Today I'd like to tell you about a technique I've used for many years that has allowed me to learn faster with greater mental focus and to integrate what I learn from one field into the other at a high rate of speed. And, of course, it has also helped me gain great strength quickly by applying this very technique.

In my years in the Conservatory of Music, I think a lot of my colleagues thought I needed electroshock therapy because I'd utilized my time in our assigned practice rooms in a most peculiar manner.

Where most would be practicing their chosen instrument the entire time of several hours. I'd play the piano for 15-20 minutes and then do handstand pushups, then pick up a deck of cards, go back to the piano, then pick up my bokken(a wooden samurai practice sword) and slice through the air like one of the Seven Samurai, and then back to the piano.

I'd continually be changing things around, the time, and activities - every practice session throughout the day - never leaving time for the brain or body to get "settled in".

Yes, I'm sure it was quite bazaar to a lot of people. But going from one discipline to another in succession is an incredible tool for quick learning in many respects.

It's also one of the techniques that I firmly believe helped me in winning 13 international competitions in my career. My competition seemed to always be scrathing their heads in how I had so much energy and was quick to gain sharp mental focus no matter what the situation.

Well, duh, you exude what you practice.

One is that it instantly changes your mental focus which is a very good thing. In having to apply it instantly to different situations that don't last long and repeated many times throughout the day, you have many times to learn to regain optimal mental focus quickly in different circumstanes. Most gain mental focus in one or two things - maybe - once a day.

By getting up from one thing and moving right to the next, you change your energy and are forced to change your mental focus in a new direction each time. Most of the time, that new change in energy and mental focus are the very things that gets you past the stumbling blocks that were hindering the former.

When you hit each project for short periods with both varied mental focuses and vast changes in energies, you begin seeing the crossovers of applications to each discipline. Thus, you learn faster, gain greater speed, increase strength, power, mental focus and awareness - quicker.

Try hitting your handstand pushups several times a day during a quick break at work. Really how long do 3-5 take to do? Try doing wall isomentrics the breathing deeply for 30 seconds while waiting for an elevator. The list is endless. But watch how quickly your strength and your mental focus begin improving  tremendously fast by doing changing things around on a daily basis. Notice how that rush of blood to your head, your lungs, and muscles many times a day changes both your energy and mental focus for the very next activity you do afterwards.

Sure, you might get some stares and family members and coworkers quickly looking for the right sized straight jacket for you. But from what you learn from this, they'll never be fast enough to catch you. :)

To Your Strength and Mastery,
Garin Bader