THE POWER OF LOVE

WHAT THE FUCK????? I thought this was BRUTAL TRAINING?? a site for warriors?? i thought you were the little lion?? the one who can bring so much pain to workout that can bring any would be warrior to tears in seconds?? Whats all this talk of love?? what does this have to do with Brutal Training, what does this have to do with being a warrior??
The answer??
EVERYTHING
For centuries people from all walks of life have tried to conceptualise it, poets, artists, songwriters, warriors, people have given there entire lives in the persuit of it, have been willing to sacrifice everything to share it with one special person, people for have came up against and passed the most ridiculous odds and challenges in the name of it, battles have been won and lost, souls liberated, any boundries over come, night turned to day, rain to sun, mountains truley moved because of it, it is the very power that allowed 300 men to stand against a million at Thermopolye, it has filled the seemingly most cowardly mens hearts with courage and instantaneously transformed them into warriors, It is the most powerful thing in the universe, in my opinion it is the universe.
Love cannot ever be described by words , song, art, these can only be fingers pointing to it, it is direct from the heart, it can only be known by the heart, and experienced through living it.

'From the Beginning,
love has been my undoing....
and my redemption' - From Socrates Journal

Personally love has been the single most motivating empowering and amazing guide in my life. It has made me devote myself to an ideal, to hold my self true, to open my heart, given me the courage to face the greatest pain, and greatest challenges i have ever known all in the persuit of it. It has lifted me to the greatest of heights, let me find a strength in my spirit before unknown to me. It has been the single biggest thing that has shaped my life, is my greatest adventure and always will be.
True love cannot be described but it is worth any sacrifice, it allows you to look anything, even death straight in the eye and say 'for love i can face you'
It allows you to face any fear, gives you the courage to do anything, to endure any amount of pain, it can melt any negative emotion, and it has the power to break ANY barriers.
Love has given me my greatest happiness, my greatest motivation, my greatest desire, my greatest passion, my greatest challneges and my greatest training.
Love is a power of the warrior, a single warriors heart filled with love is more powerful than 10,000 armies, no sword is stronger than a warriors heart that is filled with love.

'If you could only love enough, you could be the most powerful person in the world'- Emmet Fox

To walk the path of love requires courage, to open your self, to embrace love, is to remove all the barriers from your heart, to leave it wide open and ungaurded, in this state the human heart is both the strongest and most delicate thing in the world.
Trust in love to guide you through the darkness

'ill use my heart and not my eyes, to navigate the darkness' - Hoobstank

To me the very power that fills us all, that the universe is made of, call it what you will, God, Buddha, Universe, Tao, the very thing that cannot be explained, or even understood by the concious mind but rather only felt and experienced through the heart can be summed up with one word, love....

'I am just a mortal man,
I have no more or no less power inside of me than my brother who stands next to me,
But i, i love with with my entire heart, my entire soul,
And it has made all the difference' - David Kelso

FESTIVE GREASE

Greasing the groove, training throughout the day with submaximal loads to increase you performance and strength on that specific movement. With most people being off work during the festive period what better time thatn to do a good few days of greasing the groove training, a typical session may last only a minute of two so if you are busy spending time with family of friends during this time its no excuse.
But this isnt normal Greasing the groove, this is Brutal greasing the groove, which means either really high daily totals or really challenging movements or both.
Personally i have 2 weeks off of work at christmas and new year so every single day for that period christmas day included i will be performing 200 pull ups done throughout the day, i usually do them in sets of 20, done at completely random times, but between the time i wake up in the morning to the time i go to bed at night i will do at least 200 pullups. This is an addition to my normal training shedule whch i will still be doing, im simply adding in the G.T.G training because i have more time, for others the opposite may be true, they may not have time to do full blown workouts so again G.T.G is perfect!
You can choose any exercise you want, but i think pull ups are a good choice for any one!
Most would be warriors dont perform 200 pull ups in a week , let alone in a day, so get to it psychos, and have a very merry, Brutal Christmas

THE HEART OF THE MOMENT

The past is a ghost, this very moment is all that exists, but how much do you let past desicions, circumstances or beliefs hold you back from fully embracing this moment????
To embrace the moment fully you must be following your heart, you have to let go of everything thats in your head thats holding you back from this moment, holding you back from following your heart
Fear, worry and doubt are not feeling of the heart, but boundries of the mind, boundries you put up and only you can destroy. The heart only feels , love, passion, happiness, hope. If you are letting fear stop you doing anything, you are letting your mind control your heart, to look inside, to face your fears ,your demons and to follow your heart, to embrace the moment , is the way of the warrior.

Everything that has happened in your life has been to prepare you for this moment

The past is there to learn from, to grow from. Past decisions, experiences are there to reflect upon and learn from, but they are not to bind us. To be bound by a past decision, or experience, or way of doing things when this is going against the grain of what your heart is telling you right now, is to be living in fear, but to follow your heart, that my friends is courage.
Following your heart, opening you heart to anything, can take great courage. In opening our heart to anything we have to face the fears of failure, of being hurt, of the opinions of others. But these are all illusions, we never really fail , only learn to succeed, defeat is not permanent, its only a learning experience, The opinions of others matter not, just let go of all that binds you, and experience the magic and the wonder of this moment, let go, follow your heart.

