Tips on Grips and Breathing With Weight Training

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Happy Monday!

I hope you are energized for the new week after a restful and/or fun weekend.

I was very busy working on mandala art assessments for clients this weekend, but did find some time Sunday to continue my New Years art project for my instructors and key institute supporters.

My wife, Penny, is the institute’s greatest supporter for sure! She has been with me for 18 years now, working hard at my side through thick and thin.

Penny has always wanted to get her pilot’s license, and finally, she’s doing it now after waiting a lifetime. She’s almost finished with her training, and will start flying solo soon.

My art is an expression of Penny dreaming of flying. My wife is a real dreamer, and often lives her dreams out at night, so I can usually tell by how her body is moving in bed if she’s running, climbing mountains, dancing, or flying.

The bird is an ancient symbol for the soul. The sun represents Penny’s North Star, or the direction her dreams are taking her. The clouds making heart shapes represent mind and the fact that mind always creates your dominant thoughts as your perceived reality.

My painting is celebrating that Penny is flying with her soul, in the process of creating her dreams, and in-so-doing, is using her mind to create what she wants for herself. This is what my soul wanted me to draw for her to celebrate that 2014 is the year she gets to spend more time fulfilling her personal and professional dreams.

Thank you for all you do Penny! I love you and I couldn’t have ever created all I have and shared it with so many people without you!

The Tai Chi Commitment

As a teacher, therapist, and life coach, I suggest or prescribe a number of work-In practices based on individual needs. When students in my HLC 2 training program have been exposed to a variety of work-In technologies, including various forms of tai-chi or Qi-gong, I encourage them to commit to a gong (a committed practice for 100-days consecutively).

I do the same with most of my patients/clients seeking my assistance for their own health and performance challenges.

Many students, patients and clients are very challenged to compete a gong, regardless of what exercise or practice I give them. Many fall off their gong commitment because of little things that generally suggest that they lack commitment, or need more work on getting clear on their dream and supportive core values to live by.

One of the most common excuses I get from all that I offer a gong practice to is, “It was too cold outside so I skipped it”…

Here is what commitment looks like!

This is my client, Danne Ahlquist, from Stockholm, Sweden. Danne is a “multiple gong” client, and as you can see, he doesn’t let excuses like, “Its too cold” get in the way.

Dong exactly as his coach suggested, he has two pairs of wool socks on his feet to keep them warm and stay connected to the natural grounding effects of the earth. He has wool gloves and a wool hat to keep the heat in. He is consistent, and he is honestly committed to his own growth and healing as a human being.

To all of you out there who suffer from talking themselves out of living and loving fully, may Danne Ahlquist (who is consistent and regular even in weather cold enough to literally freeze the ocean!) a busy marketing executive and family man be your inspiration!

Great Job Danne!

Cross Fit Dangers!

Cross Fit training has been a big concern of many experts that have interviewed me since it has become popular, largely due to the number of people getting injured.

CHEK Practitioners and CHEK HLC Practitioners worldwide have consulted me about their concerns regarding Cross Fit training due to the constant stream of injuries they are seeing.

My answer with regard to Cross Fit training is the same as for any kind of training. If you don’t have the core stability, flexibility, coordination, strength, endurance, power, agility, and speed demanded of any exercise used, injury is likely to result.

The sad truth is that we’ve come from being a gym based exercise culture that exercised primarily with isolation machines, to one that has completely gone hog-wild with functional exercises.

The machine training is a great way to diminish total-body integration and create “false strength”; you think you are strong because you have a big weight on the stack of a machine, but when you try to lift the same weight in your garage or on a construction site, you are likely to get injured.

I spent my working life developing an effective system of assessment and exercise prescription, including all necessary joint mobilizations and stretches specifically to help people be safe, and accomplish their dreams of health and athletic success.

The article below only highlights why “doing what everyone else is doing” is often dangerous!
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/gold-coast-woman-shanteece-smith-had-a-brush-with-death-after-a-weights-session-with-her-personal-trainer/story-e6freon6-1226807908227

Reading About “0”

Tomi Toles is a CHEK Institute Instructor, with a wealth of experience in a wide variety of areas of rehabilitation, martial arts, and sports conditioning. His son, TJ, is a beautiful, intelligent young man who has sat in on many of my lectures over the years with his dad.

We were once having a chat (TJ and I) and the subject of God came up. I asked him if he’d ever studied anything on numbers, particularly “zero”? He said no. I chose this special book I really enjoyed about “Zero”, titled “Zero.”

This is a photo of TJ confirming that he got the book and the card I sent, and that he enjoyed reading the book.

It is with great joy that I support young people in finding resources that will help them develop an open-minded approach to the “Big Questions” of life. Thanks TJ (and Tomi) for being open-minded and taking a look at some new ways of perceiving the “God issue”!

Tips on Grips and Breathing With Weight Training

Well, I managed to free some time to shoot a few video blogs for the week today.

Today in my vlog, I cover some important issues regarding breathing, how it is the chief influence on how our muscles and joints function, and why understanding the basic mechanics of breathing influences how you breath when lifting weights.