What Muscles Does This Work?

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Jon

As humans we have a unique, sometimes almost obsessive need to catalog, categorize, and label things. Exercise is no different.

In the midst of a tough workout session, almost invariably someone will suddenly stop and ask the pressing question – “by the way, what muscles is this working?”

Why do our brains do this?

In my opinion, it’s part curiosity, part obsessive need to categorize, but also part delaying tactic. Just like the little kid who suddenly has a million and one questions about anything under the sun in order to delay having to go to bed, we ask a seemingly pertinent question to delay having to do the exercise a little longer. Because we associate some type of pain with the workout, be it the physical pain of muscle ache, or the psychological pain of having to push through our limits, we do the logical thing (to us) and stall the inevitable. The question allows us to push that pause button in the movement and stop for a few moments while we regroup ourselves for the effort ahead.

But What Muscles Does It Work?

Within the Warrior Fitness Training System, the answer to the question of which muscles are working in a particular exercise requires a little more explanation. In conventional fitness training the answer is usually confined to something like, “well, this exercise works your biceps, that next exercise works your chest, and this last one is working your lats.”

The exercises we do in Warrior Fitness tend to have a much broader, system-wide effect. Our exercises are always multi-planar, multi-joint, and 3 dimensional. So the short answer to the question of which muscles does this work is usually – All of them!

How can this be?

Instead of viewing the body as made up of individual muscles, Warrior Fitness teaches that the body is one interconnected system where the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts, so that when one thing moves everything moves. Why do I teach it this way? Well, because that’s how the body is actually built. More on this later…

What this idea does is allow us to express power in a much more functional way for combat, sport, and life. Real power is expressed in only 2 ways – from the ground up and from the center out, oftentimes as a combination of both. Never is power expressed by an individual muscle group alone. It’s way too weak and ineffective.

The choice is yours. How do you want to train? Whole body integrated power is my method of choice.

My latest program, Ninja Missions Program 1 is a fantastic example of how to train for this whole body power. Make sure you do yourself and your training a favor and check it out!!

Become Unreasonable

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Jon

Being reasonable gets you mediocrity. Being reasonable gets you the status quo. Nothing great has ever been achieved by men and women who were reasonable. Every major (and most minor) human achievement has been accomplished by unreasonable people.

It was unreasonable of Thomas Edison to fail over 10,000 times before creating the incandescent electric light bulb.

It was unreasonable to think that a man could walk on the moon until Neil Armstrong stepped onto its surface in July of 1969.

It was unreasonable to think the 4 minute mile could be broken until Roger Bannister broke it on May 6, 1954.

In the world of Bujinkan Martial Arts, it was unreasonable of Stephen K. Hayes to think he would be accepted as the first American to study the mysterious art of Japanese Ninjutsu, yet today he is known all over the world.

Over and over again, unreasonable people are succeeding, accomplishing great things, and leaving their mark on the world. So tell me again, why would you want to be reasonable?

Do you ever get the feeling you were destined for greatness? It starts like a slight nagging feeling in your gut that there’s something missing. That you don’t quite fit in with the status quo. It’s a dissatisfaction with ordinary or mediocre. It’s the fleeting thought on the fringes of your consciousness that maybe, just maybe there’s something more than this for you.

“You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” – Morpheus

Unfortunately for the world, the majority of people out there will ignore that feeling. They will make excuses why they can’t act on it. They will be too busy, too tired, too involved in something or someone else, too lazy, too scared. But not you. You will act. You will feel the fear just like all the rest of them, but your desire for greatness will allow you to overcome it. You will have all the same excuses and rationales, maybe more, but the restlessness inside will not let you rest.

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them” – Henry David Thoreau

To bring this from the general to the specific, how do we become unreasonable in our training?

For starters, I have never believed that any highly skilled martial arts master was special. Never will. You and I have the ability to be as great as any one of them. What one man can do, another can do. The only way to insure you never succeed is to put them up on a pedestal and tell yourself they are special. That they are geniuses. That they are a rare, unusual breed. That they are set apart. Nonsense! You want it? Train harder. Train more. Train better. Become unreasonable in your training.

