Category Archives: General Discussion

Sometimes our genius defies the laws of finite categorization.

5 Reasons to NOT Train with Me

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A bit tongue in cheek, but here are 5 excellent reasons why you should NOT train with me:

1)  If the price of your gym membership is the only deciding factor in where you train, please go to a commercial gym.

2)  If you do not care about ever achieving your fitness goals or getting results from your training, please go to a commercial gym.

3)  If you do not appreciate hands-on instruction and lots of personal attention and accountability, please go to a commercial gym.

treadmill

4)  If you do not care about learning correct movement, form, and exercise technique, please go to a commercial gym.

5)  If you have no interest in experiencing the powerful results conferred by properly designed training programs based on years of experience and learning, please go to a commercial gym.

5.5)  If you are perfectly content with being mediocre and never, ever challenging yourself or pushing your limits, please go to a commercial gym

If however, none of the above fit or describe you in the slightest, than I implore you to experience the difference here at Warrior Fitness Gym and come train with me.

What Business Am I In?

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The text for this post came from a speech I gave last week to my BNI (networking) Group…

what-business-are-you-really-in

You may think you know and understand the business I am in, being that I own a gym.  Perhaps you think I am in the business of helping people lose weight, or get in shape (whatever that means).  Or, maybe the business of helping people get stronger or improve athletic performance.  You would be wrong.  Certainly those things are components of what I do, but they are not the complete picture.

Without stepping on the toes of my friends in the financial planning and life insurance industries, I will unapologetically tell you I am in the business of Long Term Care.  How can I say that?

Fat loss, muscle gain, increases in flexibility, mobility, and performance are not end goals, in and of themselves.  They are ALL merely byproducts of better movement.  Whether you are an athlete, martial artists, soccer mom, or business man, and everyone in between, better movement will always equate to better performance, better body composition, and better health.

Exercise Improves Life

Exercise improves all facets of life.  People who exercise regularly are better at their jobs, kids do better in school, they get sick less often, and in general have much higher levels of energy and health.  Exercise does not just improve your biceps, it improves your brain.  That pump you feel in the muscle when doing a curl is caused by blood flow.  That blood flow is not isolated, that is physiologically impossible – it increases all throughout the body, including the brain.  Think about this – your head is roughly 1/8 of your entire body.  If you simply sit at a desk and work with your mind all day long, no matter how smart and productive you may be, you are only using approximately 1/8th of your entire potential.  Descarte was wrong – the mind is not separate from the body.

I say I am in the business of long term care because I teach you much more than mere fitness.  I teach you how to train for life.  People do not stop moving because they get old.  They get old because they stop moving!

Warrior Fitness is not a set of disparate parts cobbled together, but a system based on my life long experience as a physical culturist.  To be able to recreate what I have put into it, you would have to study Japanese, Chinese, and Russian martial arts, strength training, bodyweight exercise, Kettlebell training, oldtime strong man training, sports science, yoga, qigong, etc…

I have put in all the work; done all the research, experimented with the protocols and the programming.  I have given my clients, both locally here at Warrior Fitness Gym, and worldwide the product of it all– a fully developed, cohesive  system  of training the body, mind, and spirit for health, fitness, and performance –  Warrior Fitness

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Who is This Program for Anyway?

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It recently came to my attention (yesterday, as a matter of fact) that several people are under the impression that my Evolve Your Breathing program is only meant for a small demographic of the population, ie – male martial artists.

Correct me if I’m wrong here, but the last time I checked 100%, that means ALL, of the population breathes – am I right? 🙂

So why would someone assume that a program on breathing exercises for health, wellness,performance, and stress management, applies to just a limited segment of the population?

Let me help – No matter who you are and what sort of activity, sport, or martial art (or none) you are engaged in, your breathing is an essential, and I mean critically essential, component of that activity.

Want to make it better?  Get Evolve Your Breathing.  Period.

EVOLVE_SPOT-1 (2)30 Day Money Back Guarantee

To make this an even easier decision, I am so sure that EYB will increase your energy levels, improve your response to stress, and speed your workout recovery that I am offering a 30 day money back guarantee.
Try Evolve Your Breathing for 30 days and if you don’t like it, I will give you 100% of your money back no questions asked. (well, I might ask one question, like – did you actually try it???)

Take the Evolve Your Breathing 30 Day Challenge today!

PS  – You can also get Evolve Your Breathing at 50% off the regular price when you purchase it as part of one of my Budo Packs!

Traditional Martial Artists of the World – UNITE!

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Traditional martial arts all have a long history of intense, sometimes downright brutal, physical training to forge the warrior’s combative body, mindset, and spirit.

This training has, up until very recently in history, never been optional. If you did not have the strength of will to endure it and push through then you simply did not make the cut and were not taught higher level skills. Not that you would be considered somehow unworthy or anything silly like that, but you would be thought physically incapable and therefore not worth the teacher’s time to train you.

Each school of martial art had its own type of tanren or forging process to harden the aspiring martial student. Continue reading →

The Worst Reason Ever

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The other day my daughters and I were sitting in a local diner having breakfast.  As we sat there looking at the menus and discussing  what we were planning to order, my 4 year old looked at her older sister and said – “Hey!  Get your elbows off the table!”

“No way!” replied my 12 year old, “why should I?” Continue reading →

The Most Powerful Form of Training

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“Look at this guy – he’s a beast!”

“You’re an animal!”

“He’s got beast strength!”

In the fitness world it’s become very common to refer to extremely strong and capable individuals as “Beasts” or “Animals”.  We use these terms to separate them out from the regular crowd, to distinguish their strength as something more than human.  These people push past their puny human limits and transcend into the realm of beast-like strength. Continue reading →

Little Dragon

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dragon

I just finished watching, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, for probably the 10th time since it came out in 1993.  It still amazes me that in such a short life, Bruce was only 32 when he died, he was able to have such a huge impact on the world.  Bruce was my childhood hero.  The man who inspired me, and so many others, to train in the martial arts.  It staggers my imagination thinking about how much he accomplished by the young, tender age of 32.  International movie star, world renowned martial artist, teacher, author, father, husband.  A man truly ahead of his time.  A revolutionary thinker forging a place for martial arts on the world stage.

How much more could he have accomplished had he lived?  What else would he have done?

In the movie, when Bruce was just starting out his teaching career, he placed a pebble in Linda’s (his girlfriend and future wife) hand and told her to drop it.  He then explained to her how dropping a simple pebble in a pond creates larger and larger ripples moving out from the center.  She drops it and he smiles, “It has begun.”  40 years after his death, the ripples of his life and his teaching still move us and affect us.

Dying Young

I remember back in my sophomore year in high school English class, we were studying poetry and we read a poem called, “To An Athlete Dying Young” by A.E. Housman.

To an Athlete Dying Young by A. E. Housman (1859-1936)

The time you won your town the race We chaired you through the market-place; Man and boy stood cheering by, And home we brought you shoulder-high.

To-day, the road all runners come, Shoulder-high we bring you home, And set you at your threshold down, Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away From fields were glory does not stay And early though the laurel grows It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut Cannot see the record cut, And silence sounds no worse than cheers After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout Of lads that wore their honours out, Runners whom renown outran And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade, The fleet foot on the sill of shade, And hold to the low lintel up The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead, And find unwithered on its curls The garland briefer than a girl’s.

Our assignment was to write a similar poem about a famous person we admired who had also died young.  I chose to write about Bruce Lee.  The day our poems were read in school, I was absent due to being sick.  One of my friends told me how much our teacher loved my poem and how she had read it to the class as an example.  I was shocked.  I didn’t try to write for a an “A”.  I wrote from my heart.  From my passion.  This was an important lesson for me – people recognize and respond to passion.  You don’t have to be the most educated or the most skilled, but if you do something – anything – with passion, people will feel it.

Live With Passion

The moral of the story, kids, is that you don’t know for sure how much time you have.  Don’t waste it.  Live your passion to the fullest.  Don’t wait for next year, next month, next week, or even for tomorrow, it may never come.  Do it now, TODAY!

Bruce-Lee

In the movie, Bruce Lee said, “The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.”

What are you still doing here reading this?

Go out there and create a life worth remembering!

 

Healing Yourself with Mobility Part 1

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Guest blog post by Eric Guttmann, U.S. Navy Officer, Author, Fitness Enthusiast and More

Healing an Ankle Sprain

 

I frequently attend health, youthing, anti-aging, and training seminars along with travels all over the world regarding health practices. I always make it a point to ask both presenters and experts in the audience what is the number one thing that they have SEEN bring about the greatest results.

The answers are varied and very good: get your bloodwork done because “numbers don’t lie”, drink one gallon of water a day, do “grounding”, wake up early and go to bed early to establish a rhythm with nature, optimize your hormones, do more isometrics, eat 51% of your food raw, get a magnetic mattress, take shilajit, harness the power of the mind, and of course everyone seems to have a favorite supplement and eating regimen they are really fond of.

However as I asked myself this question I found the answer to be achieving FULL Mobility.  If there is one thing that I have learned and can transmit to others, that ANYONE from 7 to 97 can do, it is FULL Mobility.  Reclaiming my FULL Mobility has helped me in every area of my life and has been a significant source of healings for me and for others, here are just a few:

Reclaiming Full Mobility

When I was in the desert flying missions over Iraq I went into the base gym and they were giving a Capoeira class.  Well, it was more like “get in there and do it.”  I should have paid attention and noticed that everyone took their shoes off.  I simply jumped in the class, started kicking, and managed to twist my ankle.  “No problem,” I thought to myself “this will heal in three weeks.”  Six months later I still had a nagging pain in my ankle.  I went to my chiropractor and training partner and he informed that it was a ligament that was injured and it would take 18 months to heal.  I got pissed and decided that I would fix this myself.  I dug around my library to find a solution and unearthed some joint mobility materials and started doing joint mobility for the feet and ankles morning and night and in ONE WEEK the pain was gone.  I went from 18 months to ONE WEEK doing joint mobility.

I now became a believer and decided to incorporate it daily and made it a life quest to gain FULL mobility in ALL my body. I devoured everything I could get my hands on regarding mobility. My father was a Greco-Roman wrestler in Hungary and when I was seven years old I noticed that he would do exercises every morning.  I asked him why and he told me that his Eastern European wrestling coach had shared some training wisdom with him,  “If you do something everyday, then everyday you will be able to do it.”  Of course, it made perfect sense!  If I achieved FULL mobility and practiced it everyday, then everyday for the REST OF MY LIFE I would have FULL mobility.

I have been practicing joint mobility for five years now ever since I had the epiphany with my healed ankle.  I have been studying, incorporating, experimenting and refining my routine based on the works and/or my personal interaction with Pavel, Steve Maxwell, Scott Sonnon, Navy kinesiologists, Chek Practitioners, Z-Health, Mike Mahler, Chuck Habbaken, Bud Jeffries and others.If you want to get your hands on the best mobility training out there and the EXACT one I have used to heal myself multiple times from the injuries sustained through training and life then click in the link below:

Moving Freely For Life

As an added bonus I am including a FREE BONUS which is my SECRET stretching routine to open up the hip and lengthen the spine which I found are the keys to maximizing my Qigong practice (which would be the second thing I most recommend for longevity).

Done together the joint mobility and stretches can be knocked out in under 26 minutes, yet your health and quality of life will expand to new and greater levels that will seem like a 1000% return on your investment.

Another bonus is a makeshift mobility test that you can do to gage whether you are at a Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 joint mobility.  If you train others you can also use it to gage where your clients are at and to monitor their progress over time.

So order this DVD now and try it for yourself. I know that you will feel immediately freer and open, even diminishing or completely getting rid off nagging pain if you are carrying any, at the end of the instructional session.  That is right, I am saying that after going through the instructional part just ONCE you will feel an immediate improvement in your mobility!  Commit to doing it everyday and you WILL have FULL mobility for the rest of your LIFE!

Moving Freely For Life  <<<=====

If you live in the New Jersey area and prefer personal instruction in mobility then I highly recommend you check out my friend Jon Haas’ school, Warrior Fitness at 4004 Sylon Blvd, Hainesport  NJ, 08036, or give him a call at 609-556-8712 to set up an appointment or attend a class.

Moving Freely For Life  <<<=====

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Eric GuttmannRead Eric’s complete bio HERE.

Time to Reorganize Priorities

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I spent all morning today running around with my 4 year old doing a bunch of errands.  We went to Story Time at Barnes & Noble (she loves that!), then to the bank, to the post office (where I shipped out one of the last paperback copies of Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts!), then off to go food shopping.  Finally we made it back home where I got lunch ready, chicken nuggets for her and a protein shake for me (recipe here!).

Now, aside from telling you about my morning, you may be wondering what my point is here.  At each one of the stops we made I did some people watching and listening.  At B&N, while listening to the story teller read Good Night Moon, I overheard 2 moms having a conversation about Weight Watchers and how they both needed to lose weight.  There was some talk about eating healthier, but the main focus seemed to be on how they could cheat – and they hadn’t even started yet!!  All this while both were sucking down some serious calories from their Starbucks mocha-whatevers with chocolate syrup and whipped cream.  Since I was curious, I engaged them in conversation and asked if they were going to add exercise in to help them with their goals.  They both agreed that it would be a great idea, if only they had time.  They seemed very convinced that they were way too busy with everything going on in their lives and would just have to “do the best they could”.  I wanted to pursue the conversation more, but the story was over and Juliana was ready to go play with the legos and trains, so we walked away.

Stephen Covey Quote

This got me thinking – why do people TALK about being healthy so MUCH, yet put so little actual value on their health and fitness that they can’t make it a priority in their lives?  We all KNOW so much about how to be healthy, but knowing is not enough.  We all want so much to be healthy, fit and strong, but willing it is not enough.  There is simply ONLY ONE WAY to become fit, healthy, and stong, and that is DOING IT!

 

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”  – Zig Ziglar

Make your fitness a priority in your life.  Sooner or later if you don’t make time for being healthy you will be forced to make time for being sick.  Take charge of your own fitness today.  Make it part of your weekly schedule.  Get it done.

Remember – what gets scheduled gets done.  What does NOT get scheduled falls by the wayside.  Don’t just talk about it.  Become it!