Академический Документы
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Body Power!!!
By Dr. Jim Brassard Ph.D. /Ma.D.Sc. Doctorates of Martial Arts Philosophy & Martial Arts Science Grandmaster 10th Degree Black belt
Jim Brassard 6-11 Enterprise Rd. Hyannis Ma. 02601 ShaolinAmericanKempo.com JamesBrassard.com
DISCLAIMER
The material in this course is for informational purposes only. Consult your Physician before beginning this program. Some of the exercises may be too advanced or dangerous for some individuals. If at any time you experienced pain or discomfort, please stop immediately and consult a medical professional. The author and publisher of this course are not responsible in any manner for any injury which may occur through reading and following the instructions of this book, or its videos.
INDRODUCTION
After the success of my first course Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man Ive been asked by many to follow up with more insights into health and strength training. Sooooo I put together another course chock-full of drills, workouts and tipssome unlike youve ever seen!!! Within these pages youll find some very valuable lessons drawn from some of the strongest people ever to walk the face of the earth, with some of my own teachings as well. And unlike my last course, therell be a few exercises with weights as well. Im not against weights entirely, but Ive discovered that the supermen of old used them as a supplement to bodyweight drills. And when the people I train incorporated these ideas and drills, they saw a BIG difference in their weight-lifting strength. HELL!!! Charles Atlas did only bodyweight and self resistance routines in the 30s, and lets take a look at what level of strength he achieved.
He had 47 inch chest, he could pull 5 cars for a mile and once pulled a 144,000 lb railway car 120 feet.and when challenged that it might be situated slightly downhill.he pushed it back and then pulled it AGAIN!!!! Not bad for a person who didnt use weights. At age 73, he had almost the exact same body measurements as when he was 30.
Charles Atlas
There are others who gained such strength with just their own body and sheerwillpower. And YES.we will be learning about them as well, and some chi-kung drills and combat fitness lessons too. Alright I think you get the point..I hate long introsso..
OXYGEN IS LIFE!!!!
The more oxygen we can get into your lungs the more health and strength you will achieve. Oxygen furnishes the power to pump the blood through the heart. It carries off the waste products from the cells in the body, and helps build new and stronger ones. As a result of deep breathing the lungs are developed and your chest will expand as well. Try to breathe fully at all times, especially outdoors. Night air is sometimes better because all the dust and smoke of the day has settled. Deep breathing also has a beneficial effect on the nervous irritability (will calm you down when upset) and also will strengthen the internal organs as well. To give you an idea as to what extent it is possible to develope ones lung power the great Zisha of the 20s then know as the strongest man alive, developed his lung power to the point where he could blow a twenty dollar GOLD coin clear out of a 6 inch tall glass. NOW THATS LUNG POWER. See if you can blow a penny out of a coffee cup and youll get the picture. Another benefit of breathing exercises is to get Live Air into the lungs. And replace the residual air stuck in the lungs. At any given moment in time your lower lungs contain 20 to 50% of stale air trapped in them. By Holding FRESH air in your lungs for few seconds or more, you replace the residual air or stale air with fresh live air. This will increase the quantity of oxygen in your blood which will feed your muscles the nutrients they need to become health and strong. Believe me, MUCH more can be said about the benefits of deep breathing, but lets learn some exercises to get the ball rolling.
"Breathing exercises alone, if done RIGHT, will make many a weak man strong and
Breathe in deeply so theres an expansion at your diaphragm just below your ribs, as well as a chest expansion. In time this abdominal breathing will play its part in building a powerful chest with greater lung capacity overcoming a flat, narrow chested look. It will also have an effect of improving digestion and will combat constipation. Deep breathing massages the abdomen and stimulates the peristalsis of the intestines. - Charles Atlas
Suck It In!!!!!!
This breathing exercise is to depress the abdominal wall; its the reverse of the first one. First, breathe out and while doing so try to draw your innards up as if trying to turn yourself inside-out. You might want to think of trying to touch your bellybutton to your spine. Hold for 15 seconds. This is also known as The Vacuum and will help flatten your stomach fast. Practice about 5 minutes a day and your pants will be falling off in no time. The vacuum drill was a secret exercise Arnold Schwarzenegger did to reduce the size of his waist for bodybuilding competitions
Try combining this drill alternately with the Pot Belly one on page 5, and try to keep up an undulating movement with your abdominal muscles.
Herman Weinsoff
Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body; it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.- John F. Kennedy
Abdominal Tensing
This exercise combines the isolation of your abdominal muscles with deep breathing control. First, breathe in deeply, and then exhale slowly. When your lungs are a little more than half empty. CONTRACT your abdominal muscles and hold for 6 seconds. Relax and repeat for 10 reps. This drill will also build up your stomach muscles as well and speed your efforts to a 6-pack stomach.
Important: Visit our website at ShaolinAmericanKempo.com and give us your email address, and we will send you weekly fitness tips. They will inform you and help to keep you motivated.
Rage!!!!!
This is a great hard chi-kung drill that will develop GREAT muscle tone while practicing breathing. During the drill we will employ the art of dynamic tension. We will be tensing up all the muscles in the upper body which will help build up muscle tone, and are a strength exercise in itself. We start with feet about shoulders width apart (horse stance), hands down by side. Then we raise our hands slowly while turning them palm up towards the ceiling. As we do this we are tensing every muscle in the body, as if we were sneezing. Breathe IN as you do this. Then press the hands out as if we were pushing a very heavy object away from us breathing OUT, while rotating your palms to face forward. Remember to be tensing up your muscles throughout the push. Breathe IN as you pull the arms back to your chest area while tensing as if you were pulling a heavy object towards you. Again, rotating your hands so they are facing you. Now circle your arms out to each side breathing OUT while tense, palms facing out. Then breathe IN and bring them back to your chest area, palms circle in to facing you. To end, press them down to the starting position turning palms towards the floor while breathing OUT. Remember to remain tense throughout the whole movement. Think of pulling and pushing heavy weights. If you can do more than 7 reps in a row, youre just not tensing enough.
