Russian Martial Arts Practice May Be Healthful

The Russian martial art Sistema recommends dumping a bucket of cold water over your head every morning . . . outside . . . in the wintertime. After seeing this article, I'm beginning to believe there may be some solid science behind it.

 HOW LIVING IN COLDER REGIONS CAN HELP YOU HAVE HEALTHIER CHILDREN

Martial Artist Uses Mind to Control Blood Pressure

Keith Pascal is a martial artist who lives in the Pacific Northwest and puts out an e-letter called Martial Arts Mastery. Although we've never met, we've corresponded a little, and he's not one given to exaggerating his abilities . . .  he's good enough that he doesn't have to. That's why his article about using his mind to control his blood pressure interested me.

He introduced the concept this way:

I wanted to see if I could control my blood pressure with my mind. Could I lower the reading with some simple thoughts?

I have always known that the mind is a powerful instrument. In the 1980s, I had perfected the ability to think my hands warm….

So, in the same vein as my mental hand warmer, I created some visual images to facilitate the lowering of the blood pressure.

You can read his whole article HERE.

Fitness and the Warrior Fallen Ill

You train in order to be ready to meet the unannounced threat. But what do you do about training when you're down with a cold, or even something more debilitating? 

The infographic below by Dr. John Berardi addresses when, how and why you should exercise when you're ill. If you have trouble reading it here on the blog, you can access it at THIS LINK.

Joint Mobility and the Christian Martialist

The Bible speaks of Christ as "the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands [ligaments] having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." (Colossians 2:19)

Do you find it interesting that God describes life and strength in terms of joints and connective tissue rather than muscle mass? The fact is that muscle mass will do you little good if your joints are not healthy.

Whether through disuse or misuse, over the years we tend to lose joint mobility. A couple of months ago, I tripped and fell, hitting my head and right shoulder against a building. The injuries to my neck and shoulder have restricted my mobility.

One of the things I've done to help restore range of motion and bring healing to my joints is that when my daughter and I watch a certain program (almost nightly), we do joint mobility exercises during the opening theme and the closing credits. I get my exercises from Scott Sonnon's Flow-Fit program.

The video below is beyond anything I can do [this week!], but it serves to show what can be done when you focus on joints and connective tissue rather than just building muscle mass.

Seven Tiger Moves

Kenpo Karate master, John McSweeney taught a series of dynamic self resistance exercises called The Seven Tiger Moves. They did not originate with him, but have existed in various martial arts for centuries.

Through his sixties and beyond, observers saw in McSweeney speed and power that martial artists decades younger might envy. He credited the Seven Tiger Moves for his incredible power.

I have used some of John Peterson's version of these moves in the past, but not in a systematic fashion. One thing I like about them is that they are super easy on the joints, especially if you begin, as you should, using no more than half of full effort.

At this point, I have a workout partner and a program for regular exercise that seems to be working for me, so the next step is to systematically work the Tiger Moves into my program. I will post more about the program if it works out as I hope.

In the video below, you will see John Peterson demonstrate these seven exercises along with an instruction in muscle tension and the importance of timed breathing:

Joint Injuries and Range of Motion

Which takes a greater toll on joints, aging or traumatic injury? My answer is, "Yes!" 

In point of fact, your range of motion (ROM) loss as you age generally stems from two causes: 1) cumulative injury and 2) disuse. From this the question arises, "Can you do anything to regain your ROM?"

As a matter of fact, I know that you can. You can find various ROM exercises on the internet. As for myself, I have found Scott Sonnon's Intu-Flow exercises quite helpful.

But you need to know a couple of secrets in expanding your ROM. First, if it's too painful to do an exercise in one quadrant, practice it in the opposite quadrant. For example, at present I cannot lift my hand above my head to make circles, so I let my arm hang and do low circles.

Second, do not push through a motion if the pain is above a 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-10. Simply, make the motion until you reach that point, then over time, shave off the a little more of the lost range.

Took a Spill

If you can wade through the account of my boo-boos, there's a lesson at the end.

