or walking with a sandbag or sandbell held to your chest. It may seem uncomfortable because for one it isn't easy depending on the weight you use and the distance you do but you become comfortable with what you're able to do, next time go a little further and become comfortable with that distance and so on and so forth. Comfort is making things look easy when they're not, they're still tough but to you it's another day at the office. 

Have fun with what you do. Expand on your capabilities and progress little by little. Train with intent but don't be so gung ho that you're going to end up injured. I've been there and it isn't fun. Enhance your ability to be comfortable in what you do and expand it. It could make your quality of life that much more interesting. 

Train With What Your Body Will Allow

 Every now and then at times we push ourselves to get a workout in or get in a good training session. It feels good and our bodies do thank us but other times, it can be daunting and making a change or two isn't the end of the world. Since about late April, I've been doing DDP Yoga as you know and doing workout after workout every single day has helped me immensely getting my strength, cardio and flexibility back. After taking a couple days off from it this past week due to just needing a break, I found that doing it has been great but start doing it more like a few times a week and focus on other things.

I still love DDPY but it isn't going to kill me to not do it all the time plus some of those workouts do take some energy out of you. I don't mind spending 30 minutes to an hour doing that stuff but at the end of the day, I still want to do other stuff too and not make it my life. Putting energy into other things is good too. I've been going down to the lake lately here which is a mile and a half down the road. Sometimes I'll carry either my Thor Hammer or a kettlebell or the clubs down with me and make that my ruck day or something. Swinging the hammer by the water and looking at the mountains is just awesome. Swimming for a bit and chilling out listening to tunes and watching the world go by. I'll get a few looks here and there but I don't bother anybody and nobody bothers me. 

Training is not always about one thing, you do what your body can do and switching things up is never a bad thing. There are still things you love to do but it's important to not push yourselves so hard that it becomes a burnout. It does happen to the best of us. As great as DDPY has been to me, it's there when I need it but also want to keep doing things like Rucking, working the hammer, do my Dopamineo Workouts and be more in tuned to what makes me happy. Fitness in and of itself is great and it's essential to your quality of life but if it starts to feel like a chore and it stops being something you enjoy, it's time to rethink things. It's about finding that balance, life is already tough for most people so why do something with your workouts that's going to turn into something you hate? It's not worth it. 

Work and play with what your body will allow and enjoy the journey. It'll be tough at times but always utilize what is possible and switch things up every now and then to keep things fresh and consistent. Hell, ever since I learned the Propeller Exercise with the Dopa Band, it has become one of my favorite moves. It's a great exercise, do I do the band all the time? No but when I do it, I know what I'll get out of it. Another focus I've been at recently is working my neck and doing Joint Loosening work again to get things flowing to the areas that feel stiff especially in my knees and ankles. Wanting to thicken my neck a bit doing this routine I came up with that I learned a couple "new" moves and doing a isometric and dynamic move mix. This routine feels incredible and my neck has increased a bit in size because of it and it hits all the muscles while strengthening and stretching it. No, it doesn't involve bridges or resisting with my hands.

Do something everyday, if you only have a few minutes that's awesome, got some time on your hands, great but do something that will benefit you and make it worthwhile even when it can be tough. Those Dopa workouts can be nuts at times and mixing various DDPY workouts together are tough as hell but if it's something you can get enjoyment out of it and you look forward to it, that's what makes it worthwhile. If you need to backoff a bit and do something else, do it. Listen to your body and expand that comfort zone. I'll be writing more about the Comfort Zone thing in a later article and it's not what you think it is. 

Have an amazingly awesome day. 

I Sell Shoes...Have I Become Al Bundy?

Well, I may not have scored 4 touchdowns in a single game, drive a beat up car that needs a screwdriver to start it, hell I never even built a bathroom to get some peace and quiet from the wife. I also am not cruel to plus size women while I work but hey, that's just me. But like Al Bundy, I do sell shoes, but not the type of shoes you normally see in a mall or Walmart or even Target. These shoes are freaking bad ass and are great for your feet. They have a great toe box so it's comfortable for the toes, have an option to wear socks or not and there are a variety of them to suit you daily routine. 

I wanted a change of pace with the shoes I normally wear and see what the benefits can be. Safe to say, with the short time I've used them, already feeling better and lighter on my feet. I've worn them hiking, going on a regular walk, did DDP Yoga in them along with other workouts and just having a good time in them just for the hell of it. Like a lot of people, I loved having the support cushion and rigidness but I also like being barefoot and doing what I love. I gave the Bareway Shoes a chance after seeing them in a number of places on Social Media. I got the Elite Series and from the first steps in them, it felt like I was walking on air. 

