History/Evolution of my Overhead 2-handed (modified)20 lb Dumbbell Swing Exercise Routine

WARNING:  This is an extremely intense exercise routine which requires a lot of fitness to do!  Do it at your own risk. Check with your medical doctor if you have any conditions that could make this routine unsafe before attempting this.  I started out this dumbbell swing routine while already in very good physical condition.  This exercise was designed for those with an extreme spiritual-physical  focus, awareness, and expertise(capability) required to safely handle the years of intense physical-spiritual training involved!

Before October of 2012, I had been doing some 40 lb overhead 2 handed (modified) dumbbell swings as part of my workout, but had not been increasing then in number. Doing them 3 days a week. I then in October 2012 I started increasing the number of them I could do starting at 8 of them at the beginning of the Month. I was at 19 of them at the end of the Month, and at 45 by the end of November and at 81 at the end of the year(2012). I was planning to work up to being able to do 100 of them nonstop. But, when I reached 91 of them, at the end of January 2013, I felt it was unsafe to do so many of them. So to avoid possible injury, I decided to limit them to 50(40 lb ones) and then do as many 20 lb overhead dumbbell swings as I could without stopping with a very quick transition from 40 lb dumbbells to 20 lb ones.

By the end of June 2013 I was doing 7 minutes of this routine nonstop and at the end of 2013, I was at 19 minutes nonstop. I then cut back to doing 17 minutes of this routine until July 2014, when I added a small meal of salted oatmeal to fuel my routine rather doing it on an empty stomach and started to increase the nonstop minutes of these dumbbell swings again. I was up to 20 minutes nonstop of them by the end of this month and up to 36 minutes of them nonstop by the end of August. Then at this point I decided to do them a little more intensely/rapidly which cut down the number I could do to 14 minutes nonstop.

One of my latest change in my dumbbell swing routine happened recently(12 January 15) when I hurt my right side of my lower back that really hurt right after I completed the 40 lb dumbbell swing and was transitioning to the 20 lb ones. I completed the routine while having some pain thinking it was only a cramp, but the pain did not go completely away. That was when I decide to eliminate the 40 lb dumbbell swings from my routine since they could only be done anaerobically with the muscle pain(burn from lactic acid build-up)) created by this state which made me less able to read my body so as to prevent injuries. The 20 lb overhead dumbbell swing could be done aerobically without building up lactic acid, so made it easier to do them really intensely while avoiding injury.

The routine has not gotten easier with 14 nonstop minutes of 20 lb 2 handed overhead(as modified from standard dumbbell swing in the way shown on the video). I feel it has actually gotten more difficult to do, since I now can do them a little more intensely than when I started with the 50 40 lb dumbbell swings. I now continue to do the dumbbell swing routine 3 days a week(very early in the morning 4:15 AM) with stretching before and after and warm up and cool down followed by a 1 mile slow meditative run, and on the other 4 days of the week(4:15 AM) I do a 2 mile run starting out more intensely and ending in a slow meditative run. I do a meditative walk of close to a mile every day in the evening.

2/13/15  I am now doing all 14 minutes of my 2-handed overhead 20 lb nonstop modified dumbbell swings with the extension behind the head and then back over the head again. This change makes it fit the description of the “barbarian dumbbell swing”.

2/16/15  I am now doing this exercise more intensely so can only last 13 minutes nonstop.  I have been doing this exercise with more and more of it done with my eyes closed, to the point that now my eyes are closed most of the time when doing it.  I now breath in and out 4 times per dumbbell swing.  By comparison, I do breath in and out with every step when doing my meditative walks and runs!

2/27/15  This is my current dumbbell swing routine: 3 days a week at 4:15 AM, I do stretching for about 5 minutes, then some light weightlifting(warmed up using 20 lb dumbbell and arms for about 2 minutes doing all types of movements a few times in standing position), then do dumbbell swings, then brief cool down with 5 lb dumbbells and 5 minutes of stretching, followed by a slow meditative run, and end with a very short slow meditative walk: about a mile covered in total. I do as many 2-handed overhead modified(bending elbows when lifting dumbbell overhead, limited squat, and extended to behind head) 20 lb dumbbell swings as I could do in a total of 13 minutes nonstop! I am in slow motion the last(13th) minute due to fatigue! I do these with my eyes closed most of the time while breathing in and out 6 times with each dumbbell swing. I do move my head looking down on the high part of the swing and looking up when on the low side of the swing.