Yesterday, I carried a hay bale for my wife, then I went back to close the hatch on our van. As I went to put away my gloves, I tripped on a branch that was lying on the ground (a whole 'nother story).

In complete free fall, I put out my right hand against an outbuilding to catch myself. This wrenched my shoulder without stopping me. Then my head hit the building, and finally I landed on my left knee.

The knee hurt the most, at first. I had trouble getting up, because of the pain in both knee and shoulder. Much later, I noticed a little problem with my right hip, and a small laceration at the cuticle of my left thumb.

This morning, everything felt better (perhaps I should write a post on essential oils), but my right shoulder still hurts except in a limited range of motion, and if I try to lift anything heavier than a few ounces.

So, I had to ask myself WWMBD? What Would My Barber Do?

The obvious answer: Do a lot of left-handed dry fire practice.

Excuse me as I go get my airsoft Gov't Model replica and do some weak-hand practice.

The Christian Warrior's Heart Health

Do you, as a Christian Warrior want to avoid heart disease and have a healthy cardiovascular system? Here's a simple tip: Eat lots of . . . To continue reading this post over at Christian Warrior Online, click here.

Push-ups: Dream or Nightmare? -- 2

A year-and-a-half of chiropractic adjustments augmented by gravity based traction, some back exercises and weight loss has not only helped my spine, but also the joints and muscles of my shoulder girdle. I decided to see if I could retrain my joints and muscles to the full range push-up.

I started by raising my had supports to about 28" from the floor and reducing to 20 reps per set. I did ten sets, and at the end of each one, my muscles felt as well worked as they had when I was doing 50 rep sets with my hands much lower.

I have progressed to the point where this past Saturday, I did two sets with my hands elevated only 16" from the floor. The other eight sets I still do at the 28" elevation. My plan is to increase reps and gradually work down to fully horizontal, full range push-ups.

That brings me back to my dream: I was in the horizontal push-up position. I wondered if I could do a full range push-up with my hands on the floor.

I did a couple, then decided to go for a full set of 20. And I did them -- slowly and steadily but with some effort I completed a set of 20 full range horizontal push-ups.

I found the dream encouraging because it tells me that somewhere deep inside I really believe I can do this. And that's the kind of belief that, in God's providence, can make dreams come true.

Push-ups: Dream or Nightmare?

Last night I dreamed that I was doing push-ups. Many people would describe that as a nightmare, but  I found it pleasantly encouraging.

As some of you may recall from previous posts, I had a goal of doing 500 push-ups in a day. In fact, I reached that goal a little over a year ago.

I did my push-ups 3 days a week (usually 100 to 300 reps on Tues & Thurs), and on Saturdays I made the big effort to squeeze out the 500. I did them in 3 different position (horizontal, hands 12" off the floor and hands 16" off the floor), in sets of 50.

Over the course of a year, this routine provided an upper body workout that built up and hardened muscles. The one problem was that from the time I began, I was not getting a full range of motion in my push-ups.

Shoulder problems prevented me from going all the way to the floor, so I decided early on that half a push-up was better than no push-up at all. And that has been my practice up until about a month ago.

(To be continued)

Lunges for Peak Fitness?

Before the New Year, I started my walking routine again. It's basic cardio-fitness, and it gives me an opportunity to pray for the folks in each house that I pass.

I do pushups for upper body strength, and I supplement with self resistance exercises for upper body strength. What I really need, though, is something that will push me to peak output, which has numerous benefits, including fat loss, stimulus of body's natural HGH production, increasing efficiency at a cellular level (mitochondria), and so forth.

I know that sprints are probably the best way to do this, but the last time I tried it, my knees and ankles took such a pounding that I knew I would do damage if I persisted. That's why this video interested me.

The lunges can provide an intense workout without impacting my joints. I can also do them indoors when the weather is bad, as they don't require a lot of space.

The tough part is just making them part of the routine, so that they become a habit. Anyway, here's the video:

A New Blog: Adjunct to Warrior Fitness

I have started a new blog that can serve as an adjunct to warrior fitness. It is called Back Decompression.

It's not limited to martial arts/self defense types, but it promotes back health in general. A bad back puts a big crimp in the warrior lifestyle. (Ask the man who owns one.)

So, if you have back problems, check out my new site. Even if you don't, and you want to do me a favor, go to the site & tweet it and/or "like" it for Facebook. Actions like that will help the site get noticed by the search engines.

If you don't have any back pain, there is a general back decompression exercise there that is easy, simple & might just keep your back healthy & pain free.

Health, Youth & Fitness, 2

In December of 2009 I was doing 350+ push-ups three times a week. The problem was that I was waking up the next morning with my neck & upper back a wreck. It often took me an hour or more to work the kinks out to the point where I could function.

My lower back was affecting my ability to take my daily walks. As I walked, the muscles in the sacrum and lumbar regions would progressively tighten until each step became painful.

I've had back issues for years, and in recent years I've tried a number of methods to help cope. Back exercises, stretching, hanging by my hands from the upper rungs of a ladder -- anything to put things right. In spite of those efforts, I gave up on doing push-ups in December, and I was losing my motivation to take walks.

Then, in February, my wife made an appointment for me to see a chiropractor. I have been going to him three times a week since then, and I'm seeing steady progress in my mobility and freedom from pain.

As my structural integrity improves, I will need less frequent sessions. In the meantime, my walking is now pain free (most of the time), and I'm back to doing push-ups.

Last Saturday, I did five sets of 25 reps, & 1 set of 20 reps. I also find that I can now get lower in the "down" half of the push-up: an increased range of motion as a result of structural corrections.

My goal is 500 push-ups by the end of this year. Next year, I want to concentrate on Indian (some call them "Hindu" push-ups. Maybe the following year, I'll be able to do some vertical push-ups -- something I haven't done since I was about 19 yrs. old.

I do push-ups three days a week, and on the alternate three days, I do some of John E. Peterson's DVR and DSR exercises, as found in his book Pushing Yourself to Power: The Ultimate Guide to Total Body Transformation

Even though I'm doing fewer push-ups, I would have to say that my general level of health and fitness is better now than it was a year ago. For this, I am thankful to the Lord that, in His providence He led me to a modality of treatment that has made a huge difference in my physical capabilities.

I may inflict one more installment of this series on my readers to assess the state of my skills.

Health, Youth & Fitness

Last year in April, I wrote a post entitled "Swords, Sorcery and Warrior Health". In that article, I discussed the fact that I had recently embarked upon a program of weekly juice fasts.

I have continued the practice for the past year, and I'm ready to post my results. But first, I will recap the details of my juice fasts.

The Program

The fast lasts for 72 hours (3 days) each week. 5 or 6 times during the year various contingencies caused me to shorten the fast to 2 days, and I think that on one occasion I fasted for only one day.

My usual habit is to eat lunch on Tuesday and then take in nothing but liquids in the form of juice or water (and a cup of green or white tea each morning) until lunchtime Friday, when I break my fast.

Okay, okay! I admit that I also have a grapefruit in the evenings, which pretty well eliminates hunger pangs.

For several months, I used pure juices (100% juice, no high fructose corn syrup, sugar or other sweeteners added) which we purchased from the store. Then a few months ago, someone gave us a juicer.

Now my lunch on Wednesdays & Thursdays consists of juiced cabbage, carrots, celery and apples -- also, broccoli, tomatoes & other fruits & veggies when available.

When I'm not fasting, I still try to limit my intake of refined sugar, potatoes & white-flour products to one day a week (Saturday). Also, Friday is my high-protein day: usually hamburgers & tuna.

The Results (So Far)

Over the past 12 months, my fat loss has been very slow, but also steady. People that saw me from week to week did not notice the weight loss, but people who saw me much less frequently did.

My brother noticed a difference each of the four or so times he saw me in 2009. And last week, my wife & I saw a lady we had not seen in over a year. Her immediate reaction was, "Mr. Mutton! You've lost a LOT of weight."

I'm still significantly overweight & far from being taunted with epithets like, "Hey, Skinny, your ribs are showing," but I'm now able to again wear shirts I haven't worn in years.

A year of regular fasting has also produced some other benefits.

One is a big reduction in joint pain, especially the knees. The weight loss may have reduced the stress on the knees, but fasting does give the body a chance to repair itself, so I think that's a factor, too.

Speaking of healing, my shin splint problem is now all but gone. Because of that, since December, I have been getting back into the habit of daily walks (on weekdays), which is another positive contributor to general health.

Another benefit of my fasts is that I now feel good more often and for longer periods. I attribute this to the detoxification effects of juice fasting.

Some weeks, during my fast I have felt almost flu-like symptoms as my body released and eliminated toxins that had built up and been stored in my liver and adipose tissue. I welcomed the head-achy, feverish feelings (along with a thick coat on my tongue) because I knew that my body was ridding itself of poisons.

 To expedite the detox process, I often take a product called "Detoxilean" on Wednesdays & Thursdays. Detoxilean is a blend of herbal substances that cleanse the liver.

Also, on Wed, Thur, & Fri mornings, I drink about 10 oz. of prune juice (100% juice purchased from the store). I actually like the stuff, and it helps to cleanse the colon.

There's another vaunted benefit of the fasting process that's unseen, but still hopefully taking place. A severe limitation of calorie intake is supposed to trigger a gene that regulates production of telomerase, the enzyme that repairs and restores the teleomeres (tail ends of the DNA helix).

According to the telomere theory of aging, every time a cell reproduces, its DNA loses a tiny portion of its telomere. When the telomere is gone, the cell can no longer reproduce, and it dies.

Thus, your life span is limited by your cells' ability to repair and restore telomeres. I'll know more about how successful this approach is in about 20 years, D.V.

That's about it for the report on my juice fast, but since I did not publish an annual assessment of fitness and training in January, I want to continue with those topics next week (I hope). If you want to know more about the benefits of a juice fast, click on the link at the beginning of this post & watch the video.

Warrior Fitness: Pushups

I firmly believe in bodyweight exercise for fitness. God gave you your best workout equipment when He created your body.

It is for this reason that I promote John E. Peterson's Pushing Yourself to Power. It's a treasury of bodyweight exercises with both detailed descriptions and also photographs that illustrate each exercise.

You can follow one of Peterson's recommended workout programs or design your own from the many exercises given.

If you think you can't get in top shape with power calisthenics, you don't really know what bodyweight fitness is all about. I don't have a video of Peterson doing pushups, but here's one that shows some of the same techniques he uses.

(Warning: unless you have been conditioned to tolerate music that assaults your nervous system, you may want to mute the sound.)

By the way, I have only recently started to do the "hindu" or Tiger Stretch pushups again. I used to do them about 25 yrs ago as part of a stretching routine, but I didn't have a name for them. They seemed much easier then. Now, my form is not anywhere near perfect . . . YET.

Warrior Fitness -- Fasting & Pushups

On April 11, I posted that I had started a program of weekly fasting. Ever since then, I have gone on a juice fast every week.

Three or four times, I have fasted for two days, and the week of our vacation I only managed one day. But the rest of the time, I have started my fast after lunch on Tuesday and ended it at lunchtime on Friday.

Before our vacation I did lose some weight, and my leg & ankle swelling improved marginally (especially on the fast days). But weight loss was very slow, which is not a bad way to lose weight.

On the last leg of our vacation, my barber's daughter, who is involved in various aspects of therapy, told me my chronic back & shin-splint problems are symptoms of dehydration. So, I started drinking water.

For the three weeks or so, I've been drinking three to four quarts of water a day. After the first three days, my wife mentioned to me that she saw a noticeable reduction in belly fat.

I now think that dehydration may have been a factor in preventing the fat loss. My back is not back to 100% yet, but it is markedly improved, and so is the swelling in my lower legs & ankles. I think my eyesight may have improved a little, too, although that impression is very subjective.

Figs are in season & we have a huuuge fig tree, so I'm working at some colon cleansing, as well.

Another factor in my weight loss may involve the pushups I do. I've worked up to over 350 modified Atlas pushups three days a week. I know that 350 pushups seems a little wimpy to you young warriors out there, but PLEASE give a fat old man a break.

I do about 100 pushups with my feet & hands about level. Then, another 100 with my hands elevated about 8 inches above the floor, and then I do another 100 with my hands on two dining room chairs and my feet on the floor. Just this week, I started doing some of my pushups with my feet elevated three or four inches higher than my hands.

When I was in college, I could do vertical pushups (although I cheated by leaning my feet against the wall -- never had the balance for handstands). I wonder how long it would take me to get back to that feat?

Because years ago I injured my shoulder pumping iron (warning to you young guys -- I didn't think it could happen to me, either), I don't descend fully in my pushups. Over the months, though, I noticed I can descend a little farther in each position than I used to.

I'm shooting for 500 pushups, 3 days a week. (At 62, I find that working out every day does not give me enough recovery time.)

Well, that's my warrior fitness update. How about you guys? Did you set any goals for this year? How are you doing at meeting those goals?

Swords, Sorcery and Warrior Health

You may wonder what swords and sorcery have to do with warrior health. Well, in the 1970's, a revival of interest in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (books, schlock art and even an animated movie) bore responsibility for a spurred interest in stories of the "Sword and Sorcery" genre.

I read one -and only one -- of a series of novels that included a sword-wielding warrior. His dissipated lifestyle did not impress me.

What did impress me was one scene in the book. As I recall, this warrior was the last servant of the goddess of a nearly-forgotten religion. Periodically, she would summon him to send him on a quest. But first, she forced him to participate in a painful ritual.

As he embraced the pedestal of the goddess's long-gone image, a purifying, fiery force swept through his body. I believe the narrative said the force cleansed cholesterol from his artery walls and toxins from his system. At the end, he looked, felt and performed like a younger person.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a TV segment on the 700 Club that related a practice that can also remove toxins, clean out the arteries, heal diseased organs and youthen the practitioner. As an added bonus, you don't have to go to Hell for serving pagan gods.

The segment dealt with fasting. When I was in my twenties, I used to fast (ingested nothing but water) one day per week. Over the years, I've tried to get back into the habit, but couldn't seem to find the right schedule.

I've thought about it recently, though and that fasting might help with my various joint problems, the pain & swelling that is still left over from my shin splints, and it might even help burn off a few pounds of fat.

Well, the program that spotlighted fasting was just the catalyst that I needed to launch me into action. Last week I went on a modified juice fast for two days (ate lunch as normal on Wednesday, and then took in only water, juice and grapefruit until lunchtime Friday)

This week I went three days -- from after lunch on Tuesday until after lunch on Friday. I included an 8-oz. glass of prune juice each morning. Prune juice is naturally high in sugar, but it sure helps to clean out the colon, so it's a trade off.

I also continued working out on my fast days. My rationale is twofold:

1. Serum protein levels in Americans tend to be high, which will carry me over for a few days;
2. After the fast, I don't want my body to react to the "starving time" by redoubling its efforts to store energy as fat -- instead, I hope my body will say to itself, "Finally I have the nutrients necessary to repair & build muscle tissue.
   

On the second and third days, I had a thick coat on my tongue (something I remember from previous fasts) I believe this signifies that my body is throwing off toxins. I also experienced a lot of mucus production at the same time.

As far as benefits, the swelling and pain has decreased in my legs, my knees feel better and I have a general sense of well-being. My wife says she has noticed that my breathing does not seem as labored when I undertake any strenuous activity.

Anyway, if you want to view the video of the segment that got me back into fasting, you can watch it below. My use of it here, however, does not constitute an endorsement of the 700 Club of Pat Robertson's teachings.

Sanchin Practice

In Elements of Punching, 2, I mentioned using the idea behind sanchin kata found in Shito Ryu (and other forms) of karate. It involves going through the motions of a kata as you breathe deeply and keep all muscles tensed.

One of the objects is to turn the karateka's musculature into a living suit of armor impervious to the blows of an adversary. The strong contractions while performing sanchin strengthen and harden the muscles.

This is almost identical to one of the principles that John E. Peterson teaches: Dynamic Visualized Resistance (DVR) in his book Pushing Yourself to Power. Over the past two or three weeks, I have tried to harness this principle in my training.

I have developed my own little "kata" which involves the combat wedge, kneeing, palm-heel strikes, elbow strikes and judo chops. I perform each move as I would on a real opponent, only slowly with muscles tensed.

It's strength training combined with skills training, and it seems to complement (not compliment, please!) my fitness training. I like it.

Here is a video of the traditional sanchin kata along with explanation.

Warrior Fitness: Upper Body Exercise

The following comes from John Peterson's "Daily Transformation"" e-letter. This one exercise works the entire upper body, and you can do it anywhere, without equipment. It's a classic Dynamic Self Resistance (DSR) exercise.

DSR exercises like this are just one reason I so heartily recommend Peterson's book, Pushing Yourself to Power. Here's the article:

So what exactly is the “Uncle Milo” exercise? Glad you asked! Let me run you through it:

While standing, cross your wrists left over right, with your hands forming tight fists as though holding a hammer with arms extended down by your waistline in direct center line of your body(thumbs and index fingers of each hand, though clenched, are facing straight up).

With your left fist pressing down and your right fist pulling up, slowly pull your right fist upward while maintaining even and consistent resistance from your left fist pressing down.

Continue pulling until the top of your left fist (thumb and index finger) lightly brushes the forehead. Then reverse the motion, resisting with the right fist and pressing down with the left.

After the muscles feel thoroughly worked, reverse the relative positions of the hands with right over left and continue. Six high-tension reps in each of the two positions described will work well.

Many men will discover that due to the enhanced leverage of this exercise, they can really achieve an incredible pump in the entire arm structure as well as the entire upper body, including the pecs, upper back, shoulders, and abdomen.

This was my Uncle Milo’s favorite DSR exercise and it worked like a dream.—J.P.

Anaerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise is big on today's health and fitness scene. Walking and jogging are the two main aerobic activities, although cycling is also popular. Walking and cycling are preferable to jogging because of cumulative damage caused by the high-impact nature of the activity.

Joggers who run for three, four or five miles every day are doing harm to feet, knees hips and back that may not show up for decades. Some, like a jogger I knew who was in his late forties, never made the connection between his favorite activity and his chronic back troubles.

Anaerobic exercise begins when the muscle cells need to oxidize fuel faster than your blood can carry oxygen to them. Here is an explanation from the Wikipedia article:

Anaerobic exercise is exercise intense enough to trigger anaerobic metabolism. It is used by athletes in non-endurance sports to build power and by body builders to build muscle mass. Muscles trained under anaerobic conditions develop differently, leading to greater performance in short duration, high intensity activities, which last up to about 2 minutes.

Aerobic exercise, on the other hand, includes lower intensity activities performed for longer periods of time. Such activities like walking, running, swimming, and cycling require a great deal of oxygen to generate the energy needed for prolonged exercise.

There are two types of anaerobic energy systems, the ATP-CP energy system, which uses creatine phosphate as the main energy source, and the lactic acid (or anaerobic glycolysis) system that uses glucose (or glycogen) in the absence of oxygen. Events or activity that last up to about thirty seconds rely primarily on the former, phosphagen, system. Beyond this time aerobic and anaerobic glycolysis begin to predominate. Anaerobic glycolysis uses glucose inefficiently, and produces by-products such as lactic acid that are thought to be detrimental to muscle function; this limits activity based predominantly on anaerobic glycolysis to about 2 minutes. The effectiveness of anaerobic activity can be improved through training.

Note that [i]t is used by athletes in non-endurance sports to build power. Power is a function of both strength and speed. One athlete can do thirty pushups in 25 seconds while another of comparable weight can do them in 15 seconds.

While both athletes are performing the same amount of work (force x distance), the second one has more power, more pushups per second.

In another post I want to discuss the application of power in self defense training.