Posts Tagged ‘core fitness’
An Ex-Marine, Coming Back From Severe Injuries, Follows an Intense Regime He Calls a ‘Livelihood’
By JAMES WAGNER, Wall Street Journal. Please visit WSJ for full accounting of the article.
In April 2003, corporal Hector Delgado lay in an induced coma on a Navy ship in the Persian Gulf. His pelvis had been crushed into six pieces and his legs and nerves were mangled after a fuel tank fell on him while he was with the Marines in Iraq.
The accident kept him in a hospital for a year. His right foot was paralyzed and his left foot was partially damaged. Mr. Delgado, who often has to use a wheelchair, fell into what he calls a three-year “funk.” His weight ballooned to 230 pounds, his cholesterol shot up, and he was smoking and going to bars every night.
“When I got out of the hospital, I could care less,” says Mr. Delgado, 30. The accident left him three inches shorter than what he was before deployment.
But in 2008, a friend mentioned a vigorous cross-training routine, CrossFit, often used by military special forces. Mr. Delgado was enticed by the workout’s intensity and variety, and liked the camaraderie of the exercisers.
He now works out five times a week and keeps a strict eating regime. His 5-foot-6 frame is down to 149 pounds, and he now has the strength to walk short distances unassisted.
At this point, [working out] is more of a livelihood than anything,” says Mr. Delgado, who lives in North Patchogue, N.Y.
Mr. Delgado is an outreach worker at the Queens Vet Center in New York, where he educates other veteran organizations and service members about military benefits and support programs. He is also earning his Bachelor’s degree in education and psychology at St. Joseph’s College.
Want to read the rest of the article? Go to the WSJ.
Write to James Wagner at james.wagner@wsj.com
Mayor Lorene Spurlock Ruiz
Congratulations to Lorene Spurlock Ruiz for winning our Foursquare Mayor contest last month. She had the most check-ins of the entire family and wins the Crown!
She receives the Official Mayor’s Certificate Of Office and a gift certificate for a Manicure/Pedicure from T’s Nails.
Not sure what I am talking about? Follow these steps and be good to go.
Step 1: Go to Foursquare and join. Download and install the application on your smart phone.
Step 2: Friend me on Facebook.
Step 3: Check in on Foursquare each and every time you come to the gym and TRAIN. Go to “places”, look for Absolute Self Defense and Fitness. Check in then. Not when you drive by or late at night. 
That’s all there is to it…
So, who will be next? You?
Taken From The Associated Press
Fish oil pills may be able to spare some young people with signs of mental illness from a progression into fully developed schizophrenia, according to a preliminary study of 81 patients in Austria.
The study adds to evidence suggesting that severe mental illness may be prevented with intervention. The researchers are starting a larger study in eight cities, hoping to replicate the findings, which appear in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, released Monday.
A severe mental illness, schizophrenia affects adolescents and young adults. Some 2.4 million Americans have the disorder, which is treated with antipsychotic medication.
“Schizophrenia is among the most mysterious and costliest diseases in terms of human suffering, so anything that gives some hope to avoid this is great,” said lead author Dr. G. Paul Amminger, formerly in Vienna and now at the Orygen Youth Health Research Center at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Researchers have wondered if the disease could be stopped before it overpowers a person’s grip on reality. Studies have tried antipsychotics in select young people, but side effects pose ethical questions, and results have been mixed.
Researchers in the new study identified 81 people, ages 13 to 25, with warning signs of psychosis, including sleeping much more or less than usual, growing suspicious of others, believing someone is putting thoughts in their head or believing they have magical powers. Forty-one were randomly assigned to take four fish oil pills a day for three months. The other patients took dummy pills.
After a year of monitoring, 2 of the 41 patients in the fish oil group, or about 5%, had become psychotic, or completely out of touch with reality. In the placebo group, 11 of 40 became psychotic, about 28%.
No one knows what causes schizophrenia but one hypothesis is that people with the disease don’t process fatty acids correctly, leading to damaged brain cells. Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil could help brain cells repair and stabilize, the researchers speculate.
Dr. Janet Wozniak of Harvard Medical School said the findings might reasonably cause psychiatrists to recommend fish oil to some patients because there are known benefits and little risk.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press
Cumin Fish with Salsa
Ingredients
Fish
2 fish fillets, large
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1tbs ground cumin
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
Salsa
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red capsicum, diced
1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
1 avocado, diced
1tbs olive oil
2tbs apple cider vinegar
Instructions
Combine garlic, cumin, olive oil and lemon juice. Place fish in a bowl and rub on cumin
mixture. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Pre‐heat a grill to medium heat.
Place fish on grill and cook for 3‐4 minutes each side, or until cooked through.
To make the salsa, place all salsa ingredients into a mixing bowl and combine well.
Sweet Potato, Bacon and Egg Salad
Ingredients
2/3 cup diced sweet potato
2 eggs
2 rashes of bacon, diced using meat only
1tbs oil
4tbs dill, finely chopped
2tbs mayonnaise
2tbs lemon juice
Instructions
Boil eggs in water for 4-6minutes. Peel and dice eggs.
Boil sweet potato for 4-5minutes or until cooked through.
Place a frying pan on medium-high heat, add olive oil and bacon and fry until browned and slightly crunchy.
In a small bowl, combine dill, mayonnaise and lemon juice.
