#maybe not as an actual form but their elements create small natural things that unnaturally follow them

[kindaasrikal]

Okay but imagine the Ninja’s elements were like somewhat conscious and could have a little buddy form or smth.

Like Imagine Morro with a very specific leaf always following him.

Nya having a small cloud (since some clouds are made out of water) surrounding her head.

Kai having one piece of his bangs on fire at the tip, and the fire never spreading or burning his hair off.

Zane with a thin layer of ice around his neck. Or a snowflake always chilling on his nose.

Jay having one small piece of lightning traveling across his body all the time.

Cole always has a little rock buddy on his shoulders.

Lloyd already has his powers whispering to him, alongside the whole oni dragon thing, he does not want a little guy following his around to pester him.

[boycottyashahime]

Alright, so I’m bad at Tumblr, and though I wanted to just reblog the original post from @strawberrycreampiefluff and put most of it under a cut or perhaps find a way to trim it, I couldn’t find a way to make it work. So, we’re starting a new thread. Here’s the link the other one if anyone reading hasn’t been following the discussion and want to catch up: https://strawberrycreampiefluff.tumblr.com/post/625063196626223104/what-do-you-think-of-this-whole-ppl-shipping

Anyhow, since we discussed this beforehand, I’ll start from the beginning, only working with the storytelling elements from the series, and I’ll leave out the latter part of the post regarding moralizing (which I mostly agree with anyway, so it’s no loss to me).

“I  was trying to convey that considering the methods of storywriting and telling,  it would break the “pattern” Rumiko Takashi built up and lowering the  impact of Sessh character growth he would later experience.  A father-daughter bond is not inferior to a romantic bond, but it  would seem out of place, to have both his father and brother form a  romantic relationship with a human and then Sessh breaking that pattern  by introducing a new kind of relationship-dynamic - when he is the most  crucial character in the series when it comes to demon-human relations.”

I’m still quite unclear HOW the impact of Sesshomaru’s character growth is necessarily lowered from not having a romantic bond with a human. Why is the continuation of this pattern so important, in your view, to the character’s development? From my perspective, introducing a new relationship dynamic into and breaking patterns is actually a good thing in stories - It’s a great way to add variety and a different point of view to a narrative. Having characters take a pattern in a different, unique direction can add meaning in a way the reader couldn’t see coming, give the story unexpected dimension.

And you’ve already said that you and other shippers like yourself don’t see anything romantic while Rin is still a child in the original series, so that is effectively what happened. Since we agree that the relationship wasn’t actually romantic within the context of the original Inuyasha series, Sesshomaru took a love of a human in an entirely different direction than his father or his brother did. Which conveys complexity in how youkai can relate to humans that wasn’t in the established pattern. As a reader, I find that kind of thing fun and engaging, though you may disagree.

“A father-daughter relationship would still put Sessh in a superior position to Rin (as the father), not adding a lot to his character development other than him caring for one other human being.”

I have to wince here, because while yes, technically Sesshomaru is in a superior position to Rin in a father-daughter relationship, the implication here is that this can be compared to the sense of superiority he had over humans as a whole that you referenced earlier. Is a parent-child relationship really comparable to a racist outlook? I feel like these two things are quite unrelated, having two ENTIRELY different connotations from the word “superior”. One is an entirely natural superior position, using one’s greater experience, knowledge, and ability to facilitate the growth and guidance of someone still on their way up. The other is a wholly unnatural and malicious disregard for a person based on superficial features. Sesshomaru’s superior attitude toward humans before he met Rin was not based on a paternalistic concern, but complete disgust and the notion that they were entirely unworthy of consideration. The two connotations of “superior” here are just not analogous in the greater narrative.

“In a romantic relationship, both partners should be equals (anything  other is unacceptable), for this to happen Sessh would’ve had to lower himself  (his pride) to Rins level, since he was the one with the big ego and  humans were regarded as one of the lower creatures of the food chain.”

Again, I think it is entirely possible for Sesshomaru to learn not to regard humans as “lower on the food chain” through a relationship that ISN’T romance, but that aside, this whole notion brings up a question: why didn’t Rumiko Takahashi write Rin into the story as a young adult? We’ve already discussed how romantic implications to the relationship couldn’t exist while she’s still a child in the series, and why Sesshomaru and Rin are definitely NOT equal during the series. So if it was so important for Sesshomaru to be otherwise equal to Rin so he can lower his pride and truly consider her such, why was Rin not written as a fully autonomous adult so we could cut to the chase? It seems that if what you’re describing was really Rumiko Takahashi’s intent, it would have been a lot easier if the girl was already grown up. At the very least, our dear author could have ended the series when Rin was an appropriate age to actually make the point instead of leaving it hanging.

“Doing the exact same thing he criticized his father for, which  for him would’ve been humiliating in the beginning of the series. The  sequel (if you regard it as canon) goes even farther, making him create  his own half demons - the very reason he hated his brother in the first  place. His mother even said he becomes like his father in the strangest  ways - and the only “strange” thing we know about his father was his  romantic relationship with Izayoi.”

Since English isn’t your first language, I’m guessing you’re just mistaken in the map of this sentence, but the word “strange” here is referring to Sesshomaru’s behavior in relation to his father’s. What is strange is how Sesshomaru is like his father, not his father’s ways. This actually makes the opposite point - it seems to refer to the ways in which Sesshomaru is behaving as odd, maybe in relation to a pattern his father fit into.

“That’s why I think it wouldn’t fall apart if we draw the parallel in a wider context as you say, because other characters didn’t have the same starting point  as Sessh. I very much agree with you, that Inuyasha’s platonic bonds  would also count as a dog forming close bonds with humans, but in  Inuyasha’s or Shippou’s case, they didn’t need the same character  development like Sessh, since they had a different attitude towards  humans or “lesser-beings” in the first place (Inuyasha was even past the  stage of lowering himself, also out of romantic reasons btw, since he  was ready to become human for Kikyo).”

I’m curious as to how the parallel and pattern matter if it’s null and void because Inuyasha and the other characters we talked about have different character arcs. Of course they aren’t starting from the same place as Sesshomaru, characters never do. They’re varied and diverse because it would be boring as tar to write them all going through the same issues. My point about the parallel was that even if it could be said that there’s some similarity in how dog YOUKAI form bonds with humans to actual DOGS, it’s not really a good parallel, because there are other “species” of youkai much less friendly with humans doing it too. I’m having trouble understanding what this argument has to do with that.

In reference to the above, I agree, the example characters you cited didn’t have the same level of dismissive racism as Sesshomaru did (I say “same level” because Shippou does carry a bit of prejudice, even as a small child), but when that’s apparent, why is the pattern even relevant? Since the characters aren’t set to all learn the same lesson, their relationships shouldn’t really resemble each other’s in the long run either, should they? Writers use relationships as tools for character development, and they usually want to use the right tool for the right job. Maybe romantic love with a human was right for Inuyasha because he had issues with vulnerability and reconciling his half-heritage. What if SESSHOMARU benefited more as a character from an unconditional bond (free from the conditions of sexual/romantic attraction) to demonstrate to him how even the weakest creature is incomprehensibly valuable for reasons impossible to articulate, and they are worth using his incredible level of “superior” power to protect and defend them? It’s a different kind of humbling oneself than what you were talking about, but I think it’s just as meaningful, and it fits Sesshomaru’s character development neatly into the the original text. It doesn’t require Sunrise make a sequel more than a decade later to wrap up the character development that Rumiko Takahashi meant to do when Rin grew up even though she could have just written her in as an adult in the first place.

“But Rin will obviously not always stay 8/11 years old, she will grow  into her own person and become a woman (while living apart from Sessh),  creating a completely different power dynamic with Sessh. One that would  still be an imbalance, but much different than when she was a child.”

As far as the narrative was concerned, Rin COULD very well have stayed a child forever, though. She was written as a character in a story. When the story is done, so are the characters. You’ve said before and here that Inuyasha is just fiction, and it is, but accepting that means accepting that Rin doesn’t grow up without some prompting. She doesn’t age but through the hand of a creator, fanfiction authors or Sunrise. When you say she’s not going to stay 8-11 forever, what you mean is that actual humans who experience actual time are not satisfied with her age as it stood when the story ended, and actively impose time upon her.

And since applying time to a fictional character is something that has to be intentional, so too do the conditions you mention to create the perfect environment for the ship. The different dynamic that isn’t father-daughter, but still a little bit of not-weird power imbalance. The “lowering” of Sesshomaru’s ego in that specific romantic way (that I’m still not sure I understand, but we’ll go with it). The way in which the romance is developed without either character realizing it so that Sesshomaru can’t be accused of using the power imbalance to manipulate a girl he’s had authority over since she was eight. Returning to what catalyzed the change in Sesshomaru in the first place while carefully treading around the fact that it was built upon an unconditional relationship that now suddenly has conditions on it. That’s a lot of mental legwork to do, which is fine, because that’s part of creative expression. But you have to acknowledge that none of this would be necessary if the pairing were “obvious”.

It certainly wasn’t very obvious to some of us. We came to a very different conclusion, saw everything a bit differently. Now we’re being punished for having a less popular interpretation of this relationship, shut down by SUNRISE and told that we don’t get to have that interpretation, because they’re considered an authority on what is canon in Inuyasha, and they’re taking sides to squeeze more money out of the Inuyasha franchise with a next-gen sequel. It doesn’t seem to matter that Sunrise was never really very good at telling Inuyasha stories, or that next-gen sequels never seem to be any good for lack of stakes and boring plots.

Sunrise’s interpretation is still considered to be more “valid” than ours. And that really hurts. So, if you found yourself wondering why there’s so much vitriol coming from the anti camp, it’s a combination of this, and the fact that they don’t really have the option of avoiding the content they don’t like anymore. It’s kind of EVERYWHERE now.

So, there we are. I don’t want to give the impression from the above that I’m trying to tear apart your arguments to somehow discredit the pairing. Shippers gonna ship, whether it makes sense to me or not. But I did want to highlight how any of the things you bring up can very well be interpreted entirely differently.

Hope you’re doing well, and you did well on that exam. :)

[thattimdrakeguy]

Robin - the First Miniseries - Issue #3 review - (R.I.P Tom Lyle)

One thing I find kind of endearing about Tim’s narration, is that it reads like a kid that has to recount stuff just for his own sake, because he’s having a hard time believing any of this is happening.

Which matches up with the face he makes.

--

Have some more people seemingly finding Timmy adorable.

Although, you sort of have to think that Tim’s too innocent for his own good sometimes, because he’s trusting the women that calls herself “The Most Dangerous Woman in the World” probably because she treats him like a baby.

However she does say she met Batman, but even then, for some one who works with the notably untrusting Batman, Timmy’s a bit too earnest and naive to trust her so fast just because she can’t stop pinching his cheek and treating him like a puppy.

That’s just good character work though. Tim isn’t perfect, a big part of this miniseries is how out of his element and naive Timmy is. So it just fitting in with his character.

(The next scene ruins this though)

Lady Shiva: I diagnose you with baby

Very early on they set up this bizarre trio’s dynamics pretty fast.

It’s done fast, but very naturally. It’s done through natural character interaction. So it isn’t distracting. It’s well-done. Even if it sort of implies Clyde’s a sexist, but ya know what, character’s aren’t made to be perfect people. They’re made to serve a function in a story. Part of me wishes they’d delve into it more though after they set the stage for something that’s mostly just left at implication. To leave a moral of some kind after such a salty interaction ya know, because it’s taking away the function. I guess Lady Shiva does tell him off for it though. So I suppose that’s the function.

(Which isn’t the last or first time questionable morals from side character’s get left behind, but sadly it gets more blatant and gross. It’s the main flaw of the miniseries. Occasions of awkward writing imply stuff that doesn’t get furthered acknowledged, when it feels like it should be)

So the character dynamic is like this:

Tim is the naive, computer baby, who both of the adults like.

Lady Shiva is the terrifying dangerous woman who knows stuff

Clyde’s the untrusting, rough around the edges, angry one

Lady Shiva and Clyde can’t stand each other, but they’re pretty much here for the baby at this stage. So they’re going to have to try to get along for this little adventure.

Very simple, but this miniseries is 5 issues long, and it’s genuinely all you really need to understand what these characters are going to be like. In general that’s a lot they set up for their dynamics in just one scene. So that’s pretty good actually. These aren’t characters that are gonna last long together, to get just that much for something short lived is good work.

After pretty much failing every fight he’s been a part of, Tim probably seems pretty useless to people, but here’s to remind you, that he’s not.

His strength isn’t his fighting ability. He isn’t Cassandra Cain (who wasn’t created yet. Well, technically, but I mean in the real world perspective). His strength is using his talents at computer and mind to help solve crimes. That’s how he’s useful.

While no genius. He’s clever. That’s his talent.

Another cool thing about this issue is that this is were Timmy finally starts getting into the groove of this superhero thing.

He’s still not great at it, but you see him start getting more used to it compared to the first two issues. He’s growing as a hero.

--

The thing about this issue that I don’t like though, is that it starts to delve into trying to give Timmy a case of the “not gays”, because it randomly starts to pretending that Tim’s interactions with women were more than what actually happened.

Like as far as what was actually drawn in written. It looked more like Tim was wanting to show off to his mommy that was giving him tons of affection more than anything else.

Even the writing of this scene kind of says Tim doesn’t care. The way he words himself “I guess”, like he didn’t actually think about it. Which fits in with his character. He doesn’t seem to care about girl’s that much. I expect this reaction from him, but it’s how the comic itself continues to tease Tim with girls in a way that feel unnatural, because he’s not even getting flustered like how a kid would when getting questioned with girls. He’s just like “I suppose so”, like he doesn’t even care. The look on his face is so low-key too. 

The writing of the scene even goes to say he actually thought of her as scary, which adds even more disconnect, because he clearly wasn’t scared of her. He was melting into her palm and was enjoying every compliment and cheek pinch he was given.

Maybe it’s just Clyde trying to ruffle his feathers though when it comes to the teasing.

There’s a certain amount of disconnect for me regardless, given how the previous scene played out to this. It’s just strange. Maybe that’s supposed to further Clyde’s character as a sexist maybe? But that doesn’t get fully played out either.

Things don’t add up much in this issue as well as the others that were really good with the character thing besides one scene.

As far as the last scene went, it’s played out like Tim loves Lady Shiva because she treats him like a puppy. There’s nothing to imply he found her attractive, even in this scene despite Clyde acting otherwise, seeing how Tim didn’t even think of her being beautiful (he had to have that pointed out to him), but instead scary, but even then there’s nothing there to imply he finds her scary either in the first scene. He seems too innocent and trusting actually. So it’s just a badly written scene, because it’s not adding up.

--

They continue this weird disconnect even more so into the next scene with Lynx, because Tim even backed away from her when the flirting started.

Because freaking when? He blushed when you showed him affection. He melts when you touch his cheek. That’s what they actually show happening, but what do you mean lovestruck? He saved you cuz you were getting messed with and hurt. He did the same thing with Clyde. He even took Clyde’s clothes off if you wanna force any sort of lovestruck, but that’d be creepy if Tim did that cuz he had a crush, so i’d rather not go that far with it. Just trying to prove a point.

Like look at him. He’s freaking uncomfortable. This doesn’t scream “lovestruck” to me. It’s more disconnect that throws the scene off of tone a lot.

If anything you were lovestruck in him. He’s trying to back away.

The kid just melts in times of affection, that’s what they actually show us, and girl’s are the ones that give him affection. There’s not actually a lot, arguably freaking nothing besides how he acts when he gets affection, that screams lovestruck. Other people say he is more than what Tim himself actually shows.

Regardless of the weird sudden insistence that Tim was in love with this girl more than what’s actually shown. There is some great imagery by Tom Lyle that the scans don’t do justice.

Some nice moments that shows Tim getting more used to the superhero life style too.

But of course there’s more of this ‘Timmy’s weakness for girl’s’ talk that doesn’t add up to how he actually interacts with him.

It’s like a bizarre crude bad version of ‘show don’t tell’, they’re telling us something when they show something else.

Like Clyde, Tim took you to a fancy hotel and rented a farm house for you to stay in as he bought you new clothes. If you were Tim’s age that’d be considered romantic, and Tim might be called a sugar daddy. He’s shown to have more of a crush on you then freaking Lynx at this point, okay, and I don’t even think Tim has a crush on you. You just don’t pinch his cheeks and play with his hair like everyone else.

(And don’t start any gross ships okay. Clyde looks at Timmy more like a son above anything else, and there’s a massive age gap, along with it being genuine pedo-freaking-philia. I’m just saying this whole thing is dumb to me, because besides being incredibly easily susceptible to any form of affection he is not shown to have an attraction to anyone. So it makes this seem contrived. They don’t do anything to show Tim has an actual romantic, sexual, or aesthetic attraction to freaking anyone. He just loves affection)

--

Have some more Timmy getting used to this superhero thing, showing his morals, and actually being pretty bubbly.

He’s adorable.

Although maybe he’s getting too used it, because now he’s got that little kid instinct of going a bit too far and too stupid with it.

A pretty fair reaction honestly.

--

So there’s some panels of showing off how rich King Snake is, which I instinctively skipped over because he’s so forgettable that I forget I should probably actually pay attention to him.

Basically he’s going to poison the water supply, and unleash a plague into people’s houses.

I can’t wait for him to burn the crops too. I don’t remember what he does, so I have no idea if he will, but I sure hope so.

--

Timmy doing some computer styled detective work, because this is one modern boy. I wish they’d have Tim just solve a crime on his phone in a current comic, because he’s not an Oracle-styled computer user, he’s mostly just a kid that knows how to use the internet.

He’s so small. I love him.

Baby Sherlock does his best to use his big brain to put it to good use solving the case.

--

Another notable trait of Timmy’s, is that he is perseverant as could be. Like he just went to France to learn more martial arts and some street smarts cuz he gets his butt kicked too easy and he’s naive as could be. Now he’s stopping a terrorist with two people he didn’t even know.

They also delve into a bit of the understated sadness of Tim’s character. How, despite him obviously being a kid, who acts like a kid so far no matter how heroic he tries to be. He doesn’t feel like he as himself should be a kid.

It’s a theme that gets hit harder and harder as more tragedies in his life hit him.

The child continues to use his handy dandy laptop to solve more crime, because he is one useful baby and--

Oh, I wasn’t joking about the plague stuff for a Spongebob reference.

So I’m just waiting patiently for King Snake to start burning some crops.

--

This issue is better then I let on.

The character dynamics are good (when not forced), the pacing is great, the story moves at just the speed it needs to, and the character’s just keep getting fleshed out more.

It’s great stuff besides the weird forced romance stuff that’s annoying for the middle part of the issue, and Tim and Clyde’s chat about Shiva, like if that wasn’t there, this would be an issue I can’t really imagine having a problem with besides King Snake being lame, but that’s more of something that goes across all issues really. It’s not a this issue thing, although you can argue this issue should’ve done more to make him more entertaining over boring.

I even went back to find if there was any indicator that Tim has feelings for this girl, and beyond him melting at the first sign of affection. There’s nothing. He talks about saving her like it’s simply part of the job to him, the same way he talks about saving Clyde. There’s just nothing besides “girl and boy”, which is incredibly lazy and causes it to feel contrived.

In fact I just found more showing that Tim’s oblivious that people keep thinking more than what is.

Like look at that. He’s confused why the jerk’s even saying “girlfriend”. This is what leads to him saying “this isn’t a good idea” when she starts getting flirty.

Tim’s not even remotely lovestruck.

As far as what’s shown he just loves affection.

I’m being repetitive about it, I know, but romance simply because “boy and girl” is dumb, and the fact that Tim actually isn’t interested in them as far as what’s shown and not just said by OTHER characters makes it more annoying.

Funny enough though, given how despite Tim shows no actual attraction to girl’s despite what the other characters assume. It actually makes it easier to interpret him as gay in this miniseries honestly. Cuz he’s going through the gay experience now even if the writer most likely didn’t intend that.

[eve-context-log]

essay on yve’s tang and rene magritte (W.I.P draft)

The artist I have chosen that really does inspire my work is the French born artist Yves Tanguy who was a surrealist painter who was and is well known for his abstract landscape pieces that just make me happy looking at? He has a very unique style of painting which was unusual for the time and was completely different from other surrealist art at the time. Yves didn’t start off wanting to do art, like most of us he kind of floated around in life not knowing what to do, he joined the navy in 1918 and afterword’s into he took up jobs until he came by a painting by the artist Giorgio de Chirico and was deeply inspired by It and was inspired to become an artist due to it. He got right away to painting, fully being absorbed right into it like it was his calling he was waiting for. He would only work on one piece at a time which could probably be due to how small of a studio he had at a time which would only have enough room to work on one piece. He was introduced to the surrealism style by his friend prevert showing him the work of many surrealism artists who revolved around André Breton.

 His style is very unique and distinct, a far departure for what other surrealist artists were doing at the time, his pieces show off mostly empty vast landscapes that are mostly occupied by nonsensical objects that maybe act as a metaphor for the brain. The brain is normally shown to be a calm desert so maybe these objects represent thoughts? He uses a very limited colour palette in his pieces, mostly consisting of normal colours for the sky and sand but more unnatural colours are used for the abstract objects so they stand out way more than the desert its self. Due to these colours, they stand out way more which is good as the abstract shapes tend to be either small in the background or super close in your face with the angels he paints. He either paints his objects as very loose, fabric like making them look like draped cloth and in contrast he paints a lot of objects also that are ridged with very strong looking structures that make them appear almost like concrete or clay. What he does with these shapes is very unusual, with his cloth like shapes he tends to make them either bend in the non-wind almost like they’re stretching to the heavens and with the ridged shapes he tends to leave them as is most of the time which helps contrast form between the both of them.

