Author: Eric Wong

Exercise to help you master the FRONT LEVER
I thought I’d share this video that I shot for my Inner Circle members (my Kyoudai!) because it’s a great exercise for building integrated core + shoulder strength, specifically your lats.

Properly integrating your lats and core is important not just for doing the Front Lever exercise (that’s been the focus of the 2016 workouts in the Inner Circle thus far), it’s also beneficial for:
- Controlling and attacking an opponent inside a Muay Thai clinch
- Hitting a golf ball
- Swimming
- Rowing
- And many other sport techniques
If you can do 10 reps of this exercise properly, you’re a beast.

Check it out:

https://vimeo.com/159494916/

www.shoulderflexibilitysolution.com
March 18, 2016
My SECRETS to <10% body fat for almost 20 years
To begin, here’s what we’re NOT going to be talking about:
- A new diet that will burn fat faster than the speed of light
- 2 secret foods hidden by the Chinese government to keep the west fat and stupid
- How doing this ONE trick before you eat will turn every ingested calorie into rock-hard muscle
If these are the kinds of things you’re looking for, I suggest you click away now…

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If you’re still here, kudos to you and your 90+ IQ…

Now, what we are going to talk about are the things I believe have contributed to me being able to maintain a <10% body fat since I began measuring it at 16 in my high school gym class and having gone through the struggle to build a successful business, marriage, having a baby and dealing with my baby’s severe health issues.

That’s almost 20 years.

“But Eric, you must have good genes!”

I don’t deny the contribution my genes have had on my ability to maintain a lean frame…

However, I have family who carry extra body fat be so it’s clearly not the only reason.

It’s just one of many.

I’m going to share as many of these reasons as I can in this post, but I’m not going to tell you what to eat.

I know you already have a good idea of what to eat that will help you lose fat, right?

Instead, the points I’m going to list below are those that have helped me to continue to eat in the way I know and want to eat, based on my goals.

So come from that perspective instead of, “Just give me a diet to follow” because the looking for the right diet is a leading indicator of someone whose weight will yo-yo up and down over time.

Family trip to Florida, February 2016

In no particular order, here are some of the reasons that I believe have helped me stay under 10% body fat for almost 20 years straight:
- I link what I eat with my core value of “walking the talk” and wouldn’t be able to work in the field I do if I ate poorly
- I know my credibility with you would be diminished if I looked like I didn’t eat well and I believe credibility leads to influence and success
- I believe that big public corporations like Monsanto and Kraft have only one priority – making their shareholders money – and if push comes to shove and if the decision comes down to making more money or doing something to benefit consumer health, they’ll choose to make money so I inherently don’t trust the products they produce (this movie was a big influence)
- I practice progressive strength and conditioning training
- I love nature
- I love cooking
- I make time for things I love
- I have a few quick, simple recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner that I can cook from scratch and use 90% of the time
- I listen to my body, yet understand structure can prevent uncontrollable urges from taking over
- I frequently practice going “cold turkey” on things I love for various periods of time (weeks to months); some of these things include coffee, alcohol, all sweeteners including things like honey, meat, gluten products, etc… for 3 reasons – seeing how my body will react, cleansing and practising having control vs. being controlled
- I don’t get depressed if I eat something I “shouldn’t” – in fact, there’s nothing I believe that I “shouldn’t” eat (other than poison)
- I understand basics about nutrition including what constitutes a fat, carb, protein, calorie, how foods are processed and the needs for a variety of vitamins, minerals, probiotics and other micronutrients
- We don’t know and we’ll never know all of the micronutrients that contribute to good health or how they interact because our ability to measure things is limited and individuals have different needs
- I do know enough to be where I want to be and as such, I do little research/reading on the topic nowadays to avoid information overload
- I believe there’s no need to be perfect because our bodies are resilient and adaptable; they just need to be treated with respect and like you care
OK there’s enough for you to digest already so I’ll stop.

Take from it what you will but just notice that there’s not much about the actual foods to eat, how often, how much or in what combinations because those things are in my opinion no more or less important than the rest.

So, I’ve got a question for you, depending on where you are right now:

1) If you’ve been struggling with nutrition, what are your thoughts about what I shared in this post? Does anything particularly resonate with you?

2) If you’ve been consistent with your eating, do you jive with anything here or have anything to add?