You must train yourself to be so good that they won’t be able to ignore your skill, no matter who you are and no matter what your rank – or lack of!

Learn the ancient warrior’s methods of building an unbreakable body HERE.

You Are Already Masterful!

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Jon

A long time ago, Socrates said, “Learning is remembering.”

Famously, Michelangelo “saw” David trapped within a solid block of marble. According to him, he did not so much sculpt David, but rather liberated him from the prison of stone.

What if you too are already a masterpiece that is simply trapped inside your own block of stone?

The stone prison surrounding your personal mastery though is not made of marble. Rather, you are being held captive by all the unnatural patterns of movement(s) and limiting beliefs that have built up over the years of conditioning.

It is the belief systems you have created within yourself that pulls you down, away from reaching your own mastery.

It is the negative self talk that continues to chatter away in your head whenever you attempt something great that pulls you back.

It is the little voice that says – “Who are you to think you can do that? Who are you to dare to be great? Who are you to think you can be masterful? You’re nobody. You don’t deserve it. You’re not good enough. You’re not smart enough. You always fail, why do you think this time will be any different?”

The question, in reality, though is this one: WHO ARE YOU NOT TO?

Remember this – you are always the only one in control of what you think. Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot, you are right!

Your patterns of movement, your patterns of breathing, your patterns of thought, your patterns of belief all have been conditioned over the span of your entire life to effectively create a prison of stone confining you, limiting your level of mastery. You can break free of this limiting conditioning by gradually chipping away at the outer layers, slowly revealing the true nature of the masterpiece “David” that is you.

The first step in setting free your personal mastery is to first realize that you are trapped. Without this level of conscious self-awareness, the process cannot begin.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
― Marianne Williamson, Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”

The 3 Paths of Warrior Fitness

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Jon

The 3 Paths of the Warrior

There are 3 Paths of the Warrior, along with the 4 Levels of Preparation, that form the basis of the entire training system. While each path is unique with its own individual strategies, methods, and characteristics, they are also so deeply interconnected that the sum of the whole system of training is far greater than its individual parts.

The 3 paths are…

Path to Strength

Strength is not only about unleashing our innate physical supremacy, but comprised of mental fortitude and spiritual power as well. The aim of this trifold path of strength is to forge the strongest version of yourself on all 3 levels of human ability.

The Path to Strength utilizes tools such as Russian kettlebells, Indian Clubs, old objects, and a considerable variety of unique bodyweight exercises to generate strength throughout the entire body in all ranges of motion. Physical strength is not confined to merely muscle alone, but focuses on training the tendons, ligaments, and fascia as well. This provides a much more stable and connected body.

Path to Rejuvenation

Health is not merely the absence of disease, but the allowing of the human body to operate at full capacity all of the time. Rejuvenation increases the resilience of the body through restoration and compensation for the work of Strength.

The Path to Rejuvination is comprised of joint mobility work to keep the body well lubricated and injury free, yoga asana to systematically increase flexibility and act as compensatory movement, breathing and vibration training to flush the system with oxygen, remove residual tension, and energize the body.

Path to Martial Skill

Martial skill is not simply the ability to regurgitate dogma and technique, but the ability to spontaneously use the conditioned budo body to its utmost level and ability in a combative engagement.

Although the considerable bulk of my martial training over the past 30 years has been in the Japanese warrior arts of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, I have studied, and continue to study, several other martial arts from around the world as well. The main arts, aside from the Bujinkan, from which I draw my experience are: Russian Systema – both Ryabko Systema and Systema ROSS, Chinese Yiquan, and the Aiki of Dan Harden.

How do you get started down the Warrior’s Path? START HERE <<===

Ninja Nutrition Manifesto

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Jon

As a big thank you to my readers for all your support and feedback, I have put together a new guide to nutrition that I am giving away here!

