Christmas is over and the gym reopens tomorrow! It's a funny time, the space between Christmas and New Year. Sort of like coming up for a short breath before plunging back into a tempestuous sea, except the sea in this case is a maelstrom of alcohol, chocolate and relatives opinions. The gyms are about to get mega busy as many among us delve into ill-fated fitness kicks. It's enough to put the lesser inclined right off! DON'T BE THE LESSER INCLINED, don't wait for the new year or next week or the next Monday to start something new. Start as soon as you can, make new habits. You'll feel weak no doubt, physically I mean. In TCM we associate strength with tendons which in turn is associated with the liver. You've just spent days punching your liver in the liver, it doesn't like you. You want to change things? Do you want to lose some weight in 2017? It's pretty common to think like that around now. Why not go into 2017 already on a good thing? Start now with the fitness. It is easier than you think and you don't need a gym. Not at first anyway, which is good. In about a months time you will need a gym, by then the lesser inclined, the weaker among us won't be there. They'll have sacked it off. You don't get fat overnight and likewise you don't get fit overnight. There isn't a short cut. You have to do it all for yourself, which makes it all the sweeter. 4 weeks from now you will notice a difference, 4 weeks after that your family and loved ones will notice. A further 4 weeks from that everyone will notice. That might put people off instantly but I am only trying to be honest with you. This is a reasonable time scale to expect results.
Take this challenge. This is how I began my programme, it's fun and achievable. Four times a week-five if you can face it, but never work more than two days back to back without a rest. Do 12-14 rounds of HIIT 40sec on 30sec rest.
eg
40 sec High Knees full effort
30 sec light shadowboxing
40 sec Mountain Climbers full effort
30 sec light shadowboxing
40 sec Burpees Full effort chest to floor
30 sec Light Shadowboxing
40 sec Push ups full effort
repeat x3 working to x4
Takes you about 17 minutes. Do it first thing in the morning before you eat. What to eat? Not just what but when. 3 full meals a day. Eating every 2-3 hours. On your training day eat the carbs within the hour of working out, Carb sources are bread, bagel, pasta, rice, potato or oats. Avoid them the rest of the time. Eat clean food you have to cook. Turkey, Chicken, Beef, Salmon and Tuna. In general construct your meal like this:
Protein Source 300g (see above)
Fibrous veg x 2 (90g per veg)
Greens 130g (beans, broccoli, asparagus etc)
Sauce 50g (sour cream, yoghurt, cottage cheese, soy, sweet chilli etc)
If you trained take the carb source of your choice 70-80g
If you have a rest day complete your plate with an additional fat source, foods like avocado, nut butters, nuts or seed, feta, mozzarella, eggs same again 70-80g.
Obviously this is not a detailed nutrition plan and I am by no means a nutritionist. There are plenty of online resources and experts that you can and should consult if you are serious. I offer this to you purely as general advice that more importantly is "Shit you can actually do". Cut out crap food, we all know what that is! snacking twice daily (on nuts, fruit or protein based snacks) plus the increased meal frequency tends to mean you don't eat for the sake of it. Satiety levels are very pleasing eating like this. Cut out sugar in tea/coffee and of course avoid alcohol. Drink water, genuinely at minimum, 3 litres spread throughout the day and green tea anytime. Does it sound hard? It isn't really. It's a good start and you will look and feel better. That is what is most important. Small steps taken with conviction are better that huge leaps taken haphazardly. My strongest advice I could give would be for you to take on an actual programme. Spend the money and invest in yourself.
I can only wish you all a less turbo-shite time in the year ahead. Like I said small steps.....
Monday 26 December 2016
Wednesday 21 December 2016
Get With The Programme
I think that we can all agree that the year 2016 was a giant own goal we will all be glad to see the back of. I wouldn't want to try to trump people with the misery we all faced, but this year was very difficult for me, it included the loss of my father and the break-up of a long term relationship. Between personal and world events I began to opt out of it all for a while, losing sight of the things that keep me happy. Not particularly handling my grief so well, I began to neglect my self. My diet, my exercise, my sleep to name a few, resulting in the embarrassing photo below as I ballooned to 80kg. It took a while and even though I am still working through some stuff I kinda got my act together about 90 days ago and tried to seize back control of the one thing that is genuinely my own and my responsibility. My health!
