We all need a hero
We all need a hero
The Secret to Every Successful Diet And Fitness Program
The Secret to Every Successful Diet And Fitness Program
Today I would like to tell you about one of my students. Michael spent his days driving for work and had gained over 50 pounds. He knew he was eating the wrong things. He knew exercise was important.  He heard it from both his doctor and his kids. Notches on his belts his tailor was telling him too. But he said nothing happened until he committed and SHOWED UP the first day. Many more students shared similar challenges and just the simple action of SHOWING UP wiped the fear away enough to let them get started.
Do any of these make you nervous about starting something new?
- Fear of Failure
- Fear of Change
- Fear of Injury
- Fear of Rejection
- Fear of Reality
Sifu Tony Child
Total Martial Arts
The Fitness Dilemma.
The Fitness Dilemma.
Improve Your Life With Martial Arts Training
Improve Your Life With Martial Arts Training
Through Martial arts training we can learn and develop true values for living a well-rounded and healthy life physically, mentally and spiritually. Not only does practicing a martial art instills the right values and attitudes that are conducive to Self Defence, but you’ll improve your fitness and well-being.
Through struggle and adversity a Martial Arts student builds character and the ability to endure hardships and overcome obstacles that are placed in front of them. Some may think that only high level competitive athletes develop these attributes. However, we believe that ordinary individuals gain just as much from training in a Martial Art. For example, simply experiencing regular training, overcoming the failures, and experiencing the small victories makes you not only a better person but a true martial artist.
Although, ordinarily Martial Arts training gives you the opportunity to suffer, to see, and experience things that you normally wouldn’t on a normal daily bases. These experiences in themselves develop your character and push you beyond your boundaries in a safe a nurturing way. This is why we put so much effort into our fitness and conditioning program. Our fitness training is designed and intended to push and thus improve your boundaries while developing character, speed, strength, endurance and good overall body structure for close quarter fighting.
Hard martial arts and fitness training is important, it produces an attitude that when things get tough that you donât give up, but drive through it, our fitness classes are a testimony to this. Becoming a true martial artist is a personal commitment in which you must make improving yourself your main priority and place it above the desire for rewards.
Our failures are our biggest strengths, rise from them and youâll be stronger.
Addicted to technology?â
Addicted to technology?â
Sifu Tony Child
Healthy Eating and weight loss tips: Carbohydrate Control
Healthy Eating and weight loss tips: Carbohydrate Control
Many people who are looking to loose weight focus too much on the amount of fat they consume. While this is a factor its far more important and easier to limit the amount of simple carbohydrates consumed.
Simple Carbohydrates do have a place in a health conscious persons diet however they should only be consumed during or after exercise to aid in fast recovery. To avoid simple carbohydrates there are some easy changes that can be made to your regular diet.
For those of you that love sandwiches try changing what kind of bread you eat to reduce your sugar intake. White bread is the worst you could opt for, so often people go for wholemeal bread instead but even one slice of wholemeal contains around 1.6 g of sugar. The best bread for cutting out your sugar is sourdough bread as it has minimal sugar but still gives you the same great taste.
Yogurt is often regarded as a healthy snack but the flavoured varieties can come in at around 20g of sugar, just for a small serving pot. If youâre craving something creamy then try Greek yogurt instead of the fruity, flavoured ones. It is 30% protein and can be combined with sliced fruit or berryâs for a tasty, satisfying snack.
When you buy cereal you may think youâre avoiding the ones that are overloaded with sugar but even brands that are advertised as being healthier can be up to 25% sugar. If you want to avoid a huge sugar-hit at the start of your day then try porridge instead. It has low sugar levels but also provides you with high doses of Vitamin B, vitamin E and iron.
Granola bars can often be advertised as a healthy snack but an average granola can contain up to 14g of sugar. If you want a healthier on-the-go snack then try some jerky. It has no sugar and can provide a solid dose of protein, so itâs great as a post-workout snack.
If youâre a sucker for sauces with your meals, be it tomato sauce or brown sauce, then try making your own instead. Many of the sauces you buy can have around 5g of sugar, even in the tiny one serving packages. Making your own sauce is simple, all you need is some tinned tomatoes, a bit of onion and garlic and pinch of basil, and it cuts out a lot of the unnecessary sugar.
If you typically drink a glass of fruit juice in an effort to reach your five-a-day then try just fruit on itâs own instead. A normal glass of fruit juice can provide you with around 25g of sugar, whereas the fructose sugar hit that a piece of fruit provides you with comes with a good dose of fibre, helping to balance out the sugar.