1/30/16  I am now doing this routine, but with a few changes!  I do it at about 5:30 everyday now, and do only 8 minutes of the nonstop type of dumbbell swings I do.  I found out they are called “barbarian dumbbell swings”.  I do them more intensely, so I burn out faster and last less long.  Short intense cardio has been found to be a very effective exercise provided one is fit enough to handle them!

5/26/16  I am now doing this exercise for 6 nonstop minutes but due to the meditative breathing I use and the intensity that come with it, this exercise is actually rougher to do than when I was doing it anytime in the past.  I feel like I have continuously made progress in the direction of making this exercise more difficult for the body and spirit to handle.  The last minute of this exercise is done in slow motion due to fatigue.  I breath in and out 6 to 8 times with most swings and as much as 10 times with a few.  This rapid breathing(over-breathing)makes this exercise more meditative and rough to handle spiritually and physically.  But, my goal was always to make this exercise rougher than anyone else could handle, which I feel I have succeeded in doing.  My new Astrology system and the spiritual beliefs/theories that come with it enable me to handle reality on an extremely rough level, which is what this spiritual-physical exercise creates when done the way I do it!  I am not training to be an athlete, but to be able to perform spiritually on an extremely high level.

6/21/16  I have recently got more intense with my breathing technique.  I start out breathing in and out 10 times per swing(about one minute), then do all but the last minute breathing in and out 8 times, and then do the last minute slower due to fatigue while breathing in and out 9 times.  This meditative type breathing technique makes this exercise extremely difficult/torturous to do spiritually.

1/25/17 I deepened the squat to these modified(bent elbows and behind head) 2 handed dumbbell swings so that they would take a little longer so that I could breath in and 15 times during the whole 6 minutes.  I need a huge amount of spiritual intensity to reach a world that is so backward spiritually and so stuck in its ways!

2/2/17  Added a 3/4 of mile run to my daily routine after over a year off from running.

3/5/17 I am now doing this exercise only 3 days a week and running 3/4 of a mile intensely 3 days a week on days I am not doing the dumbbell swings.  Started running after a year off on 2/2/17 and did it for 31 straight days to get in running shape as soon as possible!

3/16/17 Decided to go back to doing both the intense dumbbell swings exercise and the intense 3/4 of a mile run every day!

  • 5/19/17  Now doing the squat a lot deeper bringing the 20 lb dumbbell close to my knees with my head also brought down at the lower part of the swing to be very close to the dumbbell also with my elbows very bent while at this lowest position.  My head does follow the dumbbells up as it rises and then is lifted over the head and behind it.  I may seem like quite a convoluted form of dumbbell swing, but it works well to put me into the most intense of spiritual states possible!  I now do 17 in and out breaths per dumbbell swing.  Extremely hard exercise to do which I can only do as a result of all my previous exercise training, my spiritual theories(astrology system) that help me tune my body in really well  spiritually, my other meditative training techniques, and my diet!
  • 6/3/17  New exercise routine: 6 min 20 lb Dumbbell swings= Mo, We,&Fr. 3/4 of a mile run=Tu, Th, Sa, &Su. Should maintain fitness and continue to improve my running!
  • 10/16/17  Taking one day on the weekend off, so meditative running(breathing in and out with each step) only 3 day a week!  Now breathing in and out 21 times per dumbbell swing!
  • 6/9/18  Replaced this dumbbell swing exercise with this new exercise due to damaging my right arm and dislocating its shoulder the night before Easter(APR 1, 2018).  Up to 3 minutes of this nonstop with 16 breaths in and out per individual exercise movement!  Here is a link demonstrating it created when I first started doing it:

Is there such a thing as a better spiritual belief?

Yes, what one believes to be true about the spiritual can be improved on. Good training can tune you into the spiritual a lot better. And as one tunes into the spiritual better one can improve on ones spiritual beliefs so they interface better spiritually with the concrete challenging physical reality we exist in. So many spiritual beliefs tune people out from being effective in this challenging environment we are now in. As one increases the difficulty of the tough spiritual-physical training one does, or as one takes on more difficult spiritual(emotionally tough)challenges in life, one will require spiritual beliefs that are good enough to help one handle them. So many spiritual beliefs do not help one embrace the tough side of life spiritually, but seek a sort of escapism from it. The beliefs in perfect spiritual sources or connections makes one not open enough to improving what one believes. No one has perfect intuition especially in this world as is obvious by how people behave when on autopilot. Gut feeling are often wrong and the heart often misguides people with disastrous results. So many really naive(overly simplistic) beliefs are readily accepted often without much thought. Often people represent and sort of impose their spiritual beliefs on other on their internet posts without thinking they are!

Believing there is no such thing as a better spiritual belief, is a belief that I believe can be replaced with a better belief!

