This is a guest post from Mike Inscho of AlphaMaleFTS.
Growing up, I lived next to the local airport.
Naturally my ideal super power was the ability to fly…until I tried it by jumping from a picnic table.
Result: broken arm.
Ouch…lesson learned. This dude can’t fly, no matter how hard he flaps his arms.
Once I got out of the hospital, arm covered with a sweet neon blue cast, I thought maybe I should focus on a super power that was:
- realistic for a mere mortal
- less likely to result in catastrophic injury.
“Why hello there super human speed, you’re cool and meet my criteria. Do you want to be my super power?”
From that day forward I was running around pretending to be Sonic the Hedgehog (I was 8 and my arm was still in the blue cast, at this point it made sense…no judgement please).Keep reading »
The “Most Interesting Man in the World” is my hero.
You know, the guy from the Dos Equis commercials who “can speak French, in Russian” and “once had an awkward moment, just to see how it felt.” You hear about all of the stuff he’s done and you can’t help but laugh while saying, “damn, that’s awesome.”
Now, obviously the Dos Equis Man is a fictional character (unfortunately), but he’s actually helped me come to a few realizations lately about behavior, habits, mentality, and success when it comes to leveling up your life.
Let’s see, last week it was underpants gnomes…this week it’s a fictional beer character….
What the hell am I talking about?
There’s one particular “Dos Equis Man” phrase that I want to draw your attention to today:
“He lives vicariously through himself.”
Whether you want to travel the world, become a parkour phenom, run a marathon, or start your own business, it’s time to start living vicariously through yourself.
My dear Rebel friend, I’m excited to share something with you I’ve been working on for a LONG time.
Eighteen months ago, I took my first trip outside of North America, visiting the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru. Energized by the adventures I had there, I decided that I needed to see the rest of the world too. So, I took an even CRAZIER trip , spanning 15 countries and over 120,000 miles. Because my decision to travel the world was heavily inspired by Where The Hell is Matt, I wanted to pay homage to his video by exercising along the way and eventually turn it into a cool video.
That day is today.
18 months and 120,000+ miles of travel later, I present to you, “Exercising Around the World.”
(note: reading this on a MOBILE DEVICE? Watch the video at this link instead!)
Exercising Around the World Video
Who says playgrounds are for children?
Okay, well probably most people say that.
…because they are for children.
…but that doesn’t mean you can’t use them to get a great workout.
For the first 10 years of my training career, I was a gym rat who loved to pick heavy things up and put them down – after all, 200 pounds is 200 pounds.
However, over the past year and a half my perspective on training has changed DRAMATICALLY.
14 months of adventure travel and no gym access will do that to ya!
These days, I can’t get enough of body weight exercises. I packed on 10 pounds of muscle while exercising outdoors in parks around the world, so I know how powerful this type of training can be. I loved being able to wander into any town, track down a swing set/monkey bar/roof overhang and MacGuyver a workout while passersby would give me that “are you crazy?” look 
You know who else loves body weight training? Olympic gymnasts and Ninja Warrior all-stars. These dudes and chicks look like gods and godesses, and they’re built almost purely through body weight training. If you can get creative, there’s no limit to how strong and agile you can become when using your body. On top of that, because you’re manipulating yourself, you’re preparing your body for the real world…functional training FTW!
There’s another added benefit to this body weight only park training:
Most of us spend most of our day inside, trapped at desks in dark buildings where we’re shielded from the sun like vampires. With us halfway through Spring and Summer right around the corner (unless you’re upside down in the Southern Hemisphere), why not get out of the shadows and enjoy the sunshine, breeze, and strange looks from snot-nosed kids as you do pull ups on their monkey bars while screaming “FOR THE REBELLION!!!”
[note: If you happen to be a vampire and have to train indoors, it sucks to be you. Yup. That pun just happened.]Keep reading »
We’re in trouble.
WALL-E knows it too, which is why he looks so sad.
Poor WALL-E 
We are spending more money on fitness quick-fixes, gym memberships, “health food”, personal trainers, and other ‘life improvement’ products than ever before. Thanks to the power of the Internet, we’re hit on a daily basis with “Top 10 healthy foods,” “foods to avoid for optimum health,” “6-pack abs in 15 minutes a day!,” and millions upon million fitness sites extolling expert advice. Super markets like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and even healthy “fast food” places are popping up everywhere that make it incredibly simple to eat healthy foods.
Despite ALL of this, we continue to get bigger, slower, and lazier.
More than 2/3rds of America is overweight, over 33% of us are considered obese, and the numbers continue to grow with each passing year. At this rate, we could be headed for an actual WALL-E type future within a few decades.
Ruh roh, Shaggy.
I’ve been running Nerd Fitness for over three years now, and I can say without a doubt that the question I get asked above ALL else goes something like this:
“I know what I should do, I just can’t motivate myself to do it. Can you help?”
My answer has always been “I can’t give you motivation, only the tools to use once you FIND your motivation.”
However, I’ve come to a realization over the past few weeks – although I cannot provide you with motivation, there is another way I can help.
Today, you’re gonna learn why most people suck at getting in shape, and how to avoid that trap.
Admiral Akbar would be proud. Keep reading »