My Best Friend

My Best Friend: Are you a fitness enthusiast that takes their running shoes on trips, only to feel uncomfortable road running in unfamiliar areas? Are you tired of endlessly waiting for cardio equipment to free up at your gym, only to feel like a hamster running on a wheel? Do you love to run outdoors, yet shy away from putting on five layers of under-armor and sweats on in order to brave the sub arctic temperatures? 

Well, let me introduce you to my “Best Friend”, the jump rope. You can take it anywhere, you do not need much space, it does not matter what the weather is like outside, you do not need expensive equipment ($2.00 to $20.00 for a rope, my favorite costs $8.00) and you can vary the routines and movements to keep it interesting. My Grandfather was a boxing trainer in Paterson, NJ back in the 30’s, 40’s and into the 50’s. He instructed me on how to jump rope as a teenager as a means to improve my foot speed and endurance for wrestling and football. I then began to realize the incredible benefits of jumping rope. 

If you jump rope at a good pace for 5 minutes, it’s equivalent to running a mile! The coordination of your hands and feet moving in rhythm with each other is essential for a fighter. All of my martial arts classes begin with 3 to 5 minutes of jumping rope. In addition to the coordination development, jumping rope is an incredible means to warm up the body.

Even if you are a beginner and you miss on your jump, keep moving your feet. To learn how to jump, here are a couple of tips:

1) Play some music that you like with a good beat. You should put together a playlist for at least the same amount of time that you want to jump for. Use your favorite, upbeat songs & make a mix. Or, for those with obsessive, manic personalities, repeat the same song as an extended version. This also helps you jump rope longer. You basically fool your self into NOT thinking that you are jumping that long. 

2) To initially get your timing, watch as the rope hits the ground. That’s when you time your jump. It may take a few weeks to get your timing, but keep working, it will eventually happen. 

3) If you are still having issues, try putting the rope in one hand and jump up and down while rotating your wrist. This will help you to find your timing. 

4) Remember the less movement of your arms, the better. Your wrists are the primary focus of the rotation. Try also to keep them in the same spot, approximately at the level between the bottom of your chest and the top of your hips. This does not hold true when you are doing more advanced movements, like crossing the rope or double jumps. 

5) You do not have to jump very high. You only need to jump high enough to allow the thin rope to pass under your feet. Get your rhythm and all else will fall into place. 

If you’d like to workout the rest of your body, try performing push-ups and abdominal exercises in a rotation with jumping rope. You can start with 100 jumps, 20 push - ups and 30 abdominals. Start with 3 rotations and then increase to 5. You may also execute additional push - ups or abdominals. What a great way to start the day! 

Victory Favors the Prepared!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach me at  HYPERLINK "http://www.philross.com" www.philross.com.  

   

Never Say Die!

Never Say Die

You hear it all of the time "Never Say Die". You see the athlete in competition, whether its MMA, a Grappling Match, a Track Meet or a Football game — the sport does not matter, only the actions that lead to the end result. The participant is losing and it seems as if all is lost and then the tide shifts and the athlete that appeared to done for surges and emerges victorious. 

Everyone wants to win. Wanting to win is not the hard part. Sacrificing everyday in your training, your eating habits and by passing distractions - that is the difficult task. You need to make your training your priority - no room for excuses - make your workouts and push yourself to get better, stronger and faster. Excuses for failure are common, find a way to succeed. 

How does this happen? How does one develop this "Never Say Die" attitude? Can it be developed? Or is it only in certain people? 

There are certain people born with an innate inner toughness, but if it's not cultivated, they burn out and lose it over time. Others seem to develop, grow tougher and more resilient over time. How is this done? 

There is one sure fire way to develop this Never Say Die attitude, Train Hard. Yes, the more that you sacrifice and persevere, the more you become committed to succeed and less you are able to tolerate failure. There are many times when a combatant is in a scramble, they could easily give in and let their opponent win, yet they do not allow this to happen. The time, effort and pain endured in training comes through and they "dig deep" into their soul and put forth another effort. Training with purpose will not only harden your body, but your mind as well. 

When you are training, think to yourself "What is my opponent doing? Is he training like I am? Is he sparring those extra rounds, running that additional mile and performing those few more reps? Is he pushing through the pain?" You will never be able to answer those questions, until after the contest. The best chance of success that you have is to train to your best ability and don't make excuses for not training.  

The more that you put in, the more that you will be prepared to win. Take the Samurai for example. They were in Life and Death Battles. If they lost, they were dead. In order to win, they needed to have supreme confidence. They developed this confidence through their daily training regiment and discipline. The tenants espoused by the Samurai are ones that we can base our training on to develop our Never Say Die attitude. 

As Always - Train Hard & Train Often. 

www.philross.com      www.kettlebellking.com

Silver Anniversary Reflections

Silver Anniversary Reflections 

Primarily my blogs pertain to work outs, my views on training and events and other fitness and martial arts matters. This week, however, my writing will be focused around my 25 years as a Black Belt in the Martial Arts. June 6th, 2011 marks my 25th Anniversary of becoming a Black Belt in the Martial Arts. I remember a number of years ago when there was an article written on Michael DePasquale, Jr, a very high level martial artist and son of one of the founding fathers of American Jiu Jitsu, Soki Michael DePasquale, Sr. I often wondered what the conditions of the Martial Arts would be and where I’d be in my life the day of my 25th Anniversary. Incidentally it was Michael DePasquale, Jr. who inducted me into the Action Martial Arts Hall of Fame. 