Please let me know below and also, Pearl Jam’s song “Daughter” just came on AccuRadio and I’m loving it because I haven’t heard it in so long. 🙂
February 24, 2016
Dynamic Mobility + Activation Warmup Flow
There are a few key components I include in every warmup:
1. Heart rate elevation
2. Dynamic mobility
3. Muscle activation
4. Muscle de-activation
I’ll also include CNS activation drills if I’m working Power or Max Strength.

In today’s video, I share another flow I’ve been using as part of my warmups lately:

The one exercise you may not be familiar with is the Active Groiner, so make sure you watch the video that I posted a few weeks ago for the important technique cues.

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February 8, 2016
*WeiRd* Exercise for DEEP SQUAT Mobility

Getting down into the bottom range of motion in the Squat is a fundamental human movement pattern that we’ve lost because of all the sitting we do.

We don’t need to think anymore about it.

But is getting down deep into the Squat an absolute necessity?

You could argue against it because in modern western society, we really don’t have to get into this position all the time.

For some sports, yes, but just normal day-to-day activities, we can avoid it completely.

The thing is doing so definitely helps to maintain full flexibility in the hips, knees and ankles, it helps your digestive system do it’s thing because in this position, your guts press up against each other at the same time your anus is opened up (weird, but reality and come on, we’re all adults here).

Plus, I want my body to be able to do everything it was designed to do.

I don’t want to be robbed of my natural movement ability.

And getting down there is fun, especially when you’ve got people down there to play with.

Today’s exercise I call the Deep Squat Prayer Pushup and it will help you get further down and more comfortable when you’re down there.

A good test of this is to get down into the deep Squat and feel what it’s like to hang out down there for a minute or two, then stand and walk around for a minute, do this exercise, then stay down in that deep Squat position to compare.

If you do this test, let me know what it feels like in the Comments.

As always with the exercises I share with you, TECHNIQUE is critical, so pay close attention to the pointers in the video and follow-along and watch a few times.

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It’s also a great idea to bookmark/save/share/whatever you have to do to ensure you can come back to this video to further refine your form.

So try it out and let me know how it feels in the Comments and if you’ve got any favourite Squat mobility exercises.

January 25, 2016
Improve Front Splits Flexibility AND Strength
We’re gonna get to the exercise in a sec but first, I have to share something I’ve been feeling with you…

I’ve been inspired at the movement that’s taking place in the world of fitness because I feel like we’re finally getting away from the superficial as the ultimate goal.

While avoiding obesity and being lean and muscular is definitely important and a reflection of healthy choices, for the longest time, these ideals dominated fitness to the point where anorexia and megarexia are common occurrences in today’s society.

Well this is all changing, my friend, and in my not so humble opinion it’s about damn time.

Since Day 1, I’ve been more interested in how we move and perform than how we look and I’ve also been teaching how the continued elevation of your ability to move, whether it’s through flexibility, mobility, strength, speed, power, endurance or what have you will ultimately give you a body that looks as good as it performs, as long as you follow just a few key nutrition principles.

When bodybuilding and aerobics were the main forms of exercise, once the physique was attained, there were only 2 choices an individual had:
1. Continue to push the envelope with respect to physique, towards anorexia or megarexia.
2. Stop your evolution and just maintain doing the same old, same old, which typically results in boredom and alternating between having your ideal physique and having to work towards your ideal physique.
But the irony is that when physique becomes secondary to performance and movement ability, it actually becomes easier to maintain.

The reason why is two-fold, one, because continually elevating your fitness will force your body to continually adapt in ways that are beneficial to aesthetics and two, because with respect to performance, the sky really is the limit and there’s no way you’re going to be elite in every BMA.

That’s why it’s so fun – because there’s always a new challenge.

If you’re not interested in being challenged you’re basically saying you want the easy way out.

But since you’re here on powerDOJO.com, I know you’re not the type to look for the quick fix – you realize that work is required and you’re more than willing to put it in.

Now, if your goal is just to be fit and healthy…

The key is to be a GENERALIST vs. a SPECIALIST.

A generalist works towards building:
- Flexibility and Mobility
- Strength and Power
- Speed and Agility
- Conditioning and Cardio
- Balance and Coordination
In short – all of the Biomotor Abilities (BMA).

So if your goal is to specialize, for example, you want to be an elite Powerlifter, you have to focus on the Strength BMA at the expense of the others.

If you’re fine with that then cool, rock on!

The specialists are those who show the generalists what’s possible.

But for you and I, when the goal is to be able to enjoy everything in life that’s available and be someone who is fit and healthy, being a fitness generalist is where it’s at.

