Monday, July 25, 2011

Super Soldier Program - Sprint cardio and activity specific training

New Study: LESS Cardio Gives Better Results



Working out for 20 minutes a day using interval exercise may provide many of the same benefits of much longer workouts done in conventional “long-duration” style.

Many experts “recommend that children and teenagers exercise one hour every day and adults get a weekly minimum of two hours and 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity."

"This could be activities such as brisk walking, dancing, gardening) or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous activity (jogging, aerobic dancing and jumping rope,” CNN reported.

However, a new study in the Journal of Physiology found that about 20 minutes of high-interval training provided the same benefits of longer exercise sessions that focused on endurance training.

As CNN reported, “The study suggested that quick, high-interval training may represent an alternative to endurance training to improve metabolic health and reduce the risk for chronic diseases.”

Sources:

  CNN March 30, 2010


  The Journal of Physiology March 15, 2010, 588, 1011-1022



Dr. Mercola's Comments:    

One of the biggest hurdles people face in maintaining an exercise program is simply finding the time to do it. This may soon become an excuse of the past, however, as the newest exercise research is showing that you can cut your workout time significantly and reap even better benefits …

How?

By using interval training, which also goes by other terms such as anaerobic, burst or PACE training.

When you break your exercise session into short segments that alternate high intensity with a rest period in-between, known as interval training, it can dramatically improve your cardiovascular fitness and fat-burning capabilities in a fraction of the time.

Take this latest study, in which men pedaled on a stationary bike for 20 minutes using interval training (they pedaled at the highest intensity they could for a minute, then pedaled slowly to rest for a minute, and so on for the 20-minute period).

These men received the same benefits as they would have had they exercised at a lower intensity for one hour or more, leading researchers to say interval training "may represent an alternative to endurance training to improve metabolic health and reduce the risk for chronic diseases."

Personally Helped Me Greatly (Dr. Mercola)

Adopting this strategy has made a HUGE improvement in my exercise program. Not only are the burst exercises awesome and add an entirely different aspect to my fitness program, they allow me the flexibility of being able to exercise nearly every day.

On days when I am very short on time it is almost always possible to put in a 15-minute workout. It is also short enough to allow my body to recover from the abuses I put it through on my other exercise days.

What Makes Interval Training So Effective?

I’ve been exercising for over 42 years, but for much of it I focused on running, or cardio. While this is an important form of exercise, there are others that are equally if not more important, namely strength training, developing your core muscles, stretching and interval training.

This realization was motivated by Al Sears, MD, who reawakened me to the value of interval training with his P.A.C.E. program. Here's how Dr. Sears explained it to me:

Long-duration exercise isn't natural. Our ancient ancestors never ran for mile after mile without rest or recovery. Their exercise was primarily hunting -- short bursts of exertion, followed by periods of rest.

By exercising in short bursts, followed by periods of recovery, you recreate exactly what your body needs for optimum health. Further, by progressively changing your routine over time it ensures maximum fat loss with a "bulletproof" heart and "super-sized" lungpower.

According to Dr. Sears, the big mistake with aerobics and jogging is when you burn fat. Once you pass the 15 to 20 minute mark, you start burning fat during exercise.

This may sound like a good thing, but what this tells your body is that you need fat to burn as fuel during exercise. As a result, your body will make and store more fat to prepare for your next run or aerobic workout -- a never-ending cycle making it difficult to get rid of that stubborn fat that never seems to go away.

Burn MORE Fat and Get BETTER Results

Several studies have confirmed that exercising in shorter bursts with rest periods in between burns more fat than exercising continuously for an entire session. This has been shown to hold true even when the session is not done at an extremely high intensity.

In one such study, those who cycled for 40 minutes, alternating four-minute bursts at 90 percent effort with two minutes of rest, improved their cardiovascular fitness by 13 percent, and were able to burn 36 percent more fat during a later hour-long moderate cycling session.

Another study took it even further, showing you can burn more fat exercising for 20 minutes than for 40 minutes!

In their trial, women either exercised for 20 minutes, alternating 8 seconds of sprinting on a bike with 12 seconds of exercising lightly, or exercised at a regular pace for 40 minutes. After exercising three times a week for 15 weeks, those who did the 20-minute, alternating routine lost three times as much fat as the other women.