I embarked upon a diet and exercise programme. It is the first time I have tried anything like this; but one character trait to my advantage is that I am generally a well disciplined person, for some obvious and some less obvious reasons my discipline had faltered. It was a great relief to get back to work, not only did the process improve my body, more importantly it allowed me an outlet to take all the "shitty" things that were wrong and focus on putting something right. Basically that's what this blog post is about. Things can only be in the trough for so long before they begin the ascent to a peak, sometimes however you need to take the initiative. Give it and yourself a good kick up the arse! If you are lucky someone else will do it for you but failing that take my advice: wake up tomorrow look in the mirror and ask yourself quietly and privately "what part of your life can you slap back into functionality?" Nothing got beyond your reach, you just grew tired. It's ok. That happens on a daily basis to everyone in your life. Some chat about it openly, others, like me, let it sit and brew. It grows like some kind of malign elephant in the room, people around you know something is not flowing right but you just don't talk about it. Eventually the time comes when you realise the room where the elephant sits is in your fucking house and it isn't welcome anymore. So you do what you can. Each has a talent or a gift, if anything mine is my tenacity. When I have a clear purpose or intention it is impossible to take me away from it. For the past 90+ days I have eaten 3 meals a day, 2 snacks, drunk 3 litres of water. Prepped food, washed tupperware, plates, saucepans countless times. Dragged my arse out of bed at 6am been in the gym by 7am completed hundreds if not thousands of reps, push ups, pull ups, burpees "Arnold Curls"(the most painfully exquisite exercise ever). Over the past 12+ weeks I have shaved off 8Kg bringing myself down to a much healthier and happier existence. The 8 kilos is great but above that I took the reigns again, got back a bit control. Tightened up, sharpened up but more rewarding than that I brightened up. I am ready for the next challenge. I feel good and won't stop. Getting myself back in shape has stirred me to further development. I feel the past 90+ days have brought me to a point which would be a good starting point to begin a greater development.
If people are interested I would like to write about the actual programme I followed. What I learned along the way, what was hard, what was easy, what were the bits folks don't talk about. If you're interested leave a comment.
Merry Fitness!
Saturday 3 December 2016
Experiencing a "Yin" Master
One of the things I particularly enjoy about Martial Arts training is having new experiences. Maybe meeting a new person, learning a new technique or perhaps getting a new perspective. It happens often on my Martial Journey and last night was no exception, although very different. Despite training for 20 years I had never had the privilege of training with a female Master. This isn't something I avoided; it's just that they're not as common in the Martial World. A Master is a Master in Chinese Martial Culture and as such they are called Master, not Mistress; however Master Faye Yip asked to be addressed only as Faye. Her opening words being thus, made me warm to her immediately.
I am no stranger to ladies in Martial Arts, in fact my most senior student happens to be one, so I am aware of the troubles women face in the Martial Arena. My senior has told me the horror of a time I had left her to take care of my kickboxing class. A new student had introduced himself to one of the male junior grades assuming he was the instructor! OOPS! An understandable misassumption given the context or an unforgivable error, you can decide? Regardless we all make assumptions. I made one last night, a workshop around health Qigong led by a female; I had not expected as many men to be present but the majority of the class indeed was male. Obviously this wasn't even worth noting for Master Yip.
We began with quite possibly the greatest warm up exercise I have ever taken part in. Master Yip did the usual: feet shoulder width apart, relax shoulders, head on an invisible string pulled up. Then it became very different: "you are standing on a boat, as the boat rises through gentle waves in your mind rise with the movement of the water. Coordinate the gentle lifting of the arms, the gentle inhale of breath. Exhale and allow the arms to float back to your sides each time." Honestly I could've done that all night, I have never felt such peace and tranquillity. From the very outset Master Yip put me in a place I don't often go.
I am a man, I am completely at ease with my masculinity. I disapprove of the general constraint placed on men in more recent years to adhere to a diluted, soft and more easily managed maleness. It has caused a crisis in masculinity. Through its societal reinforcement it has caused bigger problems for both men and women. Yet here in a simple warm up exercise a divine female energy cut right through my fortified male armour and reminded me of my place in the world. It was for me, that profound. Through her gentle guidance I found a great strength. I was at ease, softened and many things that have been on my mind of late, dropped away.
A Male Master, although of equal value, would not take you there direct. A warm up is a mechanical process that must be undertaken to avoid injury, yes very true but Master Yip expressed a more expansive idea about the form in which function can take. I think that the female mind can do this with ease. A male seeks the usefulness, utility and straightforward thinking that methodically unveils the many layers that makes up the practise. A woman appreciates the emotional depth that the unveiling of the layers will eventually lead to and moves there as her base of operations. I have learned this particular set of movements that the workshop was on twice before, both times from male Masters. Master Yip approached it completely differently. It was more based on thoughts, feelings and more descriptive than visual. Her phrasing within the teachings was totally different. For example, something that springs to mind, instead of saying "OK, let's do it one more time" she said "OK, I want you to experience it one more time." Although very subtle that particular way of expressing it implies a completely different outcome. It was an excellent workshop and a great pleasure. I will seek her out again. It reminded me that sometimes the receiving of the actual information is not as important as the method in which it is given. On a deeper level the gentler approach employed by a woman can move a man to greater level of self awareness. It is a strong catalyst that will solve our problems.
I am no stranger to ladies in Martial Arts, in fact my most senior student happens to be one, so I am aware of the troubles women face in the Martial Arena. My senior has told me the horror of a time I had left her to take care of my kickboxing class. A new student had introduced himself to one of the male junior grades assuming he was the instructor! OOPS! An understandable misassumption given the context or an unforgivable error, you can decide? Regardless we all make assumptions. I made one last night, a workshop around health Qigong led by a female; I had not expected as many men to be present but the majority of the class indeed was male. Obviously this wasn't even worth noting for Master Yip.
We began with quite possibly the greatest warm up exercise I have ever taken part in. Master Yip did the usual: feet shoulder width apart, relax shoulders, head on an invisible string pulled up. Then it became very different: "you are standing on a boat, as the boat rises through gentle waves in your mind rise with the movement of the water. Coordinate the gentle lifting of the arms, the gentle inhale of breath. Exhale and allow the arms to float back to your sides each time." Honestly I could've done that all night, I have never felt such peace and tranquillity. From the very outset Master Yip put me in a place I don't often go.
I am a man, I am completely at ease with my masculinity. I disapprove of the general constraint placed on men in more recent years to adhere to a diluted, soft and more easily managed maleness. It has caused a crisis in masculinity. Through its societal reinforcement it has caused bigger problems for both men and women. Yet here in a simple warm up exercise a divine female energy cut right through my fortified male armour and reminded me of my place in the world. It was for me, that profound. Through her gentle guidance I found a great strength. I was at ease, softened and many things that have been on my mind of late, dropped away.
A Male Master, although of equal value, would not take you there direct. A warm up is a mechanical process that must be undertaken to avoid injury, yes very true but Master Yip expressed a more expansive idea about the form in which function can take. I think that the female mind can do this with ease. A male seeks the usefulness, utility and straightforward thinking that methodically unveils the many layers that makes up the practise. A woman appreciates the emotional depth that the unveiling of the layers will eventually lead to and moves there as her base of operations. I have learned this particular set of movements that the workshop was on twice before, both times from male Masters. Master Yip approached it completely differently. It was more based on thoughts, feelings and more descriptive than visual. Her phrasing within the teachings was totally different. For example, something that springs to mind, instead of saying "OK, let's do it one more time" she said "OK, I want you to experience it one more time." Although very subtle that particular way of expressing it implies a completely different outcome. It was an excellent workshop and a great pleasure. I will seek her out again. It reminded me that sometimes the receiving of the actual information is not as important as the method in which it is given. On a deeper level the gentler approach employed by a woman can move a man to greater level of self awareness. It is a strong catalyst that will solve our problems.
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