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Weekly Challenge #116

Jumping Lunges – This is easily one of the best lower body exercises for strengthening and toning. Starting with a basic lunge position with the front knee at a 90 degree angle and the rear knee almost touching the ground, jump upward and alternate your legs into the next lunge. Challenge yourself to 5 sets each day (10 seconds, 20, 30, 20, 10) with a short break between each set. Since there is a jump involved, you really need to ensure that you are getting a safe workout: The lead foot needs to always be ahead of the lead knee; back straight; land gently into the next lunge; you can even rest a hand on a wall for balance if needed.

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No BS – Cut the excuses; don’t bother trying to convince yourself that the skills and results will arrive without time and hard work. Make your exercise and eating plan for the next 7 days and do it. Write it down, program it on your phone – whatever it takes to remind yourself that you are worth it. That healthy food isn’t going to just find itself – go shopping for it. USE your gym membership. This week’s challenge is simple: answer these 2 questions honestly and write down the answers and read them everyday this week. 1) How many times are you going to work out this week? 2) How are you going to eat healthier this week?

Good luck

Philip Woo

Alberta Shaolin Kung Fu Academy

Weekly Challenge #115

Side V-Ups – Your obliques will thank you for taking up this challenge. Lay on the ground on your side, with your bottom arm extended and top arm on the ground by your waist for balance and support. Keeping your legs together, slowly raise your legs as well as your upper body up toward the ceiling and then release back down. Repeat this 10-30 times, and then roll over and do the same on the other side of your body. Make it happen every day this week!

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Skip the Sides – If you are having a nice meal, skip dessert; If you are having coffee, skip the sugar. Do you really need that cookie with your tea? This week challenge yourself to enjoy your meals one step simpler, and you may find yourself enjoying what you eat, and not just stuffing yourself unnecessarily. Over-indulging can be a dangerous barrier to getting fit and healthy. So while the quality of the food we eat should always be considered, the volume is another element that should be considered as well. Skip the sides!

Good luck

Philip Woo

Alberta Shaolin Kung Fu Academy

Weekly Challenge #114

Dip & Knee Lift Pyramid – Here’s a great challenge that works both your upper body and your core! Use two sturdy stools (or something similar) to support your body for dips. Lower and raise your body with a tricep dip, and then raise your knees up to your chest and then lower them without touching the ground. The challenge is to do 1 dip / 1 knee lift, followed by 2 dips / 2 knee lifts, … , 10/10, 9/9, …, 1/1 – whew! Putting these two exercises together helps you make the most out of your workout time – so you can get back to your day!

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Time for Friends – Make a list of the 5 people you consider to be your closest friends. Your goal is to have at least one meaningful visit or conversation with each of them by the end of January! This will help to open and improve communications with those in your life, create a more enjoyable social experience, create and cultivate support networks, and enhance the quality of your life. Not too bad for just being a good friend!

Good luck

Philip Woo

Alberta Shaolin Kung Fu Academy

Weekly Challenge #113

Butt Kicks – Jump up and kick your heels back towards your butt repeatedly for 10 to 30 seconds. 5 to 10 sets with small breaks in between should be more than enough to work your lower body and heart. This is a super simple, super fast exercise that will remind you why you work out – to feel great!

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Give Someone a Second Chance – With all of the people we meet in our lives we tend to make concrete decisions about who we want to remain in our lives and who we don’t. Sometimes these decisions are based on whether or not we share commonalities, interests, goals and so forth. In the interest of efficiency and simplicity (and sometimes avoidance) we close doors on people and proceed on with our lives – but at what cost? You may miss out on a wonderful connection or relationship that would have otherwise been lost. This week make a point of giving someone a second chance to be in your life, as this gift costs you nothing.

Good luck

Philip Woo

Alberta Shaolin Kung Fu Academy

Weekly Challenge #112

Daily Stretching – Time for your first New Year’s resolution: Stretch every day. Regardless of your level of activity, daily stretching can reduce pains and injuries, while increasing your body’s performance. Create a small daily stretching routine (2 – 10 minutes) that is both reasonable and correlated to your needs, and stick with it. If you are already active, you probably already do some stretching: if you aren’t active enough, this is a great effortless start. Neck, upper / lower back, hips, hamstrings – whatever you think would benefit from some attention. Daily. As in every day.

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Challenge Yourself – Your next resolution: to challenge yourself. Whether it is your activities, diet or education – challenge yourself to push past your boundaries regularly. Maybe push your strength and stamina limits, maybe challenge yourself to follow a stricter diet, or simply increase the regularity of your current efforts. As vague as this is, it is your time to start challenging yourself – be smarter & stronger. Don’t wait until the New Year to start a resolution – start NOW.

Good luck

Philip Woo

Alberta Shaolin Kung Fu Academy

Weekly Challenge #111

Extended Forearm Curls – This is a very simple exercise that helps to strengthen and tone your forearms and your shoulders, which provides both form and function. Holding a light weight in each hand (even a soup can will do), extend both arms straight out to the side with your palms facing downward. Slowly curl your wrists as far as you can upward then downward repeatedly for 3 sets of 30 seconds. Remember, since these are such small muscles a very light weight will do just fine.

