I know personally I could stretch more, and need to even more so now that I have started going back to my martial arts school. So the question is how much is enough to affect change? Studies show that stretching four times a week for thirty seconds per body part will yield flexibility improvements. it I know personally I could stretch more, and need to even more so now that I have started going back to my martial arts school. So the question is how much is enough to affect change? Studies show that stretching four times a week for thirty seconds per body part will yield flexibility improvements. it
Do You Get Enough Cardio?
We here at JETT tell our clients to shoot for three to four days of cardio a week. The safest and easiest combination is two days on the elliptical at 55-65% of your maximal heart (fat burning and building you cardiovascular base) and two days spinning (interval training).
If you combine this with a sound diet and two days of weight-lifting (full body) you will be healthy.
Sometimes it’s hard to hit the mark, here are some tips.
- Get a FitBit (shoot for a minimum of 10,000 steps a day).
- Walk for half of your lunch hour.
- If weather permits get off the bus a stop or two a head of your destination.
- Get a treadmill desk.
- Join a running club so your have some accountability
- Schedule your cardio bouts in your smart phone.
Bottom line…move more we all can.
All the best and be healthy!!
Do you stretch enough?
I know personally I could stretch more, and need to even more so now that I have started going back to my martial arts school.
So the question is how much is enough to affect change? Studies show that stretching four times a week for thirty seconds per body part will yield flexibility improvements. it is not conclusive as to whether more that four days if helpful.
That being said my personal mission will be to shoot for four days a week. I do tend to focus more on the lower body due to the extreme flexibility needed for my martial arts pursuits. My toughest/tightest area are my hips, more specifically the lotus position/stretch. The flexibility of my legs is actually fairly good and I have no problems with high kicks, but the lotus position is the bane of my existence.
Here is the lower body stretch routine that I am currently following:
Day 1: Holding all for at least 30 seconds
Standing piriformis stretch on a raise platform – 3x each side
Lotus stretch – 3x each side
Front Split – 3x each direction
Straddle Split – 5x
Day 2: Holding all for at least 30 seconds
Standing piriformis stretch on a raise platform – 3x each side
Lotus stretch – 3x each side
Hamstring stretch on bar (I like to use the smith machine and raise the bar each time)
From this position I roll into a side kick/round house kick position – both positions 3x each side
Leg stretch machine – 5x
Here also is a link for a very thorough full body stretch routine, you may not need all listed but all body parts are covered.
https://jettllc.biz/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/stretch_routine.pdf
Good luck stretching!!
Back to School!!
I have been promising myself that I would go back to my martial arts school for sometime now and finally this past Saturday I made my triumphant return!! I have been going to Tai Yim Kung Fu (www.taiyimkungfu.com) off and on for the past twenty years. There are times when I have taken up to five years off, but it always seems to call me back.
The reasons I always return are that I love the training, the curriculum, the friends I have made and Sifu. Sifu means teacher/Father and he is just that. Sifu Tai Yim started the school in 1975, and just recently celebrated his 40th year anniversary. I have great respect for this man and consider him one of my mentors.
I started going in the late eighties, when I thought I could become the next Bruce Lee. At the time I was still in my teens and it was very hard for me to understand the amount of time and practice it required. I remember expressing this concern to one of my instructors and saying to her “I would give anything to become more flexible” (I could barely touch my toes at the time). She simply answered…”Just give your time”. It was so simple, yet so profound, I should also point out that this instructor was younger than I was, but obviously much wiser.
The Tai Yim Kung style is call Hung Fut. This Southern Kung Fu style it is a blend to two systems – Hung Gar (the basis of modern Karate and very hard) and Fut Gar (a soft style that emphasizes palm strikes). This unique incorporation of linear, circular, and angular techniques is powerful and explosive, yet precise, flowing, and without rigidity. Essentially it’s very martial while at the same time very esthetically pleasing.
So what brought me back this time, as if all the reasons above weren’t enough? My twin boys will be five next November and that is when they will join the school. Just as I practice what I preach when it comes to my clients, I need to do the same in this situation.
My return was fun, as it always is and I remembered more of my forms that I thought I would. I was of course very tired but very much at piece. For anyone that practices martial arts, you will understand this feeling. It is like moving mediation, and brings you to a peaceful centered state of being.
Happy to be back!!!
New Year’s Resolutions
Only 8% of people keep their New Year’s resolutions. How can we change this?! This advice of course will be dealing with health and wellness.
First and foremost come up with your plan, what do you want to achieve and how will achieve it. Don’t make your fitness goals unrealistic, don’t keep you real self and your ideal self to far from each other.
If you want to exercise more:
- Join a gym
- Get a personal trainer
- Invest in some exercise DVDs
- Join a running club
- Join a martial arts studio
- Start taking spinning classes
- Try Zoomba
If you want to lose weight:
- Pick a diet that works for you – Paleo, South Beach, Bullet Proof diet etc. All diets work if you stick to them
- Get an app on your phone to help track your meals and calories
- Make an appointment with a nutritionist
- Stop drinking alcohol or greatly reduce your drinks per week
- Cut out the sugar…you’re sweet enough
I would also use your phone or calendar to schedule all of your exercise and nutrition goals, make it a part of your life. The built in reminders on your calendar will help greatly in keeping you honest.