The researchers believe this type of exercise works because it produces a unique metabolic response. Intermittent sprinting produces high levels of chemical compounds called catecholamines, which allow more fat to be burned from under your skin and within your muscles. The resulting increase in fat oxidation is thought to drive the increased weight loss.

Again, one of the best parts of interval training is that it cuts down on the amount of time you need to exercise, which is great if you don’t have time for hour-long cardio workouts. 

Interval Training is Only Part of a Balanced Exercise Routine



Here is an example of how to do interval training


That is great for general health and fitness, but this is the Super Solider Program designed to make you better at kicking ass




Activity specific interval training


The core concept:
Alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with gentle recovery periods.

“By exercising in short bursts, followed by periods of recovery, you recreate exactly what your body needs for optimum health. Further, by progressively changing your routine over time it ensures maximum fat loss with a "bulletproof" heart and "super-sized" lungpower.”

Our ancestors didn’t ride stationary bikes either.  But these concepts can be applied to martial arts training.
First, take the basic, fundamental motions of your art, then discover how to do them explosively.

Here is an example from what Keishoukan Budo
Fundamental motions:
Irimi – entering
Hiraki – opening
Tenkan – circular
Yoko Sabaki – lateral
Shomen Uchi (Shomen Irimi) – direct entering
Gyaku Kesa – low to high, entering and opening

Pretty much everything I teach can be broken down into these motions.  So it is in my best interest to be really good at doing these motions.  Much more important than being good at stationary biking.


Here is how I practice them explosively.  You can do this with less equipment and by yourself, but this is what has worked for me.

Find an open field (soccer, football, empty lot etc…) and set it up like this
You will need 4 markers (like a traffic cone or something) 2 plyo bands, 3 medicine / weighted balls, a partner / coach


 

On the coaches command sprint from the starting point to the first medicine ball.  Pick up the ball and throw it as hard as you can (right handed) using one of the basic motions.  Your coach / partner will set ball on opposite sprint line.


 

Sprint from the first medicine ball, to the next one.  Pick up the ball and throw it as hard as you can (left handed) using the same basic motion.  Your coach / partner will set ball on opposite sprint line.


Sprint from the second medicine ball, to the next one.  Pick up the ball and throw it as hard as you can (right handed) using the same basic motion.  Your coach / partner will set ball on opposite sprint line.


Up until now this has been very push motion heavy.  At this station wrap a plyo band around your partner / coach and practice a pulling motion.


Walk to the next station.  Then repeat going back the opposite way.  After the second pulling station rest a good 1-2 minutes or change roles and you coach while your partner trains.  Repeat for each of the basic motions of your art (I suggest around 6).  This training is very intense but also very fun and goes by fast.

Train hard, train smart, be safe.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

"In the end, there can be only one"

Previously on Budo Blog....

Hey guys remember last blog when I wrote:

Granted it is very unlikely I’ll ever walk down the street with a sword in my belt.  Even less so that at that very moment another guy in America in the 21st century will jump out and attack me with a sword of his own.  That doesn’t mean we should train “unrealistic” situations in unrealistic ways.  If you are going to do it (train Koryu / Old school) do it as if your life depended on it. 


Well, it seems it isn't as unlikely as I thought.  Here is a news article written the same day as my last blog about sword fight right here in good ol' Minnesota (see also 21st century America)




Man arrested, jailed after sword fight in rural Beltrami County home
On early Tuesday morning, July 12, Beltrami County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a rural Beltrami County residence to investigate a complaint of an assault with weapons involved at this home.

Deputies responded to a rural Beltrami County residence to investigate a complaint of an assault with weapons involved at this home.

As officers were driving to the scene, it was reported that swords were being used in the assault. After arriving in the driveway, deputies located an intoxicated individual attempting to leave the residence on a bicycle. The suspect was stopped, and as deputies began their investigation, they learned the suspect had been drinking with the occupant of the residence when suddenly the suspect attacked the homeowner with a sword. The homeowner also grabbed a sword to defend himself, and the two engaged in a sword fight.

A 10-year-old child, who was also present and witnessed the entire event, was injured when he was struck in the elbow by the suspect’s sword. The suspect was booked into the Beltrami County Jail on charges of second-degree assault, fourth-degree assault, felony child abuse and gross misdemeanor obstructing legal process.

