How to Develop a Daily Warriors Exercise Regimen Like Successful Entrepreneurs

By 

Al Ridenhour

In a great article written by Andrew Roach who writes on the OBERLO Blog, he asks,

“Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, and Tim Cook.

Can you guess what they all have in common?

If you guessed that they all launched multi-billion dollar companies, you’re correct.

But we want to talk about something else that they all have in common.

They all swear that regular exercise is an integral part of their success.”

He also goes on to elaborate, that in fact, in a recent blog post, Branson said:

“I seriously doubt that I would have been as successful in my career (and happy in my personal life) if I hadn’t always placed importance on my health and fitness.”

There is as you know, much science to back this as well, where studies show that regular exercise can improve your mental health, your memory, your energy levels, and make you feel happier overall. So this is not new.

I think what surprises people is the level of importance exercise plays in the lives of many of the most successful and wealthiest people on the planet at what they do. Thus the reason for the article in the first place. They make exercise a major part of their day and as a result, they find it not only therapeutic but empowering as well.

Now, being a self-defense and security expert my focus is not only on general overall health but training in a manner that increases functionality in the body. However, when I’m talking about the “body” I’m not just talking about the body but the “mind” as well. 

Folks, I have to level with you, there is no mind-body separation as people have been erroneously taught, it’s just you. All these folks out there talking about connecting the “mind-body” are kidding people and are just out there spouting off at the mouth to sell books. Like I said it’s just you and how you think about your body and what it can do; influences what you do and how you move in the body; and how you move in the body influences and shapes how you think about what you can do in the body. My point is they are always working off of each other because they are not separate.

So now that I’ve straightened that out I’m going to offer some tips to aid you toward developing your own Daily Warrior Training Regimen.

First Things First – Know Your Sword

Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), is credited as being one of if not the greatest of all of the Japanese swordsmen. During his life he fought numerous wars, was in over 60 duels to the death and wrote the seminal work, Go Rin No Sho or “The Book of Five Rings”. At the end of his life before his passing, he wrote “The Dokkodo” or “The Way Alone”. Which are 21 pithy sayings on life and the way of living the life of a warrior.

Musashi was relentless in his pursuit of perfecting the way but if you read his writings there was also a lot of common sense in his approach toward training. And that’s what I want to focus on. You see while Musashi was all about fighting and fighting for your life he understood that not only should training be practical but that it should be also based on what you feel you are capable of.

You know I’m 54 years old now, and while I can still look back and reminisce about my past glories and athletic achievements the truth is I’m not that guy anymore. It’s strange because in certain ways while I know I’ve lost a step or two, at the same time I feel stronger than I’ve ever been. Not so much in just the physical sense but from a whole body sense.

I’ve never felt more balanced and coordinated in my life and my senses and mental clarity seem sharper than when I was a young officer in the Marine Corps. I credit much of this not only to the martial training that I’ve done over the years as well as other fitness activities but in the way I’ve trained and that’s what I want to discuss here.

You see there are a million things you can do in the body and there are a million things you can’t do in the body and that’s the way it is. Too many people are trying to push a rock uphill with a string, trying to do things beyond what their physical limits are because they want to prove they’re still “that guy”. They’re trying to show that they still got it. So because they still try to do things that their bodies can physically no longer do they continue to train in a manner that can only damage their body instead of enhancing it.

This is what Musashi was talking about where when training, you need to “know your sword”, you need to know what your sword is capable of. When saying this Musashi was speaking metaphorically because what he was really talking about when he discussed the sword “is you”.

You need to know you and what you can do. If gaining in strength is important to you then fine but you need to know how to go about it with the right mindset in order to not damage your body doing stupid things when training. The same is true for speed and endurance or whatever you train.

Know Why You Do, What You Do, the Way You Do It

The other part of knowing your sword is you need to realistically ask yourself when you train, “what is important to you?”

Being a martial arts aficionado obviously, I have a natural bias towards martial development because well? That’s my thing. So the things that I’m going to offer here are going to be oriented for people who want to learn how to move better in the body.

These are martial oriented exercises created by my Master Grandmaster John Perkins, that have been shown through countless numbers of people learn not only how to fight but to move in ways they never thought possible.

At the end, I’ll provide a basic regimen that will begin the process of transforming your body. Now, for me moving better in the body for overall health as well as self-defense is important. So my training including weight training is geared toward that end however what I’ll share at the end of this article will be geared towards exercises that will help you move better which believe it or not will also enhance your other physical training.

Anyway, when you train you have to focus on what it is you want to accomplish and then as you develop your training regimen when you put aside the time to do it. Since every moment of every day we are all burning time off of our existence this is time you don’t get back. You need to clear any and all distractions, this is “your time”, your moment to get in some “me time” as I like to call it.

If that means turning off the phone which I know is hard for busy people, trust me I struggle with this as well, then so be it. If it’s turning on some music as you train or having no noise at all it really doesn’t matter. The point is you want that time for yourself to focus and to sort of Zen Out with your training focusing on what you are doing at the time you are doing it to maximize results. The other part is when you do this you ensure at least psychologically that since you’ve done everything in your power to maximize your time and efforts you never feel as if your time was wasted, your efforts not focused.

Beginning Daily Warrior Routine

Okay, what I’m going to offer here is but a small sliver of the literally hundreds of exercises I use to help develop people’s bodies to achieve not only better movement and coordination but what I call the “Warrior Flow State™”. That state where you move in such a way that all that you do, whatever it is feels effortless, fluid, seamless, yet “powerful”. It is that way of movement where all under heaven seems to line up and fall to your will. It’s what the Japanese Samurai called “Mushin”, or what we call in sports, “The Zone”. Same difference because what people are describing is a physiological state available to all humans that can be trained. Many talk about it, few achieve it and even fewer can teach it. I can do all three. Because it’s what I do.

Now, before I get into it there are a few things that need to be said because if I don’t frame this right. Many things that I’m going to share with you will not make much sense.

So for the record, I’ve been training in the pugilistic arts pretty much all my life. First with Boxing as a kid, later wrestling in high school, and I began my martial arts study at age 19 while in college and have been a life-long practitioner and instructor ever since.  I played football from when I was a little kid all the way through college, where I majored in criminal justice with a double minor in sociology, and sports physiology and health and, I ran track in high school as well.

I also spent 28 years in the Marine Corps, and have trained and fought in combat in some of the most arduous climates on the planet. From the deserts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia to the Sierra Nevada’s and the Hindu Kush, to the arctic circle in northern Norway or the jungles of Okinawa. I’ve experienced all of these things and each of these climates have their own unique challenges. I even believe it or not, once competed in a National Physique Council (NCP) Natural Body Building Competition placing third (yeah, I’d like to see that guy again).

The reason for telling you all of this is so that you understand when I say what I’m about to say it is not coming from someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about. Let’s just say my knowledge on this subject is “significantly” above average. So here goes…

Most of what we’ve been taught about body movement dynamics is flat out wrong! Not only is it wrong but the way many of us were trained in sports or the military we were taught so many incorrect things, that they are the direct cause too many of the physical problems in our joints that people such as myself suffer from to this day. The difference is that when we were young due to our recuperative powers at that time. We were just strong enough to “muscle” through it. You got away with it at 25, but you won’t get away with it at 45.

This is important as we proceed because there are so many long-held false beliefs on exercise and movement that even the so-called experts have bought into them. I could go on with example after example but that’s beyond the scope of what I want to provide you here. I’m only presenting this information to open your mind and I’m only asking that you, for now, suspend disbelief, not your common sense just disbelief and follow along.

Bodhidharma 

Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the monks of the Shaolin Monastery that led to the creation of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is said that he implemented the regimen of exercise based on martial movements to improve the physical health of the monks who he found were deathly weak from too much meditation, sitting on their cans, and not enough physical exercise.