They're very light, flexible and aren't stiff in the soles. They feel more natural and are durable as well. I never really had foot issues but that doesn't mean I don't want to keep strengthening them so I can avoid injuries there as much as possible. Having healthy feet especially as we age can be crucial to how our bodies stay in a quality state. Although comfort can be a good thing from time to time, it's also important to be grounded and feel the earth and take comfort in a whole other realm. Strong feet is part of having a strong body and not just in the muscles but the ligaments and tendons as well. Foot injuries can be a real bitch and it's no fun when every step feels like pin needles or having heaviness in that area. Like physical fitness, we should strengthening our feet as much as we can. 

The Elite shoes are just a piece of what you can use for daily life. There's the Boot Series which has a more vintage type feature that can be used for those who love to hike and work in a blue collar type environment. There's the Nature Series that's geared for outdoors and has that look made for camping in the woods or going on nature walks. All these shoes still are flexible, durable, waterproof and give you sensory feedback. You can do many things with these shoes and all are beneficial to giving your feet quality life and comfort while keeping them strong and mobile. 

Unlike Al who hates being a shoe salesman, I enjoy helping others find resources that will help them be in healthy condition and bask in the glory of a strong and confident mind and body. Find the type of shoe suited for you and look into what they can benefit you in the long run, not just a temporary style that lasts a couple years. Go kill it and have an amazingly awesome day. 

The Propeller Exercise From Dopamineo

 Always finding ways to train so I can get the most benefit out of a workout. Off and on with the Dopamineo Band, doing circuits and HIIT Workouts hits the spot in many ways to tackle my cardio, coordination, agility and explosiveness. One exercise in particular I held off on doing until recently was the Propeller exercise. I've seen several videos of people who own Dopamineo and other athletes do this exercise at various speeds and style and I figured it was time for me to learn it. 

The reason why I held off on it for a long time was because for one, it's a complex movement that hits muscles where I was having my sciatica and was afraid of getting hurt again because of the way the band moves and the way you have to move with it. The second reason was because I wanted to get good at some of the other exercises that were complex as well but not as difficult coordination wise. Once I felt I was good enough to where it felt automatic, I started putting effort into this crazy looking exercise.

The Propeller Exercise in itself is a workout just to not only get the movement right but it also hits many muscles and there's a reason many wrestlers use it to condition their bodies. It does like a Duck Under like move where you shift the body and can duck under an opponent for a takedown and/or utilize the Fireman Carry Technique. Take it slow to get an idea on how you unify the band and your body together to work in sync. Start speeding up little by little as you get better and before you know it, it makes you look like you're spinning. At a certain clip, it becomes quite the conditioning exercise and will get you breathing hard. 

Before I did a workout with it, I tested the waters and did what I could with it. It can be a bit of a brain teaser because there's many things coming into play with the arms, the shoulders, the slight squatting, the turning of the torso, working with the band instead of against it. Once I got going, it tested my breathing because of the intensity. You don't stretch the band to the point where you can barely move, you get it just long enough to where it creates resistance but also is in a "relaxed" type state yet not "loose". In the workout, I did a circuit of exercises of my usual 10 reps of 5 exercises and did this last. Did a total of 100 reps with the Propeller and out of all the exercises I did in that workout, that was the hardest one and the one that tested me the most. It is a fun exercise once you get the idea of the mechanics of it. It's not easy and I still need practice on it but it is getting better. 

In the video below, I took the band out on a windy day at a park behind a church down the block from the house. It took a few takes, not because of the wind or anything, I had a good set up with my phone and able to keep it steady with one of my bags, it was the movement itself along with angles, speed, not messing up smacking myself and doing reps to get the amount of time to show it for more than a few seconds, I really wanted to show the progress without making a blooper out of it. I hate messing up. After several takes and several minutes of doing the exercise, it turned into a mini workout cause it wore my ass out. This was the end result and like I said, it still needs work but in time, it's going to be a hell of an exercise to work with.

Some people do this movement with a twisting motion of the torso, some just twist the arms, I'm still figuring out which way to go on the up position at the end. It's all about experimenting and having fun. Don't forget to grab one yourself or for your athletes if you work with wrestlers, MMA Fighters, BJJ, Judo or other combat sports. These are also great for training and playing with Kids. There are bands for little ones as young as 4 years old. Great piece of equipment to get kids moving and playing. Play along with them to create bonding experiences. Get a cool discount when you punch in POWERANDMIGHT at checkout. 