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Rage
It is Health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver-Gandhi
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Successful Breathing
This will be our last breathing drill for now and we will be focusing on our thoughts as well as deep breathing. To get started, while you breathe in close your eyes and think of breathing in Health, Power and Success or whatever goal you chose. As you breathe outthink of poor health, poverty and failure coming out as a black mist from your body and soul. Breathe in anything you want to achieve in lifeand breathe out everything you dont want. Concentrate hard and be specific. Really feel the positive image coming into you and the bad blowing out. As you breathe in let it go down into the navel area, then from there let it expand to all reaches of your inner being. When breathing out concentrate even harder on expelling the things you dont want. Cross your arms in front of your stomach area and then swing them in a circle up over your head and back, as you breathe in your goals. Feel a little stretch in your chest as they go upwards and back. Let them come down back to where you started and complete a full circle as you are breathing out your weaknesses. Be relaxed and calm. This exercise will help propel you towards that which you want out of life. You may even say its kinda like self-hypnosis and will keep focus on your goals. Use this technique daily and with in a few days you will see a difference in your life.
Great men breathe from their feet, average men breathe from their throatsChuang Tzu
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Fat-Burning Intervals
Nothing burns fat faster than interval training. Its steady state-cardio on steroids. It creates more fat burning enzymes as well too. The idea is every minute or 2, you burst into a sprint to get the heart rate up high, and get your lungs puffing. Heres one to give you the idea. 1. Warm up with about 3 minutes with light jogging. 2. Then Sprint for 30 seconds 3. Then jog easy for 1 min and 30 seconds. 4. Repeat. 5. Do this for 20 minutes
Practice this and youll be burn off more fat in a much shorter period of time. Bruce Lee did this type of training. You can apply this method to any cardio workout. Lets say you like the stairmaster, every 2 minutes start sprinting on it. Try and find the right pace so you can go the full 30 seconds. Then take it easy for the next 2 minutes, and repeat for at least 15-20 minutes. As an added benefit it builds more muscle tone, and will increase your endurance and lung power faster.
Warning: Dont go so hard were your heart bursts out of your chest and flops on to the ground. Please use common sense and listen to your body, and youll discover a great technique to health, strength and endurance.
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Many wrestlers use these to build incredible upper body strength. It also will increase flexibility in the shoulders and spine. I once had a student who could bench press 380 lbs, but couldnt do 25 of these in a row. When you can crack off 100 of these, youll see a big difference in the mirror, not to mention how much lung power you will gain.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Start with your hands on the floor about shoulder-with apart. Your feet are on the floor and your legs are wider than your shoulders. Your butt should be in the air and you should be looking back at your heels. Bend your elbows and lower your body to the ground, then flatten yourself out as if your were sliding underneath a bar. You dont have to go so low at first, but eventually you want to almost hit the floor with your chest. 5. Finish by diving your head up towards the ceiling. Exhale. 6. Push back towards your heels and inhale, straightening your arms and stretching out your legs. 7. Do as many times as you can.
This is an important drill taken from my other course Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man. I included it so you know how to do it for the next lesson
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Vibro-Hindu Push-Ups
Now that you know the Hindu push-up (we use to called it the Chinese push-up in the mid 70s) your ready for the Vibro variation. You will be performing the same motion..BUT remember how we tensed up every muscle in the breathing drill Rage??? You will do the same as you execute this push-up. Start by trying to grip the ground with your fingers, squeeze hard. Now let that tension go all the way through the body. Make the upper body tense. Now begin the push-up. You will notice you will have to go slower because of the tension. The first motion should go to about a 3 to 4 count. Push back to starting position while keeping tense and then repeat. If youre applying the right amount of tension you should be spent by about 10 reps. Practice 3 to 5 sets of 10 reps. Feel free to vary the tension as to do more or less. Tense hard enough and you will find just one rep a challenge. You can also apply this principle to almost ANY exercise with incredible results. Joe Bonomo and Charles Atlas were pioneers in this type of exercise in the 40s. Heres a brief bio of Joe Bonomo..
Began learning the secrets of strength and fitness from a circus strongman, thus beginning a life dedicated to the ideals of physical culture As a teen won the highly coveted "Mr. Apollo" contest A world class sprinter Played pro football for the pure love of the game (there was little money in it then) Was a world renowned stunt man and daredevil : a newspaper did an article once on the "black cats" ( a group of 13 stuntmen famous for doing stunts that no one else would dare attempt ), a follow up article a year later found Bonomo the only one still alive and performing! BOXING: Good enough to be Jack Dempsey's sparing partner; once KOd an angry chimpanzee in a knock down fight.
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This is the lost squatting technique of one of the strongest men who ever lived. Siegmund Breitbart was known also know as the Ironking since he came from a family of blacksmiths. He traveled with the Circus Bush, which was the largest circus in the world at the time. He performed feats of strength unheard of today. My favorite is he would lift a baby elephant, and while holding it he would climb a ladder with a rope in his teeth, a locomotive wheel attached to the rope and THREE MEN suspended from the wheel. NOW THATS STRENGH!!!! So lets look at the exercise he taught in the very early 20s. Not only the legs get hit, but the back and arms too. 1. With your feet about 24 inches apart, go down to a squatting position with the palms of your hands resting on your knees. 2. Bend your body forward, bending your elbows. 3. Now push up with your arms and at the same time straighten your legs (stand up), keeping your body bent over a little. Exhale. 4. Go back down and repeat until tired. Shoot for 100 reps. When doing this movement try and keep your triceps and your lat muscles tense and ridged. Concentrate on these muscles and your abs as well. After doing this exercise for a short time you will feel and see the effect, as you might have used an entirely new set of muscles in a whole different way.
