The IKFF And Adex Clubs Team Up

Adex Club @ 25lbs

Adex Club 'empty' 3.5lb

 Steve Cotter, president and founder of the International Kettlebell and Fitness Federation IKFF is proud to announce the addition of Adex Adjustable Exercise Clubs to his organization’s line up of fitness equipment available to the public. Cotter, named one of the “100 Fittest Men of All-time” by Men’s Health Magazine, holds a bevy of titles. A fitness consultant and a specialist to Navy Seals, U.S. Marines, multiple NFL and MBL teams, author, fitness system developer, and key note speaker Cotter was enthused about becoming the first distributor of Adex Clubs, a brand that until recently, sold products only through their own site.

  Adex Adjustable exercise Clubs are a unique modern twist on a training tool that’s been used for over two thousand years. Until recently, exercise clubs were of fixed weights usually in 5 pound increments.

 Adex Club developer and founder, Don Giafardino saw the need for a multi-weight adjustable club that offered professional quality and the versatility of owning a set of clubs without the high price tag. Don is excited about the possiblities of teaming up with a high level fitness expert and the IKFF organization. “Having Steve and the IKFF carrying Adex products is big. This is big for my company and let’s everyone know that we’re in the game, and add to the fact that kettlebell training and clubwork go hand in hand, it’s a winning combination.”

A Complete Set of Clubs in 1

 Being no stranger to club training himself, Steve put the Adex Club through the paces. After some time of working out with the adjustable clubs, Cotter had this to say, “ the IKFF values movement training that address 3-dimensions. Whether it is bodyweight training, kettlebells, bulgarian bag, yoga, barbells, dumbbells, mace, clubs, etc--quality movement in all planes of motion is paramount to developing well-rounded, usable fitness. For heavy clubs, we recommend the Adex Club. It is high-quality, versatile, indestructible and it is by far the highest value-for-dollar club in the world. Buying only 1 Adex club is like buying 11 clubs for the price of one. Add Adex Club to your training program, you'll thank me for it!

"

 These high accolades coming from one of the 'Fittest Men of All Time' is proof that thought they are adjustable, Adex Clubs certainly are professional grade and are at home in any commercial fitness setting as well as home based fitness gyms. The advantage of having a tool that is utilized for both rehab and strength training is appealing to many fitness individuals and the easy of traveling what would equal to over 120lbs of clubs in one 25 pound unit. The Adex Clubs change safely and quickly by hand so there are no tools or set screws to lose. 



 The IKFF is known world-wide for it’s excellence in kettlebell training and the promotion and training of this rapidly growing fitness modality. The addition of another tool that compliments their already proven training system is going to play a major role in developing some of the best athletes in the world today.



To find out more information go to www.ikff.com or www.adexclub.com

The Forgotten Athletes

 Athlete : a person who is trained in or good at sports, games, or exercises that require physical skill and strength, as defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary

There are hundreds of jobs that require physical strength, stamina, and motor skills. Construction laborers may have to carry 80 pound bags of concrete across a job site. Cell tower climbers have to climb over 300 feet to get to their job. Lifeguards, nurses, security officers, irrigation techs, linemen, the list can go on and on. These are the men and women that this article is about, the forgotten athletes, the ones who use their bodies 40 plus hours a week to support their families. Yet somehow in the grand scheme of things we blindly overlook the price that they'll pay with their bodies after years of hard, exhausting work, day in day out.

 Occupational therapy has become a huge business in the U.S. due to injuries obtained on the job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says;

'Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) accounted for 33 percent of all injury and illness cases in2013. Nursing assistants and laborers and freight, stock, and material movers incurred the highest number of MSD cases in 2013. (See table 18.) MSD cases accounted for 53 percent of total cases that occurred to nursing assistants in 2013.'

 And to make matters worse the Center for Disease Control says that in 2013;

'The survey revealed that only 20.6 percent of people met the total recommended amounts of exercise -- about 23 percent of all surveyed men and 18 percent of surveyed women. People most likely to exercise were between the ages of 18 and 24 (almost 31 percent of exercisers).'