The 10-year-old was treated at Sanford Bemidji Medical Center for his injuries and released. The complainant received minor injuries that did not require hospitalization. The case will be presented for review by the Beltrami County Attorney’s Office.





Train hard, train smart, be safe

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Master, The Disciple, and banging the stupid out of each other.

The last blog was basically me thinking out loud about how to generate more students.  Not so much to make tons of cash (which would be nice) but more so to have people to train with.

While I am still working on how to do that, I have decided that as long as one person is willing to show up and train, I will be willing to teach just one person.

That is great on paper, but working a 2 hour lesson plan you developed for a class of 10 – 20 students with just 1 student basically turns into 2 guys beating the hell out of each other for 2 hours.  I decided that if I want to be able to walk the next day, I better come up with alternate lesson plans.

History, literature, and cinema are all filled with stories of the “Master” training the “disciple”



I wonder if I can talk Lise into letting me shoot arrows at her?
I wonder if the Karate school’s insurance would cover it?

I have found that re-examining the fundamentals from a different perspective can be very successful in one on one training.  Working the heavy bag hard, then the practical application with me, or working counter ambush tactics on a wing chung dummy, then using those same tactics to defend against live attacks helps make connections between Bunkai (internal mechanics) and Oyo (application) making both stronger (and its fun).




One of the best ways I have found to teach just one student, is working the fundamentals of Kenjutsu and their relationship to Taijustu.

Doing 100 shomenuchi strikes re-enforces the mechanics of weight transfer, structure, and motion also needed in modern close quarter combatives.  It is hard work, but far easier on your body than say taking 100 falls from Osoto Otoshi, or tapping out from 100 Hadaka Jime’s



As much as I love Kenjutsu, it hasn’t been a “live” art in over 100 years.  That’s a lot of time for bullshit to creep in.  However, one on one training can be a great opportunity cut the bullshit back out.  Or as Rory wrote about - Getting out the stupid

On Saturday Chad and I were working on Hiraki (opening) motion.  This motion is used in Batto Jutsu to move off line and draw into a perry in on motion (very cool counter ambush training).  In kata form it works against shomenuchi (linear over head strike) every time.  Shomenuchi and Yokomen Uchi (circular strike) start exactly the same way.  When Chad and I moved away from kata training and more into live training the Hiraki rising block was not near strong enough to perry / deflect a circular strike (see 100 years of Dojo vs. real sword fighting).

“Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear”
 - Thomas Jefferson

Better to pressure test techniques in the Dojo than place blind faith in something that may get you killed.

So we decided to bang it out.  In order to kill each other (with out actually killing each other) we had to swap out our oak bokkens for different training tools I used a Batto bokken




Chad used an action Action Flex bokken

Now armed with the Action Flex Chad could go balls out trying to “cut” me with out having to worry about cracking my skull.

We discovered that the core Hiraki motion still works very well.  The key difference being instead of trying to draw and perry in one motion, I would pull the entire saya (sword sheath) out of my belt to deflect the force of the strike (creating solid structure between you and danger = good J).  After that I could draw and cut in one motion (solid Batto Jutsu) or use the hilt to end the confrontation (over in 3)

Granted it is very unlikely I’ll ever walk down the street with a sword in my belt.  Even less so that at that very moment another guy in America in the 21st century will jump out and attack me with a sword of his own.  That doesn’t mean we should train “unrealistic” situations in unrealistic ways.  If you are going to do it (train Koryu / Old school) do it as if your life depended on it.  

The lessons we learned from the sword that lonely Saturday will have direct benefit to our empty hand modern close quarter combatives training.

It changed the way I teach Kenjutsu, which was a direct benefit for me.  So if one student is willing to train it is defiantly in the Teachers best interest to be there to teach


Train hard, train smart, be safe
You posse the power of the glow, the glow, the glow….




Thursday, July 7, 2011

Budo Business Blog


Moore Sensei, my first Aikido Instructor told me, “Never trust anyone who teaches martial arts to pay their bills.”  I have seen a lot of truth in that statement over the years.  Now don’t get me wrong I’m a devout capitalist.  I begrudge no one who makes a profit from the fruit of their labor.  But I have noticed that the Instructors I admire and seek out are not commercially successful, and the Instructors that are commercially successful, I wouldn’t even bother to walk across the street to train with.



I wonder why that is?  I have been thinking about this for awhile.  And while I have yet to find the answers (If I did I would be running multiple 500 student Dojos and making it rain) I think I have begun to see the root of the problem.