 The colour in his pieces is also placed oddly too, most of the time there’s one colour almost bleeding into another, for example: in the piece Through Birds, Through Fire, But Not Through Glass 1943 he tends to make the orange red in the highest top object slowly shift into a bright yellow which is just subtle enough that you don’t notice on first glance but really start picking it up when you look closely. He tends to go for very heavy shadows, not adding much in the ways of transitioning into the darker parts of the shadows, he literally just tends to block in a thick layer of black to empathise his shadows which allows them to appear almost like a second object in itself. He paints a lot of sky’s in his backgrounds, I’ve noticed he really tends to like painting in fluffy light clouds or either a very slight fog which you also might miss on first glance but they help create both a calm relaxing atmosphere for his pieces but also a mysterious type of ambiance like anything could be hidden in that fog. I’ve just noticed he goes with the three main colours way of kind of selecting a colour palette, for example in one piece he will use faint blues, yellows and reds are his three main colours which has been a common reoccurring element in his pieces. Some of the objects he paints will sometimes not follow the laws of gravity and just float, this really helps further the dream motive of his pieces, almost like these objects are floating off into the white abyss above almost like a passing memory. Another thing that also helps with the motive of these objects trying to reach the great above are the objects that are the objects that seem to have a ton of blob like webs that almost look like they’re climbing up the structures and assembling into their own version of that object.

 Another surrealism artist that I like is Belgian born artist rene Magritte. Rene was a surrealist artist who was mostly known for his lighter more humorous pieces but also his more down to earth pieces which helped people think on issues and often depicted regular objects in strange areas. Rene has had a harsh life, when he was 14 his mother committed suicide by drowning herself in the river, this wasn’t the first time she attempted suicide. His early paintings which where around 1915 where in an impressionistic style, a style which was characterised by thin, small yet visible brushstrokes which often showed off a normal subject matter which is of course a huge polar opposite for what surrealism is and is what surrealism is agents. He moved from movement to movement a lot, going for more abstract movements with each change like, impressionism to futurism to cubism to then finally settling on surrealism which was the most abstract of them all. He starts surrealism painting when in 1922 he saw the reproduction of the painting “the song of love 1914) which brought rene to tears, he stated this was “one of the most moving moments of my life: my eyes saw for the first time”.

 He paints a lot of surrealistic stuff, he’s mostly well known for the portraits he would do with the objects covering a person’s face; however, he also created a lot of lesser-known abstract landscapes which often depict a lot of nature. He uses a lot of blue greens and browns to create a very earth like piece, he uses a lot of earth like imagery in his work which creates a much more intense dream like feel with his use of the vivid blue sky and soft fluffy clouds. He tends to focus on one main subject when he’s painting his surrealistic pieces, for example his most famous piece a man’s face being covered with an apple or a Boquete of flowers that’s ends are actually a bunch of old-fashioned pipes. With his pieces of people with they’re faces covered it might be referring to the fact that the brain cannot make up peoples faces when dreaming, we always have to see someone even for a second to see them in a dream so these pieces could maybe represent the unconscious brain trying to make up a face on its own. He uses a lot of clouds in his pieces to further the dream motive, they help his pieces also look a lot calmer despite all of the abstract pieces in his paintings.

 He tends not to add a lot of visible brushstrokes to his pieces, he opts to make pieces with thick well blended paint to go for a more realistic feel to contrast the abstract with the more realistic style of painting he goes for. The brushstrokes that he makes visible is to add texture to objects like rougher brushstrokes for bricks and lighter drier brushstrokes to help empathise the fluffy clouds he’s going for and even drier brushstrokes to help empathise the dry dirt and sand he paints. He’s very hyper detailed with how he paints, even for most realism artists he really pushes himself, for example he adds the tiniest of bumps and cracks in order to make a huge rock painting and the tiniest pieces of disturbed sand in one of his landscape pieces to add just that little more life to his work.

Comparing both yve’s and Rene’s work, Rene is the more realistic painter of them both, Rene opts for more minor details like details in the sand he paints where yve goes for a smoother look to his piece which makes his shapes more abstract but sacrifice detail. Rene also has a more verity to what he paints as he doesn’t just paint one thing like yve does, however, yve doesn’t really need much verity to his work as his unique trait really is that he paints mostly the same subject over and over again. There’s a lot more visible brushstrokes in yve’s work, he uses it a lot in the sand to add contrasting colours in it and he also uses it in his more fabric-based shapes to add a fabric like texture to them. Rene’s use of brushstrokes is a lot looser in application to Yves, but he makes them count, only adding them to the objects that could use the extra layer of detail like his use of sand and fabric. They both go for I believe the representation of the subconscious mind, yve’s with the thoughts in our mind and the passing emotions and Rene with representations of dreams and showing how bizarre they really can be.

 In conclusion, I very much prefer yve’s more simplistic surrealism, I just find it a bit more unusual where I feel like Rene’s just makes a bit too much sense for my liking, I prefer work when its at its weirdest and yve hits that spot. I also very much prefer the palette Yve uses as it’s much more muted palette which despite being very muted makes the strange objects he paint all blend into one giant mess of abstractness that just makes my eyes happy to look at.

[jemimaboultonmessagesmultiverse]

Asemic writing

Today we created our own abstract messages and secret script (asemic writing) by layering wet and dry media and creating opportunities for suggestions of letter forms by weaving slices of writing together. we used our articles to inform what our initial writing would be and researched Pokras Lampas, Simon Williams, Cecil Touchon, Fabio Zanino and Jerry Iverson to take inspiration from and create ideas from their form of asemic writing.

Simon Williams

Simon Williams is a contemporary painter who mainly uses Alkyd oil and acrylic paint to create his abstract painting. He takes inspiration from many things such as childhood comic books, propaganda posters and graffiti art, which personally I think really shines through in his work due to the large sweeping curves and the bold colours shown throughout. 

Texture is a very prominent thing within his work as there are many brush strokes where it appears as though the brush didn’t have that much paint on it and therefore the brush has left a scratchy texture. This contrasts with some of the very smooth round shapes created in his work which have an almost 3d look to them due to the way the paint has been applied. I really like the curves and flow of the lines in this piece and that is something I would like to achieve in my own work at some point.

I also like the use of colour in this as Williams has put the majority of the vibrant colours in the background, leaving the foreground to be mainly black and white. This intrigues me as it is something I have never thought about doing in my own work but definitely something I should experiment with. I really like the simplicity of this piece and how the shapes created could suggest letters but it is not obvious from which language or alphabet the are derived from, since they don’t actually exist. This is the exact effect I want to create in my own work.

The piece below is my favourite because of the colours found within it. While the main colours appear to be teal and purple, a small amount of pink and red can also be found within the black which is very interesting to me as it makes me wonder why Williams decided to include such a small amount of a warm colour which contrasts the cool colours throughout the rest of the piece. In my opinion it could be to send the message that a warmth and hope can be found in every cold bleak situation.

This piece is also different to the previous piece as there is colour in the foreground and the background. There are also much more hues of all the colours used, which is something I would like to do in my own work along with creating textures similar to how Williams does in is work, with very dry brushes containing only a small amount of paint. I would also like to create a general theme with the shapes I create as Williams only uses very round curves and I would like to only use one type of shape in my work, possibly the opposite shape, with many angles and straight lines.

Pokras Lampas 

Pokras Lampas is a graffiti artist from Russia who has created many large scale installations and worked with many brands on advertising campaigns due to his eyecatching patterns which resemble letters. His lines have a very calligraphic style to them and usually follow an overall uniform shape for example lines of the asemic writing forming circles in a similar way to a mandala.

I really like the colours within his work and how it is usually a black background with colours over it as I could achieve this effect by inverting some of my own work which is going to be made on white paper. I also really like the large scale and versatility of his work as it works on many different surfaces such as walls, cars and even people in a very detailed and interesting way as by using these different canvases the intricacy isn’t lost.

I particularly enjoy the piece above as the brightness if focused surrounding man and the art gradually gets darker and more shadowed towards the edges of the photograph. I also like the way this has been captured as by having him sit in the middle of the art it displays the central focal point and how large the installation really is in a photograph which prior to him sitting there wouldn’t have made clear the scale of the piece.

The campaign and product below are some of the most visually appealing pieces by Lampas that I have seen due to the variety of colours used in the body paint and how vibrant everything is. The way the lighting makes the shadows appear as pink ties the whole photograph together as without the adding neon pink it would’ve appeared rather bland. 

The shapes of the the letters in Lampas’ work remind me a lot of blackletter and therefore if I wanted to display something old and ancient in my own work I could use shapes similar to this o=to do so as Blackletter is the oldest typeface.

I do also like the combination of red and yellow and how the shapes fram the neck and shoulders in a similar way to how clothes do. From looking at Pokras Lampas’ work I have learnt that in my own asemic writing I should think about what shapes my asemic letters are making and whether they form any other shapes such as circles in his work.

Cecil Touchon

Cecil Touchon is an artist who creates abstractions based on typography. The he creates hints at letters and has much depth to it due to the way he makes the rectangles and rounded wedges overlap and interact with eachother. He uses billboard fonts as inspiration for the type of font he is subtly adding into his work and this makes for some big bold shapes and colours that are very striking to catch people’s attention as billboards typically contain adverts and are definitely made to be noticed.

I really like how he has mixed a very natural colour such as tan with a bright periwinkle blue in this piece as I could use this in my own work to portray the messages of my articles as many of them draw parallels between 2 very contradicting subjects, for example nature and technology. The colours also remind me of the sea and a beach and therefore the dark areas could be pollution, or the white and blue could be the sky and the tan could be the ground.

I really like how colours and shapes carry over many of the rectangular shapes and connect them all together, creating very abstract shapes in the process. In my own work I could use this as I could think about how long I want to continue a line for and how much I want the shapes within my work to overlap and affect eachother as by not having them overlap I could end up with a very different outcome than if I did.

The second piece I looked at by Touchon is very different to the first one as it contains no colour and the shapes of the letters are much more similar to letters usually seen in everyday life. We took inspiration from this in our own work as we started our pieces by weaving together some black and white type. This piece reminds me slightly of David Carson’s work as it has the same elements of a glitchy sort of type and scramble up words that his work commonly contains.

 This also reminds me of the tomato project due to the black and white and bold lettering which is making shapes in an unnatural way. I think it would be very fun to try and create a piece similar to this in photoshop as I could splice together words and then use the threshold tool to make them very dark and computerised, which would work well for many of my articles, especially the one about robot flies as that is very technological and I think that the outcome could be very technological and futuristic.

Fabio Zanino

Fabio Zanino makes sculptures which are created from objects which he has broken apart and then put back together but only using certain pieces to give the entire object a new identity. He calls this work “Decostruzioni” as he deconstructs things and reassembles them to give them a new purpose and makes them abstract artworks. 

I think Zanino’s work is extremely interesting in the way that he will take something which already had a purpose, destroy it and separate it from the original purpose and somehow rebuild it in a way which makes it yet again purposeful. By ridding the objects words and textures of their meaning he can then manipulate them by changing the shape and arrangement of the object and make the textures be interpreted in a completely different way.

Unlike the other artists researched today, Zanino doesn’t necessarily create asemic writing all the time as not all of his pieces contain text, but the way in which he works is similar to that of asemic writing and we took a lot if inspiration in how we worked from him as we disfigured our own writing and our own work and then rearranged it to give it new meaning and new purpose, and I then even went on to rearrange and reweave the asemic pieces I had already created and manipulated them further giving it a third layer of hidden meaning.

Jerry Iverson

Jerry Iverson creates art based on the balance and grace if Asian calligraphy. To do this he uses many layers of paper ink and glue to chop up the words and experiment with how black lines can look like words even if they mean absolutely nothing. I really like this nihilistic approach to asemic writing where the intention is to have it be meaningless as it more or less gives Iverson the freedom to do what he wants without having to think about context. This may have been why there is no colour in this piece as while many of his pieces aren’t colourful some have very subtle colour and this has none to show how it means absolutely nothing.

I really like the texture created by a dry brush and ink in this piece and that is definitely something I could put into my own work and maybe even create something similar using oil pastel or charcoal as they both have a very scratchy texture similar to this.

I also really like how a lighter wash of ink has been used in his work to create a shadow like image behind the harsh black lines that replicates them. The shapes in this piece are something I would like to use in my own work as they are very harsh fine lines with lots of texture which really appeals to me as texture is something I want to include more of in my own work. I also like the way he has copied some of the lines in a lighter wash to add depth as it makes he entire piece more visually appealing in my opinion due to the use of many tones.

The piece below is from the series “Line Bombs”, based on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the disruption they have caused. Iverson has displayed this disruption very successfully by using many layers and textures in a very messy way which is effective for showing an explosion. The ink splatters could represent the corruption and damage that the bombs and wars are doing.

The choice of applying ink in this way could also be to display the aggression and anger associated with war and the way that the ink interacts with the other media on the page could be as a representation to how that anger goes on to affect people unknowingly as you cant plan how ink is going to react to the page you are putting it on.

I really like the use of many shapes and textures and the way that Iverson chooses to layer his work as it makes interesting compositions with lots of depth and many different shades from black to white, I also like how he doesn’t opt to use gradients and instead applies colour in a more jarring way to send the harshness of the messages he is portraying across.

My asemic writing

For my own asemic writing I decided to based all on my article about mammoths being revived, as I haven’t done much work concerning this subject and alspo I thought it could work well for asemic writing due to them being ancient and how I could link them to cave drawings.

For all my pieces I first started off by writing words rather largely on an A4 piece of paper repetitively to then be cut into strips to weave together and hide the message. The words I chose were “mammoth revival extinct animal restoration” as they all link to the chosen article and almost make sense as a phrase. When slicing my words up I decided to do it lengthways down the paper to allow myself longer strips to weave together as I wanted to weave across most of the page and this would be easier to do with longer strips.

I then went on to create the asemic writing and I did this with a biro at first just to extend the lines and shapes created by the sliced up letters and continued the shapes they made, overlapping and connecting some of them in a way which reminds me of Pokras Lampas. I also wanted to replicate something which looks like It could’ve been made in caveman era, but I don’t think I achieved this in my writing very well as it reminds me more of Asian or Russian architecture and the patterns seen on that. I did however make the ends of all my lines very scratchy and not uniform to hopefully replicate some of the textures which could been seen in very old cave drawings.

After continuing the lines I added some oil pastel to create the rocky scratchy texture I was trying to achieve. I think it did a successful job of adding texture and following some of the weaving which was glued down on the page already. Because of the ridges in the paper due to the weave it made very interesting depth as the oil pastel would pick up more in some areas than others. I then also used oil pastel to highlight some of the shapes I created and enlarge them in grey in a similar way Jerry Iverson. I think the grey and the orange look very nice together as it is a warmer grey and therefore more on the brown side than the blue side.

Finally in this piece I added an ink wash of a very pale peachy orange colour which ties the whole thing together as it makes the whole think have a colour overall. I got this idea from looking at Simon Williams work as he using long sweeping strokes and I tried to make my brush not too wet to display some of the brush texture like he does. I also used the ink to further replicate some of the shapes I saw and give the piece a border with shapes that make sense in context to the rest of the piece. Overall I believe this outcome was very successful and other than the writing not looking exactly as I had Hoped I really like how the textures turned out and I believe I achieved my goals regarding texture and composition as it all works in harmony with eachother.

In the second piece I wanted to aim to have the writing be more reminiscent of the textures and shapes seen in caves so I used oil pastel instead of biro to do the original asemic writing and I do think this helped overall give the entire thing more of a rocky texture. I then went on to add some blue oil pastel too as mammoths lived in the ice age and I though it would make sense to use blue as blue is a cold colour associated with ice. I like how the blue oil pastel turned out so I added more blue and this is where it all went wrong.

When adding the blue ink I added too much of it and completely covered the whole piece, overwhelming it, which is not at all what I wanted to do, so I tried to fix this by adding white acrylic paint. I like how the white acrylic looks as it adds a frosty look to the blue but it didn’t many to fix the mistake I made and therefore I don’t like how this outcome ended up. If I was to do this again I would use a small brush for the blue wash or maybe I would choose a different colour than blue altogether or maybe a different shade as it doesn’t look like ice as I hope and instead looks much more bright and possibly happy.

On the other hand I do like how this composition started and how the oil pastels looked when used as the original writing and I do believe that there are many appealing textures within this which the addition of acrylic helped a lot with as it made the piece even more rough and scratchy which is overall the appearance I was aiming for.

For my final piece of asemic writing I wanted to create an overall shape and have all the lines I created be inside of it. To do this, when I was placing the weave I considered how I could frame the page so I decided to put the weaving in 2 corners diagonally from eachother so I could connect them with lines through the middle of the page, I used a black sharpie to do the base writing and I made the lines very thick to develop onto them later. I made them very sketchy as well to create a similar effect to the previous piece but in a different medium. Some of the lines got extended very far across the page to connect both halves together. I really like the way that placing the weaving in this way affects the lines as it makes both corners much more full with lines than the middle and I think this works very effectively in creating a balance across the whole page.

I then used oil pastel on the weaving to dark the corners, causing the middle of the page to be a break of light in the darkness. This also added a lot of depth in areas where I wanted it and worked just as I had hoped it would. From doing all these pieces I have learnt I really enjoy the textures which oil pastels can create and how using them subtly can change the entire theme of the whole piece.

I then added ink washes in the shape of the piece and I think it worked very well to tie the whole shape together and emphasise how the piece shows and follows an overall shape, which is something I started to consider in the first place because I looked at Pokras Lampas. 

Finally I added white down the centre of each black line which made the overall piece have lightness where it needed it so it wasn’t tot dull. Overall the outcome of this composition is something I enjoy very much and I think it was very successful in the way that it flows from one side of the page to the other, If i was to fix elements of it I would’ve made the white lines much less jagged and more smooth compared to the way that it is so that they could contrast the jaggedness of the black lines they are surrounded in.

As an additional composition I photocopied my first piece and put it into negative as well as one normal photocopy and I weaved them together as I had been with the rest of the pieces. I really like how this turned out as the contrast between both pieces is very visually appealing to me. If I was to fix any elements of this I would’ve cut the pieces into strips more neatly as they look rather jagged and not in straight lines the way I wished they are. I do really like how I weaved from one side of the page to the other as that is something I think make the page very balance in a simple way.

[thebookkeeperslibrary]

Lost Time: Ch. 3

Fandom: Time Warp Trio Author: The_Bookkeeper_96 Rating: T Summary: Another summer at Horae Manor begins, but before Joe and Tessa get the chance to train, they are sent out on a mission to explore the magic capital of the universe, Mancika. Rumors of illegal magic conversion spread throughout the city, and Joe and Tessa need to locate those responsible. But after the events of last summer, Joe isn't eager to work with his Aether partner, and the two are struggling more with each other than with their enemies. Read on AO3

Preview:

"It is important that every magic wielder identify their weakness. And then learn how to guard it at all costs." Principles of Magic, Chapter 6 by Flynn Alvaro

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Dinner had been long and silent. Seriously, I'd been in libraries that were louder. Fred had tried to lighten the mood with several bad puns and jokes, but it just made everyone even more uncomfortable. Sam, Arwen, and Juniper prodded Tessa and me for information, but neither of us was in a talking mood after everything we had just learned. We needed more time to process it all.

I had hardly touched my dinner, and I'm regretting it now. My stomach rumbles so loudly, I'm sure everyone in the room can hear me. Which included Cas, who's sitting next to me, and Tessa and Ro, who were on the ground about twenty feet below us in what looked like a large high-school gym. Apparently, this was the training room. Designed for all of our magical learning needs. It was hidden behind a door underneath the grand staircase in the entrance hall.

Tessa and I had been forced to come here after dinner. Ro and Cas didn't want to waste any time in preparing us for what was to come. Given that the fate of the entire space-time continuum rested in our hands, I don't blame them.

Fred, Sam, Arwen, and Juniper, on the other hand, had been told they could do whatever they wanted to do. Fred had followed Arwen off to a different training area, designed for those who didn't have any magical abilities. Sam and Juniper had wandered off to the expansive library. The girls didn't seem too happy to have company, but they couldn't exactly say no. So they were stuck with them.

"I really am sorry to drop all this on you and Tessa. But you deserve to know the gravity of the situation." Cas drums his fingers on the balcony railing as he speaks. "I'm also sorry that we have to force you into training so quickly, but Ro and I have an emergency council meeting tomorrow evening, and those things can last for days. So if we don't do this now, who knows when we'll be able to work with you."

"Right, the council…" I bite my lip and hope he doesn't ask how much I actually read of his books.

"Just how much of those books did you read?"

Damn. "Uh, well, you see, the thing is my normal school classes were really tough this year, and I didn't really get a lot of free time to do any magic stuff."

He tilts his head back and sighs. "Can you at least tell me what the nine magics are?"

