Anyone who is anyone in fitness has heard the name "Hinds" relative to jump ropes and Lifeline equipment. I still have fragments of my early Lifeline Gym bought in the seventies. The beaded Jump rope, invented by Jon’s Dad, Bobby Hinds, seems to last forever. It’s that type of simplicity and quality that motivated me to take a look at Jon’s Monkey Bar Gym Training DVD’s.

The DVD’s are broken down just like Jon’s training method. He believes we lose the abilities we had as a child that are fundamental components of fitness. Those abilites are Pushing, Pulling, Squatting/Jumping, Skipping/Running. If you stop practicing these skills you will eventually be unable to do them. Remember, you get what you train for. If you want to run endlessly your body will adapt to that and become very efficient at that one thing. If you want only to move a monumental weight several inches while restricted by benches, or supportive gear, you will become very good at it. Jon’s point, and I think it is a good one,.. is these pillars of human movement are foundational and all of the other abilities we specialize in can grow from these four categories. In a practical sense, you may want to play some half court basketball with your Great Grand Children.

Jon takes you though four phases to get you up to par. His progressions are comfortable and Jon’s sense of humor is refreshing. The phases are Alignment, Stability, Strength, and Power. The first phase, Alignment, involves the application of Eischen’s Yoga, which teaches you to to balance structure with strength. Jon makes simple, but specific points about each position. The second phase is Stability. This could also be called the "assisted" phase. It’s purpose is to get you moving through the groove even when your strength or flexibility is lacking. It is a less severe form of the real thing and provides those who have injuries or are de-conditioned a method to get up to speed. The next phase, Strength, needs little introduction. This means you are Pushing, Pulling, Squatting/Jumping, Skipping/Running for developmental purposes. These drills establish strength through movement and not through isolation. Remember if you train movement, you get movement, if you train isolation, you get isolation. This leads to the last phase of Power. Understanding how to be dynamic and practicing the application of strength to movement. Lifeline’s equipment shines here since it is portable, practical, economical, and functional. Jon’s take on exercise is quite often so simple that you say, "Why didn’t I think of that?". That is the biggest thing I took away from these DVD’s. If you are hoping for movement through the jungle of life, then you better train for movement. If you’ve lost it, you need a progression to get  back to the foundation. That’s what these DVD’s do. They get you back to being a kid and doing all the things that you used to do, and they show you how to get there. I’ve become a huge fan of the Monkey Bar Gym methodology. Jon’s integrated Yoga, Bands, Kettle bells, Indian Clubs, Medicine Balls, Rope Climbing, and many other simple tools to make training fun, and productive. His website Monkeybar Gym,  provides video demo’s and workouts for every fitness level. It is a non competitive atmosphere where harder or more extreme are not confused with practical and productive.