Introducing the Ninja Nutrition Manifesto – Assassinating Poor Eating Habits One Person at a Time!

To download, please click Ninja Nutrition Manifesto <<=======

Also, as a bonus check out my Sample 3 Day Meal Plan <<======

Enjoy!

4 Levels of Preparation in Warrior Fitness

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Jon

There are 4 levels of preparation within the Warrior Fitness Training System that are used to create a complete, comprehensive training program.

In any complete training program they flow from one level to the next and back again effectively blurring the lines between them. This allows the trainee a more holistic approach to training and accelerates their progress and skill rather than holding them back to finish one level before moving on to the next.

The key is allowing each level to build on the next while simultaneously back-filling in gaps and increasing the solidity of the foundation. Thus each of these levels is must not be a discrete, separate unit. They blend and flow into one another and back again. They continue to be inter-related and inform each other throughout the duration of each complete Warrior Fitness Training Program.

Level 1 – General Physical Preparation

Level 2 – Specific Physical Preparation

Level 3 – Technical Skill Preparation

Level 4 – Mental/Emotional Toughness

General Physical Preparation (GPP)

The first level in ensuring you are building skill on top of a solid foundation is General Physical Preparation (GPP). The goal of GPP is enhanced work capacity. This is the ability to run faster, jump higher, and hit harder. When work capacity increases, it allows the budding warrior to adapt more easily to increases in both mental and physical demands. In other words, it increases your capacity and level of readiness to absorb higher levels of specificity.

Specific Physical Preparation (SPP)

Specific Physical Preparation (SPP) is the second level. While the goal of GPP is muscular adaptation, the main focus of SPP is neurological adaptation. Specific Physical Preparedness builds on GPP by increasing the development of characteristics necessary for a particular sport or activity – or, in our case, martial arts. Therefore, GPP helps to make you effective while SPP makes you efficient. The end stage goal is of course to be both effective and efficient in each and every movement.

Technical Skills (TS)

The Technical Skills (TS) level is where the specific techniques of the martial art, sport, or activity are trained. This allows the trainee to work at perfecting the technical aspect of each individual discipline. All skills must be built on a solid foundation of strength and health in order to meet the demands of the art at the highest levels.

Mental Toughness (MT)

Mental Toughness (MT) is final level where mental and emotional toughness are built. Toughness is defined as “resistance to failure”. This level is ultimately blended throughout the entire process gradually increasing the trainee’s level of challenge, difficulty, and resistance to failure.

Sign up for my Distance Learning Program HERE <<===

Where Do You Locate Your Control?

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Jon

Ever feel like everything is spiraling out of control? Like the only thing that actually responds to you the way you want it to is your TV remote, and lately even that is on the fritz?

How do you reign it all in?

The answer is simpler than you think…

Internal of External?

Your locus of control determines everything. Where you source your control is what governs how you live your life. According to psychology, those people who have allow their lives to be dictated by outside forces have an external locus of control. These people are all over the map. They are blown by the wind, allowing whatever happens on the outside to move their thoughts, their moods, their actions. Because these people allow themselves to be pushed around by external forces they constantly feel as if they are out of control. And they are.

Conversely, those with an internal locus of control are much more stable and steadfast. They understand that it is not what happens to them that determines how they respond, but how they choose to feel about it. The only thing you control in this life, aside from the temperature on your thermostat, is your ability to choose how to respond to external situations. What happens on the outside, happens to pretty much everyone. We all get sick. We all have bad days. The sun set on all of us last night. What differentiates these people is their ability to choose how to feel about, and respond to (if they do at all), the bad things that happen to them. They are in control.

Immovable Spirit

In Japanese budo (martial arts), we have a very similar concept called, Fudoshin. Fudoshin means “immovable spirit”. Basically it says that the warrior maintains a calm in the very heart of the storm. He is not moved by external events and situations, but is able to bring his full capabilities to bear because of this immense mental and emotional stability. He is in control.

