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Are You Combat Fit?
If you are looking to compete in Ju Jutsu Kumite or submission grappling then one of the main factors to consider and improve his fitness. This, in and of itself, is a vast subject.
Now, when I first began to compete, my supplementary training...
Fitness In Five Minutes A Day?
What is the minimum amount of exercise needed for health and
fitness? While it depends on the person, lifestyle, and goals,
the general wisdom is that 20-60 minutes per day of cardio
pumping, iron lifting, or muscle stretching is necessary.
...
Health is Your Greatest Asset
Health is Your Greatest Asset? By Kamau Austin If you are like many people who take the entrepreneurial plunge, you do so most successfully when you are approaching or entering into middle age. Your middle-aged years are also ironically around the...
Kenshiro Abbe Sensie 50th Celebrations
Henry Ellis co-author of Positive Aikido and a direct student of the legendary Budo master Kenshiro Abbe Sensei from 1957 describes this tribute to a Martial Arts legend.
Henry Ellis, a direct student of the legendary Budo master...
The Secrets Of Martial Arts Exposed
The secrets of Martial Arts exposed
This is a controversial topic. So in order not to offend anyone let me say this. Everything in the Martial Arts realm is good in its own context, but when people preach that Judo is a realistic form of self...
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Five Things You Don't (and should!) Know About Stress
Whether it's called stress management, relaxation training, or
its newest incarnation, "Resiliancy," it seems that the question
of healthy response to the stress of daily life is on everyone's
mind. But it's important to remember a few things about stress
that are rarely discussed--if known at all!
1) Stress won't hurt you. Hans Selye, the "father of stress" was
a polylinguist, whose first language was not English. Before he
died, he said that had his command of English been more precise,
he would have been known as the "Father of Strain" rather than
stress. What's the difference? Enormous, from an engineering
standpoint. Stress is pressure divided by unit area, whereas
strain is measured in deformation per unit length. In other
words, while strain speaks to the load you are carrying, strain
deals with the degree to which that load warps you out of true.
In other words, it is NOT stress that hurts you. It is strain.
2) Stress is necessary for life and growth. Far from being
something you avoid, when healthy, the body and mind respond to
environmental stress by becoming stronger. Look at this in the
arena of physical fitness. Imagine a triangle with each of the
three corners having a different designation: Stress, nutrition,
and rest. Stress equals exercise, nutrition equals the foods
taken in before and after the exercise, and rest equals...well,
rest. If you have either too much or too little of any of these,
the body breaks down. Note that astronauts in orbit must be very
careful to stress their bodies daily with stationary bicycles
and other apparatus: zero gravity decreases stress to the point
that the bones literally begin to lose calcium. The truth is
that, in life, we are rewarded largely for how much stress we
can take without breaking. The intelligent approach is to both
reduce unnecessary stress and to increase our ability to handle
healthy stress without straining. We must also learn to nurture
ourselves properly, and to recreate with joy.
3) Come of the best research comes from our former
"enemies!"
Russian research into the body-mind dynamic has produced
valuable results. They hold it that that any physical technique
has three aspects: Breath, Motion, and Structure, and that these
three are dependant upon one another. Stress "dis-integrates"
this structure as it morphs into strain. The first to be
disturbed is almost always breathing. This is the reason that
martial arts, yoga, Sufi Dancing and so many other disciplines
teach breath control, and why they can use the physical as a
vehicle for spiritual transformation. As we learn to handle
greater and greater amounts of stress with grace, we naturally
evolve to higher levels of integration and performance. It is
our birthright.
4) It doesn't take years to learn proper breathing techniques.
Seek out a Chi Gung, yoga, or Tai Chi teacher and say you want
to learn proper belly breathing. A good teacher can convey the
basics of this critical skill in an hour or less.
5) You don't have to meditate for an hour a day to get the
benefits. While it's fabulous to spend two twenty minute
sessions a day, massive benefits can be gained with just five
minutes a day. Here's the trick: it's not five minutes all at
one time, it's five one minute sessions spaced through the day.
At every hour divisible by 3: 9, 12, 3, 6, and 9, simply stop
and breathe properly for sixty seconds. You can do this while
walking down the street, or sitting in a business meeting. The
important thing is to learn a proper technique, and to practice
it briefly, and correctly. This single act will improve posture,
energy, digestion, and turn stress into high performance. How
can you remember? Get a digital watch with a countdown timer,
and set it for three hours! Five minutes a day...it will seem a
pain at first, but once you've got the hang of it, it's the best
300 second investment you'll ever make!
About the author:
Steven Barnes is a certified hypnotherapist, black belt martial
artist, Tai Chi instructor, and creator of the FIVE MINUTE
MIRACLE stress-busting program. Learn more at: www.lifewrite.com
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