"My kids don't talk to me!"
“My kids don’t talk to me!”
The supplements that actually benefit martial artists
The supplements that actually benefit martial artists
Many serious martial artists go through a phase of taking tons of supplements in hopes of boosting their game, taking at least 50 pills and tablets each day, including thrice-daily multivitamins⊠Selenium⊠Reishi extract⊠Chromium picolinateâŠTurmeric extract⊠Branched chain amino acids⊠Phosphatidyl serine⊠Etc. Etc. Etc. The list goes on however the only real effect of these supplements is to make your urine very expensive they will not improve strength, energy levels or recovery times.
Why do so many people take so many different kinds of supplements? Hereâs a few reasons:
1 â Wishful Thinking/laziness. It would be far easier if you could just pop a few pills every day instead of doing the hard work to maintain a healthy diet, putting in time training, lifting weights and doing cardio,
 2 â Advertising. Many Bodybuilding magazines and fitness websites exist in order to sell supplements as their money comes from selling advertising rather than subscriptions.
 3 â The Placebo Effect. Basically a placebo is a drug (or a supplement) that works just because you think itâs going to work, not because of anything about the drug itself.
Scientific American summed it up by saying âbelief is powerful medicine, even if the treatment itself is a sham.â
And every study that has ever looked for a placebo effect has found oneâŠ
Every legitimate clinical trial of a drug or supplement must have a placebo group to show that the drug performs better than a placebo.
The placebo effect is huge when it comes to sports supplements. For example, thereâs nothing more convincing than a friend who swears that a certain new product is âgreatâ and urges you to try it!
4 â Faulty Research. The wild claims made by the supplement companies are usually backed up by so-called âresearch.â But when you look at it more closely, this research is usually a just a single study (or a cherry-picked selection of studies which all back up the claims being made).
But a single study proves nothing! And whatâs even worse is that these studies are often small, poorly designed and improperly controlled experiments that nobody else has ever managed to duplicate (proper scientific practice require the results of experiments to be able to be duplicated by others before the results are confirmed).
In many cases the people who did the study also own the company making the supplementâŠ
Thatâs why in science nothing is ever proven until many different and unbiased researchers have found the same result.
So, are there any good supplements you should be taking?
In order of importance, the âsupplementsâ that have real science behind them are the following:
1. Colourful fruits and vegetables (e.g. dark berries, dark leafy greens, beets, red grapefruit, etc.), these will provide important vitamins and minerals. And just for the record, potatoes and rice donât count as vegetables.
2. Protein from varied sources (baseline 0.75 g protein/lb body weight day for average people; 1 g/lb per day for athletes, that means if youâre an actively training 200 lb grappler then you should be consuming about 200 grams of protein every day). This is important for the bodyâs repair and recovery after hard training
3. Fish oil. (Recent research suggests as much as 5-15 g daily) this helps to reduce inflammation, increase bone density and also control metabolism/fat burning. Tuna and salmon are a great source of fish oils. Fish oil capsules can be used to increase your intake but choose high quality capsules to avoid mercury contamination
4. Vitamin D (2000-4000 IU daily in the winter). This helps with bone formation/density. Vitamin D is produced by the body when exposed to sunlight so your intake should depend on the climate. Those with light skin are more easily able to produce vitamin D in low light conditions so less supplementation is required. Be careful not to exceed the daily dose of vitamin D because it is possible to poison yourself.
5. Creatine for athletes doing strength/power work (2g/day for a month). Creatine is found naturally in beef but is supplemented in powder form (avoid the liquid creatine supplements as the active ingredient breaks down in the liquid form) Always cycle creatine supplementation taking it for 1 month then stopping for a time. Creatine is good for increasing muscle mass and strength when weightlifting because it increases available ATP in the muscles allowing for more intense exercise. Fighters looking to compete at a certain weight class should avoid creatine as it increases water retention.
6. Caffeine in SMALL doses (50-100 mg, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup coffee), 1 hour before training. Caffeine is a stimulant and can reduce fatigue and increase power. Keep in mind that constant use of caffeine reduces its effectiveness.
And the big one, that trumps pretty much all others: SLEEP. This is important for recovery and hormone balance, try to get 8 hours sleep every night.
Kids Martial Arts: Magic Bullet?
Kids Martial Arts: Magic Bullet?
