tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65027873797917571342024-03-18T20:47:28.128-07:00Jennifer Johnson fights like a GIRLAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-59252417091002126352016-03-18T19:06:00.001-07:002016-03-18T19:06:46.070-07:00Taking a stance on stances.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilviEUjGO2HOM6bFb3H_LcYF_JqWHOXpl65voOX2KWsjE-uK6Du46RALmTbYkJaTTYP-s2qsrDku9xX3vbzPU5-gMfou81MgzWqRYpKBHnbuQNYhdq2DrFon7vY-UGJQEUhzchd2uU2ew/s1600/underestimate.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilviEUjGO2HOM6bFb3H_LcYF_JqWHOXpl65voOX2KWsjE-uK6Du46RALmTbYkJaTTYP-s2qsrDku9xX3vbzPU5-gMfou81MgzWqRYpKBHnbuQNYhdq2DrFon7vY-UGJQEUhzchd2uU2ew/s200/underestimate.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For those of you who may not have met me in person, I am what I like to call "<a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wee" target="_blank">wee</a>," and what most people call, "short." I am barely over 5' tall, and honestly don't have much of a reach when it comes to punching.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Occasionally this can be an issue.. primarily when I'm fighting someone significantly taller than I am. Because I'm smaller, often my kicking range is similar to a "normal" person's punching range. As a result I've developed a stance that helps me to keep people at bay by allowing me to more easily kick and keep people the hell away from my face and torso.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My Current Stance</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the record, I'm the one on the right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, those of you that have studied "traditional" martial arts will probably recognize the stance pretty quickly... it's a kind of modified "cat" or "tiger" stance. The beauty of the cat stance is that it allows you to leave your front leg free to kick and distance people, but with a slight shifting of your weight, you are now free to use the back leg and/or strike with the hands. If I'm fighting someone significantly larger than me, I will almost immediately fall back into this stance without thinking about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">HOWEVER... it's not a great boxing stance. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In this instance, my MMA instructor wanted all of us to spar so he could see where we are currently. Let's just say, I didn't land a lot of hits. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What I'm Working On</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now, your boxing stance is a different matter all together. Hands are up at the face, shoulders are more squared towards your opponent, feet are hip distance apart (and facing the same direction), and—most significantly for me—weight is forward, making your head almost even with your lead foot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For someone wee—like myself—this poses a problem. I don't have reach, so I am naturally reluctant to lean forward and give someone a nice target to punch. If you're quick, you can use the duck/bob method to keep yourself from getting hit while staying in range--but if not... you might want to start practicing your blocks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why is this important?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, you need to know what works for you well before you are in a situation where you are going to have to fight. If you are someone who is small, it's good to know HOW to box, and the principles of fighting. I spend a lot of time in JKD working on my blocks and legwork--but not as much on my strikes as I could have. Thus, I'm now working on my strikes by taking MMA and Escrima. It's not to say we don't kick... in fact we do a LOT of Thai kicks. But I know I need to work more on my boxing because eventually, I may have to fight someone who knows how to box, and as good as my kicks may be, if I get one good hit to the head, it's all done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you don't believe that knowing other styles (and how they fight) is important--ask an MMA fighter who does real matches. Getting too comfortable with one method of fighting will eventually lead to disaster because there are so many different ways someone can fight, and after a while you just get TOO comfortable in your ability to win. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Remember: the thing about stances is that you can always change them if you need to.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-91449469674028471212015-10-29T10:42:00.001-07:002015-10-29T10:42:42.816-07:00..if it doesn't say Microaggression, it's not the real thing!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>EDIT</b>: <i>I wrote this post a while back, but didn't publish it because it was cathartic enough just to put it all down on paper (so to speak). But after reading an email sent to an organization to which I belong—requesting the help of "strong men," to help with light physical labor—I felt I should publish it after all. Implicit validation of gender stereotypes is not cool in the dojo, social organizations, religious organizations, or </i>anywhere<i> else. </i> ~J.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I started learning martial arts, it was fairly common to hear a variation of the following phrase: "if you want to learn ballet, go study at [a different dojo]." I used to let it stand, maybe give a little nervous laugh and then go on with my learning. After a time, I would maybe say something like, "you guys wouldn't last ten minutes in a ballet class." Now, I get mad.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because ballet is primarily the realm of the female, the speaker is usually comparing the other [team, sport, etc] to girls.</span> </h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Further, as it is also assumed that males in ballet are (primarily) homosexual, there is a further implied lack of masculinity. By saying people at a different dojo are studying ballet, the speaker is implying that they are lacking in the "manliness" needed for the practice of martial arts—the realm of Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a woman in martial arts I find this infuriating. Even the likes of Ronda Rousey has been told to her face by a male interviewer that they don't think she could compete with a man (<a href="http://espn.go.com/espnw/athletes-life/the-buzz/article/12426318/watch-ronda-rousey-flip-bust-insulting-interviewer" target="_blank">with hilarious results</a>), or <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/13/ronda-rousey-sexist-questions-female-ufc-fighter_n_7277898.html" target="_blank">asked sexist questions</a> her male counterparts never have to deal with. In my personal experience, I honestly believe that women in martial arts need to work almost twice as hard to gain even half the recognition of their skill—and comments like the one above (called <a href="http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Microaggressions" target="_blank">microaggressions</a>) are quite common. It is assumed that a woman in martial arts is there to learn self-defense rather than learning martial arts for their own sake. A woman can't even let her fists do the talking because often the speakers "don't fight girls." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Microaggressions like "I don't fight girls," or "we're not here to do ballet," or "maybe you should go home and play with your Barbies," are ignorant at best and harmful at worst. These statements reinforce the idea that females are weaker, and are not equal to their male counterparts. Focusing on self-defense <i>only</i> instead of overall skill reinforces rape-culture and the idea that a woman is responsible for attacks on her person (particularly by focusing on how you walk, how you dress, etc). Even worse, when these kinds of statements are made in front of adolescent girls, it can damage their sense of self-worth—often the very reason that they are in the classes in the first place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Secondarily, dance as a sport and athletic pursuit, is being discounted.</span> </h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The idea here is that dance is not only a "girly" pursuit, it is also not something on par with martial arts. When discussing the intersection of martial arts and dance, it is important to note that there have been many crossovers from dance into martial arts--particularly the more traditional forms like Kung Fu and Wing Chun. Think of actors like Jackie Chan (who started in the Peking Circus) or Michelle Yeoh (who studied ballet and choreography). There are even entire styles of martial arts that are built around dance, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capoeira" target="_blank">Capoeira</a> or parts of systems that teach through dance-like moves like the Moro Moros (mock battles) in Escrima. And yet... ballet... unmanly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Look at pictures of male ballet dancers. Compare the physique of Carlos Acosta to Bruce Lee and tell me dancers guys don't WORK, often burning out well before they hit their 40's. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Male dancers have to combine the flexibility of yoga with the strength of a body builder (or they can't lift their female counterparts). Besides gymnasts, the only other sports that require that combination are the martial arts. We have so much in common... why must we disparage?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what is the answer?</span> </h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If you are a student, and either another student or instructor makes a statement that makes you uncomfortable, ask to speak to your instructor in private and calmly explain why. Remember ... </span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Remain calm</b>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>Give them the benefit of the doubt</b>. They probably didn't realize what they said could be offensive, or they would not have said it. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>This is about the event, and not about the person</b>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Phrase your response in such a way that they understand you are not accusing<i> them</i> of being [racist, sexist, homophobic], but that they made a <i>statement</i> that is [racist, sexist, homophobic]. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Be prepared to face push-back and be told they were "just joking." Often it is difficult for people to see outside of their privilege, and calling them on it will make them uncomfortable.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>If you cannot come to a resolution, be prepared to walk away</b>. You may not be able to do anything about it right away, and that sucks. But if someone makes repeated statements, you may need to have a hard think on whether or not that person is someone you want as a teacher.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">As an instructor, I ask that you think before you make any statements that might be perceived as disparaging to a particular group. If you see a student or fellow instructor make a statement that is offensive, take them aside and talk to them about it using the steps above. It is our job as instructors to make sure that <u>everyone</u> in class feels safe, especially those most at risk. Since many women initially take martial arts for self-defense, it is possible they are already coming from a place of trauma. We need to do all we can to make sure that they—and ALL our students—feel that they are learning in a safe and caring environment... well as safe as an environment as you can get in a class where there's a high possibility you'll be sparring.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-43039498731097324142015-08-11T13:00:00.000-07:002015-08-11T13:00:35.588-07:00Learn how to rest; you already know how to push through<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A friend of mine's daughter was recently diagnosed with possible stress fractures in her ankle. She's still in grade school, and is a competitive dancer, taking first place in a recent contest. She's a determined girl who LOVES to dance, but it looks like she's going to have to take a couple of weeks off so she can heal up. It's heartbreaking, because she wants to do what she loves, but what she loves doing is aggravating an injury. In this instance, resting is the best possible thing for her to do, because it will give her time to heal... but in a way, the resting hurts more than continuing to injure herself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are times when we want to "push through the pain," whether it is physical or emotional, because we want to keep doing what we love. The thought is, if we keep moving, we won't have time to hurt, but conversely, we also won't have time to <i>heal</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As my metals teacher used to say, "tempering metal makes it stronger." But she also used to warn that while the process of tempering makes the steel harder, it also makes it more brittle, and prone to breaking.The same is true if you over-work the metal with a hammer... it is harder, yes, but more brittle. Instead, you must anneal the metal, slowly heat it to a red hot state, and then work the metal so that you are working with the structure, aligning the crystals of the metal slowly and carefully. When you anneal metal, the metal is not quenched in water after the heating, it is instead hammered while hot, and then allowed to cool naturally. This keeps the metal strong, but not brittle.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taking time for oneself, particularly to heal after injury, is often a luxury few can afford these days. We must go to work, go to school, continue on with our <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/607719-the-main-problem-with-this-great-obsession-for-saving-time" target="_blank">bisy backson</a>* lives instead of taking time to make sure we are (in fact) ok. I've done this for years with my knee -- I know that there is a problem with my knee, but if I go to the doctor and put a name to it, I could be prevented from doing the activities that I love--that help keep me even-keeled. So I put on a brace, take an anti-inflammatory, and hope for the best. Because I don't have TIME for that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've also done this with inter-personal relationships (past, present, and likely in the future). Shifting blame, making excuses, because if I take the time to diagnose the problem, I can only come to one logical conclusion--and I don't want to face what's really wrong, or </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the possibility what is broken cannot be fixed.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It's easier to make excuses for a friend or loved one than it is to acknowledge that some time off is necessary for both people to gain perspective and do some healing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In our society we are told if there is "no pain," there is "no gain." That may be true. But continued pain—continued tempering—with no time to heal will only make one brittle and subject to breaking. It's a good philosophy for forging a sword... and for keeping one healthy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which is all to say....</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm taking some time off to do some healing--about a month--to see where I am both physically and mentally after resting. Perhaps I will be able to resume what I was doing. Perhaps that will no longer be possible. I won't know until I come out the other side and take a good look at where I am, and where I want to be. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you get the opportunity, I highly recommend that you do the same. Maybe not on the same scale, but maybe you can set a night aside for just you--do some reading, binge watch some awful TV, go get a mani-pedi, go to the gym, whatever helps you relax, and reconnect with YOU. In the end, you're the only person you can really <u>truly</u> rely on. You want to make sure you're in good shape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">* I cannot stress enough the beauty and wisdom that is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Pooh" target="_blank">Tao of Pooh</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Te_of_Piglet" target="_blank">Te of Piglet</a>. I read both books annually, and have made my kids read them too. Even if you are not into "Eastern Religion," it's a good reminder of just how messed up our Western world looks to those on the outside. Take a look, I don't think you'll be disappointed.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-85254456126507524472015-07-28T11:05:00.002-07:002015-07-28T11:05:59.964-07:00Come as you are, as you were...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes, no matter how well thought out, no matter how awesome your routine, you are going to have to make adjustments. I have a "go to" routine that I use when I'm called on to sub for a beginning yoga class, but I always make sure that I have some alternate poses or sequences in mind because you never know what's going to be waiting for you on the mat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The past few classes I've taught have been overwhelmingly yogic in nature, and there is a certain expectation of what comes from a yoga class (beginning, intermediate OR advanced). Here are the things I hear most often from students:</span>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[the student] has not done yoga before</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[the student] hasn't done yoga in a while</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[the student] tried to do yoga, but [they] are not very flexible</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[the student] isn't very spiritual</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[the student] IS very spiritual and doesn't want any of that weird stuff</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[the student] doesn't have all the "required" equipment</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And i'm sure that those are all valid concerns they have for themselves, but really, most of those aren't concerns that I have for them. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's ok if you haven't done yoga before, or not in a while. Thanks for letting me know so I can make sure to explain the poses in a greater detail. I use the Americanized or translated names for the poses to make sure we're all on the same page, but I understand if you are intimidated by the Sanskrit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also, I understand it can be annoying if you want to do a certain pose and your body doesn't seem to want to bend that way, but it doesn't mean that 1) you're not flexible enough or 2) you will EVER be flexible enough--because sometimes it's not about your flexibility.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sometimes, it's about how your body is made--down to the bones. If you are a short-waisted individual, you are going to find it very hard to do poses that involve rounding the back. It's not your fault, and no amount of stretching, or losing weight is likely to get you where you think you need to be. Like the Tin Man, you are just not designed to bend in that way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Similarly, people often think that they need special equipment (mat, blanket, towel, blocks, straps, etc.) to perform a routine. Props and whatnot are nice, but many people find that they do not <i>need</i> the equipment. When you break it down to its component parts, you do not need to have all those things to do a simple routine. They're nice to have, and sometimes helpful, but it's not a situation where if you don't have the right equipment you cannot participate. Think of it more like flag football than pro football. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, concerning the spiritual nature of yoga... yoga is spiritual if you are. Personally, I don't teach the mantras to chant, or the meanings behind the various hand mudras. But that doesn't mean I don't view yoga as a spiritual practice for myself. Rather, I don't want to impose my beliefs on my students, so I guide them in general relaxation techniques instead. What you focus on when you go to your happy place is entirely your business.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you come to my class, I expect that you come as you are—exactly as you are that day. Everyone has off days when they're not feeling particularly flexible or whatnot. That's ok. It's more important that respect what your body is capable of right at that very minute. There are days when my balance is awful, and I can't seem to reach my toes no matter what, but I still get on the mat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's why it's called a "practice."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-29982068684042132602015-06-22T06:41:00.000-07:002015-06-25T06:56:24.341-07:00Do you even lift, bro?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I've been taking a weight training class at the college for the past month or so. It's been really eye opening (and caused more than a couple of sore muscle mornings). We have two different instructors, and they do a fantastic job of working us out in different ways. No matter what, though, they do communicate pretty well so we're not working the same set of muscles both classes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our Tuesday teacher, Zach, gives us a set of exercises that move from station to station. After a group warm-up, we are given a sheet of paper that is divided into sets of exercises, we can start wherever we want, so long as we complete the whole page by the time we're done with class. While we're wandering around, trying to figure out which machine is the one for the shoulder press, and whether or not we should brave the barbells, Zach and the interns (that sounds like a band, doesn't it?) move around in the class, answering questions and correcting our form. Which is good, because when I'm working with dumbbells, I just seem to want to hyper-extend my shoulder. An example of one of his sheets is to the right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you can see, it follows a kind of circuit training, where we complete each round of exercises within the square a set number of times. I have to tell you, I honestly prefer to do two rounds of 15 to 3 rounds of 10... but I only do that when we're running out of time. At the completion of the set, we move into cool-down mode and stretch out the muscles before headed back into the world... often drenched in sweat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thursdays we have Josh, who is a <a href="http://rippedplanet.com/" target="_blank">RIPPED</a> trainer, and also teaches kickboxing and a couple of other HIIT type classes. When we work with Josh, we're not in small groups moving from machine to machine, it's more of a group-exercise setting, where we're all moving together. I like this as well, because seeing the instructor do the exercises helps me correct my form. There is a similar structure in that we move through several series of exercises, often starting with a set number, and then decreasing as we move through our sets (so 3 sets per series, starting with 15, then 10, then 8). Series can be different depending on what we're targeting, but most often have a "core" component. So even if you're on biceps, your set of four exercises is going to end with ... a 30 second plank (or boat, or something similar). Which is good, because often we forget we need a strong core to do the exercises.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The downside to this is we are limited to the hand weights, and don't really get to use the machines or the barbells. BUT the upside is we're all working together so we can encourage each other as we work through the exercises, and we can see what we're supposed to be doing since our instructor is working with us as well. And just like Tuesdays, we often leave after our cool-down... drenched in sweat.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which is all to say, last week we had a small class so instead of doing our usual cardio, I opted to focus more on the strengthening. So our workout looked a little different than normal..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>warm-up</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Happy (3:54) - marching, arm circles, leg curls (butt-kicks), hip circles (I like to move the hip circles into figure 8 movements, like hula dancers do), bench-press arms combined with high knees (still fairly low impact)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">weight circuit (</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 sets of 10)</span></b><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SET 1 [arms]: standing bicep curls, lateral raises, standing hammer curls, tricep curls</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SET 2 [legs]: weighted lunges, weighted (goblet) squats, donkey kicks (I didn't specify weights with those, but people with ankle weights had some fun)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SET 3 [core]: 30 sec. plank, weighted sit-ups (dumbbell behind head), rowing the boat (boat pose, weight becomes the "oar" with which you row the boat, touching on either side of the body, two touches is one row)</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">there were 2 minute breaks between sets for water and general recovery.</span><br />
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<a href="http://hathayoga.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SunSalutations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://hathayoga.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SunSalutations.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>yoga</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">we did a series of four Sun Salutation A for the I<a href="http://idayofyoga.org/" target="_blank">nternational Day of Yoga</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was followed by a full body stretch, hitting legs, arms and core with a VERY nice 5 minute savasana at the end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-60160053586920070762015-06-08T09:03:00.000-07:002015-06-08T09:29:28.853-07:00Rhianna, Kanye and Paul McCartney make pretty good cool-down music, as it turns out<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second week of cardio-yoga classes, and we're still going strong. There was a much smaller turnout, but I think that was largely due to it being the first week of summer vacay, and not that I had inadvertently scared people off. :-) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this week we skipped the extended leg kicks and went with JUST knees--especially on the roundhouses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is this week's playlist and exercises:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>(warm-up)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>All About That Bass</i> (3:06) - verse 1: knee touch into wide knee touch, bridge: forward lunges, chorus : cross-arm knee touch (opposite elbow/knee), verse 2: knee touch into wide knee touch, bridge: forward lunges, chorus: cross-arm knee touch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: to "lower" the intensity, march instead of knee-touch, to up the intensity, hop into the knee touch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Song 2</i> (2:02) - alternating for approx. 30 sec a piece: jabs, cross, uppercuts, and roundhouse/hook punches (in succession)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: to "lower" the intensity, punch every other beat, to up the intensity, march as you punch. leg positions can either be a squat or same leg forward</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[brief rest]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>(cardio)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Shake It Off </i>(3:38) - verse 1: jab/cross combo, bridge: hook punch, chorus: chain punch while marching/uppercuts at "shake it off", verse 2: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">jab/cross combo, bridge: hook punch, chorus: chain punch while marching/uppercuts at "shake it off",</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> walk during "hey, hey portion," cheerleader chant: knee/front kick, chorus</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: chain punch while marching/uppercuts at "shake it off"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: to "lower" the intensity, keep a horse stance during punches, to up the intensity, scissor hop legs during cross punches and hop into the kicks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Uptown Funk</i> (4:31) - intro: walk, verse 1: knee/front kick, bridge: side kicks, tag: chain punch to the beat (will get faster), chorus: thai knee/roundhouse, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">verse 2: knee/front kick, bridge: side kicks, tag: chain punch to the beat (will get faster), chorus: thai knee/roundhouse, "funk you up": squats, chorus: thai knee/roundhouse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: to "lower" the intensity, just throw knees and don't kick, to "up" the intensity, add punches to the kicks (same leg/arm)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>(cardio/yoga): </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>elastic heart </i>(4:17) - sun salutation, modified variation: extended mountain, swan dive, forward fold, half-lift, forward fold, lunge, low plank, modified chatarunga (knees, stomach, chest lowered). From here repeat sequence of: cobra, table-top, child's pose about 8 times. Rotate to supine for a series of 8 "penguins" or <a href="http://www.2athletes.com/Exercises/Abs/penguin-heel-reaches.html" target="_blank">oblique crunches/heel touches</a>. Raise legs to ceiling for <a href="http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Straight-Leg-Crunches-26072002" target="_blank">straight leg crunches</a> (one set of 10). Lower to boat, hold series of 3 <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/pose/full-boat-pose/" target="_blank">boat poses</a> for 15 seconds each. Flip over and rest in child's pose before next song.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: fists for wrists/dolphin pose for table-top, you can add/remove additional poses as needed to "up" the level.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>FourFiveSeconds</i> (3:08) - begin in table-top, and move between cat/cow for a series of 8, moving at your own breath. Extend alternating leg/arms for <a href="http://www.yogabasics.com/asana/balancing-table/" target="_blank">balancing tabletop pose</a>, series of 4 (2 each side), holding pose for 15 to 20 seconds. Rest in child's pose for 15-20 seconds. Come up to easy seat, and then move into <a href="http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/yoga/exercise/YG-IN-0003/seated-easy-side-bend-pose" target="_blank">seated side bend</a> position moving between sides using your breath (inhale on up, exhale into the stretch).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: you can modify balancing tabletop to include a crunch by meeting elbow and knee on the exhale, and extending out to balancing tabletop on the inhale.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>(yoga/cool-down)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Krishna rising</i> (15:00) - I tend to vary this a bit, as I will tailor the stretching to problem areas for students. The important bit here is to leave about 3 to 5 minutes for savasana.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-32853612835869802362015-05-30T17:26:00.001-07:002015-05-30T17:26:36.400-07:00Sometimes you just have to do yoga to Beastie Boys<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This Saturday was my first fitness class--completely on my own, not affiliated with TW Wellness--at my Dojo. I've done cardio and yoga within the structure of my martial arts classes (as warm-ups and cool downs), but this was a straight-up cardio and yoga class. And I have to say.... we had a GREAT time! I would like to thank the ladies that turned out for the class, as we all learned a lot from each other.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those that are interested, here is the exercise list (with songs), so you can get a feel for the format and tempo. We did have to skip a couple of workouts I had planned for time constraints, but I think as we get more familiar with the format and songs, we'll be able to cut the instruction time between songs down to a minimum. We also had a couple of students who needed modifications for recent surgeries, so we took some things out that I had planned.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>(warm-up)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>All About That Bass</i> (3:06) - verse 1: knee touch into wide knee touch, bridge: forward lunges, chorus : cross-arm knee touch (opposite elbow/knee), verse 2: knee touch into wide knee touch, bridge: forward lunges, chorus: cross-arm knee touch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: to "lower" the intensity, march instead of knee-touch, to up the intensity, hop into the knee touch</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>You Really Got Me</i> (2:15) - verse 1: jabs, verse 2: cross, instrumental: uppercuts, verse 3: roundhouse/hook punches</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: to "lower" the intensity, punch every other beat, to up the intensity, march as you punch. leg positions can either be a squat or same leg forward</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>(cardio)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Shake It Off </i>(3:38) - verse 1: jab/cross combo, bridge: hook punch, chorus: chain punch while marching/uppercuts at "shake it off", verse 2: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">jab/cross combo, bridge: hook punch, chorus: chain punch while marching/uppercuts at "shake it off",</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> walk during "hey, hey portion," cheerleader chant: knee/front kick, chorus</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">: chain punch while marching/uppercuts at "shake it off"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: to "lower" the intensity, keep a horse stance during punches, to up the intensity, scissor hop legs during cross punches and hop into the kicks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Uptown Funk</i> (4:31) - intro: walk, verse 1: knee/front kick, bridge: side kicks, tag: chain punch to the beat (will get faster), chorus: thai knee/roundhouse, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">verse 2: knee/front kick, bridge: side kicks, tag: chain punch to the beat (will get faster), chorus: thai knee/roundhouse, "funk you up": squats, chorus: thai knee/roundhouse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: to "lower" the intensity, just throw knees and don't kick, to "up" the intensity, add punches to the kicks (same leg/arm)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>(cardio/yoga): </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Intergalactic</i> (3:31) - sun salutation, simple variation: extended mountain, swan dive, forward fold, half-lift, forward fold, lunge, plank, chatarunga, cobra, down-dog/dolphin, walk legs to hands, forward fold, half-lift, extended mountain (repeat from start)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">modifications: fists for wrists/dolphin pose for plank and down-dog, you can add/remove additional poses as needed to "up" the level.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>(yoga/cool-down)</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Krishna rising</i> (15:00) - I tend to vary this a bit, as I will tailor the stretching to problem areas for students. The important bit here is to leave about 3 to 5 minutes for savasana.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-72608040189498759002015-05-28T09:28:00.004-07:002015-05-28T09:28:56.604-07:00Cardio + Yoga - not as weird as you would think<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/06/article-2534615-1A72C66C00000578-648_638x721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/06/article-2534615-1A72C66C00000578-648_638x721.jpg" height="200" width="176" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So... this Saturday is the start of our fitness classes at <a href="http://kyletxmartialarts.com/" target="_blank">the dojo</a>. It's been a few months in the making, since I got my AFAA certification <a href="http://nin-jenni.blogspot.com/2015/03/certification-at-last.html" target="_blank">this February</a>. I'm thrilled at the opportunity, and little nervous, but I think it's going to be great.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was initially discussing what I would teach with my sensei, I went through a lot of different ideas: yoga, cardio dance, cardio kickboxing, tae bo... there were lots of different possibilities. And certainly there were many different requests coming from the moms I had been talking to about a class. But what to do? I knew there was no real ability for me to do Zumba, dance or step classes, since I'm still repairing damage to my knee<sup>1</sup>. I can do pilates and/or yoga without much issue (since I've been doing that for YEARS), but yoga routines that elevate heart-rates can be tricky, and inexperienced yogis have a high ability to hurt themselves with more advanced poses. "Basic cardio," what we used to call Aerobics, works well, but needs something more to gain the flexibility needed. It looked like I was going to have to come up with my own blend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I decided on a blend of cardio and yoga. Here's my thoughts on the format:</span><br />
<ul>
<li style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advocates that adults who want to reap the rewards of exercise should commit to at least 150 minutes of steady-paced cardio or 75 minutes of up-tempo cardio every week. Cardio exercise is ideal to perform three to five times per week, rather than daily, as the days off give your muscles time to recover.<sup>2</sup></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the <i>European Journal of Preventive Cardiology</i>, researchers found that movement-based yoga practices like hatha, vinyasa, and Iyengar lowered risk factors including high blood pressure, body weight, body mass index, and cholesterol.<sup>3</sup></span></li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 10px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cool-down and stretching is very important to building cardio fitness. Skipping cool-down or stretching can result in blood pooling and/or cramps, and gives the body a transition period back to normal activity levels. <sup>4</sup></span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With that in mind, I've been hard at work devising a workout that will incorporate all the good bits of a workout with some fun, and maybe a little boxing/self-defense thrown in. And all in under 50 minutes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you'll excuse me, I'm off to make a playlist. ^_^</span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<hr />
<ol><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
<li>I have a strict: "do as I do," policy, so if I can't demo it to you (in some meaningful way), I'm not going to have the class do it.. it's just a thing I do.</li>
<li>from<a href="https://www.blogger.com/%C2%A0http://www.livestrong.com/article/242859-can-you-do-cardio-exercise-everyday/" target="_blank"> http://www.livestrong.com/article/242859-can-you-do-cardio-exercise-everyday/</a></li>
<li>from <a href="http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/yoga-compares-cardio-exercise/">http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/yoga-compares-cardio-exercise/</a></li>
<li>from <a href="http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/healthy-living-article/59/3683/five-reasons-you-shouldn-t-skip-your-cool/">http://www.acefitness.org/acefit/healthy-living-article/59/3683/five-reasons-you-shouldn-t-skip-your-cool/</a></li>
</span></ol>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-79190879288742520362015-03-06T10:00:00.002-08:002015-03-06T10:00:51.878-08:00Certification, at last!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8hTV4q4-Qm9dampA7zV2KE0A0y80sMNsvuymochERizVnSRteyRKZPUBVcf8w3hLRJo-NHh15wtoa5hnAexRitL7255n76SViZ61lZG-RpMwcAhHgSsVoKM0jNsHne2hV3JpdJgqr_Y/s1600/20150302_180253-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY8hTV4q4-Qm9dampA7zV2KE0A0y80sMNsvuymochERizVnSRteyRKZPUBVcf8w3hLRJo-NHh15wtoa5hnAexRitL7255n76SViZ61lZG-RpMwcAhHgSsVoKM0jNsHne2hV3JpdJgqr_Y/s1600/20150302_180253-1.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year, after finally getting my black-belt, I wanted to do a little more for the students in my class. We had already introduced some cardio into classes, but it was largely unstructured, and based on circuit type training.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I talked to some of my instructor friends, and they recommended I attend a <a href="http://www.afaa.com/Group_Exercise_Certification.htm" target="_blank">AFAA group exercise instructor certification</a> session. These are the certifications the majority of the instructors in our work-site wellness program hold, and I figured it would be ok.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I found the program to be very affordable, and instructive. The certification program "is designed to equip those seeking to become certified as group exercise instructors with the competencies needed to design safe and effective group exercise programming for the general healthy population." </span><br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What does it involve?</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a brief overview of what is covered in the workshop (and really, you should study these before you go, you don't want to try to learn them at the review): </span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Basic Anatomy, Kinesiology, Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nutrition and Weight Management</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Group Exercise Program Design</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Essentials of Teaching (Basic Exercise Standards & Guidelines, Motivation, Choreography, Cueing, etc.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exercise- selection, technique, alignment and performance with or without equipment</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Injury Prevention, Emergency Response and Special Populations</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Other Modalities (Aqua Fitness, Indoor Cycling, Dance Fitness, Step, etc.)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Business Skills and Legal Responsibilities (Substitute teaching, Law and Exercise)</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3bqqIKnsVQ30ELUfNjQaelHRy5EME2727qWb-FYw35C9uOXuipOlJ7WOe1vGj5BuD8EAj4qVjhhfVNE7Glfhjqx8jGCli3nvXyz7nD7PHer7vKWKgh95cGxEaYWF6ej2hYXg_HGtZLbw/s1600/2015-02-06+15.07.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3bqqIKnsVQ30ELUfNjQaelHRy5EME2727qWb-FYw35C9uOXuipOlJ7WOe1vGj5BuD8EAj4qVjhhfVNE7Glfhjqx8jGCli3nvXyz7nD7PHer7vKWKgh95cGxEaYWF6ej2hYXg_HGtZLbw/s1600/2015-02-06+15.07.28.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to a written exam, there is also a practical portion of the workshop, where you demonstrate that you've got a good grasp of things like: how to work specific muscle groups, how to stretch specific muscle groups, as well as grading of the design and delivery of a cardio workout, and a individual grading session on presenting an exercise with modifications included.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, depending on your prior education/experience, the AFAA recommends no less than 1-3 months of dedicated pre-study before attending the workshop. Although my anatomy was pretty rusty, I decided to risk it on two solid nights of reading through the manuals. As I had to be CPR/AED certified before the test, I also had to get my certification for that as well. But in the end, after a full day of review and testing, I received my certification about a month later. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the benefit of getting group exercise training for teaching martial arts?</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has been a great boon for my teaching, as I now have a better understanding of what muscle groups we need to stretch before and after specific exercises and drills. Additionally, I have a better idea of how to structure the class, and where to put in breaks for both children and adults. On the business side, I can also teach and include cardio/yoga classes on the off hours at the dojo--which brings in additional income. And since I can have my own insurance, I am covered whether I am training someone how to punch a real person, or punch the air in a cardio kickboxing routine. Overall, it's a good investment. If you are on the fence about getting certification, I would recommend trying it out, classes range from $99 to $299, depending on time and location. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got questions? Hit me up, I'm happy to tell you about my personal experience.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-18717283133101348792014-10-09T14:05:00.002-07:002014-10-09T14:05:16.712-07:00Keeping it safe for everyone<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I mentioned in my last post, I like to use circuit training workouts to keep things fresh and entertaining for the kids in my class.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjqkd7KsfJ3sU8LjItmORFLAdrPufunFNeKrkNaIHCnpXPTu5OX9fEgwEQP5-j5OXb8gM5hcY9Bdou3jr6S-z4mtTSoi6VGXhckBdkLJluJ3a47KKte51Vgvy2fQgrz292QPttdleTUTqFLH6Afmv74JG9RhY5d7rOP0IGSDIs=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://neilarey.com/images/workouts/pokemon-master-workout.jpg" height="400" width="282" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I didn't mention is that you can modify many of the exercises for use by adolescents. For instance, the <a href="http://neilarey.com/workouts/pokemon-master-workout.html" target="_blank">Pokemon Master</a> workout..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">W</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hile children between the ages of 5 and 12 can do most of these, the plank punches, rolls and plank to lunge are a little intense for their young bodies. It's hard to keep them aligned correctly*. Therefore, I modify them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plank punches can be modified so that they're done on all fours instead of in the plank position. This way the bodies are more stable and there's less of a chance of them ... face-planting.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The plank rolls can be more problematic... unless you flip them over on their backs. Now you're doing cross-body crunches, which also work the obliques.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, plank into lunge can be modified slightly so that instead of plank into lunge, the kids are moving from a standing position to a lunge. Again, this is more stable and will keep them from falling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's good to keep in mind that many adults will require modifications to exercises as well. I know all my adults pretty well, but when we have new adults join the lass, I will ask them if they have any injuries or ailments they are aware of. I have one "wonky" knee that I want to keep from injuring. Therefore I don't do jumping jacks, but I will do calf-raises. High knees would likewise be out for me, so I run instead. And as for the squats, I make sure that instead of my knees going out in front of me, I send my bottom back out (in a chair position, rather than a squat), protecting my knees.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most modifications can be found online with a little research. It's worth a little research to keep everyone safe. </span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are different reasons for people to take martial arts classes. The two main reasons are usually:</span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">workout : all about the burn</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">protection: all about defense</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's not to say people might not have other reasons that don't fall neatly into these two boxes--people are complicated and their reasons for working out can be just as complicated. So it's important to never presume why someone is participating in a class or program.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Class should be carefully structured so that there is a good warm-up with cardio (followed by some light stretching) so the instruction that follows can be done with "warm" bodies. Circuit training is ideal for warm-ups, and if you use the right kind of moves, you can also incorporate some practical instruction (cross punches, kicks, squats, are all good for learning attack and evasion moves).</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take these two workouts:</span><br />
<img border="0" src="http://neilarey.com/images/workouts/batgirl-workout.jpg" height="320" width="226" /> <img border="0" src="http://neilarey.com/images/workouts/ronin-workout.jpg" height="320" width="226" /><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I use both of these for the "calisthenics" portion of the class. The Ronin workout is particularly effective on the days we are doing escrima stick fighting. The Batgirl workout is awesome for warmups on days we're going to be doing sparring. (incidentally, if you like these, I highly suggest <a href="http://neilarey.com/workouts.html" target="_blank">Neila Rey's circuit workout series</a>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some days I'll instead go with yoga or maybe a Pilates workout, because we're going to be doing some serious kicking or punching. The teens seem to hate these the most, but I'm a big believer in keeping flexible. But it's good to mix things up so that you're targeting the areas you may not be working as hard, or to stretch out areas you have been working out instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most importantly, make sure that when you are instructing you</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> avoid using what could be considered
inflammatory language or call out individual students. The exception to this would be if you notice someone that is doing a exercise incorrectly and it may injure them. Then you need to call them out or they will get hurt. Make sure to offer variations for the exercises when you can (if you have back issues, do kneeling plank; if you have shoulder issues, don't raise your arms above your head) to keep your students safe. And always listen to feedback. There may be complaining that is just whining (I hate planks), and then there's complaining that needs to be addressed (lunges make my knees hurt).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Keeping it fresh will keep your students entertained, and their bodies won't get too used to a particular workout. Have some fun, and keep them safe.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-48652576710478795842014-08-07T14:54:00.000-07:002014-08-07T14:54:16.294-07:00Making peace with the "warrior spirit"<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do both yoga and martial arts. One might think that these are incompatible with each other, but I find that both allow me to express what I like to call my warrior spirit.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjedXftk-IwyyhYGJ6wlsOaTRVtZxAmVzKrHt4xDQ4PzZhzZiZk-WgKbVicuhuxlrPYcjDh7rh9L0kwvt0TLq_UGy6hyFjIt2874djt_9HYYT-im3Lt1iLG5ni8Kp6vBxfpE3Gb_IxfXS8/s1600/yoga_warrior.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjedXftk-IwyyhYGJ6wlsOaTRVtZxAmVzKrHt4xDQ4PzZhzZiZk-WgKbVicuhuxlrPYcjDh7rh9L0kwvt0TLq_UGy6hyFjIt2874djt_9HYYT-im3Lt1iLG5ni8Kp6vBxfpE3Gb_IxfXS8/s1600/yoga_warrior.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you were to ask any of my yoga instructors about my general attitude in class, they would say I'm an "experienced yogi." One of them has gone so far as nicknaming me "little miss hard-core," since I am willing to try just about any pose. Headstand? I'm on it. Handstand? I'm working on it. Flying poses? I'm all about it. I like a challenge. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I view yoga as a great way to relax--when I am in a pose, I try to be IN the pose, mindful of my body's position in space, the tempo of my breath, trying to ground myself through the soles of my feet (or fingers, or even entire body, depending on the pose). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are there poses I can't do? Sure. There are a lot, actually. Because I also do martial arts, I've built up muscle in areas that prevent me from being completely flexible. Some days, it annoys me. I really want to be able to do ALL the poses, but I've come to accept that there are things my body is just not going to be able to do. It's ok. I'm just built that way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRYLDEav_0gZRw1m5gvp_UsJ1ygSAEMGmO18W4ugczoYqlkQzd32XsceoSoqzoFxQxnmKkyN4BfB-lqQlvb3IjLfX3O48lNwqYrJ-Qnh2SdTp55lxfSCZ1hqScLgZ_0MrALw7Cd0bjUVc/s1600/karate_girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRYLDEav_0gZRw1m5gvp_UsJ1ygSAEMGmO18W4ugczoYqlkQzd32XsceoSoqzoFxQxnmKkyN4BfB-lqQlvb3IjLfX3O48lNwqYrJ-Qnh2SdTp55lxfSCZ1hqScLgZ_0MrALw7Cd0bjUVc/s1600/karate_girl.jpg" height="320" width="217" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you were to ask my martial arts instructors about my general attitude in class, they would probably tell you that I take my classes seriously. When I am a student, I am focused on learning. When I am an instructor, I am focused on teaching. Are there certain things I'm more willing to do in class? sure. I love working with weapons: sticks, staff, knives, swords... I love them all. I also like to practice forms when I can. I think they're beautiful and lots of fun. It's like learning a dance routine that has a practical benefit. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Martial Arts is also a way for me to relax. This is another area where I can be as much in the moment as possible. If you are not aware of where your body exists in relation to your opponent, you can hurt someone (or not, depending on what you're trying to do). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are there things I can't do? Sure. I have some hard limits on things because I have physical limitations. I messed up my knee playing kickball a few years ago, and now I have to be careful not to stress it. Same thing with my wrists. So when I spar or do stick work, I have to be conscious of what I am doing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In both instances, you have to be relaxed in order to get the maximum effect from what you are doing. A tense body will not bend, nor will it be able to strike efficiently. It is through constant practice and muscle memory we eventually get to the point where we don't have to think about what we are doing--we simply DO. Look at this quote from Bruce Lee:</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.</span></span> </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.</span></span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now... how about a yoga quote?</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blessed are the flexible, for they will never be bent out of shape.</span></i></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looks like they're not so different after all. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-76902252410037362162014-08-05T14:12:00.002-07:002014-08-05T14:12:07.047-07:00But it works in the movies / on TV!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are two types of martial arts: 1) useful martial arts, 2) choreographed martial arts. I will be the first to tell you that choreographed martial arts looks SO much better than the useful stuff (most of the time). There are, of course, exceptions to that rule, but unless you have two (or more) masters, it's unlikely you're going to see anything as beautiful as this:</span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/sEnL3ukPauM" width="480"></iframe><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beautiful, isn't it? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love watching stuff like this. In fact, all you have to do is run a search in YouTube, and you can find all kinds of martial arts fighting matches, or instructional videos on how you TOO can master moves like a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqq8Tkm4l4A" target="_blank">tornado/hurricane kick</a>, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqrEj5HUMIw" target="_blank">using pressure points</a> instead of fighting (I'm not endorsing either of those videos, BTW, they're just examples of what I'm talking about).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the problem with choreographed / youtube martial arts: it is—to turn a phrase—hit or miss. For every useful video, you're going to find a bunch of just horrible videos. Also, while choreographed martial arts looks beautiful, it's not not the most efficient way to get out of a sticky situation. Often, it's made more convoluted to look more beautiful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You want to know what ends MMA matches? a kick to the head. Is it a hurricane kick? not usually, normally it's an axe kick, or maybe a roundhouse (albeit a pretty high roundhouse). SIMPLE KICKS that get the job done. What about hitting? again, roundhouses and front punches to the head. No fancy pressure points, just an old-fashioned punch to the side of the head.*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which is why I prefer to learn (and teach) styles that are simple and to the point. I'm not going to say that given an opportunity I wouldn't use a well timed spin kick or a good hammer to a pressure point -- but I would be more likely to use a good punch to the throat or kick to the knee. It's not pretty, but it works.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<hr />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*don't get me started on grappling. You should NOT be on the ground unless you are sitting on top of an unconscious body, waiting for the cops. Seriously. I love watching ground fighting, but that has NO business in street-fighting—you do your best to stay the hell off the ground.</span>
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-84668011447210494682014-08-01T14:58:00.002-07:002014-08-01T14:59:06.478-07:00Unlike Tigger, we're NOT the only ones..<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So there is a <a href="http://www.nwmaf.org/" target="_blank">National Women's Martial Arts Federation</a>.. and they offer self-defense training. As part of getting your NWMAF certification, you have to agree to the following statement (among other things)</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: small;">Be in agreement with the philosophical assumptions
developed by the NCASA Self-Defense AD-HOC Committee regarding the
teaching of self defense presented:</span><br />
<ol type="a"><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: small;">Women do not ask for, cause, invite, or deserve to be assaulted.
Women and men sometimes exercise poor judgment about safety behavior,
but that does not make them responsible for the attack. Attackers are
responsible for their attacks and their use of violence to overpower,
control and abuse another human being.</span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span>
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: small;">Whatever a woman's decision in a given self-defense situation,
whatever action she does or does not take, she is not at fault. A
woman's decision to survive the best way she can must be respected. Self
defense classes should not be used as judgment against a
victim/survivor.</span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span>
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: small;">Good self defense programs do not "tell" an individual what she
"should" or "should not" do. A program should offer options, techniques,
and a way of analyzing situations. A program may point out what USUALLY
works best in MOST situations, but each situation is unique and the
final decision rests with the person actually confronted by the
situation.</span></li>
<span style="font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">
</span>
</span>
<li><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace; font-size: small;">Empowerment is the goal of a good self defense program. The
individual's right to make decisions about her participation must be
respected. Pressure should not be brought to bear in any way to get a
woman to participate in an activity if she is hesitant or unwilling. </span></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
You guys,<b> these are important things</b>, because it is important to teach how WRONG it is to engage in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_blaming" target="_blank">victim-blaming</a> (and its relative slut-shaming). In the first sentence, it hits the nail on the head: Women <i>and men</i> sometimes exercise poor judgment about safety behavior, but <i>that does not make them responsible</i> for the attack.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know far too many rape survivors. But even with the number of women I know that have come out the other side of rape, the percentage of those same women that <i>reported</i> the crime is soul-crushingly low. And of the women who were brave enough to tell what happened, to tell their story, they are far to often subject to armchair quarterbacking behavior: </span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why didn't you do [this]? </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why would you go [there] with [him]?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What were you thinking [doing that]?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Were you [drinking / doing drugs / wearing something "inappropriate"]?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why didn't you just [fight back / scream / get help]? </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are also covered in the guidelines above (see b and c, receptively). But it's the last one that gets my attention. And here's why: if we accept that rape is sexual contact without consent, we must accept that we (as human beings) need to respect people's feeling about participation in anything. In other words, you cannot force a survivor to participate in a self-defense program—it becomes counter productive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVBS9TVC-51qDlsVl2h04fZvG-GRV4K264GbVVZSjv9CnQfgwQWSRnhqzfwwKIkfPCgOskFZlRr8qjszlFcqDckkwPks9n7D4gQ9BnCB4b-hR49TMxSMm9tscMaPPyOuwoOg-xoWapAQ/s1600/defense-clipart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVBS9TVC-51qDlsVl2h04fZvG-GRV4K264GbVVZSjv9CnQfgwQWSRnhqzfwwKIkfPCgOskFZlRr8qjszlFcqDckkwPks9n7D4gQ9BnCB4b-hR49TMxSMm9tscMaPPyOuwoOg-xoWapAQ/s1600/defense-clipart.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So. When we are teaching classes, we must be particularly careful when instructing. I rarely ask female students to stand in for a victim when we are demonstrating advanced techniques that involve throwing or disarming the attacker. That may seem odd, but think about how you may normally instruct.... "ok, I'm attacking [student] so I throw a punch like so, and [they] counter by doing..." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That <i>might</i> be problematic. So instead, I say things like, "okay, [student] is going to be the attacker," and then I make sure that's ok with them. Because not all students like to attack either!* So once I find a willing attacker, I will explain to them if I'm going to throw them or get them on the ground in any way. And then I demonstrate the technique.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here's the most important part: if you're going to partner people to practice the technique, always look to see if there are people uncomfortable with what's going on. Not everyone is going to speak up and say, "excuse me, I don't want to do this because it makes me uncomfortable." They might not want to stand out. So make sure to walk the room, talk with the students, look at how they're participating. Are they avoiding working by talking or some other manner? Do they seem anxious? Are they finding excuses to not participate?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's when you can take a moment, and take them aside (so one can hear) and ask them if there's something up, or if they would like to try a different technique that may be less aggressive. Don't single them out--be chill about it. You don't want to trigger any anxiety, but you can gently give excuses that will give them an "out."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then, of course, try to follow up with them later--maybe after class or with a phone call. Be there to listen, be there to help. But above all, don't blame the victim.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span>
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* as an aside, my oldest boy HATES to attack me. It's a chore to even get him to practice hitting drills with me because he doesn't like attacking people, period. I'm OK with that, and luckily my younger boy is content to attack me whenever I ask.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-71472418529126506612014-07-30T14:53:00.002-07:002014-07-30T14:53:10.479-07:00This conversation totally happened last night...<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Tuesday nights, our normal instructor allows us to learn from his instructor, <a href="http://ssmma7.wix.com/sssds#!guro-sifu-pena" target="_blank">Gat-Kuya Peña</a> (who has his own dojo, <a href="http://ssmma7.wix.com/sssds" target="_blank">Street Smart Self-Defence Systems</a>). I don't think could explain in one post how awesome he is—he's patient, funny, and wicked talented in the <a href="http://garimot.com/" target="_blank">Garimot Arnis</a> system. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gat-Kuya Peña is losing his voice, so it fell to me to take most of the instruction—at least as far as the talking was concerned. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have a lot of new people in our dojo at the moment, so I was tasked with going over the basic strikes (there are five), calling out the names of the strikes in Tagalog as we went along. After we felt the students were comfortable with the strikes, we paired up the kids so that the advanced belts were partnered with the new kids. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During this time, both Gat-Kuya and I walk around and help the kids with corrections to their stances, or their strikes, hand positions, etc. One of the stances following the first overhead involves holding the stick outside your left arm, similarly to the way you would mimic holding a baby--like a cradle. As we walk around, he notices that some of the kids are putting the their sticks under their arms, and stops the class.</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gat-Kuya: ok, the name of this stance [shows stance] is calon. what does that mean</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">various students : cradle</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gat-Kuya: exactly, it's like you're holding a baby. You don't hold a baby like this [puts stick under his arm], right?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">various students: no!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gat-Kuya: ok. let's try it again</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(at this point most of the kids go back to partner work, with the exception of my oldest son, who's working with one of our newer teens)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Son: SIFU! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gat-Kuya: what's up?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Son: my mom held me like that when I was a baby; under her arm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gat-Kuya: (trying not to laugh) did she really?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Son: oh yeah, I was really small, so she could totally hold me like that!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Me: dude, shut it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Son: um, I'm supposed to be not talking as much. I'm going to go back to teaching.</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we walked away, I explain to my instructor that I did indeed hold him that way, when he was a toddler, not a baby but he just laughed and went back to working with the other kids.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">which is all to say: if you hold your babies under your arm like a football, it may come back to haunt you someday--and in the middle of a stick fighting class. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-32436496993943519552014-07-29T09:41:00.001-07:002014-08-01T07:19:15.191-07:00"This isn't BALLET."<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgznqSROl-tMGa-G1MtSc7idpBXgJQiYXksOEGHJXWnP5qRnL0gLqXglK7-DZmPuCD_rIzYScsaVfIPRjU178SNT1nWNnxa2F1aDue50_oyN30jQtGoVAz8GXoD6uPJ8DrsV6VtBQ9kuIQ/s1600/seconde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This past week I was working as the assistant instructor for the teen/adult class, as is pretty normal. We had a mixed bag of teens this week, with about 1/2 as many females as males in the class. I opted to do some balancing poses for the stretching portion so we could work on their balance as well as build up some core muscle. Since we had a lot of new kids, I opted for tree pose. It's a good pose for beginners to advanced kids, because there are various levels you can take the pose. You can place your non-standing foot from just above your ankle all the way to the top of your thigh (or even move into standing lotus). </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgznqSROl-tMGa-G1MtSc7idpBXgJQiYXksOEGHJXWnP5qRnL0gLqXglK7-DZmPuCD_rIzYScsaVfIPRjU178SNT1nWNnxa2F1aDue50_oyN30jQtGoVAz8GXoD6uPJ8DrsV6VtBQ9kuIQ/s1600/seconde.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgznqSROl-tMGa-G1MtSc7idpBXgJQiYXksOEGHJXWnP5qRnL0gLqXglK7-DZmPuCD_rIzYScsaVfIPRjU178SNT1nWNnxa2F1aDue50_oyN30jQtGoVAz8GXoD6uPJ8DrsV6VtBQ9kuIQ/s1600/seconde.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we were moving into the pose, I instructed the kids to find their balance on their standing leg, and use their other foot for support (which looks similar to <i>effacé</i> or <i>à la seconde</i>--see picture at left). This prompted one of the newer students to say (rather loundly),</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">are we doing karate, or ballet?</span></i>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't normally answer smart-ass kids in class, that said, I wasn't going to let this go. So I turned to him and said in my most even tone, "look kid. When have the physique and endurance of a ballerina, you can question my warm-ups. In the meantime, get your leg up and stop talking back." He complied, and class went on. But it brought back some uncomfortable memories...</span><br />
<hr />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I once had a martial-arts instructor who, when trying to motivate the young adult class, would yell at us, "come on! this isn't ballet!" </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I let it go the first time. After a couple of additional times, however, I finally decided that someone had to say something. I walked up to the instructor, and said, "look, I don't know what you think you are doing by yelling, 'this isn't ballet,' or 'the dance studio is down the street,' but I have to tell you, I studied dance for the majority of my adolescent life, and these guys (motioning to the guys in the class) wouldn't last through the warm-up of a ballet class." The instructor told me that it was a joke, and that it was meant as a motivation. To which I just shook my head and walked away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The class—at the time—was almost exclusively male. I was one of two females in the class. So while I accepted that the instructor "didn't mean anything by it," the actual message of "this isn't ballet," was that the guys in the class were being "girly," and therefore "<u>weak</u>." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's the thing. There are not a lot of females in martial arts, girls are pushed towards activities like dance and cheerleading. These are also highly athletic activities, and can be great for team building and bonding. There are not a lot of guys in dance and cheer-leading (at least not in the United States), so these sports are considered to be "girly." And girly means weak, or lesser. This is highly prevalent in America as evidenced in this <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/ballet-homophobia-sexism/39262" target="_blank">article</a>, and this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igvokjroYQU#t=554" target="_blank">video</a>. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWfXfwPxZR6dLwbP53ZNoBUgGz5QPKiZcsAa3kOpu2KX34qzhBGtobbxXfysWlIPUkGtA9uTQ_dRpvRg5Z_V7QsLU2HYIkdGG5rX6lLfNN4oQ6v2KVm-qir1dP58S6C9HlTHf5qWAOZPk/s1600/Nathalian+ballet+academy+Prague+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWfXfwPxZR6dLwbP53ZNoBUgGz5QPKiZcsAa3kOpu2KX34qzhBGtobbxXfysWlIPUkGtA9uTQ_dRpvRg5Z_V7QsLU2HYIkdGG5rX6lLfNN4oQ6v2KVm-qir1dP58S6C9HlTHf5qWAOZPk/s1600/Nathalian+ballet+academy+Prague+5.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In other countries (even those with a high level of "machismo" culture) male ballet dancers are considered "rockstars." Think of Rudolf Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Vaslav Nijinsky (or if you want more contemporary references to power and grace, think: Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Gregory Hines, or even Michael Jackson), and you think of power. Look at the image on the right -- does that look <i>powerful</i>, or <i>weak</i>? I know I can't do that, and I do a LOT of yoga. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or watch this....</span> <br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZY0cdXr_1MA?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But for my part, I feel that the more alienating aspect of this comment is in how it diminishes the females in the class. What if this hadn't been a young adult class? A comment like that in a class of adolescents could potentially alienate many young girls in the class. The insult is two-fold: </span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it makes the case that "girly" things are not as worthy and insults females in general,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">any females in the class that have previous dance experience are being directly insulted.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to keep our girls invested in our martial-arts classes. We can't expect to keep doing that if we make comments that, on the surface, seem innocuous but are actually quite damaging to a burgeoning female ego. Equating doing something "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs" target="_blank">like a girl</a>," with doing something weakly is to undo all the good we are doing by teaching them they can use their body to protect THEIR BODY. I fight #likeagirl -- try to keep up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<hr />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Incidentally, if you want to try a barre workout (which is frighteningly close to ballet warm-ups), try <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A6c7bkzmQ8" target="_blank">this</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__S2xc_hh3g" target="_blank">this</a>). Don't blame me if you get sore.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-67891365541557226672014-07-28T09:20:00.000-07:002014-07-28T09:20:09.735-07:00Less IS more<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm probably part of a minority of people who read Black Belt magazine—particularly for the tips and tricks that apply specifically to women. When I saw this article, I ws particularly intrigued: <a href="http://www.blackbeltmag.com/daily/self-defense-training/self-defense-for-women/the-art-of-teaching-womens-self-defense-less-is-best/" target="_blank">The Art of Teaching Women's Self-Defense: Less is Best</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you've been taking classes for a while, you forget how hard it was to learn those first few punches and kicks. Hopefully you've been practicing long enough that you don't have ot think about the position of your body when you're throwing a punch, or how to counterbalance correctly for a kick. It's like trying to remember what it was like to learn to walk. You don't think about it anymore, you just walk! And that's a problem.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a practical example:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When my dad came back from Vietnam, he was gravely wounded with a lot of damage to his lower body. He had to undergo a lot of physical therapy, part of which was re-learning how to walk. He told me that it was probably the hardest thing he had to do, becaue you take for granted that you understand the whole walking process. But now it's different because you have to consciously control your muscles. If you don't believe me, try playing <a href="http://www.foddy.net/Athletics.html" target="_blank">QWOP</a>. Here's an image of someone who got further than I did:</span><br />
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<a href="http://ledemyan.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/qwop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ledemyan.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/qwop.jpg" height="252" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a difficulty. When you've taken a lot of classes and know a lot of techniques you want to show people all kinds of neat tricks. There are so many ways you can kick and punch, and so many places to choose from! But attendees to a seminar are (usually) not seasoned martial-arts practitioners, and as anxious as you are to show everyone a whole bunch of cool stuff--you have to take it easy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hopefully I'll remember that Sunday after next! </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-3184100324051644602014-07-24T14:20:00.002-07:002014-07-24T14:20:28.720-07:00well, looks like my dad was right about THAT....<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was small(er), my dad set about trying to teach me with the basics of fighting. As I was a year younger than everyone else in my class, and small for my age, I was pretty consistently getting picked on. <br />His advice was short, sweet, and to the point (I have only two of those three qualities, myself):</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">if you're going to punch, go for the face: eyes, nose or throat.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">if they're too tall for that, punch or kick in the crotch (boy or girl, it will hurt)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">follow up by knocking them down before you:</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">run away.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is actually VERY good advice. There are lots of strike points on the human body--and some of them are especially good. Just look at this:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRkriUX0y5zaQiuKtGIoXX467iHx0zGn1etO221QkZMXqEIFCu8ghDPtSmgK2u49IVuZl_y8uTfj_mePGB9JyXzg0JawuWZYjzyDJVrts35luubrn7t2PVAZZX_2rIa9-IBHREvBW_8k/s1600/vital-points.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRkriUX0y5zaQiuKtGIoXX467iHx0zGn1etO221QkZMXqEIFCu8ghDPtSmgK2u49IVuZl_y8uTfj_mePGB9JyXzg0JawuWZYjzyDJVrts35luubrn7t2PVAZZX_2rIa9-IBHREvBW_8k/s1600/vital-points.jpg" height="400" width="350" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I mean, there are some fun spots you can use to mess someone up, right? And that's not just "vital points," in that image, either, you've got some nice "nerve points," too. That seems like a LOT to choose from... almost too many, really.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But here's the thing, a good many of those points don't work all the time. <br />I, myself, don't respond to pressure on my Median Nerve. If someone has good muscle control, or a nice layer of fat, or maybe even a fairly thick sweater or coat, you won't get the same effect on body strikes to the ribs, diaphragm or kidneys. Boots or shoes can prevent damage to the instep or Achilles tendon.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what does that leave? Well, there's always the face. And here's the thing about hitting someone in the cranial area: your brain does NOT like that. A hit to the eyes will make them water, so will a good hit to the nose. Strikes to the temple or throat can possibly<i> kill </i>someone. They are vunerable areas, and can (and should) be exploited if your life is on the line.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But what if they're too tall? Yes, this can happen. I've sparred with people that I would literally have to stand on a stool in order to hit in the nose, and trying to hit them in the nose just looks stupid and wastes a lot of my energy. So I don't try to hit them in the nose... at first. First I find a way to bring them to me... say... a kick to the groin (or knee... or even a good roundhouse to the abdomen). Then I go for the face.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And usually that accomplishes step 3 -- knocking them down. The goal here is to get to step 4. If you can knock someone down, you can make it harder for them to chase after you, because you do NOT want to have a sustained fight with someone outside of the sparring ring. A well placed kick to the groin or knee will certainly help here. But often so will a good elbow strike to the jaw, the throat or the temple. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The point is, don't make this too complicated. It's not about mastering the<a href="http://youtu.be/2pA1N8KzGVg" target="_blank"> Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique</a>... it's about doing something simple and effective that can get you out of immediate danger. And in that respect--dad had some pretty good advice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6502787379791757134.post-67856704250710288442014-07-23T14:15:00.003-07:002014-07-23T14:15:40.985-07:00Well, hello there!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oooooh. It's all coming together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll be teaching a self-defense seminar at Kyle United Methodist Church (where you can find me most Sundays) on August 10th! I'm thrilled that this is finally coming to fruition. I'm already working on putting together the curriculum, as well as some handy hand-outs and (of course) waiver forms.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You guys, this is a really big deal for me. I've taken quite a few self-defense seminars in my day. They've run the gamut from "here's how to slap someone with your purse and blow a whistle" to "here's how you disarm someone who has a knife to your neck." Heck, I've learned techniques on disarming someone with a gun to my back. I love those kinds of seminars--they are great fun. There are few things in this world I enjoy more than throwing people twice my size around (white chocolate macadamia nut cookies... maybe). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But what I've noticed more and more amongst my peers (and my peers' kids) is that people who have not attended a seminar or ever got in a fight at all, can't do things I consider fundamental like:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">throw a punch without breaking their hand</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">kick without breaking their toes</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">know where to hit someone so they can run away</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">know how to get their wrist out of someone's grip</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't think everyone should know how to toss some scumbag (who thinks you need an up-close and personal throat hug) across the room--I think they should know how to punch said scumbag before they get that close. Or where to kick them so they can't follow you. Groin kicks are great, don't get me wrong, but they don't always work. So I want to make sure that as many people as possible have some basic skills to get out of dangerous situations. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll keep you updated as I get closer to the date.... this is going to be awesome!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PS. If you don't believe me about how awesome a groin shot can be... you should watch this:</span>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gyXhysmMNhE?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10555306194568799442noreply@blogger.com0