Friday, May 2, 2014

Gymnastics - WHY?

The Philosophy of the Bar
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Calisthenics make the ligaments and tendons stronger, allowing bar athletes to lift tremendous amounts of weight in addition to easily moving their bodyweight. It gives you extreme inner strength, muscle endurance, balance, flexibility, power and explosiveness, helping you work muscles you never knew you had.

When you use typical bodybuilding weightlifting techniques, you isolate individual muscle groups. Calisthenics allows you to work multiple muscle groups at the same time. Historically, people have stayed in shape by utilizing their natural environment to build their strength and conditioning levels. Calisthenics is the same; you can walk to a park or even stay in your room and build an incredible body by simply using your bodyweight.

Reasons For Becoming A Bar Athlete

One of the main reasons why I do calisthenics is because it gives me the ability to move my body in any way I want to. There is never a plateau in my training. Once you understand that any movement is possible through training, the possibilites are endless. When I am on the bar performing different moves, I move when I want to move; I try to be the bar and flow with the bar. When I am on the dip bar, I try to challenge myself by doing complex, dynamic moves that I have never done before.
Sometimes I like to take my struggles out on the bar; it depends on how my day may be going and how I feel in that particular moment. On days I might be feeling more relaxed, I am calm and smooth on the bar. Other days I may want to break the bars out of aggression, this is when my moves become more complex and creative. You always want to have fun and step out of your comfort zone by overcoming any fears that you may have at the moment.
Calisthenics is not just working out or a sport to me, it’s my life. This is what I live for everyday. I breathe, eat, and sleep it. If I take a day off my training, even if I’m tired, sore, or hurt, I feel like I’m off my game and slacking. To be a real bar athlete, you have to take it as a lifestyle. I feel like bar athletes are the most dedicated and strongest athletes in the world.
Calisthenics by Raed Barance
To get to this level takes hard work and dedication. This does not just happen overnight. You have to be consistent with your training and have the patience and belief that great things will come. If you don’t have this mindset, then this sport is not for you. Even though calisthenics is fun, I take my training very seriously. When I’m training, it doesn’t matter if I’m in a good or bad mood because I block out everything, I’m in my own world. When I’m in the zone I cannot get distracted, it does not matter what is going on around me.
The passion I have for this sport is insane. As much as I train, I never know when to stop. I feel like I have not trained enough until all my body parts are hurting. I will never stop doing this, it is a high everyday. All I want to do is inspire people and let them know that if you work hard, you can accomplish whatever you wish. I don’t believe in luck, I just think that if you believe in yourself and challenge yourself you can be great.
The Downward Facing Dog is one of the most commonly used yoga postures for a reason…it rocks! If done well this posture works the whole posterior chain, releasing the hamstrings and stabilizing the shoulders. Put this posture into movement with the Bear Squat and you are in for a treat!
 

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