"Um…" I scratch my head thinking back on the small amount that I did read. "Well, there's time and space magic, obviously. And the other seven are the magics of life, death, nature, mind, body, creation, and the elements." I sit up a little straighter, proud of myself for at least getting that much.

"Correct. But what are their proper names?"

"Proper names?"

He sighs again. I'm beginning to worry that he'll push all the air out of his lungs soon. "The common way to refer to the different magics would be to call them the magic of time or the magic of the elements, but in more professional settings the correct way to refer to them would be using their proper names. For instance, the magic of time is temporamancy. Space is aethermancy. Life and death are animacy and necromancy respectively. Elemancy is the magic of the elements. Mundumancy is the magic of nature-"

"Oh, yeah!" I cut him off, excited to remember something else. "And cephamancy is magic of the mind. While corpomancy is the magic of the body. Then the magic of creation is fabricomancy."

A soft smile plays along his lips. "Exactly. I'm glad to see you read the first chapter at least. Now can you tell me the origin of them?"

I press my lips together, mind racing to see what I know, but nothing comes to me.

Cassius leans forward, looking down at Tessa and Rowena who are talking on the ground below. I glance down at them as well. From Tessa's grumpy expression, I can tell she's not happy to be here. She looks up at us, at me. Her scowl lessens, but only slightly.

"This should be interesting," Cas muses.

"What are they doing?"

"A little magic practice. Rowena seems to think Tessa will learn better with an audience. We'll see how this goes." He nods at Tessa, still looking up at us. She gives him a terse nod in return and says something to Rowena before walking off to the far side of the gym. Rowena walks to the other side.

My gaze settles on Tessa as she settles into her spot. With a flash, her hands spark to life, bolts of purple electricity sparking between her fingers. A purple glow radiates out from her body like a second skin.

"Wow," I mutter, unable to help myself. She makes it look so easy.

Cas chuckles. "And that's not even the most impressive thing she can do. Now let's see how well you learn with a live demonstration."

My head turns sharply to look at Cas. He doesn't actually expect me to listen to him drone on about magic history while there's a cool magic show going on in front of me, right?

I'm proven wrong again as he takes a deep breath and begins, "There are currently nine known magics in the universe. All of these magics came from raw magic, the All Father's power. Raw magic still exists today, and occasionally someone will be born with the ability to wield it, but it is a deadly, all-consuming power."

"Can people choose their power?" I ask, already more interested than I expected to be.

"What? Not happy with your time magic?" He frowns at me.

"No! That's not what I meant. I just-"

"Relax." His frown lifts into a smile. "It's okay. No, there is no natural way for someone to change their power. The magic you have is the magic you're born with."

"Are there any unnatural ways?"

His face darkens. "No." The quickness of his response easily betrays his lie.

"But you said-"

"Joe." All traces of Cassius' usual warmth is gone. "I admire your curiosity and eagerness to learn about all this, but some stones are better left unturned." He ends the discussion with that. Before I can think too much about it, he returns the conversation to its original topic. "The first magics created were Time and Space. From Time, the All Father created Animancy, Necromancy, Cephamancy, and Fabricomancy. From Space, he created the other three magics."

"Can people with the magic of time or space use those other magics?" My thoughts trace back to last summer, when Cassius healed my wounds after we returned from Cealus. He'd said we both had healing magic, just not as much as actual Animantists.

"To a degree, yes." Cass nods his head. "Because of this Space and Time magic is considered to be a higher tier of magic. It's more complicated than the others, but this in no way makes us superior to them." He gives me a pointed look at that. "Despite what some people may believe. All magics are equal to each other. They are all important in maintaining the balance of the universe.

"You're job as the Warp Wizard, the job for any of the Greats, is to protect the balance of the universe. This task is especially important for the Warp and Aether Wizards because their domains are so vast and affect everyone." Cassius' hands light up with magic. He creates an orb of green light. The orb shifts and transforms into a yin yang symbol. "There is a balance in everything. And if the balance is disrupted, everything falls apart." The yin yang symbol dissipates into the air. Just as quickly as it disappears, a new shape takes its place. The forms continue to change shape as Cas speaks, synching up with the words he's saying. "Balance comes in many forms. Good and evil. Love and hate. Life and death. Even as the Warp Wizards, we cannot change the past or alter the future to our benefit. If someone we love makes a bad decision or loses their life, we must honor the path of time, accept what has happened, and move on as best we can. It is also our duty to ensure that everyone in the space-time continuum does the same."

I try my best to smile and keep my eyes open. Magic is just like sports. You have to learn the rules of the game before you can play, but the rules of magic are kind of boring. Surely as the Warp Wizard I would be able to have some fun with it. Maybe just go back and make sure I pick the right lottery numbers once or twice.

The death clock and its ominous tick flash before my eyes. Oh, right. The fate of the universe is in my hands. Maybe I should be thinking about all this a bit more seriously.

I look back down at Tessa, surprised that Cas has been able to hold my attention for so long. She hasn't moved, but neither has Rowena. The girls simply stare at each other across the vast floor.

After a long, tense silence, Ro shakes her head. With a sweep of her hand, she sends a wave of violet energy racing towards Tessa. She raises her arms in an X in front of her face. Just before the wave crashes into her, she slices her arms down, parting the wave with a small gap just big enough for her to fit through. She tumbles through the hole and rolls to her feet, ever the acrobat. Her sabre flicks out beside her. Cutting it through the air, Tessa is gone in the blink of an eye.

Rowena apparently anticipates this reaction. She moves her hands through the air, fingers forming strange shapes, almost like she's speaking sign language.

The room rearranges itself before my eyes. I try my best to keep up with the transformation, but I'm lost and confused almost as soon as it begins.

The gym is half the size it was a second ago. The ceiling is almost touching my head now. Cas has to bend over to avoid hitting it. "I hate when she does that," he grumbles.

When Tessa reappears, she is only five feet away from Ro. By the shocked look on her face, I can tell this is not where she wanted to be.

Rowena immediately attacks her, lashing out with her fists and magic. Despite her lithe build, she's able to put a lot of strength into her movements. I have no doubt that she could knock me out in one hit.

Tessa does her best to dodge the quick punches, sliding back and forth, arms blocking her face.

This only makes Rowena attack harder, adding magic to her punches. A purple glow surrounds her fists.

Tessa jumps back out of the way. She uses her magic to propel herself through the air and jumps farther than any normal person should be able to. She spreads her hands out, palms facing the ground, the purple glow returning to her hands. Moments pass, but nothing happens.

Rowena presses forward, the light in her hands growing more and more intense. She throws them out in front of her, sending a laser of space magic flying straight towards Tessa.

Just before it reaches her, Tessa flings her arms up, and a shield of magical energy shoots up from the ground. Rowena's magic bounces off of it, flying back at her. She has no time to turn it off or redirect it before it hits her square in the chest and sends her soaring back. Purple flames dance along the floor at the place of impact.

Rowena manages to get to her feet, and with a wave of her hands, the flames die down, leaving only scorch marks on the ground in their place.

Tessa lowers her shield, breathing heavily as she stares down her mentor, who frowns at her in return.

"That was not what you were supposed to do." Ro's frown deepens. The smaller space allows me to hear their conversation better than I could before.

"Hey, I won, didn't I? Don't be such a sore loser." Tessa crosses her arms and looks away. The confidence in her voice is contradicted by the guilt on her face. She knows she messed up, but she's too stubborn to admit there's a problem.

I wonder what was supposed to happen. It all seemed like an impressive display of magic to me. Tessa did technically win the fight. So what was the big deal? Was there a specific spell or trick she was supposed to do?

"This sounds like something you two should discuss in private. If you wouldn't mind?" Cas says to his sister as he points to the ceiling, which is squishing his hair flat against his head.

"Of course. Sorry about that." Rowena pushes her arms away and up and the room returns to its normal size so fast, it makes me dizzy.

"Now, where were we?" Cas straightens his spine and fixes hair. "Oh, yes, balance. One of the many forms of balance is the partnership between the Warp and Aether Wizard. Which is why it is so important for the two to cooperate and be in perfect sync. For centuries, two people from almost every generation have been chosen as the protectors of the universal balance."

"Almost every generation? Were some of them skipped?"

Cassius goes on, ignoring my question. An annoying habit of his I really hope stops soon. "The Warp and Aether pair are complements to each other. One will excel where their partner falls short and vice versa. For example, what did you notice when watching Tessa practice?"

I think for a moment. Tessa's movements were graceful, and she was confident in every step. "She acted like she was on stage. Like she never left the circus."

"Well, yes," Cas chuckles. "But what did you notice about her attack style? Or lack thereof."

I look back down at the scorch marks on the floor. Was I supposed to know stuff about attack styles? I think back to our run-in with the drake at Cealus. Tessa had run and let Arwen do the fighting. She had managed to make a maze to confuse the drake and get us safely away from the city, but she hadn't fought anything in the process. "She didn't fight back… or attack at all really. She just defended herself and waited for opponents to take themselves out."

Cassius grins, and I can't help but feel proud again at another correct answer. I didn't exactly excel in any of my normal school classes, so doing well in magic school felt pretty good.

"Precisely. Tessa's strength is defense. Which as you saw, is still a pretty good battle strategy."

"Why doesn't she attack? Can she do any offensive moves?" Battle strategy is a new subject for me. It's not like it's part of a standard school curriculum. But I understand football, and the two don't seem that different.

"Oh, she definitely can, but for whatever reason, she chooses not to. It's been a long-going argument between her and Rowena. Tessa refuses to let her full magic potential out. Ro and I haven't been able to figure out why." Cas pauses, tapping his finger against his knee.

I clear my throat, bringing him back to the present with a start.

"Right, so we know that Tessa is strong in defense but weak in offense. Even if we hadn't seen your impressive displays of power in the past, we could assume you would be very strong in offense."

"But I'm probably weak in defense then, right?"

He smiles at me. "Weaker than Tessa, but we can still ensure you know how to defend yourself. Something you're going to be practicing soon."

"How soon?" I jump up in my seat. Finally, practicing magic, the whole reason I came here.

Cas snaps his fingers, and the next thing I know, we're standing in the gym, right next to Tessa and Rowena, neither of which seems surprised by our sudden appearance. From this new perspective, the room seems a lot more like an arena than a gym.

I turn to Cas, eyes wide. Does this mean…?

"Now."

[david5209669]

Week 12 Studio Tutorial – Photography

Task:

Part 1: The 2 hour photo challenge Your are on photographic assignment! You have been dropped into the UNSW Campus from far afield and have been asked to put together a photo essay that captures life on campus. Your photo essay will feature in an upcoming edition of a prominent magazine and you need to supply a selection of 6 amazing images. The shoot deadline is tight - the shots are be taken today, within a two hour window.

Part 2: Editing and Post production In the next few days, you must then edit your shots to select the best series of 6 using Adobe Bridge, enhance them in Adobe Camera RAW / Photoshop and post them on your blog by Sunday midnight. Your final edit must include:

A portrait (preferably of a complete stranger)

Something from the built environment

Something from the natural environment

An interesting detail

ORIGINAL IMAGES-

-portrait/candid photography

-natural environment/street photography

-natural environment photography

-built environment/street photography

-‘natural’ environment meets ’built’ environment (not the faculty) photography

-interesting detail/ ‘natural’ environment meets ’built’ environment (not the faculty) photography

-street photography

-street photography

EDITED IMAGES-

AIM-

For this image i was trying to go for that b&w film street photography style by adding some strong contrast between the background and jumper and adding noise to the image. The blank expression, clutching of the phone and gazing into the distance at something we cant see, as well as his gesture of having his arms folded in to compact his ‘personal space/bubble add a mysterious feel to the image as well as showing a disconnect and loneliness facing whatever lies past the darker half of the image (perhaps zooming out and making him smaller would’ve furthered that disconnect from the world and loneliness however the background cut off if i cropped any higher). During year 12 i had purchased my first camera cos i wanted to start with film; a Nikon FE (the poor mans F3) and unfortunately I’ve only shot multiple rolls of colour film, but this shot and further on below, my other two “street” photography (loose way to describe them) shots are making me more interested in purchasing some b&w film (maybe after i try out some cinestill 800 film too).

POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT- 

with this image i probably would've benefited from brightening up his face to capture his expression more but i pulled back the red exposure in my HSL sliders to darken the background and make his jumper pop and that pulled his face back as well and i wasn't too bothered going in separately

the head room is a bit too close in my opinion however was only placed like that so the crop would have him on the third and the pattern background would fill the whole screen

coming one or two steps to the left to capture his gaze may have created more interest or perhaps as it is the emotionless face staring into the distance of something not depicted in the image is enough 

AIM-

Just another sad teal and orange edit, I was trying to create more visual interest in the tree and figure staring up at the tree, I simply saw the moment as she was walking towards us, saw the tree added some form of visual interest and tried to capture her walking and gestural actions facing the tree. Unfortunately as soon as she saw the cameras she did a U-turn.

POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT-

perhaps stop using photo edit cliches (but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it)

capture the image with the same composition or similar variant if I had more time to plan the shot, but where shes walked closer to really see her facial expression and walking motion (which couldn't happen cos she turned away)

somehow isolate parts of the image more 

bracket my exposures or just bring it down to retain the sky detail (or maybe white looks nice, I crushed the whites a tad so it wouldn't blend with the Tumblr feed background)

AIM-

In this picture I simply wanted to capture a perspective not many people think about or see during a normal day and I wanted to further contrast the trees and natural environment by having a building fill the left side to show people that its okay to be part of that world but there’s beauty all around and sometimes all it takes is looking up. Of course to further this again i warmed up the image quite a bit and shifted the greens and yellows to a nice red and orange to create a more beautiful, deep and rich colour.

POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT-

perhaps better composition and having a distinct gap between all the trees or more of the building on the screen

exposing lower to capture more detail in the trees and sky although quite a bit was pulled out compared to the original

AIM- 

Another teal and orange edit, in this image i was simply captured by the sun setting but as i was walking noticed the building on the right and the use of reflections in an image was really interesting to me so i tried capturing the built environment faculty in the reflection, the warm glow of the setting sun and the posing figure was a bonus i waited for to walk in the frame.

POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT-

perhaps if the figure was standing closer or there just wasn't such a dark object behind him so his head wouldn't blend in with the background and he could stand out more as a visual element

AIM-

when I walked up the building overlooking the main walkway, instead of capturing the cliche walkway photo itself (although a crowd walking with a bit of a longer exposure would’ve been cool- something Hans captured) I noticed there were about 4 or 5 cranes all lined up along the skyline. Unfortunately from the position I was in i couldn’t capture that and even this image was a bit of a cheeky edit to get a whole crane as seen in the original having a massive object in the way. i wanted the built man-made environment to come out and above the natural environment (trees on the right) and to emphasise that i simply increased the blacks until the only colour was sky to which i desaturated the blues and added orange in the overall tone.

POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT-

the Photoshop is a bit dodgy, it was a two minute fix with the spot healing brush and looks a little unnatural with the ripples

AIM-

in this picture i noticed a light on the ground and these colourful leaves spread all over the floor so decided to pile them on top and let the light filter through. I added my shoes in the bottom of the frame to emphasise the image as something that was set and there and to add visual interest and also shifted the colours to a really warm orange for the autumn/fall vibes. The light adds strong visual interest as it filters through and around the leaves but wasn’t strong enough by itself.

POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT-

small compositional things could've been done to improve this photo

AIM-

Something i used to do a lot when i first bought a film camera was to look for moments made by people framed within these natural or man-made frames in the real world.  The empty seats at the front and lack of life emphasise the loneliness of the figure and night life on campus however we don’t know where shes going (probably the library up the stairs actually.. but not knowing the context creates interest).

POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT-

making the figure stand out more and perhaps having a bit more of a slower shutter speed to get a little motion blur in her walk

AIM-

Another framed shot and my favourite shot of the bunch. The light behind the figure on the phone, her stance, the second figure walking up the stairs, both framed by outside objects, interest in why the person is alone or what the phone calls about, the all black clothing, the leaves on the ground, the tree splitting the image in two and two juxtaposing characters, etc. etc. Wondering what this would look like in maybe a 400 speed b&w film for the noise and slower shutter speed.

POINTS FOR IMPROVEMENT-

being an attempt at ‘street’ photography (never going to be brave enough to actually get in peoples faces..at least not yet) I’d say perfection isn’t something you can capture because it isn’t a real thing so compositionally I wouldn't change anything.

[smoll-wlw]

Leptitox is an all-natural supplement with regard to weight-loss. With a bag packed with proven outcomes, Leptitox is actually a fat-burning tablet computer, developed and manufactured by Sonya Rhodes and Morgan Hurst.

Leptitox is an all-natural supplement regarding weight-loss. With a bag packed with proven outcomes, Leptitox is actually a fat-burning tablet computer, made and manufactured by Sonya Rhodes and Morgan Hurst.

Leptitox reviews

Leptitox is a natural nutritional supplement for losing weight fast. With a bag filled with established outcomes, Leptitox is a fat-burning tablet computer, designed along with fabricated by Sonya Rhodes and Morgan Hurst. This particular fat-burner nutritional supplement can help you obtain weight reduction a whole lot quicker compared to any traditional method through ketosis. Inside this technique, your whole body gets to a”starvation mode” in addition to begins to discharge your body’s extra fat storage rather than carbs with regard to energy.

