Posts Tagged ‘Fitness’
Think You Have It Tough?
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
Do You Journal Your Fitness Efforts?
Everybody should invest in a notebook and write in it everyday. There are many, many reasons to keep a journal. It is a great tool in the organization of thoughts and ideas. It is an invaluable tool in charting your progress in life. For the athlete, a journal is a necessity and should be in your gym bag along with your shoes, towel and other workout gear. I have long neglected the religious journaling of my training, my workouts and other important details of my life and now kick my self for it.
I have forgotten so much of what I have learned over the years in my Martial Arts and Fitness travels. Furthermore, I have many achievements and accomplishments that have gone unjournaled and have thus faded into distant memories. It is unfortunate, but it is not too late.
I encourage you to keep track of your workouts or fit test results, but that simply isn’t enough. You need to keep a copy with you. You should record what you did during your whole workout: warmup, workout, cool down, scores, times and weights. You should record your impressions of your workout. If you felt good or bad or injured or energized. You should record strategies that worked and did not work.
Thoughts and ideas on how to improve your performance between workouts or to improve on your performance on a specific workout. If you learned some great detail that improved your form or time, you should write that down so you do not forget.
There is no limit to what you can write about in your journal. The important thing is that you write in it consistently and refer back to it to see your progress. If you are working on a goal (and you all should have a goal) like weight loss for example, then you should state your goal in your journal. Outline your plan and then record the steps you are taking to fulfill your goal.
Perhaps you read a good article on improving your eating habits and are trying to follow the program. You can cut it out and tape it into your journal or write down the details in your journal and then see if day by day, week by week, you are following the program. Not all programs are one-size-fits-all and so if you are not finding success you can analyze where it might be going wrong and thus make some adjustments.
Remember it is your journal and you should feel free to write in it, personalize it, make it as interesting and enjoyable and user friendly as possible. Many people tape inspiring pictures in their journals of six-pack abs that they want to have or inspiring athletes that they idolize. Here is one tip that I find works really well. Use two pages that face each other and track your workouts in columns going across so that you can fit several weeks of workouts on those two pages.
Having several weeks worth of work staring you in the face makes it easy to look at your recent progress. This is especially true if you are working a progressive goal like those pullups. You can see from left to right how many pullups and other assistance exercises you did for those weeks and quickly see if you are progressing.
If you are doing a fitness and body composition test every Friday, then you might have 4 weeks of tests on those pages staring at you and thus you can see if the program was working that month.
There are no limits. I haven’t even touched on food journaling. If you are following the Paleo plan and zoning, it is a must that your write down everything you eat. Charting your fuel and performance will allow you to really see how everything works together. Getting really personal is also good because you can see how your emotions effect your diet and exercise. If you are a good journaler, you might notice patterns that help or hinder your performance.
You might notice that every time your boss gives you a new assignment, you eat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and you don’t workout for 3 or 4 days. You might notice that every time burpees are posted on the WOD board, you come down with a cold, a sore back or some other reason not to give it your all.
Hmmm…interesting.
Never Give Up
I was training my son in Standing Grappling and Ground fighting just a few days ago and my youngest said, “It’s too hard, can you show me something else that is easier?” Of course, I gave him a hard time about it and continued to drill and drill. Later on, I sat him down and shared some of my life experiences where having a “Don’t give up” mental attitude literally saved my life. So, I thought that this thread might make a good blog post. Let me know what you think. I look forward to your comments and tweets.
Here it is:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle
How many times do we tell students “don’t give up”, but do we practice this mindset ourselves? When a challenge comes along and we don’t get it the first time, we should keep trying for at least one hundred times.
I have not failed 700 times, I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work
~ Thomas Edison
Think how successful we would be if we always did things one hundred times before we even thought about giving up. If this was put into our life at work, home and in martial arts, think of the things we could achieve. we might not even get there after one hundred times but think how much better we would be than just giving it one chance and then saying “l can’t do it”.