The VRT Man Is Now Among The Gods Of Physical Culture

 Another dear friend and mentor has passed on. Greg Mangan died yesterday at the age of 72 and it was one of those unexpected accidents that just didn't end well. I talked to his son Greg Jr. just mere hours after it happened, wanting to reach out out of respect for Sr. and get more of what happened. It still baffles me and just trying to wrap my head around it, it just hurts. No where near as much as it's hurting Jr., his brother Pat and their mother Nancy. I had a lot of respect for the man and the way he showed kindness towards me all the years I knew. Never met the man directly but we shared a mutual friendship and understanding of one another.

Some may know him better as the man who had a hand in developing an exercise system that was in the realm of using muscular tension to simulate lifting weights. It was called Visualized Resistance Training and the premise is similar to the idea of Muscle Control, Dynamic Tension & Visualized Mental Training all rolled into one. A cousin to VRT was doing DVRs or Dynamic Visualized Resistance that was brought on by one of my first mentors John Peterson. The difference between VRT & DVR is that VRT utilizes more of the focused muscles in their positive positioning such as doing a Bicep Curl where you flex and curl the forearms, elbows and biceps and once you reach the top position you relax the muscles when you bring them back down. DVR Exercise in this instance would be to work the positive and negative motions of a Bicep Curl by flexing and curling the arms to the top position and while keeping tension, you reverse the movement coming back down. 

VRT Exercise was one of the first 5 methods of Training I learned after recovering from my leg injuries. It really started around 2006 since I went through those first few months doing Combat Conditioning and the system that John Peterson put on. I learned about Greg when we were both on John's Forum and learned a few things about one another. I initially bought a pamphlet and DVD version of his VRT System and worked on that for a period. It was a good course and essentially one of the most underrated in my opinion. Greg's knowledge of Muscle Control through Biological Science is quite in depth and understood how the muscles worked with extensive practice of Muscular Contraction mixed with Mental Imagery incorporating a killer idea of the Mind/Muscle Connection.   

As always with everybody else I learned from, I took bits and pieces of his style of training and molded it to many things I still do today. The funny thing is in DDP Yoga, Dallas uses what he calls Dynamic Resistance to build up your heart rate as you go through certain movements. It's literally another version of VRT Exercise in the form of a unique style of Yoga Training. A part of Greg's legacy is utilized in a very cool way. I've always admired him and had many conversations with him over the years about life, fitness, working out, history and other things. He was so proud of his boys Greg Jr. & Pat. Don't think he ever said one negative thing about them even when they were teenagers LOL. I knew about those boys for a long time and he was just so in love with his wife Nancy, don't think we had a conversation where he didn't mention his family and how much he loved them. 

After some time, he wanted me to be one of the new faces for VRT because of my background and knowledge of the system. I didn't think I was worthy cause I didn't feel I had the physique he was looking for at the time so I turned him down. As much as I wanted to still help promote his system, he ended up pulling away from John Peterson after some issues both professionally and personally that didn't go very well. He branched out and formed a new booklet that added another element to what he wanted and sold it on amazon. I figured when that happened, that would be a better way to help promote his system. I would do my version of the exercises and use that to get something going as an Amazon Associate. It did ok and the potential is still there. I still have the pamphlet, DVD & book in my possession as part of my library. 

He lived quite a life and raised amazingly smart and equally awesome attitude in his sons. I will miss our conversations and will always have a soft spot for what he taught me from my early 20's to today. You were a hell of a man Greg and I wish you nothing but happiness as you take your place in the halls of the greats in the big blue sky above. RIP my friend. 

Why Do Only 10 Rounds And 500 Reps???

 The majority of the time I do my Dopamineo Circuit Training, I do my best to complete 10 rounds of that circuit in the shortest time I can. With little to no rest other than marking off a set, I would cruise through it and focus mainly on technique and breathing. Rarely would ever go past 10 rounds like 12-15 just to add some zest or to test my conditioning. Why do I pick only ten rounds, why not go for 20 or 15 a lot of the time for that matter? When I used to do circuit work with bodyweight training, I worked into the system of Darebee's protocol to test myself. The idea is to reach 7 rounds and your rest between sets was 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Because some of those workouts were fairly easy to get through with little rest like under 30 seconds, I wanted to push myself a little further and do an extra 3 rounds to feel satisfied. It became my thing.

The total reps of my Dopa Workouts or Circuits comes out to 500 Reps these days. Why did I choose 500 specifically? It mainly has to do with the rep standard from doing Squats and Step Ups (which in most cases with the Step Ups). I figured, why do 500 of one exercise when you can add variety to multiple exercises and total it up? I'll still do 500 Step Ups within 20-25 minutes when I'm in the mood for it and ever since I healed up, I've done it a few times in succession. On a few occasions with the Dopa Band, I've gone up to 1000 total reps doing 5 Exercises for 20 reps each and do the 10 rounds that way. Those times are when I'm really ambitious and want to crank up my cardio. 