Problems cannot be solved by the level of awareness that created them.- Einstein
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Repeat three times. This should take about 18 to 20 minutes and will give you one hell of a workout. As you get stronger try and increase reps and intensity. Feel free to replace any of the exercises with your favorites, or other ones in this course.
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Then attempt to hold for as long as possible. Your goal should be to hold it for 5 minutes. 2. Another variation to the plank is to lift 1 leg up - now this will add more challenge to your core.
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3. Now if you want to step it up - why not try lifting 1 left leg up and 1 right arm up - and hold for as long as you can. Shoot for 2 minutes.
4. Lastly, try the swiss ball variation - in a push up position but with your forearms on the ball, try to balance yourself without letting your body rolling out under you. Again hold for as long as possible!
Start now and get those abs you've always wanted - but remember you have to reduce your body fat as well!!!
Change your mind, and youll change your body Dr. Jim Brassard
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John Grimek could chin himself up 7 times with either arm at a body weight of about 200 lbs.
Eugene Sandow could perform a one arm chin-up with any one of his ten fingers at a bodyweight of 190 lbs.
Marvin Eder could do 11 one-arm pull-ups at a body weight of 195 lbs. He could also do 80 consecutive 2-arm pull-ups.
Keep in mind that all these performances were done in the late 1800s and early 1900s before steroids reared their ugly heads. And the use of fancy machines.
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Sobering isnt it!!! Any serious fan of strength training needs to put pull-ups into their routine on regular bases. So heres a guide line to pull-up greatness Bodyweight Pull-ups 10 = Good 25 = Very Good 35 = Excellent 45 + = Physical Dynamo!! Weighted Pull-ups for 5 reps 25 % Bodyweight = Good 50 % BW =Very Good 75% BW = Excellent 100 % BW = Physical Dynamo!! One-Arm Pull-ups 1 = Good 5 = Very Good 10 = Physical Badass!!! So forget that lat machine and get up on that pull-up bar. Youll see some great gains in no time. Heres some advice to get you started. Instead of doing 3 sets of your max rep, 3 times a week. Try concerning yourself with volume of work. Let me explain, if you can do lets say 15 reps max. Then do 5-10 reps throughout the day, and everyday if you can, or set a timer for 1 or 2 hour intervals and when it goes off hit the bar and do your reps. Do lots of sets with lower reps is the key. One of my young students has a pull-up bar installed in his bedroom door. Every time he enters or leaves his room he does his reps. He went from doing 1 or 2 to doing 10 in a very short time. Let me sum this up 1. 2. 3. 4. Dont train to failure. Do more sets but less reps. Train everyday, if possible. Some days train hard and other days light. Vary it!!!
Note: If you cant do a pull up, use the lat machine until you can. Then never look Back.
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Did you ever wonder what type of exercises were the most effective for REAL WORLD STRENGTH and fitness??? Some solid facts can be found by research done by Bulgarian Sports Scientists!!! In searching for these answers, the Bulgarians wanted to know how the bodys response with fitness related hormonal release relating to different types of exercise. The theory is the greater the natural hormonal release, the more productive the exercise, and more strength gained. Heres what they discovered. The exercises in descending order as to amount of fitness related hormones produced, thus producing faster results. 1. Exercises that move your body or the majority of you body thru space. Like Dips, Squats, Pull ups, Sprints and such. These types of exercises release the most hormones. 2. Barbell exercises where you dont move your body thru space. Some examples are: bench presses, military press, curls, etc. They dont produce the same response as the first group. 3. Machine exercise: where one is in a locked position, produces the least amount of hormonal response and is the least effective. 4. Isolation exercises: and these are the least of all. They can be done on machines or free weights. Some are; Curls, triceps extensions, etc. So what does all this mean???? Well. when faced with a choice between dips or bench press, give the dips the nod or even pushups with some weight on your back. Between pull ups or bent over rows, pull ups hands down. Between machine press or handstand push ups, handstand push ups are far better. If you insist on doing types 2, 3, 4 exercises, kick things off with some type 1 exercise first. This is going to trigger top hormonal responses prior to the lesser exercises, thus having max hormonal responses activated on the lesser types. Mighty Paul Anderson started most of his pressing workouts with handstand push ups, kicking his fitness related hormones into high gear. As far as I read, Andersons pressing and jerking lifts have not been matched to this day. -From Jim Brassards E-mail tips free at ShaolinAmericankempo.com
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The Hindu-Squat
This is drill is king of all body exercise. It targets so many muscles that its not just a lower body exercise; its more of a total body exercise. No matter how conditioned you are, these will challenge you more than you think. It also builds great lung power. They increase muscle mass, bone mass and endurance while strengthening knee ligaments. Squatting requires not only leg strength, but also core and upper body strength as well. When you can do 400 straight youll get the picture.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Stand straight with feet about shoulder width apart. Inhale Keep back straight as you lower to the ground, thighs parallel the floor. As you go low your hands are behind your back. As you get lower, let your heels rise of the ground. Push off your toes and swing your hands upward. Your hands will rise for balance till their level with your chest. When raised, pull your hands toward your chest as if rowing a boat. Squeeze fist tight. Exhale as you lower yourself. Shoot for 100 of these straight.
Note: The old strongmen would just put there hands on their hips while doing what they called Deep Knee Bends. The deeper you go, the more it targets your butt. This is one of the best drills for a shapely arse. More on butt exercises later!!!!
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When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no "I'll start tomorrow." Tomorrow is disease. ~V.L. Allineare
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Do this 25 times or more then take a rest and continue. Or even better, do 100 in the morning and then at night.
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This will also work your shoulders and lats as well. You must concentrate on flexing these muscle groups while doing this. Closing your eyes might help.
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1. 2. 3. 4.
