Effective Martial Arts Training with No Equipment or Partner vol 5 How to put it all together by (2012)

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Disclaimer: Introduction: Making time: Prioritizing: Deadlines: The low-information approach: Non-finishing: Batching: Nutrition: Fat loss: Changes to the diet: Intermittent fasting: Aerobic endurance work on an empty stomach: Water: Amount of water per day: Supplements: Multivitamin: Fermented cod liver oil and vitamin rich butter fat blend: Sleep: How to fall asleep quickly: Amount of sleep needed: Quality of sleep: Making a program: Structure of martial arts and sports training: Weekly off day: Pulling back:

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COPYRIGHT© 2012 All rights reserved

Disclaimer: The material in this book is for informational purposes only. You should use proper discretion, in consultation with a health care practitioner, before undertaking the exercises and techniques described in this book. The author and publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects that may result from the use or application of the information contained in this book.

Introduction: This book has two main purposes: How to create the time needed for the training/lifestyle and how to maximize the positive effects of the training. The first purpose includes concepts like time management, planning, how to develop a training program based on your individual goals and life structure, and the low-information approach. The second purpose includes things like nutrition, sleep, and supplements. All these things lead to structuring your lifestyle so you can have success with martial arts.

Making time: If you want to achieve greatness in any field, you need to spend all your time and energy on activities associated with that field for as long as it’s required to develop incredible knowledge and skills in that field. So we need to create that time and (mental) energy. We do this through several principles:

Prioritizing: The first and most important principle to fully understand is that there’s a very big difference between being busy and being productive. Most people seem to think that these are the same. However, But most of the time they are actually opposites. Being “busy” is a form of mental laziness because you don’t want to sit down and prioritize your tasks and activities. For instance, in regards to your long-term goal, most things don’t matter. Focus on the few important tasks that will get you results and ignore the rest. Limit tasks to the important ones to free up time. Ask yourself throughout the day: Am I inventing things to avoid doing the important things? One way to avoid this is by making a short to-do list first thing in the morning. Preferably you will have mapped out your entire day if possible but sometimes new tasks pop up. Use deadlines to know which tasks are the most important. For instance: If I only had 2 hours today, what would I do with that time? Which tasks would I focus on? What would I remove?

Deadlines: Use deadlines to get your tasks completed quickly. A task will seem more important and complex in relation to the amount of time allotted for its completion. The shorter the deadline the more mental focus the task will require, so you will focus only on the essential and important aspects of that task. This higher focus creates higher quality with less time used. Shorten work time to limit tasks to the important. Less is more, so prioritize so that you only do tasks that will get you to your long-term goals quickly, and then schedule them with very short and clear deadlines. Also avoid multitasking; doing a number of things at the same time will only decrease the quality of the work and increase the time needed to complete those things. .

The low-information approach: Information uses and consumes attention. Attention is mental energy and time. So it’s critical that we concern ourselves only with information that is relevant to us. That is the gist of the low-information approach. You need to learn to tune out and ignore any information that is not related to your short and long term goals. Analyze carefully what you watch and read. Is it really relevant to who you want to become and what you want to achieve? If martial arts is the thing you’re passionate about, then why are you reading about celebrities and watching the news? What’s the point? You’re wasting time that you could instead use becoming who you want to be. This understanding is critical when working to achieve anything that is worth achieving. Think about how much time you spend on needless information during a normal day, and then make a conscious decision to eliminate it. Don’t turn on the TV, or better yet: get rid of it. Switch off the internet. Eliminate all newspapers and irrelevant magazines. These are some of the easier and most effective things you can do right off the bat. And don’t worry about the things you don’t know. You may feel like you need to know what’s going on in the world at all times, but you really don’t. If something really important happens people will tell you about it in an instant. You might learn some people skills while you’re at it. If you need to relax, I suggest spending time with people whose company you enjoy. Instead of reading about celebrities doing adventurous things, go out and try to have a little bit of adventure yourself. Other ideas for relaxation are meditation or watching things that are relevant to you such as combat sports and martial arts instructionals. Another important thing is that you try to only take in information that is relevant at the moment, or as close to that time as possible. In some cases, if you consume information too long before you need it you’ll just forget it, and then consuming it was a waste of time. Fulfillment of your long-term goals is a product of how well and how fast you achieve your short-term goals. The short-term goals are always changing, sometimes on a daily basis. So keep your focus on those goals in regards to the information you seek out and consume on a daily basis. If you focus and work hard on the short term ones, the longs term one(s) will take care of itself. An example of this concept is

when you are researching some combination, or where to buy some particular foods or supplements that you need. If you don’t need this information right now, then wait to do your research until you actually do need the information.