I enjoy these types of workouts because they don't take very long, they're effective in getting in solid conditioning and when you use the same equipment as some of the best wrestlers in the world from MMA to the Olympics, it gives you goosebumps. They're fun, you get to be creative and do the same drills or at least in a modified way that world class athletes do is feeling like you're a part of something and enjoying benefits that are pretty damn incredible. I know I can't do the same exact same style of training that these men and women do and it's not something I wish to pursue but it's inspiring and learning some of the exercises done in Freestyle & Greco-Roman along with amplifying your fitness to a level where you get to do other great things in life. 

I don't go as fast as I did before, this time around with the Band, I focus a lot more on technique and my breathing that I didn't do before because it was one of the factors of me getting hurt and not paying attention. It happens and it's my own damn fault. I was good and can really go but my awareness wasn't where it should've been and I focused too much on the timing and didn't pay attention to my body the way I needed to. It was a tough lesson and I paid a hefty price for it. My speed is still there but I stopped forcing it and although my cardio was good before, I find it's way better now because I pay attention to my breathing and relax more into the movements themselves. The more I let myself relax, the better it got and my movements are far more efficient then in previous workouts. The speed comes naturally and my technique is far better especially in certain exercises where you work with the hips and working movements that flow with you. 

I love doing my 10 Round & 500 Rep protocol type workouts, they work for me and I keep the exercises to a more basic level and work with variations that have me flowing throughout. The time I go through circuits is never the same and I don't worry about how fast I'm going anymore. The length of a workout ranges from 10-20 min in most cases, if I want to do more rounds on a certain day, it might go up to 25-30 minutes but I'm happy regardless. The goal is to consistently get 10 Rounds and 500 Reps total. 5 Exercises, 10 reps each and work with it. If I want to double the reps and go for 1000 total that day, cool but it's not a priority. The idea is to move with efficiency and working with technique, your coordination and what can be done with intensity in a good amount of time. 

Get yourself some bands and get a discount on top of your order on the house. Enter the code POWERANDMIGHT and get 10% OFF. Be amazingly awesome and have fun with these. Get the kids one so you all can train together.    

Hiking DDP Yoga And Dopamineo Conditioning

 Taking into account of what you can do on certain days or using the energy you have with using the time to do other things can be a bitch. However, we can do things in the capacity of how we utilize the discipline and the awareness of what is possible at the time. For busy beavers, micro workouts is always a great option, I do them myself often with the other things I do but some if that's the only option people have in their present state, use it to your advantage. 

Working with the DDP Yoga Program is not only giving me greater flexibility and durability, it has also given me great endurance that goes along with other methods I do. Some days I'll just do one workout from the program, other days I'll mix and match various workouts into one bigger workout like doing the Fat Burner & Energy workouts together or work with a 10 min warm up and then one of the hour long ones like Diamond Cutter. I even tried out the Extreme Psycho Workout for the first time in years and although that needed modifying big time, I did the best I could to get through it. Some of the push-ups from Extreme were pretty tough but hey it's all about learning right? DDP Yoga is definitely my go-to training system for now.

 Train to what you can handle and progress little by little. The Dopa Workouts are coming back more and more doing circuits of 10 rounds totaling 500 Reps within 15-20 min depending on what I do. One day this past week, I went a little further testing my conditioning by doing a Fat Burner DDP Yoga Workout and immediately going into a Dopa Workout. That was nasty but effective and the total time was just under an hour. I'm not doing the Dopa Band Training everyday like I used to which isn't a bad thing, I like to do other stuff and when I do, I go after it with a vengeance. I filmed some exercises one day day and then did a full workout, didn't time that one but I wasn't resting much either. 

There was a song back in the day by the Country Bear Jamboree called "Ain't nothing like the great outdoors" so I would take my Dopa Band with me to a park or in the video below, my backyard and just get after it, being in the sun and just having a good time. Can never get enough of this band. The other day, I did a HIIT Workout where I took 5 exercises and did them 3 times for 30 Seconds on, 15 Seconds off each for a total of about 11 minutes. Short, quick and effective as hell. 

Yesterday, me and the wife went on a Hike for the first time in a long time and this particular Hike we haven't done since we first met more than 9 years ago. It was out on the outskirts of Coeur D' Alene Lake called Mineral Ridge, the loop was roughly 2.5 miles long (the grand total of the entire trail is just over 3) so we did a good portion of it. At the top you get a beautiful view of the lake, might see some Bald Eagles or Hawks and just awesome scenery. With all the Step Ups, Squats and other leg work, this Hike felt great and I was wearing my new Bareway Shoes which surprisingly did a hell of a job holding up the rugged terrain. The narrow pathway made my ankles feel a little weird and awkward but it came out ok. It'll get you a bit with some of those steep climbs but that's all part of the fun right?