Leptitox reviews

This kind of fat-burner nutritional supplement can help you achieve weight loss a whole lot faster than any traditional method through ketosis. Inside this technique, the body gets to a"starvation mode" as well as starts to discharge your body's fats storage instead of carbohydrates with regard to energy. Leptitox Reviews Leptitox not only aids in burning off unwanted fat, but in addition, it enhances metabolic rate exponentially. It is also proven to manage hunger pangs (particularly your fast food cravings), which also stops you from absorbing more body fat throughout the procedure. Some of the noteworthy advantages of Leptitox are the following: Regulates and helps to maintain carbohydrates levels in your blood Raises your metabolism speed Suppresses the food cravings Burns calories but oxidizing the body fat All-natural ingredients used Full of crucial vitamins and antioxidants Discourages fat storage out of servings Pros Burns body fat swiftly. Leptitox can help to oxidize the current fat in your body and turns them to energy. Natural elements: Among the greatest reasons for very good of Leptitox is this pill is made of all-natural ingredients in addition to doesn't have some toxic chemicals. Gluten-free: If you are allergic to gluten or not, you can safely consume Leptitox if you are over 20 decades of age. Curbs your own appetite pangs: Leptitox value packs your body in starvation setting by ketosis and also helps you to curb your hunger pangs. Have a healthy heart: Leptitox minimizes the cholesterol level even though keeping the glucose level within your blood, which keeps your cardiovascular healthy. Enhances metabolism: The actual metabolic activities of your physique enhance after the timely utilization of Leptitox, which also enhances the whole process of losing excess body fat. FDA approved: You can have your personal reassurance whilst consuming Leptitox for weight reduction because staying clinically tested and Authorized, this dietary supplement is safe for adults' intake. Money-back warrantee: Leptitox comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee. Hence, if you find no change in your total body weight right after consuming it for a couple of days, you are able to readily claim your money back guarantee. Cons Cannot buy Leptitox in an offline shop: Unfortunately, You cannot purchase Leptitox by way of a physical store. When you need one, you have to order it on the internet from its official web page. How Can Leptitox Work? Leptin resistance sends wrong signals to the mind so that if the fat cells expand, dapoxetine would not instruct the body to halt eating. Leptin is a junk naturally produced in the body, nicely fat cell contributes to weight reduction. When you're full, it's all-natural that the mind will send signs to the body to stop ingesting, but that's not true together with leptin resistance. It helps you eat more than usual, and the leptitox helps control this problem. Leptitox includes powerful detoxifiers this detoxify the BPA, known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Leptitox can help you lose body weight naturally through reducing your food cravings. You can get rid of belly and body fat making use of this 5-Second"water hack" from a small Malaysian Island to transform your entire human body. This supplement will also allow you to bring back energy and improve your sexual life. The primary functioning mechanism of Leptitox is referred to in the following three procedures: Breaks the Leptin level of resistance in your body, which helps you to cease your constant hunger pangs Raises up your body's metabolism and improves the metabolic rate helps your body burn fat rather than carbohydrates to release power How to Utilize Leptitox? In comparison with other dietary supplements, Leptitox is an effective deal simpler to consume considering they are available in the form of pills as an alternative to smoothies. A comprehensive prescription is sent to you by the producer Together with the nutritional supplement that primarily claims the following: Take a pair of capsules every day Take a single pill before breakfast and the other before dinner Keep a spot of a minimum of 2 time between the ingestion of these supplements To gain more from Leptitox, You Have to Do the following things: Have the pills with water merely (no milk or soda) Consult with a nutritionist and chart out a proper Keto diet plan Drink a minimum of seven to 8 glasses of water each day Start exercising in the morning everyday What's Leptin? Leptin is undoubtedly an enzyme present within the body gowns responsible for controlling the hunger episodes. It is created when fat cells (adipose cells) develop. In case the leptin amounts are reduced, it means you are feeling empty and crave calorie consumption when the levels of leptin usually are large, you are feeling full. The problem emerges when leptin opposition strikes the cells. The fat tissues grow in size since they begin storing the surplus energy available as fat for use later by the body for good performance. Regardless, that extra, leptin is released in the cell that signals mental performance to create the feeling of fullness to stop eating. When skin cells become leptin resistant, many people stop signaling to the brain. What is Leptin Resistance? The cells become leptin resistant when they cease detecting the alerts and delivering them to your head. When no stimulation actually reaches the brain, it produces simply no sense of fullness or perhaps satisfaction. Thus we even now feel hungry and keep together with food leading to overeating leading to weight gain. What Sets off Leptin Imbalance? A number of common environmental factors lead to leptin resistance in the human body. A great number of00 are: BPA (Bisphenol A): This chemical is referred to as endocrine-disrupting chemical or EDC. About contact, it enters your own personal bloodstream, then it destroys all the delicate functions on the human body. It is often found in any kind of type of canned foods or maybe drinks. TBT (Tributyltin): This compound is found in vinyl merchandise, paints, and dyes. PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid): This EDC compound is got through Teflon cookware. EDCs or perhaps endocrine-disrupting compounds are a achievable danger to your health. As soon as they enter the blood, they could modify the signaling part of the mind. Several studies have proven the EDCs to be the apparent cause of leptin resistance within the body leading to eating too much and inducing accumulation associated with undesirable fat. Leptitox listing of Ingredients Leptitox is unnatural with 22 essential vegetable extracts, making it safe and also healthy to use. The list involving ingredients used in Leptitox is actually cited below: Apium Graveolens Seeds The controlling on your hunger pangs is made more accessible together with the Apium Graveolens seeds, increasing detoxification inside your physique. EDC and DEHP are the 2 primary ingredients in Apium Graveolens which govern the discharge of their hunger hormonal production, Ghrelin. Brassicas Brassicas usually are found in abundance in brocoli. Along with acting as an energetic antioxidant within your entire body, Brassicas also contain high degrees of vitamin A, vitamin D, E, and K. They have known to be among the greatest fiber resources on account of the presence of glucosinolates that regulate the stress response and inflammation in the body. Barberry Barberry prohibits your entire body from storing excessive fat. Additionally , it functions as a switch to burn off the unwanted weight on your body, which is essential for weight loss. Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) Through the entire conditions of fasting or while on a low-carbohydrate, large fat diet, your body knobs its source of energy from making use of glucose to stored fat. Ever since the fat breaks, BHB is definitely released in your organization, which is great for weight-loss. BHB is also called the"miracle molecule of Keto diet. " Chanca Canto Chanca Piedra is another noteworthy antioxidant that boosts your metabolism when making your digestive system healthier. You can't imagine a diet tablet without Chanca Piedra, and therefore, Leptitox has it in ample amounts. Grape Seed Grape Seed is an essential portion of a nutritious diet which comprises fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The usage of Grape Seed in Leptitox makes you sense energetic and playful. Teas Green Tea Extract is known for possessing a high success rate inside burning calories, increasing energy, and being an extraordinary antioxidant. This ingredient also enhances your digestive system. Jujube Jujube includes ZEA, an endocrine-disruptor that creates this fixing exceptionally powerful in breaking up the Leptin resistance in your body. As the resistance to Leptin is diminished, you will slowly quit having hunger pangs and feel more energetic. Marian Thistle Marian Thistle is a herb that's important for treating diabetes, cholesterol, reflux, and even melancholy. Marian is also widely used in placebo treatment. This herb consists of BPA, which helps to cleanse the human body and modulate often the glucose level in your bloodstream. Taraxacum Leaves Throughout the technique of weight loss, your body needs an additional dosage of vitamins compared to normal. Taraxacum Leaves are applied in Leptitox to give your whole body with a high amount of supplement K. Leptitox Negative Effects Leptitox is a weight loss dietary supplement which has been clinically proven and Authorized. This leaves Leptitox lower the probability that to side effects compared to various other counterpart. non-etheless, the experience could differ from person to person, and thus, you may notice mild light-headedness. In case feel lightheaded upon ingestion of Leptitox, then you really should not be alarmed. This side effect normally happens due to the shift in diet (from calorie-rich for you to keto). There could also be a small drop in your blood pressure every time you're on a low-carbohydrate diet program, which makes you feel dizzy. Furthermore notice that if you've got a health background for allergies, then seeing a physician before starting Leptitox is usually advisable. Leptitox reviews customer reports Lucy Phelps, Female 27 Lucy Phelps, the 27-year-old functioning pro who would tried out each other smoothie and'd experimented with numerous weight-loss diet plans, but to no avail. Following being advocated by among her friends, she picked off her hands and required Leptitox as her shutting try to get rid of those extra pounds. After multiple in vain attempts, being skeptical ended up being rather natural. The spectacular result she saw in just a brief span of 2 months has been an eye-opener on her and her husband, who had been on the verge of becoming over weight. It's been around four weeks now, and the happy couple is usually presently leading a healthy, literally healthy, and energetic life. Their eyes spoke the fact since they glistened with enjoyment whenever they shared how Leptitox changed their life permanently. James Larang, Male 45 45-years old James is often a diabetic individual and is still carrying around a lot of supplemental burden that he had gathered in the last 20 years of his life. He also acquired the issue of getting excessive the urge to eat throughout the day. It was a Leptin resistance problem for certain. Carrying excess fat, James lacked the flexibility as well as Ability to regularly hit a fitness center; therefore , that option had to be ruled out. The only way out was to run the root-cause involving his obesity, and that is wherever Leptitox did its magic. He stumbled upon Leptitox when doing a little research on dietary supplements and idea of giving it a try since he realized that it was a natural weight-loss supplement. Though he had been cynical about his conclusion, at the beginning, it has been one month today, and immensely thanks Leptitox. The actual guy who couldn't get rid of 2 lbs in a couple of months soon lost 9 lbs in 1 month! Where to Acquire Leptitox & the Deals You Can Buy? When you search on the internet to get bottle of Leptitox, less complicated bombarded with plenty of websites that claim to provide massive discounts. Caution: Stay away from these websites! The manufacturer has not even detailed Leptitox on Amazon, and so, you must purchase the product straight from the official website of Leptitox to receive a genuine item. Right after going out-of-stock for quite some time, Leptitox is again back! Get currently while their catalog lasts. Prices for you Standard: 1 jar at $59 with Free Shipping (You spend less 40 ) Popular: three bottles at $49 every with 1 Free colon cleanse + Free Shipping (You save 150 ) Greatest benefit: 6 bottles at $39 each with 2 Free of charge colons cleanses + Free shipping and delivery (You save $360) Shipment and Return Policy Leptitox is available for online purchase via all over the world. Therefore , no matter whether your home is in the United States, it is still possible to enjoy the advantages of Leptitox. The manufacturer has provided that a 60-day money-back guarantee. In the event you are unhappy with the results of this weight loss dietary supplement, you will soon return the jar within just 60 days of order to the actual fulfillment center. While coming back the product to the manufacturer, it is best to add a special mention of the next details for a hassle-free, triumphal return: The ID on your ClickBank mentioned in the obtain listing Your full name in addition to full postal address (the address where you received the supplement) Your e-mail ID and phone/mobile amount Realization Leptitox is a natural along with secure way of weight loss. There is not any risk of any side effects with this item. It works by activating your body functions in steps to attain weight loss, without having to follow a few rigorous diet program as well as workout routine. Leptitox is offered inside shape of capsules; all you want to accomplish is take this pill with water and let this 5-second water hack work their wonders.

[paintandpotions]

How to SEO 2019

Article promotion will be an integral strategy of search engine optimization (SEO), and has been used by many people individuals plus companies to promote their picture in an effective manner. SEO webmasters must constantly be looking forward in purchase to stay afloat amid the changing technological environment and Search engines algorithm updates that dramatically change organic search results. Given Google's recent criteria updates, which are getting more and more smarter and more aware associated with low-level SEO tactics, there is usually no truly no longer any kind of replacement for authoritative, interesting, plus unique content that generates natural virality. We might end up being living inside the age of artificial cleverness, where SEO marketers are creating more personalized websites with the few tweaks to UX plus spending hours creating content intended for RankBrain. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in 2018 is actually a technical, analytical and innovative process to improve the presence of a website in lookup engines. Search motor optimization or SEO is debatably the most essential method in order to drive targeted traffic to your own website because it results within improved search engine placement. Even whitened hat, user-focused SEO techniques may fluctuate in efficacy as research platforms change and less honest sites try to game the particular system. Making use of that said…SEO is still just about all about content and links. Link building is usually a proven method of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION which means you should consider some SEO links best methods into account for 2018. Check out these 45+ Wp SEO tips and frequently inquired questionsย for 2018 to help a person achieve better results in Search engines (search engine ranking positions). SEOs will require to collaborate closely with developers and developers to prioritize specialized SEO and usability search motor ranking factors to gain the competitive edge. Meta description plays a main role in search engine position of your post so composing an SEO friendly meta explanation is essential for ranking aspect. Although I'm just the little later than I have got been in the past several years with this post, the particular time has come to discuss my SEO 2018 predictions plus trends to watch. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION today is what it's constantly been: making sure your site both ranks well and turns traffic. As an SEO, this particular means that you have in order to significantly raise your standards about quality content and links within order to achieve top research engine rankings. Presently there are no shortcuts when this comes to SEO, regardless associated with what some unethical search motor optimization providers will tell a person. Content denseness may be the major requirement of natural SEO services High-quality content plus proper keyword stuffing in the website helps to grab the particular attention of the viewers plus enables the website to obtain the traffic easily. Therefore, it's about time you transformed the way you conceptualize that will SEO strategies for mobile lookups. 1- We know that backlinks with robots or programs, that not great for SEO and Much larger Search engines do not love it we mention to Fiverr Gig”. Running both PPC plus SEO campaigns side by part can improve the CTR associated with keywords and therefore we obtain organic traffic. There are usually various powerful Top SEO methods ” which will help a person to get your site upon first page of Search motor. With the contribution associated with major search engines like Search engines and Bing, website owners are usually seeing technological SEO changes that will reflect in terms of improved user experiences. We are not able to develop a post about the particular top SEO trends in 2018 without writing about how AI and machine learning will influence SEO. Still, the key word aspect of SEO is getting increasingly difficult with Google Google adwords hiding volume data. A successful SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy in 2018 will shift towards relationship building, helping the brand develop powerful contacts plus links that will be helpful in a longer term. As search engines keep on to develop more advanced technology and responsiveness to online lookups, new SEO techniques will come up to keep companies ranking higher on search engines. Within this post, we've broken straight down the very best SEO techniques in order to help you skyrocket your ranks and boost your number associated with monthly visitors.

Simply by optimizing Youtube videos, your web site will get traffic from Search engines as well as the movie publishing platform, so make certain your video titles and explanations are SEO friendly to create them rank on search. It might be the case (and We surmise this) that the introduction of the certain SEO technique initially unnaturally raised your rankings for your own pages in a way that will Google's algorithms do not say yes to of, and once that issue is spread out throughout your own site, traffic begins to weaken or is slammed in the future algorithm update. Technical optimization consists of every thing that SEOs do to create it easier for search motors to find a website. Our SEO company ratings are based off of points like affordability, the other solutions they provide, and the history they have with their present and past clients. Combined with the quality content, the relevance of inbound links will also be a main aspect of SEO 2018 in order to consider. Yes, I agree along with you Karthikeyan Maruthai, We Need to Know Above Off-page SEO Methods to Achieve Very Good Position. SEO changes along with the time and has arrive a long way from dark hat days of link gardening and keyword stuffing to the particular rise of machine learning AI's. SEO will not only mean placing related keywords at the proper location. Maybe you bought several, or maybe your SEO don't care too much regarding the high quality of the links he constructed for you. It does not matter if you are a local business delete word, search engines greatly value backlinks as well as the SEO value” they bring with these. Most of the particular classic SEO elements still keep a lot of weight, issues like incoming links and inner structures so we're having in order to optimize for those but at the same time most see the writing upon the wall - AI is definitely pushing its way into the particular algorithm and with it a good increased ability for Google in order to comprehend a user's intent plus whether a page meets that will intent and deliver that since a result that regardless associated with many of those classic indicators.

HTML Sitemap is one associated with the small factor for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking. Links are extremely important intended for SEO. Most SEO newsletters summarize topics mentioned in social mass media and on popular marketing sites. Advanced strategy: Use one of the best SEO tools to research key phrase alternatives and search volume. Both of these factors are enough to effectively adjust search engine rankings which will be why this SEO technique will be classified as a serious dark hat. Ideas you suggested for SEO Progress are valuable as Websites have got to undergo SEO Audit through timt to time to remain On top of search motor results, I was currently searching out for SEO advance Techniques to Improve website ranking, Found out Out your post relevant. Marketing on industry-specific directories and marketplaces, speaking in targeted conferences, appearing on appropriate podcasts, and increasing site visitors through newsletters are practices that will are good for SEO plus make perfect sense in the world without search engines. You are able in order to put up a team yet it would take a great deal of time because you've got to create substantial research and training just before you can incorporate it. This this case, hiring the solutions of an SEO firm will be the best choice for a person. So in particular when someone is pasting links upon a spammy site, or probably a previous SEO went away from and ran some script in order to place links and a few of forums, and you aren't clean that up for whichever reason, and you don't have got a manual action, but a person want to make sure this doesn't even get that significantly, then the disavow file is definitely a great method to simply like preemptively say well I understand about these issues, I may wish to lose any rest over them, I'm just heading to disavow them and obtain them taken out of the particular equation. Cell phone optimization for local users, together with the rise of tone of voice search, can provide an superb way to produce a prosperous SEO strategy in 2018 simply by facilitating the search experience by means of personalized and relevant answers. In 2017, with all the introduction associated with new SEO techniques it arrived to light that using a good Alt image can proof in order to be quite effective in improving your ranking online. Within case you are struggling along with the search engine optimization intended for your internet store, please feel free of charge to fill out our on the web form and we will supply you with a free SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION analysis of your website together with improvement suggestions. In brief, SEO drives two things : rankings and visibility. It has an SEO industry debate as in order to the validity of PA plus DA, and exactly how very much influence the PageRank algorithm nevertheless holds in Google results (more on that in a bit), but outside of Google's very own analytics, they're the most broadly accepted metrics available. Just go by means of the list of Best SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Agencies compiled by the analysis team of GoodFirms and employ one you think can modify the game of SEO with regard to your business. Knowing that will, smart SEOs are starting in order to optimize a selection of their own content for voice search. A write-up within states that 85% of people prefer native mobile apps in order to websites Feature your brand conspicuously in the app name plus be sure you have correct links to apps for much better search rankings Also, you have to assure that app optimization tops your own list of SEO optimization. You need to give upward the on-page SEO practices plus techniques belonging to the old-school. On-Page SEO refers to all the particular things that you can perform ON your website to assist you rank higher, such since page titles, internal linking, meta tags & descriptions, and therefore forth Hey John, I'm in the current treatment for optimizing my YouTube Route and update everything I may to improve its SEO ratings. To stay on the best it is mandatory to believe from the box which delivers the particular best quality at ease along with holistic SEO approach in 2018 ADDLEAD is leading Digital marketing and advertising agency specialized in SEO, Sociable media management, website designing plus online branding. Subscribe to the One Grain blog now for that most recent content on SEO, PPC, compensated social, and the future associated with online marketing. 2018 (I believe) will be a lots of catch up on current SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION themes, with the biggest trends” occurring around voice queries in order to search results. Off-page SEO quite efficiently in promoting your company where social media, bookmarking websites, forums, blog directory, Q&A, posts, videos, image and infographic posting, and document sharing play nicely. Apart from the particular ethical questions raised over littering the web with rehashed plus useless content, this black head wear SEO tactic makes it hard for search engines to physique out which page is unique and relevant to the provided search query. Visual search is altering the world of search and also a good SEO strategy to think about this 2018 is to in fact think about the way individuals consume visual content. Tracking your website and keyword rankings is a part of your SEO process that allows you to make content decisions to get the most away from SEO.

Today, this article will offer Top 10 SEO Trends That will Will Matter in 2018 plus which will also help within improving the rank of the particular business domain and website or some kind of related landing page. Organic SEO is not therefore easy to attain for brand name spanking new websites. 2017 has understood the predominance of Accelerated Mobile phone Pages by Google, the excursion of HTTPS and the importance of backlinks became a requirement for any SEO professional. Paid methods that are easily scalable, such as Facebook ads or a Search engines AdWords pay-per-click campaign can assist to drive revenue as you invest the time required to enjoy the advantages of SEO. On the subject of speed, at the beginning of 2017 there was still much resistance to AMP in the SEO community overall, but as we head toward 2018 that feels to be dissipating now somewhat with a reluctant acceptance that AMPLIFIER looks as though it's not really going away sooner. Marketing knowledge, since the ability to specify our audience, understand their conduct, and anticipate their needs along with proper answers and solution is usually tied directly (keyword and topical ointment research) and indirectly (search consumer experience and users' metrics) in order to earning the widest SEO presence. All of all of us need to reduce old methods and work on evolving strategies to rank on top in 2018 Listed might be the TOP 10 SEO trends that are in buzz for 2018 which will definitely set a person on your way to getting a trending name on the particular internet. Being an SEO specialist, you should plan your marketing and advertising strategy keeping the mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION in the mind. This means, unfortunately, SEOs need to play their video game and provide just as very much structured data as possible in order to that Google can manipulate plus display it to their customers as it wants. There is definitely a ton of detail in order to ranking in the SEO planet, to rank in Google's outcomes. There is no secret regarding SEO in 2018: Two Terms: Mobile Speed. Google drives 96% of cellular search traffic, and you might have noticed that the vast majority of the latest trends within SEO are tied around cellular users, while desktops are getting a secondary touch point with regard to a lot of users. Adopting the most happening SEO Tendencies continues to be the primary value of efficient Digital Advertising strategy in recent days. People love to gain access to the internet while they are usually on the go, meaning nearby SEO is going to turn out to be much more popular. SEO means search engine optimization. Google, the world's most utilized internet search engine, is every single eager to keep webmasters, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION experts and businesses on their feet. By giving you an SEO tool that will give you a unique regarding just how much your organic traffic may be worth, along with keeping track of external links and monitoring competitors. The results also emphasize the value of creating fresh at ease with your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION marketing strategy. Fortunately, for SEO-focused keyword study, these two tools are plenty of to generate thousands of possible keywords. Local SEO will carry on as a popular SEO plus digital marketing trend in 2018 for local businesses. With the passing associated with time, search engines such because Google, Yahoo keep on altering their algorithms for SEO. Interpersonal SEO is not a individual branch of SEO also it will not soon be replacing traditional SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, but social signals have turn out to be increasingly integrated into search motor algorithms.

Portable SEO trends and strategies will certainly continue to morph and change. While I understand all about the SEO things: SEO title, focus keywords and so on, my challenge is writing different headlines that contain all the particular focus keywords. Canonical: This connect to handles content syndication, which basically allows other blogs to distribute your work (similar to franchising) without hurting your website's SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking—simply by adding a rel=canonical will get your brand and articles from the web in several outlets, ensuring a greater get to and bigger audience without harming your own search results. I am just curious - sometimes with your own chapter-based guides, you have most of them on a solitary page like this one, yet sometimes they're separate pages along with an overview page as the sort of intro + desk of contents, like the Key phrase Research for SEO Definitive Guideline. A much great number of social media events will highlight that your content material is well engaged with the particular users as well as this is likely to create the value for the users, as a result SEO experts must leverage properly for the social media plus brand mentions as well.

The biggest craze of SEO 2018 according in order to me will be the use of Synthetic intelligence by the Google plus the increase in the quantity of character within the meta description. I actually see a couple of present trends that will continue in order to dominate SEO in 2018. Google offers stated on the record that will page loading speed is a good SEO ranking signal (and these people recently made PageSpeed even EVEN MORE important ). You are capable to boost your site rate by using a CDN, compressing images, and switching to quicker hosting. It is perhaps one of the most important Local SEO ranking factors for local business websites. SEO indicates exactly what it meant within 1997, right about the period I started writing about this. Easily expressed: Creating good, understandable, content that individuals feel required to share (a definition simply as frustrating now to individuals who want overcomplicated answers because it was two decades ago). Search Engine Optimization, which usually is also known as SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, is the process of raising the volume and quality associated with traffic to a website through search engines via organic or even search engine results. I spent regarding 1 or 2 hours upon the Internet for Best On-Page SEO strategy but did not really get any posts so that will I can be satisfied that will this is the best technique for seo. It is definitely important to keep your internet site and the users updated in order to get an SEO ranking aspect. Remember that a research engine listing remains an advertising, so we must get our own marketing dialled in together along with our SEO. Incorrect Usage of anchors and Poor on-page SEO No matter exactly how many backlinks you send the particular Rankings will get stuck plus go down. Therefore for you to keep upward within the SEO game, really crucial to develop mobile-friendly sites. Simply no, content marketing does not sama dengan SEO, so Content Marketing Institute's content is not an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION blog, per se. But, this particular site offers a lot useful information that we decided in order to include it in our listing; and, yes. An SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION expert could probably utilize a mixture of AdWords for the preliminary data, Google Search Console intended for website monitoring, and Google Analytics for internal website data. The competition is usually quite high and only these using fair and smart SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques will stay in the particular top ranks of search outcomes. SEO encompasses both the particular technical and creative elements needed to improve rankings, drive visitors, and increase awareness in lookup engines. Ontolo is a analysis tool you can use in order to find marketing and SEO possibilities. Shamefully missed: Certainly the voice search will end up being a very important aspect for that SEO this 2018. This particular means, in case your site is not mobile friendly, this might have a serious impact on your SEO, as Search engines want to ensure mobile customers are receiving relevant and optimised search results. The Latest SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION updates are proportional to Google's algorithm updates that search motors receive through the end. Along with the most of Google lookups happening on mobile, it can make sense that a mobile-friendly encounter must be at the forefront associated with any SEO strategy for 2018. Indeed, 2017 saw a number of major leaps forward for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, from an increased focus upon machine learning for search motors to modifications in our method that consumers search for info online. Really widely believed that mobile looking, mobile advertising, mobile SEO advertising, plus much more are no longer 2nd in priority” or afterthoughts. Technical knowledge because technologies plays a huge role within creating, optimizing, and benefiting through every available search marketing chance (e. g., AMP, PWA, wealthy results, angular SEO). The particular field of search engine marketing SEO 2019 Slide (SEO) is indeed ever-changing. On-page optimization, furthermore called on-page SEO, ensures that will search engines a. ) realize a page's topic and key phrases, and b. ) can fit it to relevant searches. In 2018, SEO strategy inside the contemplate however we have a tendency to consume visual content, and the way search engines transcend text to explore ever-changing search habits. These SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION crawler programs resemble Google's personal crawlers and will provide a person with an overview of just how your page will perform within SEO rankings.