 20.6 percent exercise regularly! This shows how much of our society needs to be involved with some form of functional fitness. Even if weight training is part of a worker's lifestyle, functional movement exercises should be added to their training. Working at a job that requires physical abilities automatically puts one into the athlete category and needs to be treated as such. How many of those injuries that make up the 33% could have been prevented by a functional exercise program. How many of them occurred due to poor range of motion, weakness, obesity, or an imbalance in the body? Having a job with health care is nice, not having to use it is even nicer.

 For the professional trainers out there, ask your clients what they do for a living. For all you hard workers, get involved with a trainer and a physical activity that will increase your longevity at your job. Your fitness may even be called upon one day to rescue a co-worker, so be ready. From my own experiences as a 'hard working Joe', getting hurt sucks and not being able to perform a task is even worse. Train my friends - your job as an athlete depends on it.

Restoration; The New Old Way

www.adexclub.com

 With all of the 'new' restorative methods being utilized in the fitness industry these days, it seems that if you aren't 'rolling that shit out' or mashing something or freezing something, you're not going to make gains (athlete's term) or gainz (bodybuilder's term).

 What if you were told that you could increase range of motion or ROM, supply fresh nutrients and oxygen to a worked body part, stretch, develop endurance and power, and increase both concentric and eccentric balances in a few short minutes with just one exercise tool - would you use it?

 Adding clubwork to your training program is a sure fire way to take a great training session and make it an exceptional one. For over a thousand years, clubs have been used to train warriors to fight with sword, mace, spear, and shield. Using them also promotes restorative qualities that will balance other out forms of training while adding more athleticism to a trainee's skills.

 Powerlifting is a great example to use here - heavy compressing weights pound one's body leaving it to restore itself possibly with only some cleaned up nutrition, or if the athlete has access to or can afford a massage therapist, or maybe a bit of yoga. Louie Simmons uses clubs to heal and restore his athletes and himself.

 Clubwork, targeted specifically to the body area that was just trained, is a sure fire way to get those muscles to recover much faster and it won't take a lot of time. Just one or two exercises of 3-4 sets of 10 reps with a medium weight club, 5-15lbs depending on skill, will offer benefits that will be felt immediately and gains that will show in the numbers. Plus throw in the advantage of taking the time to bullet-proof injury prone areas such as hip flexors, rotator cuffs, or elbows. How many times has a tight muscle impeded a bench workout only to show up a few days later on squat or deadlift day to become an annoyance again?

 Try out this experiment, perform a typical bench workout but leave a few minutes to do some drills afterward. Grab a 2.5 or 5lb plate and perform some strict full length arm circles going in both directions for 3 sets of 10, 5 to the front 5 to the rear on each arm, and continue by changing sides until all are done in one large set. Notice the decompression almost immediately in the shoulder socket, the relaxing of tightness, and the healthy feeling that will come within a few minutes after completion.

 So why not just use the plate to do this? Because using a club will offer even more of an effect plus the ability to do specific rehab and more importantly pre-hab exercises. Clubs are fairly pricy tools but so is living on daily doses of Advil, and going to the chiropractor or doctor - which will ultimately cost more than a good quality set of clubs or an Adex Adjustable Club. You now have the knowledge and the choice is yours for your success, health, and budget.

For info on Adex Clubs go to www.adexclub.com

pro-gress my friends!
Donnie



   

Back To The Beginnings

Using a lighter club to feel the movement

 Forging ahead in any modality of exercise is a great accomplishment. Adding weight to a squat or sprinting in a faster time for a new personal record is exciting. This fosters the initiative to keep on training. Then there are the times when the program fails and the scheduled weight, or time, or number of reps falls drastically short of what was to be expected. Now what?