Make the most of what you can and train to do great things in life. Go on adventures, test yourself out with certain things and have the time of your life man. Get in awesome condition to do fun shit. Have an amazingly awesome day.  

New Shoes And Getting My Hammer Swing Back

 

I was contemplating getting new shoes and most of the time usually grabbed a pair from either Big 5 or Walmart but this time around I wanted to try something different. Was browsing around one day on social media and a few ads popped up on Barefoot Shoes. I've seen those before and years prior, I've seen the ones where you stick your toes in individually. Heard great things about them for some time and did more research recently to see what could be useful and beneficial. I ended buying a pair that was on sale by this company called Bareway.

Was a bit skeptical and read about the benefits of Barefoot Shoes but it was one of those things where I felt like a change was in order and do something I normally don't do. Picked out the size I wear, they came in and the rest is history. Wore them a few times now and they're stupid comfortable. No slip in the heel, good soles and just enough padding to feel the ground but not feel uneasy that some shoes have.

Always had strong feet and train most of the time barefoot unless I'm working with hammers or something at the park if I'm not playing basketball. Wearing socks as an option rather than a necessity is a hell of a perk. They're light, very flexible and perfectly stabilize my feet. My shoe size is a men's 11 and most shoes I've gotten that were 11 didn't always stabilize my feet and seemed to be off at certain points but I just tolerated it for years and wore them. With these things, holy shit it felt so different and foreign at first but once I started walking, it felt like walking on air. It was unbelievable.

I gave them a whirl doing my DDP Yoga Workout yesterday doing the Double Black Diamond workout that lasted an hour. That workout is fucking insane and was dripping with sweat like a faucet man. With the shoes on, they worked really well and for some reason, made the workout not only more interesting but slightly easier cause I wasn't sliding, most of the time with those workouts I don't but every now and then some moves slip up on me a bit, with these shoes on, not a single slip or slide the entire time.

I highly recommend you get a pair yourself. Like I said they're comfortable and feel amazing walking around. They're water resistant, you can go on hikes, you can run in them, workout in them, practically whatever and reap the benefits of building stronger feet. The type of shoe I got was their Elite Series. You can choose other shoes that are more suitable to your lifestyle or whatever, there's the Nature Series  and the Explorer Option you can look into. Did I forget to mention they were breathable as well and relieves pressure on the joints. 

Aside from getting these bad boys, I also tried out working with my SF Giants Sledgehammer again to see what I can do. Not ready for the more explosive stuff yet, wanted to just work on technique and keeping my back and legs more aligned with the thrust down. I even made a demo of getting back into it and I think I haven't missed a step and my form felt right. Back is straighter, worked a half squat as I brought the hammer down and just did it instinctively. Check it out....

You do what you can in the moment. Like I said, just working out the mechanics again and seeing what I can do without doing anything stupid. I'm not going gung ho on some things like I used to and play around. I still do carries with my sandbells from time to time and doing the sledgehammer strikes again felt comfortable and see what I can progress with. Train to what you can do and build from there. Exercise is about long term health, not temporary moments that may come with regret. Nothing wrong with making a record, just don't make a habit of busting your ass you can't do anything later in life. Be bold but be aware. Too many injuries add up so do what you can to live as pain free as possible. 

Slowly Getting Back Into The Dopamineo Workouts

 Spending the majority of the time on DDP Yoga, I've also been getting back into working my neck more consistently and even thickened it up a bit along with developing greater mobility. That type of training is merely just standing and working the neck in different directions doing 10 reps each way. On the 10th rep, I would hold the position isometrically for a 10 count and move onto the next move. That has helped my spine a lot and its a great short workout before or after a DDP Yoga Session or as an addition to doing Joint Loosening Training.

Another thing that I've been anxious to get back into is the Dopamineo Workouts. Done a few of them so far and filmed doing some basic stuff at a park. I always enjoyed those workouts doing 15-30 minutes of a circuit. Most of the time I was hitting 10 rounds totaling 500 Reps but I also did workouts that went sometimes up to 12-15 rounds within a 30 min. period. Since my recovery however, I've had to either switch things up or slow the pace down and focus on technique which isn't a bad thing. Not trying to be a wrestler or a fighter in training, just keeping myself in shape and being aware of what I do. 

I love circuit training, to me it's one of the best forms of conditioning and keeping yourself going at a good clip while resting as little as possible. With these workouts now, it's more technique than speed. The intensity is still there but I'm not focusing on being so explosive, just enough to where I can keep going with a comfortable pace. Some workouts I won't time them because I don't need to beat the clock or set some kind of record all the time. Enjoying what I can do and have fun doing it while making little goals. 

