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We specialise in helping people move and feel better in their own body. We aim to help people move and feel better in their bodies. We have a wide range of experience in many disciplines including martial arts, gymnastics and weightlifting. As well as this we provide guidance on diet, meditation and numerous aspects of well being.
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Iron and the Soul By Henry Rollins I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. Completely. When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me “garbage can” and telling me I’d be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn’t run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy. I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn’t going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you’ll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn’t think much of them either. Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the blackboard. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn’t even drag them to my mom’s car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly. Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.’s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn’t looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn’t want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in. Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn’t know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it. Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away. You couldn’t say sh–t to me. It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn’t want to come off the mat, it’s the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn’t teach you anything. That’s the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you. It wasn’t until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can’t be as bad as that workout. I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn’t ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you’re not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control. I have never met a truly strong person who didn’t have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone’s shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr. Pepperman. Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart. Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body. Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn’t see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads. I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you’re made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it’s some kind of miracle if you’re not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind. Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind. The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back. The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.
Instagram photo by freemen fitness • Jan 30, 2017 at 1:44pm UTC
Walking the dogs and hand balancing https://www.instagram.com/p/BP5ABJODX-A/?taken-by=freemenfitness&hl=en
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Final Tip – Meditate I could go into the hundreds of benefits of regular meditation but I don’t need to the information is all out there. Numerous scientific studies have shown its benefits. But for some reason many people view meditation as some sort of hippie woo-woo bull. Well its not. You don’t need to be sitting in a temple reciting some ancient verses something as simple as sitting alone and just focusing on clearing you mind of the thoughts and stress of the day. If you’re not confident in doing that there are a ton of apps and youtube videos out there to help you. So try it set aside 10-20 minutes of your day it is incredibly worthwhile.
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Tip #26 You need to exercise your dog, so why not yourself? This is a topic I brought up with someone who was telling me how important it is to walk pet dog and how they need it for a myriad of reasons. The same person then went on to say they never exercise and prefer to not do it as they see no point. Do you see the contradiction? Dogs do not have the distractions we do to keep us occupied so we notice much quicker when they need to be exercised. Humans are no different so why is it fine for one and not the other? Even if your exercise is just walking your dog get out and try do to it regularly it will benefit the both of you.
Instagram photo by freemen fitness • Jan 28, 2017 at 8:55pm UTC
Some dinner with good friends from the weekend with some wild Wicklow Venison. https://www.instagram.com/p/BP0nzQTDvw_/?taken-by=freemenfitness&hl=en
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Tip #5 You can’t out train poor diet Now you will hear the calorie in calorie out term tossed around all the time but I am just going to make this simple and not delve deep into the science here. Now the man in the picture below is Roy Nelson a professional MMA fighter who fights in the UFC. He has fought a number of grueling 5 round fights which require you to be in peak physical condition. However Roy likes to eat and could likely fight 2 weight divisions below where he currently fights. This is an example I use to explain this all the time this man is in peak condition trains daily often multiple times a day yet due to his diet still has a lot of body fat. So keep it in mind no matter how hard you smash it in the gym if your food is not being treated as important then you will fail to see as the changes you want. Of course this all depends on the goal but if you want that beach body your nutrition should be paramount.
The Right Way to Fall
If there is one skill I could force people to learn from martial arts its learning how to fall. Sounds silly but I know 2 people who saved their own lives with these skills. In Japanese martial arts there is an entire discipline of "Ukemi" dedicated to it. Nice article on how to do it below. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/well/move/the-right-way-to-fall.html?_r=0
A leap of faith: the world of parkour
Our friends over at Displacement Parkour doing amazing work bringing Parkour in Ireland to the mainstream. http://www.independent.ie/life/health-wellbeing/fitness/a-leap-of-faith-the-world-of-parkour-35394629.html
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Tip #24 It is not a race When you start a new regime whether it is diet or workout don’t rush things. I was talking with someone who went from not having done exercise in about 2 years to doing short intense workouts almost daily for two weeks. After this they felt run down were getting injured and were not able to perform properly in their training. The reason is simple the body needs time to get used to this additional work load. This often leads to many people coming into January with the best intentions burning out and a few weeks later giving up Imagine you parked a car on a street for 2 years then jumped in it and forced it to drive in a race how do you think it would work? Your body is the same you need to give it time to adjust to its new demands and make sure you rest and eat to help you recover better. Being healthy and fit is not a sprint it is a life long journey so don’t rush it.
Instagram photo by freemen fitness • Jan 25, 2017 at 8:02pm UTC
Well I guess now its officially official Ireland's first GMB trainer in the house. https://www.instagram.com/p/BPszW7ujwko/?taken-by=freemenfitness&hl=en
Instagram photo by freemen fitness • Jan 24, 2017 at 12:09pm UTC
Some beach boy freezes https://www.instagram.com/p/BPpYaBWjILJ/?taken-by=freemenfitness&hl=en
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Tip #23 The BEST supplement Ok so going to share with you all some top secret information on the #1 most effective and greatest supplement available on the market today. Now its starting to get more expensive and steps were made here to make it even more expensive but as of right now its pretty accessible worldwide and is highly effective. Normally I would charge people for this advice or share it during one of my highly secretive seminars but as it’s a new year and I am sharing valuable tips with you all I will share it. The best supplement available is: Water Some would argue air but that’s another post. Look if you can start any one thing this year try this drink less of other things and drink more water. If you thinking your drinking enough your probably still not. The benefits go on and on it will improve your skin, flexibility, diet control, increased energy, the list goes on. Now you have this highly valuable information time to go and make use of it.
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