In the same way that Bodhidharma implemented a system of movement for the monks. So in the same fashion I’m going to provide you with some exercises that I will guarantee if you follow them and train the way I say to perform them in a few days you will begin to feel a significant change in the way you move and believe it or not, how you think about your body.

A final point on this, while these exercises may seem easy by description as people have found they “require practice” to develop the “fluid coordination” and “graceful power” you seek. It doesn’t take long maybe a day or two but you need to focus on them to do them right and benefit from them. 

Basic Breathing – when doing any exercises you want to breathe. I tell students all of the time to breath. Now with that said, you don’t need to do any special breathing here to accomplish this, as a matter of fact, many people have basically created whole arts out of breathing. Which is ridiculous! Listen, you’ve been breathing on your own since birth, trust me if you were doing it wrong you wouldn’t be reading this. Just breath normally in a relaxed manner allowing your diaphragm to expand or what is called “belly breathing” (like how little kids breath). Bottom line, “just relax”. The more you relax the deeper you can breathe, the deeper you can breathe the more relaxed you become, the more relaxed you become the more functional and responsive your body becomes. No magic to it… 

Basic Warrior Body Movement - Start off by relaxing your arms by your side then move back and forth while turning with an emphasis on keeping your hips level while just letting your arms hang by your side you should feel them sway naturally.  You want to focus on that relaxed feeling and feel the weight of your upper body down to your feet. 

Next, you want to do an exercise called “rolling the ball” this is where you move back and forth as you just did with the relaxed arm hang drill only this time you’re going to pretend you are holding a big ball, you can even do this with one of those inflatable training balls. Concentrating on moving and turning with your shoulders and hips in sync with each other. Ensuring that your shoulders and hips do not become perpendicular to each other which, will cause your body to get out of alignment.

Next, stand with one leg forward the other back with your hands up arms slightly bent.  Then move forward and back without moving your hands sliding your hips back and forth ensuring that your knees do not go forward of your toes and your butt does not go beyond your heels.  This will prevent you from getting your center of gravity too far forward or too far back thus this will teach you to develop control over your equilibrium. Once you have done this on one side then switch your foot position to the other side. 

Next, get them to repeat this movement but now move your arms forward and back.   Try not to move your arms no more than 3” inches for every one inch of movement in any direction maintain a 3:1 ratio.  Ensure that you are keeping yourself in sync with what your arms are doing with your body.

Dry Land Swimming – now you want to move back and forth in the same fashion as you performed the rolling the ball exercise only you want to move your arms forward in the same fashion as you would swim. You want to remain relaxed throughout the movement allowing for the rotation of your body to carry your movement. Stay slow, relaxed, and smooth. And just do it.

Exercise for Balance (Ninja Walk) – first start off with one foot forward and one foot back no more than shoulder width apart with both of your knees slightly bent. [Note: DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT straighten your knees out. This is incorrect and throws your body’s equilibrium out of whack.]

Next, place all of your weight over your right forward leg. You should feel all of your weight over this leg.

Now pointing the toe of the rear foot up, you want to lift your rear leg off the ground an inch or so while trying to keep the foot as flat to the ground as possible.

Next, you then want to turn your foot over and lightly touching the ground with the toe of the foot that is off the ground sinking your weight slightly twice. You then want to place that foot forward and keeping the knee of the up leg slightly bent lightly tap the ground on front of you with the heel twice. 

Next, place that foot on the ground in front of you and shift your weight over that leg that is now forward and repeat the exercise starting with the forward leg.

Exercise Modifier – if for some reason you have difficulty tapping the foot because this is not as easy as I’m making this sound. After you lift it off the ground. Just lift the foot up and place it forward and repeat this action until you develop the ability to do so.

Now, if for some reason you need the aid of something to brace against to accomplish this you can either use a wall, a bench or even a cane if you walk with one. The point is you want to start slow and gradually built up to it. remember the intent is to build you up not break you up. 

Well, that’s it for now thanks.

     Al Ridenhour

     CEO, Creator Warrior Flow State™

For more go to https://protectyourself.mykajabi.com/

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