The video I did was doing some basic moves that I'm getting back into at a park down the road from the house here, it's really no more than like 3-4 blocks if that. Set it up on a tree using my Iso Strap as an anchor and have at it. 

Some moves can be tricky to learn at first but with time and practice, they become like a flow, a sequence if you will of understanding the body's mechanics and mobility. The objective of the band isn't to stretch it so you can't really do much, it's to work just enough resistance so you can feel a movement without being stiff. It's about being smooth, in control and having technique as if you're drilling like in wrestling or martial arts. 

Although inspired by wrestling, it can be used for a lot of other things like swimming and doing road work on the beach or something. I love it for the fitness and cardio aspects of it. It's a great experience to do exercises that are different and formulate a program based on movements used by the most conditioned athletes on the planet. What's even cooler is that these same bands are now being used to train Olympic Athletes such as Freestyle & Greco-Roman Wrestlers and Judo Players. One female Freestyle Wrestler is officially the first to be a 3-time Olympian and part of her training was with this specific type of band. If someone who's dedicated to her sport can pull off an accomplishment like that, imagine the possibilities you can achieve in your own training whether it be for sport, fitness, group training or whatever. 

You can create all sorts of workouts with these bands and take them virtually anywhere. You can use them in a pool or in the ocean, take them to a park, hook it up at home or at the gym, in your hotel room, do a quick session during a break at work, take them on a hike and work them on a trail, in a parking lot or wherever. If you got a partner to train with, he/she can hold the band while you do drills and then switch. Do little games or work together in sequence, use them to challenge each other and whatever can work. 

Don't forget to use my Discount Code POWERANDMIGHT to get 10% OFF your order. These are some of the most durable and flexible bands in the world. Some of the best athletes have trained so hard on these that it's a miracle the band hasn't snapped. They're so incredibly strong that Superman would have trouble snapping these. Grab a set for yourself and/or your friends, training partners, family members or students in group sessions. There's bands for kids to use to train for youth groups and to help them stay healthy and have fun with. These things are worth every penny.  

Taking It One Day At A Time

 Being aware of what you can and can't do can be hard at times but it's also important to know what you need to do in order to stay healthy in the long run. DDP Yoga has done wonders for me beyond the healing of my sciatica and it's one of the things I will continue to do regularly, not as a necessity but as a program to enjoy so I can do other things as well. I've even started filming again and getting back into doing what I love such as the demo below showcasing some of the moves I do in DDP Yoga. 

I don't flare up as much anymore and have been doing more walking lately especially wearing my 40 lb weight vest which I have done 2-3 times now. Another thing I'm excited to have done again was 500 Step Ups which I hit last night. Paced myself and listened to my body. The last few times I started at about 50, then 100 and 250. Last night, I hit 250, it felt easy and did 300 and felt like I can keep going and 500 wasn't too difficult so I went after it. No pain, no flare up or anything. I got a little emotional afterwards because Step Ups is one of my favorite leg exercises and doing 500 reps again made me incredibly happy. I have to thank DDP Yoga for giving my legs the strength and conditioning to pull that off again. 

Today, did a 25 min or so DDP Yoga workout from the APP called Super Body Flow which Dallas would transition from one move to the next in quick sequence fashion and it felt great. Mostly just basic stuff but it got me loosened up and get that heart rate going. Normally just stick to the DVDs which are great as is. Have yet to do the Extreme Psycho Workout again, have done the Diamond Cutter & Double Black Diamond workouts a couple times now which are roughly an hour to over an hour a piece. Those are nasty motherfuckers to do so I'm building myself up. Most workouts are around 30 minutes to an hour doing either stand alone workouts or doing a mix of workouts into one to keep things flowing like Fat Burner & Energy, The 10 min Warm Up mixed with Below The Belt or something like that. 

I've even tried a couple Sandbell Workouts recently as well doing my 2x shoulder carry workout using my 20 lber to work up to doing that type of training again. Did a 10 min workout with that and then filmed myself doing a 5 min micro workout of rowing to chest and shouldering my 70 lb Sandbell. That was hard to do since it has been a while and didn't go as fast as I normally would but I did ok with it being some time away from it. There were concerns about my form but I' am good and I will do better next time. It's a work in progress to training myself to do some of what I did before. There are things however that I won't be doing again and that's doing explosive twisting movements again like I did with the Dopa Band or hundreds of squats in a row, if I'm doing hundreds of squats again, it'll be a deck of cards type workout mixing in step ups but doing 500 Squats in a row isn't in the cards for me, I get plenty of Squat Work with the DDP Yoga, doing slower and holding positions and that feels way better to me than doing hundreds of squats. 

It's all about taking it one day at a time man and doing things that are of value to you in the long run. I'm just itching to get the hammer back out and hitting the tire again, carrying a rock, swimming in the lake, hiking and doing all sorts of stuff. You do what you can and make the most of it. Train to do things that help yourself and others and strengthen your body while being flexible and able to keep the blood flowing to the joints. Mobility work is a key ingredient to having a healthy body long term. Strength is definitely a part of it but temporary strength will only get you so far, be able to use that strength as long as needed and not always what you can lift in the moment. 

Have an amazingly awesome day and hope you have a good start to the week.   

 

It Is Quite A Habit

 Making the DDP Yoga workouts my primary training program has been a godsend, more than just recovering and rebuilding my body again. It has enhanced the flexibility in my back and staying strong in positions I haven't done in years. If I start to have even a slight flare up in the morning, a warm-up and a main workout really makes it fade and I can go about my day. 

It has become quite the habit and I love. I would do a different workout almost everyday and every few days or so I would do a really hard one or go for more than 45 min to an hour and still able to keep up. Modify from time to time in every workout but I manage to stay in solid positions pretty well. The beauty of it is that Dallas wants you to make it your own and you don't have to exactly like he does or the others, just do what you can with what's possible at the time. Some moves I'm not very flexible in, some I can go into easily but regardless, my flexibility gets better each time.

I've added a few things throughout the day after my initial morning workout. I've added some Neck Mobility doing various directions and on the 10th rep of each exercise I would Isometrically hold it for a count of 10 to really sink into it. Keeping that neck strong and elastic man. I've also now done a couple Dopa Band Workouts and did a circuit on the second one where I did 10 Rounds of 5 Exercises for a total of 500 Reps with little to no rest. I felt excited as hell on that one and kept them basic, nothing super fast or explosive, just enough to where I can keep going and be able to focus on my breathing as well. Conditioning is definitely back.

One of my next steps or ideas for getting back into great shape is rucking with the 40 lb Weight Vest again. Start around the neighborhood and work up to hiking up the mountain next to the house. Always loved going for walks with that thing on and would sometimes end up going 3-4 miles door to door. Going up the mountain and back home would take an hour door to door when I was doing things like that. The other night, I even managed 250 Step Ups for the first time since my recovery, wasn't easy and I paced myself but I was determined to get at least 200 in. Was thrilled about that too and little by little I want to hit 500 Step Ups again. 

It's getting a little easier day by day to be at my complete best again but I'm still pacing myself, not going as hardcore as I normally would and just do what I can in the moment. Not looking at what happens at the end of a workout, only looking at what's possible in the moment of time. Breathing deeply and being a bit more active. Putting in the work to be healthier and being more aware of what I can do hasn't been easy but it's not impossible either. Not pushing to be better than anyone, it's not worth the effort, the only thing that matters is that I'm a little bit better than I was the day before and the only person I compete with is me. There will always be someone better than me, I may do certain things that others don't do or haven't achieved yet but it's not my place to be superior to them. I have my own journey, they have theirs.  

Build habits that help you climb the ladder to your success. Be mindful of what is possible and set aside the ego trip. Be a little stronger, stretch a little longer and be in a bit better condition each day. Before you know it, you'll be doing things that seemed impossible at first and they become your greatest victories. There is the importance of discipline and making the effort but at the same time, be in control of the things you can do right now and expand on it little by little. The more you can expand even by the smallest fraction, the more you'll see what can truly be possible. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this, I really appreciate you and I hope you have an amazingly awesome day.  

My Conditioning Was Tested

 Doing the DDP Yoga Workouts for nearly a month now has reaped many rewards in my recovery and getting back my strength, flexibility, mobility and coordination. Most days, I would do the workouts in stages with their Core Workout, Beginner & Intermediate and other days, I'll go a little bit further and longer like up to 45 minutes or so. They can be brutal at times but they're fun and it's helping me further along. I'm practically at my best again but still need to be mindful and listen to my body.

I do have flare ups in my hip from time to time, not to the point of debilitating or very painful but it only happens when I get stressed out about something. It is getting better though. Next step is getting better sleep, I still struggle with it and doing what I can. When I do sleep, even if its for a few hours, I'm out like a light. 