Marc MacYoung and I have discussed this.  You can get some of his thoughts on the subject here
Big circle vs. little circle
and here
McDojo


Ok before we get much further let me define how I use a term I stole.  When I say commercialized school I mean a school with the primary purpose of making the owner rich.  The owner / operator / Instructor depends on the school’s income to make his house payments.

When I say Dojo I mean a school where the primary focus is improving the skills of the students, and passing information onto the next generation.

What I have noticed is that commercialized schools rely on advertising that appeals to base human wants.  Like any good business they see, or create a want and find a way to fill that want.

Examples of what people want out of training adjacent to actual martial art skill:                           
Ego boost                                                       
Self Worth                 
Coolness
Self identity
Socializing
Reconfirming your beliefs
Rewriting your history
Fear management
Titles
Pride
Confidence
Social status
Telling yourself you’re not afraid
General studlyness


What is needed for martial art skill
Training for application:
  • Bunkai (internal mechanics)
  • Ouyou (application) Also spelled oyo
  • Other (all the other things you have to know.  Practical information like use of force law)


Commercialized schools identify 5 income generators.  New student enrollment, “upgrade” programs / courses, testing fees, school events, and pro shop sales.

Commercialized schools focus on the wants to the determent or outright abandonment of the needs.

For example BJJ is cool.  It’s the current buzzword.  You run a Tae Kwon Do school which you call American Karate (because Karate already has brand recognition) and have absolutely no grappling knowledge or experience. 
There is no way you can provide Bunkai, Ouyou, or all the other stuff you need to know for the application of BJJ. 
A Commercialized school won’t let that stop them from making money off the cool factor of BJJ. 
They will start a special advanced American Karate BJJ class that meets the wants. (“upgrade” program only an extra $75 a month) 
Thrown on a BJJ instructional DVD, then do a bunch of push ups and cardio drills. 
After the students finish this special class they get an extra patch on their gi ($20 at the pro shop), a rank in American Karate BJJ ($100 for official certificate), and are eligible for their next test (only $75 testing fee). 

So the commercialized school just made nearly $300 per student with out any work.  You get 10 sucker…I mean students to fall for that and that goes a long way towards your mortgage payment.

Compare that to all the time, effort, money, blood-sweet-tears it takes to actually learn BJJ, apply BJJ and be able to teach it to others.  I believe the minimum time for most BJJ schools is 10 years to reach Black Belt.

By the time the students attracted to commercial schools are done (say a whooping 8 weeks) BJJ might not be so cool anymore because they already know everything from the DVD.  That’s fine because Krav Maga is super cool now.  Just in time for the new American Karate Krav Maga upgrade program. 
$$Cha-Chang!!!$$$


Students attracted to a commercialized school will never last more than 3 months at a Dojo

A Dojo Sensei will be morally and ethically repulsed by the practices that make commercialized schools so financially successful.

That is why some of the best martial arts Instructors in the world teach out of a YMCA, or a basement, or a barn.

My focus is practical application for Law Enforcement.  Not a huge market.  I could never teach in a commercial way, because if I did people who trusted me would die

It saddens me to see martial artists who have never controlled a violent person much less arrested an assaultive felon approach the small practical application for Law Enforcement market with commercialized school tactics.  Offering a one size fits all answer that fulfills all the wants but at best barely scratches the surface of the needs.

So how does a Dojo become commercially successful with becoming a commercialized school?

Hell I don’t know.  If I did I’d be on a beach somewhere smoking Cuban cigars and drinking 18 year old single malt scotch.

This whole blog started with the idea that I need some more students.  Not so much for the revenue (although that is awesome) but because we need more people to train with.

I read a magazine lying around the Dojo “United Professionals” a martial arts business magazine.  I figured they might have some insight I could use.  The whole magazine is one huge pyramid scheme bordering on cult indoctrination.

Not very helpful to me.

How do I attract students to train in Taiho Jutsu. Something they have never heard of.  Something that focuses solely on application.  Training that is hard work, hurts, and takes years.

I have some ideas, some irons in the fire if you will.  If they pan out I’ll share them with you here

If any of you have ideas you would like to share / suggest please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Or if you know a Dojo Sensei (not a d-bag sell out) that has a successful business model please let me know.

Train hard, train smart, be safe