“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
Lewis Carroll
The human quality of perseverance is very important. Often people with physical talent fail because they lack perseverance and motivation, they should instead be like the proverbial boulder and just know we can achieve whatever we want, as long as we keep taking action and learning we can only go forwards and progress.
Repetition is the mother of all skills. To do a technique once and expect it to work for us is not true in the slightest. To really understand the technique and its concepts we have to do it until the line of familiarity and the root movement is in our subconscious. It can be done anytime anywhere without even thinking about it.
You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning Karate is not very different from learning a dance. you will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do – Gichin Funakoshi
Think how many times we do a jab in our training more than say a difficult kick, the jab is repeated far more times as the difficult kick will work in a real situation. It’s repeated time after time so that it will work for us in situations and we become very comfortable throwing it.
Given enough time, any man may master the physical. With enough knowledge, any man may become wise. It is the true warrior who can master both….and surpass the result.
~ Tien T’ai
When we have developed all of our combative skill sets ensuring that we adhere to the six attributes then our techniques will become technically sound and we will develop our tactical or strategic skills to become an excellent martial artist.
The obstacle is the path
~ Zen Proverb
Until next time, Let’s Get Training!
jim
Cold Weather Got You Beat?
Effective Clothing Layers
Everyone is different. Especially when it comes to their bodies’ response to working out. Sometimes we do not even know until the weather changes. With all this cold weather blowing through, a common problem may be keeping you inside and out of the gym. Sometimes all you need are a few helpful hints to get over the cold.
During Boot camp we have an wide variety of workouts. Sometimes these include both indoor and outdoor exercises. It is never a bad idea to bring your cold weather arsenal to each work out. To get the heart pumping, we might warm up with a quick 200-400 meter run. Some people struggle with the cold air.
I have heard people use terms like “cold weather asthma”, “burning”, etc. to describe the pain that comes from the cold air. Although, eventually, the body will acclimate itself and all will be well. If you are not moving to Minnesota, why not find an interim solution. The problem stems from the temperature difference between the cold air and our normal body temperature. It is like putting ice in boiling water.
Thin, warm gloves
At first, the ice will crack and melt. Eventually, the ice will cool down the water and the melting would occur at a more natural pace. Between these two happenings is a median that we can apply to cold air intake. It is something that impedes the direct hot on cold interaction like a buffer.
A couple of great ideas to put between your mouth and the cold air are scarves, bandannas, & face masks. Scarves and bandannas are pretty self-explanatory. Put them over your mouth. In the face mask department there is a huge selection. If you are looking to stay on the lower side of the monetary scale, a simple dust mask will do a pretty decent job. I don’t recommend this for people that wear glasses because there is not a good seal and the glasses will fog.
However, if you are an avid outdoor exerciser and want to squash this problem for good, I would recommend a runners face mask. They range in price from $5 (probably comparable in function to the aforementioned dust mask) to $85 (top of the line, fog free, too much for a southern state dweller).
Another problem that plagues the outdoor exerciser are cold extremities. Hands, feet, legs, & arms all get cold. Of course, the hands are usually the first to feel the affects of the cold weather. Get some gloves. Gloves that you don’t mind getting dirty and have a grip to them. I would check out the hardware stores or gardening departments before I looked in the winter section of the department store. Dress in layers. We all know, everyone that works out sweats.
Proof Of Work!
If you are sweating you are probably hot. Wear something underneath the long sleeves so you can be comfortable throughout your workout. Also, if you are going to be indoor and outdoor or just outdoors remember that when you sweat you will soon be colder. Sweat is liquid and reacts to the cold as such (i.e. it could freeze given the chance). The layers are good to put back on when you get cold. It is also a good idea to wear thicker socks. This will keep the cold out and away from the toes.
Get up and put your cold weather gear together. You need a buffer for the cold air, utilitarian gloves, layers, and thick socks. Sounds pretty simple, but it makes for a better work out.
