A wonderful fight scene

One of my favourite movie fights. Scott Adkins really outdid himself in this movie

FITNESS IN A CONFINED SPACE

 

This article is primarily motivated by my current apartment in London. its quite small (10 Sq Ft) and therefore provides me with limited space to work out. I also live with 4 flatmates which limits the kinds of exercises I can perform as I wouldn't want to disturb them with the noise from my workouts. There are times when we only have a very small space to train and relatively little time to train.  These exercises are designed for this kind of situation. They are designed to produce optimal results within the limited time and space available.

Prisoner Squat Jumps

This is a great exercise performed in prisons worldwide. they are very useful because of the little amount of space required. This exercise is a really intense and they are a great for building muscles and creating definition in your legs in addition to producing general cardiovascular fitness.

If you've never tried this move, take your time and ease into it with small jumps. If you feel discomfort or pain, avoid this exercise.

1. Begin with feet wide and the hands behind the head.
2. Squat as low as you can, taking the torso slightly forward without rounding the back.
3. Jump up as high as you can, keeping the hands behind the head.
4. Land with soft knees and repeat for 30-60 seconds.
5. Add this move at the end of your regular cardio workout for an added boost, or do it a few times during your workout whenever you want to add intensity or mix things up.

 Bear Crawls

 

The bear crawl builds a functionally strong body because it engages many muscle groups including the shoulder, stomach and thigh muscles.

 To do the bear crawl, simply drop onto all fours with your hands directly under your shoulders, then rise up onto your feet. Now you're in the bear position! You can move forward and backward more quickly than in a standard crawl, and you'll work every major muscle group in the process.

Box Jumps

Box jumps are a terrific exercise for your legs and hips. They can be performed on just about any flat surface. They do a terrific job on your posterior chain – calves, quads, glutes, and hamstrings - as well.

 

Cheers Mate!!

 

 

SUGGESTIONS FOR ASPIRING TRANSFORMERS

I came across something on bodybuilding.com which I felt compelled to share. It's really useful for those who believe they are too old to train.

• You're never too old to start watching what you eat or to start exercising.
• You don't have to have a gym to get a good workout. I've learned that an exercise band and my own bodyweight provide a good workout anywhere.
• No dessert is worth what it takes to burn off the calories it contains.
• Buy smaller dinner plates and split meals when going out to eat.
• Eat every couple hours throughout the day.
• You'll never regret going to the gym.The beauty of the gym and your hard work is that it shows.
• What works for you is what is important. Everyone is different and there is no single workout or nutrition regimen that works for the entire human race.

 

Why I bodybuild

Bodybuilding isn't a sport or hobby to me. It's a lifestyle I live 365 days a year. You live it or quit it! I can't express my love for bodybuilding with words. It's something about going to the gym every day, giving it my all, and leaving knowing that I gave it 100 percent. Jeremy Cain

I'm now 17 years old, and about to graduate high school. I continue to lift weights and train for boxing. Going to the gym is a huge part of my life. It gives me self-esteem, keeps me healthy, and helps me manage my diabetes. I just hope that people reading this will realize that you can make it through tough times, and having something that inspires you can make a big difference. Jacob T

 

 

Bodybuilding is the 'hardest sport' there is, you can blame no one but yourself. Which is why I love it, anyone can be a part of a winning football team and feel a sense of achievement even if you were the worst player, but with bodybuilding, you only have to yourself to blame. Also when you achieve your goals you have no one but yourself to praise, it's a great feeling, knowing you've done this through hard work, dedication, commitment and sacrifice. I couldn't see my life without any sort of weight training or cardio anymore, I feel worse not going to the gym than I do after a heavy leg training session. Bodybuilding is an obsession. 

Bodybuilding has changed my life. My mentality, outlook, self motivation, determination, will power and drive have all changed on my short journey in a bodybuilding lifestyle and for the good. I used to give up easily when things weren't going my way but now I will work my butt off to achieve something I WANT.  I wake up every day and just want to be better than yesterday and if I achieve greater things on the way, then bonus. Life is about finding your true passion and sticking with it. I've found mine. Lewis Brierly (18)

Secrets of Superathletes

 

The Olympic games have come and gone once more, some countries left loaded with medals, while others like my beloved Nigeria, left empty handed.

 

The Olympics celebrate the athlete, the individual who dedicates his life to training and honing his physical abilities beyond normal human limits. From Usain Bolt to Rafael nadal, top athletes are getting fitter, faster and stronger than ever.All sports, particularly professional sports, are constantly on the lookout for superhuman performers who can transcend what people thought was possible and the paying public demands as much.

 

Steroids, suits, and Technological advances aside, How do athletes get fitter, faster and stronger within the relatively short periods between competitions? I did some research on the question and here are my results

 

 

 

Mental Tenacity

 

Mental tenacity — and the ability to manage and even thrive on and push through pain — is a key segregator between the mortals and immortals. Tom Fleming, a two-time winner of the New York marathon and a distance runner who was ranked fourth in the world, says there’s a reason he was so fast.“I was given a body that could train every single day - and a mind, a mentality, that believed that if I trained every day — and I could train every day — I’ll beat you".  The hypothesis is that elite athletes are able to motivate themselves continuously and are able to run the gantlet between pushing too hard — and failing to finish — and underperforming. To find this motivation, the athletes must resist the feeling that they are too tired and have to slow down. Instead, they have to concentrate on increasing the intensity of their effort; that takes mental strength, but allows them to perform close to their maximal ability.

 

Mental Rehearsal

This is a time-tested practice used by successful athletes and even non-athletes in all assets of life. Mental rehearsal is repeating in your mind over and over the actions and techniques required to achieve success. If you are a basketball player, you rehearse each individual phase of the jump shot over and over in your head. The goal with mental rehearsal is to create automation. When you watch incredible athletes like Lebron James you think that the game just comes naturally to him. Well it does now, but that wasn’t always the case. He trained his mind for years and years on every little detail in every step, dribble, and shot he takes. Break down the skills of your sport and repeat them over and over in your mind, visualizing yourself performing them with perfection. With time, the skills will become second nature and you won’t even have to think before executing them.

 

Support Team

Mental toughness can come from within but it can also come from outside. Having the right individuals around you is critical to achieving success. Always surround yourself with like-minded people who are as driven as you are to push hard, be the best, and achieve success. Negative people, or the “haters” as they are sometimes referred to serve no purpose in your life. Eliminate them and there’s nothing holding you back. Having a strong support team such as your family and friends is also great for defining purpose. Not only will you want to succeed for yourself, you will also want to succeed for them and that is a remarkably powerful motivator.

Arianny Celeste- UFC fighter

 

 

Training Lessons from The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

“The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” (a.k.a. “Shaolin Master Killer”), directed in 1978 by Liu Chia-Liang, is essential viewing for any serious, self respecting martial arts movie lover. This movie claims responsibility for the whole “good-guy-gets-his-butt-kicked-and-undergoes-martial arts-training-to-exact-vengeance” storyline that’s been used so many times in the martial arts movies since.

 

In the movie, anti-Manchu patriot San Te (Gordon Liu) is a humble country boy who is cast out of his village when Manchu soldiers (led by the villainous Lo Lieh) slaughter his parents, orphaning him. He manages to claw his way to the famous Shaolin Temple, where he is nursed back to health by the monks living there, and soon undergoes a rigorous and dangerous regiment of training to master the 35 “chambers” (styles) of Kung Fu. In seven years time, he completes his training, mastering all 35 styles, invents a brand-new weapon (the three-section staff), and suggests creating a 36th chamber to spread Kung Fu beyond the Shaolin Temple’s walls and bring it to the masses.

What gets this movie going is its rousing training sequences. These are not the run-of-the-mill stuff we’re used to seeing in these movies. San Te’s quest to become a martial arts warrior is a tortuous journey of self-actualization, a kind of virtue commonly lacking in the genre; San Te genuinely becomes a better person as a result of his experiences at the Shaolin Temple.

For the purpose of this article, I will focus on the physical training methods used in the movie. The movie shows how everyday materials could be used to build and maintain functional strength, muscle mass and definition. I experimented with the techniques immediately after watching the movie, and a lot of people have been commenting on how good I look ( now that's a fast result for you!!!)

Training 1: Bucket Flyes

In the arm chamber, San te is told to carry two buckets filled with water to the top of a steep water pipe, and empty the contents of the bucket down the pipe; all this is performed with sharp knives affixed to his upper arms, which cut him whenever he attempts to drop his arms, thereby forcing him to keep proper form while lifting the buckets. At the end of his training in this chamber, San Te had built insane shoulder and trapezius strength, as well as balance and cardiovascular endurance.

To apply this system to your training program, mark out a spot about 20 feet from your starting point, fill two sturdy buckets halfway with water, lift your arms till they are parallel to the floor, and carry the buckets to the marked point. When you get there, rest for 10 secs then carry the buckets back to the starting point. repeat 10 times, while reducing your rest breaks with each rep.

Dont use the knives at home

 

Training 2: Working with Iron rings

In this training sequence, San Te practices his punches and kata with heavy metal rings around his wrists and lower arms. This has the effect of training his biceps and triceps as well as improving his punching power and overall strength.

Punching styles and forms to practice with your weights in hand





Applying this to your training will require the use of dumbells, filled water bottles, any heavy cylindrical object, or even a brick. Hold the weights in both hands and practice different punches and strikes . You could also hold the weight with your arm outstretched for about 1 minute. this isometric training is very good for the arms.

Training 3: Wrist Training

The exercise in the Wrist Chamber was devised to strengthen the hands and wrists, to create and unbreakable grip on one’s own weapon or an opponent’s weapon or body.  San Te strengthened his wrists by striking a gong with a 15 pound hammer affixed to a 10 foot long bamboo pole for as long as the wrist of one arm could take it before moving to the other arm. Now I tried this one with a barbell weighted at one end, and believe me, It hurt like hell!!! In the movie, San te progressed to the level where he could strike the gong quickly and easily due to massive wrist strength.

the Wrist room

You can perform this exercise with a mop soaked in water. hold the mop at the very end of the handle and use the head of the mop to gently strike a wall. In time this will build the muscles of your forearms as well as the tendons in your wrist, thereby giving you a crazy grip.

Training 4: Kick Training

This form of training is designed to create muscular endurance in the abdomen, feet, thighs, hamstrings and hips. The student performs a particular kick technique 100 times or more with each leg. By the time the student has practiced 5 kicks, he would have performed about 1000 repetition!! (how's that for strength). In the movie, San Te wore weighted shoes while practicing to further develop his kicking power.

This technique requires no equipment and can be performed anywhere, even in the privacy of your room. With discipline and determination, a person can quickly burn fat and build quality muscle.







Crazy Workouts for Building a Steel Core

"I find that my core is ostensibly the toughest part of my body to firm and shape up!!! It has been a frustrating venture for me as I have had 3 children and it unfortunately shows in the areas of my person that I do not want this to show. I don’t know if I can do it" - Worried mother

Your core is the corset of muscles and connective tissue that encircle and hold the spine in place. If your core is stable, your spine remains upright while your body swivels around it. The core comprises of all the muscles and tendons between your knees and your rib cage, partivularly these 4 muscles—the rectus abdominis muscle (the six pack), the internal and external obliques (those muscles at the sides), and the transversus abdominis. Abdominal muscles have many important functions such as contributing to breathing, they are responsible for the acts of coughing, and sneezing, as well as maintaining posture and speech.

The rectus abdominis can be worked out with the basic crunch, the vertical crunch, the reverse crunch, and the full vertical crunch, and when at a low enough body fat percentage (10-12% for males, 15-18% for females) the individual parts of the muscle become visible; many refer to this visible separation as a six pack. By exercising the internal and external obliques the stomach can be flattened while the waist line can be reduced

Here are some crazy exercises that will help you flatten that stomach and build a solid core within a reasonably short period.

The Fireman Stair Climb

Fill a back pack with books or any heavy objects (the weight should be at least 20kg for this to be really effective). Try to run up and down 10 stairs 6 times within 3 minutes. this will build your core, leg and heart to new highs.

The Mighty Plank

The plank exercise  is a great way to build endurance in both the abs and back, as well as the stabilizer muscles. This move is also great for building strength for pushups, an exercise that requires quite a bit of core strength. You can add some weight on your back to increase difficulty.

How to:

1. Lie face down on mat resting on the forearms, palms flat on the floor.
2. Push off the floor, raising up onto toes and resting on the elbows.
3. Keep your back flat, in a straight line from head to heels.
4. Tilt your pelvis and contract your abdominals to prevent your rear end from sticking up in the air or sagging in the middle.
5. Hold for 20 to 60 seconds, lower and repeat for 3-5 reps.

Good Ol' School Pushups  (need I say more?)