In my life I learned the hard way how important it is to have spiritual beliefs that help one to interface well with this challenging physical reality we all exist in that can really test how well our spiritual beliefs help us function spiritually when we are under a lot of pressure.

A lot of wild spiritual beliefs can come from a persons imagination which do not help them to connect very well spiritually with day to day reality in this physical world they exist in. A lot of religious and spiritual beliefs that are popular(and have a lot of psychic support in this world due to all those who believe in them)that can be readily be found on sites on the internet, tend to motivate people to seek to ultimately escape from the physical reality we are now in, rather than puting all of their spiritual energy they are able into doing the really difficult spiritual work required to positively transform it.

This physical reality of the type that exists on this Earth I believe is spiritually inescapable.

This is how I responded to a forum post at a spiritual site titled “The Earth is too negative” in which some one posted the popular belief that we should focus on escaping the cycle of reincarnation:

I believe reincarnation is a vital part of our reality. I do not see any need to attempt to escape from it. I believe the spirit requires a body in a challenging physical world in order to function at its best. I feel too many spiritual beliefs systems devalue(through the types of beliefs they accept) the importance of a challenging physical world(like the Earth)is to individual spirits like us. So I tailor my spiritual beliefs to make the physical(including having a link to an organic functioning body with function brain and spiritual center in it) indispensable to the spirit. I make sure I have no part of my being desiring anything other than existing and performing well spiritually in a challenging physical world which the Earth is the one I currently am on/in. I believe that the spiritual beliefs that are better at helping us focus and perform spiritually in this challenging physical world we exist right now will be the one closest to the truth.

I do extremely intense and difficult meditative and cardiovascular physical/spiritual exercises that put me in and train me to be able to handle the roughest physical/spiritual states(a sort of spiritual crisis training) that are possible for me. Since I have been focusing on increasing the strength of my spiritual-physical connection though this type of training for a very long time, I am very strong spiritually in connecting with and dealing with this physical reality I exist in right now. My spiritual focus is on improving on the spiritual beliefs and training techniques that exist on this Earth not agreeing with them. I have to have spiritual beliefs/programming that enables me to handle the really heavy doses of reality my training and the conditions that exist in this challenging physical world I exist in provide. As my training has improved and I have gotten better at it, my spiritual beliefs had to also improve so that I had the right mindset required to be motivated to do them and handle them. One can deal with an awful lot if one has spiritual beliefs that are good enough to motivate one to put up with the intense discomfort and difficulty that comes with really challenging spiritual-physical type training. One can train oneself spiritually to be a lot better able to handle and take on in a positive way the huge spiritual challenges that exist on this planet.

I realize that having a spiritual belief system that is constantly being updated with a focus on improving on the spiritual beliefs now existing, dominating and spiritually impacting this planet will not “resonate” well with those who are attached in a sort of unquestioning acceptance of some of those prevalent spiritual beliefs systems which often have popular websites one can visit on the internet in order to have ones spiritual beliefs supported and reinforced. I am a spiritual independent free to find/develop the best spiritual beliefs I am able without being held back by some “perfect” autocratic type spiritual ideology that is blindly accepted in a world where perfect spiritual sources/connections are believed to exist.

2 near death experiences in 1992 forced me to improve further on my spiritual beliefs and training techniques

I did hit bottom when I had my 2 near death experiences in 1992. Since then I have worked really hard to improve my spiritual training techniques and spiritual beliefs so that that would never happen again. I never gave up when certain spiritual energies here tried to push me off this planet. I survived because of my “never give up attitude”. I had too many spiritual beliefs at the time that were mythologically based and not rational enough to interface well enough with this physical reality to help me get a strong enough grip on it so that I could handle the intense physical/spiritual challenges that I needed to in order to survive and serve my life’s purpose. I have been driven since what happened to me in 1992, to really focus even more intensely on improving on the spiritual beliefs that so dominate this planet and are responsible for the messed up spiritual state it is in.

I have very high spiritual standards because I am the type of spirit that requires them in order to function the way I need to. I hang on really strongly to my spiritual self awareness, since I can not rely on the spiritual status quo that exist on this planet right now and the type of spiritual energy that it maintains here to sustain me, as it does lots of other spirits, when I am pushed to the very edge to what I can handle. I see things from an extremely unique spiritual perspective because I an an extremely unique spirit that is extremely specialized in my spiritual capabilities. People can not agree with how I represent myself and the world around me, but I will forcefully represent myself and my purpose with all the spiritual strength and awareness that comes with a lifetime of focusing intensely in this area. I will not allow the spiritual beliefs that dominate this planet and most spirits residing here and energies that go with them push me off this Earth and prevent me contributing what I have to offer spiritually to it.

