Archive for the ‘BodyBuilding’ Category

Having worked out 26 years I get excited when I discover something I missed out or didn’t come across before. It doesn’t happen that often but it did this week when I came across Kaatsu training.

I discovered it in the X-Reps books on body building and went on to discover this method has been used in Japan for 40 years and extensively researched and documented.

Kaatsu training involves using cuffs or bands to decrease blood flow to the muscle being trained – similar to a blood pressure cuff but simple wraps will do. Care must be taken not to over do it with the cuffs.

The technique is widely supported by a large number of scientific papers but is largely unknown outside of Japan.

Here is a video by a top natural body builder describing the benefits of Kaatsu.

Just watch the two videos and your attitude to running may change.

Man I love sports – weight lifting – I used to be an infantry soldier 10 years ago.

7 years back I tested for re-entry and passed with flying colors at 35. So a couple of years back at 40 I tried again expecting to ace it as I am actually much stronger now. I failed dismally on both the medical and fitness. Turned out I had Iron overload and ended up having venesections to clean it out of my body.

So I cant run any more as I am too big but I am still fit and very strong – men increase in strength into senior years if they keep training but lung capacity and cardio usually decline.

Then there is the belly fat.

Then there are all those little injuries that add up and take longer to heal.

Basically middle age has a few advantages and many disadvantages. Hormonal decline is like drinking poison everyday. Without those elevated hormone levels your body decays a little every moment. And then there are the telomeres.

So many therapies are in the very near horizon such as myostatin, telomerase, already you can improve your hormonal profile very beneficially.

Middle aged people still want to be athletes and soldiers – I do. They still want to sprint like they were 20 years old.

Its a huge huge market. Aging sucks, I hate it. I don’t want to get old and die a sick miserable death.

Hormonal therapies exist now and could easily be smartified – such as smart implants that regulate hormone levels.

What we want now are myostatin and telomerase therapies to complement more advanced hormone therapy.

As for the mind – neurofeedback and hypnosis can take you a very long way when applied correctly with the proper vision and skill.

How much is a pair of heavy indian clubs ? $50-$150 bucks is my guess. But you can get the exact same workout with heavy hammers for a fraction of the price – why waste your cash?

This is the way to strengthen your wrists for sure. My new grip book publishing soon has a section on hammer training for wrist strength.

OK I made a couple of cheesey videos on my grip training.

First one is a montage from a 30 minute workout with some catchy keygen music added.

Please don’t be frightened.

Apart from heavy kettlebell swings there is another exercise that will give you a killer grip – its nail bending.

Once you find six inch hardware nails easy you can progress by snipping an inch off them with bolt cutters. The move on to bolts, screw drivers door hinge pins etc.

Admittedly I am new to the sport and have only bent a dozen nails so far. But they have all bent fully. I also have a “power twister” which the packaging says is 60KG torsion. A six inch hardware nail takes 280 – 350 lbs of force to bend but the power twister is much harder than a nail. I would say it takes 400 lbs of force (compared to the nails) so I don’t know where they get the 60KG from but its definitely much more.

Here I am bending a six inch nail.

Now my tendons are still getting broken in and boy – this really hurts like heck afterward. the first session it hurt all the next day – now I find it hurts for an hour or two after.

Yep its gotta be the simplest kettlebell exercise of them all – The Swing !!!

But not just any swing. What you need to do is get a kettlebell thats way beyond your strength level in most exercises. So if you normally do your presses and cleans with a 20KG or 24KG, use a 40KG for the heavy swings.

You will need to have developed your motor skill set with kettlebells before using heavy weights and remember to use tension throughout to stabilize the move.

Do high swings with one arm and you will feel it in your grip and forearms immediately. Much better than barbell curls.

Good Luck.

Reckon you could climb a mountain in a weight vest. It sounds impossible – right?

A mountain is big. This is New Zealand’s biggest mountain…

Mt Cook is 12,316 ft. Its very beautiful but I’m damned if I want to climb it in a weight vest. I found some concrete steps in a park about a minutes walk from my place.

Its 60 or so steps to this level…

Then another 50 plus into the shopping mall above…

Over 110 steps so that must be at least 40 feet.

12,316 ft divided by 40 = 307

If I can climb these steps 307 times in my weight vest I have climbed the equivalent of a mountain.

Today I did it six times and nearly blew my ass – I have a 40 lb vest and will try adding one more climb each day I do it. It is one “hell” of a cardio workout and not too bad for the thighs either.

OK its been a while since I posted – been working on my kungfu book. Today a review with zero ulterior motive. This is my honest opinion of the product – I make no money.

GET THESE DVD’s !!!

They are far and above the very best in Kettlebell training available. This guy Steve Cotter is highly professional. He is also a world Kung Fu champion so although the guy is soft spoken he is certainly an outstanding athlete.

More importantly he is an outstanding fitness coach. Pretty much every Kettlebell exercise you will ever need is covered methodically and in depth – really you cant expect much more from a training DVD series.

Get’s FreeFitnessGuru’s ***** 5 star award *****

I am suffering with a molar abscess at present. My doctor and dentist are both on holiday for another week at least.

About 5 days ago I was in deep trouble, fever and shakes all night and extreme pain. There was an abscess the size of a pea on the gum near the tooth.

Without treatment anywhere I had to find a way to treat it my self – I had tried to squeeze the abscess to burst it. This didn’t work but boy did that hurt. What that did do is spread the infection into my blood stream so I became very sick.

The next day after shaking with a fever all night I got a needle and stuck it through the abscess about 5 times. I then got a green tea bag and placed it against the abscess as a poultice. Then I went back to bed to rest. About 7 hours later the abscess was 80% drained but I still felt very ill.

The abscess was gone the next day and there was a small hole going through the gums to the Molar roots.

I drank green tea continuously for 3 days and kept a fresh tea bag on the abscess area for 3 days. I needed antibiotics as the infection made me very weak and green about the gills. I used Garlic, Onions and Ginger all fried up in olive oil along with a delicious steak. Had a few of those.

Also have been mouth washing with apple cider vinegar which is disgusting.

Anyway this brings me to the Manuka honey. Manuka is Tea Tree, a common bush in New Zealand.

Tea Tree is a well known disinfectant and anti bacterial. It turns out the honey made from manuka flowers concentrates the antibiotic properties of the plant. But not just any honey, they actually grade the medical value of the antibiotic with a UMF rating – Ultimate Manuka Factor.

Now I say its a Super Antibiotic because it can actually kill the super bug – meningitis found in many hospitals. It kills a host of bacteria and is at least as effective as penicillin in many cases.

But you need UMF 20 for it to be worth while. regular honey is no good.

Heres the cheapest place I could find to get it:

http://www.waitematahoney.co.nz