Now you’re ready, so get over to the gym and let’s get training!
Great Workout With The Arctic Warriors
Great Effort Tonight! I’m proud of everyone that braved the arctic cold to come crush a killer cardio core workout.
Open Monday!
Hey everyone! Just a reminder that we will be open Monday the 28th for regularly schedules training. See you there!
Paleo Diet Gets Study At Department of Medicine, University of California
- BACKGROUND: The contemporary American diet figures centrally in the pathogenesis of numerous chronic diseases-’diseases of civilization’. We investigated in humans whether a diet similar to that consumed by our preagricultural hunter-gatherer ancestors (that is, a paleolithic type diet) confers health benefits.
- METHODS: We performed an outpatient, metabolically controlled study, in nine nonobese sedentary healthy volunteers, ensuring no weight loss by daily weight. We compared the findings when the participants consumed their usual diet with those when they consumed a paleolithic type diet. The participants consumed their usual diet for 3 days, three ramp-up diets of increasing potassium and fiber for 7 days, then a paleolithic type diet comprising lean meat, fruits, vegetables and nuts, and excluding nonpaleolithic type foods, such as cereal grains, dairy or legumes, for 10 days. Outcomes included arterial blood pressure (BP); 24-h urine sodium and potassium excretion; plasma glucose and insulin areas under the curve (AUC) during a 2 h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT); insulin sensitivity; plasma lipid concentrations; and brachial artery reactivity in response to ischemia.
- RESULTS: Compared with the baseline (usual) diet, we observed (a) significant reductions in BP associated with improved arterial distensibility (-3.1+/-2.9, P=0.01 and +0.19+/-0.23, P=0.05);(b) significant reduction in plasma insulin vs time AUC, during the OGTT (P=0.006); and (c) large significant reductions in total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and triglycerides (-0.8+/-0.6 (P=0.007), -0.7+/-0.5 (P=0.003) and -0.3+/-0.3 (P=0.01) mmol/l respectively). In all these measured variables, either eight or all nine participants had identical directional responses when switched to paleolithic type diet, that is, near consistently improved status of circulatory, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism/physiology.
- CONCLUSIONS: Even short-term consumption of a paleolithic type diet improves BP and glucose tolerance, decreases insulin secretion, increases insulin sensitivity and improves lipid profiles without weight loss in healthy sedentary humans.
- PMID: 19209185 [PubMed - in process]
Get Fit To Be Functional For Life
Are you a "fringe" athlete?
Everyone seems to be talking about “functional fitness.” The term has been used in some of the articles on this blog. It sounds like a good thing. It seems simple enough. Still, people want to know what the buzz is all about.
Let us begin with a couple of definitions. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, function, in this instance, is defined as “the action for which a person or thing is specially fitted or used or for which a thing exists.” Also known as, purpose. Also, in accordance with the aforementioned dictionary, the word fitness is defined as the state of being sound physically and mentally. Combine these definitions and you have “functional fitness”.
So, that’s enough with the definitions already. How about some practical examples? Let’s take a look at a group most people would consider in excellent fitness, Olympians. Are they functionally fit? Well, not really. When people specialize in a specific athletic field they train night and day. However, the training they do is specific to their sport. They are “fringe athletes”. They have to isolate the muscles that allow them to excel in their sport. For example, a runner may have superior leg strength, stamina, and even core strength. But, they may not be able to lift a 50 lb box over their head.
Functional fitness is about real life. In 20, 30, or 40 years will you be able to get up out of chair with out assistance, tie your own shoes, carry your own groceries, or squat down to pick up your grandkids? If you are functionally fit the answer is yes. Functional fitness is designed to help you become stronger and more resilient to the ware that living life brings.
You will be in a state of mental and physical soundness that will prolong your ability to continue this specially fitted action that you exist for called life.
The Tools...