I believe this is why my approach to fitness, which evolved from training mixed martial artists, who must truly be generalists in their combat training as well as their fitness, resonates with so many including those who don’t train the martial arts at all.

Because now, we no longer have to focus on the superficial and instead, can work on what we’re capable of instead of just how we look.

FUCK. YEAH.

/END RANT

On that note, here’s today’s exercise, which will not only improve your flexibility and mobility, but also your strength, specifically in the front split position.

Give it a shot and let me know how it feels in the Comments below.

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January 19, 2016
The Evolution of Flexibility
If you’re one of my top practitioners, you know I’ve been sending out a lot of content on flexibility and mobility (which I’ll just use the term flexibility for going forward) lately.

This is because I spent many years talking more about building Strength, Power and Conditioning and since integrating and taking flexibility training more seriously for myself and my athletes, I’ve been getting better results in while actually doing less in these other areas.

The reason why is because flexibility is a Biomotor Ability that most people neglect until it’s too late…

You know, like when it’s tough to put your socks on, or when your posture makes you look more like the Homo neanderthalensis species instead of Homo sapiens…

And then, when you add proper flexibility training in, you make
MASSIVE progress in a short amount of time because
it’s like discovering an untapped gold mine.

This is what it was like for me when I first got serious about flexibility.

Before, when I threw a kick it was like my hips were tearing apart and I could barely make it to stomach level.

Now, when I throw a kick, I can turn and put my hips into it whether it’s to the legs, torso or head.

Plus, how this training has literally affected every other Biomotor Ability like Strength, Power and Endurance, since now, my body is no longer fighting itself and my joints move loose and free while my muscles are allowed to work unhindered.

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The feeling can be summed up nicely with just one word:

FREEDOM

But like everything, there are different ways you can go about your flexibility business and the most effective depends on where you’re at.

Like everything, as you get deeper into your training, the techniques you use must evolve, otherwise, you’ll get stuck.

It’s fine to get stuck if that’s what you want, but if you’re here and you’re down with the powerDOJO Way, then evolution is your thing and you want to keep learning and applying and improving day in, day out.

And I LOVE that about you, which is why I love putting out content like today’s video, which might be an exercise you’ve done before, but when you do it the way I describe in the video, it’ll feel a heck of a lot different and give you much different results.

First, watch the video, then I’ll talk a bit more about why this type of exercise is an EVOLUTION in your flexibility game:

https://vimeo.com/151092710

Have you done the Groiner exercise before?

It’s kinda like a Mountain Climber, except your knees go outside your hands instead of inside.

And it’s typically done in a jumping-like fashion, where you bring your leg up and rapidly jump your legs up and back.

Sometimes it’s done where you jump the leg up and then sit deeper into the stretch before switching.

Either way, it’s different than what I show in the video.

The key difference is by bringing your leg up in a controlled fashion and holding it in the top position actively, versus jumping the leg up, which brings the leg up to a point that can only be reached through momentum, then sitting statically into the stretch.

The results you’ll get from this different approach that you won’t get through the traditional approach include:
- Building hip flexor strength through the full range of hip flexion
- Training your core to stabilize while working through hip flexion (very important for those with low back pain)
- Not only that, but training your core in a diagonal pattern, which is more applicable to sport and daily life (think walking, running, swinging a club or bat, pushing things)
- Strengthening of the glute of the extended leg, which also lengthens the hip flexor of that leg
So I’m not saying the typical Groiner is bad, just that we can upgrade it if our goal is to improve upon our flexibility.

The thing is, this exercise takes more strength, more concentration, more discipline to execute properly.

While it looks simple, there are many subtle pointers that contribute to its effectiveness.

If you’ve tried it already and followed along with me, you know what I mean.

But I know you’re down with the idea that if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right, and it’ll take time to master this one simple move and it’s time you’re willing to invest.

That’s why I’m glad you’re here with me in this “Evolution of Flexibility”.

Lots more to come. 🙂

PEACE~

Coach E

P.S. One favour, I’d really appreciate you sharing this on Facebook (or wherever) with your friends. I’m sure they’ll appreciate being enlightened with this new info and even with a simple act of sharing that’ll take a few secs, you’ll be influencing those you care about for the better and if nothing else, it’ll grow your Karma bank.
January 11, 2016
Build Shoulder Strength + Stability and Improve Posture

I suggest doing 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps, twice a week for 4 weeks for best results.