 If the reason for the failure isn't injury or exhaustion, the cause for failure may be the athlete's technique. Many times, when the focus is on a determined goal, little nuances that were learned to get to that particular point fell by the wayside. Too much emphasis may be placed on the goal of heavier, faster, or more, and the attention to detail is forgotten thus creating a vacuum in the athlete's programming.

 For those who aren't familiar with my training, I use clubs exclusively (which I will detail why in another post) in my personal training program. Some of the exercises are complex movements which require not only strength but a certain degree of skill to execute properly. One of these exercises - the inside mill or just the 'mill' is the club trainer's bench press. Club fanatics always compare mill weight or reps. Since I have been experimenting with the heavier clubs I sometimes fall short of an expected P/R or training goal. My answer to that is go back to the beginning. Lighten that load up for the workout and get in some volume training with a manageable weight. For example, if I completed Monday's mill workout of 10X10 with a 35lb club and Friday's mill workout calls for 5X6 with a 40lb club but my form fails on the first set or maybe the first rep, I'll revert back to a 25lb club for a 10X10 light conditioning set but feel each part of the movement relearning small subtleties that make heavier weights possible. The next mill workout will open with that same 25lb club as a warm up for one set to coordinate the feeling throughout my body before attempting the 40lb club again. Then go on the the 40lb 5X6 workout progressing to ultimately the 10X10 workout with that weight.

 I had learned this type of 'assistance' training way back in the 70's from an old school guy who was built like a bodybuilder but moved weight like a powerlifter. This method was used by the older set of strength trainers, the guys that were before me. Here, on this page I can share some of what they left that may have been forgotten or discarded due to style or ego. Apply it to any of your training, being sure to feel the movement, perform some volume then back to your regular programming. It'll work.

5 Club Exercises For Shoulders

WRITTEN BY DON GIAFARDINO ON JUNE 25, 2015. POSTED IN FITNESS ARTICLES

Club training is synonymous with shoulder exercise. Just about every club training movement has some degree of shoulder activity involved. If you are interested in packing some muscle on to your delts or increasing your OHP (over head pressing) strength, here are some great club training shoulder exercises.

If you are new to club training, please watch the videos on my website to get the basics down and avoid possible injury.

CLUB 2-HAND OVERHEAD PRESS EXERCISE

Begin with the club held in both hands front, elbows bent 90 degrees and press the club straight up toward the ceiling. Keep it steady by imagining a cup of water balanced on top of the club.

As you press upward wring your hands outward which keeps your elbow tissue safe. Return to starting position while wringing your hands inward. This same move can be done with one hand, but instead of starting on your body’s centerline, begin with the elbow married to your side, club held upright straight in front. Don’t forget to rotate your hand and club outward as it travels upward, and reverse on the way down.

CLUB 45 DEGREE OVERHEAD PRESS EXERCISE

The next is a variation of the overhead press, but instead of pushing the club straight up, make the club travel up and away from your body at a 45 degree angle. Some trainers refer to this as the torch press or angle press. The knob of the club should end up about eye level and the arms are fully extended at an angle up and away from the body. Remember to wring the handle. This also can be done with one hand.

CLUB SHOULDER THREAD EXERCISE

Getting away from the pressing moves, let’s add some strength/mobility to the shoulder exercises. Begin by picking the club from the floor, left hand next to the knob, right hand is under, clean it up to ready position, right elbow married to your side, left arm forearm crossing the abs.

Your two arms should form a square, the club is the corner when you look down. Raise the head or muzzle of the club up and dump it over your right shoulder, ending behind your back. Your elbows should be above your head. The right elbow should be pointing fairly forward while the left is pointing toward the left. Move the club behind your back toward the left and draw it back over your left shoulder into the opposite position that you began in. Return the club to your right side by passing it in front maintaining its upright position. This is an excellent move for building a thick powerful shoulder girdle and directly develops the rotator cuff muscles Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor, and the Sub-scapularus, easy to remember by SITS. Anatomy lesson – check.

