Kettle Bells

My philosophy has always been to try and keep my fitness level up the best I can and this lays the foundation for my martial arts training. Martial arts training is always challenging the mind, however, exercising on its own tends to put the mind in a state of boredom.Best thing I found for myself is to always look at different ways to keep in shape.

The gym purchased a whole set of kettle bells and they have been sitting there collecting dust for a while so I did a little research.

Kettle bells have been around for a long time but took a lot of attention after the release of the movie "300'.The movie introduced the "300" workout that incorporated alot of Kettle bell drills. That seems to have died off since then.

Anyways, I picked up the bells a couple of weeks ago and found their claim to fame stands true.

The Kettle bell incorporates weight training with core training and a cardio conditioning workout in the most time effective manner.

For example, kettle bell pushups, in the push up position holding on to the two bells with your hands, perform a push up and as you come up you bring one bell with you while supporting your upper body on the other bell. Then alternate one side to the other. Awesome drill!

Basic weight machines and free weights are meant to isolate the muscles but the Kettle bell drills are meant to integrate the muscle groups.

As always, changing up your workout routine is the best routine.

JC Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta, Canada

Forms Marathon..is she talking again!

This Sunday a really good opportunity will present itself to everyone. I know sometimes it feels like Silent River has one activity after another to get involved with and we may think to ourselves "this one I will sit out on".
Last year I almost did just that but then changed my mind.
When else can you really focus on your forms like this. Lower belts really have a golden opportunity because you don't have as many forms to source from.
Last year from 4am until 6am I concentrated on just forms. Middle of the night, no other distractions and too tired to think about anything else except the form. Once you get past the "I am bored of doing this over and over again"threshold you start to become very aware of the form and see it in a whole new light (or maybe that was sunrise). Just kidding!
Seriously, I will get off the soap box now but really, one should participate.
Its your form and it becomes more personal after the marathon.

My 2 cents.

JC Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu

If Only

If only I knew then what I know now.

I would have shown up to every class.

I would have practiced everyday.

I would have analyzed the basic fundamentals and mastering would have been so easy.

Every morsel of information would be savoured and written down.

Arrogance and Ego would never have entered the equation.

If only I knew then what I know now.

I seem to love torturing myself this way. I think to myself, if I could go back in time and start my white belt all over again, boy would I approach it differently!

Silly statement but its fun to imagine.

I find myself in an internal battle these days. Muscle strength versus skeletal technique.For a long time now I have relied on my muscle mass to deliver the power. So much so, that I have incorporated some bad habits that are incredibly hard to break.

What I thought was a wicked left punch (naturally left handed and nailing the heavy bag into next week!) will never meet its target. I telegraph too much, too much shoulder not enough hip and foot work.

Drats!! They see me coming a mile away.

Funny thing, I am not frustrated. For every 20 crappy punches I threw, I had one with proper technique. It went something like this.

Muscle mass + proper skeletal alignment = Shazam!

If only I knew then what I know now.

JC Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta, Canada

Tempo

I was reading an article about tempo while weight or strength training. Essentially the point the author was trying to get across , "tempo is important to increase your strength and ensure you focus on your muscle groups." This part of strength exercising is overlooked by the majority of people in the gym. Everyone knows to lift with control but what about tempo.

An example of tempo while doing a pushup could be a 4120 tempo.

(Tempo should be counted, one one-thousand, two one-thousand, etc.)

Lower yourself 4 seconds; pause 1 second at the bottom; take 2 seconds to raise yourself with no pause at the top. Continue until you cannot maintain the tempo count then rest and start another set.

This method takes the momentum and bounce out of the exercise and it forces the muscles to truly do the work.

We can carry over the concept of Tempo when we run. Our strides and breathing should fall in a close pattern to maintain a long endurance run.

Tempo is in our techniques.

Stop and analyze how you would execute a combination of punches and kicks. Is it a ... 1, 1-2 or a 1-2-3? What feels right for your body, what is the softening technique, are you using momentum for the next strike, is there abrupt change in direction or orbital motion, etc.

When doing our forms, Tempo is important for both grouping techniques in a logical sense but also for keeping our breathing in check. If your running out of gas while completing a long form, check your Tempo, check when you are inhaling and exhaling.

Its food for thought, I have been working out differently and its made me look at all of the curriculum with a new sense of application.

JC Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta, Canada

Fitness in a Bottle

Supplements.
Everything you could dream imaginable is out there regarding supplements. Walking into a health store or fitness shop, you could find yourself staring at walls and shelves of everything you ever wanted to add to your nutritional needs or your physical performance needs. All without a prescription. Sometimes a little scary.

I remember leaving a local health/holistic store feeling like I had to spend $250.00 a month just to fix, enhance and prevent a plethora of issues the owner was convinced I had.

I have pretty much dropped all of my supplement usage. I used to religiously consume Protein supplements and sport drinks(the expensive ones) and about 10 years ago I was also loading up on Creatine. All the supplements I used to purchase were for the purpose of increasing strength within the muscle groups. Fitness supplements, if you will.

Just a little story, about Creatine, I won't go into the chemistry, you can Wikipedia that for more detail. In a nutshell Creatine is produced in the body naturally and provides that instant energy for explosive power such as power lifting or short sprints. The idea with Creatine supplementing is it gives you that extra5 or 10 seconds more to push yourself over a threshold or plateau and then build on that to increase your strength.

Increase your Strength , that is what it is marketed as and further, you are told its safe since the body produces it anyways, oh yeah and all the athletes are using it (keep in mind this was about 10 years or more ago).

What a person needs to realize when considering supplement usage is the producers of these supplements do not fall under strict regulations and you really don't know what your getting in that container. Some producers have filler and contaminant allowances in their products and further with something like Creatine they give you a suggested loading criteria based on your weight, gender body fat etc.
Too many variables for my liking.

When I was taking Creatine , it was only for a month. I had to take 3 doses a day, what they called the loading phase and then tapper off according to their charts. I started to have a little stomach cramping but the circle of people I worked out with stated"that was normal"??!

My point is, if you are looking for physical performance enhancement, beware. These products are synthesised and poorly regulated. Do your research.

I believe, nothing beats homegrown natural foods, sleep and old fashion physical training to get you where you want to be.

JC Masterson, Silent River Kung Fu, Alberta, Canada