Art of Balance

I see you have returned Grasshopper. I have given you extra time to complete your assignment. How did you do?
Find any negative patterns?
What weaknesses did you uncover?
What have you done to correct your imbalances?

For myself I have uncovered a few weaknesses in the kinetic chain that need to be addressed. Luckily, or unluckily depending on your view, my active participation in sports, both contact and non contact, combined with the ballistic nature of Renegade workouts allow weakness to be readily apparent. Starting today I have turned my focus in strengthening the T-8, T-9 region of the back (middle, upper) along with a need to address areas around the first rib and transition points of the neck. To strengthen these areas I will add in a few isolation exercises to compliment my compound movements. For example: on days that I do not include jump shrugs in my workouts I will include another version of shrugs done at a prehab rep range of 12. I also plan on doing isometric neck movements daily with plans to slowly incorporate weighted flexion movements. To target the upper/middle back region I will insure my workouts include one or more of the following: pull-ups, chin-ups, rope climbing, heavy bag work, and/or bent over rows. All work will of course be done with Perfect Posture. As with any weakness or injury I am prepared for a minor set back now and then. Look at re-habing or strengthening your weaknesses like walking. Two steps forward, one back. Three steps forward, one back. Four steps forward….you get the point. Don’t get discouraged or expect an overnight miracle. Just keep a positive attitude and keep at it and your Art of Balance shall proceed stroke by stroke.
Easy, right Grasshopper? Now what is your excuse?

Ahh Grasshopper, are you ready for step 3 towards the Ultimate Handstand?
I knew you were. Lets pick up at the end of step 2 and resume the wall balance handstand position. This time I want you to ease your legs back so only your toes are in contact with the wall. Feel it in the arms and hands? Look at those wrists working, beautiful. Now take one foot completely off the wall, but be sure to keep the knee locked and outstretched. Got it? Can you take the other foot away from the wall now too? Practice this Art of Balance daily and I will return next week for step 4.

Perfect Posture

Perfect Posture, it is a term you hear often in Renegade Training. So important is this component to training and everyday life that it is included within the coveted Renegade Concepts of Training. Next time you are walking around the park, or in the gym take a hard look at the people around you. Are they performing their target activities and tasks with perfect posture? Is that buff dude in front of the mirror curling a bar with 45’s doing it the way it was meant too? Is that lady with weights in her hands as she does laps around the track slouching?
Yeah, big deal you might say. Well it is a big deal and I am going to tell you why. What happens when you do not adhere to perfect posture is you develop negative patterns. These negative patterns work, over time, to erode your natural patterns of movement. When this happens injury is just a movement away.

Now by reading some of my blogs and seeing I am a Sr. Renegade Trainer you may believe I am infallible. Well let me assure you I am not infallible nor am I immortal. Like most successful people I continue to learn and evolve with every passing day. Every so often I get a not so gentle reminder on the lessons of Perfect Posture, and the need for Balance. (By balance, I do not mean standing atop a swiss ball or a surfboard, but rather a balance among musculature.)
Several years ago I was involved in quite a devastating car wreck that saw injuries to my back and neck. I have spent five years thus far re-habilitating these injuries and will no doubt spend the rest of my life addressing these concerns. The problem is, because of the injury, I have several imbalances. Many of the imbalances I have corrected in my training, yet a few are being very stubborn. I am fully aware of these imbalances which affect my posture. I address them regularly, but every so often the body reminds me that these imbalances need to be addressed a little more attentively than other areas. Unfortunately I see in my business many of these imbalances or negative patterns arising due to poor posture and not necessarily a car wreck or other unavoidable injury. This must not be allowed!

So listen up Grasshopper, we will return to the “Ultimate Handstand” next week. For this week I want you to join me in re-evaluating your training and look for possible imbalances, negative patterns, or poor posture. To Excel you must adhere to the following:
1. You must not allow imbalances or negative patterns to form.
2. You must have perfect posture at all times.
3. You must continually set aside your ego and search for any imbalances no matter your skill level.
4. Continually work to perfect your posture in all areas of life.
5. Address any weaknesses, imbalances, or postural concerns IMMEDIATELY!
6. If by chance you do get injured; seek professional help, relax, take a step back and search for the cause. Pretend you are a detective and find the culprit, or culprits. Work to eliminate the apparent weakness.
7. Most importantly, and this is the hardest, be patient! Correcting any imbalances, postural concerns, or recovering from injury may take days, months, or even years. But it must be done.
8. Don’t ever quit or surrender.

Jump to it Grasshopper.