Here is my blog post I did in the past when these 2 near death experiences were fresher to my memory:https://astrogoodwin.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/my-t

One can feel better about oneself and stay in a better mood

What is most important is to work hard at contributing in a positive way to this world what abilities you find enable you to so. One can get joy from knowing you are contributing to making this world a better place. Working hard to be on a good healthy diet, doing intense meditative and cardiovascular exercises(safely), working to develop ones spiritual beliefs so that they better help one embrace and interface with the physical reality one exists in will all be helpful. The problems that one will face in this world and the spiritual energy that comes with it can be very challenging. One needs to constantly work at becoming better at handling the challenges of life and the challenging emotions that come with them. Life can be a spiritual battle that takes a constant effort to keep in the right mood to handle it. One can with effort do a lot to improve ones physical and spiritual well being, provided one puts in the required work. Those who face the biggest spiritual challenges well will achieve a lot of real value in this world.

Here is a helpful blog post on meditation and mind-body exercises:    https://astrogoodwin.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/my-type-of-meditation-meditative-walkingrunning-and-mind-body-exercise/

I have worked hard to developed a better spiritual belief system

I am not on a spiritual journey(or path) just traveling through this world, I am just focusing on trying to better contribute what I have spiritually to offer to making this physical world I exist in now a better place. I am “differently abled’ with very strong capabilities in the spiritual area. I have a body that is “differently abled” because my spirit requires such a body to do what it does best. I try to work extremely hard to excel in the spiritual area, similar to other spirits with bodies who work hard to excel in other important fields vital to our spiritual and physical existence in the present here.

I do not have a spiritual beliefs system that devalues the importance of the physical reality we exist in and do not believe an individual type spirit can survive and function well without a body in physical world. My belief system is tailored so as to help people be the most effective at helping to improve the spiritual and physical conditions that exist here on this Earth. Our ability to perform well spiritually in the physical reality we exist in demonstrates how advanced we are spiritually. We are responsible for the spiritual state this world is in and can become a lot better at making a positive spiritual difference here.

Collective spirits owe their existence to the power of the beliefs of individual spirits with bodies that enable them to produce the spiritual energy to support such spirits. A physical world is challenging, but a spirit can only prove its capabilities by what challenges it is able to handle. With out the physical/concrete and its challenges, the individual spirit would not have the reason or strength to even exist. God exists out of our need for this physical world and maintains it so that it can best meet our spiritual needs. We need God, so we must support God’s existence in order to maintain our own existence.

I have a complete spiritual beliefs system which is different than those that are readily available(on internet)circulating in this world. I have worked extremely hard to improve my spiritual beliefs and by so doing made them different than those people are really familiar with. Often the familiar resonates with people or feels good to them intuitively. It takes work to have to learn a new` spiritual system because it will be different in a complete way, since spiritual systems must deal with a complete spiritual picture. People have to be really motivated to want to improve their spiritual beliefs system in order to leave the familiar and easy to absorb, and learn something unfamiliar, but better, even though they will find it well worth the effort and the results they get from it.

One can read some of my other blog posts in order to better figure out more about my spiritual belief system.

We live in a time in which great spiritual innovation can happen.

Great innovation often happens in fields that have been resistant to progress for quite some time. In the spiritual/religious field, resistance to progress tend to readily happen, since beliefs run deep and can be deeply implanted and can be very resistant to better spiritual beliefs that are more rational and effective in the challenging world we presently exist in and perform in spiritually. I know from personal experience, since I have faced some really intense challenges in my life, that under intense crisis conditions one needs rational spiritual beliefs to keep one sane and functioning well spiritually. That irrational spiritual beliefs tend not to serve one well in a crisis. Since I use a type of spiritual crisis training as part of my daily routine, I am in good position to make sure my beliefs are rational enough to handle the roughest of conditions I could face spiritually in this challenging world.

Due to comments when I posted this elsewhere I added this to this blog:

We connect with God(the universal spirit) to the degree we connect spiritually with the physical reality we exist in. Good spiritual training helps us as individuals increase our connection with reality. When we lose our connection with reality as a result of losing our connection with our self, we no longer will have a good connection with God. But, we can become readily controlled by certain spiritual ideologies that have a lot of psychic support presently in this world, when we do something that causes us to lose our self awareness. A lot of spiritual beliefs systems sort of brainwash people into their ideology. Spiritual innovation can not happen unless people keep their awareness of who they are as independent spirits and do not allow the current not that adequate spiritual energies and the beliefs that support them, that dominate this Earth right now control them. People can connect with energies that are projected psychically by believers to represent God in a way that is not good enough for the challenges of the reality we now exist in.

Individual spiritual “path” or following a spiritual herd and popular websites!

People often use the term “path” as though they are moving on a very independent spiritual course. But often these people are really following a herd of people who are guided by popular websites that have a label for the spiritual ideology that they follow. They may not think of it as an ideology, but these web sites sure sound like they present an ideology. I have spiritual beliefs that can only be found through reading what I myself have presented on the internet. I have a very “challenging physical world” focused type of spirituality intended to help everyone improve on their spiritual beliefs and training so they can better face spiritually the huge challenges that only a physical world can present one with and be capable of bringing out the most in one spiritually. I would not mind having a “herd” following me, but in a way that is not done blindly without questioning and experimentation as to how well ones spiritual beliefs actually help one to better perform spiritually. People with spiritual expertise like me need people to utilize what I have to offer in a way that works well for them as unique individual spirits.

You can improve your spiritual radar(intuition)so that it will better guide one’s life’s decisions

One can train oneself spiritually in a way to improve ones spiritual radar(intuition). We all need to work at improving our spiritual programming/beliefs in order to help our intuition better guide us. The fact that so many people make really poor decisions when the act instinctively or while following their heart(or gut feelings)is reflected in the really bad shape this world is in spiritually. One true spiritual state comes out when one acts in a more automatic way. People judge others all the time based on their intuition(gut feeling)or what they feel in their heart. From my experience in how people tend to judge me, they are often way off in these intuitive/automatic judgments the make. We are guided on the intuitive level a lot more than we are consciously aware of and often not leading us to very great results as individuals or collectively in this world. I have developed a certain degree of trust in my intuition as a result of all the spiritual training I do and work I do to improve my spiritual beliefs so they better interface with the physical reality we exist together in that can really challenge us spiritually and demonstrate how effective our spiritual guidance system is. There is actually a part of the brain that deal with the spiritual and intuition that can be further developed and better connected with other parts of the brain so that it can help one whole brain be able to function with more intuitive support. What resonates with us is determined by our intuition. We need to have intuition trained/developed in such a way so that better spiritual beliefs will resonate with us. Our ability to connect(tune in) more strongly on the spiritual level helps us better figure out what spiritual beliefs best represent how the spiritual functions.

Read my other blogs and this one in particular to help you train your intuition:

https://astrogoodwin.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/my-type-of-meditation-meditative-walkingrunning-and-mind-body-exercise/

Love requires understanding to function well. I had a lot of love directed at me without understanding.

Love is so often used in unknowingly in an abusive way. Love needs to be guided by spiritual beliefs that increase ones ability to understand others. I have spent a lifetime improving my spiritual beliefs so as to be better able to understand myself and others. Being very “differently abled” with really strong talent in the spiritual, people who do not see the value of spiritual expertise are not going to come any where near understanding me. They will abuse me by discounting what value I have in this world. I focus on one area to an extremely intense degree due to my limitation in other areas, I do not fit into the job market and am forced to live off the charity of relatives that do not understand me, and I now do not even qualify for social security retirement. The only thing that has kept me living in this world is my focus in the area that I am so very capable. My spiritual crisis training techniques/exercises techniques and the spiritual beliefs that evolves with them enabled me to survive. I would not have had a strong enough purpose to develop what I did spiritually if it was only for myself. The world is very messed up spiritually and to some one personally very aware of that fact this can be very motivating to try to do something about it. The world badly needs better spiritual beliefs circulating here.

People who feel I should not share my spiritual expertise with others are not my friends, since they are not friendly to my life’s work, purpose and value. I am not suicidal and do not need people who would steal my reason for living as my friends.

Love energy without enough understanding can be very destructive. Love energy invested in negative causes can create a lot of serious problems in this world. ALL EMOTIONS CAN BE DIRECTED IN A NEGATIVE DIRECTION AND CREATE HARM IN THIS WORLD. We all needs to work really hard to improve our spiritual beliefs and training, so that we can direct all the spectrum of emotions that are part of life toward making this world a better place to exist in. One can not just define an emotion as positive and it will always be positive. Or define another emotion as negative and it will always be negative. A lot of the destructive tribal energy that exists in this world is held together by love energy. A lot of the harmful addictions are the result of misdirected love energy. A lot of the addictions to certain spiritual and political ideologies are the result of misdirected love energy. Love energy misdirected can lead to abusive relationships. Often heartache can result when love invested poorly ends.

  • Thomas Goodwin "astrogoodwin"