Archive for June 2011

Alright guys and girls! Its time to get your calculators out and get ready to do some MATH!!!!! Right now I want to hit you with some information about your Water Intake!!! I know your all getting ready for Ben’s next blog on something you think is important but don’t forget that our muscles are 75% water and our brain is 80% water….now I got you thinking!

So I know we have all heard the old 8 glasses a day is all we need but really with the amount of crap we put our body through (eating habits, and day to day life), then we also have to look at other factors such as size and weight, climate (as you more then likely guess the warmer the climate the higher the water intake) and our genetics. So with all that we cant just use one  magic number for the whole world to go by! The other thing we need to take into account when working out how much water our bodies need is that good old fashion workout! And I know from personal experience that training at Versus means you’re gonna SWEAT!!!!

So now is the time to get those calculators out (check the battery power because I’m guessing you kids haven’t used them in a while) this easy formula will hopefully help you get back to hydration:

Here is how much you should drink:

0.6-0.7 ounces per pound of body-weight

or

39 ml per kg of body-weight.

Therefore, 120 to 140 ounces for a 200 lbs man (10-12 pop-can sized servings)

or

3.55  to 4.14 liters for a 91 kg man.

(formula thanks to charlespoliquin.com)

And remember…..We are made up of water not the following……

sodas, coffee, tea, diet drinks, fruit and vegetable juice and alcohol….SO THEY DON’T COUNT IN YOUR DAILY REQUIREMENT!!!!

happy drinking!

ed

From the very first time you stepped into kickboxing or Muay Thai class, chances are you were excited and impatient to learn how to throw a devastating high kick. Traditional thinking leads you to believe that the only way to attain the flexibility required is to practice your splits, over and over, day after day. For individuals constantly strength training it can sometimes feel like a futile pursuit as the splits seem to never get significantly closer to the ground. There are a few quality stretch programs available specifically for martial artists, probably the best being the Elastic Steel series (www.elasticsteel.com).

Even though my own splits are still not very impressive at all, my high kicks have significantly improved by using the following stretch routine before each training session.

Always remember to do some type of warmup before stretching such as skipping rope for 5 min and take each stretch to the point where it becomes a little uncomfortable but never painful.

Hip Swings 1

Hip Swings 2

Perform 12 controlled hip swings on each leg.

Knee Circles

Perform 6 large knee circles in a clockwise direction and 6 in an anticlockwise direction on each leg.

Straight Leg Circles

Perform 6 large straight leg circles in a clockwise direction and 6 in an anticlockwise direction on each leg.

Adductor Stretch & Static Hold 1

Adductor Stretch & Static Hold 2

Adductor Stretch & Static Hold 3

Perform each Adductor Stretch and Static Hold 5 times on each leg. Hold each stretch and static hold position for 5 sec.

Adductor Stretch & Static Hold 1

Adductor Stretch & Static Hold 2

Chamber the Kicking Knee

Adductor Stretch & Static Hold 2

Adductor Stretch & Static Hold 3

Perform 5 Adductor Stretch & Static Hold with Knee Chamber repetitions on each leg.

Chamber Stretch 1

Chamber Stretch 2

Perform 5 repetitions on each leg of the Chamber Stretch.

Chamber Stretch 1

Chamber Stretch 2

Chamber Extension

Chamber Stretch 1

Perform 5 Chamber Stretches with Kick Extensions on each leg.

After completing all of the stretches above feel free to do your splits. You should notice a significant difference in the maximum height of your kicks after only a few weeks. Now it’s time to teach your sparring partners the value of keeping their guard up!