Lie on your back with hands by your sides Raise your legs while you inhale. Begin making a circle with your feet. Starting at the feet and hits a peak above your head and then ends at your feet. 5. Try 10 or more reps in each direction.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Sit on floor, legs straight out. Lift legs about 6 or 7 inches off floor. Now just open and close your arms and legs in a scissor motion. Exhale when crossing you arm and legs, Inhale when you open Shoot for doing 100 of these
Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it. ~ Josh Billings
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If you cant find suitable stairs, find a steep hill and run up and down it. Take long strides for fastest results.
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6,000 Year Old Secret -- How to Rub your Belly Fat Away
Heres a simple Trick to aid in eliminating belly fat. Dont pooh-pooh this because its so simple. Just prove it to your self by doing it for a week; it only takes a few minutes a day. Take both your hands and rub them together fast for about 20 seconds, like Mr. Miyagi did in the Karate kid. You want to create a lot of kinetic energy in the form of heat. Now, take one of your hands and place it on your belly button. Start to rub in small circles firmly over your belly button. Small circles at a pace of 1 per second. After youve done this for 30 seconds, stop. Rest for 30 seconds, and then repeat again. Lick one of your hands before you rub then together, the wetness in the saliva will makes a good conductor of heat. The first reason this works is that the heat passes through your skin. Once through your skin the heat attacks lumps of fat sitting there. Fat doesnt like heat!! Whenever you can elevate your core temperature you will trigger your bodys fat burning abilities. The heat and rubbing loosens up the fat and then it gets eliminated from your body through blood, sweat, urine and feces. The other reason this works is because youre stimulating your stomach and small intestines when you rub your belly. The rubbing helps them with waste removal. Most people have sluggish digestive systems which carry at least 5 pounds of fecal matter. This method will help speed up weight loss by eliminating useless sludge from your system. I recommend you do this for a few minutes in the morning then at night before you go to bed. You should notice a difference inside of a week.
A healthy body is the guest-chamber of the soul; a sick, its prison.- Francis Bacon
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Bear Walking
Bear Walking will develop animal like strength, and mobility throughout your limbs. While doing this you will also get out of breath shortly making a great exercise for your lungs and heart as well. You can burn fat and gain a lot of strength doing this one. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. You need a lot of room for this one, I recommend a field. Put all your weight on your hands and feet. Now start to walk like a bear. See if you can go the length of a football field. Try to RUN like this. Rest and repeat.
If you have stairs in your house, try walking up them the same way.
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Alligator Walking
If you thought bear walking is tough, wait till you do this one. Its a lot the same but youre staying very close to the ground with your chest. This one will really put some meat on those arms and chest, and takes your breathe away. It wont take you long to feel burning. Some of the most conditioned athletes I ever trained could barely go the length of a room, let alone the length of a football field. 1. Keep your chest as close as possible without touching the ground. 2. Keep your elbows high and walk forward. 3. Continue moving the same-side hand and leg movement.
Try alternating between the bear and alligator walk every few feet or so. When the alligator walk becomes too hard, then turn into a bear for a while then back again. This way you will be able to go longer. You may look a little silly to someone watching, but when you stand and display your new physique they will want to join in with you.
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Crab Walk
Crab walking is another great exercise for overall body conditioning. Your lung and limbs will get some hard work. Being in this position will hit the spine, butt and hips too. This is another good on for your butt. 1. 2. 3. 4. Find a lot of room and get into position. Start walking forward slow then faster. Keep your butt up high as possible. Keep breathing deeply.
After going forward some, try walking backwards. Youll be using your muscles in a whole different way.
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Duck Walking
Duck walking will really put your thighs and hips to work. Eric Heiden who won 5 gold medals in the 1980 winter Olympics had this in his workout regimen.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Get in a low squatting position. Put hands on hips or on top of head. Start walking as far as you can get. Rest, then repeat.
Important: Visit our website at ShaolinAmericanKempo.com and give us your email address, and we will send you weekly fitness tips. They will inform you and help to keep you motivated.
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it- Henry David Thoreau
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Can you do this 10 second Weight Loss Exercise & Test without getting sick??
Tibetan Spinning
This next drill is popular with the Tibetan monks for increasing ones life span and it helps in weight loss. It almost immediately increases your energy levels, endurance and balance. The only drawback is it might make you throw up. The reason for this is that this drill targets your endocrine system, not the muscles. And if its unbalanced you might get sick. So here we go.. Its nothing more than spinning around just like a little kid does all the time. You seeyour endocrine system controls your hormones. When its unbalanced your hormones get out of whack. When this occurs bad things happen to your health and weight loss efforts.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Stand up with arms by your side like airplane wings. Look straight ahead, then start spinning Spin Clockwise not counter-clockwise for best results. Start by spinning 3 to 5 seconds, then work your way up to 10-15.
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1. With feet close together, bend forward and place hands flat on floor shoulders width apart. 2. Extend your hands out in front of you about 4 feet. 3. Now swing your body forward on your hands, keeping your elbows straight. Almost all your weight is now resting on your hands and shoulders. 4. In this position, raise your head and expand your chest by taken a deep breath. Tense the muscles of the chest if possible. 5. Now push back with your hands. 6. Repeat 10 times then gradually increase.
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Lie flat on your back. Press your toes away from you. Raise your legs slowly and spread them at the same time. When legs are raised as far as you can go, they should be wide as possible. Lower your legs brining them slowly back together. Repeat 25 times or more
I am not discouraged because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward Thomas Edison 40
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Here you use your hands to aid your neck while bridging. Try to get your chest over your face or touch your nose to the ground. Roll back and forth till tired. When your spine, neck and body build up..then use no hands.
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Alligator Push-Ups
With that last lesson in mind, lets try the alligator push ups. Youll be doing pushups while you move forward on this drill. It wont take long for you to feel the burn on this one. Your whole body gets a workout and your endurance will sore. It will also help you get stronger at the alligator walk. 1. Find some room to move, and get down in pushup position. 2. Put one hand up high near your face and other low near waist. 3. Do a push up and walk forward with the low hand, now becoming the high hand. 4. Do another push up and repeat. 5. You should be moving forward and letting your feet drag. 6. See how far you can travel. The length of a football field is ideal.