Where am I today? I am typing this up as I sit next to UFC Fighter Mike Massenzio. We are on our way to Vancouver as a last minute replacement to fight Krzysztof Soszynski at UFC 131 Carwin vs Dos Santos. We took the fight as a last minute replacement for the injured Igor Pokrajac. Mike is a Middleweight (185), but we took the fight last minute against a larger opponent in a weight class 20 pounds up (Light Heavyweight) in order to get back into the UFC and have the opportunity to beat a credible, tough opponent with a respected name. Twenty Five years ago, I would have never dreamed the Martial Arts would have come so far. The advent of competitive Mixed Martial Arts was only a pipe dream to us back in 1986. We used to fantasize about being able to fight under the rules that there are today. Being a wrestler and then a Karate practitioner, it only made sense to want to put it all together in the ring.  

I am also on the verge of having my oldest daughter test for her Adult Black Belt in 2 weeks. Now 17, she has won several fighting and self defense titles, is on the High School Track Team, the High Honor Roll, has Ivy League level SAT Scores, sings in the school’s select choir and has been training in the Martial Arts ever since she was 2. My 15 year old son is well on his way, being a very successful martial artist, track & field athlete and honor roll student. My 17th month old daughter is already throwing roundhouses!

My wife is filming her latest workout DVDs in Philadelphia today. One of them is a Kettlebell Workout and she’s using some of the Complexes and Chains that we went over the past few days. We meet each other 3 & 1/2 years ago on a set while filming our individual Kettlebell DVDs - both of which were ranked in the Top 10 Kettlebell Training Videos on the market. 

I’ve had my own school for over 23 years. I teach Martial Arts, Kettlebell Classes and conduct personal training sessions. I’ve traveled many places conducting seminars in martial arts and kettlebells, cornering fighters, training with and meeting some of the most interesting and accomplished people in the world. I’ve been a champion fighter, promoter, coach, friend, actor, producer, bodyguard, author and choreographer. I’ve converted my passion into my livelihood and witnessed the Martial Arts rise to societal relevance: all during my 25 years as a Black Belt. Martial Arts are everywhere now. Kinda cool. 

I have had the pleasure and great fortune to train with and be ranked by some of the World’s most respected martial artists, fighters, trainers and athletes. Jon Collins, Tom Patire, Pavel Tsatsouline, Pat Finely, Dan Inosanto, Frank Shamrock, Steve Cirone, Mike Massenzio, Tim and Chris Catalfo, Jay Hayes, to name a few. Some of these relationships resulted in very tight, life long friendships. All of them, plus others, have contributed to my successes on and off of the mat. I have to thank them all for that.  

My father taught me a very valuable lesson. You are truly a success when you can give back. Your life should be measured not by how much you have, but how many people that you’ve touched in a positive way. Give back to the community that gave to you. I know that I give back to community that has given me so much and made me who I am today. Every day I give back to the Martial Arts Community with my teachings and support. The Self Defense that I teach to battered women and children, my S.A.V.E. Self Defense & Fitness program being utilized in schools, my S.A.V.E. our Kids Bully Proofing Program and the fitness work I do helping people become healthier and live longer better lives. Yes, I’m giving back and it feels good. I owe my life to the Martial Arts - that’s why I have dedicated my life to it.

I look at my tattered 25 year old Black Belt and I’ve been asked “How much is it worth to you?” “Would you trade it for a million dollars? Two million?” No. I would not. The belt represents who I am and the friendships I’ve forged, the people I’ve met and helped - those who have helped me. Without it, who would I be? Just like the credit card commercial says, my Black Belt and what it represents: “Priceless”. 

As always: Train Hard and Train Often!

www.philross.com                        www.kettlebellking.com

What's your motivation? (and how to keep it)

What’s your motivation? (and how to keep it)

A seemingly simple question to answer, but whatever your motivation to train is, it must be more compelling than distractions that will dissuade you from your fitness commitment. Maybe you want to be the best fighter in the world, or your grandfather died of a young age due to his weight, you were mugged or picked on as a child. There could also be positive motivations: the quest to be the best that you can be, to stay in or get in great shape, for the enjoyment of training, stress relief, competition with others and yourself. Unless your motivation is harmful to others, there is no right or wrong reason to train, as long as it keeps you working out and improving yourself - it’s good. 

Many of the the reasons that are our original motivation to train do not last forever. Example - let’s say you want to make the Varsity Football Team. You have to get bigger, faster, stronger and learn the skill set for your desired position. OK - you’ve made the team, now the season ends and your are graduating high school. There’s no way that you are going to play in college, yet you really enjoyed the way that you felt and how your body looked and performed when you were working out. Now you have a different motivation. 

Just like rotating your workout schedule, you need to alter your motivational factors from time to time. If you start a new martial art with the goal of becoming a Black Belt and then a few months later decide to enter a triathlon.  They are quite different goals, but the training for one will help the other. Keep fresh motivation, shot range goals and try different motivations. 

I have plenty of clients that come in want to lose weight. They have now lost their 80 lbs (yes, this did happen), what do they do now? Just keeping the weight off as a goal may not be motivating enough. The person knows that they must keep working out - but what is the motivating factor? This person wants to be able to do a pull-up and start the martial arts. They can achieve the new goal because of their former motivation. 

I’ve had other clients that wanted to get off of all of their blood pressure and cholesterol medications. Avoiding death is a reasonably strong motivator. Now that the client is off of the pills, what’s his new motivation? He now wants to be able to snatch a 24kg (53 lb) kettlebell 100 times. That’s a very respectable goal and new motivation. He had to change his motivation since his former goal to train had been met. 

The point of all of this is to get you to think of new goals, new motivations and new methods to keep you inspired to continue your training. There are many excuses for failure - find the reason to succeed! 

As Always: Train Hard and Train Often!  

www.philross.com                www.kettlebellking.com