Having Fun & 13 Minute Upper Body Routine

Howdy Ya’ll

You’ll have to forgive my Southernese, it just comes out… that’s it. What you see is what you get. Also I’m still getting over the shock this morning. My wife surprised me with a Captain Caveman ringtone on my cell phone, which went off very loudly this morning when I wasn’t expecting it. “’Cavey DO something!’ ‘CAPTAIN CAAAAAVEMAAAAAAAAN!”’ The actual cartoon yell. Nearly jumped out of my socks! Just a little glimpse into the everyday life of a strongman. Ha-ha-ha-ha.

That brings me to my point you know, you just gotta learn to enjoy life. And you’ve got to learn to enjoy it regardless of what else is happening. Now I fully know and understand that there are serious things that happen that deserve serious attention and devotion, but most of the things that are going on in our lives that we allow to upset us are simply not worth it. If we’d just learn to take joy in everyday things and not be bogged down by the struggle of life, how much more fun would we have? And how much more enjoyable would our lives be? You’re only going to live this life one time. I think you should do as much as you can with it and enjoy it as much as possible along the way.

Here are some keys to having more fun.

1. Spiritual completeness. It’s difficult to let the small things slide when you’re still bogged down with the big questions. Answering those questions about God gives you the contentment, peace and faith to not blow a gasket every time something negative yet minor happens.

2. Perspective. If it isn’t killing you or seriously injuring you or someone you love and it’s the kind of thing that is just an every day occurrence then why are you upset about it? Understanding the important things in life and that minor trouble just isn’t one of those important things points you in the right direction.

3. A sense of humor. Everybody has one even though some of us may have to dig deep. Don’t be afraid to laugh. Don’t take yourself so seriously that you can’t laugh at yourself. You’d be amazed at some of the high level very seriously strong people I’ve met who have told me some pretty funny jokes. People you can’t fathom as anything but an animal of super-strength, yet they innately understood the need for humor.

4. Fitness and exercise. It’s a lot easier to stay positive and not get mad when all the Frosted Flakes are gone or somebody splashes mud on your new white wall tires when you feel good. Feeling good is connected to staying fit. Staying fit is connected to exercise. When you need a shot of positive attitude, take a short, quick exercise break. Your energy and endorphin level will shoot way up along with your mental outlook.

5. Project positive energy into the world. I don’t mean that as a touchy-feely esoteric concept. I mean it in the simple school yard sense. If you go out looking for a fight, you’ll probably get one. If you go out treating other people kindly, that’s more than likely what you’ll get in return.

6. Practice. Practice makes perfect in anything. When we spend all this time building discipline why not use it to build a better life and not just a better body. You can condition yourself to maintain a positive attitude and to react in a positive way in almost every situation. Just like you teach your body to get stronger, you can teach your spirit and your mind.

7. Give love. Do something great for someone in your life and/or a total stranger. The blessing that you get is more than worth the work. Occasionally we get challenged for talking about these things in a strength-based newsletter, but I say this IS the greater strength. To love God, which is easy because He loved us first. To love others and yourself and to act with that love is the greatest duty of every man. You want real strength? Show love.


A 13-MINUTE TWISTED UPPER BODY ROUTINE

Here’s today’s physical tip. I’ll share with you the workout I did earlier today. I didn’t get much sleep the night before and I needed to up my energy. I also wanted to work some strength and my conditioning so I decided to hit a little upper body routine. It’s quick, it’ll definitely make you breath, but you also work your strength, flexibility and many different angles. It combines the kettlebell, dumbbell, bodyweight and club swinging. Working on pure strength as well as alternative conditioning.

I did it in 13 minutes flat. However, my neighbor did walk up and ask me a question in the middle so it probably took about 30 seconds away from my total time, but such is life. LOL

Also, this workout is easily modified to work your level of conditioning, but never do the same thing twice. Here it is:

3 x 10 – Kettlebell swing alternated with 3 sets of 1 to 10 reps of one arm dumbbell press. Done in strict “natural” style for a set of 10 light warm up, second set one or two reps moderate weight, and third set heavy one to two reps.

3 x 10 – Kettlebell swing alternated with 3 sets of 1 to 10 reps of one arm dumbbell row. Done in the same relatively strict style for a set of 10 rep light warm up, second set 1 to 2 reps moderate weight, third set 1 to 2 reps heaviest weight.

1 x 6 – Heavy Club swings, then 1 x 10 – 20 push ups, then 1 x 10 moderate swing with two clubs repeated for three sets. I used a 60lb club for the heavy swings, alternating traditional “around the head” circles, alternate shoulder swings and straight over the head swings. Used three different grips for the push-ups - Regular, wide and reverse. Used a pair of 20lb clubs for the double swings doing the high over the head swing (Scott Sonnen calls this a “Swipe.”) Front raise swings, and traditional round the head to front hold swings.

This isn’t my complete Twisted Conditioning Upper Body workout, but there are many different variations of that. The Kettlebell swing is a nice warm up total body, as well as grip and upper back. It also adds conditioning to the routine. Max strength dumbbell press and max strength dumbbell row within a conditioning environment. Finish off with a relatively heavy club exercise, repetition push ups and lighter club swings.

Just one way to put it together that I thought you might enjoy. Let us know if you try it.


NEW STUFF

There are two new articles up on the site. “What is Alternative Conditioning and the Reasons It’s Brutally Effective.” http://strongerman.com/what_is_alternative.html

And “19 Reasons I Train With Cables” http://strongerman.com/19_reasons.html

We also finally got around to putting up a full explanation of what’s on our cable video course and why you should have it. Let me tell ya, those cables ain’t no joke. Some of the strongest people in the world are training with them. I’ve done two workouts with them in the last week and put over ½” on my arms. You can train them with real strength, develop a ton of muscle and they don’t hurt your joints. You can read about them at http://strongerman.com/alternative_conditioning/cables.html

We’ll be shooting another newsletter out tomorrow or Friday and I’ll tell you about putting that size on your arms with cable training. If you don’t have the cables you can pick them up by linking to our site at http://strongerman.com/alternative_cond.html

They’re inexpensive, a tremendous training tool and a great value. Be sure to check them out and pick up a set.