NE Womens Sectional Competition

Check this out. If it doesn’t make you wanna hit the gym, I don’t know what will!

Hey everyone! We just finished adding 200 square feet of mat space today and will finish up the project on Monday. Make sure you come by and check it out…

Please welcome Steve Garcia to our Self Defense and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu family!

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?

I want to welcome new fighters to our Self Defense and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team:

The Limon Family!

I want to welcome John Michael Gillaspy to our Self Defense and BJJ family. Say hello when you see him on the mat!

Borrowed From: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/09/06/saturated-fat/

Written By: T. Farris, author of the Four Hour Work Week.

I’ve invited Dr. Michael Eades and Dr. Mary Dan Eades, two of my favorite bariatric (obesity treatment) doctors in the US and the first to introduce insulin resistance to the mainstream, to explain the facts and benefits of increased saturated fat intake…

The sub-headings are mine, and a few edits have been made for space and context. Please see Dr. Michael Eades’ references and responses to questions in the comments.

Mid-Section Fat Loss: Problem Solved?

A couple of generations ago two physicians—one on the East Coast, one on the West—while working long hours with many patients, serendipitously stumbled onto a method to rapidly decrease fat around the mid-section. We’re sure that other doctors figured out the same thing, but these two were locally famous and published their methods. Interestingly, neither was looking to help patients lose weight.

Blake Donaldson, M.D., who practiced in Manhattan, was looking for a treatment for allergies; Walter Voegtlin, M.D., a Seattle gastroenterologist, was trying to figure out a better method for treating his patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Dr. Donaldson got his inspiration from a meeting he had with the aforementioned Vilhalmur Stefansson; Dr. Voegtlin came up with the same idea based on his knowledge of comparative anatomy. Though they came at two different questions from very different angles, they arrived at the same dietary answer. Both solved the problems they were seeking to solve and, coincidentally, noticed that their overweight patients lost a tremendous amount of fat from their abdominal areas while undergoing the treatment. As happened later with us and with Dr. Atkins, word of their success in combating obesity spread rapidly, and before long both physicians were deluged with overweight patients seeking treatment, completely changing the character of their medical practices. In retirement, both wrote books about their methods. Donaldson’s was published in 1961; Voegtlin’s in 1972. And as far as we can tell, although their years of practice overlapped, they never knew one another.

What was their secret? What did these two men independently discover? What kind of nutritional regimen did they use to bring about such great results in their patients?

Both had their patients follow an all-meat diet.

An all-meat diet?

Yes, an all-meat diet. Remember that when these physicians were in practice, there hadn’t been all the negative publicity about saturated fat and red meat that there has been in recent years. At that time, most people considered meat as simply another food, just like potatoes, bread, or anything else. No one worried about eating it. The (misguided) hypothesis that fat in the diet causes heart disease hadn’t reared its ugly head, so telling people at that time to go on an all-meat diet didn’t provoke the same sort of knee-jerk emotions that it does—at least in some quarters—now.

The patients who followed these all-meat diets rapidly lost weight from their midsections and improved their blood sugar and blood pressure problems if they had them. Calculations of cholesterol in all its various permutations was still decades away, but both doctors even used the all-meat diet for their patients with heart disease without problem. The all-meat diet proved to be a safe, filling, rapid way to help patients lose abdominal fat while improving their health. And remember, one of these diets was developed to treat GI problems, the other to treat allergies. The rapid weight loss that followed was a surprising, but welcome side effect.

7 Reasons to Eat More Saturated Fat

In the not-so-distant past, the medical establishment considered all fats equally loathsome: all fats were created equal and they’re all bad for you. Things have changed in that quarter, if only slightly. You have no doubt heard the drumbeat of current medical thinking on fats: some fats are now good for you—olive oil and canola oil*—but others are bad for you—trans fats and all saturated fats. That’s an improvement from the old cry, but far from the truth.

It seems that no matter how the story spins from the denizens of the anti-fat camp, one piece of their advice remains staunchly constant: “You should sharply limit your intake of saturated fats.” The next admonition will invariably be, “which have been proven to raise cholesterol and cause heart disease.” Their over-arching belief is that saturated fat is bad, bad, bad.