INVERTED CLUB LATERAL RAISE EXERCISE

A shoulder exercise for those who want a bit more deltoid shape is lateral raises with the club held upside-down. Simply grip the knob or the handle and raise the club laterally for medial deltoids, raise to the front for front delts, or bend forward at the waist 45 degrees, drawing the elbows up and to the rear to hit the posterior delts.

CLUB MILL EXERCISE

 The last exercise is a complex and challenging movement for the club training enthusiast. The mill is a shoulder exercise designed to develop strength and coordination. It is similar to throwing a football or cracking a whip. The easiest way to teach this drill is to practice throwing a football but never letting it go. Throw the ball like you were throwing a bomb, but don’t let it go, instead let it return in a downward arc back naturally to the cocked shoulder position.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Once you have that down, practice forceful elbow adduction to the body’s centerline. This will cause momentum when using a club and give it a ‘wag’ when performing a mill to help propel it forward and over the shoulder. Once you feel confident, practice more but using a T-ball bat. These are excellent for learning club training patterns. Get in a good hundred on each arm before using a club with any weight. Form is important here, and mills done with a light weight are excellent for joint conditioning and rehab. Mills performed heavier will be a great addition to your shoulder exercises.

BONUS: PRE-WORKOUT CLUB TRAINING WITH BODYTRIBE

Club Training Side Cast

Club Training Side Swing

Unconventional Athletes Article June/July 2015

 The following is an article from UnconventionalAthletes.com

 There are many reasons to add clubwork to your exercise routine. Shoulder re/pre-hab seems to be the first answer that many club swingers cite. Other answers are increased range of motion, or, they   fit right into my kettle bell workout. Still others say that they enjoy the flow type of ‘katas’ that emulate elaborate sword techniques or doing a yoga session using a club. What ever the reason, it’s all good.

 By now, almost everyone in the fitness game knows about the benefits of clubwork. Increased performance in other areas of training or in the arena are sure signs that the clubs are doing their job. Some fitness enthusiasts train solely with clubwork, and while clubs alone won’t get you to enter a bodybuilding contest, they are  a great addition to shape, define, and harden muscles. With the right programming they will aid a powerlifter’s bench and deadlift. an Oly lifter’s speed, and sprinter’s performance. Fighters such as MMA and boxers have been using clubwork for years, after all it was the first battle training tool.

Humble Beginnings

 Beginning clubwork is exciting and frustrating simultaneously. The desire to copy the complex movements that so many YouTube videos show can drive a newbie into a tizzy. The first rule that must be adhered to is learn  the basics. This cannot be reiterated enough. From picking up and putting down the club to the basic swings, practicing correct form reduces injury!

 The front swing and squat are 2 important base movements. How many of you readers just thought what? Clubwork can be used for legs and this is where we’ll begin.

 The front swing. In clubwork, this is crucial to understand as it is for kettlebells. The front swing is important because that’s how the club will be raised to perform other exercises. Set the club on it’s top or muzzle, handle and knob upward. With your upper back flat and a neutral lower back, like a deadlift when the weight is above the knee, straddle the club so that it’s a bit to the rear past the ankles and grab hold of the handle, arms long, elbows locked then thrust the hips forward extending the torso and opening the knees, maintaining arm lock and flat back, forcing the club to travel up and outward bringing the muzzle to eye level. Remember the arms do not lift, they only act as a pendulum of the force generated by the hip thrust forward. The downward portion is the ‘braking’ to keep the club from hiking backward. As the club falls down, lean the torso forward like a hinge and slightly bend the knee, applying the brakes with glute and hamstring activation making sure that the club doesn’t travel any farther than 45˚ past the legs. Do not let the club hit the ground, this can cause injury. This may require practice for some, but the benefits will be there. When completed with most all clubwork exercises, lower the club as described above, but instead of swinging it upward, use the slight momentum to let the club drift forward until it slows and gently place it on the floor just in front of your feet - it is now ‘parked’. Keep in mind that this is a posterior chain exercise so be sure to engage those muscles and not squat - yet.