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Healthy Snacking – As busy and active people we tend to snack a lot: between meals, after class, on the transit and so forth. But it takes planning and forethought to ensure that it is healthy snacking, and not simply filling up on whatever is available (ie. junk). This week plan ahead by preparing and readying a host of healthier snacks – fruits, nuts, low-fat dairy products, oatmeal – and bring them with you. Bring some to work, keep some in your bag, wherever keeps them close by and convenient. Train yourself to satisfy your cravings with healthy habits!

Good luck

Philip Woo

Alberta Shaolin Kung Fu Academy

Weekly Challenge #110

Leg Extension & Wall Rub – This week’s challenge is super simple, needs no equipment, and doesn’t take much time at all. These leg extension & wall rubs will strengthen and tone your glutes, as well as dramatically improve the quality and control of your kicks. Starting from a standing position, straighten and extend your leg out to the side like a roundhouse kick with your toes pointed out. Keeping your arms tucked and trying to minimize leaning with your upper body, slowly rub the top of your foot up and down a vertical surface (like a wall) from knee height to as high as you can. The key to this whole exercise is to do this slowly – Challenge yourself to alternate 30 seconds per leg for 3 minutes a day!

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What Are You Drinking – The daily latte, pop, sport drink, chocolate milk, fruit punch – They are all making a huge impact on our health, and not a good one either. The sheer volume of calories alone should be enough to scare a person into drinking water more often, not to mention what that much sugar is doing to your body. This week challenge yourself to keep track of everything you drink, and calculate how many calories you really are consuming – just drinking.

Good luck

Weekly Challenge #108

Criss Cross Push Ups – This variation on your basic push up will ensure that you are not only working out your upper body, but adds a workout for your oblique muscles. Taking your basic push up, bring your left knee up to your left side for one full push up, then draw that knee across your body for the following push up. Alternate legs every 5 or 10 push ups for 1 full minute every day this week. Variety is important to keeping your exercises fresh, as it confuses the body into working harder, and keeps your mind active.

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Get Off Your Butt – Sitting too much can be the start of a sedentary lifestyle, which has a host of negative health impacts. So the question of how to be upright and moving throughout our days becomes the challenge. Try to see how much you can get done in your day without sitting – consider sitting as a treat, less of a habit. You might consider walking or biking instead of some of your shorter commutes. This week challenge yourself to be active and not sitting for as much of your day as possible! And no, you don’t need to watch that much tv.

Good luck

Philip Woo

Alberta Shaolin Kung Fu Academy

Weekly Challenge #107

Push Up and Reach – Push ups are already a staple exercise that you should be doing every day, but this variation adds some extra challenge for your shoulders and your core muscles! All you will need is a light weight (even a thick book will do) – Starting in a basic push up position with the weight beneath your chest, lower your push up until your chest touches the weight and then complete the basic push up. From here, use one hand to pick up the weight and extend it ahead (like superman) for 5 seconds and then place the weight back under your chest. Alternating arms, repeat this for 2 minutes every day this week!

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Simplify Your Life – This means getting rid of the literal and figurative clutter in your life, so that you can focus on what really matters to you. This week challenge yourself to make at least 3 efforts for each of the following: 1) Clean – Get rid of clutter, and enjoy where you live. 2) Efficiency – Plan your time, get a day planner, establish simple routines, limit / stop watching tv & playing video games. 3) Live Healthier – Eat right, exercise lots. 4) Spend Less – be a less wasteful consumer. Simplifying your life can help eliminate stress and improve the quality of your life!

Good luck

ps – If you enjoy these Weekly Challenges, feel free to click “Share” – Thanks!

Philip Woo

Alberta Shaolin Kung Fu Academy

Weekly Challenge #106

Sideways Leg Raises & Extensions– Here’s a super exercise for your legs that should only take a few minutes of your time. From a standing position start by slowly lifting a straightened leg outward as high as you can before slowly lowering it almost to the ground – repeating this for 15 seconds. At the peak of the last leg lift do 15 seconds of fast roundhouse kick extensions, and then switch legs. Continue alternating legs for 3 minutes. Try this exercise every day this week!

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Less Meat In Your Diet – There are so many ways to ensure that your body stays strong and healthy for many years, and an excellent and easy tip is to simply eat less meat. You don’t need to cut out meat entirely, but the portioning and quality is the critical part. Choosing healthier lower-fat selections for the meals in which you are having meat will help greatly. Whether your goals are nutrition & health related, economic or ethical, reducing your meat consumption is a great start to this week’s challenge. The next step this week is to research and discover really how dramatic the impact of eating less meat is on the world around us!

Good luck

ps – If you enjoy these Weekly Challenges, feel free to click “Share” – Thanks!

Philip Woo

Alberta Shaolin Kung Fu Academy