You see with just a glance at [our suggested meal plans] that we’ve included fatty cuts of meat, chicken with the skin, bacon, eggs, butter, coconut oil, organic lard, and heavy cream in the plan. Aren’t we worried that these foods will increase your risk of heart disease and raise your cholesterol? In a word, nope. In fact, we encourage you to make these important fats a regular part of your healthy diet. Why? Because humans need them and here are just a few reasons why.

1) Improved cardiovascular risk factors

Though you may not have heard of it on the front pages of your local newspaper, online news source, or local television or radio news program, saturated fat plays a couple of key roles in cardiovascular health. The addition of saturated fat to the diet reduces the levels of a substance called lipoprotein (a)—pronounced “lipoprotein little a” and abbreviated Lp(a)—that correlates strongly with risk for heart disease. Currently there are no medications to lower this substance and the only dietary means of lowering Lp(a) is eating saturated fat. Bet you didn’t hear that on the nightly news. Moreover, eating saturated (and other) fats also raises the level of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol. Lastly, research has shown that when women diet, those eating the greatest percentage of the total fat in their diets as saturated fat lose the most weight.

2) Stronger bones

In middle age, as bone mass begins to decline, an important goal (particularly for women) is to build strong bones. You can’t turn on the television without being told you need calcium for your bones, but do you recall ever hearing that saturated fat is required for calcium to be effectively incorporated into bone? According to one of the foremost research experts in dietary fats and human health, Mary Enig, Ph.D., there’s a case to be made for having as much as 50 percent of the fats in your diet as saturated fats for this reason. That’s a far cry from the 7 to 10 percent suggested by mainstream institutions. If her reasoning is sound—and we believe it is— is it any wonder that the vast majority of women told to avoid saturated fat and to selectively use vegetable oils instead would begin to lose bone mass, develop osteoporosis, and get put on expensive prescription medications plus calcium to try to recover the loss in middle age?

3) Improved liver health

Adding saturated fat to the diet has been shown in medical research to encourage the liver cells to dump their fat content. Clearing fat from the liver is the critical first step to calling a halt to middle-body fat storage. Additionally, saturated fat has been shown to protect the liver from the toxic insults of alcohol and medications, including acetaminophen and other drugs commonly used for pain and arthritis, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs, and even to reverse the damage once it has occurred. Since the liver is the lynchpin of a healthy metabolism, anything that is good for the liver is good for getting rid of fat in the middle. Polyunsaturated vegetable fats do not offer this protection.

4) Healthy lungs

For proper function, the airspaces of the lungs have to be coated with a thin layer of what’s called lung surfactant. The fat content of lung surfactant is 100 percent saturated fatty acids. Replacement of these critical fats by other types of fat makes faulty surfactant and potentially causes breathing difficulties. Absence of the correct amount and composition of this material leads to collapse of the airspaces and respiratory distress. It’s what’s missing in the lungs of premature infants who develop the breathing disorder called infant respiratory distress syndrome. Some researchers feel that the wholesale substitution of partially hydrogenated (trans) fats for naturally saturated fats in commercially prepared foods may be playing a role in the rise of asthma among children. Fortunately, the heyday of trans fats is ending and their use is on the decline. Unfortunately, however, the unreasoning fear of saturated fat leads many people to replace trans fats with an overabundance of polyunsaturated vegetable oils, which may prove just as unhealthful.

5) Healthy brain

You will likely be astounded to learn that your brain is mainly made of fat and cholesterol. Though many people are now familiar with the importance of the highly unsaturated essential fatty acids found in cold-water fish (EPA and DHA) for normal brain and nerve function, the lion’s share of the fatty acids in the brain are actually saturated. A diet that skimps on healthy saturated fats robs your brain of the raw materials it needs to function optimally.

6) Proper nerve signaling

Certain saturated fats, particularly those found in butter, lard, coconut oil, and palm oil, function directly as signaling messengers that influence the metabolism, including such critical jobs as the appropriate release of insulin. And just any old fat won’t do. Without the correct signals to tell the organs and glands what to do, the job doesn’t get done or gets done improperly.