Does this mean that warriors are heartless, unfeeling people? No, not at all. Quite the opposite, actually. They feel anger, sadness, bitterness, regret, frustration, happiness, joy, ecstasy, and yes, even depression. But, they do not allow these emotions to rule their lives running them up and down like a roller coaster at Six Flags. They stay the course.

It’s very easy to allow outside events and circumstances to push us around and dictate the course of our lives. We’ve all experienced it and allowed it to happen at some point. The key is recognizing it and moving your locus of control back to inside yourself.

Do NOT Go With the Flow

People have all sorts of excuses and rationalizations for being swayed by every outside force. We even have a very philosophical, quasi-intelligent sounding way of putting it; we say – “go with the flow”. You’ve heard this, right? You’ve probably even said it to someone, I know I have. But here are 2 very important things to remember about why you should NOT go with the flow:

1) You cannot drift to the top. You’ll never achieve your goals and dreams by going with the flow.

2) Only dead bodies float downstream.

Remain steadfast, Warriors. Stay the course, my friends!!

Primum Non Nocere

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Jon

“First, Do No Harm”

This fundamental precept of medical ethics should apply equally, and perhaps even more so, to the fitness industry. We, as trainers and coaches, who are dispensing knowledge, skill, and advice to our clients and the general public should be held to the same ethical standard as the medical community to first, do no harm. Yet in the increasingly growing world of fitness this standard seems to be severely lacking.

The vast majority of the population comes to us, the fitness professionals, to become healthier, stronger versions of themselves. We have a responsibility to deliver this service to them at the highest possible level we are capably of, and to insure that we are placing their health first in our quest to get them fit. Yet when we look at the fitness landscape it seems as if health has slipped the mind of many trainers, heck some of them don’t even have the word in their vocabulary!

In my mind there are a several factors contributing to the madness, but in the interests of time I will list only 2.

Crossfit, A Danger

The first one that comes to mind is the proliferation and popularity of systems (and I use that word loosely), like Crossfit. It seems the brand has become so popular there’s a new Crossfit box on every corner. Yes, the intensity is addicting, but where is the accountability?

From the Wikipedia entry on Crossfit:

According to Dr. Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, the risk of injury from some CrossFit exercises outweighs their benefits when they are performed with poor form in timed workouts. He added there are similar risks in other exercise programs but noted that CrossFit’s online community enables athletes to follow the program without proper guidance, increasing the risk.^[36]

Makimba Mimms, who suffered injuries while performing a CrossFit workout on December 11, 2005, at Manassas World Gym in Manassas, VA under the supervision of an uncertified trainer,^[37]claimed that CrossFit poses an elevated risk of rhabdomyolysis. He successfully sued his trainers and was awarded $300,000 in damages.^[38]

Articles on many websites criticize CrossFit for its lack of periodization, lack of quality-control accreditation standards for trainers or affiliates, and illogical or random exercise sequences.^[27]^{[unreliable source?]}^[39]^{[unreliable source?]}^[40]^{[unreliable source?]}

Some publications have raised concerns that CrossFit promotes a potentially dangerous atmosphere that encourages people, particularly newcomers to CrossFit, to train past their limits, resulting in injury.^[41]

The human body simply cannot operate at high intensity all the time. By encouraging people to constantly push past their limits without regard to waving intensity, recovery methods, periodization, and well, simple common sense, the system itself is broken. Under trained coaches who know nothing but – “push, push, push…” are a liability and danger to the people who put themselves in their hands.

We must do better.

Yes, there are many excellent Crossfit Coaches out there who do understand how to properly program training and intensity to get spectacular results for their clients, but the vast majority who simply drink the Kool Aid and follow the prescribed WODS need to reexamine how they are training in light of a more balanced, health first approach.

