IN THIS ISSUE
1 - The Art of Applied Laziness
2 - Ten Reasons why I don't do Aerobics
3 - Wild Geese Martial Arts - Home of AIKLF, Dublin
4 - Xmas is coming
5 - Announcment
6 - Recommended Products (genuinely recommended, cos we think they’re great)

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1 – THE ART OF APPLIED LAZINESS

This is a term I coined a while ago while teaching some over zealous students. It soon became a bit of a catchphrase and now that I’ve spent time with the phrase I have come to realise it embodies pretty much my whole outlook on life and the way I approach my martial and fitness training.

Many students (particularly the blokes) try so hard when learning new martial arts techniques that they hinder themselves. Too much effort, too much tension, improper use or strength all serve to slow down the learning process. Technique, especially the more subtle elements of an art need finesse, not brute force. So I encourage them to follow “the Arts of Applied Laziness”

Or in other words, use only as much effort as is necessary to get the job done.

You can apply the art to almost any aspect of your life, but especially your training.
How can you be lazy and train hard?
Simple. There’s a rule in business that says that you’ll reap 80% of your profits from 20% of your clients. So the lazy approach is to concentrate on that 20%. Same goes for training.

Concentrate most of your training time on the 20% that gets you the most bang for your buck.

In your martial arts, you want to be able to stop a guy in his tracks as quickly as possible. You don’t want a long drawn out confrontation, it’s not only dangerous, but damn hard work, and I’m just too lazy for that. So I spend 80% of my time on the big guns.

1-Body Mechanics, if I can use my body efficiently, then all my movements will be effective, be they strikes, locks, holds or takedowns. Correct body mechanics are used universally, in the Tai Chi circles they talk of aligning 9 points. These are:

Ankle, Knee, Hip, Low Back, Mid Back, Scapular, Shoulder, Elbow and Wrist.
If all the points line up, you are in an anatomically strong position, without unnecessary use of muscular tension.

2-Power generation, this comes from the leg drive and hip snap. Get this right and all your striking increases in power, naturally, and if you can create power in every movement, the fight is generally over much, much faster.

3- Flow, moving efficiently from position to position. The great eskrimador Sunny Umpad was quoted as saying, “One must be like a woman, you must change your mind at the last minute for absolutely no reason!” and he new a thing about moving, he had survived many knife and blade encounters in his native Philippines. Watching the UFC you commonly hear the commentators talking about transitions, being able to move from one plan of action to another is essential in turning a bad situation into an advantageous one.

4-Accuracy, hit the right spot and you’ll only need to hit it once. An old training partner used to illustrate this by throwing up a paper tissue and then stabbing his finger through it as it fell. He would say “I can’t punch through a brick, but how do you fancy that finger in the eye?”. Of course a finger in the eye is not the cure all that some claim it to be, but it does give you the opportunity to follow up with a more powerful strike delivered accurately to a priority target, ie knock him out.
Improving accuracy will increase you chances of landing a solid technique and allow you to use the other three points to end the fight.

Notice I haven’t mentioned any particular techniques, I didn’t say anything about rear cross, arm bars, indexing strikes, clinching or takedowns. That’s because all the concepts can be applied to your preferred methods. I’m a striker, I like to hit, however from a career in Door work I’ve spent years using restraints, takedowns and joint locks, I’m not a grappler, but if I were the same 4 points would  still apply.

Then there’s the physical training. Now here’s where you can really apply the Art of Applied Laziness, but only if you know how.
I’ve tried most kinds of training from highly aerobic to bodybuilding to strength training and everything in between. And after about 15 years I’m just getting the hang of it, maybe.

Here’s how I think a martial artist, or anybody with a busy schedule that needs energy for other endeavours (insert your own, just keep it to yourselves……….) needs to train. A full range of health and fitness includes strength, muscle endurance, stamina, flexibility, mobility and agility. Or to paraphrase the late great Georges Herbert, one needs to Run, Jump, Climb, Crawl, Lift, Throw and Fight.
In order to best complement the martial arts training I found what Paul Cox calls “Short, Sharp, Shock” style circuits with relatively heavy weights, some very heavy low rep strength work and repetition bodyweight drills.
Focus must be kept squarely on the 80/20 rule here aswell. Forget your vanity lifts, there’s little need for isolation work, these just take time and energy away from your other endeavours. Instead stick with the bang for the buck lifts and their variations:
Squat (Backsquat, front squat, bodyweight variations, single leg squats etc)
Deadlift (Standard, Sumo, Snatch grip, Romanian, single leg, single arm……..)
Overhead (vertical) Press (Military press, push press, 1 arm dumbbell/kettlebell press, jerks, clean and press/jerk, handstand pushup…)
Horizontal press (Press ups and press up variations including 1 arm pressups, Bench and floor presses with bar, single and double dumbbells….)
Vertical pull (there really is only one option, the good old pull up and it’s variations)
Horizontal pull (Bent over row, dumbbell rows, inverted rows………)

Full body and combination lifts. These are the best option if time is short, drills such as burpee variations, clean and press/jerk, snatch, thrusters (squat into a press) and many more.

