We're Men...We're Men In Tights

We roam around the forest looking for fights. 

IYKYK. God I love that movie. Watched it yesterday just to get a good laugh in cause why the hell not? It's still a favorite ever since I was 9 years old. Mel Brooks is a fucking legend and to still be here at 99 is awesome.

That's the thing about life man, we need to laugh, feel good and have a blast because it gives us hope. Doing what we can to laugh cause in the words of Roger Rabbit "Sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have". 

I had a great time at the park sometime after watching the movie and getting in those 500 Reps with the Dopa Band. Even tried out a new exercise for myself that hit the Core. I'll be filming it soon so you can get an idea on it. For a Post Workout session, thought I'd get some filming in and although it took a bit of work to find decent angles with the Tripod, think it turned out ok. Tested out some waves, the propeller and a couple sprints. One included starting on the ground and popping up into a sprint, then a quick Bear Crawl. 

Having an imagination is a beautiful thing, you find creative ways to do things and think outside the box. It makes the time go by fast and you discover some aspects of training that may be interesting to others. Hell, even got a great comment on the video that made my day. I love giving people that joy and something to look forward to. That's the true reality of fitness, not beating people down and verbally abusing them to get them into shape, it's encouragement and showing that you don't need to be a drill sergeant or some lame poor excuse of a fitness "expert" telling you you're a loser if you don't follow his method. I'll let you in on a little secret, guys like that aren't very original, they're small, broken, chooses to make their pain everyone else's problem, they easily get pissed off and overcompensate for their insecurities. They're not that strong either and talk like the Peanuts Teacher, just blabbering.

Getting in shape is never a bad thing, but you don't have to be extreme about it. You don't need to go so hard and think that's the only way to get results. Always leave gas in the tank. Building strength takes time, work and things may not always go the way you planned. Train for what you can do long term, not push to the brink of looking like the walking dead and think you can keep doing that for next 20-30 years. I have pushed myself quite a bit especially lately but I always walk away knowing that I did what I could in those moments and know I could do a little more but save that energy for another time. 

Conditioning is your greatest asset because it gives you a sense of purpose of being able to go when times are tough. Think of it from a wrestler's perspective: If you get tired within less than a few minutes or even seconds, you're a goner by being pinned easily, practically dead giving up an arm or an ankle for a submission or even knocked out from a slam. It's part of life too; getting tired quick can lead to injuries on the job, not be able to defend yourself when it counts or defend somebody else, being able to play with your kids or grandkids or even be able to chop and haul firewood to a campsite if that's a thing you do.

Do what you can, progress with technique, control and breathe with great focus. Training to last takes patience and practice but it's worth having those reserves when they're needed in whatever you do. Want more ideas on what you can do to last.....Do some awesome bodyweight training and may I recommend circuits that you can learn from Darebee.com. A full fledged FREE website with all sorts of programs, workouts, guides and more. You can't beat that. If you want to amp it up and want to broaden your horizons, get some Dopa Bands at Dopamineo.com. Use my code POWERANDMIGHT and use the same bands that have made Olympic Athletes, MMA Fighters & World Champions the stuff of legends in their chosen field. Men, Women, Children, all are welcome to use these bad boys to get in the kind of shape that turns heads, have jaws drop and have the type of condition and durability that seems surreal.

Be amazingly awesome and keep at it. You got this and I believe in you. 

Dopa Brutality From A Possible Psychotic Mind

When you think about what you want to do for a workout, sometimes you have to come up with challenges or go deep into your mind and find that brutal level of "Oh This Is Fucking Happening". On Tuesday, I might as well have been on a whole other realm because that workout, just about killed me.

I had mentioned in my post about Ad Santel (Catch Wrestling Icon) that I did the Dopa Band Circuit & Sprints in honor of the old timers and tested my conditioning with pure vengeance. Today, I'm going to cover it and give some insights to what it felt like and what the aftermath was.

Training by yourself and learning your capabilities tests what you are willing to put in in order to get the best out of it. This was not only challenging but it gave me a profound perspective to what it takes to "Stretch Your Limits" as the guys at Dopamineo would say. Conditioning is a powerful asset but in this case, it set a higher bar to why it's so powerful.

Earlier in the morning, I did some Neck Mobility and Joint Loosening to get my body going for the day. Had some food and a while later went to the park to set things up and hammer one of the craziest sessions that someone can possibly do and to do at nearly 42. I set the goal in mind, I left it all out there and gave it everything I could without hurting myself or training to failure. Here was the workout with the Dopa Band.....