7) Strong immune system

Saturated fats found in butter and coconut oil (myristic acid and lauric acid) play key roles in immune health. Loss of sufficient saturated fatty acids in the white blood cells hampers their ability to recognize and destroy foreign invaders, such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Human breast milk is quite rich in myristic and lauric acid, which have potent germ-killing ability. But the importance of the fats lives on beyond infancy; we need dietary replenishment of them throughout adulthood, middle age, and into seniority to keep the immune system vigilant against the development of cancerous cells as well as infectious invaders.

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The above post is an exclusive excerpt from Dr. Eades’ newest book, which is directed at people who want to reduce abdominal fat. Despite the title, the principles it details are ideal for anyone who wants to decrease both visceral (internal) and subcutaneous (under the skin) fat in the abdomen.

There are two basic drills that you can easily use to functionalize this particular skill set. They are:

Give and Take. To describe this easier, I’ll give each partner a name. Trainer and Trainee. To start the drill, stand in front of your partner and get what we call the “fighting measure”. This means to reach out with your arms and touch their shoulder. If you can’t, you are too far away. Once you have the fighting measure, assume a fighting stance. Here we go.

1. Trainer slowly steps forward and delivers a right jab to the trainee’s head and freezes. The trainee steps towards the trainer and assumes the fighting frame posture, striking the trainer with the frame. Once contact has been made, the trainee steps back and assume a new fighting stance. Okay. Now, the trainee becomes the trainer and the trainer becomes the trainee. Get it?
2. To continue the drill, the trainer slowly steps forward and delivers a right jab to the trainee’s head and freezes. The trainee steps towards the trainer and assumes the fighting frame posture, striking the trainer with the frame. Once contact has been made, the trainee steps back and assume a new fighting stance. Now, the trainee becomes the trainer and the trainer becomes the trainee.
3. Repeat this action until both partners are comfortable with the motions. Once you are good to go, you may slowly speed up the action until you are at combat speed!

Block and Strike. This drill is an adaptation of the Filipino combat arts training methodology “Abecedario”.  It is a progressive skill development tool that is very effective and has endless possibilities. The set up is just like before. Trainer and Trainee. To start the drill, stand in front of your partner and get what we call the “fighting measure”. This means to reach out with your arms and touch their shoulder. If you can’t, you are too far away. Once you have the fighting measure, assume a fighting stance. Here we go.

1. The trainer steps forward and punches to the trainee’s head. The trainee steps forward and executes the fighting frame. Once contact has been made with the trainer, the trainee will follow up the frame with a counter strike.
2. For the purposes of this segment. I will prescribe a specific response for ease of use. The trainee unclasps his/her left hand from the right wrist and wraps it over the trainers attacking limb. With the right hand, (already on the head/neck) open your fist and grab the back of the trainer’s head. Next, the trainee will pull down sharply on the trainer’s neck while at the same time delivering a right knee spike to the trainer’s stomach. Lastly, the trainee will push the trainer backwards; step back and assume the fighting stance. Okay. Now, the trainee becomes the trainer and the trainer becomes the trainee. Get it?
3. To continue the drill, the trainer slowly steps forward and delivers a right jab to the trainee’s head and freezes. The trainer steps forward and punches to the trainee’s head. The trainee steps forward and executes the fighting frame. Once contact has been made with the trainer, the trainee will follow up the frame with a counter strike.
4. The trainee unclasps his/her left hand from the right wrist and wraps it over the trainers attacking limb. With the right hand, (already on the head/neck) open your fist and grab the back of the trainer’s head. Next, the trainee will pull down sharply on the trainer’s neck while at the same time delivering a right knee spike to the trainer’s stomach. Lastly, the trainee will push the trainer backwards; step back and assume the fighting stance.

Repeat this action until both partners are comfortable with the motions. Once you are good to go, you may slowly speed up the action until you are at combat speed!

One more thing. Ensure that both partners take all safety precautions. Wear the proper protective equipment especially eye protection. Because we all know its fun and games until you put an eye out!

These two drills should get you started on the road to functional defense. If you have comments or suggestions, please email me or comment in the form below.

Until next time, let’s get 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 Stance

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.

Fighting Frame Position 1

This combative application of instinctively protection our face will hopefully do several things.

1. Protect our head and face from the incoming attack.
2. 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.
3. 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

Left Knee Spike

Right Elbow Strike

Headtwist Takedown

Knee Drop

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