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How to SEO 2019

Article promotion will be an integral strategy of search engine optimization (SEO), and has been followed by many people individuals plus companies to promote their picture in an effective manner. SEO webmasters must usually be looking forward in purchase to stay afloat amid the changing technological environment and Search engines algorithm updates that dramatically change organic search results. Given Google's recent criteria updates, which are getting progressively smarter and more aware associated with low-level SEO tactics, there is definitely no truly no longer any kind of replacement for authoritative, interesting, plus unique content that generates natural virality. We might become living inside the age of artificial cleverness, where SEO marketers are creating more personalized websites with the few tweaks to UX plus spending hours creating content with regard to RankBrain. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in 2018 is actually a technical, analytical and innovative process to improve the presence of a website in lookup engines. Search motor optimization or SEO is debatably the most essential method in order to drive targeted traffic to your own website because it results within improved search engine placement. Disavow poor links that might affect your own SEO. According in order to experts, Content is the nearly all critical element of SEO tendencies in 2018. SEO Wise Links provides automatic SEO advantages for your site in inclusion to custom keyword lists, from it and much more. For the past few yrs, a focus on mobile-friendly consumer experiences is becoming more plus more prominent, and although this has already been a key aspect within SEO, it will hit the peak in 2018. It is vital toward the future success of your own online marketing and SEO performance that you get the correct individuals with the right abilities and knowledge to assist a person make the necessary changes. Great post, We am really impressed with all the strategies you spoke about within the particular content, there were quite the few new strategies on offpage seo which makes your site the must read for the customers, The newest things that I arrived across while reading your site had been - Direct Link Enquiry through Known Sources, Building Visual Articles Resources, Testimonial link Building, Brand name Mentions into Links. Tips you suggested for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Advance are valuable as Sites need to undergo SEO Review from timt to time in order to stay On top of research engine results, I was presently taking care of SEO progress Strategies to Improve website rating, Found Out your post related. The tone of voice search is getting vital with regard to SEO. The moot stage of any SEO strategy, is actually still imperative to learn how in order to use keywords the right method. It means ensuring that will your site is designed, constructed, maintained with SEO best procedures to make sure that lookup engines don't have any specialized limitations with indexing or knowing your content. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION activities when boosted with each internal and external resources, that will is On-Page optimization techniques and also external Off-Page tactics like visitor blogging and social media marketing and advertising gives speedy outcomes. SEO problems and top 10 google outcomes for keyword. The initial stage for top-tier local SEO is definitely claiming all local listings such as Google My Business (obviously one of the most important) as well as other people like Yellowpages, Bing, and 411. Plus spending all your time (or paying some SEO firm) in order to sit there and build back links to suit your needs laced with keywords… this is a waste of your own time and money. With a very aggressive technique, proper keyword research, great SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION content, on-page and off web page SEO, you could begin in order to see the rewards of search positions within a few months. Nicely, Hyperlocal SEO should be away right at the end associated with 2017, many experts believe this and so do I. Nevertheless, it may come anytime plus it's time to focus upon local search as your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION opportunities in 2018. SEO is getting more important year after 12 months and the ones who spend time upon increasing the product quality and experience associated with their sites will benefit significantly. In today's quickly shifting world, SEO techniques may change on a dime—and the particular worst part is that a person may not even know this. Hacks that could have gained you a front-page result simply because recently as 2016 are not really only obsolete now, but they will may even hurt your cyberspace rankings.

Simply by optimizing Youtube videos, your web site will get traffic from Search engines as well as the movie publishing platform, so make certain your video titles and explanations are SEO friendly to create them rank on search. It might be the case (and I actually surmise this) that the introduction of the certain SEO technique initially unnaturally raised your rankings for your own pages in a way that will Google's algorithms do not say yes to of, and once that issue is spread out throughout your own site, traffic begins to degrade or is slammed in the future algorithm update. Technical optimization consists of almost everything that SEOs do to create it easier for search motors to find a website. Our SEO company ratings are based off of points like affordability, the other providers they provide, and the history they have with their present and past clients. Combined with the quality content, the relevance of inbound links will also be a main aspect of SEO 2018 in order to consider. Yes, I agree along with you Karthikeyan Maruthai, We Need to Know Above Off-page SEO Methods to Achieve Very Good Position. SEO changes along with the time and has arrive a long way from dark hat days of link gardening and keyword stuffing to the particular rise of machine learning AI's. SEO will not only mean placing appropriate keywords at the proper location. Maybe you bought several, or maybe your SEO don't care too much in regards to the high quality of the links he constructed for you. It does not matter if you are a local business delete word, search engines greatly value backlinks as well as the SEO value” they bring with these. Most of the particular classic SEO elements still keep a lot of weight, items like incoming links and inner structures so we're having in order to optimize for those but concurrently most see the writing upon the wall - AI will be pushing its way into the particular algorithm and with it a good increased ability for Google in order to comprehend a user's intent plus whether a page meets that will intent and deliver that since a result that regardless associated with many of those classic indicators.

HTML Sitemap is one associated with the small factor for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking. Links are extremely important intended for SEO. Most SEO newsletters summarize topics mentioned in social press and on popular marketing websites. Advanced approach: Use one of the best SEO tools to research key word alternatives and search volume. Both of these factors are enough to effectively change search engine rankings which is definitely why this SEO technique is usually classified as a serious dark hat. Suggestions you suggested for SEO Progress are valuable as Websites have got to undergo SEO Audit through timt to time to remain On top of search motor results, I was currently searching out for SEO advance Methods to Improve website ranking, Present Out your post relevant. Marketing on industry-specific directories and marketplaces, speaking with targeted conferences, appearing on related podcasts, and increasing site visitors through newsletters are practices that will are good for SEO plus make perfect sense in the world without search engines. Their own product categories often rank very first in search under keywords such as ‘weightlifting shoes. ' They concentrate primarily on on-site SEO. Some search engines have furthermore provided to the SEO business, and are frequent sponsors plus guests at SEO conferences, webchats, and seminars. Seems ranking movies last few weeks for key phrase like SEO Outsourcing” and Wp training London” and some SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION agency terms here. Because an SEO person, you have to be actually fast at learning and presenting innovative tactics to stay forward in the competition, and making sure that your company appears upon the first page from the particular search engines is not since easy a job as it can appear. With all the particular talk in the SEO globe today about content and cultural signals it's easy to overlook just a little thing that will happens to be the basis of SEO: keyword research. I am just along with you 100%, I think #0, AMP, video and all RankBrain stuff it's gonna make the particular main subjects in SEO (and marketing) for 2. 017. In 2017, using the introduction associated with new SEO techniques it emerged to light that using a good Alt image can proof in order to be quite effective in improving your ranking on the internet. Within case you are struggling along with the search engine optimization regarding your internet store, please feel free of charge to fill out our on the internet form and we will offer you with a free SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION analysis of your website together with improvement suggestions. In brief, SEO drives two things -- rankings and visibility. It has an SEO industry debate as in order to the validity of PA plus DA, and exactly how very much influence the PageRank algorithm nevertheless holds in Google results (more on that in a bit), but outside of Google's personal analytics, they're the most broadly accepted metrics on the market. Just go via the list of Best SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Agencies compiled by the analysis team of GoodFirms and employ the main one you think can alter the game of SEO intended for your business. Knowing that will, smart SEOs are starting in order to optimize a selection of their particular content for voice search. A write-up within states that 85% of people prefer native mobile apps in order to websites Feature your brand conspicuously in the app name plus be sure you have correct links to apps for much better search rankings Also, you need to make sure that app optimization tops your own list of SEO optimization. You need to give upward the on-page SEO practices plus techniques belonging to the old-school. On-Page SEO refers to all the particular things that you can perform ON your website to assist you rank higher, such because page titles, internal linking, meta tags & descriptions, and therefore forth Hey John, I'm in the current method for optimizing my YouTube Route and update everything I may to improve its SEO search positions. To stay on the best it is mandatory to believe from the box which delivers the particular best quality at ease along with holistic SEO approach in 2018 ADDLEAD is leading Digital marketing and advertising agency specialized in SEO, Sociable media management, website designing plus online branding. In case a person are reading this blog right now, you'd probably understand what Research Engine Optimization” is. It will be quite commonly called SEO I am just giving you a fast short on Search Engine Optimization, sorts of SEO techniques, the techniques involved in these processes and so on. With recent Google changes, failing to look after mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION could cause search invisibility, plus mobile's bringing other changes you will need to be ready regarding. We all know that testimonials and social proofing are important in online marketing and business in general, but they are a lot more crucial in case of local business SEO. By customizing knowledge graph under SEO you might be giving helpful information to customers to make best decision. In 2018, we'll see search engines make use of that data to serve customized digital experiences to individual customers and SEOs will seek in order to find a method to adjust that algorithm to find a benefit for their clients. If you want to properly optimise the SEO of your local business website and keep growing and getting stronger in the search engine rankings, you will have to regularly operate a Local SEO audit on your website.

Today, this article will supply Top 10 SEO Trends That will Will Matter in 2018 plus which will also help within improving the rank of the particular business domain and website or any type of related landing page. Organic SEO is not therefore easy to attain for brand name spanking new websites. 2017 has noticed the predominance of Accelerated Mobile phone Pages by Google, the excursion of HTTPS and the importance of backlinks became a requirement for any SEO professional. Paid techniques that are easily scalable, such as Facebook ads or a Search engines AdWords pay-per-click campaign can assist to drive revenue when you invest the time required to enjoy the advantages of SEO. On the subject of speed, at the beginning of 2017 there was still much resistance to AMP in the SEO community overall, but as we head toward 2018 that feels to be dissipating now somewhat with a reluctant acceptance that AMPLIFYING DEVICE looks as though it's not really going away sooner. Marketing experience, since the ability to establish our audience, understand their habits, and anticipate their needs along with proper answers and solution is definitely tied directly (keyword and topical ointment research) and indirectly (search consumer experience and users' metrics) in order to earning the widest SEO presence. All of all of us need to reduce old methods and work on evolving strategies to rank on top in 2018 Listed might be the TOP 10 SEO trends that are in buzz for 2018 which will definitely set a person on your way to getting a trending name on the particular internet. Being an SEO professional, you should plan your marketing and advertising strategy keeping the mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION in the mind. This means, unfortunately, SEOs need to play their video game and provide just as significantly structured data as possible in order to that Google can manipulate plus display it to their customers as it wants. There is definitely a ton of detail in order to ranking in the SEO globe, to rank in Google's outcomes. There is no secret regarding SEO in 2018: Two Words and phrases: Mobile Speed. Google drives 96% of cellular search traffic, and you might have noticed that the vast majority of the latest trends within SEO are tied around cellular users, while desktops are getting a secondary touch point intended for a lot of users. Pursuing the most happening SEO Styles continues to be the primary value of efficient Digital Advertising strategy in recent days. People love to gain access to the internet while they are usually on the go, meaning regional SEO is going to turn out to be much more popular. SEO means search engine optimization. Google, the world's most utilized internet search engine, is each eager to keep webmasters, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION experts and businesses on their feet. By giving you an SEO tool that will give you a unique regarding just how much your organic traffic will be worth, along with keeping track of external links and monitoring competitors. The results also emphasize the value of creating fresh at ease with your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION marketing strategy. Fortunately, for SEO-focused keyword study, these two tools are more than enough to generate thousands of possible keywords. Local SEO will keep on as a popular SEO plus digital marketing trend in 2018 for local businesses. With the passing associated with time, search engines such because Google, Yahoo keep on altering their algorithms for SEO. Interpersonal SEO is not a individual branch of SEO plus it is not going to soon be replacing traditional SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, but social signals have turn out to be increasingly integrated into search motor algorithms.

The SEO trends 2018 want to cover all this quite well. Search Engine property says that As early because 2014, 55% of teens plus 41 percent of adults had been already using voice technology daily, plus in 2017 there is the drastic change in the planet of SEO according to Search engines study 41% of USA grownups use voice search in the daily basis to avoid keying in on devices. Just since the SEO world is transforming, so should we. Here are usually three SEO trends quickly reshaping the keyword research concept plus with it the way within which we brainstorm, create, plus optimize content. Best SEO techniques are usually based on writing content structured on popular search keywords yet it also depends on the particular responsiveness of your website. Therefore, in accordance along with the latest SEO trends plus techniques, make sure you improve your site with both movie and image searches. DareBoostย โ€By using DareBoost, you can get a very detailed web performance and quality report of your website. ย They also explain how to fix the problems from the report precisely so that you can optimize your loading time and technical SEO.

The biggest tendency of SEO 2018 according in order to me will be the use of Synthetic intelligence by the Google plus the increase in the amount of character within the meta description. I actually see a couple of present trends that will continue in order to dominate SEO in 2018. Google provides stated on the record that will page loading speed is a good SEO ranking signal (and they will recently made PageSpeed even EVEN MORE important ). You are capable to boost your site rate by using a CDN, compressing images, and switching to quicker hosting. It is perhaps one of the most important Local SEO ranking factors for local business websites. SEO indicates exactly what it meant within 1997, right about the period I started writing about this. Easily expressed: Creating good, understandable, content that individuals feel required to share (a definition simply as frustrating now to these who want overcomplicated answers because it was two decades ago). Search Engine Optimization, which usually is also known as SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, is the process of raising the volume and quality associated with traffic to a website through search engines via organic or even search engine results. I spent regarding 1 or 2 hours upon the Internet for Best On-Page SEO strategy but did not really get any posts so that will I can be satisfied that will this is the best technique for seo. It is definitely important to keep your site and the users updated in order to get an SEO ranking element. Remember that a lookup engine listing continues to be an advertising, so we must get the marketing dialled in together along with our SEO. Incorrect Usage of anchors and Poor on-page SEO No matter just how many backlinks you send the particular Rankings will get stuck plus go down. Therefore for you to keep upward within the SEO game, it can crucial to develop mobile-friendly internet sites. Simply no, content marketing does not sama dengan SEO, so Content Marketing Institute's content is not an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION blog, per se. But, this particular site offers a lot beneficial information that we decided in order to include it in our listing; and, yes. An SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION expert could probably work with a mixture of AdWords for the preliminary data, Google Search Console with regard to website monitoring, and Google Analytics for internal website data. The competition will be quite high and only individuals using fair and smart SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques will stay in the particular top ranks of search outcomes. SEO encompasses both the particular technical and creative elements needed to improve rankings, drive visitors, and increase awareness in lookup engines. Ontolo is a analysis tool you can use in order to find marketing and SEO possibilities. Shamefully missed: Certainly the voice search will end up being a very important aspect for your SEO this 2018. This particular means, in case your web site is not mobile friendly, this might have a serious impact on your SEO, as Search engines want to ensure mobile customers are receiving relevant and optimised search results. The Latest SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION updates are proportional to Google's algorithm updates that search motors receive through the end. Along with the most of Google queries happening on mobile, it can make sense that a mobile-friendly encounter must be at the forefront associated with any SEO strategy for 2018. Because a result, SEOs increasingly follow accelerated mobile pages and improve the user experience for cellular: from page load time in order to navigation, information architecture, and style. Is actually important to realize that lookup engines don't use meta explanation being an SEO ranking element. Similarly, the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Tips and Techniques expects a few changes to images and video clips in the year 2018. Basically, they stick to a process of including forthcoming SEO trends to promote the website's rankings, thereby boosting specialist and visibility of a company. On the some other SEO 2019 Slide hand, you can't build hyperlinks from fashion related blogs or even articles for your SEO suggestions article. If you have got an eCommerce website (or actually any website), then you certainly need SEO to help a person bring in more high-intent visitors, which will likely convert straight into qualified leads or sales intended for your business. You should change your 1st image This video is positioning #3 for the keyword โ€SEO strategyโ€… today your video will be ranking #2 for that key word.

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How to SEO 2019

Search engine optimization (SEO) is usually the procedure for improving the particular volume and quality of visitors to a website from research engines via search results intended for targeted keywords. The particular volume or productivity is not really the only way to place a smile on the encounter, rather the optimum SEO methods are the effective methods in order to make the search process dependable and efficient for the customers as well as for the particular marketers. Growing opportunities in order to connect brand and user integrate today's market, making it essential that you improve your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and happy to take benefit of these unique and related statistics. Very helpful information for me personally, thanks a lot for sharing with us, yet i would like to ask that I are doing seo for online mag and which new techniques we can use to have even more traffic to our website. In case your own video stinks, it won't rank…no matter how optimized it is usually for SEO. In light with this, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION services are compatible with research engines and you may simply work along with the guidelines of the best search engines out there. The work of the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is to make your web site indexed by the search motor. Disavow poor links that might affect your own SEO. According in order to experts, Content is the almost all critical element of SEO styles in 2018. SEO Wise Links provides automatic SEO advantages for your site in inclusion to custom keyword lists, from it and much more. For the past few many years, a focus on mobile-friendly consumer experiences is becoming more plus more prominent, and although this has already been a key aspect within SEO, it will hit the peak in 2018. It is vital in the direction of the future success of your own online marketing and SEO usefulness that you get the correct individuals with the right abilities and knowledge to assist a person make the necessary changes. Great post, I actually am really impressed using the strategies you spoke about within the particular content, there were quite the few new strategies on offpage seo which makes your site the must read for the customers, The brand new things that I arrived across while reading your website had been - Direct Link Enquiry through Known Sources, Building Visual Content material Resources, Testimonial link Building, Brand name Mentions into Links. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION today is what it's often been: making sure your web site both ranks well and turns traffic. As an SEO, this particular means that you have in order to significantly raise your standards about quality content and links within order to achieve top lookup engine rankings. Presently there are no shortcuts when this comes to SEO, regardless associated with what some unethical search motor optimization providers will tell a person. Content thickness may be the major requirement of natural SEO services High-quality content plus proper keyword stuffing in the website helps to grab the particular attention of the viewers plus enables the website to obtain the traffic easily. Therefore, it's about time you transformed the way you conceptualize that will SEO strategies for mobile lookups. 1- I actually know that backlinks with crawlers or programs, that not great for SEO and Your government Search engines do not love it i actually mention to Fiverr Gig”. Running both PPC plus SEO campaigns side by part can improve the CTR associated with keywords and therefore we obtain organic traffic. There are usually various powerful Top SEO methods ” which will help a person to get your site upon first page of Search motor. With the contribution associated with major search engines like Search engines and Bing, website owners are usually seeing technological SEO changes that will reflect in terms of improved user experiences. We can not develop a post about the particular top SEO trends in 2018 without writing about how AI and machine learning will effect SEO. Still, the key phrase aspect of SEO is getting increasingly difficult with Google Google adwords hiding volume data. A successful SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy in 2018 will shift towards relationship building, helping the brand develop powerful contacts plus links that will be advantageous in a longer term. As search engines carry on to develop more advanced technology and responsiveness to online queries, new SEO techniques will come out to keep companies ranking higher on search engines. Within this post, we've broken straight down the very best SEO techniques in order to help you skyrocket your ratings and boost your number associated with monthly visitors. Simply by optimizing Youtube videos, your web site will get traffic from Search engines as well as the movie publishing platform, so make certain your video titles and explanations are SEO friendly to create them rank on search. It might be the case (and We surmise this) that the introduction of the certain SEO technique initially unnaturally raised your rankings for your own pages in a way that will Google's algorithms do not say yes to of, and once that issue is spread out throughout your own site, traffic begins to degrade or is slammed in the future algorithm update. Technical optimization consists of every thing that SEOs do to create it easier for search motors to find a website. Our SEO company ranks are based off of issues like affordability, the other providers they provide, and the history they have with their present and past clients. Together with the quality content, the relevance of inbound links will also be a main aspect of SEO 2018 in order to consider. Yes, I agree along with you Karthikeyan Maruthai, We Ought to Know Above Off-page SEO Strategies to Achieve Very Good Rating. SEO changes along with the time and has arrive a long way from dark hat days of link gardening and keyword stuffing to the particular rise of machine learning AI's. SEO will not only mean placing appropriate keywords at the proper location. Maybe you bought several, or maybe your SEO don't care too much regarding the high quality of the links he constructed for you. It does not matter if you are a local business delete word, search engines greatly value backlinks as well as the SEO value” they bring together. Most of the particular classic SEO elements still keep a lot of weight, points like incoming links and inner structures so we're having in order to optimize for those but at the same time most see the writing upon the wall - AI is usually pushing its way into the particular algorithm and with it a good increased ability for Google in order to comprehend a user's intent plus whether a page meets that will intent and deliver that because a result that regardless associated with many of those classic indicators. HTML Sitemap is one associated with the small factor for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking. Links are extremely important intended for SEO. Most SEO newsletters summarize topics mentioned in social mass media and on popular marketing websites. Advanced technique: Use one of the best SEO tools to research key phrase alternatives and search volume. Both of these factors are enough to effectively adjust search engine rankings which will be why this SEO technique is definitely classified as a serious dark hat. Suggestions you suggested for SEO Progress are valuable as Websites have got to undergo SEO Audit through timt to time to remain On top of search motor results, I was currently searching out for SEO advance Methods to Improve website ranking, Found out Out your post relevant. Marketing on industry-specific directories and marketplaces, speaking in targeted conferences, appearing on appropriate podcasts, and increasing site visitors through newsletters are practices that will are good for SEO plus make perfect sense in the world without search engines. Their particular product categories often rank very first in search under keywords such as ‘weightlifting shoes. ' They concentrate primarily on on-site SEO. Some search engines have furthermore provided to the SEO business, and are frequent sponsors plus guests at SEO conferences, webchats, and seminars. Trying to find ranking video clips last few weeks for key phrase like SEO Outsourcing” and Wp training London” and some SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION agency terms here. Since an SEO person, you have to be actually fast at learning and presenting innovative tactics to stay forward in the competition, and making sure that your company appears upon the first page from the particular search engines is not since easy a job as it can appear. With all the particular talk in the SEO globe today about content and sociable signals it's easy to overlook just a little thing that will happens to be the basis of SEO: keyword research. I am just along with you 100%, I think #0, AMP, video and all RankBrain stuff it's gonna make the particular main subjects in SEO (and marketing) for 2. 017. 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[templeofgeek]

We spoke with Brandon Keeney!  His ultra detailed art caught our eye and we’re looking forward to seeing him at Wondercon this weekend!