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Wall Hindu-Push-Ups
You will be surprised at how this challenges your body in ways you might not have thought of. Its one thing to put your feet on a chair and do them, but much different on a wall. The chair picks up some of your weight since your feet are lying on them, not so on the wall. 1. 2. 3. 4. Put your feet on the wall. Get into position and do the Hindu-Push up. Try to do 25 reps Repeat till tired. See if you can do as many this way as the regular way.
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If you can do 10-20 thats great, if you can do 50-100 youre not human anymore. I recommend you try and do these everyday. Some days do as many reps as you can, and on others to just some light reps. Just trying to hold this for 1-2 minutes can build great strength as well.
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How to Burn off Calories at Double your normal rate and increase Fat-Burning by 30% RIGHT NOW!!!!
Here are a couple of tricks to burn more calories and fat.. Immediately. The first is easy. When doing any kind of cardio on a treadmill or running, heres a way to burn twice as many calories. Setting the treadmill on a 20 degree incline, or running uphill will drastically increase calorie burningover twice as much. A 170 lbs person will burn about 5 calories per minute while just walking 2 miles an hour. That same person will burn around 10 calories going uphill. Just imagine if they were jogging!!! So run for the hills or stairs and speed up your efforts to losing weight and getting shape.
The other tip is simply drinking water. Ye-Sirey, it will increase fat burning up to 30%. Studies have proven that drinking water will increase your metabolic rate. German researchers used an indirect calorimeter (a very accurate way to measure the expenditure of energy) in their study. When the subjects of this study drank 16 ounces of water in one sitting, their metabolic rates increased by 30% almost immediately. So there you go!!! Put these 2 tricks together and youll burn more calories and fat with not much more effort.
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Heres an oldie but goodie. It builds up thighs, pecs, shoulders and back. You will be challenging your balance as well. It employs self resistance which makes it a natural way to building body power and muscle. Joe Bonomo taught this in his courses.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Squat down low with knees together, heels raised. Pull you knees apart, RESISTING with your hands and arms. Push knees back together with arms, RESISTING with your knees. Do this exercise 15 times. Rememberthe harder you resist the more this works. This works sitting in a chair as well.
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Chinnies
This one goes by many names. It will really develop a strong stomach. Another oldie but goodieand it works!!!
1. 2. 3. 4.
Lie on ground. Bring up left knee to the right elbow. Go back down and then switch. To make this more intense, dont let your body and legs fully rest back on the ground, keeping constant tension on the abs. 5. Try to do 25 reps. 1 rep is one knee to elbow touch. 6. A goal is to do 100 straight with good form.
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Ankle Wiggles
Another great ab drill. What makes this work so well is that you constantly keep your abs tense while moving side to side.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Lie on back and bend your knees so feet are flat on floor. Raise your upper body a little. Begin to touch hands to the outsides of each ankle. Keep your abs contracted throughout.
In Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man, You can learn over more ab drills and routines that will have bullets bouncing of your stomach in not time. For more info go to ShaolinAmericanKempo.com
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Its more than ok to cheat on this one to get accustomed to it. Using a chair or the wall to help you push off will get you going.
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This exercise will help with the one legged squat, not to mention it will build great leg strength.
1. Stand with a chair or bench about 2 feet behind you. 2. Place the instep of your right foot on the chair. 3. Keeping your torso upright, lower your body until your left thigh is parallel to the floor. 4. Pause, and then push yourself up as quickly as possible. 5. Try 20 reps, and then repeat with the other leg. 6. You can add a challenge to this by holding some dumbbells in your hands.
You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down. ~ Mary Pickford
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Shower Time
Doing this will help you slim down and gives you a lot more youthful energy in the process. Within 7 days youll see the slimming effects of what I will teach you, and within a day youll notice a huge increase in your energy levels. So what is it????? To energize your body and help it burn fat you simply..
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Dont let the weights carry forward. Think about dropping your hips straight down as you step. Keep those abs tight, your chest up and squeeze those glutes.
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To be as fully developed man, you must develop mind and body equally.-Plato
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Burbees
This one of the best conditioning exercises known to man. They will fatigue the upper and lower body while simultaneously developing stamina and explosive body power. If you want a complete cardio and muscle workout slip these into your training. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Start in a standing position. Squat down and put hands on floor in front of you. Kick your feet back into push up position. Immediately return your feet to the squat position. Then stand up as fast as possible. See if you can go 3 full minutes, fast without stopping
Now for a real hard variation, do the whole movement with one leg at a time. Use just your right leg to do the whole movement, and then switch to the left. ENJOY!!!
"The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of all physical action." -- Bruce Lee
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These may be very hard at first, but keep at it. Youll be rewarded with new strength.
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Vacuum Squats
This was an old exercise of the 30s. In this one we get the benefits of breathing, leg work and abs all in one. 1. 2. 3. 4. Stand with hands on hips and feet about 10-15 inches apart. Take in a good gulp of air and fill your lungs. Bend the knees until youre in a squatting position. Now slowly let the air out the mouth until your stomach is pulled in as far as possible. 5. Hold for a few seconds and return to starting position. 6. Try to do 25 reps.
"A journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step." -- Lao Tzu
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The Inchworm
The inchworm is another excellent drill. This exercise, also known as the hand walk stretches your hamstrings, calves, glutes, and lower back. This will develop a very strong core as well. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Begin by standing, legs about shoulder with apart. Put your hands on the ground in front of you. Walk the hands out as far as you can go. Dont let your stomach touch the ground. Hold for 3-5 seconds. Walk back to starting position, and repeat.
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Animal Training
Animal routines are excellent for strength, endurance and coordination. You can start or end a workout with them if you like. Two ways to incorporate animal training is to measure your time or distance.
The best place to do this is outside in open space, a gym will do as well. Give this one a try as it targets different muscle groups. It wont be long to YOU become an animal, or at least have its strength.
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This drill will get you in condition on no time. You need to go to soccer or football filed for this. The object of this workout is to alternate between sprints and animal walks. You sprint the long side of the field and animal walk shorter sides. You want to shoot for 10 sprints and 10 animal walks to complete your workout. More if you got the energy. You can choose any animal walks you want, heres a list to choose from: Bear walking, Crab walking, Duck walking and Alligator walking. Sprint..100 yards would be ideal
Animal Walk
Animal walk
Sprint
Do this 2 -4 times a week and your clothes will be falling off you in no time!!!
"A journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step." -- Lao Tzu
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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Sprint down the long side of the field, then do 25 Hindu push ups. Then Bear walk the sort end. Next corner, due 25 Chinnies. Sprint the long side again. At this corner, try 25 Zisha dive-over presses. Now crab walk to the other corner. Then 25 V Sit-Ups (Jackknifes is another name for these).
There you have it, try to make up your own routine. Combine different animal walks and exercises to vary it. I recommend you do some sort of core exercise and upper body exercise at the corners. Your lower body is already getting a HELL of a workout sprinting and animal walking. Heres another one. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Sprint, and then do 25 Pull-ups. Alligator walk on the sort side. Then Sprint again. Try holding the plank for 1 minute or more. Duck walk next. Sprint. Then do 25 Mountain Jumper Pushups.
If you train like an animal, youll gain its health and strength.
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Circular Pressing
This is one that I developed with applying martial arts principles. Its similar in principle to the atlas chest press, but youre making a big circle with your arms. Like your stirring a huge pot of cement thats almost hardened. Youll be working the whole upper body on this one. The chest gets hit the most. 1. Stand upright and place your fist into the palm of the other hand. 2. Begin to press hard into each other. 3. Then start to make a big circle with the arms, as if you were stirring a big pot. 4. Concentrate on pressing the fist into the hand HARD throughout the circle. 5. Do 10 reps one way and then 10 repeat the other way. 6. Breathe out throughout the circle, then stop and inhale.
You can try to put palm against palm too, and if you can do more than 10 reps.your not pressing hard enough.
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"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that was reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." -- Booker T. Washington
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Isometric Push up
Just like the push up test before, where you try and hold a push up position for up to 5 minutes. You do the same here, BUT in the down position. Its a killer, but will build strength fast in those weak links of your body.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Get in push up position, and take a few deep breathes. Now go as low as you can and HOLD!!! Try to hold for 1 minute, and increase every week. Keep breathing as deeply as you can.
Tip: When you cant hold any longer, drop and rest as little as possible and then try to do 25 pushups.
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The wall chair is one of the best ways to strengthen the lower body and build mental toughness. Trying to hold it for 3-5 minutes will test your mental strength. In my first course Combat Fitness I showed you this exercise. Im going to upgrade it a little with the way I teach my students. First off, just sitting against the wall with the legs parallel to the floor for a few minutes is grueling enough, and you should start that way. But if thats getting too boring or easy for you, listen up.
Get into wall chair position, and hold naturally for 30 seconds. Then begin to push against the wall as if you were pushing it back. Dont go all out just apply a little pressure. After about 10-15 seconds, press harder, but still not full out yet. Then after another 10-15 seconds go all out. Try to push the wall back as HARD as you can for another 10-15 seconds. This should put you in the 1 minutes range, and if you do this properly, it will be the longest minute of you life. I do this with my students and it gets fast results. Most students wall chair holds improve within a few days. You can go longer or shorter time intervals according to your strength.
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Wall Squats
Wall squats is an exercise that will again test your mental and physical strength. You may think its easy, but youll change your mind after your first minute. Stand with your back, shoulders and head flat against the wall. Position your feet about 12-18 inches away from the wall (like the wall chair). Lower yourself into squat position and hold for about 30 seconds. Each week try to increase that time as well. Try 25-50 reps. This drill is excellent for developing strength and stamina in the muscles of your legs, and is great for your butt.
A great variation to this is to hold a ball in between your legs while you squat, and squeeze it with your legs throughout the movement. A basketball works the best. You can use this Swiss ball between your back and wall to make this smoother if you like.
"To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day." -- Lao Tzu
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Jumping Lunges
Alternating jumping lunges will develop tremendous muscle tone throughout the legs and buttocks. Its just like a regular lunge, but you have to jump to switch legs. Perform at brisk pace, and EXPLODE of your feet continuously. Your goal is to perform 100 straight (each jump is a rep). Hit 300 reps and your one of the most conditioned athletes in the world.
1. Step forward with your right foot. Plant the foot firmly as you lunge forward. 2. Keep body straight and your head in line with your spine. 3. Your right thigh will become parallel with the floor. 4. Try not to let your right knee go past your right foot. 5. EXPLOSIVELY push off the right foot as you jump up and switch legs. 6. You now land with the left foot out in front. 7. Repeat as fast as you can. Try for 50 reps at first.
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Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
So try doing pull ups on something different, like a tree branch or a towel thrown over the bar or branch. Tree branches and towels come in different widths which add another dimension to the exercise. You will find the thicker the branch or towel the harder it is to do pull ups. And when you go back to the regular pull up bar you will be amazed that you will be able to do more. Also another way to improve your pull up strength is what is called Heavy Breathing pull ups. This is when you do them after doing sprints or just work it into a circuit of some sort; the key here is to do them when you need oxygen. Heres a simple circuit using squats and a towel thrown over a bar or branch. Do 25 squats, then with no rest try and do 10 towel pull ups. Repeat this 5 to 10 times and you will be challenging your condition, and also youre gripping strength. Developing a powerful grip is also a key to becoming stronger, and by using the towel it will be harder for you to support your weight with your grip. 5 to 10 sets will add up to be 125 to 250 squats and 50 to 100 towel pull ups.
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You can put your legs against the wall for an added variation. Also you can spread them a little too.
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The Pendulum
With this drill you will not just work your midsection, but also develop some flexibility as well. Be sure to include this in your exercise routine and you should see those love handles disappear. Works abs, hips and obliques. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Lie on back with your legs straight. Hands extended to your side. Maintain straight legs and swing them from left to right. Keep your lower back on the floor. See if you can do this 2-3 minutes non-stop.
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The Ab Wheel
I personally believe this is one of the best drills to develop core strength. It works the stomach as well as the lower back. It takes a lot of power in the core area to keep your body in place throughout this exercise. If you can crack off 50-100 reps of this one, youll find most other ab drills to easy. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Knee down with the wheel on ground in front of you. Slowly roll forward as far as you can. Pause for 1-3 seconds. Then roll back and repeat. Try to do 20 reps.
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Did you also know Apples can also help make you Stronger???
Before you go to eat your apple
Work your grip and youll get bigger arms!!!!! I was watching the tonight show last week and they had a guy on the show that could crush POTATOS in his hands. One in each hand, and at the same time!!! Furthermore he did it 6 times in a row while Jay Leno held a bowel full of potatoes. You should have seen the size of this guys fingers and arms!!! So get some apples and see what I mean!!!!!
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This puts a great spin on the wall chair. When doing this exercise you will be hitting the quads, glutes, inner thigh and calves. Making this an all-round exercise. 1. Stand with back against the wall, feet twice shoulder-width apart. Toes turned out. 2. Slide butt down wall until your thighs are parallel to the floor. 3. Stay in this wall chair while you perform this exercise. 4. Rise on toes for two counts. Exhale. 5. Lower for two counts. Inhale. 6. Try as many as you can.
Want to learn how to make your legs look like tree trunk? Then check out Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man at ShaolinAmericcanKempo.com
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Side Plank
Like the regular plank, youll work your abs. But on this drill youll also work your obliques as well. This will be a big help in reducing your waistline. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Lie on one side, legs together and feet stacked. Prop up body on your elbow. Be sure elbow is directly below elbow. Press hips toward ceiling using your abs to stabilize torso. Try and hold for a minute, then switch sides. Breathe naturally.
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A great test to see if you have a strong core is the trunk-stability push up (superman pushup). Most people think its just a matter of doing sit ups or what not, but the core also includes the lower back as well. This drill requires the whole mid section to work together, thus being a better choice when you want to work out you abs. Lie face down on the floor and instead of putting your hands under your shoulders, slide them forward until your hands are in line with your forehead. Now try and push yourself up. If your back can stay perfectly straight, you have a very solid core. But if you had to contort you torso to push up your body, then try again but keep you hands in line with your chin. If you can do the push up perfect in this position your core is average.
- From Jim Brassards E-mail tips free at ShaolinAmericanKempo.com Theres a video of me teaching this drill on youtube. Just type in Combat Fitness Core Test Jim Brassard In fact go to my channel on youtube at Sakenpo (or type in Jim Brassard) and see videos of Charles Atlas, and me teaching exercises, as well as Karate videos. Subscribe, its free!!! Many more will be added monthly.
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Sprint up stairs/hill. Jog back down. Do 25 Hindu-pushups Sprint up again and jog back down Do 25 Hindu-squats Sprint up hill again and jog back down Do a 1-2 Minute plank. Sprint up again and jog back down. Do 25 Atlas dips. Sprint up hill again and jog back down. Do 25 Circular leg lifts. Sprint up hill again and jog back down. Do 20 Jumping lunges. Sprint up hill again and jog back down. Do 25 Alligator pushups. Sprint up hill again and jog back down. Do 25 Chinnies. Sprint up hill again and jog back down. Do 25 Zisha Squats.
You want to choose a hill or stairs that will take you 5-10 seconds to sprint up.and of course the steeper they are the harder this gets, thus the more fat burned and muscle built. Feel free to choose any other exercises between sprints that you like. Pull ups would be an excellent substitution for one or more of the leg exercises. After all, the legs are getting smoked with the sprints.
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If you need too, cut down the numbers a bit. But make sure you go at least 20-30 minutes total.
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Dips
Dipping is another upper body strength exercise that gets result fast, but I want to show you another way to make this harder. Im using dip bars, but you can use 2 chairs to get started.
Heres the regular way. Get in the up position and lower yourself slowly. The push up fast and hard.
Shoot for doing 25 in a row, and work your way up till you can hit 100.
NOWtry turning your palms outwards and give it a go. Youll find this one a killer. Puts a lot on the chest & triceps so be careful when you start.
Like I said before, you can start this one by dipping between 2 chairs till you build the strength to do your whole bodyweight.
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If these numbers are too high, feel free to chop them in half to get you started. In no time you will be able to get to the full numbers if you practice this at least 3 times a week. And when you can..repeat it again!!!!!
So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health. ~A.J. Reb Materi, Our Family
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Minute by Minute
This time instead of counting reps, were going to use 60 second intervals to gauge our workout. All you need is a countdown timer and will power. Every exercise youre to do for 1 minute.. Burbees. The Plank. Burbees. Isometric wall chair. Burbees. Isometric pushup or handstand push up hold. Jumping Lunges. The Pendulum. Jumping Lunges. Hindu pushups. Jumping lunges. Sitting arm and leg scissors. Jump rope. Rolling one legged squats. Jump rope. Circular chest press. Jump rope. Leg lift to sit up.
Ideally this should take 18 minutes and thats what you should strive for. If youre pressed for time, make these 30 second intervals and within 10 minutes youll have a full body workout that will burn more fat and build muscle like you wont believe.
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Repeat this 2-3 times. This may look easy, but its not. You will also be challenged mentally to hold these positions as long as you can. Perform this a minimum of twice a month. If you do you will develop both mental and physical strength. Make sure to improve your times on each workout. Youre welcome to replace any of these exercises with ones you want to develop.
Important: Visit our website at ShaolinAmericanKempo.com and give us your email address, and we will send you weekly fitness tips. They will inform you and help to keep you motivated, as well as keep you on the cutting edge.
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1 minute jump rope. 50 Hindu squats. 1 minute jump rope 25 Dips. 1 minute jump rope 25 Ab wheel. 1 minute jump rope. 15 Reverse push ups. 1 minute jump rope. 50 Goblet squats. 1 minute jump rope. 25 Hindu push ups. 1 minute jump rope. 25 Rising leg spreads.
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Vibro-Pull Up Workout
As we learned with the Hindu push up, applying hard tension to our cals can make an exercise harder which will build strength faster. This routine will turn your body into steel. Remember to flex all muscles in your body from fingers to toes. Youll even find that using tension should make you instantly stronger in most exercises. Hang from a bar and tense all your muscles, start by squeezing the bar tight and letting it flow all the way down to your toes. Hold for about 10 seconds. Next, pull your self up half way and repeat again, applying the tension. Hold for about 10 seconds. Then pull your self up so your chin is over the bar and tense again for about 10 seconds. Rest for a minute, and repeat 5-10 times. Remember to squeeze the bar as hard as you can. Youll find that by doing this you will develop a vice-like grip which will add more power to your upper body. If 10 seconds is too long to hold these positions then cut it down to 5 seconds. If to easy, then increase to 15 or 20 seconds. If you can hit 20 seconds or more than strap on some weight to your body and try. About 20% of your body weight is a good place to start. And for those of you who might have trouble doing pull ups, doing this routine will cure that problem. You should notice a difference within in a few workouts.
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The only bad thing about this drill it will reduce your waist size for about the first month or so, after that the results dont come as quickly.
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Now take 2 deep breathes. Any one of the breathing exercises in this course will be fine. 10 Sitting Arm & Leg Scissors. 10 Rising Leg Spreads. 1 Minute Plank.
Take a 1-2 minute break, and repeat. That will add up to 200 reps of various ab drills. Your goal is to do 20 reps of each drill so you only perform the routine once.
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If you like circuit training, the Combat Fitness manual and DVDs have over 30 routines to select from. For more info go to ShaolinAmericanKempo.co
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Rest 1-2 minutes, and repeat 3-5 times. Here is another one you.. Burbees 100 Dips 100 Hindu squats 100
Try and get this all done under 15 minutes, thats only 5 minutes per exercise. This will test you mentally as well as physically. One more for the road Vibro Pull up workout 2 Times Zisha Squats 50 Atlas dip 50 Swiss ball knee tuck 50 Wide wall sit with calf raises 50
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When you get good at the 100 challenge, its time to try the next one.
Time yourself and see how long it takes, and then try to beat that time every week.
You can not have Health without Strength or have Strength without Health. Joe Bonomo
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Dive-Bomber Push Up
This is the same as the Hindu Pushup, but you reverse the motion going back. It puts more work on the upper body because its almost like doing an extra push up. I usually make my students do this one when the Hindu pushup becomes too easy. In all the workouts where there is a Hindu pushup, you can replace with the divebomber for more intensity.
1. Start just like you did when doing a Hindu push-up. 2. Lower your head towards the ground and flatten yourself out as if you were sliding underneath a bar. 3. Finished the movement by driving your head upwards toward the ceiling. 4. Return to the staring position by reversing the EXACT SAME MOTION. 5. You can put your feet together for more resistance.
Try doing this the Vibro way and youll have a whole new experience.
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He could bend iron bars around his arm in a floral pattern. He could tear a horseshoe in half Pulled chains apart Held back 2 horses that were whipped.
Not bad Huh? And remember this was before modern machines and steroids were around.
There are many others mentioned early like Joe Bonomo and Eugene Sandow. Some did use dumbbells and barbells, but it was a supplement to their bodyweight exercises.
Zisha
One way to gain this type of strength is to focus on 1 arm or 1 leg drills. The Handstand push up is also just as important. Heres a sample workout 10 1 Arm Dive-bombers. 10 1 legged squats. 10 Ab Wheels. Try them on your feet instead of your knees. 10 Handstand Push ups. How about with just 1 arm???? Being able to do a Dead Start 1 Arm Push up will help build power too. Heck. just doing 1 arm regular push ups should not be ignored as well.
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This exercise is also known to develop a full chest as well. You can apply this to other drills as well. Like squatting, just explode up and jump as high as you can. Apply this idea to your workouts and you will soon find that you can get VERY strong with just the use of your body and gravity.
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In closing this course I wanted to leave you with some words of wisdom from Siegmund Breitbart Zisha
In the good old days when sailing vessels (I remember when I was a boy, my first ocean trip was on a full-rigged ship) every sailor knew that for the success of the voyage every spar and every stay had to be tight and ship-shape. A weakness of one yard-arm might cause the wreck of the ship. You know the old saying which is very true never the less that. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link In the same way, the weakness of one muscle or one vital organ may cause the wreck of a mans entire life!!!
Think of it, just the weakness of one organ or muscle can wreck your life!!!!! Thank you and stay strong!!! Dr. Jim Brassard Ph.D. /Ma.D.Sc.
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For more info on products, seminars, or specialized training, contact Dr. Jim Brassard Ph.D. /Ma.D.Sc. Unit 6-11 Enterprise Rd. Hyannis, MA. 02601 Email: Sakenpo@aol.com Phone: (508) 771-0111 Websites: ShaolinAmericanKempo.com JamesBrassard.com Now available Combat Fitness: Exercises of the Iron Man. Over 60 exercises and 25 routines Magnificent 7 the most important exercises that must be included for the best results, plus 6 runner-ups More products will be added to the site as they become available.
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