Fit and Youthful Life

Guest Author: Gary Matthews


Ever wondered why most sports scientists agree that cardio-boxing is one of the best forms of exercise, well it is because it conditions the total body and provides a complete workout for your cardiovascular and endurance systems. Lets have a look at the benefits:

The major benefits of cardio-boxing include:

* Increased Stamina

* Increased Strength

* Increased Speed

* Increased Coordination

Cardio-boxing also promotes a person’s well being by strengthening their self-discipline and combined with strength training it’s well and truly the total package for self-defence and fitness and usually consists of:

* Adjusted heart rate work

* Actual boxing techniques

The usual workout consists of the age-adjusted heart rate work starting with 10 minutes for beginners and leading up to 20 minutes for the more advanced. For the second part of the workout, you’ll need to perform and practice 20 minutes of actual boxing techniques.

Cardio

The best way to measure the effects of an exercise program on your body is to check your pulse.

The easiest way to check the pulse is to place your index and middle fingers on your carotid artery or the wrist. Immediately after the exercise, count your pulse for 15 seconds and multiply by 4.

You can also check your pulse during the exercise but with safety as a first priority. To get a more precise reading of your pulse rate, purchase an electronic device from any sports store.

Now you have your exercising pulse rate or heartbeats per minute. We’ll be concentrating at the upper end of your pulse region: the 50% – 70% ranges.

To figure this out, deduct your age from 220. Suppose your age is 40, deduct this from 220 and you get 180.

50% of 180 is 90 beats a minute,

60% of 180 is 108 beats a minute,

70% of 180 is 126 beats a minute and so on.

Don’t jump into 70% work straight away. Start with 50% and slowly work your way up to the 70% upper limit.

Start with no more than 10 minutes, and work up to 20 minutes. Once you’re comfortable with working out for 20 minutes at 70% then try to increase the heart rate up to 80%.

Mix up your cardiovascular activities in the gym. Use the treadmill, skipping, rower, climber, and bike and other equipment that might be available to you.

Boxing

The boxing stance is the posture a boxer takes before and after every action depending on whether you are left or right handed. We’ll be dealing with the most common; right-handed. For left-handed people, just reverse the instructions.

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, with your left foot in front of your right foot. Your right heel should be slightly raised with your left foot flat on the floor and toes pointing ahead.

Bend your knees a little and balance your weight comfortably and evenly.

Place your elbows close to your body with your left fist held at head height and in a position that corresponds to your left foot.

The right fist should be at head height also and guarding the chin, with both elbows protecting your body and both fists protecting your chin.

This is your defensive and offensive position after throwing punches, so please practice this before going any further. When moving forward in this boxing stance the left foot moves forward first and then the right follows.

When moving back, the right moves back and then the left follows. When moving sideward to the right, the right foot moves first followed by the left. When moving sideward to the left, the left foot moves first followed by the right.

Practice this moving forward, back and sideward in the boxer’s stance until it is done smoothly and quickly. Remember to keep your guard up and elbows tucked in to your sides.

Keep your head at eye level with your upper body leaning forward slightly. In boxing it is important that punches are thrown quickly and then bought back quickly to assume a defensive posture.

Punching

A left jab has many uses, it can be used for both offensive and Defensive actions. From the set stance the left arm is pushed quickly and forcefully forward, the weight is shifted to the front foot. The fist moves in a straight line and straight back again for defence.

At the moment of impact the back of the hand and the lower arm are in a straight line. Keep the right fist in the defensive position and elbow tucked into the body during the movement.

The straight right is also known as the punching hand and can be thrown with considerable force. The arm moves straightforward from the chin, the body weight is shifted to the front foot with the ball of the foot of the back leg pushing into the floor for more power.

The back of the hand is straight and pointing up at the moment of impact. The arm is then immediately pulled back for protection after the hit.

The left hook to the head and body is an effective punch for closer range work. From the set stance turn your left shoulder quickly and move your elbow up to shoulder height. The fist moves in a circular motion to the target, with the elbow bent.

Rotate your hip and body whilst pressing your front left down keeping the back of your fist pointing up and in a straight line with the lower arm. The left hook to the body is similar to the above but increases the rotation of the body

The right uppercut is also carried out at close range. Drop the lower part of your punching arm until the lower and upper arm is at right angles to each other. The back of your hand should be pointing away from you, now thrust your arm forward and upward to your target.

Shift your body weight to your front leg and rotate your hip and shoulder on the same side. Remember to keep your left fist guarding your chin during the entire movement. Now practice all your punches until they are done quickly and smoothly.

To develop speed and endurance, try punching straight left and right combinations into the heavy bag.

The duration of the exercise period is the same as the rest period i.e. 10 seconds exercise, 10 seconds rest, 20 seconds exercise, 20 seconds rest, and so on. Move up higher as your condition improves.

Believe me after you start applying Cardio-Boxing to your regular fitness workouts your cardiovascular and endurance systems will thank you for it.

Guest Author: Kyle Oxenham


The common concept of weight training is that it is done to get really big muscles. What can people possibly get if they allow weight training classes for high school? Will they end up with high school kids that look like wrestlers? Or worse, end up with super buff high school kids that might wrestle their teachers if they fail an exam? How creepy!

Getting extra large muscles is not the only thing about weight training. You can use weight training to have larger muscles. You can stop or stick to your regimen without increasing your repetitions or weights if you are satisfied with your size. Weight training for high school can easily become part of the curriculum such as swimming and wrestling. These sports are equally as dangerous as the others.

But mind you, weight training can be one of the safest exercises around. Weight trainers just need to carefully follow instructions to avoid any injuries. This will not be a problem to highschool students since coaches will be around to observe the students progress. Speaking of progress, weight training in highschool will stick to easier routines and lesser weights. For short, beginners! It will be foolish to let highschool students jump into an advanced class because weight training is like climbing a ladder, you have to be at the bottom before you finally reach the top.

Aside from getting toned muscles, weight training will teach students more about self discipline, endurance and patience. Why these three? Self discipline because the exercise has to be done properly. Students have to follow the correct body posture. Even spreading the weight all over your body can be called cheating. So, if an exercise is for a particular muscle that should be the only muscle thats worked on and nothing else. The exercise is designed to tests your strengths and limits. Sometimes it is near impossible to complete the exercise as you reach the end. Students endurance will be tested. Weight training will also teach them patience because larger muscles do not just grow overnight.

Can weight training in high school teach them more? Yes! Weight training will inculcate these three values in students but there are more that they will find out for themselves. Once classes are done or the students have graduated, they will find out that, not only did they undergo physical changes because of weight training but they also had changes in the inside that they can bring with them and use it in life.



Turn Back The Clock

Guest Author: merry parker


Ancient practitioners have likened yoga to a living tree with six branches coming from the trunk, with each branch having its own unique function relating to a particular lifestyle. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is one of the six darshanas of Hindu or Vedic schools and, alongside the Bhagvada Gita and Hatha Yoga Pradipika, is a milestone in the history of Yoga. Though brief, the Yoga Sutras are an enormously influential work, just as relevant for yoga philosophy and practice today, as when written many thousands of years ago.

The six branches of Yoga tend to have some aspects in common and familiarizing oneself with all six will certainly help in the selection of your own yoga programme that incorporates routines that appeal from any of the six branches. Asanas or postures, Pranayama or breath control, these two disciplines along with meditation and a strict moral code are the fundamentals of the practice of yoga.

Hatha Yoga

Introduced in the 15th century by an Indian sage as a preparatory stage of physical purification to enable the body to be fit for the practice of higher meditation as in Raja Yoga, Ha means sun and tha means moon, a reference to the energy channels of the body. Fully opened energy channels allow the body to become supple enough to attain the mental disciplines of Raja Yoga. In practice, both Hatha and Raja Yoga are inter-related and dependant upon each other. Western practitioners associate yoga with the hatha branch to attain mental and physical wellbeing.

Raja Yoga

Raja translates as ‘royal’ and meditation is central to this branch of yoga, which has eight side branches or limbs in an order that must be strictly followed. We start with Yama meaning ethical standards, Niyama – self discipline, asana – posture, pranayama – breathing control, pratyahara – sensory withdrawal, dharana – meditation, samadhi – ecstasy or final liberation. Those inclined to introspection or meditation are best suited to Raja yoga.

Though members of religious orders and spiritual communities devote themselves to this yoga branch, one does not have to embrace a monastic lifestyle to gain from the benefits of practicing Raja Yoga.

Karma Yoga

The fundamental principle of Karma Yoga is that what we experience now is created by our past actions, whether in this life or a previous one. Once we understand this principal, then we can ensure all our present actions help create a future free of negativity and selfishness. To practice Karma Yoga is to lead a life of selfless service to others.

Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti Yoga is yoga of the heart, a branch of devotion Bhakti is the Sanskrit term for selfless love of God and mankind. Bhakti principles are universal and common to many world religions. By following the path of bhakti we learn to channel our emotions, accept and have tolerance for all those that cross our path.

Jnana Yoga

This is the branch of knowledge, the yoga of the mind and is both the most difficult and the most direct of the six branches. It is yoga of the mind, of wisdom, the path of the sage or scholar. The practitioners of Jnana Yoga develop their intellects by intensive study, particularly but not confined to, the yoga tradition and other spiritual teachings. This is the path that most appeals to the intellectuals pursuing the practice of yoga. Within the context of our Western religious traditions, Kabalistic scholars, Jesuit priests, and Benedictine monks epitomise Jnana Yogis.

Tantra Yoga

Tantra, from the Sanskrit ‘to weave’ or ‘loom’, is the branch of yoga that practices ritual as a means of experiencing the divine in all our activities. Probably, the most misunderstood or misinterpreted of all the yogas, tantra, the sixth branch, is the pathway of ritual, an in tantric practice; we experience the Divine in everything we do. A reverential attitude is, therefore cultivated, encouraging a ritualistic approach to life. In essence, tantra is the most esoteric of the six major branches and appeals to those yogis who enjoy ceremony and relate to the feminine principle of the cosmos, which they call Shakti.

In the West, the tantric path of yoga has become associated almost entirely with sexual activity. It is because of this emphasis on only one aspect of this branch that it has become misinterpreted and misunderstood by so many. It is amusing to note that, although tantra has become associated exclusively with sexual ritual, most tantric schools actually recommend a celibate lifestyle. The ‘Kama Sutra’ an ancient Hindu book of sexual techniques is the best known example of the lack of understanding of the true objectives of tantra yoga.

A discipline that leads to a reverential attitude to even the most every day celebrations of giving and receiving, of birth and death, of achievements and of failure, and of relationships and understanding, this is a path that will appeal to westerners who enjoy being actively involved in celebrations, church going, clubs and associations and other types of ceremonies.

Combining the Paths

You do not have to limit yourself to one expression, but can practice hatha yoga, taking care of your physical body, while simultaneously cultivating the lifestyle of a Bhakti Yogi, expressing compassion for everyone you meet. Whichever, avenue of yogic expression draws your interest; it will probably be the right yoga path for you.