Q.  Out of college you were a 2D animator and then realized everything shifted to CG, what was it like coming to that realization?

I made the realization about halfway through my college courses in Media Arts and Animation, and it was a little sad. I fell in love with the look and feel of traditional animation when I was a kid, but I didn’t really understand the process until I took started taking classes. I immediately fell in love with the process and focused all my school work around it. To have that introduction and spark of passion followed by the constant reminders that it was a dying art form was tough. During my senior year I tried to shift focus towards Flash animation because it combined computers and elements of hand drawn, but the technology at the time wasn’t far enough along to bridge the gap for me. I think if we had been using Cintiqs and drawing directly on the computer screen it would have helped, but the only tablets we had sat on the desk while we looked at the monitors and created a disconnect from the screen and your hand. It also consisted of a lot of shape manipulation and less with drawing.This made the process feel very unnatural to me.

Q.  After that realization is that what led you to selling your art?

Shortly after graduation I was introduced to sketch cards on E-Bay. My mom actually discovered them and sent me the information, thinking it was something I’d enjoy doing. I saw artists creating tiny illustrations and paintings and selling them to consumers. Through sketch cards I met many talented artists who were making it work as self employed freelancers. I think that was the primary motivation: to be able to take and pursue the jobs I want and not to have to work for someone else.

Q.  Are you anti-CG or have you started to embrace it?

I don’t ever remember disliking CG, or the look of it. The process just never inspired me like traditional art did. Even now, when I work digitally I incorporate traditional techniques and even scan in textures and my penciled linework. Moving 3D shapes around in software just didn’t evoke that same passion in me. The amount of time I had to spend troubleshooting, or learning the software and rendering the scenes drove me crazy. I do love the stuff that is being done with CG though. I think around the time of Tangled, when Glen Keane was trying to incorporate a lot of hand drawn stuff into the production of the film, that CG movies reached an upper echelon of beauty and movement that I hadn’t really seen before that.

Q.  Which came first for you the geeky stuff or the art?  And when did you combine the two?

They both came at a very early age. I was drawing in elementary school. I would draw non-stop, all kinds of things, but my favorite things to draw were X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I grew up around art and it always felt natural to grab a pencil and draw the stuff I was interested in, and what I was interested in was comics and cartoons.

Q.  You’re a fan of Star Wars and baseball… can we see them combined in your art in the future?

Ha! That certainly is an interesting idea, albeit has never crossed my mind before. I can’t say it’s impossible, but I’m not sure I’ll be drawing Star Wars baseball illustrations anytime soon.

  Q. What’s one tip you’d like to give young artists out there?

Don’t give up. Keep drawing, keep learning, keep struggling, and keep failing. People always tell me I have such “talent” but I constantly remind myself that it is skill, and it is from decades of practicing and making mistakes. Sometimes making the same mistakes over and over and over. It’s not like I could just draw well the second I picked up a pencil, it took a lot of time, and I’ve had a lot of ups and downs with art. The successful artists are the ones who never give up.

Q.  The incredible detail in your art really stands out to me, some of it you can see every intricate pencil stroke… how long does the average piece take you? Are you also super obsessive about every detail?

The amount of time I spend on a piece varies considerably. If it’s a portrait with no background I typically spend between 5-10 hours on it, but that changes based on size and medium. Anything more complicated than a single face take considerably longer to finish. Oil paintings take FOREVER to finish because of the drying time between layers. Often times it will take me weeks or months to finish an oil painting because I need to wait several days for it to dry between layers. I prefer to work in acrylic because it dries much faster and I can get in and get to the details sooner. I’m not obsessive, but I know what I like and when something doesn’t look right I will re-work it over and over until I think it does.

Q.  In 2014 you were forced to work out of your comfort zone to make larger pieces… are you still uncomfortable with that? and are you pushing yourself to be more uncomfortable?

As I said before, I started doing illustration consistently with sketch cards which measure 2.5″ x 3.5″ and I would squeeze as much detail as possible into them. Once I pushed myself to work larger I found it hard to break away from that micro detail and focus on the larger picture. Not only that, but it was difficult for me to fill large areas of space and make it look interesting. Now for the past 3 years or so I have been working primarily between 8×10 and 11×14 and I find it much harder to go back to sketch cards. I am much looser and happier with large pieces and working larger is far more forgiving. What I mean by that is that if I draw an eye a fraction of an inch off in a large size, it still looks like a the character, however if I make that same error on sketch card it is amplified because the details are so small. I’m constantly trying to push myself and lately I’ve been working 11×17 and trying to create designs that work not only on paper but on t-shirts and enamel pins. As an artist you aren’t doing your job if you aren’t constantly trying to grow.

Q.  What do you love and hate about cons?

Conventions are great. My girlfriend Karen Hallion is the one who introduced me to them. We met each other at my first convention. At the time I hadn’t planned on doing anymore, but she convinced me to travel and start displaying my artwork. I am grateful for that because I have seen so many places, and met so many awesome people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise. My favorite aspect of them is just seeing and talking to people. I spend 5 months of the year holed up painting, so when convention season rolls around I am desperate to socialize! I’m so grateful to be able to do what I do, and to be surrounded by others who are passionate about their fandoms and art is just an incredible experience.

My least favorite aspect of conventions is traveling with all my gear. I get very anxious about the logistics, so getting taxis and checking bags with all my prints and heavy suitcases stresses me out. It always works out though so maybe one day I’ll get over it.

Q.  Where can our readers find you next?

Here’s a list of confirmed shows I will be attending this year:

WonderCon – March 23-25

C2E2 – April 6-8

MegaCon Orlando – May 24-27

Denver Comic Con – June 15-18

San Diego Comic Con (Tentative) – July 18-22

Boston Comic Con – Aug 10-12

Come out and say hi!

Artist Spotlight… Brandon Kenney We spoke with Brandon Keeney!  His ultra detailed art caught our eye and we're looking forward to seeing him at Wondercon this weekend!

[albertcaldwellne]

The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective

Why is it that some people seem to see dramatically better results from their time in the gym?

Yes, genetics matter. So does nutrition, your fat-to-muscle ratio, how many years you’ve been lifting weights, if you sit throughout the day, and — ultimately — how much weight you can lift.

But let’s assume all of those are equal, and yet, here you are, still sweating day-after-day at the gym and not looking like the other people putting in the same work.

We’ve all been there and it’s an awful feeling, but one that can be fixed with a simple adjustment. One of the biggest factors that determine whether or not you’ll see the results you want comes down to two words: weightlifting technique.

More specifically, creating tension. If you want to start seeing your efforts pay off, it’s time to learn that it’s not always what exercises you do, but how you do them.

Why Tension Matters

For a moment, forget weightlifting technique and think bigger picture. We know that there are 3 primary factors that determine how much much muscle strength and size you’ll build when you lift: metabolic stress, mechanical tension, and muscle damage. Let’s focus on the first two because the third is a byproduct of the work you do. 

Metabolic stress refers to the burning sensation you feel in your muscles as you pump out rep after rep. You can increase the amount of metabolic stress you produce by performing more sets, or more reps inside of those sets.

Mechanical tension broadly refers to how engaged your muscle tissues are when you lift.

People spend a mountain of time thinking about category number one. You’ve probably wondered many times about how many sets and reps you should perform, and when and how often you should change those numbers over time.

Most people, however, don’t spend nearly as much time on category two (tension), which is a huge missed opportunity. This is where weightlifting technique comes into play. 

“Tension and its twin, relaxation, are the alphas of strength and conditioning,” says Dan John, a world-renowned fitness coach and author of several books on training. “They are the most important two concepts. And they are exact opposites of each other.”  

The trouble with tension — like any weightlifting technique — is that it can be difficult to learn. Which also means it’s challenging—and time-consuming—to coach. Many trainers won’t take the time to teach it.

“When I’m teaching someone to do a correct kettlebell swing, I first have to teach them to grip the ground with their big toe. For a person who’s new to lifting, that might take a day,” John explains.

He adds that each of the other key elements of the exercises—buttcheeks squeezed together, abs firmly braced, lats pulling back, and then making all of this to happen at once—takes days if not weeks to learn. “So teaching someone the kettlebell swing—which at the top, is basically a vertical plank—might take the better part of a few months. And yet I see people teach that exercise and 72 others on the first day of a class.”

To be fair to trainers, not everyone wants to take the time to learn any weightlifting technique. It’s not exactly as much fun as losing fat, building biceps, or seeing your abs pop. And a big part of a trainer’s job is to make exercise fun to prevent you from being bored. After all,  making exercise enjoyable will keep you doing it and coming back for more, and that’s when results happen.   

But, here’s why you’ll want to take a little time to master the tension weightlifting technqiue (while still making your workouts fun)—and how it can make every exercise you perform more effective.

How Your Weightlifting Technique Prevents Injuries

Another secret smart trainers know: creating tension can help you fix bad biomechanics and reduce how much you are hurt.

“I’d argue that a lot of what people call ‘lack of mobility’ can be attributed not to lack of flexibility but to lack of stability, which you can establish through coaching tension,” says Tony Gentilcore, owner of CORE, a small-group training facility in Boston.

Here’s what he means. Let’s say you’re having trouble staying upright when you squat. Your torso leans forward as you descend. Lots of people will blame that on a lack of mobility in their thoracic spine (upper back). But there’s a good chance that what’s actually to blame is your core. You’re not stable enough in your midsection to descend as far as you should. If you learn how to create more tension in your core, then suddenly the “mobility issue” goes away.

Here’s how it works. If you’re an experienced lifter, perhaps you’re familiar with the terms “kinetic chain” and “energy leaks.” If not, here’s a quick primer.

The kinetic chain refers to the body’s joints (ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, etc.) working together. Think of your body as a cohesive unit. When you walk, for instance, it’s just not your legs doing the work. Anyone that’s ever had a back injury knows this all too well because even the simplest (seemingly unrelated) movements can cause pain.

An energy leak occurs when there’s insufficient stiffness (a.k.a. tension) around one of those joints.

So let’s say you’re performing a back squat and your knees cave inward. That’s an energy leak. And it’s a problem because, not only does that leak put stress on the joints, it also fosters a muscle imbalance. When your knees cave in, your body asks the surrounding muscles to re-center your knee. Over time, you’re strengthening one set of muscles at the expense of another. (You’re also burning metabolic fuel that could otherwise be put toward another rep.)

Maybe that’s something you can get away with if you only ever use light resistance when you train. But as the weight gets heavier, the risk gets bigger.

“For advanced guys, you might have 400-500 pounds on your back,” says strength coach Jason Ferruggia. “So to minimize injury risk, you’ve got to maintain full-body tension throughout the set.”

What does that mean? When you think of weightlifting technique, you usually just think about the muscles you’re working. But that’s just part of the story. You need to prepare your entire body for a lift, and, oftentimes, it’s the muscles you wouldn’t even think about.

Staying with the squat example, most people are worried about their knees or their back (or both). But creating “full-body tension” often times starts in neither of those two places. You’ll begin with your grip on the bar and then focus on your breathing and abs, which is what actually protects your back from injury.

When you take a big belly breath (think about filling your stomach with air so that if you have a belt around your natural waist you would feel it become tight), it creates a natural lifting belt that protects your spine. This is known as bracing your torso. (Here’s a story that explains how it works and how to do it. You can skip down to the section “The Problem: Incorrect Breathing” if you want to see it straight away.)

So in this case, tension is protective. Your grip creates tension that sends a signal to your brain saying, “I’m about to lift heavy weight.” That’s important. If you then “pull” your elbows down and back (imagine someone’s hands trying to push your elbows up and you have to resist against them), you’ll engage your lats, which also protect your spine. Then, when you take your belly breath, you add the final piece of full body tension, which will protect your spine. This type of approach can prevent an energy leak that causes your form to break down and injury to occur.

Just as tension protects you when you squat, it keeps you safer when you perform other exercises. A shoulder that’s engaged is less likely to wind up in an unnatural position when you overhead press. Having your torso firmly braced will help protect your lower back when you deadlift.

As mentioned earlier, the heavier of a weight you use, the more important weightlifting technique and proper tension becomes. The same is true for the number of reps—the more you perform, the more challenging it is.

“Every rep beyond 5 or 6 or so becomes increasingly more difficult to do, so you open yourself up to more injury risk,” Ferruggia says. “That’s why I like low reps on the big lifts. It’s really hard to maintain that tension while maintaining good form. So a lot of times people say beginners should do high reps. No, it’s the opposite.”

How Tension Builds Results You Can See

Tension isn’t just about playing it safe. On almost any exercise, even bodyweight movements like planks or pushups, full-body tension can dictate what you get out of the exercise and help put your body in an optimal position.

What do we mean when we say “full-body” tension? Exactly that: Your entire body. “It has to literally be from toes to forehead,” John says. “If I ask you to do a plank and you forget to breathe because you’re so tense, that’s when I know you’re doing it right.”

In fact, go ahead and try that right now. Do a plank while creating as much tension as possible within your body. Here are a few cues that will probably change the way you think about planks (and make the thought of going for 60 seconds seem like the hardest thing you’ve ever done).

Push out through your heels while pulling your elbows toward your toes.

Squeeze all of your muscles: That means pressing through your forearms into the floor. Contract your glutes as hard as possible, as if you’re trying to crack a walnut. Squeeze your abs tightly as if you’re about to be punched in the gut, repeatedly. Even flex your calves. That’s called an RKC plank (watch Contreras explain), which differs from the way most people will do planks.

Try it and you’ll see that a plank can fry your entire body in a matter of seconds—5 seconds is a great place to start, and 15 is a mighty hold. (Conversely, you know those hours-long World Record-setting planks that you sometimes see grabbing headlines? Here’s why they don’t do a whole lot for your muscles and wind up producing more back pain than anything.)  

In addition to making exercise more efficient, learning to create tension can improve the “mind-muscle connection.” Any bodybuilder will tell you that this link helps you activate the muscles you actually want to work when you exercise. (If you’re skeptical, Contreras has proven this phenomenon using an EMG.)  Studies show that both internal focus (i.e. you trying to direct your body’s efforts with your mind) and external verbal cues (i.e. a coach telling you to focus on a specific part of a move) can increase certain muscle activations, so focusing on tension should help you produce better results.

Here’s the tricky thing: When you start trying to create full-body tension in your workouts, you’ll probably wind up feeling weaker at first. Ferruggia—who’s written about this phenomenon —says while your performance (and especially total reps) may suffer at first, “the strength gains you make by using proper full-body tension are going to transfer better to the real world.”

Translation: You won’t be one of those people who can leg press hundreds of pounds but can’t move a couch. And as you get used to using full-body tension, Ferruggia adds that, in time, you will surpass your previous numbers. “Eventually you will be stronger than you were.”

How to Create More Tension When You Train

Finding a great coach who can help provide cues, correct your weightlifting technique, and build programs that work is always a great choice.

The reality is that many of you won’t go that route for a variety of reasons, so you’re going to need to learn how to do this on your own. The good news is that we’ve teamed up with some of the best coaches to develop a plan that helps you do that. Here are some of the things you can try right away to start ensuring optimal tension for all of the exercises you perform:

First, let’s set a ground rule: You’re going to steer clear of machines and isolation exercises for just a little while. But don’t let that message confuse you; there’s nothing wrong with machines, and they can be great tools and extremely effective at delivering results. But they can also let you “get away” with a lack of tension by providing external support. So if you can learn tension, then every exercise you perform — including the machine work — will become more effective.

Ground rule #2 (we promise it’s the last one): Perform fewer reps per set—at least initially. Coaches agree that while improving full-body tension will eventually second-nature, early on it will make everything feel more difficult, so no need to increase the risk of error by doing more reps.

Full-body tension may sound like a lot to learn—after all, you have more than 600 muscles — but nearly all of the cues you’re going to learn come down to five areas: Your shoulders, core, butt, feet, and grip. If you were to scan just those five things on every exercise, and made sure they are engaged, you’ll make a lot of progress right away.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Grip

The trick is learning exactly how to cue those muscles for the different exercises you do. Probably the easiest cue to learn—and the one people fail to do the most often—is gripping the bar. We mean really grip it. Too many people, when they’re doing an exercise like dumbbell curls or farmer’s walks, will just secure the dumbbell handle between their thumb and first two fingers. What you want is to have every finger in your hands be at an I’m about to crush this bar! level. For barbell work, that means squeezing the life out of the bar while simultaneously trying to pull the bar in opposite directions (think about removing a sword from a sheath). “If you’re just squeezing the bar as hard as possible, that kind of cues the rest of your body,” Ferruggia says. “The tension will radiate out from your hands.”

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Core

The next spot you want to work on is your core. Because the core includes your abs and hips, tension will make a big difference in squats, deadlifts, overhead presses. The quick-and-dirty answer is to say “brace” your core. What’s that mean? As we mentioned before, pretend you were about to get punched in the gut—or better yet, shatter a 2×4 with your abs (like this badass martial arts instructor). Produce something even close to that kind of engagement in your midsection, and you’re going to be better off when you lift—and you’ll provide more support and stability to your spine.

Training core stability outside of your full-body lifts will also be helpful. Eric Cressey, who trains hundreds of MLB players and other pro athletes, has a set of 5 exercises that train all of the dimensions of core strength in a relatively short amount of time. A good way to learn proper core engagement for movements like pull-ups is to try this “hollow” position drill from Gentilcore (and note how it isn’t so “hollow” after all, you definitely are not doing a “suck and tuck” here no matter what old-school ab training or bad Pilates instructors might have told you). And to make sure you aren’t creating all of this stiffness at the expense of your mobility, try Dr. John Rusin’s hybrid quadruped position drill.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Shoulders

Some of the common cues you’ll hear for your shoulder are “pack the shoulder,” “flatten your shoulder blades,” “pull the lats down,” or “flex the pecs and lats.” All of them are trying to achieve basically the same thing: For you to keep your humerus (the upper arm bone) in your shoulder socket. Gentilcore tells his clients to “pretend like you’re squeezing an orange in your armpit during the entire rep and you’re trying to make orange juice” on lifts like the Deadlift. Try it, and you might be surprised what you feel in your shoulders and back, and how much lighter the weight becomes.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Butt/Glutes

On just about every exercise where you’re standing, your butt should not be relaxed. You want it engaged and supporting your body. What’s that mean? Squeeze the cheeks, or even “turn coal into a diamond in your butt cheeks.”

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Feet

Lastly, let’s talk about your feet. Just as your grip can help you generate tension throughout your arms, firmly pressing your feet—and especially your toes—into the ground can send tension up your lower legs.

Coaches will often tell you to “grip the floor with your toes” (as Dan John described earlier), or “screw your feet into the floor,” or “push the floor away from you.” Use whichever one you find the most useful. One other note for your legs: Push your ankles out. Same with your knees. Valgus knees, or having your knees collapse inward when you lift, is a form fault that can lead to a host of issues and injuries.

Remember: Learning Tension is a Process. Try, try again.

Ready to start putting these cues to work and getting more out of your training? Good. But there’s one last thing you should do: Be patient.

Every coach we spoke to agreed that cues are an essential way to help our brains to trigger tension. But any lifter who’s been coached has experienced information overload at one point or another. You’re doing a squat then someone tells you to screw your feet into the floor. Then they tell you to pull down your lats. Then they tell you to brace your core. The result of trying to do too much at once? You get confused.

So, instead, try focusing on one or a few aspects of tension at a time. As they become second-nature to you, add a new cue. In time, you’ll be doing this stuff without even thinking about it.

Full-body tension takes time—sometimes a lot of it—to master. “Tension is an underappreciated concept even among the elite athletes I work with,” Rusin says. “It’s something you can be getting better at no matter your experience level.”

The post The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective appeared first on Born Fitness.

http://ift.tt/2wHB0mD

[johnclapperne]

The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective

Why is it that some people seem to see dramatically better results from their time in the gym?

Yes, genetics matter. So does nutrition, your fat-to-muscle ratio, how many years you’ve been lifting weights, if you sit throughout the day, and — ultimately — how much weight you can lift.

But let’s assume all of those are equal, and yet, here you are, still sweating day-after-day at the gym and not looking like the other people putting in the same work.

We’ve all been there and it’s an awful feeling, but one that can be fixed with a simple adjustment. One of the biggest factors that determine whether or not you’ll see the results you want comes down to two words: weightlifting technique.

More specifically, creating tension. If you want to start seeing your efforts pay off, it’s time to learn that it’s not always what exercises you do, but how you do them.

Why Tension Matters

For a moment, forget weightlifting technique and think bigger picture. We know that there are 3 primary factors that determine how much much muscle strength and size you’ll build when you lift: metabolic stress, mechanical tension, and muscle damage. Let’s focus on the first two because the third is a byproduct of the work you do. 

Metabolic stress refers to the burning sensation you feel in your muscles as you pump out rep after rep. You can increase the amount of metabolic stress you produce by performing more sets, or more reps inside of those sets.

Mechanical tension broadly refers to how engaged your muscle tissues are when you lift.

People spend a mountain of time thinking about category number one. You’ve probably wondered many times about how many sets and reps you should perform, and when and how often you should change those numbers over time.

Most people, however, don’t spend nearly as much time on category two (tension), which is a huge missed opportunity. This is where weightlifting technique comes into play. 

“Tension and its twin, relaxation, are the alphas of strength and conditioning,” says Dan John, a world-renowned fitness coach and author of several books on training. “They are the most important two concepts. And they are exact opposites of each other.”  

The trouble with tension — like any weightlifting technique — is that it can be difficult to learn. Which also means it’s challenging—and time-consuming—to coach. Many trainers won’t take the time to teach it.

“When I’m teaching someone to do a correct kettlebell swing, I first have to teach them to grip the ground with their big toe. For a person who’s new to lifting, that might take a day,” John explains.

He adds that each of the other key elements of the exercises—buttcheeks squeezed together, abs firmly braced, lats pulling back, and then making all of this to happen at once—takes days if not weeks to learn. “So teaching someone the kettlebell swing—which at the top, is basically a vertical plank—might take the better part of a few months. And yet I see people teach that exercise and 72 others on the first day of a class.”

To be fair to trainers, not everyone wants to take the time to learn any weightlifting technique. It’s not exactly as much fun as losing fat, building biceps, or seeing your abs pop. And a big part of a trainer’s job is to make exercise fun to prevent you from being bored. After all,  making exercise enjoyable will keep you doing it and coming back for more, and that’s when results happen.   

But, here’s why you’ll want to take a little time to master the tension weightlifting technqiue (while still making your workouts fun)—and how it can make every exercise you perform more effective.

How Your Weightlifting Technique Prevents Injuries

Another secret smart trainers know: creating tension can help you fix bad biomechanics and reduce how much you are hurt.

“I’d argue that a lot of what people call ‘lack of mobility’ can be attributed not to lack of flexibility but to lack of stability, which you can establish through coaching tension,” says Tony Gentilcore, owner of CORE, a small-group training facility in Boston.

Here’s what he means. Let’s say you’re having trouble staying upright when you squat. Your torso leans forward as you descend. Lots of people will blame that on a lack of mobility in their thoracic spine (upper back). But there’s a good chance that what’s actually to blame is your core. You’re not stable enough in your midsection to descend as far as you should. If you learn how to create more tension in your core, then suddenly the “mobility issue” goes away.

Here’s how it works. If you’re an experienced lifter, perhaps you’re familiar with the terms “kinetic chain” and “energy leaks.” If not, here’s a quick primer.

The kinetic chain refers to the body’s joints (ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, etc.) working together. Think of your body as a cohesive unit. When you walk, for instance, it’s just not your legs doing the work. Anyone that’s ever had a back injury knows this all too well because even the simplest (seemingly unrelated) movements can cause pain.

An energy leak occurs when there’s insufficient stiffness (a.k.a. tension) around one of those joints.

So let’s say you’re performing a back squat and your knees cave inward. That’s an energy leak. And it’s a problem because, not only does that leak put stress on the joints, it also fosters a muscle imbalance. When your knees cave in, your body asks the surrounding muscles to re-center your knee. Over time, you’re strengthening one set of muscles at the expense of another. (You’re also burning metabolic fuel that could otherwise be put toward another rep.)

Maybe that’s something you can get away with if you only ever use light resistance when you train. But as the weight gets heavier, the risk gets bigger.

“For advanced guys, you might have 400-500 pounds on your back,” says strength coach Jason Ferruggia. “So to minimize injury risk, you’ve got to maintain full-body tension throughout the set.”

What does that mean? When you think of weightlifting technique, you usually just think about the muscles you’re working. But that’s just part of the story. You need to prepare your entire body for a lift, and, oftentimes, it’s the muscles you wouldn’t even think about.

Staying with the squat example, most people are worried about their knees or their back (or both). But creating “full-body tension” often times starts in neither of those two places. You’ll begin with your grip on the bar and then focus on your breathing and abs, which is what actually protects your back from injury.

When you take a big belly breath (think about filling your stomach with air so that if you have a belt around your natural waist you would feel it become tight), it creates a natural lifting belt that protects your spine. This is known as bracing your torso. (Here’s a story that explains how it works and how to do it. You can skip down to the section “The Problem: Incorrect Breathing” if you want to see it straight away.)

So in this case, tension is protective. Your grip creates tension that sends a signal to your brain saying, “I’m about to lift heavy weight.” That’s important. If you then “pull” your elbows down and back (imagine someone’s hands trying to push your elbows up and you have to resist against them), you’ll engage your lats, which also protect your spine. Then, when you take your belly breath, you add the final piece of full body tension, which will protect your spine. This type of approach can prevent an energy leak that causes your form to break down and injury to occur.

Just as tension protects you when you squat, it keeps you safer when you perform other exercises. A shoulder that’s engaged is less likely to wind up in an unnatural position when you overhead press. Having your torso firmly braced will help protect your lower back when you deadlift.

As mentioned earlier, the heavier of a weight you use, the more important weightlifting technique and proper tension becomes. The same is true for the number of reps—the more you perform, the more challenging it is.

“Every rep beyond 5 or 6 or so becomes increasingly more difficult to do, so you open yourself up to more injury risk,” Ferruggia says. “That’s why I like low reps on the big lifts. It’s really hard to maintain that tension while maintaining good form. So a lot of times people say beginners should do high reps. No, it’s the opposite.”

How Tension Builds Results You Can See

Tension isn’t just about playing it safe. On almost any exercise, even bodyweight movements like planks or pushups, full-body tension can dictate what you get out of the exercise and help put your body in an optimal position.

What do we mean when we say “full-body” tension? Exactly that: Your entire body. “It has to literally be from toes to forehead,” John says. “If I ask you to do a plank and you forget to breathe because you’re so tense, that’s when I know you’re doing it right.”

In fact, go ahead and try that right now. Do a plank while creating as much tension as possible within your body. Here are a few cues that will probably change the way you think about planks (and make the thought of going for 60 seconds seem like the hardest thing you’ve ever done).

Push out through your heels while pulling your elbows toward your toes.

Squeeze all of your muscles: That means pressing through your forearms into the floor. Contract your glutes as hard as possible, as if you’re trying to crack a walnut. Squeeze your abs tightly as if you’re about to be punched in the gut, repeatedly. Even flex your calves. That’s called an RKC plank (watch Contreras explain), which differs from the way most people will do planks.

Try it and you’ll see that a plank can fry your entire body in a matter of seconds—5 seconds is a great place to start, and 15 is a mighty hold. (Conversely, you know those hours-long World Record-setting planks that you sometimes see grabbing headlines? Here’s why they don’t do a whole lot for your muscles and wind up producing more back pain than anything.)  

In addition to making exercise more efficient, learning to create tension can improve the “mind-muscle connection.” Any bodybuilder will tell you that this link helps you activate the muscles you actually want to work when you exercise. (If you’re skeptical, Contreras has proven this phenomenon using an EMG.)  Studies show that both internal focus (i.e. you trying to direct your body’s efforts with your mind) and external verbal cues (i.e. a coach telling you to focus on a specific part of a move) can increase certain muscle activations, so focusing on tension should help you produce better results.

Here’s the tricky thing: When you start trying to create full-body tension in your workouts, you’ll probably wind up feeling weaker at first. Ferruggia—who’s written about this phenomenon —says while your performance (and especially total reps) may suffer at first, “the strength gains you make by using proper full-body tension are going to transfer better to the real world.”

Translation: You won’t be one of those people who can leg press hundreds of pounds but can’t move a couch. And as you get used to using full-body tension, Ferruggia adds that, in time, you will surpass your previous numbers. “Eventually you will be stronger than you were.”

How to Create More Tension When You Train

Finding a great coach who can help provide cues, correct your weightlifting technique, and build programs that work is always a great choice.

The reality is that many of you won’t go that route for a variety of reasons, so you’re going to need to learn how to do this on your own. The good news is that we’ve teamed up with some of the best coaches to develop a plan that helps you do that. Here are some of the things you can try right away to start ensuring optimal tension for all of the exercises you perform:

First, let’s set a ground rule: You’re going to steer clear of machines and isolation exercises for just a little while. But don’t let that message confuse you; there’s nothing wrong with machines, and they can be great tools and extremely effective at delivering results. But they can also let you “get away” with a lack of tension by providing external support. So if you can learn tension, then every exercise you perform — including the machine work — will become more effective.

Ground rule #2 (we promise it’s the last one): Perform fewer reps per set—at least initially. Coaches agree that while improving full-body tension will eventually second-nature, early on it will make everything feel more difficult, so no need to increase the risk of error by doing more reps.

Full-body tension may sound like a lot to learn—after all, you have more than 600 muscles — but nearly all of the cues you’re going to learn come down to five areas: Your shoulders, core, butt, feet, and grip. If you were to scan just those five things on every exercise, and made sure they are engaged, you’ll make a lot of progress right away.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Grip

The trick is learning exactly how to cue those muscles for the different exercises you do. Probably the easiest cue to learn—and the one people fail to do the most often—is gripping the bar. We mean really grip it. Too many people, when they’re doing an exercise like dumbbell curls or farmer’s walks, will just secure the dumbbell handle between their thumb and first two fingers. What you want is to have every finger in your hands be at an I’m about to crush this bar! level. For barbell work, that means squeezing the life out of the bar while simultaneously trying to pull the bar in opposite directions (think about removing a sword from a sheath). “If you’re just squeezing the bar as hard as possible, that kind of cues the rest of your body,” Ferruggia says. “The tension will radiate out from your hands.”

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Core

The next spot you want to work on is your core. Because the core includes your abs and hips, tension will make a big difference in squats, deadlifts, overhead presses. The quick-and-dirty answer is to say “brace” your core. What’s that mean? As we mentioned before, pretend you were about to get punched in the gut—or better yet, shatter a 2×4 with your abs (like this badass martial arts instructor). Produce something even close to that kind of engagement in your midsection, and you’re going to be better off when you lift—and you’ll provide more support and stability to your spine.

Training core stability outside of your full-body lifts will also be helpful. Eric Cressey, who trains hundreds of MLB players and other pro athletes, has a set of 5 exercises that train all of the dimensions of core strength in a relatively short amount of time. A good way to learn proper core engagement for movements like pull-ups is to try this “hollow” position drill from Gentilcore (and note how it isn’t so “hollow” after all, you definitely are not doing a “suck and tuck” here no matter what old-school ab training or bad Pilates instructors might have told you). And to make sure you aren’t creating all of this stiffness at the expense of your mobility, try Dr. John Rusin’s hybrid quadruped position drill.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Shoulders

Some of the common cues you’ll hear for your shoulder are “pack the shoulder,” “flatten your shoulder blades,” “pull the lats down,” or “flex the pecs and lats.” All of them are trying to achieve basically the same thing: For you to keep your humerus (the upper arm bone) in your shoulder socket. Gentilcore tells his clients to “pretend like you’re squeezing an orange in your armpit during the entire rep and you’re trying to make orange juice” on lifts like the Deadlift. Try it, and you might be surprised what you feel in your shoulders and back, and how much lighter the weight becomes.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Butt/Glutes

On just about every exercise where you’re standing, your butt should not be relaxed. You want it engaged and supporting your body. What’s that mean? Squeeze the cheeks, or even “turn coal into a diamond in your butt cheeks.”

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Feet

Lastly, let’s talk about your feet. Just as your grip can help you generate tension throughout your arms, firmly pressing your feet—and especially your toes—into the ground can send tension up your lower legs.

Coaches will often tell you to “grip the floor with your toes” (as Dan John described earlier), or “screw your feet into the floor,” or “push the floor away from you.” Use whichever one you find the most useful. One other note for your legs: Push your ankles out. Same with your knees. Valgus knees, or having your knees collapse inward when you lift, is a form fault that can lead to a host of issues and injuries.

Remember: Learning Tension is a Process. Try, try again.

Ready to start putting these cues to work and getting more out of your training? Good. But there’s one last thing you should do: Be patient.

Every coach we spoke to agreed that cues are an essential way to help our brains to trigger tension. But any lifter who’s been coached has experienced information overload at one point or another. You’re doing a squat then someone tells you to screw your feet into the floor. Then they tell you to pull down your lats. Then they tell you to brace your core. The result of trying to do too much at once? You get confused.

So, instead, try focusing on one or a few aspects of tension at a time. As they become second-nature to you, add a new cue. In time, you’ll be doing this stuff without even thinking about it.

Full-body tension takes time—sometimes a lot of it—to master. “Tension is an underappreciated concept even among the elite athletes I work with,” Rusin says. “It’s something you can be getting better at no matter your experience level.”

The post The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective appeared first on Born Fitness.

http://ift.tt/2wHB0mD

[joshuabradleyn]

The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective

Why is it that some people seem to see dramatically better results from their time in the gym?

Yes, genetics matter. So does nutrition, your fat-to-muscle ratio, how many years you’ve been lifting weights, if you sit throughout the day, and — ultimately — how much weight you can lift.

But let’s assume all of those are equal, and yet, here you are, still sweating day-after-day at the gym and not looking like the other people putting in the same work.

We’ve all been there and it’s an awful feeling, but one that can be fixed with a simple adjustment. One of the biggest factors that determine whether or not you’ll see the results you want comes down to two words: weightlifting technique.

More specifically, creating tension. If you want to start seeing your efforts pay off, it’s time to learn that it’s not always what exercises you do, but how you do them.

Why Tension Matters

For a moment, forget weightlifting technique and think bigger picture. We know that there are 3 primary factors that determine how much much muscle strength and size you’ll build when you lift: metabolic stress, mechanical tension, and muscle damage. Let’s focus on the first two because the third is a byproduct of the work you do. 

Metabolic stress refers to the burning sensation you feel in your muscles as you pump out rep after rep. You can increase the amount of metabolic stress you produce by performing more sets, or more reps inside of those sets.

Mechanical tension broadly refers to how engaged your muscle tissues are when you lift.

People spend a mountain of time thinking about category number one. You’ve probably wondered many times about how many sets and reps you should perform, and when and how often you should change those numbers over time.

Most people, however, don’t spend nearly as much time on category two (tension), which is a huge missed opportunity. This is where weightlifting technique comes into play. 

“Tension and its twin, relaxation, are the alphas of strength and conditioning,” says Dan John, a world-renowned fitness coach and author of several books on training. “They are the most important two concepts. And they are exact opposites of each other.”  

The trouble with tension — like any weightlifting technique — is that it can be difficult to learn. Which also means it’s challenging—and time-consuming—to coach. Many trainers won’t take the time to teach it.

“When I’m teaching someone to do a correct kettlebell swing, I first have to teach them to grip the ground with their big toe. For a person who’s new to lifting, that might take a day,” John explains.

He adds that each of the other key elements of the exercises—buttcheeks squeezed together, abs firmly braced, lats pulling back, and then making all of this to happen at once—takes days if not weeks to learn. “So teaching someone the kettlebell swing—which at the top, is basically a vertical plank—might take the better part of a few months. And yet I see people teach that exercise and 72 others on the first day of a class.”

To be fair to trainers, not everyone wants to take the time to learn any weightlifting technique. It’s not exactly as much fun as losing fat, building biceps, or seeing your abs pop. And a big part of a trainer’s job is to make exercise fun to prevent you from being bored. After all,  making exercise enjoyable will keep you doing it and coming back for more, and that’s when results happen.   

But, here’s why you’ll want to take a little time to master the tension weightlifting technqiue (while still making your workouts fun)—and how it can make every exercise you perform more effective.

How Your Weightlifting Technique Prevents Injuries

Another secret smart trainers know: creating tension can help you fix bad biomechanics and reduce how much you are hurt.

“I’d argue that a lot of what people call ‘lack of mobility’ can be attributed not to lack of flexibility but to lack of stability, which you can establish through coaching tension,” says Tony Gentilcore, owner of CORE, a small-group training facility in Boston.

Here’s what he means. Let’s say you’re having trouble staying upright when you squat. Your torso leans forward as you descend. Lots of people will blame that on a lack of mobility in their thoracic spine (upper back). But there’s a good chance that what’s actually to blame is your core. You’re not stable enough in your midsection to descend as far as you should. If you learn how to create more tension in your core, then suddenly the “mobility issue” goes away.

Here’s how it works. If you’re an experienced lifter, perhaps you’re familiar with the terms “kinetic chain” and “energy leaks.” If not, here’s a quick primer.

The kinetic chain refers to the body’s joints (ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, etc.) working together. Think of your body as a cohesive unit. When you walk, for instance, it’s just not your legs doing the work. Anyone that’s ever had a back injury knows this all too well because even the simplest (seemingly unrelated) movements can cause pain.

An energy leak occurs when there’s insufficient stiffness (a.k.a. tension) around one of those joints.

So let’s say you’re performing a back squat and your knees cave inward. That’s an energy leak. And it’s a problem because, not only does that leak put stress on the joints, it also fosters a muscle imbalance. When your knees cave in, your body asks the surrounding muscles to re-center your knee. Over time, you’re strengthening one set of muscles at the expense of another. (You’re also burning metabolic fuel that could otherwise be put toward another rep.)

Maybe that’s something you can get away with if you only ever use light resistance when you train. But as the weight gets heavier, the risk gets bigger.

“For advanced guys, you might have 400-500 pounds on your back,” says strength coach Jason Ferruggia. “So to minimize injury risk, you’ve got to maintain full-body tension throughout the set.”

What does that mean? When you think of weightlifting technique, you usually just think about the muscles you’re working. But that’s just part of the story. You need to prepare your entire body for a lift, and, oftentimes, it’s the muscles you wouldn’t even think about.

Staying with the squat example, most people are worried about their knees or their back (or both). But creating “full-body tension” often times starts in neither of those two places. You’ll begin with your grip on the bar and then focus on your breathing and abs, which is what actually protects your back from injury.

When you take a big belly breath (think about filling your stomach with air so that if you have a belt around your natural waist you would feel it become tight), it creates a natural lifting belt that protects your spine. This is known as bracing your torso. (Here’s a story that explains how it works and how to do it. You can skip down to the section “The Problem: Incorrect Breathing” if you want to see it straight away.)

So in this case, tension is protective. Your grip creates tension that sends a signal to your brain saying, “I’m about to lift heavy weight.” That’s important. If you then “pull” your elbows down and back (imagine someone’s hands trying to push your elbows up and you have to resist against them), you’ll engage your lats, which also protect your spine. Then, when you take your belly breath, you add the final piece of full body tension, which will protect your spine. This type of approach can prevent an energy leak that causes your form to break down and injury to occur.

Just as tension protects you when you squat, it keeps you safer when you perform other exercises. A shoulder that’s engaged is less likely to wind up in an unnatural position when you overhead press. Having your torso firmly braced will help protect your lower back when you deadlift.

As mentioned earlier, the heavier of a weight you use, the more important weightlifting technique and proper tension becomes. The same is true for the number of reps—the more you perform, the more challenging it is.

“Every rep beyond 5 or 6 or so becomes increasingly more difficult to do, so you open yourself up to more injury risk,” Ferruggia says. “That’s why I like low reps on the big lifts. It’s really hard to maintain that tension while maintaining good form. So a lot of times people say beginners should do high reps. No, it’s the opposite.”

