How I Stay In Shape

All athletes need to stay in shape. This factor is often times what decides the outcome of many sports matches. Of all athletic endeavors, there are few that compare to the fight game in terms of how fit the practitioners must be. This is because fighters endure not only the physical exertion they put themselves through, but the physical toll their opponents put them through. Watch "The Thrilla' In Manila" and see what I'm talking about. I'm not a professional fighter, this does not interest me, but I am an instructor and I like to stay in excellent shape (think Bruce Lee). Over the years I have had many people ask me what I do to stay in such good condition. Here is a brief summery of how I stay in shape. My hope is that others will use this as a means to improve their own physical fitness and by doing so, not only increase their ability as an athlete (of any kind), but that they might also find the simple joy of living with good health, as I have.

First thing is first, and that's my diet. Christmas day of 2005 was a big change for me. I am well know for being a health fanatic and that was day one. I chose that day because it would be easy to remember and would help me keep track of time. I eat whole wheat and whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean meats, lots of fresh dairy (I rarely eat cheese). That's it. I drink lots of juice, milk, and I enjoy healthy varieties of tea, which I usually make myself in a cast iron tea pot. Water is a given and I drink plenty of that every day. I don't touch anything with refined sugars, caffeine, enriched white flour, or trans fats. I stay away from fried foods also. I eat no fast foods except one or two items on the Chick Fill A menu (which I researched before ever eating them). I read the health label on anything and can name the calorie stats on most common packaged foods. When it comes to a typical day in the life of myself and what I eat, it goes something like this. I wake up and eat breakfast (most important meal of the day) and this nearly always means whole grain cereals with 2% milk or skim milk with some fruit, such as bananas. For lunch I may have a small bowl of whole wheat pasta and more fruits, grapes being a particular favorite. About two or three hours after lunch I usually eat a small meal consisting of fat free yogurt (tastes really good when you freeze it yourself) and more fruit. I often drink all natural tea during the day also. For dinner I might have a salad with chicken and steamed vegetables. This is not always the same, of course, but these are staples of my diet. I also love Japanese food, especially sushi, because fish is so good for you and it tastes awesome. This all natural food diet serves as fuel for the day and for my workout sessions. It also helps me maintain my weight and a good immune system.

Now let me take you through my daily workout. I workout from two to six hours per day, seven days a week. I like to begin my workout sessions with my endurance training. Beginning as a boxer before studying martial arts, my two favorite endurance exercises have always been running and skipping rope. There is no endurance exercise better than running. I put on some sweat clothes, lace up my workout shoes (a pair of pumas) and hit the road. I start out running slow for about one hundred yards before I kick it up. I always make sure to run and never jog. Jogging is terrible for your back, shins, and joints. You should sustain your running at six miles per hour or above. I generally do interval running, which is where I run for a while then explode for one hundred yards or so, then go back to regular running. This repeats until I am done. And when I say "explode", I mean run harder than you can imagine, focusing on the initial quickness of my take off. I usually run four miles. My minimum is two and my maximum (so far) is six. I also add shadow boxing and footwork drills into my running. Sometimes I turn around and run backwards or side ways as well. After I return from my run, I pick up my eight foot leather jump rope and get to work, no breaks taken. I work on all different foot work patterns. I like to cross the rope, double jump, and move all around the room, never staying in one spot. I do this for about ten minutes. Sometimes, if it's raining or I'm gone all day until night fall, I substitute a stationary bike for running. I spend about forty-five minutes on the bike, averaging about ten to fifteen miles and burning three to four hundred calories (of course, calories continue to burn after you stop).

Now that I'm nice and tired, I work on my flexibility exercises because my muscles are relaxed.
The exercises I perform are very simple. I begin with my feet one shoulder width apart and I bend down and touch the floor, holding it for a while. I repeat this once or twice. Then, I spread my feet apart a little more and touch the floor again, only this time, reaching back behind my feet. As I spread my feet out again, I put my head to the floor and hold it for a while. Now I begin focusing on going lower and lower. These stretches work the inner leg muscles such as the adductor group. I always keep my feet flat on the floor, bladed as martial artists do when throwing the side kick. After a while, I stand up and put my hands on my hips and roll them around. Now I'm loosening up the fasciae latae, the muscle on the side of my hip. From here I pull my foot up behind my leg to stretch the iliosolis muscle, the head of the quadricept. When I'm nice and relaxed, I put my fists on the floor and slide out into the side splits. I like to hold this one the longest and lie on my stomach, sliding forward then back to stretch each muscle from multiple angles. I also like to have a partner push down on the back of my hips for that extra stretch! All in all, I complete this set of flexibility exercises in about ten or fifteen minutes. My routine is essentially a slightly modified version of Bill "Superfoot" Wallace's stretching routine.

Now that I'm nice and limber, I like to begin by shadow kickboxing. I loosen up, work on footwork, and throw combinations. Then I practice my techniques on targets. I like to do most of this work on my heavy bag. I generally begin by working single techniques, then combinations. After that, I kickbox the heavy bag for five to eight, three minute rounds. I take thirty second breaks. After this, I go back to single techniques and combinations. While I'm working these techniques, I'm not just counting off numbers. I always work on specific principles such as my distancing, timing, recovery, defensive posture, power, economy of motion, footwork, visualization, etc. Then of course, there is sparring. I don't have sparring partners often and I beg and bribe as many people as I can to put on some gloves and head gear to work with me. Then I like to focus on foot work, angular attack drills, and other tactical drills.

After this, I like to take a break. I rest for two hours or so. I usually eat dinner here and relax. When I go back, I do the hard stuff.

This is my hour for strength training. I love weight lifting for strength training. there are many routines I have experimented with but my favorite is the good old circuit routine. This utilizes slightly lighter weights (still heavy though) and works like this: You have multiple stations or exercises, each working a different muscle group. You work each station for thirty seconds to a minute as fast as you can and move straight the next station with no break. You only have to do about seven to ten stations to completely wipe yourself out. I usually do fifteen and focus on compound exercises, working multiple muscles with each station. This not only builds strength and muscular endurance, but is one of the most effective fat burning exercises I've ever seen. This is because of the increased demand your body has for oxygen during this workout. Utilizing this method, I brought my weight down from one fifty to one twenty-nine in less than a year. My waste line dropped from around thirty inches to about twenty seven inches. This is the same routine Bruce Lee utilized during the making of Enter The Dragon. Watch the film and let the results speak for themselves! After doing my weight lifting, I work on my stomach. I do hundreds of repetitions of waste twists, leg raises, sit -ups, side bends, and butterfly crunches utilizing a medicine ball (I throw it with my feet back to my hands, then back to my feet).

This daily routine changes often but the exercises here are the real staples that I have found to be most effective for me personally. I always train as hard as I can, executing every movement with conviction. I always try to break my previous pain barrier. Like in a fight, you can never quit. Here are a few quotes I always recite to inspire myself to work harder, even when I don't feel like it.

"I worked out for four hours a day when I was competing, but I killed myself for those four hours"- Bill "Superfoot" Wallace

"A fight is won out there on the roads, alone in the gym, long before I dance under those lights" -Muhammad Ali

"If you can break the pain barrier then maybe, you might be a champion, but if you can't then forget it" -Arnold Schwarzenegger

"I never even think about quiting; next to dying, it's the last thing I'd ever do" -Joe Lewis

"When everyone else was eating I was running, when everyone else was sleeping, I was working out, that's how bad I wanted it" -Benny "the jet" Urquidez

"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level" -Bruce Lee