 The clubwork squat can vary. The easiest way to learn it is by placing the club on your shoulder much like baseball players resting their bats. Using your front swing, swing the club upward with control and catch it upon the shoulder you wish it to ‘rest’ on. Now, perform a regular squat, torso upright, scapulae pressing downward, neutral low back, weight loaded into the mid foot and heel descending the hips below the knee keeping the shins as upright as possible then drive upward through the mid foot and heels to the starting position. Keep the torso upright and stable and maintain that neutral lower back. As the squats become easier, the next step would be to hold the club upright with the elbows married to the ribs. This is the beginning of learning the front extended squat. Ultimately, the goal is extending the arms completely in front of the torso while squatting.

 These basics are a great place to start learning clubwork, practice them to get a solid foundation for future exercises.

Sore Shoulder? Your Body May Love You For It

 Club training is the one of the best ways to rehab or prehab your shoulders. The whole reason that I got into club training and designed the Adex Club was to get rid of an achy shoulder that had me in pain for a decade. Chiropractors couldn't fix it, other doctors and specialists wanted to operate but with no guarantee.

 My condition was a 'slightly' separated A/C joint and mildly torn rotator cuff muscles. Relying on time to make it better did nothing but increase the pain. At that time, training heavy was my thing so I'd tough it out through bench presses and live with the soreness. after all this is what we do, right? Until I had gotten to the point where a push up wasn't possible because of the pain. A single push up! The search to repair my shoulder now included seeking other ways of treatment.

 While searching the internet looking for relief Google directed me to a man swinging a club. He spoke of the healing benefits of club training and demonstrated some exercises with a light weight 5lb club. I didn't have a club but I did have a loadable dumb bell that I set up with 3lbs on one end. I tried hard to copy the man's patterns and began doing this everyday. Within a month, I was able to not only do a push up but 20.

 Fast forward through the development of the Adex Club, competing at Crossfit events, back to the gym for regular training all while holding jobs that require physical strength that include the shoulder. Cell tower climber, pizza man, crane operator/mechanic, ditch digger, truck driver - all these jobs wouldn't have been possible with a nagging shoulder. Incorporating club training into my regular workouts kept me working out and out working.

 The shoulder is an easy joint to injure, and the repair and rehabilitation can run into tens of thousands of dollars. Club training may be the way to either help heal or help prevent future or further injury, plus the upside of club training is that a full body workout can be accomplished with a few different weight clubs or just one Adex Club. I now use club training as my sole training preference, to do legs, upper body, arms, to stay lean and muscular. Give club training a try for your shoulder and discover what else you can do. Your body may love you for it. Also check into some of the conventional exercises found here by Mark deGrasse.

The Fitness - Life Crossover

 Reflecting on a failure can often be a good lesson if one does it properly. To just admit failure without learning why is a negative that will always remain as a bad feeling, but, if an assessment is made, it should turn to a positive.

Assessing Failure Immediately 

 How to assess a failure is a trait that must be learned, and though this should be taught in our school programming, it sadly isn't. Being truthful to oneself is an elementary character trait. Learning to be truthful can sometimes be difficult and is often disregarded due to the negative feelings it can provoke. People who live falsely in the 'positive mind set' tend to disregard failures and sweep them under a rug, while those of greatness embrace and search their failures for the err of their ways.

 Failure is a good thing, if one knows how to use failures to succeed. How many failures must Thomas Edison have had? If he failed, which he most likely did at everything that he made, and didn't analyze why the failure occurred, would he have gone on to invent so many things? The answer would be a resounding 'NO!' Mr. Edison kept trying, and analyzing each failure until he had success.

 This same concept can be applied to training. In a minute instance such as a single rep of a movement that failed, use your mind to decipher each detail and find the broken link - was my form good? Check. Was my rest time sufficient? Check. Is my nutrition on point? Check, and so on until the one little mistake, that one flaw is brought forth and identified, making sure that the next time it won't be that same thing to cause failure.

