Monthly Archives: February 2015

Nothing in Isolation!

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Funny story..

Yesterday at the gym where I work we got in a brand new triceps machine.  The latest concept is that it has 3 different settings in order to better target (isolate) the 3 individual heads of the triceps muscle.  I shuddered at the the very thought as I looked upon the foul machine with disdain…

Tricep-ExtensionThen someone called me over to look at it and give it a try.  My initial instinct was to run away, but I acquiesced, pretended to be interested, and tried it out.  Well, true to its advertising it certainly isolated the triceps very well.  And, I am extremely happy to report that the whole experience of isolating one muscle group, and now parts of a muscle, is extremely foreign to my body.  I had to stop myself from shivering as I extricated myself from its vile grasp!!

Never Do This!

Just in case you have not received the message, allow me to be very clear here, I do NOT recommend using machines to exercise, EVER!  They restrict your body’s true range of motion to one dimension and completely obviate any need for stabilizer, postural, or core muscles to activate at all.  Combine that with the fact that nothing in martial art, sport, or real life ever happens in isolation or in one dimension and you start to see how dis-integrating your body via machine-based training is a recipe for disaster!  If you prefer to look like a Frankenstein body built out of disparate parts that have zero ability to function as a cohesive unit, then by all means enjoy your machine-based training.  Otherwise, stick with me and you will perform with integrated whole-body strength with fluidity and grace.

How to Actually Train Triceps

Now, let’s assume that you want to actually train your triceps in the right way, as part of an integrated whole that coordinates with, and is supported by, the rest of the body.

So what exercises do I suggest?  Here is a short list…

  • Push-ups (close push-ups, handstand push-ups, one-arm push-ups, pike push-ups, arrow push-ups)
  • Pull-ups (Yes, pull-ups work the triceps – amazing, right?!)
  • Overhead Presses (kettlbell, dumbbell, barbell, sandbag, etc..)
  • Dips (add weight if too easy!)
  • Bridges
  • L-Sit holds

Want to develop your triceps in concert with the rest of the body?  How many of the above exercises do you do on a regular basis?  Get after it!  Get strong – stay strong!!

 

PS – Sick of being average?  Ready for extraordinary?  Let me know how I can help you…
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Why You Must Train Your Grip Strength

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I have very few specific memories of my Great Grandfather, who was in his 90’s when he passed away.  One of those memories is how strong and crushing his grip was for such an old man.

I remember shaking his hand and being brought to my knees with a bone-crushing grip as he smiled at me and said hello.  He was a small, wiry old Italian man who was deceptively strong!

One story that my parents have related to me so many times that is has become a “memory” of him happened when I was a newborn baby.

We were living up in rural Connecticut and apparently there was a huge rock, a boulder, planted right smack in the middle of the front yard.

My father was planning to hire some workers to come dig it out, but Great Grandfather wouldn’t hear of it.  One day, while my Dad was at work, he grabbed a shovel and dug the whole thing out himself!

It is said that the strength of the hands determines the strength of the body.  The power and strength of the body is expressed through the hands.

Not Strong Enough…

An oft repeated conversation I have at the gym with some of the heavy lifters is how they must train their grip strength.  Usually the conversation starts with someone asking for a spare pair of straps because the heavier dead-lifts are causing their grip to fail.

arnold-deadlifting

They explain to me that they CAN lift more, it’s just that they can’t hold onto the bar.  Whereupon I reply that no they CANNOT lift more until they strengthen their grip.  If your grip is the weak-point in the lift you don’t simply substitute the tensional integrity of your own muscle and connective tissue for a strap.  This doesn’t make you stronger, it makes you weaker.  The only remedy is for you to strengthen your grip!!

Types of Grip Strength

 

 

Upgrade your entire body for superior grip strength, stability and striking power <<==

 

How Far Can You Go?

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Mediocrity ain’t in my vocabulary.  It should not be in yours either.  Average is for the weak.  Normal?  Bleh – no thanks.  This ride called life we are all on has but one go around.  No more tickets – you only get 1.  So why not push for outstanding?  Why dare to fulfill all your potential and be great?  Why not see how far you can go?

TS Elliot Quote

Only a small handful of great warrior sages come along every generation.  Why is that?  Is it genetics?  I don’t think so.  Is it the perfect storm of coincidence and circumstance that combine to create these masters?  Probably not.  So why are there so few?  It’s that they, the rare breed, possess the will power, the drive, the inner fire to go farther and climb higher than anyone else around them.

osensei_tree_kokyu1-272x334

sokaku-takeda-osaka-36-08

 

 

Wang pic

takamatsu

Do you have it in you?

Do you want it badly enough?

The means to be on of the elite is in your grasp.  The information and training is readily available, now more than any other time in history, for anyone with the desire to go out and get it.  The only failure is in your personal motivation and drive to go after it!  There are no real limitations on mastery, martial or otherwise – the only true limits are those you place on yourself!

The sad part is we fight for our own limitations.  We fight to be small, to be weak, to be comfortable, to be less than our God given potential.  We cling to our limits like a child clutching a blanket against the approaching darkness.  As if it can really protect us.  We tell ourselves that we can’t when what we really mean is, ‘it’s hard and I’m afraid of trying because I might fail…’

But we must be strong.

We must endure.

We must overcome.

We must fulfill our mission to completely exhaust all our potential and succeed mightily.

We must be great for no other reason than to see how far we can go.

Why not?  The end is the same for each one of us.  The ride will end all too soon. And it’s much better to burn out than to fade away!

Enter At Your Own Risk… 

Bushi1