Practice Kung Fu Every Single Day For Weight Loss

 If you want to lose weight it takes consistent effort. One huge complaint that I have heard multiple times is that they hate cardio, even though they know cardio helps burn fat.

Treadmills however are about as entertaining as watching paint dry or grass grow, so I turn to Kung Fu for my cardio exercise over everything else.

Kung Fu also helps with strength training. Low stances, stretches and fast movement help hit all of the major exercise needs our bodies need.

I personally love Kung Fu but almost all martial arts practice has these same benefits.

Tai Chi has a few additional benefits such as deep breathing practices. These practices help energize the body by reoxygenating the blood. The oxygen help our bodies heal and recover faster too.

In the gym, this afternoon, I ran into a guy named Clay. Clay works out all of the time. He can lift over 500lbs in one of his exercises. I made a joke that it was amazing that he can curl that much weight. One thing Clay does not do nearly enough is rest. This guy is an absolute beast in the gym, exercising every single day but he never gives his body downtime. Which brings me to my point, while we should practice often and consistently, a few days off here and there allows our bodies to recover and rebuild the muscles that get broken down in our exercise routines.

There is an old saying in Kung Fu. If we ignore our Kung Fu for a day, it ignores us for two days. This means that even though we do have to take breaks, never make those breaks too long or we won't get the benefit from our training, no matter how long we have been going at it.

Let me know in the comments, what martial art do you practice and how has it helped your health.

Kung Fu For Free?

 I have been thinking about teaching Kung Fu again.

This time I would do it somewhere where I would want to live.

I am thinking Hawaii.

I would teach for free and make money from various different weapon sales and extra classes.

I could make money from uniform sales.

It would be a lot of fun to just invite people into classes to join me and help them with their fitness goals while generating money through things that support their training, like supplements.

Let me know, would you want to learn Shao-lin Kung Fu for free, on a beach in Hawaii?

Being A Warrior In Times Of Societal Weakness

 For warriors life is a series of training.

We go through daily pain to make ourselves stronger and stronger and we end up the strongest of people.

Athletes are not warriors.

Business people are not warriors.

Warriors train to take lives but protect the innocent.

In the business world there are so many marketers who call themselves warriors but the truth is so many of these so called warriors can not hold their own in any sort of violent or even verbally confronting situation,

Society is weak right now and it grows weaker and weaker with every passing day.

People have lost sight of the value that pain and struggle brings.

We want to coddle the young, make them have no tolerance for the pains of life then expect them to do well in life because they all have some sort of advantage.

This is not how life works however.

The men and women who are the strongest are always the ones who've had the most troubles in life.

They know how to fight, they are resourceful and they make shit happen.

No man is rich when all men are rich.

No man is strong when all men are the same strength.

It is through contrast that we find value in some and not in others and it is this contrast that keeps life interesting and challenging.

Imagine if all men had one million dollars.

the first man to spend even a penny would now be the poorest of men.

How I lost 150lbs with Kung Fu and Intermittent Fasting

In highschool I was ripped. I was practicing kung fu 5 days a week, over 20 hours a week. I ate a lot back then but I was working out enough to keep the fat off. I was very active and enjoying life but then something changed.

I had been dating a beautiful girl for a few years and was spending more and more time with her and less time in the school practicing. Eventually she left me and I was out of the habit of going to class everyday. 

Little choices in my life had changed and I had started gaining weight.

I was still eating the large amounts I had been eating but I wasn't working out at all. I was starting to get into my 20's and World of Warcraft was released. I spent several years eating, not working out and playing video games.

Those little habits made me fatter and fatter until I was 380lbs. When I tried to workout out I would lose my breath so fast and it would hurt so much that I didn't want to do it. It wasn't fun, it just hurt.

After years of gaining weight, I was borderline high blood pressure, pre-diabetic and every night as I went to sleep I could hear my heart beating hard in my chest. I was pretty sure I was gonna die, if I didn't change my habits. 

Fortunately, I had a job at six pack shortcuts running ads for their company. My boss over there, Dan, asked my to workout with him. I said yes but didn't show up the first few times. Dan however is a very persistent man and only asks for small, doable things. All he wanted me to do was come once a week and workout with him. I did that and then I made a commitment to workout everyday.

At first it was very hard but Dan never pushed me to do more than I could. He always asked for just a tiny bit more and they seemed so easy to do I would happily oblige and take on one more small task each week.

I started to add more and more and I found myself back in my Kung Fu class and intermittent fasting.
If you haven't heard the buzz about intermittent fasting I would be surprised but just in case I will explain.

Intermittent fasting is when you cram all the food you eat for the day into an 8 hour time frame and then fast the other 16 hours of the day.

Slowly but surely I was seeing my wight just melt off as I ate better... More veggies, less food more exercise, more martial arts. I was starting to find my passion for moving again. I found a love for kung fu again and now I practice kung fu here and there and hit the gym almost every single day. I LOVE it.

So here is what I would love for you to do. Choose one small seemingly meaningless thing and do it at least once a week. If you feel like you can be consistent, eat a salad or plate of veggies everyday. Just one, plate. You can do that, right? Just choose one small thing... one commitment I made was drinking a gallon of water everyday... that is how I lost the first 20 pounds. That is all I did and the weight started to fall off. Could you drink more water? Maybe make sure you get a single glass in everyday for 90 days straight? Give it a try. I believe in you and know that with small changes over time you will crush your goals.

This man's eyelid was torn from his face by a...butt

Man of Tai Chi with Keanu Reeves

I just finished watching Man of Tai Chi with Keanu Reeves.

I was glad to see that Keanu Reeves was not the main character. If he had been this movie would have been just about as bad as it possibly could have been.

The majority of this movie was fight scenes. I enjoyed the scenes but I've got to say that most of the scenes were not done well from a Tai chi stand point.

The fight scene with the main characters master was a good one though. I would watch scenes like that every day if I could but for the most fault you won't see too much that isn't in any kung fu movie.

That is about all I have to say about it It is almost beginning to end fight scenes. I liked it.

3 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Kung Fu

When you begin kung fu you will learn many things and some of these things are things that you'll want to avoid.

Newbie martial artists are fairly predictable when they are making mistakes.
There is nothing wrong with these mistakes everyone goes through some version of mistakes when they begin the martial arts.

The first mistake I want to talk about is the mistake of thinking that kung fu is like the movies.
Kung fu is a lot of hard work and you should strive to have your movements be as natural as walking not dramatic and flowery like the movies.

I have seen many people come through the doors and they often think that kung fu is about pretty poses. You can't beat anyone up with a bunch of power ranger poses. These poses waste energy because they are inefficient and they lack power.

The next mistake I want to discuss might be a bit confusing but I think I can make it clear.
It is the mistake of doing what they think they should be doing rather than what the instructor is telling them to do.

So often I have seen people who join martial arts and after they have seen the new form they start thinking that they know it. Sometimes they do but they should look for further details to ensure they are doing it completely right.

So rather than getting a deeper level of understanding through observation of their instructor they start to think they know the form and look in their head  to see what to do next.

Now the other side of that coin is another mistake. Newbie martial artist would do well to give up following their instructors through forms in favor of getting through them on their own.

When I teach kung fu I make sure to show the students that I am teaching about 3 times. Then I make them think and do it on their own. They can never get through  he form themselves on the first try but they always know the form and know the form well by the time I am done teaching it to them.

I just require that they think and work to get the form so they don't end up going home empty handed. I hope these tips help you avoid these mistakes when you get started or even stop making them if you have been around a while. I have seen black belts still making some of these mistakes, so don't feel too bad if you are brand new and you have been making one, two or even all three of these mistakes.

If you'd like more kung fu tips and trick and just some fun martial arts related stuff check out my kung fu blog at http://www.eightdrunkenimmortals.com