Stretch-Shortening Cycle: Your body has a natural boost for 💥 explosive power💥 in the form of a 🚧safety mechanism🚧. Lets go through it! When a muscle lengthens beyond its normal range, defense mechanisms trigger an automatic contraction to prevent overstretching. You can exploit this by initiating your next movement right as this reflex fires. In practice: When you land from a jump, your muscles stretch to absorb impact. This triggers a reflexive contraction—like a rubber band snapping back. If you immediately explode into your next jump as this contraction kicks in, you get a massive boost of power. This is how elite athletes generate explosive, anime-level performance that seems superhuman. This is best used for body weight movements, as this same concept is a leading cause of injury in the gym WITH WEIGHTS. The reason is, the added weight, plus this explosive power ends up being more than your joints can handle. So try it out, but body weight only!

This is the Academy’s free zone — the place for conversations that don’t quite fit anywhere else. 💭 Random thoughts, off-topic fun, lighthearted chatter, or even non-anime/fitness talk — all fair game. ❓ Got a question and not sure where it goes? Drop it here and the community will help out. Think of this as the Academy’s commons — the lounge where anything goes. Keep it fun, keep it respectful, and enjoy the flow.

🧬That as long as you are moving your muscles through a full range of motion, and are challenging them close to failure, that you will make near maximum results. 💯 That being said, some exercises are only hard during the contraction phase of the movement (like a standing side delt lateral raise). So you want to also be challenging yourself through each phase of the movement (contraction and stretch phase) MEANING that you want to also have enough different exercises to make sure both parts of the range of motion are being challenged. So if standing side lateral raises are hardest during the "Contraction" Setting a cable machine to hip height, and doing lateral raises with a cable will create more challenge in the "Stretch" phase. Utilize both in your programs for MAXIMAL ANIME RESULTS! 💪

Good morning guys! Just wondering if anyone here has ever practiced or trained in any martial art. If so, how long and what particular style? Also, if you haven’t trained before, is there any particular martial art you’re interested in? Why?

This is the progression roadmap to get you from zero push-ups to a handstand push-up. You should be able to do at least 15 of the prior one before switching onto the next push-up type. Wall Push-ups Elevated Push-ups Knee Push-ups Wide Push-ups Regular Push-ups Staggard Push-ups Narrow Push-ups Diamond Push-ups Power Push-ups Clap Push-ups Double Clap Push-ups Head Tap Push-ups Pike Push-ups Elevated Pike Push-ups Elevated Pike W/ One Leg Up Push-ups Wall Handstand Push ups Push-ups Learn A Handstand Free-Standing Handstand Push-ups