 Now this simple training analytical tactic can be pole vaulted into other areas such as work,  personality, relationships, efficiency, saving money, etc. Here is a concept that when practiced during physical exercise to proficiency builds the mind and character and that can make the big difference between failing and succeeding at everything. Go out and proudly fail at something today but be sure to give yourself some credit when that flaw is identified.

Power Clubwork Article from MegaMad Fitness

HOW TO BUILD POWER THROUGH CLUB TRAINING

WRITTEN BY DON GIAFARDINO ON MAY 27, 2015. POSTED IN FITNESS ARTICLES

Club Training has been used for thousands of years by warriors to develop power for the battlefield. Could this simple tool do the same to help you enhance your body?

WHAT IS CLUB TRAINING?

Let’s begin with the basic of basics. Club Training has been around for thousands of years simply because it works. Most of us are familiar with the lighter weight Indian Clubs that are swung in complex patterns which develop coordination, mobility, and speed not unlike an Olympic Fencer.

Then there are the bigger clubs; the large wooden ones or the more popular metal clubs of 15 to 45 pounds, originally designed to train warriors to deliver punishing power with heavy hand armaments. Heavy Club Training will be the subject of this article.

WHAT IS POWER DEVELOPMENT?

To me, power is the strength that you have to perform a specified exercise in a specific amount of time. So, if you are doing an AMRAP of Thrusters for a 30 second time periods, you’d be able to determine if your power output has increased if you see an increase in the number of reps performed or if you used a heavier weight for the same number of reps.

For example, if you did max effort Thrusters with 95 pounds and got 12 in 30 seconds, that’s 1,140 pounds moved. If you practiced Thrusters for a few weeks and your retest your AMRAP and you get 14 in 30 seconds -congratulations! You’ve increased your power because you just moved 1,330 pounds, OR if you kept the same 12 reps BUT instead of 95 pounds you used 115 pounds, you have increased your power.

Now that you have the idea of power we’ll apply it to Club Training.

POWER CLUB TRAINING WORKOUT PLAN

WARNING! – There is no doubt about the fact that if you follow this power program you will be buying more clubs, if you don’t have access to a complete set or an adjustable one already. 
 The exercises listed below can be found on YouTube demonstrated by many different instructors plus searching for them will entice you to watch more clubwork exercises. Watch. Learn. Grow.

I usually increase only 5 pounds between the Pre-Fatigue Sets and the Work Sets. 5 pounds is a big jump in clubwork. Better to chip away smoothly than to get injured rushing progress.

The workout plan will be a 4 day split into 2 upper body days and 2 lower body days. For the upper body days the exercises will be 1-Hand Inside Mills, 1-Hand Front Swipes, and 2-Handed Gamma Casts. A set is reps done on each arm (i.e. 1 set of 10 means 10 reps right arm and 10 reps left arm). The sample below is from my current program:

Pre-Fatigue Sets: 1 minute rest between sets.

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
1-Hand Inside Mills	30	10	4
Front Swipes	30	10	4
Gamma Casts	30	10	4

Work Sets: 1 minute rest between sets.

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
1-Hand Inside Mills	35	30sec AMRAP	4
Front Swipes	35	30sec AMRAP	4
Gamma Casts	35	30sec AMRAP	4

This is now your Base Power Program. Good form is important to reduce the chance of injury. I practice quite often on my ‘off’ days doing up to 150 reps with a lighter weight to get the feel of an exercise. This ensures proper form when the heavier weights are used.

Once you are able to perform the above workout getting 7-8 reps for ALL 4 Work Sets, take away one Pre-Fatigue Set and add one more Work Set for the next workout. Do this until you can get a full 8 AMRAP reps for all 5 Work Sets in 30 seconds. Now reduce to 2 Pre-Fatigue Sets and go to 6 Work Sets until 8 reps is reached again, then pat yourself on the back and begin over with the Base Program. This round the Pre-Fatigue Sets will be the weight you used in the previous Work Sets but for 4 sets of 10 and the Work Sets will add 5 pounds. Look how far you’ve come!