How Tension Builds Results You Can See

Tension isn’t just about playing it safe. On almost any exercise, even bodyweight movements like planks or pushups, full-body tension can dictate what you get out of the exercise and help put your body in an optimal position.

What do we mean when we say “full-body” tension? Exactly that: Your entire body. “It has to literally be from toes to forehead,” John says. “If I ask you to do a plank and you forget to breathe because you’re so tense, that’s when I know you’re doing it right.”

In fact, go ahead and try that right now. Do a plank while creating as much tension as possible within your body. Here are a few cues that will probably change the way you think about planks (and make the thought of going for 60 seconds seem like the hardest thing you’ve ever done).

Push out through your heels while pulling your elbows toward your toes.

Squeeze all of your muscles: That means pressing through your forearms into the floor. Contract your glutes as hard as possible, as if you’re trying to crack a walnut. Squeeze your abs tightly as if you’re about to be punched in the gut, repeatedly. Even flex your calves. That’s called an RKC plank (watch Contreras explain), which differs from the way most people will do planks.

Try it and you’ll see that a plank can fry your entire body in a matter of seconds—5 seconds is a great place to start, and 15 is a mighty hold. (Conversely, you know those hours-long World Record-setting planks that you sometimes see grabbing headlines? Here’s why they don’t do a whole lot for your muscles and wind up producing more back pain than anything.)  

In addition to making exercise more efficient, learning to create tension can improve the “mind-muscle connection.” Any bodybuilder will tell you that this link helps you activate the muscles you actually want to work when you exercise. (If you’re skeptical, Contreras has proven this phenomenon using an EMG.)  Studies show that both internal focus (i.e. you trying to direct your body’s efforts with your mind) and external verbal cues (i.e. a coach telling you to focus on a specific part of a move) can increase certain muscle activations, so focusing on tension should help you produce better results.

Here’s the tricky thing: When you start trying to create full-body tension in your workouts, you’ll probably wind up feeling weaker at first. Ferruggia—who’s written about this phenomenon —says while your performance (and especially total reps) may suffer at first, “the strength gains you make by using proper full-body tension are going to transfer better to the real world.”

Translation: You won’t be one of those people who can leg press hundreds of pounds but can’t move a couch. And as you get used to using full-body tension, Ferruggia adds that, in time, you will surpass your previous numbers. “Eventually you will be stronger than you were.”

How to Create More Tension When You Train

Finding a great coach who can help provide cues, correct your weightlifting technique, and build programs that work is always a great choice.

The reality is that many of you won’t go that route for a variety of reasons, so you’re going to need to learn how to do this on your own. The good news is that we’ve teamed up with some of the best coaches to develop a plan that helps you do that. Here are some of the things you can try right away to start ensuring optimal tension for all of the exercises you perform:

First, let’s set a ground rule: You’re going to steer clear of machines and isolation exercises for just a little while. But don’t let that message confuse you; there’s nothing wrong with machines, and they can be great tools and extremely effective at delivering results. But they can also let you “get away” with a lack of tension by providing external support. So if you can learn tension, then every exercise you perform — including the machine work — will become more effective.

Ground rule #2 (we promise it’s the last one): Perform fewer reps per set—at least initially. Coaches agree that while improving full-body tension will eventually second-nature, early on it will make everything feel more difficult, so no need to increase the risk of error by doing more reps.

Full-body tension may sound like a lot to learn—after all, you have more than 600 muscles — but nearly all of the cues you’re going to learn come down to five areas: Your shoulders, core, butt, feet, and grip. If you were to scan just those five things on every exercise, and made sure they are engaged, you’ll make a lot of progress right away.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Grip

The trick is learning exactly how to cue those muscles for the different exercises you do. Probably the easiest cue to learn—and the one people fail to do the most often—is gripping the bar. We mean really grip it. Too many people, when they’re doing an exercise like dumbbell curls or farmer’s walks, will just secure the dumbbell handle between their thumb and first two fingers. What you want is to have every finger in your hands be at an I’m about to crush this bar! level. For barbell work, that means squeezing the life out of the bar while simultaneously trying to pull the bar in opposite directions (think about removing a sword from a sheath). “If you’re just squeezing the bar as hard as possible, that kind of cues the rest of your body,” Ferruggia says. “The tension will radiate out from your hands.”

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Core

The next spot you want to work on is your core. Because the core includes your abs and hips, tension will make a big difference in squats, deadlifts, overhead presses. The quick-and-dirty answer is to say “brace” your core. What’s that mean? As we mentioned before, pretend you were about to get punched in the gut—or better yet, shatter a 2×4 with your abs (like this badass martial arts instructor). Produce something even close to that kind of engagement in your midsection, and you’re going to be better off when you lift—and you’ll provide more support and stability to your spine.

Training core stability outside of your full-body lifts will also be helpful. Eric Cressey, who trains hundreds of MLB players and other pro athletes, has a set of 5 exercises that train all of the dimensions of core strength in a relatively short amount of time. A good way to learn proper core engagement for movements like pull-ups is to try this “hollow” position drill from Gentilcore (and note how it isn’t so “hollow” after all, you definitely are not doing a “suck and tuck” here no matter what old-school ab training or bad Pilates instructors might have told you). And to make sure you aren’t creating all of this stiffness at the expense of your mobility, try Dr. John Rusin’s hybrid quadruped position drill.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Shoulders

Some of the common cues you’ll hear for your shoulder are “pack the shoulder,” “flatten your shoulder blades,” “pull the lats down,” or “flex the pecs and lats.” All of them are trying to achieve basically the same thing: For you to keep your humerus (the upper arm bone) in your shoulder socket. Gentilcore tells his clients to “pretend like you’re squeezing an orange in your armpit during the entire rep and you’re trying to make orange juice” on lifts like the Deadlift. Try it, and you might be surprised what you feel in your shoulders and back, and how much lighter the weight becomes.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Butt/Glutes

On just about every exercise where you’re standing, your butt should not be relaxed. You want it engaged and supporting your body. What’s that mean? Squeeze the cheeks, or even “turn coal into a diamond in your butt cheeks.”

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Feet

Lastly, let’s talk about your feet. Just as your grip can help you generate tension throughout your arms, firmly pressing your feet—and especially your toes—into the ground can send tension up your lower legs.

Coaches will often tell you to “grip the floor with your toes” (as Dan John described earlier), or “screw your feet into the floor,” or “push the floor away from you.” Use whichever one you find the most useful. One other note for your legs: Push your ankles out. Same with your knees. Valgus knees, or having your knees collapse inward when you lift, is a form fault that can lead to a host of issues and injuries.

Remember: Learning Tension is a Process. Try, try again.

Ready to start putting these cues to work and getting more out of your training? Good. But there’s one last thing you should do: Be patient.

Every coach we spoke to agreed that cues are an essential way to help our brains to trigger tension. But any lifter who’s been coached has experienced information overload at one point or another. You’re doing a squat then someone tells you to screw your feet into the floor. Then they tell you to pull down your lats. Then they tell you to brace your core. The result of trying to do too much at once? You get confused.

So, instead, try focusing on one or a few aspects of tension at a time. As they become second-nature to you, add a new cue. In time, you’ll be doing this stuff without even thinking about it.

Full-body tension takes time—sometimes a lot of it—to master. “Tension is an underappreciated concept even among the elite athletes I work with,” Rusin says. “It’s something you can be getting better at no matter your experience level.”

The post The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective appeared first on Born Fitness.

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The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective

Why is it that some people seem to see dramatically better results from their time in the gym?

Yes, genetics matter. So does nutrition, your fat-to-muscle ratio, how many years you’ve been lifting weights, if you sit throughout the day, and — ultimately — how much weight you can lift.

But let’s assume all of those are equal, and yet, here you are, still sweating day-after-day at the gym and not looking like the other people putting in the same work.

We’ve all been there and it’s an awful feeling, but one that can be fixed with a simple adjustment. One of the biggest factors that determine whether or not you’ll see the results you want comes down to two words: weightlifting technique.

More specifically, creating tension. If you want to start seeing your efforts pay off, it’s time to learn that it’s not always what exercises you do, but how you do them.

Why Tension Matters

For a moment, forget weightlifting technique and think bigger picture. We know that there are 3 primary factors that determine how much much muscle strength and size you’ll build when you lift: metabolic stress, mechanical tension, and muscle damage. Let’s focus on the first two because the third is a byproduct of the work you do. 

Metabolic stress refers to the burning sensation you feel in your muscles as you pump out rep after rep. You can increase the amount of metabolic stress you produce by performing more sets, or more reps inside of those sets.

Mechanical tension broadly refers to how engaged your muscle tissues are when you lift.

People spend a mountain of time thinking about category number one. You’ve probably wondered many times about how many sets and reps you should perform, and when and how often you should change those numbers over time.

Most people, however, don’t spend nearly as much time on category two (tension), which is a huge missed opportunity. This is where weightlifting technique comes into play. 

“Tension and its twin, relaxation, are the alphas of strength and conditioning,” says Dan John, a world-renowned fitness coach and author of several books on training. “They are the most important two concepts. And they are exact opposites of each other.”  

The trouble with tension — like any weightlifting technique — is that it can be difficult to learn. Which also means it’s challenging—and time-consuming—to coach. Many trainers won’t take the time to teach it.

“When I’m teaching someone to do a correct kettlebell swing, I first have to teach them to grip the ground with their big toe. For a person who’s new to lifting, that might take a day,” John explains.

He adds that each of the other key elements of the exercises—buttcheeks squeezed together, abs firmly braced, lats pulling back, and then making all of this to happen at once—takes days if not weeks to learn. “So teaching someone the kettlebell swing—which at the top, is basically a vertical plank—might take the better part of a few months. And yet I see people teach that exercise and 72 others on the first day of a class.”

To be fair to trainers, not everyone wants to take the time to learn any weightlifting technique. It’s not exactly as much fun as losing fat, building biceps, or seeing your abs pop. And a big part of a trainer’s job is to make exercise fun to prevent you from being bored. After all,  making exercise enjoyable will keep you doing it and coming back for more, and that’s when results happen.   

But, here’s why you’ll want to take a little time to master the tension weightlifting technqiue (while still making your workouts fun)—and how it can make every exercise you perform more effective.

How Your Weightlifting Technique Prevents Injuries

Another secret smart trainers know: creating tension can help you fix bad biomechanics and reduce how much you are hurt.

“I’d argue that a lot of what people call ‘lack of mobility’ can be attributed not to lack of flexibility but to lack of stability, which you can establish through coaching tension,” says Tony Gentilcore, owner of CORE, a small-group training facility in Boston.

Here’s what he means. Let’s say you’re having trouble staying upright when you squat. Your torso leans forward as you descend. Lots of people will blame that on a lack of mobility in their thoracic spine (upper back). But there’s a good chance that what’s actually to blame is your core. You’re not stable enough in your midsection to descend as far as you should. If you learn how to create more tension in your core, then suddenly the “mobility issue” goes away.

Here’s how it works. If you’re an experienced lifter, perhaps you’re familiar with the terms “kinetic chain” and “energy leaks.” If not, here’s a quick primer.

The kinetic chain refers to the body’s joints (ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, etc.) working together. Think of your body as a cohesive unit. When you walk, for instance, it’s just not your legs doing the work. Anyone that’s ever had a back injury knows this all too well because even the simplest (seemingly unrelated) movements can cause pain.

An energy leak occurs when there’s insufficient stiffness (a.k.a. tension) around one of those joints.

So let’s say you’re performing a back squat and your knees cave inward. That’s an energy leak. And it’s a problem because, not only does that leak put stress on the joints, it also fosters a muscle imbalance. When your knees cave in, your body asks the surrounding muscles to re-center your knee. Over time, you’re strengthening one set of muscles at the expense of another. (You’re also burning metabolic fuel that could otherwise be put toward another rep.)

Maybe that’s something you can get away with if you only ever use light resistance when you train. But as the weight gets heavier, the risk gets bigger.

“For advanced guys, you might have 400-500 pounds on your back,” says strength coach Jason Ferruggia. “So to minimize injury risk, you’ve got to maintain full-body tension throughout the set.”

What does that mean? When you think of weightlifting technique, you usually just think about the muscles you’re working. But that’s just part of the story. You need to prepare your entire body for a lift, and, oftentimes, it’s the muscles you wouldn’t even think about.

Staying with the squat example, most people are worried about their knees or their back (or both). But creating “full-body tension” often times starts in neither of those two places. You’ll begin with your grip on the bar and then focus on your breathing and abs, which is what actually protects your back from injury.

When you take a big belly breath (think about filling your stomach with air so that if you have a belt around your natural waist you would feel it become tight), it creates a natural lifting belt that protects your spine. This is known as bracing your torso. (Here’s a story that explains how it works and how to do it. You can skip down to the section “The Problem: Incorrect Breathing” if you want to see it straight away.)

So in this case, tension is protective. Your grip creates tension that sends a signal to your brain saying, “I’m about to lift heavy weight.” That’s important. If you then “pull” your elbows down and back (imagine someone’s hands trying to push your elbows up and you have to resist against them), you’ll engage your lats, which also protect your spine. Then, when you take your belly breath, you add the final piece of full body tension, which will protect your spine. This type of approach can prevent an energy leak that causes your form to break down and injury to occur.

Just as tension protects you when you squat, it keeps you safer when you perform other exercises. A shoulder that’s engaged is less likely to wind up in an unnatural position when you overhead press. Having your torso firmly braced will help protect your lower back when you deadlift.

As mentioned earlier, the heavier of a weight you use, the more important weightlifting technique and proper tension becomes. The same is true for the number of reps—the more you perform, the more challenging it is.

“Every rep beyond 5 or 6 or so becomes increasingly more difficult to do, so you open yourself up to more injury risk,” Ferruggia says. “That’s why I like low reps on the big lifts. It’s really hard to maintain that tension while maintaining good form. So a lot of times people say beginners should do high reps. No, it’s the opposite.”

How Tension Builds Results You Can See

Tension isn’t just about playing it safe. On almost any exercise, even bodyweight movements like planks or pushups, full-body tension can dictate what you get out of the exercise and help put your body in an optimal position.

What do we mean when we say “full-body” tension? Exactly that: Your entire body. “It has to literally be from toes to forehead,” John says. “If I ask you to do a plank and you forget to breathe because you’re so tense, that’s when I know you’re doing it right.”

In fact, go ahead and try that right now. Do a plank while creating as much tension as possible within your body. Here are a few cues that will probably change the way you think about planks (and make the thought of going for 60 seconds seem like the hardest thing you’ve ever done).

Push out through your heels while pulling your elbows toward your toes.

Squeeze all of your muscles: That means pressing through your forearms into the floor. Contract your glutes as hard as possible, as if you’re trying to crack a walnut. Squeeze your abs tightly as if you’re about to be punched in the gut, repeatedly. Even flex your calves. That’s called an RKC plank (watch Contreras explain), which differs from the way most people will do planks.

Try it and you’ll see that a plank can fry your entire body in a matter of seconds—5 seconds is a great place to start, and 15 is a mighty hold. (Conversely, you know those hours-long World Record-setting planks that you sometimes see grabbing headlines? Here’s why they don’t do a whole lot for your muscles and wind up producing more back pain than anything.)  

In addition to making exercise more efficient, learning to create tension can improve the “mind-muscle connection.” Any bodybuilder will tell you that this link helps you activate the muscles you actually want to work when you exercise. (If you’re skeptical, Contreras has proven this phenomenon using an EMG.)  Studies show that both internal focus (i.e. you trying to direct your body’s efforts with your mind) and external verbal cues (i.e. a coach telling you to focus on a specific part of a move) can increase certain muscle activations, so focusing on tension should help you produce better results.

Here’s the tricky thing: When you start trying to create full-body tension in your workouts, you’ll probably wind up feeling weaker at first. Ferruggia—who’s written about this phenomenon —says while your performance (and especially total reps) may suffer at first, “the strength gains you make by using proper full-body tension are going to transfer better to the real world.”

Translation: You won’t be one of those people who can leg press hundreds of pounds but can’t move a couch. And as you get used to using full-body tension, Ferruggia adds that, in time, you will surpass your previous numbers. “Eventually you will be stronger than you were.”

How to Create More Tension When You Train

Finding a great coach who can help provide cues, correct your weightlifting technique, and build programs that work is always a great choice.

The reality is that many of you won’t go that route for a variety of reasons, so you’re going to need to learn how to do this on your own. The good news is that we’ve teamed up with some of the best coaches to develop a plan that helps you do that. Here are some of the things you can try right away to start ensuring optimal tension for all of the exercises you perform:

First, let’s set a ground rule: You’re going to steer clear of machines and isolation exercises for just a little while. But don’t let that message confuse you; there’s nothing wrong with machines, and they can be great tools and extremely effective at delivering results. But they can also let you “get away” with a lack of tension by providing external support. So if you can learn tension, then every exercise you perform — including the machine work — will become more effective.

Ground rule #2 (we promise it’s the last one): Perform fewer reps per set—at least initially. Coaches agree that while improving full-body tension will eventually second-nature, early on it will make everything feel more difficult, so no need to increase the risk of error by doing more reps.

Full-body tension may sound like a lot to learn—after all, you have more than 600 muscles — but nearly all of the cues you’re going to learn come down to five areas: Your shoulders, core, butt, feet, and grip. If you were to scan just those five things on every exercise, and made sure they are engaged, you’ll make a lot of progress right away.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Grip

The trick is learning exactly how to cue those muscles for the different exercises you do. Probably the easiest cue to learn—and the one people fail to do the most often—is gripping the bar. We mean really grip it. Too many people, when they’re doing an exercise like dumbbell curls or farmer’s walks, will just secure the dumbbell handle between their thumb and first two fingers. What you want is to have every finger in your hands be at an I’m about to crush this bar! level. For barbell work, that means squeezing the life out of the bar while simultaneously trying to pull the bar in opposite directions (think about removing a sword from a sheath). “If you’re just squeezing the bar as hard as possible, that kind of cues the rest of your body,” Ferruggia says. “The tension will radiate out from your hands.”

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Core

The next spot you want to work on is your core. Because the core includes your abs and hips, tension will make a big difference in squats, deadlifts, overhead presses. The quick-and-dirty answer is to say “brace” your core. What’s that mean? As we mentioned before, pretend you were about to get punched in the gut—or better yet, shatter a 2×4 with your abs (like this badass martial arts instructor). Produce something even close to that kind of engagement in your midsection, and you’re going to be better off when you lift—and you’ll provide more support and stability to your spine.

Training core stability outside of your full-body lifts will also be helpful. Eric Cressey, who trains hundreds of MLB players and other pro athletes, has a set of 5 exercises that train all of the dimensions of core strength in a relatively short amount of time. A good way to learn proper core engagement for movements like pull-ups is to try this “hollow” position drill from Gentilcore (and note how it isn’t so “hollow” after all, you definitely are not doing a “suck and tuck” here no matter what old-school ab training or bad Pilates instructors might have told you). And to make sure you aren’t creating all of this stiffness at the expense of your mobility, try Dr. John Rusin’s hybrid quadruped position drill.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Shoulders

Some of the common cues you’ll hear for your shoulder are “pack the shoulder,” “flatten your shoulder blades,” “pull the lats down,” or “flex the pecs and lats.” All of them are trying to achieve basically the same thing: For you to keep your humerus (the upper arm bone) in your shoulder socket. Gentilcore tells his clients to “pretend like you’re squeezing an orange in your armpit during the entire rep and you’re trying to make orange juice” on lifts like the Deadlift. Try it, and you might be surprised what you feel in your shoulders and back, and how much lighter the weight becomes.

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Butt/Glutes

On just about every exercise where you’re standing, your butt should not be relaxed. You want it engaged and supporting your body. What’s that mean? Squeeze the cheeks, or even “turn coal into a diamond in your butt cheeks.”

Weightlifting Technique Upgrade: Your Feet

Lastly, let’s talk about your feet. Just as your grip can help you generate tension throughout your arms, firmly pressing your feet—and especially your toes—into the ground can send tension up your lower legs.

Coaches will often tell you to “grip the floor with your toes” (as Dan John described earlier), or “screw your feet into the floor,” or “push the floor away from you.” Use whichever one you find the most useful. One other note for your legs: Push your ankles out. Same with your knees. Valgus knees, or having your knees collapse inward when you lift, is a form fault that can lead to a host of issues and injuries.

Remember: Learning Tension is a Process. Try, try again.

Ready to start putting these cues to work and getting more out of your training? Good. But there’s one last thing you should do: Be patient.

Every coach we spoke to agreed that cues are an essential way to help our brains to trigger tension. But any lifter who’s been coached has experienced information overload at one point or another. You’re doing a squat then someone tells you to screw your feet into the floor. Then they tell you to pull down your lats. Then they tell you to brace your core. The result of trying to do too much at once? You get confused.

So, instead, try focusing on one or a few aspects of tension at a time. As they become second-nature to you, add a new cue. In time, you’ll be doing this stuff without even thinking about it.

Full-body tension takes time—sometimes a lot of it—to master. “Tension is an underappreciated concept even among the elite athletes I work with,” Rusin says. “It’s something you can be getting better at no matter your experience level.”

The post The Tension Weightlifting Technique: How to Make Every Exercise More Effective appeared first on Born Fitness.

http://ift.tt/2wHB0mD