5 Exercises

10 Chest Pulleys

10 Wave Pulls

10 Hook Under The Arms Squats

10 Alt Front Raises (AKA Skis)

10 Propellers

20 Rounds. The Finisher: Wrapped the Band around my waist, set my timer for 5 Rounds of 30 Sec on, 30 Sec Off and blasted off doing short but very explosive sprints.

The 1000 total reps (with little rest at all) was already nutty enough and was a bit fatigued but I wanted to step up my game and see how I can push myself adding the Sprints. In life, at times we have to keep going and to do what must be done, even when we're on the brink of exhaustion. Not saying this happens all the time or should be done all the time but there might be a time where you have to dig down and find that inner strength to fight that could be life saving. 

The high I was feeling after catching my breath breathing like a maniac who had just been in a war zone was incredibly relaxing that it lasted for hours. It was just pure bliss, didn't feel anxious, nervous, worried or have a care in the world. Just in a mediative state of happiness and clarity.

In reality, the only thing Psychotic about me is the workouts, not someone who is clinically psychotic and needs to be locked up somewhere. There are people out there with whacked out and screwed up entities that need to be dealt with but then again there are those who "claim" to be psychotic but do nothing but rant and act superior living out some delusional fantasy. 

This workout was something I never tested out before and granted I've done sprints and a number of workouts that went up to 1000 Reps whether it was a circuit or doing the deck of cards twice in a row but never mixed the two beasts together to form a nasty session that would make the average guy quit within a few minutes. A wrestler or even someone in MMA most likely can do far better at this than I ever will but to me, this was something I wanted to find out for myself what my abilities could do when I put my mind to it. Will I do this kind of training again? One day maybe but for now, stay on track to becoming a master of these bands and conditioning myself for the long haul. 

Find what can be a challenge for you and see what you can do. We all have our own journey and we all have our own challenges but we are also more capable than we even give ourselves credit for. In a nutshell, we are our own worst critic, even more than the ones who despise and hate on us but can't stop reading or discussing about us. Be amazingly awesome and kick ass in all your endeavors. Go to Dopamineo.com and grab a band or two and get up on that horse to get in bad ass shape, use the promo code POWERANDMIGHT. Be mindful, be resilient, breathe and take control of your fitness journey.  

Ad Santel: A Catch Wrestling Juggernaut Who Crushed Japan's Judo Masters And Secured An Unbreakable Legacy of Mat Domination

How's it going everyone? Hopefully you're out there killing it this week, sweat dripping, muscles screaming, and that unbreakable fire burning within. Yesterday I wrapped up one of my go-to Dopa Band Circuits, 20 Rounds but added in explosive sprints as a finisher that left me high as a kite yet feeling like I had been through a war zone. It slammed me right back into that old school mentality like those nasty catch wrestlers from the past. These legends didn’t train for show. They trained to survive, to dominate, and to prove their style could humble anyone. That’s exactly what Ad Santel did. This German-American beast didn’t just wrestle, he took on Japan’s elite judoka and jiu-jitsu black belts in straight-up shoot fights and left them battered, tapping, or flat on the mat. If you’re chasing that raw, functional power in your own training, Santel’s story is pure fuel in and of itself. Catch-as-catch-can isn’t ancient history. It’s the blueprint for understanding what it takes to build the kind of body and mind that refuses to break.

Born Adolph Ernst on April 7, 1887, in Dresden, Germany, Santel crossed the ocean and exploded onto the American wrestling scene. At 5’9” and a rock-solid 185 pounds, he wasn’t some towering giant. He was compact fury – quick, explosive, and loaded with leverage that turned bigger men into ragdolls. He debuted in 1907 under ring names like Al Santel or Mysterious Carpenter, but by the 1910s he was the fucking man to beat. He claimed the World Light Heavyweight Championship in catch wrestling and defended that strap for years against the best the era had to offer. This wasn’t scripted entertainment. These were legit challenges – no rounds, no bullshit, just two men locked up until one submitted or couldn’t continue. Santel held his own against heavy hitters like Joe Stecher, Gus Sonnenberg, John Pesek, and even went the distance with Ed “Strangler” Lewis later on. But his real legendary status? That came from crossing oceans and styles.

I want you to paint a picture in your mind's eye: it’s the 1910s, and Japanese judo and jiu-jitsu are being hyped as unbeatable arts. Black belts from the Kodokan were rolling through America, challenging anyone who dared. Santel said “bring it” and stepped into the fire. On November 1915, he took out Senryuken Noguchi in San Francisco. Then came the big one on February 5, 1916 – Tokugoro Ito, a legit 5th-degree black belt judoka. Under judo rules, Santel slammed the man so viciously Ito couldn’t stand back up. Santel stood tall and declared himself World Judo Champion on the spot. The rematch in June? Ito caught him in a choke and got the win. But that first victory? It sent shockwaves. Newspapers described Ito tossing Santel around like a sack of flour early on, only for Santel’s catch transitions and raw power to flip the script. DDDAAAMMMNNN son, that’s the kind of grit that turns doubters into believers.