If this isn’t enough check our website www.jettllc.com or contact me directly [email protected] and I’ll try and help.
Make your New Year’s resolutions a reality with proper planning and execution.
Happy New Year!!
A Time For Reflection
This is the time of year that life can get very busy, with our own health and wellness potentially falling to the wayside. Make sure to take time for yourself and stay focused.
Hopefully you have had a year of physical success to look back on, and now it’s time to evaluate, reflect and start putting together your plan for next year. If this year was good, next year can be even better.
If this year has been one that has fallen short, fear not and start putting together a plan that works for you. Don’t put your real self and ideal self to far from each other. Choose a fitness plan that works for you.
True health and wellness is lifetime journey and it is never to late to start, and always a good idea to continue.
I will leave you with two thoughts for the new year:
Don’t exercise just to look good, do it for your health and wellness. We may not all be fitness models, but we can all be healthy and live longer.
The only bad work out is the one you didn’t do!!
Train Hard!! Train Safe!!
How Not to Gain Weight During Thanksgiving
We all know that overindulging and Thanksgiving walk hand in hand. Here are some tips to help you stave off the holiday weight gain.
- Sign yourself up for a Turkey Trott race, nothing like a good run thanksgiving morning.
- Take a nice brisk walk after your Thanksgiving meal.
- Eat and chew slowly, it can take your body up to twenty minutes to feel full.
- Full your plate only one time.
- Have only one dessert.
- Have only one alcoholic beverage.
- Workout three days before and three days after Thanksgiving day.
I hope these tips help and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!
What is your Winter plan?!?!
If you are in the Washington Metropolitan Area, you know that we are having amazingly warm weather for November. However this will not last forever!!
Do you have your winter fitness plan ready to go?!?! I’ll tell you mine and you tell me yours!! For starters I am heading back to my martial arts school www.taiyimkungfu.com , and have increased my lifting – nothing like doing some bodybuilding split routines in the winter when you can’t show it off 🙂
I have also stared taking my cardio indoors, not today of course it’s currently 73 degrees. I don’t run quite as much these days due to some arthritis in my right big toe (old martial arts war wounds), so I have been fairly religions with the AMT elliptical.
This should carry me through the winter months, now the question remains – what will you do?
Here are some suggestions:
- Do what I am doing 🙂
- Yoga
- Zoomba
- Spinning
- Pilates
- Indoor tennis
- Your pick of cardio machines
- Join a gym and start lifting weights
- Get a trainer – yes we are available – www.jettllc.biz
- Swimming
- Crossfit
- Start a diet
What ever you do, just do something. If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything!!
Be Happy Be Healthy!!
How to Stay Functional and Fit!!
I have been personal training for nearly twenty years, and it has be a pleasure to watch the field evolve. The training methodologies that are currently available for trainers and exercise enthusiasts are amazing.
The way I trained “then” and “now” are radically different. I won’t bore you with all the comparisons, but will outline what I think currently is the best approach.
There are three levels that need to be addressed:
- Structure – You need to make sure that you actual structure is in good order. I currently like the Chiropractic Biophysics approach to address this issue. Check out http://www.gotyourbacktotalhealth.com
- Function – Once you get your structure where it should be, you need to make sure that you are functional and have no asymmetries. I recommend an FMS Screen (http://www.functionalmovement.com) – we provide that www.jettllc.biz
- Training – Find a trainer that espouses the the first two “levels of need” and that focuses on training in a way that provides real strength gains that have real world applications. There should be a good blend of FMS corrective movements, functional movements, and work on flexibility and balance.
Now once you find all this, yes it’s a tall order but doable, it comes down to one thing – compliance. The ball is now in your court…
Be happy be healthy
Day Lights Savings Time is Coming…Be Ready!!
Day lights savings time and increasingly cold weather is right around the corner, are you ready?! Many of us like to do our cardio outdoors and it can be a tough transition bringing it inside.
Start planning now, here are some suggestions.
1. Join a gym if possible, its the cheapest way to have access to many cardio options.
2. Try Spinning, many gyms will have spin classes or you can find boutique spin studios.
3. Try Zoomba, Step, bootcamp or the many other fitness classes offered at your local gym.
4. You could also try a martial arts school, it’s usually always indoors.
5. If you are really lucky, you may find an indoor track in your area.
6. Indoor tennis is an option.
7. Yoga and Pilates are excellent
Try any of these suggestions and it should be a start to keep you fit while dealing with the cold and waning daylight.
If you do decide to tough it out and continue your outdoor cardio/running make sure to get the right winter gear as well as the necessary reflective gear and or lights.
Train Hard, Train Safe!!
