Free eBook Kettlebell Training for Martial Artists

I was going through some old articles and papers. This one by my good friend and colleague Brian Petty, RKC is a gem. Get it below. Please leave some feedback as well. Thanks!

Come and Get It! FREE Kettlebell and Barbell Strength Training eBook!

Ladies and Gentleman, the eBook is out!

Get it here now absolutely free for a limited time only

Remember, all we are asking in return for putting this out for free (price will be $29.99 after 30 days) is that you offer us your genuine feedback. Once you get a chance to read through it email me and tell me what you think, or even post your thoughts and opinions in the comment section!

This eBook contains an extensive amount of content, you DO NOT want to miss out on this.

Thanks again for everybody willing to help!

Bully Prevention Seminar

One of the top reasons for youth enrollment in Dragon Gym during the past few years has been the growing problem with bullying in the schools. This has been brought to our attention by the parents that are actually aware. We are sure there are parents that do not even know it is happening.

Why is there an increase in bullying occurring?

For a number of reasons, and today is our first step in making sure of two things. First, that the bullying stops, and second that if a child is ever faced with this type of situation, he or she will know how to react!

When we look at the type of children that tend to be bullies it is very clear that they are children who lack self-confidence. Hence, they take their anger and frustrations out on someone else. This not only happens to children at school, it happens in relationships, work and sports, as well. The reason it happens is because these individuals lack self- control. Every one has a bad day, or goes through a bad stretch in life, but those who have self control, are able to channel their anger. Maybe you are reading this and saying, “I am angry. I am not releasing my frustration on an activity like martial arts. I’m releasing it on my family or friends.” Well, if that is the case then you should be talking to an instructor today about getting involved in one of our programs.

Through many years of training and teaching, martial arts have shown me how to use my self control. It has enabled me to evaluate situations before reacting. There are many students around us who have gained self-control and self-confidence from training in the martial arts.

By building a high level of self confidence, one is able to prevent bullying. This is done through individual accomplishments. When a student makes it through our Black Belt Program, it is a transformation. Students are less nervous, they have the confidence to be cool, calm and have a collected approach to resolving situations.

What are we going to do to prevent this behavior amongst members of the school and the community?

We are offering a Bully Prevention seminar on March 19^th to help our members (and their friends) take care of these challenges with bullies, in a cool, calm, and collected manner. Self- defense will be a last resort; first we will take a few countable measures that can prevent an altercation. But first, we must start with self-confidence; this is the single most important attribute of self-protection!

When your children go to high school, unfortunately it is even more difficult. Bullying, peer pressure, and social activities can become major obstacles for them. And one thing that I have noticed is the children who make the martial arts a life long commitment and train from a young age all the way through high school, have far less challenges than children who stop training. The point is that in order to reap the benefits of the martial arts, one must keep involved. Over the next couple months we will be developing Friday night events to cater more to our teenage students. We will really appreciate and look forward your input and feedback on this project.

Bullying will continue, until we reach a level of self-confidence where bullies will avoid us. There is no quick karate or martial arts move that can stop it. It is a life commitment of confidence, self-control, and self-defense training that can take years to develop. So start now, the most important move is taking the first step.

Call/email us today and set your child up for our free seminar.

BULLY PREVENTION SEMINAR

MARCH 19^th 9:15-10:15 AM

Students, Former Students, and Friends are welcome.

Please sign up at the front desk.

Email at Changeyourlife@dragongym.com or call: 610-363-7575

The Importance of Paying attention to your Diet

First off, there a numerous diets out there, many work great and many don't. The truth is some diets work for some people and from my experience that often has more to do with the psychology of the diet than the physiology of it, so to speak. Meaning, a diet that has worked for you in the past may not work now since your physical and psychological state may have changed.

It is in no way my intent to give you "a diet". Rather, I intend to provide you with one simple tool to make the diet of your choice work better.

All I can do is provide you with anecdotal advice on what has worked for me and others I have observed.

Once of the biggest mistakes we make, especially as individuals that train a lot, is not paying enough attention to our diets, our intake. We love to train and to push our limits and often fall into the trap of believing we can "out-train" what we eat. We train hard and want to be rewarded by being able to eat whatever we want.