Non-finishing: Another helpful principle is the act of “not finishing” something. We’re taught from a young age that we need to finish what we started; and there is also usually some kind of money and time involved. Because of this, we feel like we already have something on the line if we’ve already used some of our energy and/or money, and that it will go to waste if we don’t finish what we started. But this is not a helpful and constructive way to look at this situation. If something sucks and is a complete waste of time, then cut your losses and move on to something more important. Don’t finish the book, movie, date, meal, relationship, or whatever it is; simply walk away and move on.

Batching: Irrelevant tasks that consume your time must be ordered in such a way that they consume as little time as possible. Tasks like these include things like cleaning, laundry, shopping, paying bills, and emailing. We could, in theory, pay someone to do some of these things for us, but finances and scheduling may not allow it. What you can do is wait a certain amount of time until many or all of these time-consumers need to be done, and then do them all at once. How much time you can wait before doing these tasks depends on your individual life. If you live by yourself, then cleaning and washing the dishes only once per week may be fine. If you have a family, then it might not be. I usually do my shopping twice a week; I check my email and phone every morning only (unless I’m working); and I do my cleaning, laundry, dishes, and cut my hair once a week. This really saves a ton of time and frees up a lot of time that you can use on the things that are really important in your life.

Nutrition: When it comes to the area of nutrition, there are two concerns that have to be taken into consideration. The first one is the effectiveness of the diet. In other words, how well it provides energy, minimizes fat storage, and provides the necessary vitamins, etc. The other consideration is the comfort of the diet. How easy is it to prepare, how cheap are the ingredients, how accessible are the ingredients, and how easy is it to actually eat? I have tried many diets and the one that seems to fulfill these considerations the best for me is the “paleo diet.” I’m not saying other diets don’t work and/or aren’t easy to follow, but in simple terms: paleo is easy and it works. The paleo diet is based on the eating patterns of the early human of the Paleolithic or Stone Age. These humans were hunters and gatherers, and that’s the principle behind the paleo diet. Foods that are allowed: Meat, fish, poultry, shellfish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, berries, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, and oils derived only from allowed foods. Foods that aren’t allowed: Grains, dairy, legumes, potatoes, and anything processed. This is the gist of the diet. It’s very easy; just choose from the foods that are allowed and eat until you’re full. No need for counting calories or anything like that.

Fat loss: With a few tweaks to the paleo diet and few extra recommendations, we can lose a great deal of body fat in a fairly short period of time if we should choose to. Some people may feel the need, others don’t. In martial arts training with excessive body fat should be avoided, simply because it slows you down. But don’t go to the extreme; we’re not training for a triathlon or the Tour de France here.

Changes to the diet: To change the paleo diet for fat loss, simply cut out the fruit, berries, nuts, and seeds. Feel free to include them in your diet again when you have achieved your desired fat loss. Fruit, berries, nuts, and seeds are healthy foods, but only in moderation. They are known as domino foods, meaning you can easily end up eating too much of what would have been a good thing if eaten in moderation. These are essentially nature’s snacks; but don’t go overboard when you return to the more inclusive paleo diet.