He kept rolling. Taro Miyake, another Japanese star, got handled in Seattle. First a draw, then Santel hit him with a half-nelson slam that left Miyake dizzy and out for half an hour. Daisuke Sakai, yet another 5th dan. Santel submitted him twice with a nasty biceps slicer that had the crowd gasping. These weren’t flukes. Santel’s catch wrestling, that blend of hooks, rides, and bone-crushing control – exposed the holes in pure judo when everything was on the table.

Fast forward to 1921 and this is where it gets good: Santel assembles a crew, Henry Weber and Matty Matsuda head straight to Japan. They hit Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine in front of 10,000 screaming fans. Neutral rules: judogi jackets on, but all catch holds allowed. March 5 against Reijiro Nagata? Headlock Submission. The next day versus Hikoo Shoji, they draw, but Shoji’s face is swollen and busted – Santel even helped the guy off the mat like a true warrior respecting the battle. Then in Nagoya he avenges a teammate’s loss by smashing Hitoshi Shimizu. These matches weren’t exhibitions. They were wars that forced the Kodokan to rethink everything. Some Japanese fighters got expelled just for training with him. One man from Dresden changed the global grappling game forever.

Santel’s toolkit was like a swiss army knife. Slamming takedowns that used every ounce of leverage to plant opponents on their backs. The half-nelson slam? A finisher that could rattle brains. Biceps slicers for those brutal submissions. Neckscissors and headlocks that squeezed the fight right out of you. No flashy spins or showboat moves – just efficient, vicious reality that worked when the sweat was flying and the crowd was roaring. He wasn’t the biggest or the strongest on paper, but his conditioning let him go for hours and still come out on top. That’s the catch wrestling edge: control the mat, chain your holds, and outlasting your opponent.

After retiring in 1933, Santel passed the torch. He helped train Lou Thesz for a period in California, drilling that catch foundation that helped make Lou a household name. Thesz later called it “an incredible gift.” Santel lived until 1966, passing at 79 in Alameda, but his impact never faded. In 2024 he got inducted into the International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. And yeah, there’s that old rumor about him getting paid to rough up Georg Hackenschmidt before the Gotch rematch – unproven, but it fits the era’s gritty backstage drama. Bottom line: This crazy bastard bridged worlds. He showed catch wrestling could humble the “unbeatable” and planted seeds that still grow in modern submission grappling and MMA.

Here’s the part that should light a fire under your ass today. The man's dominance wasn’t magic – it was conditioning forged in the trenches. Long matches, global travel, facing elite opposition night after night. That demands a gas tank that doesn't have the word tired in the Dictionary. High-rep circuits, grip endurance that never quits, and the mental steel to push when every fiber wants to quit. You don’t get that from pretty gym routines. You grind it out in the backyard, garage, the beach or even in a hotel room just like the old-timers.

That’s why Dopa Bands are the perfect modern weapon for anyone chasing catch-inspired power. Variable resistance on pulls, squats, rows, and explosive drills mimics the dynamic strength you need for slams, scrambles, and marathon rolls. No gym membership. No excuses. Just pure functional might you can take anywhere. Whether you’re drilling guard work or building that never-quit endurance for your next open mat session, these bands let you train exactly like Santel lived: raw, relentless, and results-driven. These 500-1000 Rep Workouts I've been doing since January, have made the difference in how I proceed to be in the best shape possible. Like Ad, I'm not the strongest, the fastest or look like a bodybuilder but I sure as hell want to be in the best condition as possible and haven't felt like I peaked yet.

Look, the old-school catch wrestlers didn’t chase fame or trends. They chased who they can beat. Ad Santel embodied that spirit – a compact German-American juggernaut who stared down entire martial arts systems and came out victorious. He didn’t just win matches. He proved that heart, technique, and savage conditioning will always beat hype.

So what are you waiting for, bro? Throw in some band circuits today. Drill those transitions until they flow on instinct. Push through the burn until your body adapts and your mind gets unbreakable. Respect the history, value the lessons and live with Power and fucking Might every single day.

Head over to dopamineo.com right now and grab a set – or two – of Dopa Bands. Use code POWERANDMIGHT and get yourself hooked up. Then get after it. Train like the old timers. Dominate your competition. Because catch wrestling didn’t die in 1933. It lives in every rep you grind out today.

Keep killing it, everyone. Stay strong, be amazingly awesome and I’ll catch you in the next one. Shoot me a comment and let's hear from you.