ADAPTATION

“Adapting is knowing when to act and when to rest.
It is a peaceful, accepting frame of mind willing to adjust to the existing circumstances.” I Ching #17

Adaptation is necessary both in training and in life. This is an important lesson Grasshopper so pay attention! Most individuals fear change. I admit I hate change. However if you were paying close attention Grasshopper, I said “hate” not “fear” the difference is quite obvious. As we have seen throughout history those that fail to adapt perish, or worse return to levels far below even mediocrity.
From an exercise standpoint all too often I will run across a former competitor, friend, or just plain acquaintances. While in days past they appeared to flourish and excel above others, somehow they have allowed themselves to be pushed off the proverbial mountain top. Amusingly they still strive for their excellence of the past in familiar redundant and repetitive manners. Put simply, they refuse to change. I do not have enough fingers to count the number of acquaintances in the gym that have developed repetitive stress injuries or extremely poor posture because of an unwillingness to change. Instead of heeding my advice and developing an exercise routine that is more organic in nature they often chose a darker path or simply quit the game altogether. They perish.
In wrestling adaptation is a must if you wish to have any longevity or success. At any given performance you must be able to make adjustments in your strategy, approach, execution, and even attitude. You MUST be able and willing to adapt because of the unpredictable dynamics of the sport. Though knowing this many wrestlers still fail to adapt and thus perish.
In life one must continually adapt to the ever constant changes of society. You need to continually learn new skills, open yourself to advancements in technology, and adjust to the economics of the day. If something out of the ordinary happens at work, school, or play, become flexible and quietly adapt. Consider this an opportunity to climb a little higher towards the mountain top.
Adaptation is why I am a winner. It is why I succeed in whatever endeavors I choose. Adaptation is what allowed me to return to wrestling. Adaptation is why I can compete with athletes of any age. Adaption is what brought me to writing this blog. A good example of adaption in life came the other week when I released the JJcrewguy School Cool Van back into the wild. You can not find a cooler van, short wheel base, full time 4x4, 1-ton, windowless, old school 1979 Dodge van, what more could you want? This is the ultimate surfing rig and the ultimate in cool. This machine had Crewguy written all over it as I went through great pains to find it and spent a lot of time and money to restore it. However, with the price of gas skyrocketing along with insurance premiums, and vehicle registration fees I saw the writing on the wall. Though I hated to part with it I recognized the need to adapt and change with the times. I did not fear change.
Now I know what your asking yourself; “JJ with oil being a finite commodity does this mean you are also going to release the Jeep back in the wild?” For that answer you have to stay tuned for deliberate and slow cultivation, Grasshopper, is the path to success and good fortune. And well lets just say I still have some adapting to do.

Fair well Old School Cool, you will be missed.

Am I not supposed to cheat?

Did the NFL commissioner reverse any of the Patriot’s victories after discovering their cheating ways?
Did Baseball reverse any of the games won by infected blood?
Did Warner Bros make Cecil Turtle give back the $10 he won beating bugs under questionable circumstances?

Of course not!
Should I go on? Do you really want me too? It is rather depressing. Golf, swimming, Nascar, MMA, Boxing, Roadrunner & Wile E…….
I will stop there as I am depressing myself.
My question for this blog is if the Idols of millions can get away with cheating why can’t I? After all I am a professional athlete.
Doesn’t this mean I am obligated to cheat?
Doesn’t it mean I have a free pass to cheat?
So why then did my recent victory in the ring get reversed well after the referee made his decision and rose my hand?
By being a professional athlete are my cheating ways restricted to drugs, sex scandals, gambling problems, or skeletons released from a closet somewhere?
Obviously it appears so.
I guess I thought cheating, well any kind of cheating was acceptable. I guess I thought wrong. And yes, one time I thought I farted and actually...well you know the rest.
Here is the scenario, you tell me:
For ten minutes my partner and I battled the team of the Heavyweights. Clearly we had the upper hand and were dominating this team comprised of one pencil necked geek and an undersized string bean (thanks Magnum). Wanting to put an end to the match I grasp all 120lbs of String Bean in a Fisherman’s Suplex (also called Perfectplex) and drive him into the mat. Still holding onto to what little frame a string bean has I bridge up for the pin. One, two…. Wham! “What the,,,,?”
Pencil Neck is on top of me driving fists into my stomach, successfully breaking up the count.
Obviously, I suppose, if you are pretty boy this type of cheating is acceptable. The ref thinks so. Of course I insist that he gets back to the corner so I can try pinning String Bean again. The next thing I know someone throws a cane in the ring and it lands in my hands. The ref turns and sees me with the cane, which I am just holding as I am a little confused as to how it got their. I give the cane to ref quite freely and return to pinning String Bean. One, two, three. (Yes my suplexes are that deadly.)
“The winners by pin fall Leather and Lace” the ref announces. Done, another victory, another notch upwards to a title shot.
“Hold it, hold it!” Shouts the new owner of ECWA as he approaches the ring. Here he has spotted someone in the crowd with a video camera and asks to borrow it. On the big screen he shows the cane in my hands, the ref taking it away, and this is where it gets weird. Somehow that video guy photo shopped the image of my partner climbing in the ring and another cane being thrown in the ring. It also shows my partner, Hot Shot Mike Reed, whacking the skull of String Bean with it. Of course the owner reverses the decision as I am not one of those pretty boys.
Even if this was not a doctored video, come on! My team loses on account of a this? Our title shot delayed because of this? How is this not biased? Is this not acceptable behavior in professional sports?
Politics, bah!
I can not wait to make it to the Big Leagues where this type of travesty would never happen. It would be accepted and I made into a hero! I would probably even get a contract extension and bonus out of it too.

Our loss to the Heavyweights is comparable only to Bugs Bunny being robbed of his victory against Cecil Turtle.

Ah Grasshopper you have returned. Sadly, no training for you! I am too upset from this weekend’s events. Comeback tomorrow when I return to my place of tranquility.