MegaMad Fitness

Gamma Cast Demo

Clubwork Exercise The Clean

Clubwork Front Swing exercise

Trainers, teach newbies to learn the kettlebell front swing quickly by having them practice Clubwork front swings. The clubs are easier for the students to swing and reduce the learning curve.

45lb Gamma Cast

Clubwork Inside Mill To Outside Mill Transfer

A simple move to develop coordination. Easy to do, just perform an inside mill as normal and at the bottom of the swing pass the club to the opposite hand to begin performing an outside mill. Try it a few times to get the feel. You can see in the video that my first few swings are 'clunky' but by the 3rd one the smoothness comes out.

Being In The Moment of Movement

Today's training was my typical Monday workout. It's clubwork. it's always clubwork and maybe some sprinting. Today, I hearkened to some fine words while grinding out my reps. Concentrating on the feeling of moving the club, rather than just moving it. I became aware of subtleties that have plagued past workouts where I became frustrated with my lack of skill, and more often than not, blaming the poorly executed rep on too heavy a weight or being too tired. 

Using An Adex Club For Leg Training

 I do perform 'tune up' metcons on my off days. Either doing clubwork Tabatas or 100+ rep schemes that serve 3 purposes. The first is the obvious, to build endurance and burn the fat off my belly. Second reason is to do some opposite direction work from my normal clubwork training. The third and becoming the more important reason, is to practice the movements I do for heavy training days with a lighter weight. If you are a veteran of heavy clubwork, then you know the difference between doing an inside mill with a 15 pound club vs. a 35 pound club. If you aren't, you need to try this shit out! Back to my point - I use my Adex Club set to 15 pounds for my 'off' days. This way, I get the high reps and concentrate on where the club is, how it rotates, and what each part of my arm and body is doing. This changes to me controlling the club rather than letting it hurl itself around me.

 I first took notice of being in the moment of exercise when I read Scott Shetler's Abundant Health article about QiGong and being in the moment of performing a movement in a relaxed state. Concentrate on the flow of energy when doing QiGong or Tai Chi. Chip Conrad also has numerous articles that he's written about enjoying the moment of exercise. Chip says that we shouldn't look at exercise as drudgery, but to study it while actually doing it, to gauge how our body feels and where it is in space. This may sound very 'heady' and almost spiritual, but it opens up the mind's eye to better performance for the next time we attempt that movement. This practice has taught me when I up the weight on my club, I have to process the movement to be sure it's going correctly.

 The gist of the story is to practice movement, especially complex movements. Revert back on your off days to some lighter work and take the time to 'feel' what is going on. You'll surprise yourself when you hit the gym on your regular days and feel the progress in your body. It's the beginning of the difference between being good and being great. Move and enjoy it.

Defining Toughness

 When recently asked what toughness was. I gave it some thought, and what came to mind was an excerpt of Teddy Roosevelt's great speech "Citizenship In A Republic" and it's passage;

 "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." 

 Physical strength can be measured by lifting a weight, by running a race, or swimming a distance. Toughness has to be shown. It is shown when the underdog defeats a champion. It is shown, when, even if one fails, he pulls himself up to rally at it another time. Toughness is the tenacity one attacks a challenge with, not yielding a single drop of sweat until it's laid to rest. 

 Toughness isn't learned. It resides deep within us, and has to be coaxed from one's heart. When you see a man with a shovel and the hole he is charged to dig is large, will his strength determine the speed at which he digs, or will it be his persistence to get that task done? Sure, the strong will have an easier go at it, but it's the toughness of that man, when his strength is all but gone, to get that hole dug. Holding fast to your beliefs is toughness. Facing fears is toughness. Following through on a project is toughness. Adhering to a routine is toughness. Being uncomfortable without complaint is toughness. Effort is toughness.

 In this day of automation and instant gratification, is our toughness being washed away from us? Do we as humans have the guts to participate in the very things that defined the generations before us? Is the toughness that helped us flourish as a species dwindling from our very DNA to the point that future generations will crumble from the weight of world? One would hope not. Challenge yourself, make yourself tougher, the rest of humanity is watching.

Keeping It New

 It seems that for many of us, fitness is a way of life, and it seems, that it has always been our way. Throughout the lay-offs, injuries, and excuses about not having the time, we have begun a hundred beginnings and still persist. Fitness is ingrained in the human DNA. We are born both hunter and gatherer. Nature has given us the natural ability to chase a meal for miles and carry it home, or spend the day bending repetitiously to only have to carry the bounty back to our dwellings. The human body was designed for hard physical work but the advent of industrialization reduced much of that activity. 

 Now a days, we humans seek out ways to be active beyond our jobs. We join gyms and do the prescribed 3 X 10 workout of bench press to get our activity. After some time, that activity becomes rote, boring, and common. We have an inherent desire to try something different but don't know what or, even worse, don't know what will be an acceptable form of exercise to our peers. Try telling your bench press only buddies that you go to yoga class. Tell the ladies in the spinning class that you do 300 front swings with a 16kg kettlebell. The looks and comments that follow will sometimes amaze, keep in mind the fact that kettlebells and yoga are pretty common forms of fitness. Despite the exposure to the mindless comments, some continue to learn new ways to train, to stay strong, and challenge ourselves.

 Our peer groups seem to not invite change, especially when it has to do with the betterment of one of the individuals. Hierarchy is now challenged. The once leader of the bench press group is now trumped by the curious individual's discovery of a new way. Defense mode starts in the form of negativity toward the new activity by berating it. "Yoga is for women." "300 swings with that heavy thing? You'll look like a man." These comments are meant to determine others from joining and sometimes they work. For the most part, the curious individual continues his new found passion and becomes the trail blazer, leaving the others to discover unconventional fitness when it becomes more mainstream. Look at Crossfit, once known as circuit training in its primitive form, had no appeal to us in Junior High School. The reason? No scheduled heavy movements and the added running, so the common conception was it was for girls. Speaking of girls, they were encouraged to 'shape and tone' then. This was tunnel vision of the first degree. Looking back, if anyone had kept on doing circuit training from the '70's until now, they'd be smashing WOD's like crazy today.

 The sum of this article is a slight delve into the realities of discovering a new fitness trend - especially an unconventional one. The world longs for change yet refuses it in the same breath. We have all the proof about fitness, and yet, on it's most exposed level is still it is a cult, a sub-culture lying deep beneath a potato chip and onion dip crusted society that lays on excuses formed by negativity. This conditioning makes it harder for those who have broken through that crust, embraced a form of fitness, yet refuse to see another. Only the brave who will explore other paths, openly regarding all movement as fitness, will truly achieve a life of effortless motion.   

I'm Not Trying To Live Forever

We all have that friend, the one who says, "I'd rather enjoy life than watch what I eat, how much I drink or waste time exercising, because you've got to die from something." 

 Yeah, we'll all die from something that goes without debate, case closed. The response to the above statement is an important question - how will you live the last 20 years of your life? Granted that there are no guarantees especially on your health, we all know that, but what if you could lessen the possibilities of being dependent on the medical industry to keep you alive and moving? What if you could lessen the possibilities of being a burden to your loved ones?

 There is no need to reference the benefits of a sound diet and movement. We were born to move, from our very first hours out of the womb we began to develop motor coordination and it shouldn't stop as we grow older. Our bodies, like our minds need to be stimulated and challenged throughout the course of our lifetimes. 

 I am not going to cite references here, no medical stats, no feely good sugar coated anything. This is full on, hard core stuff that everyone needs to address in their lifetimes. The information is out there. The people to help you are out there. You just need to get off of your ass and begin to do something because the more you sit, the closer you are to being a burden. You'll spend your life's savings, your family's money on medicines and doctors instead of enjoying your retirement. 

 So begin doing something - anything today and let it progress. After all, you have to die from something but try to live a full life until the very end.