Get fit to be functional for life! Call me for more information on how to get functionally fit. 254-247-4999 Harker Height’s Absolute Self Defense and Fitness.
It’s a Family Affair (part 2)
Scrambled Egg By The Numbers
We all know, in the short run, it is easier to give in and serve a nice cold bowl of sugar coated “corn” flakes or order a greasy pizza. It’s in the house, on the table, and making your mouth water. Not to mention, it’s already made. There’s the danger! Why not make nutrition and healthy living fun for the kiddos?
Like anything worth having, this too will take effort. Start off slow and steady. A great breakfast sugar buster are eggs. Too time consuming? Here’s a tip: crack the appropriate number of eggs needed (approximately 2 per person) and whisk until blended. You can store them in airtight container for up to 2 days. Add veggies and/or lean meat like Turkey to the mix for extra flavor and nutrition. A bowl of fresh fruit on the side will provide a complete breakfast.
If you are like most parents you are probably thinking that your kid can’t live on eggs alone. Next time you are at the store let your pre-schooler or elementary aged child pick out a new fruit or vegetable from the fresh produce department. This will not only spark their interest in these foods, it will also give them a sense of ownership in the families mealtime. At dinnertime, introduce veggies first. Put a plate of crudités and hummus on the table while you finish cooking the main course. Let the kids dig in! This will help prevent pre-meal snacking and expose their palette to new tastes.
The best thing you can do is, keep trying! Your kids are not going to starve themselves. If you have a house full of healthy food they will eat healthy food. I can not tell you that there won’t be bumps along the way. In the long run, you AND your kids will be happier and healthier. Who knows, they may even thank you for it someday.
The Defender’s Creed
I found this today and thought it quite appropriate…Your thoughts?
I accept and understand that human predators exist. Criminal or
terrorist, they take advantage of our civilized society to prey upon
the weak. They represent evil and must be confronted and defeated.
I believe that self-defense is a moral imperative, and that illegitimate
force and illegal violence must be met with righteous indignation and
superior violence.
I will not rely on others for the security of myself, my family and
my community. I proudly proclaim that I run with a like-minded pack.
I do not amble through life with the mind-numbed herd.
I will train with my chosen weapons, maintain them and carry them in
a condition of readiness at all times. I will be mentally prepared and
physically equipped to effectively respond to an attack or emergency.
I will constantly test myself against realistic standards to discover
my strengths and weaknesses. I will turn weakness into strength.
I will seek to learn new skills and techniques, and then teach what I
have learned to other members of the pack.
Be it with firearm or blade, empty hand or blunt object, I will hit
my enemies hard, fast and true.
I will live a quiet and unobtrusive life, but I will develop and retain
the capacity for swift and decisive violence.
I recognize that I am the modern equivalent of the traditional
Minuteman, and that I may be called to service at any time against
heavily armed enemies.
I will respond effectively.
I accept that I am a pariah among some of my countrymen, and a
quaint anachronism to others. I will not hold their ignorance against them.
I will win, or die trying.
I swear this creed before God, my family and my fellow citizens.
Author Unknown
Exercise is Not a Pain in the Neck (or Back)
The truth is that exercise and fitness in general, are quite the opposite. Back pain is so common that many people have resigned to live with this problem. Most have never had a direct injury to their back or any other medical reason for the pain. So, it gets chalked up to the facts of life; age, stress, etc. The reality is that it is a fact of lifestyle, not life. Truth be told a few lifestyle adjustments, for most people, can make a life changing difference in the way they feel.
Building core strength is a foundation of the Fighting Fit Bootcamp. The core of the body is the area between the hips and the shoulders. It is the “storage” area for almost every vital organ and houses the two largest components of the spine. The spine, a.k.a. the scapegoat for back pain, is encased by muscle upon muscle. These are in place to ensure the body’s ability to properly move, or function. An areas of functionality that are predominately important are dynamic and static core function. These are the basis of day to day mobility. Essentially, there are four parts to most movements. They are: Spine, Pelvis, Thigh and Shin. You need all four of these parts to squat down and pick something up or to even sit in a chair. Core function is the ability of the muscles to allow for movement while maintaining resistance against force. An example is keeping your balance while walking.