Give it a go right now, even if you’ve got no weights, then let me know what you think.

And if you like vidz like this, make sure to tell me by hitting the ‘Like’ button below and I’ll take it into consideration the next time I’m shooting videos for you.

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January 6, 2016
360º Upper Body OPENER (4 minutes a day!)

This drill will open your upper body right up.

Focus on the breathing, staying relaxed and the TRACTION of the arm/shoulder to help decompress the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints.

Like I said in the email, do this exercise EVERYDAY, 10 reps on each side for 4 weeks straight and you’ll see phenomenal results in your posture and overhead flexibility and you might also find a reduction in shoulder and/or elbow pain.

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If you know any computer junkies or people needing help with posture or shoulder pain, please share it with them using one of the buttons below.

December 18, 2015
Build Shoulder Strength and Stability [20 Second Reps]

The lovely mailman recently delivered these to my house:

And I used them for the first time yesterday.

I went out to a local playground and attached them to this cargo net style apparatus that kids climb up because it was the highest anchor point where I could hang and do my thing.

A few kids who were playing looked at me for a second then got bored and resumed their running around and acting like animals, while I caught the moms either sneaking glances at me or making sure I wasn’t going to steal their kids.

I suspect the latter.

So I messed around with some inversions, feeble attempts at front levers, and did a bunch of pullups and dips.

Dips are a whole other story on the rings.

In fact, I was still feeling some delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) from doing dips on a TRX (before I got these rings) on Saturday.

All I did were 3 sets of 2 reps, but the key was that each rep took about 20 seconds – 10 seconds for both the eccentric (down) and concentric (up).

The reason why I’m doing these super slow reps right now is because the limiting factor is not strength in this movement pattern, since I can do 20+ Dips on parallel bars, but shoulder stability.

Here’s a vid I shot when I did them on Saturday:

You can do this for many different exercises including but not limited to: Dips, Pushups, Bench Press, Squats, Bulgarian Split Squats, Chinups, Pullups, etc… Avoid doing Deadlifts if you don’t want your low back to explode.

Pick an exercise, put a stopwatch down where you can see it or just count “1001, 1002…” to ensure you’re going nice and slow.

With Ring Dips, the instability of the platform really jacks up the stabilization requirement needed from your shoulders, which you will definitely feel if you give them a go.

I’m feeling soreness in upper-mid back muscles now – something I’ve never gotten from traditional dips on a parallel bar.

Another benefit to 20 second reps is that it will illuminate any weak/sticking points in your range of motion, so you can identify areas that might be holding you back.

TECHNIQUE TIPS: make sure whatever exercise you do, direct your attention to breathing, keeping a “poker face” and of course, proper form.

You may find that the slow tempo is a lot harder than you think, even with exercises you’re very strong in.

Going forward, I’ll be working in more and more of these types of exercises into my routines to test them out.

In fact, I’m going to do a pretty drastic experiment on myself, one that I believe will be an EVOLUTION in my fitness and programming.

We’ll talk about this more in the New Year.

Till then, enjoy some 20 second reps.

PEACE~

E

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December 16, 2015
New Exercise for Rotational Hip Power
I have not seen this exercise before and came up with it because I’m more and more on a quest to find new techniques to train movements and muscles in the transverse (rotational plane) because these muscles are so underworked with regular Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Presses and Lunges and because they’re so critical to joint stability and athletic performance.

As you’ll see in the video, this exercise will help if you:
- Are a martial artist and want more powerful punches
- Play hockey and want to skate faster
- Golf and want to hit the ball further
- Play baseball and want to hit more home runs
- Participate in any sport where agility and rapidly changing directions is important (soccer, football, basketball, etc)
Sound good?

That’s because it is.

WARNING: the 1-Leg 90 Degree Jump is not for beginners, but even if you’d consider yourself one now, stick with me and follow my programs for 3-6 months and you’ll improve your fitness more than you ever have before in the same amount of time.

Peep the exercise here and make sure you pay close attention to proper form because TECHNIQUE is everything. And let me know what you think in the Comments after you check it and try it:

TIME-SENSITIVE: if you’re looking for power, hypertrophy and improving your lactic endurance, click the link below for the new Bodyweight Triple Threat program and a special FREE gift (offer ends tonight at midnight).

Access%20Bodyweight%20%3Ci%3ETriple%20Threat%3C%2Fi%3E%20HERE
November 30, 2015