One workout of DDP Yoga I did yesterday really tested me in a way I needed especially if I want to have solid conditioning again was their Double Black Diamond Workout that lasted for an hour. Took breaks here and there for like 30 seconds at a time when Dallas called for it but those were very few and kept going about 95% of the entire workout. Modified what I needed to, felt awkward at times yet I got through the entire workout without quitting. Some of the holds especially for the legs were long and doing slow count push-ups made me shake like a leaf. My flexibility has increased rather quickly, my strength is right back up there and because of getting through that nasty bitch of a workout, my cardio and lung capacity is back in full force. I also use the DDPY App a time or two to get some workouts in that aren't on the DVDs. One was a live type workout where Dallas had a large group of people training at his Performance Center.

This was a major step for me as I'm a big believer in conditioning. You know from my past articles that having solid strength is great but if you don't have a good level capacity in your cardio to back it up, then you're missing out on some very important factors. Doing sprints, step ups, squats, band work and even weights can build your cardio if you know how to apply it. DDP Yoga is no different and because of the combination of Bodyweight Exercises, Muscle Control, Yoga Positioning & other things, it creates an interesting workout that makes you sweat like crazy, testing your levels of control and balance along with building your lung capacity. I've shown some muscle gains and fat loss because of doing it for a while now. You saw my recent pics...Slimmer waist, more defined muscle and my back is a hell of a lot stronger now.

When you put in the work, things will start to happen for the better and as long as you stay consistent and listening to your body, certain miracles may even occur but that may vary from person to person. I've had a lot of soul searching to do while I was laid up and certain things came across my mind which I mentioned in one of my previous articles and that it's not a desire anymore to try and compete with anyone but myself. Some guys have this obsession that you have to compete against EVERYBODY and need to be better than them because it's a fucking war out there. What kind of war are you really trying to win? What's the endgame? I know what it's like to try to one up somebody and at times I won the battle but at other times I got my ass handed to me and at the end of the day, what was it really worth? Plus, unless it's friendly competition, what do you truly expect to happen in the long run?

My biggest desire right now is to be a bit healthier each day, have the strength when it calls for it and be able to go when I need to. I'm not in competition with anybody, I have nobody to try to compete with. Some people are far better than me in certain things and I'm good at what I can do that a lot can't but that shouldn't make me superior to them or make them feel less of themselves or feel less to myself. Your biggest competitor is who you see in the mirror everyday. There are some things people will compete for whether it's for a sport, in business or whatever because there's a specific need but on the other end of the spectrum, when you compete more with yourself in what you want to achieve whether it's big or small, to me there's greater reward in it because you learn to be better than who you were whether it was an hour ago, yesterday, last week, last year or in the last few years. 

Train to be a little better even if it's so microscopic it makes Tardigrades look big. That's the true beauty of making things happen. Even the smallest hint of progress is still progress that leads to the bigger picture. Be more encouraging, don't bully and for the love of the damn universe, do your best to have more compassion for people. At times, you may need to be vocal and call people out on their shit and stand up to those who prey on the weak but if you can keep the majority of your being having compassion and empathy, that other side of the coin would balance itself out. 

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. 

To Keep Going Until The End Of Time

 Certain aspects of training can be put into perspective when you look at it from a certain point of view. In most of my workouts with the Dopa Band, I set a stop watch and see how long it takes to do 10 rounds with the only break marking off the circuit. Sometimes it goes 13 minutes, at times 20 or more minutes but my intention is to always do 10 Rounds or more with little to no rest. It keeps me in shape and its great for rehab if it came down to it. Conditioning is an asset that many underestimate or don't know the true understanding of how useful it really is especially as we get older.

One of my favorite styles of training is to set a time and do a superset continuously until the timer is up. Just focus on the exercises, don't worry or rush the rounds or sets and just hammer out the reps as best as you can until your time is up. The objective is to not stop, adjusting is one thing because you may slow down a bit after a period or tune up the band so to speak as you keep going but you don't stop. That's a test of mental toughness and endurance. I tried this style yesterday doing 4 exercises with the dopa band for 30 min without stopping. No checking off or walking it off, I kept going at a clip that was comfortable for me to where I wasn't getting sloppy but I wasn't going Sonic The Hedgehog either. 

It's about doing what you can to keep your levels up and teaching your body to not get tired or have some gas left in the tank when you're done. It's not about pounding your body into an oblivion and being so damn sore you can't move the next day. Training for the most part is to progress with intent and being aware of what your body can do without needing to go to extremes. As time goes on, we adjust to what we can maintain for life long health. Having strength is never a bad thing but we don't just want our strength to be temporary, it's critical to have it last for as long as we can. 

Conditioning is a component of training we can't afford to lose. If you want to play with the kids, go on hikes, swimming, climbing flights of stairs without issues, taking a stroll through the park; conditioning needs and should be a part of all that in order to live a quality life. Use your energy when it calls for it, be able to keep going when others get tired, harness that gas in the tank mentality to do the fun things in life.

Keep being amazingly awesome.