Inexperience

The second problem I see with the fitness industry as a whole which greatly contributes to the lack of a health first approach is the unbelievable number of inexperienced personal trainers teaching in gyms, fitness centers, or setting up shop with nothing more than a computer based multiple choice test judging their ability to be a “nationally certified” personal trainer. These trainers may mean well, but they simply do not yet have the knowledge and hands-on experience to be effective coaches. They do not have the education and training to effectively craft well-rounded programs for their clients and fall prey to the “flavor of the month” type training method or protocol.

More study, more knowledge, more training, more experience is required. A balanced understanding of proper warm-up protocols, training approaches and methodologies, and cool down work is necessary. As trainers and coaches we have a moral responsibility to our clients to give them the very best results they are looking for, but first we must DO NO HARM.

The Myth of Stagnation

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Jon

Many people like to believe that if they don’t take the time to train themselves on a daily basis their skill levels will somehow remain stagnant, like on a plateau. That their skills and abilities will somehow remain in stasis, neither improving or regressing until the next class, the next workshop, the next seminar, or the next time they can get their Daily Personal Practice on track again. The truth of the matter is not so cut and dry.

Here’s the Reality

Here’s the reality – if you are not taking the time to train on a consistent basis than you are steadily declining in skill. Each practice session you skip (not miss – skip. Skipping is a choice), your skill level decreases slightly, your abilities atrophy just a bit. There is no such thing as stagnation. Your body cannot remain motionless if you are alive and breathing. Either you are getting better through your daily commitment of consistently going deeper into your practice or you are getting worse. No middle ground. No fence sitting. One side or the other. Stop fooling yourself.

The good news is, once you accept that stagnation is a myth, you can begin to look at your practice objectively and actually begin the steady climb to create real progress. You see, real progress is not a sudden flurry of activity followed by a lull. Real progress is only achieved in consistent, incremental steps day by day. It’s the little things that count, not the big ones. It’s the little steps that build and accumulate.

Do you think your yearly pilgrimage to Japan (or your martial arts/fitness training Mecca of choice) is causing your skill level to jump? Nope. It’s not. Yes, it’s motivating. Yes, it’s inspiring. Yes, you are learning new things, getting corrections (hopefully!), and gaining new and deeper insights. BUT – how do all those new insights come to fruition? You don’t own them until they become assimilated by your nervous system. That takes time. That takes practice.

Deep, consistent practice.

That deep practice is the slow and steady grind of your consistent daily training.

That’s where the magic happens. It happens in the grind. In the regular training. In the ordinary time.

That’s where REAL skill is built. That’s how masters are made.

The Law of Threes – Part 2

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Jon

Form of the 3 Hearts

In The Law of Threes – Part 1, we discussed the 3 physical components of Alignment, Movement, and Breathing, which form the basis for technique in the Warrior Fitness Training System. The next trinity of principles we will look at is the sanshin no kata, or Form of 3 Hearts.

The 3 hearts I am referring to here are body, mind, and spirit. While the prior 3 components make up the internal physical expression of technique, these 3 represent a unified metaphysical approach to technique. It is the integrated use of mind, body, and spirit which brings life to and actualizes the practice of Warrior Fitness.

The following is how I distinguish the 3 Hearts:

Mind – Intent, concentration and focus along with an understanding of the interrelationship of the exercises and how they integrate with and enhance the way we move in the world.

Body – Forging a strong body to carry us through the challenges we face.

Spirit – Pushing the edge to consistently increase resistance to failure.

When just one of the 3 hearts is absent or somehow out of balance, the technique itself becomes just a shallow, superficial representation of its true, powerful form.

The techniques of both fitness and martial art must, by definition (at least the Warrior Fitness definition) engage the complete human being – body, mind, and spirit – to have the most lasting and transformative effect. Without full commitment of the 3 Hearts not only is the technique itself a weak expression of its true power, but the person executing it, by default, does not receive the comprehensive benefit of the exercise.

“It is much better to deeply practice an exercise just 3-4 times while being fully engaged than to practice it 100 times without.” – Jon Haas

Warrior Fitness

Old School Training for the Modern Warrior

Monthly Archives: September 2013