Now, to a certain extent that may be true. Blessed with a high metabolism through my teens and twenties I could eat (and drink) pretty much whatever I wanted an remain extremely lean. Through those years, I never went above 8% body fat.

However, as we age the metabolism slows and face it, you may not have started out that lean to begin with. Additionally, trying to "out-train" our consumption is just doesn't sound like a good idea.

"Out-train" is conspicuously similar sounding, and in intention, to over-training. Over-training can lead to a slew of problems including injuries, a weakened immune system, and diminished hormone levels. We are all training to look better, perform better, and feel better. Over-training is NOT the way to reach those ends.

We need to recognize that there are many pieces to being healthy.

Health is not merely a physical state.

So, what is the tool?

Simple, you need to pay attention to your diet. How do you do that? You must write down or record your intake. The simple act of recording what you eat will affect you mentally, emotionally, psychologically.

Two weeks ago, I began journaling my daily meals and snacks. I had no specific diet in mind or even specific dietary/weight loss goals in mind. I just started writing stuff down. That's all. To me it is amazing what happened. I found myself eating more vegetables, less starches, and even a little less overall. I don't have a specific mechanism for this, but by merely recording my food intake, it seemed to auto-correct. Consider this, how can you correct your intake if you don't REALLY know what it is? The only way to really know is to record it.

In just two weeks, I went from 176 lbs to 170 lbs without any significant change in training load. That is about 3.4% of my body weight and by my calculations, mostly fat. Thusly, I rather easily dropped back into the single digits of body fat percentage.

Now, couple the act of recording your intake with specific dietary goals. Your results will astonish you.

You need a food journal to ensure that you make attain the results you desire. Visit the Dragon Gym eBook Page and download the Food and Accountability Journal. This one simple tool will make the difference in your training.

Monday's Training:

Five Criterion

By G. C. Sikdar

To use or enjoy life to the fullest sense of the term one must have the following:

- A physique to withstand all odds and free from ailments as far as practicable

- An object of love

- A sufficient income to keep yourself free from anxiety

- A hobby, a pursuit for pleasure other than the main occupation

- A job which is not uninteresting

Last Week's Dead Lifting

Color Belt Testing - 02-04-11 - Goal Setting

We just had our latest round of belt testing on Friday of last week. We conduct belt testing every three months in our Taekwondo system in order to measure progress within each student. There are 10 belts or grades before 1st degree Black Belt. If a student tested every cycle they could earn their black belt in 2 1/2 - 3 years; however, that just doesn't happen. As student's progress the material becomes more difficult the standards more stringent. Typically, a student will take longer to progress to black belt, and that's OK.

Overall, I was pleased with the group's performance this type. There were few, if any, miss-steps on the requisite materials. Over the years, I have tried many different formats and approaches to testing the students; it has been an evolving process. Currently, I'm quite satisfied with the format we've come up with and it provides some insight on the necessity and effectiveness of setting goals.

Martial Arts education is very much focused on the individual. An individual's needs, goals, and even limitations. Student's are meant to progress at a pace that is suitable to them, and practice in a way that is challenging yet safe to their overall health. However, we all respond to external stimuli, especially when it comes to physical training.

Having time based, quantifiable goals is not only helpful, but necessary. For every belt test, my students have clear requirements and time restraints that must be met. I'd like to say everybody trains hard all the time, but that is not the case. In fact, that may not even be ideal anyway, as the human body requires ebbs and flows in order to maximize results. The reality is, student are more focused and train more diligently when testing approaches. Regular testing and thus goal setting drives the student to get better, get stronger at what they are doing.

How can you relate this outside of a Taekwondo belt testing frame work? Simple, you have to set goals that will motivate you to keep training and training in a consistent correct way. What are training or following a physical regimen for? It must be something: lose weight, get faster, stronger, learn something, or even social interaction. Set your goals to meet that big picture of what drives you.

Next, two basic things are missing from most people's goals and they are crucial to your success.

One, the goal must be quantifiable and measurable. Too often, I hear goals like: "I want to get faster" or "I want to kick better". What does that mean? Not much. Faster at what? Faster than what? How do you determine that? Arguably, there are many aspects of martial arts training that are difficult to describe and quantify. OK, break them down. Simplify as much as you can.

Two, there must be a time constraint. It is all well and good to have a goal, but without a time restraint there is no urgency and there is no way to measure success (or failure). For example, consider the "I want to kick better" goal. Without a time restraint, this becomes even more abstract. A student could spend an entire lifetime "improving their kicks". How would they know when they met there goal? More importantly, how would they know that they were not on track to meet their goal and perhaps their training method should be re-evaluated?

Do you see my point? Without time restraints and other quantifiable details you are just setting yourself up for failure. Worse, you won't even know!

But wait, there's more!

Your goals have to be attainable. They may be challenging, but they must be attainable and realistic. Otherwise, again you are just setting yourself up for failure and that failure will preclude from reaching those goals which were well within your grasp.

To summarize, here are four rules of goal setting:

1. The goal is something that motivates you

2. The goal is quantifiable and measurable

3. The goal has a time constraint

4. The goal is realistic, attainable.

So let's put these into practice. Start with the vague "I want to kick better". That's actually a good start as it fulfills our first guideline. Now break it down, be more specific. "I want to kick faster" Better, but we need more. Do you want to increase the frequency of your kicks, or do you want to increase the speed of one individual kick? "The frequency". OK, now we're getting somewhere. Try this "My goal is to kick 10 times in 10 seconds" That's it! We can quantify that goal AND we can measure it. Measuring goals will often depend on the tools you have available.

Now, we need a time constraint. How long to reach your goal? How about "My goal is to kick 10 times in 10 seconds. I plan to achieve this in 60 days"

Perfect, we have a motivating goal that is quantifiable, measurable, has a deadline, and is definitely reachable.

You see my point. There is one more thing that will really help. You need a plan, an educated plan. Seek out the best trainers, coaches, martial arts instructors....experts. Be discerning, but trust them and their advice, they will help you tremendously.

Here are some highlights from the test.

Starting a New Training Cycle 1/31.

This week we are starting a new training cycle. Last week's back off week was essential for the intensity we have coming up. The human body cannot endlessly forge a head. Progress is not linear. We must utilize cycling and wave loading in order to ensure that physical adaptation continues to occur. Without back off weeks, rest periods, or other opportunities the body will not be able to recover from training loads. Consequently, gains will diminish and we plateau both physically and psychologically. Without enough rest, the body will be depleted and previous gains may even be lost.

For this cycle I am training with a student and colleague of mine, Steve Maze. Steve has been one of my TKD students for almost a decade and has earned is Black Belt. Additionally, Steve's athletic development credentials are numerous including CSCS, RKC, and USAW certifications.

He is training for a push/pull meet in early April. This is a power lifting competition where the events are Dead Lift and Bench press. Now, this cycle will have a marked change in approach to our previous training cycles.

Most of the time, I use strength training as GPP (general physical preparedness) for my martial arts performance. What does that mean? It means that we use strength as a tool to become better martial artists. What does it mean to become a better martial artist? That can be a deep philosophical question, but for our purposes now it means to move faster, hit harder, and spar more effectively.

For this cycle, strength itself is the goal. The performance we are trying to enhance are certain lifts themselves. They are no longer a tool to improve our sport performance, the lifts are the sport.

I will not be competing, but Steve will, and as we all know, or should realize, it is much easier to stay motivated and push your limits with a training partner. Additionally, I don't have any impending tests or competitions, so I can afford to stray from my normal GPP regimens.

We will also do some benchmarking of certain martial arts strikes. It will be interested to see how their power output is affected, by performing these lifts and this level of intensity.

We are going to be utilizing the following lifts, in a low set, low rep, high intensity scheme. For more information on day to day details of the program visit Steve's Blog.

Barbell Snatch, Clean, and Jerk. Bench Press, Squat, and Dead lift.

Here's the video from Monday: