Bartendaz Interview

First of all... welcome on the Rawtraining site! We are honoured to speak with you and to host you on our pages. By mean of this interview we would want to present your activities to our Italian readers. You created a real new discipline and we know
we can't describe it in just one meeting. Let's say we can consider this a first contact and if you want in the future we will deepen our trip in your world.

Your videos are really astonishing: strength, coordination, athletism, control and imagination. The first time we saw them we literally gaped in amazement. We met you in this way and we imagine that the same thing happened to many others of your followers. However after this first meeting we read a lot about you around the web and we discovered something even more amazing. I'm speaking about the social value of your activities. It is a real mission that you are carrying on helping your community as a factor of aggregation, redemption and education directed not only to young men. Great respect to you for this!

RawTraining (RT): Could you tell us something more about what you are doing to be an active helping group for your community? We believe that this social aspect, especially connected to the schools, gives even more credit to your work and it is surely something to be proud of.

Bartendaz (BT): «Well, first & foremost we would like to THANK RawTraining and all of Italy for recognizing & acknowledging the hard work, sacrifice & time that the BARTENDAZ Family has dedicated towards making this movement a universal reality - that really, really means a lot to us. We are humbled, honored & blessed to be in a position to influence people- of all ages, genders & backgrounds- to be their best, no matter the various situations or circumstances life presents.

In regards to your question, one of the most important things that we do to help our community, is lead by example. Let's look at the word community for second, what do you see? When I look at the word community, I see a responsibility to "come and unite" with my neighbors, with my brothers, sisters, elders & young to make the world a better place, because better people equal a better world.

Unfortunately where we come from there are few, if any, "HANDS ON" groups/organizations that the youth & community at large can truly identify with. BARTENDAZ has shown the world, that we can come and unite & create something Incredible, for all of creation to enjoy- once we begin to seriously apply ourselves. So that alone is major, BARTENDAZ provides a true sense of hope, in a tangible way, to many who thought there was none.

In addition to that, we donate time to mentor so called at risk youth, in group homes, homeless shelters & correctional facilities. We also work with various religious organizations in our community, in order to bring people together for the good.»

RT: Could you tell us something about your meetings in the schools? Do you find a lot of boys interested in what your are doing?

BT: «We don't just have meetings in schools, we actually teach in the schools - those clips you saw on YouTube were just the tip of the iceberg- yall aint got a clue, lol. To how hard we go in these schools

We have a parent program to BARTENDAZ called GIANT THINKING, that's currently in over 60 schools in NYC, from elementary to high schools levels, and it's through this program that we educate our future leaders on topics like gang prevention, character development, conflict resolution & entrepreneurship, to name a few.

We use the movements to attract the youngsters, once we have their attention, then we start to educate them on the harsh realities of the world, & we've experienced great success with this approach.

See, we use exercise as a metaphor for life. We show them how to "Pull up" their character, attitude & personality, "Dip" their heads into book, while they "Push up" beyond any social/economic barriers.

It's this type of creative problem solving, that has been most effective for young men as well as young women.

What we've found through our extensive research is that most of these young people lack a caring "Manly" presence in their day to day lives.

Once they see that someone is there who really cares about their individual & collective growth and development, they make tremendous strides in a positive direction. Many times it's the young ladies who take heed faster than the boys.»

RT: One of the key success point of your discipline is the low cost, you only have to go in a city park and train. How determinant is this factor for your success and for your increasing popularity?

BT: «Our success & popularity is not necessarily based on the parks, however the key is that we get people looking within, inside themselves, for answers as opposed to outside, the park becomes symbolic because it shows you how to use what you have, in your immediate environment - meaning there's no excuse - if you have the will to achieve something that will, ultimately births a way....and that's where dreams become reality, & impossiable happens.

RT: Another winning aspect is relative to the creation of training groups: when you share the training sessions with other people, the limits and the strong points of one become the energy and the motivating force for the progresses of the others. Is this something you count on?

To a degree yes, we all ready spoke about the word community and what it means to come together to do good.

However on another note we believe that everyone brings something unique to the table, but that's just it everyone brings something- so you don't really worry to much about what the next person, brings or doesn't bring/is doing or not doing - you just make sure you bring/do your best and the rest will take care of itself.

RT: How much are you connected to the street culture and how much your activities could be an alternative option for someone who wants to step out of difficult life situations?

BT: «Lol, BARTENDAZ, we are the streets, see that's just it, the streets are simply one aspect of our culture, education is but another, our culture is so diverse you can't put it in a box, so again, balance is the key, too many times people think it's either this or that & they get confused.

We educate our young GIANT THINKERS/ BARTENDAZ to be
both street savvy & book smart, because its that delicate combination that creates special people, who are capable of changing the planet. Educated individuals who are rooted in the principal struggles facing the so called common folk.

Our visionary approach to exercise combined with our ability to separate image from reality, arm the youth with the proper skill set they need to make conscious choices consistently. Giving one the opportunity to improve their life everyday in every way.»

RT: Grit, agonistic rage and determination are vital components to achieve results in sport as well as in life... could some of the incredible results shown in your videos be fruit of the energy forged in hard environments?

BT: «Basically necessity is the mother of invention- and the entire BARTENDAZ movement is a byproduct of the energy we were raised in. It was taking that energy through the alchemy process - and turning lead to gold, you know, making something out of nothing.

Using your surroundings to push your imagination to dream GIANT thoughts, & then to be bold or crazy enough to believe in yourself enough to pursue that dream & keep it alive & protect it, when it seems like everyone & everything around you wants to take it & crush it & kill it.»

RT: Before telling us something about your training methods let's have a little digression about music! Your videos contain a clear rhythmic component connected to hip hop culture. How much does the music matter during your training sessions? Which artists do you like best relative to the energy they transmit to you?

BT: «Interesting question, all of our dynamic natural movement bodyweight exercises are all based on rhythm, however that rhythm is not founded upon a particular genre of music. Instead it is rooted in the internal rhythm of the particular practitioner, meaning the rhythm is related to the breath & the heart beat
thus it is compatible to any form of music known to man from HipHop to Jazz to Rock to the blues to whatever....again the rhythm comes from the breath as well as the heartbeat.

Since music is a form of expression just like BARTENDAZ take on exercise, the energy different musical artist expresses affect us in various ways.

We put in work to all kinds of music, really it depends on the day and the intention of the workout for that day.

But we like them all from James Brown to Micheal Jackson to John Coltrane to Styles P to Cappone n Nore to Nas to Outkast to Al Green to artist you've never heard of. Shout out to Kool Herc - the Father of HipHop & offical BARTENDAZ member.

With that being said be on the look out for that BARTENDAZ workout album, featuring all original music from
Styles P, Jada Kiss, Warren G,
Dj Premier, Lil Cease and lots of others, stay tuned. It's a serious movement we're building here.»

RT: And finally let's speak about training... How do you structure your training programs? Giant coined the expression "Exercise evolution": do you execute sessions that integrate physical training with 52-blocks learning? Or do you have some guys that dedicate themselves only to one of these two disciplines?

BT: «We structure our programs based on the indiviuals' needs, there is no one size fits all when it comes to BARTENDAZ Natural Movement training, it all depends on what that persons needs & goals are.

The term exercise evolutionist means just that using exericse/movement as a means to self discovery which opens the door to self mastery, allowing the person to evolve into their true selves.

The arts of 52 Blocks & the science of BARTENDAZ Natural Movement system are joined at the hip, they are simeese twins, even though they are seem seperate they forever linked, through the expression of particular body mechanic principals. So to do BARTENDAZ is to do 52 Blocks & vice versa.»

RT: Surfing the web you can find every kind of useful information, but you can also find a lot of nonsense coming from someone speaking a lots with the brain turned off. In Italy we read a comment on one of your video describing you as "Circus' stars that wouldn't have a chance on the tatami". Could you describe better the "52 block" fighting art for our readers?

