Body-Sculpting Fitness Exercises for a Healthy, Energetic Lifestyle

"And one and two and three and four!"

Fitness bunny exercises. Don't ya love 'em?!

If you've stepped inside a fitness facility in recent years, be it a health club, a gym, or even some of the more "hardcore" training facilities, you've no doubt come across the types of trainers who are more interested in "pumping you up" and "giving you a workout" than they are in giving you the take-home know-how in body-sculpting.

I'm a deep-tissue massage therapist, and it always surprises me when a client or a friend tells me that I'm getting the tension out of muscles that they "didn't even know they had".

?!

"Why don't you guys know about your own muscles?! I mean, they've been with you your whole life!" I want to indignantly scream. "The mind/body connection is one of the main keys to proper exercises!"

After all, I was born on top of a mountain, with the vast knowledge of the universe immediately at my disposal, just like all the other online fitness gurus who teach their adoring public about proper exercise, right?

Ah ha ha, no.

Truth is, if you had asked me in late 2008 where the erector spinae was on the body, I probably would have raised my right eyebrow and giggled a bit.

Something like this actually happened recently. A client had pain and tension near the lumbar region of the erector spinae. However, she didn't know she had muscle there, so she actually thought I was working directly on her spine. Uh, nope! These are only the muscles that hold your spine upright, allowing you to walk on two legs instead of four. You know, nothing major.

And I was the same way up until I began my training as a massage therapist. I somehow managed to graduate college with only a minimal understanding of anatomy. Heck, I wasn't even required to take it in my major (the wonderful world of pointless degrees: music!).

This was in spite of the fact that I've been active in exercise and sports all my life. I've done soccer, several different styles of dance, fencing, several different types of martial arts, gymnastics, softball...OK, OK, enough already.

But even though I had done all that, plus more, I only managed to attain mediocre results at best because I didn't understand how to use my full potential. I didn't understand the mind/body connection. Heck, I didn't understand the mind OR the body. I just did what I was told, and hoped for the best.

This caused me to rely on outside forces instead of listening to my own body and figuring out the "secrets" that top fitness professionals, martial artists, etc. use in their exercises to achieve almost super-human results...and rockin' bodies to boot.

I can't fault my coaches entirely for leading me down the wrong paths. After all, they were probably just doing the best with what they had. None of my coaches were in the Olympics, or trained people in the Olympics, or anything of that nature.

If your story is different, close this website right now and buy your coach a gift for all the wonderful, awe-inspiring results they've helped you accomplish. Seriously, do it. You can always come back later.

So, if it wasn't their fault, whose was it?

It was mine. My fault. And my responsibility.

In the past, I didn't have the drive or the initiative to read, to learn, and to apply what I learned to my sports. Was it because I was unaware that there was something greater out there? Probably not. I just never made the connection that if I wanted great results in my fitness, I couldn't use mediocre methods.

I had to follow inspirational people:

- Oldtime strongmen, like Eugene Sandow

- The masters of physical fitness potential, like Bruce Lee

- And other extraordinary people, like the "modern king of kettlebells", Pavel Tsatsouline.

I had to follow the systems that mankind has passed down for thousands of years to attain greater mastery of the mind/body connection that ancient cultures, such as the Chinese culture, have understood. And I had to use these methods to enhance my awareness and understanding, and apply what I learned to my own body.

These, and more, are what allow me to experience an increased awareness of my body, better workouts, more energy without a need for stimulants, and even an increased level of safety in my training. Hard to find that at your average gym these days.

I've decided to take the responsibility of my physical fitness into my own hands. Are you ready to do the same?

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