Let go of everything in you head thats holding you back from this moment

It best summed up in the metaphor of this story-

A young warrior girl, found a magnificnat stallion in the forest, the stallion was wild and free, but by showing the stallion her spirit, by opening her heart, the spirit of the stallion was shown to her (spirit of the thing itself) Upon the back of the great horse she rode through many lands, had many great adventures, she felt free, her soul flying, a life filled with passion, not just existing, but living every moment.
One day she was thrown from the horse, as she lay in the dirt, her body broken, fear crept into her mind, her heart told her to get back up, to get back on the horse, her heart knew this was her happiness, but her mind but the breaks on, bound her by fear, it made her remember the pain of being thrown , of lying in the dirt. She dicided she wouldnt get back on the horse, even though in her heart she knew it was her happiness, her mind bound her by fear.
As time past the feeling in her heart grew, she knew more and mor she wanted to get back on that horse, but her mind kept preventing her, she was bound by the past instead of embracing the moment and following her heart. Finally she realised she gave this fear, this confusion power in her mind, and she could take it all away, she let go of her mind, took a deep breath jumped on the horse, her heart smiled, she was home, the adventure continues.....

So many of us do this very same thing, we get knocked down or quit and we think thats it ,time out, that we cant get back on the horse, even though its what our hearts are screaming, we can always decide to get back on that horse, just let go of your fears, it just takes a bit of courage to make your heart smile.

We can look to the future and get excited, excited about possibilities, adventure, about life, we can imagine greatness, dream, see in iur minds and feel in our hearts just how awesome things can be. To to create a compelling future, the firts step is to act in this moment, to let go of whats holding us back in our heads and follow our hearts, embrace the moment
seize the moment!!!!

THAT WHICH DOES NOT KILL US......
Life can thow many situations and challenges in our own paths to greatness, you can veiw these either as a problems and get depressed about them and let them consume and defeat you, or you can find some spirit, look at them as a challenge, an oppertunity to grow and forge an even greater spirit from it.
You cannot control what life throws your way, you cannot control that hurricane that hits, that storm that devastates what you can control however is your response. You can feel sorry for yourself, ask questions like 'why me?' and if you ask such questions you will find answers, even if they are bullshit. Or you can see the situation look at it and say ' how can i turn this around?' 'how can i grow from this' and again if you ask these questions you will recieve the answers.
The universe doesnt care whether or not you ask a positive or negative question, or think a positive or negative thought, it doest differentiate, it just gives you the answers you seek, gives you the why, the how. Thats why depressed people stay depressed, they continually ask themselves questions like 'why am i so miserable?' 'why am i so depressed' ' this is terrible im never going to be able to turn this around' and inevitably by asking these questions they will get answers to these questions.
But if you veiw problems or situations as challenges, something to grow from, to learn from, something you can turn around and make better, if you veiw them as training to discover your own spirit ,your own strength, then these obstacles become stepping stones to your dreams.
If you think you are beaten you are!

'we will either find a way, or we will make one' - Hannibal

Ultimately unwanted situations will happen in your life, you cannot control the actions of others, or the events of nature, you can however choose to respond positively, use the situation to grow and learn, use it as a stepping stone, and use it to strengthen your spirit. You may get knocked down, you may fail thousands of times, but one thing you can never do is give up, there is always a way, impossible is nothing, as long as you believe.

'Its never over. Never stop fighting. Never give up. Never surrender. No matter how bad it getsno matter how deep your pain: persistance, faith in yourselfand an unfaltering spirit will eventually break you free' Dan Jansen

Everyhting happens for a reason, what you see as a problem in your life, on your path is brought to you to teach you something so that you can better travel your path, something that seems a big hurdle on any path, will make you stronger to walk that path.
The biggest battles we fight, the hardest mountains we climb, are definately ones of the spiritual kind. These battles make any tough physical training vomit enducing session seem like a walk in the park, to look inside your self, to come face to face with your own fears, to choose to fly instead of fall in the face of challenges is to show true spirit. Let your emotions flow and let them go.
All challenges can be overcome.
I like Dan Millmans take on this- we are all Peaceful warriors, because the battles we fight are on the inside.
Its all training.
When challenges come your way, see them as a time to learn, to learn about yourself, learn how to improve, how to grow, and in the process you will uncover spirit you never thought you had, and then shine, like a great star, like a dragons fire ball.
Nothing is impossible to overcome, when you think all is lost, look inside of your self, into your heart, find the courage, the will, the love to fight on.
Stumbling blocks to stepping stones.

'A warrior doesnt give up what he loves,
he finds the love in what he does'- Socrates