BT: «We have no time to entertain comments from those who wish to derail us from our destiny of success.

That's the beauty of the internet people can say what they want and it's there for the world to see.

However just as people can leave negative comments, people can also leave positive ones, & we've had such an outpouring of LOVE shown to us from all over the globe that we don't worry about those who wish to disrespect themselves with ignorant remarks.

Instead we focus on the positive & that concept has served us extremely well, in fact it's how we met you here at RawTraining, now this interview will lead to other positive things because of the energy it is birthed in & universal law states that like produces like, so we to the good, lol, THANKS for watching.

Basically 52 Blocks is the close quarters martial arts defense system founded by indigenous people from the African disapora to keep them safe & out of harms way, when they are trapped in a hostile environment.»

RT: A lot of your exercises require a great strength level: which level should one have in order to practise your discipline?

BT: «In order to practice BARTENDAZ Natural Movement system one should begin with mastery of the basics. To many times people want to jump into the more extreme movements, unaware that all the so-called advanced movements are just creative combinations of basic moves.

However, skipping the basics is just a recipe for disaster as it leads to injury, sometimes very serious injury.»

RT: Do you follow some kind of training planning or do you proceed targeting particular skills?

BT: «Great question. One of the biggest misconceptions is that the BARTENDAZ just free style- which implies we jump on the bar with no rhyme or reason.

The reality is that all of our movements are founded upon rock solid functional biomechanic principals that allow one to gain staggering amounts of endurance, strength and explosive power in a progressive and fundamentally sound manner.

Again that all starts in mastering the basics and all the little things that entails, it's like learning to write, first you learn the alphabet, then you make words, the words become sentences, those sentences become paragraphs, which give birth to chapters, eventually the chapters become a book.»

RT: Let's take a step backwards: do you execute only free body exercises training in city parks as shown in your videos? Or do you supplement this kind of training with weighs sessions in the gym? If you also work in the gym, how do you structure the workouts sequence?

BT: «Our focus is bodyweight exercises that transfer directly to real life activities. However we do have a part of our team called BARTENDAZ Unlimited and these members use a both weights & calisthenics.

Basically the structure remains the same mastering basic movements, not highlighting particular muscle groups.

By building on movements it causes the body to act as ONE muscle instead of a collection of individual muscles. We don't subscribe to the average body builder mentality, that isolates mirror muscles for show purposes.

Our overall goal is optimal function so we work the body in a integrated fashion, which creates the rhythmic grace and effortless power, that's very difficult to attain training the body in a piece meal approach.»

RT: Your strength is amazing: do you create precise training sequences in order to achieve particular skills (with "skill" I mean a particular exercise or static position)? If yes, which are the basic skills that someone should have to train following your philosophy?

BT: «Again everything is based on the need of the practitioner, we all have certain things we can improve upon.

However, the basic skills include, mastering the Pull up, Push up, & dip as well as the lunge, squat and jump.

These 6 movements & the progression & regression of these movements covers such as wide spectrum, that they will not only strengthen any weak links you may have in your body's kinetic chain but they will also open to door to a realm of infinite possibilities that will continously teach you more about yourself & the world in which you choose live.

In closing, the entire GIANT THINKING/BARTENDAZ Family would like to THANK RawTraining & all of it's viewers for this opportunity to speak about who we are and what we do. For more info regarding our BARTENDAZ movement system, please keep an eye out for our upcoming book, not yet titled, summer 2010.

Health is Wealth, Movement is Medicine.»

RT: PS A real battle took place among RawTraining's crew to decide which are the best videos for this interview... we really didn't know which movie should be excluded cause they are all phenomenal... so here we go with some other trip in Bartendaz energy...

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24FHdggF_nk
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlK_AvfBz6o
• 1-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqjMITFlzWI
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2bYoQqigdk

Here the Italian Version