Hiking uphill or downhill, walking on a wet or icy surface, skiing of any sort, etc. are all real life instances where the dynamic core function comes into play. When the body is in one place, but resisting a direct force or pressure the static core function is at work. Holding something over your head, catching a heavy or fast moving object without losing balance, shooting a gun or bow, etc. are times to be thankful for static core function. Not a day goes by that the core functions are not used. It is when we begin to use them less and less that they get weaker and “out of shape” leaving our spine at risk of injury.
These functions are the workings of different groups of muscles. The strength, or functionality, of these muscles is a result of how well they have been conditioned, or correctly exercised/worked. The average back pain can be eased, if not completely alleviated, by proper mid-line stabilization and core strength training. Proper core work outs incorporate muscle building and stretching; two of the main components needed to achieve the highest level of function and, in turn, ease back pain for good.
Jim Mahan is the Fighting Fit Bootcamp instructor at Absolute Self-Defense and Fitness in Harker Heights, Tx. Contact him at 254-247-4999 to kick start your core and kick out back pain!
Confidence, Character, and Mental Toughness
Hey! This is not my writing. I poached it off of CrossFit Generation’s (Barry and Jocelyn Weidner) website and I am attempting to give them proper credit. I read this today and it echoes what I always preach about hard training and mental toughness. If you like it, please go to their website and read more about them and their training. Anyway, here is the article.
Hard training definitely has a tremendous physical effect on your body. It makes you stronger, faster, balanced, agile, and builds a lean and strong physique. The physical aspects are obvious when you try on new clothes and you need a smaller size or when you look in the mirror and notice the changes yourself or to others when they ask you what are you doing to get into the shape you are in. All those things are great.
There is, however, another aspect of training that sometimes is not realized and maybe even overlooked. This aspect is about the mental side of training and what it does for your life. I firmly believe that hard training and what it does for you physically has a direct correlation with your mind and how you feel about yourself. Just take a moment and think about how great it feels when you get a new personal record in a max effort lift or you take over a minute off of your last benchmark workout. I bet it feels pretty darn good. You leave CFG feeling tough and confident in what you just accomplished. You get home and feel unstoppable. That feeling can carry over into the other areas of your life. The next day you head into work more confident, you are energized and pumped about how you perform in your workouts and what hard training is doing for your life. That is confidence.
Let’s take this from another perspective. Let’s say you do not get a PR or your time increases because of other factors that are going on in your life. Some things we just cannot control. You leave CFG defeated and a bit perturbed at yourself knowing that you can do better. Guess what? Sometimes you will lose. Coming back in the next day, forgetting about the day before and ready to tackle another challenge is all about character. Losing a battle (a workout) and winning the war (a lifetime of great health) is what builds character.
Mental toughness is what happens inside of CFG. It is built during the workout. When you feel like stopping and giving up, when you feel the words “I can’t” start to creep into your head, and when you feel like you will not win, that is when you dig deep into your soul, find that inner strength, the mental toughness that I know everyone has, and go harder. We all have more inside of us than we realize. When the body wants to stop, it is the mind that keeps us going. You always hear me say to you (especially during burpees) “Next Rep, Next Rep”. I do that for a reason, to motivate you to keep going no matter what. It will only make you better. Just keep battling through the workouts and find that mental toughness that is inside of you. Get that last pullup, explode through that last thruster, and sprint that last 200m like your life depended on it.
All of these 3 aspects, confidence, character, and mental toughness, go hand in hand and build off of each other. Be confident in your abilities and accomplishments, build character through the ups and downs of training, and always believe in yourself during the workouts and find the strength and mental toughness that is within you.