Place eggs, sweet potato, bacon and mayonnaise sauce into a medium size serving bowl. Combine well.
Serve.
Hey! I want to welcome another Boot Camp athlete to our family. Please welcome Molly White to our athletic family. When you see her next week, say Hello and introduce yourself.
There are certain body positions that nullify a opponent’s attacks. Their strikes, kicks, locks and chokes are no longer effective due to the attack options presented by your defensive position. Yet from these positions, the superior fighter can launch effective strikes and finishes or can move to an even more advantageous position. There is no reasonable way without a position such as this to hit another person that doesn’t leave you vulnerable to an attack in return. These positions are the frame from which we attempt to organize our training.
Natural Stance - Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, this basic ready stance is often used to disguise tactics or intent. The entire body should be relaxed. Allow your arms to hang at the sides, bring both arms slightly to the front and clasp the left hand over the right wrist in the “monkey’s paw” grip. This is done by aligning all five of your fingers together and curving them the meet the curvature of your right wrist. Grip with all the fingers on one side of the other wrist. This will allow a unconscious release of the other arm. If you use a normal “grip”, you will subconsciously have to tell yourself to let go and complete another motion. This grip removes that step. If used with a stick, stand with stick under left arm and left hand holding right forearm.
Fighting Stance – A general rule of stance is to keep both legs flexed for balance, and to be able to move rapidly. One heel is always lifted, usually the one with the least weight. This is a relatively general principle, which in particular facilitates turning. It may also help with explosive motions. The feet are 45 degrees to the major line of the body. There should be a feeling of being ready to take off like a sprinter. Hide the head behind the shoulder and the throat behind the chin. It is a good rule of thumb to keep the elbows low and close to the body and head. The guarding hand is used to block and check incoming attacks. When in an fighting position, hold the hand in accordance with your range to the opponent. If a weapon is being used, it is always in the lead hand.
Fighting Frame - In response to your opponent’s attack, you step slightly off the side of their body that the attack originated. You bring your arms up in the instinctive flinch response then link your wrists. Both arms are slightly bent at the elbow with your head tucked down and in-between and looking forward at the attacker. Form your hands into fists and grasp your right wrist with the left hand in the “monkey’s paw”. You are attempting to blast your way past the attack (normally a jab or a haymaker style punch) by striking your opponent’s forearm / bicep area with your left forearm and your right forearm striking the opponent’s shoulder / neck area with emphasis on hitting the Brachial Plexus Origin nerve cluster.
This combative application of instinctively protection our face will hopefully do several things.
- Protect our head and face from the incoming attack.
- Deliver a debilitating blow to the attacking limb by striking the bicep brachial nerve which should stun the limb and hopefully effect a “impact driven grip release” of any weapon.
- Place us into position for the Tactical phase of our Combative Application: The delivery of counter attack techniques.
This sample response simply shows a beginning option:
- Fighting Frame Position 1
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- Left Knee Spike
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- Right Elbow Strike
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- Headtwist Takedown
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- Knee Drop
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- Hammerfist Finishing Technique
The fighting frame is a simple, yet effective strategic and tactical application tool. Practice, Practice, Practice until it is instinctive. Next post I’ll show you how to drill this with a willing partner.
Until then, Let’s Get Training!
jim
I want to welcome the following Athletes to our family.
Lorelei Wherry – Boot Camp
Natasha Wherry – Boot Camp
Jennifer Tello – Boot Camp
Welcome!!!
In the nutrition class last Friday, we talked a great deal about how our diet can contribute directly to Type II Diabetes, Hyperinsulinemia as well as a host of other problems.
Well, I got this in an email today. Read it, view the research and stop eating and drinking poison…
The word of the day is motivation. Everyone is motivated in some way to do something. If the motivation is not yielding an action that has a positive, healthy impact on your life it is time to shift some thoughts and actions. It sounds simple enough. If you read this blog regularly, it probably sounds a little familiar too. That is because goals need motivation. Here are a couple basic things to think about when evaluating motivation.
Motivation goes by two names. The first, and the one most people have, is called extrinsic. It represents all external motivations. Money, status, physical beauty, etc. are all examples of external motivators. The second, and most effective in the long term, is intrinsic. This includes all things internal. Thoughts, feelings, health, safety, etc. are all intrinsic. Sometimes, the same result can be achieved through either type of motivation. It is also possible to start off in one mindset and shift to the other during and still attain the same outcome.
For example, Sally wants to lose 50 lbs. She believes that weight loss will make her more attractive to the world. So, her initial motivation is extrinsic because she is anticipating her “reward” to be outside the actual completion of the task itself. Sally begins a regular exercise routine and adjusts her diet. Over the next couple of weeks Sally loses 5 lbs. She also begins to have more confidence in herself because she has learned that she is capable of doing more than she anticipated.
Now, Sally exercises because she wants to challenge herself. This is a shift in motivation. The intrinsic motivation here is Sally’s increased desire to complete a specific task. Therefore, her “reward” can only come from the task itself. Either way, she will reap the reward of the exercise. One reward of exercise and healthy diet can be weight loss. Since her motivation is now intrinsic she will, most likely, continue on with diet and exercise long after she reaches her initial 50 lb goal.
Take some time to look at what gets you going. What and how are you motivated? Compare your set goals with what motivated or motivates you to achieve them. Then get out there and make it happen!!