Intermittent fasting: Some regard various forms of fasting as a part of the whole paleo lifestyle. However you choose to see it, the fact is that fasting is a very effective way to lose fat in a relatively short period of time. The most used time- table for intermittent fasting is the 16/8 principle, meaning that you fast for 16 hours of the 24 hour day and only eat in the 8 hours remaining. You’re still allowed to eat as much as you wish. Most people fast in the morning and eat in the afternoon and evening. This makes sense because of how most people’s days are structured. My schedule is that I eat from 1300 to 2100. How often you eat in those 8 hours is up to you. I eat every 4 hours (1300-1700-2100). When you’re fasting, it’s important to stay busy and remember to drink water. Fasting can be a little taxing on your concentration. If you have a highly stressful job then maybe it’s not the best route to be fasting while under mental pressure. But on the flipside: it’s effective and easy in that you don’t have to worry about getting food all the time. If you’re having a hard time fasting, you could try to limit the days that you fast to maybe 3-4 days a week. You should also know exactly when to eat, as that frees up a lot of time and energy.

Aerobic endurance work on an empty stomach: This works extremely well in conjunction with the intermittent fasting in producing quick fat loss. Simply do your aerobic endurance work in the morning on an empty stomach. This is very much used in combat sports, especially boxing, where the training day almost always starts with roadwork. As always, remember to drink plenty of water before doing this. If you plan your intermittent fasting in some other way, you should still make sure to do this work still on an empty stomach if you wish to lose body fat rapidly.

Water: I suggest that you only consume water at all times. Unsweetened tea and coffee is also okay. But be aware that only water counts as water. Water is the only thing that hydrates you. Essentially, you can get water into your system in two ways: through food (mainly vegetables and fruits), and by drinking it.

Amount of water per day: The amount of water that you will need to take in depends on several factors: Your size, diet, and activity level. To stipulate a precise amount of water is very hard to do. Luckily, nature gave us a way of being fairly sure: Your urine simply has to be clear and white. You should also be able to tell how your body feels and then make a fairly sure assessment of how much you need at the moment. Make sure to drink a lot when you get up in the morning; usually you would be dehydrated at that moment, and also before and just after a training-session. Never drink ice-cold water, and never pour it down like a madman. Your stomach will tense up and you will feel discomfort. Remember this especially if you need to be able to perform shortly thereafter. You need to take a moderate mouthful and then keep it in your mouth for a few seconds and before swallowing it. This makes sure that you are not stressing the stomach with too much too soon, and it also ensures that the water is the same temperature as your body. Your mouth is lukewarm, and so the water will become lukewarm after a little while as well.

Supplements: I only recommend that you purchase and consume two supplements. Really, I consider them more like foods and not something that is put together in a lab with a specific and abstract scientific purpose. But before we get into those two products, I want to tell you something about the supplement industry. First of all, there is no federal oversight of the business. This means that you have almost no idea what these products contain; it could be snake oil for all you know. Second of all, these products are produced and marketed mainly for the bodybuilding crowd, which means that these products are made to build as much muscle in the shortest amount of time and to lose the most fat in the shortest amount of time through the use of stimulants. These things put a stress on your body, and are unhealthy for your body in the long run. These products are everything that the manufacturers think will work, stacked together in a pill or powder. Human beings weren’t meant to put this stuff in their bodies. Martial arts is not about taxing your body to win a trophy and then eat and get fat afterwards, and then tax the body all over again with massive amounts of supplements in a new training camp. Martial arts are about having a healthy and functional body throughout your entire life. Because of that, we are left with the only two supplements I would recommend for your consumption:

Multivitamin: You need to find one that also includes minerals. If you buy a high-quality product, then that shouldn’t be a problem. A few other things to be aware of: buy one that doesn’t include iron unless you’re a woman. Women excrete iron form their body when they menstruate, men don’t. So be aware of that. Also try to find one that is made with a collection of herbs instead of the clinical tablet; those vitamin pills are made by creating artificial versions of vitamins. Your body won’t absorb and integrate those kinds of vitamins as well as the more natural ones. If you follow the before-mentioned diet, the recommended daily dosage should be more than sufficient.

Fermented cod liver oil and vitamin rich butter fat blend: Studies have shown that indigenous people who eat fermented foods are less prone to disease compared to Westerners. Fermented cod liver actually used to be consumed regularly in the West. It wasn’t uncommon for a household to have a barrel of fermented cod liver oil outside their door. This tradition has somehow been lost, but is now coming back strong. The rationale behind fermentation is that it keeps the delicate nutrients from the cod intact, and actually increases them as well. One thing about this product though, is that it doesn’t taste very good. You can minimize this problem by keeping it stored in the refrigerator and consume it with water and together with a meal; that does the trick for me.

Sleep: Sleep and a steady sleep pattern are integral to our health and wellbeing. Without good sleep you simply don’t perform as in well in life as you should. Correct sleep, among other things, alleviates stress, increases focus, and allows the body to recover from training. All of these factors are crucial in martial arts.

How to fall asleep quickly: In general, the emphasis in regards to normal people seeking help towards sleep improvement is how to get out of bed in the morning. I prefer to approach the problem the other way around: if you know when you must go to bed and you fall asleep quickly, the problem of getting up in the morning solves itself. If you wake up rested, you are almost sure of getting up. The following are some of the principles I use to fall asleep quickly; these are especially useful if you have to change your sleep pattern because of travelling or so forth: 30 minutes before your bedtime, turn off all electronic devices and dim the lights. In those 30 minutes, do something that relaxes you. I would recommend taking a shower (preferably very warm or very cold) and/or meditating. When those 30 minutes are up, go to bed and hopefully you will fall asleep quickly. Make sure that the electronic devices are turned completely off so that there are no small flashy lights present in the room. Instead of just dimming the lights, you could turn them completely off during the 30 minutes. If you choose to meditate in the 30 minutes before bed, that would be a good idea. If you choose to read, then it’s probably not the best idea. The reason we dim or shut off the lights. Is that when you are exposed to darkness, your brain starts to produce a chemical that makes you sleepier: melatonin. You might have to increase the 30 minutes to up to an hour, and some people can even get the same results with less. Try it out for yourself and see what works. The more this becomes a habit, the less time you should need to get sleepy and ready for bed. If you go to bed and can’t fall asleep within 15-20 minutes, then get up and perform relaxing activities as specified in this section, then go back to bed when you get sleepy. Try to limit your caffeine intake and exercise to no closer than two hours before going to bed. You should also complete the last meal of the day at least two hours before bedtime. Cut down on or avoid fluids beginning at least an hour before bedtime. If you have stuff on your mind before going to bed, write it down on a piece of paper to be handled in the morning. Avoid daytime naps and make sure you’re sleepy before going to bed..

Amount of sleep needed: An adult requires on average between 7.5 and 8.5hours of sleep every night. However, this requirement varies widely between individuals and depends on age, genetics, and the amount of physical and mental activity that person goes through during the day. You will have to experiment a little with this one. For instance, start with 8 hours and see how you feel during the day.

Quality of sleep: The quality of your sleep is largely connected to having a well-established sleep pattern. This means that you go to bed at around the same time every day (this follows the principles mentioned above to get sleepy) and get up at the exactly the same time every day, 7 days a week. You should sleep in complete darkness, and your bedroom should be quiet and cool (67-70 Fahrenheit seems to work well). Heavy curtains or light-blocking blinds might be helpful to archive darkness if it’s light outside. Earplugs can help you if you get disrupted or have a hard time falling asleep because of noises. Your sleep shouldn’t be interrupted during the night, and you shouldn’t use your bed or bedroom for anything other than sleeping (sex is the only exception). Humidity on one or the other extreme end can also be a problem. You will need to experiment to see what feels the best for you; you could use an ultrasonic humidifier for this.

Making a program: On the one hand, your program should be detailed and comprehensive. On the other hand, it should be flexible and open to almost daily changes. So we need to keep both of those things in mind. I would suggest that you also include the time-consuming tasks that you have to do, such as the ones that we talked about earlier, in the program. This includes things like when to eat and when to take your supplements, and other things of that nature, as this will obviously save time. In the beginning it is almost impossible to know how much to train and in what proportion the different aspects of martial arts should be to each other. This is knowledge that you can seek from different places: First of all you should ask your instructors. If you train at a good place, then they would surely tell you what you need to work on. Make sure to listen and write down what they tell you. You should also have a general sense of where you are lacking. For a beginner, stamina and flexibility would be a great way to start. For experienced martial arts practitioners, things like speed, strength, and explosiveness would be ideal to concentrate on. For the expert, meditation, inner power, being mature, and focus would be things to consider. If you can, try not to train the same body part or energy system (stamina vs. power/strength) two days in a row. Trying to work on multiple qualities at the same time is likely to lead to ineffective training of all the qualities. Pick which qualities you wish to work on, and then work on them. This can't be said enough in reference to training. Review your workout plans daily and try out new things that you learn about through research and such. A training program should be thought of more as a guideline rather than something that is set in stone. Pulling back if needed is also very important and is discussed below. Another thing is that, as you progress in your martial art, the requirements change. If you’re going for a belt test then you might have to train a lot differently than otherwise. Keep this in mind, and perhaps discuss this with your instructors and training partners.