Keep workouts short, if your still going after 45mins, you’re probably overdoing it. I’ve been at my fittest and most efficient when I followed a 6 or 7 week strength cycle combining the big lifts done for very reps (usually 3) with a 6 week cycle of heavy circuits that work the whole body (usually utilising 5-10 reps of big exercises, minimal rest for around 20 mins. It hurt!) and interval style running, again in the 20 minute mark.
And then came the kettlebell. The kettlebell and it’s associated training methods are the embodiment of the Art of Applied Laziness.

The kettlebell lends itself perfectly to full body lifts, circuits and complexes. It’s unique swing and snatch drills develop great hip snap, essential to martial arts, they develop superior levels of conditioning when done for time or  massive explosive power when done heavy. Plus when combined with some efficient bodyweight drills or heavy barbell work, you can create extremely efficient workouts.

Here’s a favourite of mine (can be done with a pair of dumbbells, just make sure they’re relatively heavy),

Set the countdown timer to go off after 20 minutes and try to complete as many rounds of the following:
Clean and press x 5 (use a pair), Pull ups x 5, Snatch x 10 each arm and Goblet squat x 20 (Goblet squats are like a front squat using a single DB/KB, hold it balanced in the upturned palms on the chest, there’s plenty of video’s on youtube). Take as little rest as you can and try to get more circuits in the time period as possible.
20 minutes work, 1 or 2 pieces of kit, that’s the Art right there.

If you want more efficient, effective workouts, give me a shout.

Let me know how you use the Art of Applied Laziness in your life. Remember, it’s not lazy if it’s efficient.

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2 – 10 REASONS WHY I DON'T DO AEROBICS

By Steve Maxwell (www.maxwellsc.com)

I spend my days at a corporate gym. It's a sweet gig and a temporary livelihood.

One morning, while observing a female member endlessly running the treadmill-to-nowhere-fast, I realized I see the same people returning day after day, iPods silently blaring or, worse, mindlessly captivated by one of the ten wall-mounted television screens, while grinding away on those steppers and treadmills.

The drudgery of their Sisyphean tasks compels their attempts to lose self-awareness by inundating themselves with external stimuli. Often, their bodies reflect this lack of self-awareness in skewed gaits and other imbalances.

These same people come in religiously to get the feel-good fix, believing somehow their mindless, movement addiction is in some way benefiting them. Interestingly, they stay fat, show no progress, and sometimes even get fatter, especially after holidays. Most of these people are loathe to touch a weight, much less engage in any kind of productive strength-training. You see this same phenomenon in gyms all over the country.

Some will say, "Well, some exercise is better than none,"

But I say, if you're going to spend the time, why not produce something worthwhile?

Here are ten reasons why I don't do aerobic exercise:

But first, what is aerobic exercise? Any steady state locomotion elevating the heart rate into the zone for twenty minutes or more. The zone is determined by formulas based on age and resting heart rate.

Now, ten reasons why it not only doesn’t work but is a poor use of exercise time:

·         Oxidative Stress

Which causes a breakdown of tissues. It also predisposes one to cancer and heart attack.

·         Elevated cortisol production

Which causes a breakdown of muscle tissue and increases fat storage or depot fat. People do aerobics to alleviate stress yet end up creating more stress.

·         HGH levels

For men, aerobics are a form of chemical castration. Low T-levels are associated with lowered libido, depression, anxiety, increased body fat and decreased muscle tissue. This contributes to muscle-wasting and lowers the basal metabolic rate.

·         Increased appetite and a tendency toward binge eating patterns

Aerobic exercise makes people hungry!

·         Excessive Muscular Fatigue

Making it difficult to do other more productive forms of activity. Aerobics creates muscular weakness.

·         Conversion of fast-twitch muscle fibres to slow-twitch

The loss of fast-twitch muscle fibres contributes to aging and the loss of explosive power and speed. People become slower and slower.

·         Burns a relatively small amount of calories vs. the time spent

One large meal completely offsets the pitiful amount of calories burned in an hour aerobics session.

·         Overuse injuries to the feet, ankles, and knees from excessive, continual force transmitted throughout the body

This is exacerbated by over-engineered running shoes which cushion the feet in such a way to create a neural amnesia.

·         Shortening i.e., deformation, of the muscle tissue from repetitive mid-range (partial range) movements

This creates inflexibility, immobility, and muscle imbalances. Besides being tight, the bodies postural alignment becomes compromised. Aerobics create tight, inflexible bodies that are in chronic pain.

·         Adrenal burnout

A consequence of the “feel good” neurotransmitters which also stimulate the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline is the fight or flight hormone. Excessive adrenaline creates an addictive response and people going routinely for the so called “high” of running end up with adrenal burnout, e.g., chronic fatigue and depression.

Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the father of aerobic exercise (and the person who coined the term) completely recanted his assertions regarding aerobic exercise. After observing a disproportionate number of his aerobic-enthusiast friends die of cancer and heart disease, he reversed his ideas on the benefits of excessive aerobic exercise. He now claims anything in excess of 20 minutes has greatly diminishing returns. In fact, he's now an advocate of scientific weight training.

In strength and health,

Steve

About the Author

Steve Maxwell's apparently supernatural talent at program design comes from 35 years of experience in fitness training and coaching.
Recognized as one of today's most creative strength and conditioning coaches, his talent for constructing fresh, well rounded, and effective mixed-modality workouts is legendary.
Steve holds a Master's Degree in Exercise Science from West Chester State University, in PA. He was the first American to earn a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, certified by Relson Gracie.
Steve is widely known as the American Master of the Russian Kettlebell. He is also the man who taught the first kettlebell classes in the United States at Maxercise Sports/Fitness, the gym that he owned and operated for 16 years in Philadelphia. His creativity and ability with kettlebells is internationally renowned.
Steve's development of Joint Mobility workouts for dynamic mobility is the latest example of how he integrates multiple disciplines and techniques, producing an effective and accessible system for retaining or regaining range of motion.

He's also one of my favourite resources.

Visit his website:
www.maxwellsc.com

Steve is coming over to Europe in 2009. He agreed to include Ireland in his tour. I am pleased to announce that the Wild Geese Academy in Dublin will be hosting this master trainer.
Provisional dates for Steve’s 1st Visit to Ireland:
7/8 march 09 - kettlebells/ bodyweight and mobility.
4/15 march 09  - BJJ and related conditioning.

Get in touch now to be put on the list, I will be sorting out prices soon. Places will be limited, get in early so as not to miss out.

 

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3 - WILD GEESE MARTIAL ARTS BECOMES THE HOME OF AIKLF

Following Jason Kelly’s recent Dublin workshop he and I have agreed to make the Wild Geese HQ (off Pearse St, Dublin) the home of the All Ireland Kettlebell Lifting Federation. The plan is to have a centre in each corner of the country. Jason himself is based in Belfast, Dave Joyce’s SEAMA Academy is the Galway home and of course we look after Dublin.

Keep tabs on the AIKLF, upcoming workshops and events by checking in on www.AIKLF.eu

Of course I’ll post items here on the newsletter and on www.wildgeesema.blogspot.com

 

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4 - XMAS IS COMING

I know, I know, you’re getting bombarded by ad’s and commercials left right and centre, so I’ll keep this short.
Gift vouchers for the Wild Geese Gym will be made available for Xmas gifts. They can be used to purchase classes or personal training sessions at our facility at a special rate. I’ll have a full announcement up on www.wildgeesema.com shortly.

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5 - ANNOUNCMENT - WILD GEESE IN BALBRIGGAN

Wild Geese co founder Dave Hedges is now living in Balbriggan, North County Dublin. He’ll still be in Dublin teaching classes and conducting personal training sessions, but now those of you in the North Co. Dublin area have the opportunity to make use of his 20+ years martial arts training and extensive knowledge Strength and Conditioning training. Over the next few weeks he hopes to have a venue sorted out for classes in Balbriggan.

Unfortunately we haven’t yet got a broadband connection to the new house so emails and web updates will be a little intermittent. Both NTL and Eircom have promised connection by both end of the year…we’ll see eh?

Contact Dave on 087 672 6090 or by replying to this email.

 

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6 - RECOMMENDED LINKS & PRODUCTS                                                   

www.liftstrong.com

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All the best

The Wild Geese

Doce Pares Ireland / Kenpo Karate / Self Protection / Security Training

www.wildgeesema.com / wildgeesema.blogspot.com

info@wildgeesema.com

+353 87 672 6090