According to the National Wildlife Federation, the average American child spends between four and seven minutes playing outside each day.  For a young child, that’s about enough time to throw a ball, retrieve it, and then head back inside.

Kids have become more inclined to sit in front of the television than ever before.  If you are a parent, I highly recommend perusing the National Wildlife Federation’s Be Out There campaign.

http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Be-Out-There.aspx

You can even find a link that will help you locate outdoor activities in your local area.

Nature Event Finder

A Change In Times

As a child, sitting in front of the television was the last thing I wanted to do.  We’d get home from school and immediately head outside.  We stayed outside until the sun went down.  There was always something to play.  It didn’t matter the season.  Whether it was hot in the summer or cold in the winter, we headed outside to play.

Below is a video that was recently posted to my forum. Within the video, you will see a 44 year old woman (Crystal West) work through a freestyle pull-up session.

Perhaps even more impressive than the video above is her 39 consecutive pull-up demonstration.

I’m often asked about the benefits and possibilities for bodyweight style training with larger athletes. It is obviously more difficult to move more bodyweight, so certain exercises favor smaller builds. Easier performance by smaller individuals does not negate the benefits that can be experienced by larger athletes however.

Below is a video example of this concept. The man seen in the video weighs in at approximately 325 pounds. Many of the pushup and pull-up exercises are particularly impressive at his size.

How do we gain confidence and develop mental toughness?

This is a common question, asked by many aspiring athletes. While searching the Internet, I typed the phrase "mind power" in the Google search engine. I received several thousand hits with this phrase. Many of the links were to expensive information products dedicated to the subject. For a few hundred bucks, some guru will tell you how to develop a strong mind, which will then supposedly improve athletic performance.

One thing that I've learned in my life is that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Training the mind does not require an investment in an expensive course, nor does it require a degree in psychology or neuroscience.

Below is yet another example of the human body’s ability to display strength with age.  The video that you will see was recorded in 2007.  Within the video comments, the lifter (Mike Brown) recently stated that he is 67 years old and still going strong.  Three weeks ago he pressed 115 pound dumbbells for 8 reps.  Below you can see him repping 120 pound dumbbells.

Minutes after posting this video to my Facebook page, a 17 year old asked me if the weights were real.  He stated that he’s been lifting for 6 months and cannot imagine how a 67 year old could display such strength.  I then explained to him that one of the best supplements for strength is time.  Consistency is close behind.  If you are consistent and diligent, the gains will come.  And if you stay busy, you’ll retain the qualities that you’ve worked so hard to develop.

A few weeks or months is just a blink of an eye when you focus on the big picture.  Truly impressive feats of strength take time (years, not weeks or months).

As for age, it’s just a number.  You could be old at 35 or young at 65.  It’s up to you to decide.

Article By, Ross Enamait

One of the most common questions that I receive reads something like this…

“Ross, what is the best pre-fight supplement for energy?”

Based on the frequency of this question, I’ve decided to unveil the most amazing pre-fight supplement ever created. This supplement can be taken at any time throughout the year. Mega-doses are encouraged. It is free and available anywhere. A few common suppliers include your local gym, the basement, an outdoor park, and even your backyard. This supplement is commonly referred to as hard work.

This free supplement is superior to the most elaborate energy supplement. Most users notice results within a few weeks of dedicated supplementation. The success rate of this supplement is an amazing 100%.

One of the points that I try to emphasize throughout this blog is that what many consider to be original ideas are everything but new. Man has displayed incredible feats of strength for hundreds of years. Such feats were accomplished long before the development of modern equipment, supplements, and the countless certification programs that have emerged within our industry.

Just last weekend, I received a message through my forum from a man who has been working to improve his grip strength. Since focusing more attention to his grip, he’s noticed that he can snatch a much heavier dumbbell. The timing of his email couldn’t have been better. It essentially verified a quote from Earle Liederman’s book, Secrets of Strength (recently discussed here).

As quoted within (from 1925)

Strong wrists are indispensable to strength. In most ordinary feats of strength the object to be moved or lifted, swung or broken, is gripped by the hands; and those hands must be strongly coupled to the arms, so that there will be no break in the delivery of power. A famous veteran, advising a new-comer in the professional ranks said, “Young man, you will never be any stronger than your hands and wrists.”

Liederman’s words are still as valid as ever. The development of strong hands certainly has carryover towards many other lifts. Perhaps the greatest display of grip strength ever can be found by looking back to Hermann Goerner.

Goerner was born in 1891.  His training was everything but outdated however. Many from our era would be completely blown away by his physical accomplishments.  I know that I am.  The image below shows him deadlifting 595.5 pounds using just 2 fingers in each hand. He is also said to have deadlifted 734.5 pounds with ONE hand.  Talk about incredible strength!