Structure of martial arts and sports training: Generally, there are four layers to sports training. The layers are hierarchical in structure. The four layers are physical, technique, tactics, and psychology. The structure as a model would look something like this:

Psychology (expert) Tactics (very experienced) Technique (experienced) Physical (beginner) In order to truly master a layer, you need to master the layer below. For instance, you can’t perform the techniques in a correct way if you’re not flexible or coordinated enough. Of course the layers blend into each other all the time, but this model is just to gain an overview and understanding of how and what to train. I would always suggest that you train things from all layers, but focus more on the layer or level that you need to conquer in order to move on to the next one. This understanding is very good to keep in mind when structuring your training, and perhaps if you’re really serious: your lifestyle.

Weekly off day: I strongly suggest having an off day once a week. If you want to go off your diet on that day, then that shouldn’t be a problem; just don’t go all-out crazy on cakes and ice cream and things of that nature. Maybe eat one bag of chips or a piece a cheese or something like that. If you go all-out, a number of negative things can occur. First of all, you will feel like crap and you will most likely get diarrhea. So the day that you planned to use for relaxing and recharging the batteries, you spend feeling like crap. The other thing is that the more you go all-out the harder it will become to get back on the straight and narrow path. Then suddenly the cheat day has become a cheat week, and the habit has been broken. Once this happens, you will need to use a lot of mental energy to will yourself back onto the right diet path. Remember that a habit takes 3-4 weeks to form and a lot less than that to fall apart. Use this knowledge to your advantage. On this day you should also make sure to see other people in a strictly social setting. When you devote yourself to something wholeheartedly, you automatically isolate yourself somewhat; at least from those people you know who are not directly involved in your chosen field. Make sure you hang out and talk with them on this day. Get your mind off of your goals and just relax and recharge. Do the stuff that normal people do to have fun. But make sure it is fun and the people are fun to be around; this shouldn’t be torture. A good idea would be to put this day immediately before a day when you have to perform at your best. For instance, make your off day the day before your hardest training day. If you do a lot of high-impact stuff like sparring a particular day or two a week, make sure that your off day is before that day. Also, if you can, perform your batched time-consumers on your weekly day off.

Pulling back: To make sure that you don’t over-train and burn yourself out, you need to learn to listen to your body and pull back if necessary. If you start to feel tired all the time and perhaps start getting a cold, then you’re most likely over training. Take a day off and focus on low-impact stuff like meditation, research, walking, stretching, or your emotional motivator (mainly the tactics and psychology levels). Treat this as another off day. Don’t start to feel bad just because you skipped a day of your training program. Eventually you will be able to do all you want to do, but it takes time for your body to become very well-trained; Six months to a year is not unusual. Over training is also a sure way to develop serious injuries, and getting one of those could set you back maybe 3-6 months or longer, and then you have to start all over if you’re lucky. If you’re not, you might never be the same again athletically.

Table of Contents Disclaimer: Introduction: Making time: Prioritizing: Deadlines: The low-information approach: Non-finishing: Batching: Nutrition: Fat loss: Changes to the diet: Intermittent fasting: Aerobic endurance work on an empty stomach: Water: Amount of water per day: Supplements: Multivitamin: Fermented cod liver oil and vitamin rich butter fat blend: Sleep: How to fall asleep quickly: Amount of sleep needed: Quality of sleep: Making a program: Structure of martial arts and sports training: Weekly off day: Pulling back: