Tornado Ball Training

I often boast about not using too many fancy toys and expensive gadgets to train with… but I’m about to reveal the second training tool in less than 4 weeks that we’ve been having fun with at Strength Camp.

Forgive me.  But this thing ROCKS, the problem is that most people are using it ALL WRONG.

So, after a few minutes of frustration while teaching some high school football players how to swing this thing… I broke out the camera to do a short tutorial.

This will be the LAST time I show you this…

You can get your hands on one of these bad boys here:

http://www.chekinstitute.com

Truth About Rugged & Functional Abdominal Strength

You know that I am not your typical "Flashy Abs" Fitness Super Star that’ll pose in panties pulled so low that you can practically see his pe*is.

I’m interested in teaching you the TRUTH about getting strong, rugged, healthy and functional.

Learn my secrets for battling that nasty belly bloat and tighten up your gut from the INSIDE – OUT.
 

Powerwheel Core Training For Fun & Functional Fitness

I hate crunches… with a passion.

I hate to do them and I hate making others do them.

So, we have BANNED CRUNCHES at Strength Camp… no one is allowed to do them from hence forth.

We’ll ONLY do this for “core” training for now.

Check it out:

Get one of these bad boys here – Power Wheel

The Truth About Ab Training For Athletes

Thanks for posting your questions yesterday guys, I managed to answer some of you right away and others I will be trying to answer them in my blog posts, articles and products.

One thing for sure is that most of you guys are watching my blog and are hungry for information about football training. You probably met me because of my Football Strength System.

Many of your football questions are answered in the book. Also, I am working on a new update for the program and will be relaunching it again very soon.

But here is the catch… once I update it the price will go up! BUUUUT, if you purchase a copy of my Football Strength System now, before I do all of the updates you will get the old version and unlimited FREE updates forever.

So, you may want to get your hands on it soon – http://www.FootballStrengthSystem.com

Here is another video of Draydon performing a great ab exercise that is often done wrong!

Also, if you are looking to get into shape just for good health and aesthetics (abs and guns!) then check out this sick program from my buddy Zach Evan-Esh http://www.Real-Man-Muscle.com

HARD Core Performance

If there is one topic in the realm of strength and fitness that receives the most attention due to an overabundance of conflicting information and myths – it’s the abdominals. Everywhere you look there is some fitness guru claiming to have the “secret” to rock hard abdominals. Every gym that you visit is teaming with “functional training” equipment such as oversized beach balls and wobble boards designed to train the core. Every magazine on the news rack shouts that it contains a brand new and exciting routine for constructing a 6-six pack or a chiseled midsection.

With all of this information available to the average gym-goer you’d think that more guys would have a better set of abs than that geek from Saved By The Bell who now gobbles on all of the women’s talk shows, in the middle of the afternoon when most real men are at work.

Is all of this conflicting information necessary? Does all of this ab-blasting and crunching have any impact on the appearance of your abs and, significantly more important – the strength and function of your core? In my search for the answers to these questions I looked to where I typically find the real essence of human performance and potential – Primal Man, the raw, and untainted version of you and I.

I am under that impression that primal man had an awesome set of abs. It’s hard for me to imagine that being subjected to the environmental pressures of prehistoric Earth would yield primal man a set of love handles and protruding abdomen. It is also difficult for me to imagine him banging out a few sets of crunches in order to maintain a sexy midsection for primal babes to gawk at.

To consider that the abdominals are nothing more than a canvas for us to construct a sexually stimulating mural would be analogous to saying that the sun is only a source of light. This is ridiculous! The sun provides warmth, nutrients and life to everything that we know in existence. In the same light, consider that your abdominals are several times more complex and significant than just a 6-pack.

The Abdominal Brain

Your abs have got a lot of nerve! Yep, these muscles have over 4 times the amount of nerve innervations from the spinal chord than any other muscle group in your entire body. Most muscles only have two sources of nerve innervations, one primary and one secondary. But your “nervy” abdominals have nine innervations from every segment of your spinal chord from T5 all the way to L1!

This is pretty important information considering that each one of these nerve innervations receives specific messages sent from The Master (your brain) through the spinal chord directly into the muscle. This basically means that your abs have nine distinct brains!
Why would a group of muscles designed to just look good and perform crunches have nine brains?
The reason why the abdominals have physical evolved to contain such an abundant sum of nerve innervations is due to the enormous amount of responsibility placed on this muscle group. The abdominal wall stabilizes joints, supports your organs, supports breathing, supports that circulatory/immune system, as well as the digestion/elimination system.

It the purpose of this article to show you how to train your abdominals in the manner that was intended by our Creator. I will make it blatantly obvious that with the exception of specific rehabilitative attempts to isolate weak upper abdominal muscles, base-conditioning programs focusing specifically on hypertrophy of the abdominal wall, or aesthetics, crunches, sit-ups and similar isolation tactics are relatively useless for improving abdominal function and athletic performance!

Primal-Survival Abs

We are primal men living in a modern world. Although controversial, it has been established by several scientists that it takes over 100,000 years for .001% of a genome to change. What this means is that for all intents and purposes, yourself and primal man are physically the same. The bodies that roamed this planet hunting for food and building shelter with nothing more than stones and sticks is an exact replica of the pile of flesh that we use to stare at computer monitors and thumb through television channels today.

During the majority of the past 100,000 years, man survived as nomadic hunters and gatherers, sustaining life on available meats and plant life. Scientific evidence also exists that supposes that man had established a preferential taste for animal meats as far back as 2.3 million BC. Meat as a source of nutrition was and still is superior to plant life due to increased nutrient density. Two pounds of deer meat, for example, contains six times the amount of calories as the same weight in veggies.

One of the biggest differences between the foraging of veggies and berries and the hunting of meat is that, meat moves! To get his hands on the delicious and nutritious meat of buffalo, deer or kangaroo, primal man had to perform such feats of strength as throwing stones, tossing spears and, wielding clubs. It takes a tremendous amount of effort from the deep abdominal wall to stabilize joints and requires the powerful expression of strength from the outer unit abdominal musculature to accelerate spears and swing clubs.

Lets imagine that we are a hungry primal man squatting behind a bush as we wait for the perfect opportunity to accelerate a spear into the chest cavity of an approaching deer. As the unsuspecting deer comes nearer to our bush in order to nibble on some berries, we sneak out from behind the bush and forcefully thrust our sharpened spear into our juicy meal.

Within this story is the secret explanation as to how the abdominal muscles work and how we can best train them for maximum performance.

When thrusting the spear, the musculature of the oblique system coordinate efforts with the action of the lead leg, torso, and opposite shoulder and arm. This is important to note because in most functional activities there are necessary requirements for the same degree of synergy. Weather you are battling an offensive lineman in football, throwing a baseball, wrestling an opponent, or walking your hyper active Great Dane your abdominal muscles are required to coordinate efforts with several other systems and muscle groups. It is very rare that the abs will work alone.

Let’s again consider primal man and his journey for sustenance. Once he has successfully killed his prey he now has the arduous task of getting it home to feast on with his primal buddies. This most likely required that he drag the carcass a considerable distance or find a way to get it on his back to carry. If this didn’t work, he may have to cut it into pieces, quite a task to complete with only a sharp rock and his teeth.

Pulling the carcass would require that his lats, rear shoulders and low back provide the majority of pulling force. Because it is typical to pull more with one side of the body over the other, it is likely that there was considerable rotational torque placed on the core. Along with the efforts of the pulling muscles, the abdominals would provide a significant amount of rotational force as well as acting as stabilizers to the prime movers.

During his trek through rough terrain carrying a heavy load, the primal hunter would have encountered numerous obstacles including large rocks and logs, high grass, potential thieves, and predators. Traversing across these objects and obstacles required the hunter to lunge, push, pull, squat, crawl, twist and bend – all of which require a significant contribution from the lower, upper and side abdominal muscles. This constitutes real abdominal training!

Aside from feeding and protecting his tribe, primal man had to build shelter, which required significant physical effort in the form of “functional exercises”. Lifting, pushing and pulling heavy stones and logs would surely require massive physical support from the abdominals and core muscles.

Core Performance For Men & Athletes

Abdominal condition which integrates human movement patterns such as squatting, lunging, twisting, pushing and pulling is superior to floor based, crunch-type exercises for increasing athletic strength and performance. It is these types of movements that provide you with a 6-pack that works!

Exercises that improve core stability and abdominal strength in this truly functional manner include the Single Arm Push, Single Arm Pull and Wood Chop movements pictured below. Also, when performed properly, all other “Primal Pattern” exercises like Front Squatting, Dead Lifting, and Barbell Presses will elicit a significant demand on the core muscles while reinforcing sound motor skills and movement efficiency.

SINGLE ARM PULL

SINGLE ARM PUSH

WOOD CHOP

Isolation exercises for the abdominals do serve their purpose of making you a better cruncher. They may also serve to strengthen the abs in the absence of supporting muscles. But as for increasing athletic prowess, functional strength and agility, it is essential that you include core-conditioning exercises that place a similar demand on the nervous and muscular system as the movement that you intent to improve.

The ultimate goal of core conditioning any exercise, aside from the benefit of improved strength, is to develop athleticism. This is the ability to produce movements with optimal form and at real-time speeds without having to think about it. After all, if you have to think about how you are moving, your brain will not be free to concentrate on how to win the game!

Why fat guts = sexual dysfunction

If you are even slightly concerned with your sexual health and are committed to avoiding Prostate Issues and Cancer, Uterine Fibroid, Endometriosis or if you are sick and tired of pissing yourself – you need to watch this video of Paul Chek.

Paul was my first mentor in the fitness industry and I still subscribe to much of his methods and teachings. The man is a freaking genius. Subscribe to his YouTube and buy every book that he offers… it’s that good. In fact, the entire foundation for my book Unleash Your Primal Edge is based on Paul’s methods.

Learn more about how you can strengthen your DEEP ABDOMINAL WALL here: Unleash Your Primal Edge

What do you want? What are you willing to do?
Elliott Hulse

Seated MEdball Twist – Ab Exercise

Main Muscle Worked: Abs
Other Muscles Worked:
Equipment: Floor med ball
Mechanics Type: Isolation

Sledge Hammer swings – Ab Exercise

Main Muscle Worked: Torso
Other Muscles Worked: Fullbody
Equipment: SledgeHammer
Mechanics Type: Compound

The sledgehammer has been a conditioning tool amongst fighters since the inception of combat sports. It is certainly not a new tool in the arsenal of combat athletes. It is however an inexpensive and excellent conditioning device. Unfortunately, the reemergence of sledgehammer training in the modern era has caused some confusion regarding this simple, yet effective training tool. This article will clarify the confusion, while also offering some brief workouts that will spice up your conditioning routine.

For starters, swinging a sledgehammer offers numerous benefits. A condensed list includes:

* Improve work capacity
* Develop core strength
* Enhance grip and forearm strength

I highly recommend the sledgehammer for all combat athletes. As a young fighter, I regularly used both an ax and sledgehammer and can testify firsthand to the results. Sledgehammer training will undoubtedly improve your ability to maintain explosive power, round after round.

RossTraining.com

Weighted Swiss ball Crunches – AB Exercise

Main Muscle Worked: Abs
Other Muscles Worked:
Equipment: Floor
Mechanics Type: Isolation

Hanging Leg Raise – Ab Exercise

Main Muscle Worked: Abs,grip,
Other Muscles Worked: Back,Biceps
Equipment: Pull up bar
Mechanics Type: Isolation

* Grab a bar and just hang, let the momentum disappear and do nothing until your body is still and the legs are straight.

* Flex all your muscles especially your Lats, Abs, and muscles surrounding your elbows.

* Slowly raise your feet up to the bar, remember to keep your legs straight.

* Lower your Legs and Repeat.

* The duration should be slow so as to use no momentum, try 5 – 8 seconds up, 5 – 8 down.

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