Be the Elephant
Of all the animals that roam the planet, very few are as strong as the elephant; in fact it is said that even a lion would think twice before attacking an elephant from the front. But at the same time elephants are normally gentle animals; legend has it that an elephant will never step on a child, no matter what.
Elephants are the largest living land mammals. In fact an elephant child (calf) weighs about 200 pounds (100 kg) at birth. It is a fascinating animal, right from its humongous mass, to its unbelievable strength, and from its ivory tusks & huge ears to its tiny tail, but perhaps the most fascinating part is its trunk.
The Anatomy of a Trunk
An elephant’s trunk is composed of a very long nose with and an upper lip. It has no bones but has around six major muscle groups, with 40,000 muscles, subdivided into more than 100,000 muscle units. The trunk weighs around 300 pounds (150 kg), is about 2 metres long and has nerve endings at the tip. All of this makes the trunk incredibly strong & supple. Thus it is strong enough to lift a log about a foot thick & weighing close to 400 to 500 pounds (200 to 250 kg) and is flexible and accurate enough to pick up a coin off the floor.
What Does it all Mean??
The Elephant has been called “The Jack of All Trades and Master of All”, and rightfully so. The Elephant is an impressive animal and the Elephant’s trunk resembles the versatility needed to be an elite Athlete. You can not just dead-lift 700lbs and call your self a an elite athlete. You must be able to, not only lift the 700lbs, but you must have the dynamic versatility to demonstrate flexibility and accuracy to perform a skilled body weight movement. We train to be like the elephant. We want to master every domain of fitness that we can.