Wow! In 15 months of practicing bodyweight training you can certainly achieve
some pretty spectacular results. And I’m talking strength, fitness and fat loss!
Today, I’m going to share some of them with you.
I’m a big believer in “simple and get good at one thing
first”…then we can move to the next task in hand-don’t you think?
In other words if you have never done any type of push ups or pull ups,
bodyweight squats or any type of bodyweight exercise then start with the basics and
build on that foundation.
Or perhaps like me you could already do the basics so I focused in on just
one or two specific movements that I wanted to become proficient in or
in the case of handstand push ups be able to do just one.
OK let’s get started…
Do you remember last time I told you my arms ached?
Truth be told even lifting semi-heavy boxes would put stress and
pain in my elbow joints that left me with an ongoing ache-and that
began 14 years ago.
So, I began performing bodyweight exercises early on in 2006.
But, if I threw a handstand my wrists would feel like they were too
weak to hold, but wait a minute I weight trained for 20 years…
Shouldn’t they be strong enough!
I went to bed at night and my arms would ache all night…I didn’t
know what to do with them, but I had a gut feeling that what I was
doing was benefiting me so I resolved to carry on.
One of the first exercises I began with was handstand push-ups. My
first attempt was not what I had expected, I mean I’m a reasonably
strong person but I could hardly manage one push-up!!
What was very interesting was when I asked my 19 year old son if he
could do any…
…he flipped into a handstand and pumped out 5 or 6
without much difficulty at all…wow! How come he could do that?
Big clue here…please listen closely-Jamie, my son, as a pre-teen
and then into his teen years did a lot of break dancing. Aha, that’s why
he could do handstand push-ups, he was already versed and
conditioned as a bodyweight practitioner!
Me, I was an ex lifter of metal!! (I’m still not saying here that
you should not lift weights-but for now I have chosen not to).
Back to the handstands-how do you go from barely being able to do
one to over 20 full handstand push-ups in only months and not years?
Here’s what I did. Every night before and or after my shower I would do some kind
of handstand work-oh and by the way I’m not talking 20 minutes or
more, no just 2-3 minutes is all I spent-seriously.
Well, I think I”ll share with you what I did in those few minutes to improve in my
next post to you…
See you next time then and keep strong. Oh, and I’d love to hear what you think.
Danny
P.S. if handstands are your bag then turn to page 52 of the Dump The Gym Fitness Formula
if you have it, or if not you can snag it FREE by heading to the top right hand side of this page.
P.P.S. Handstand press ups not your thing? You just want to get started on a
bodyweight exercise routine or program then Dump The Gym Fitness Formula is for you too.
P.P.P.S. By the way the aches and pains completely disappeared after about a year.
]]>
Vince Palko, Hall of Fame Linebacker
What can you expect from my first interview with a famous football player? Well, being brought up in England and being (back in the day) a rabid soccer fan I really never knew anything about American Football so this was a real eye opener for me.
In our interview I especially liked the insight that I learned on what a linebacker is and how it can transfer to tremendous functional strength and fitness in the everyday world normal folk like you and me live in.
Vince has taken his years of football and coaching experience and created a program that develops the mental and physical traits of a linebacker football player…that is speed, agility and strength.
As Vince puts it, you end up with a Ferrari engine under the hood!
Click the link below to listen or right click and save the MP3 file to listen at your pleasure.
Download audio file (vincepalkointerview.mp3)
If you don’t think Linebacker fitness is functional then like me you should switch on the TeeVee or get yourself down to a live football game and check out the linebackers in action. One thing is for sure when you develop some of the characteristics of this sportsman you will have taken your functional fitness to another level-one that will do you well.
Enjoy the interview and keep strong.
Danny
P.S. if you want to check out Vince’s programs and talents visit VincePalko.com
P.P.S. the interview is 55 minutes and 54 seconds long.