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Weekly Challenge #51

Straight front leg extensions – This exercise helps to strengthen your core muscles and your quads, muscle groups used regularly in martial arts and day to day activities. Start from standing straight with your feet together and toes forward. Keeping both knees straight, extend a leg forward to as close to a ninety degree angle as you can. Using your quads and core muscles, hold this position for 30 seconds and alternate legs. To ensure that you target the correct muscles, ensure that you keep your posture without leaning forwards or backwards, and just let your arms hang by your sides. Try 3 reps for each leg – It’s a lot harder than it sounds!

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Appreciate Art – Visit an art gallery this week. When you find a piece you like, think about what drew you to it and what that says about you – this journey into self-awareness helps to broaden the mind of a martial artist. You may broaden your understanding of art, and at the very least you will find yourself exposed to unique artistic expressions. Mind-numbing television shows and cookie-cutter popcorn movies can be fun, but have eroded away at some of our ability to comprehend things which are unique and profound.

Good luck

Philip Woo

Weekly Challenge #49

Clap Push-Ups – The idea of a clap push up can be intimidating, but the explosive extension of the arms is a fantastic workout for the upper body that is worth working up to. The easiest way to start would be with your knees on the ground and push up fast enough that your hands lift off the ground – and then soften the landing by lowering your body towards the floor to avoid hurting your wrists. Work your way up to single claps, double claps, or jack knife claps (knee tucks while touching your ankles)! This week challenge yourself to try 15 to 20 clap push ups every day – you can do it!

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Both Sides of An Issue – Choose an issue that has caught your attention in some way – perhaps it’s something that directly involves you; maybe it is a topic of interest, or even something that you hear about in the media recently. Once you have chosen an issue, spend 30 minutes this week learning and researching about both sides of the issue. Maybe you’ll change your opinion; perhaps you will bolster your existing opinion; or simply shift your understanding and perspective. You may already have an opinion on the issue but this challenge teaches us to listen for both sides, a skill that makes us better people – students and teachers alike.
 
Good luck

Philip Woo

Weekly Challenge #46

Hip Bridges – This exercise helps to strengthen your lower back muscles, abs and your rear. These bridges also can help to reduce lower back pain. Start by lying on your back with your feet flat and knees bent. Tighten your abdominal muscles and pull your hips up until you form a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. Hold this position for 10 – 15 seconds, then release – repeat this 10 – 15 times. This is a super simple exercise to do right when you wake up!

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What You Don’t Like – Figure out something that you don’t like. Maybe a particular genre of music, sport, or art – and learn about it. Read a book, watch documentaries, try it out, or however you like. Learning helps us to understand, empathize, and respect. Martial artists and non-martial artists alike strive to live in a world filled with respect and empathy, and this one exercise illustrates how simple it is to be the change.

Good luck

Philip Woo

Weekly Challenge #45

Staying on track with your exercise and fitness goals means that even when on holidays we need to make time for regular activity. Even as little as 15 minutes a day can help you maintain your health and fitness levels. Challenge yourself every day until August to do one of these three tasks: 1) 15 minute walk, jog, or swim; 2) 15 minutes of stretching; 3) 15 minutes of martial arts practice. Regular activity is an investment in your self – stay active and stay healthy!

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Spend time with your family – Find out how they are doing; what their goals and plans are; do things that you all enjoy together! Email, call, visit, lunch – any amount of time you invest in family is time you will benefit from. Let’s not forget that our family almost always has our best interests in mind, so open communication and healthy relationships will help you too.

 Good luck

Philip Woo

Weekly Challenge #44

Outward Arm Rotations – This exercise is a super way to strengthen and tone the upper arm and shoulders! Start with your elbows tucked right to the side of your body, with your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle forward. Then, with a comfortable weight in each hand, slowly open your forearms outward and then close. Be sure to keep your back straight and your forearms parallel to the ground for the entire movement. Try 3 sets of 10 reps every day this week!

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Overcoming Failure – We fail as a regular part of achieving and this is what makes us try hard. I’m not trying to console the hearts of failed achievers, but simply to illuminate the path to success. The natural momentum of life feels halted when we fail, and that’s when our ambition and motivation should be kicking in. When we fail we tend to think that we are falling back, but really we are only realizing that we are standing still or not moving at the pace needed. This week, write down something you failed at, and then write out the solution. Trace the steps necessary to complete the solution, and determine if the effort is worth the achievement. If it is, then do it!

 Good luck

Philip Woo

Weekly Challenge #43

Front Arm Raise – This exercise helps to work the shoulder and upper arm, both building strength and toning the area. Start from standing straight with your arms by your sides with comfortable light weights. Alternating arms raise your straightened arm up to your shoulder height and slowly lower it down. Try 3 sets of 10 repetitions (both arms) each day this week!

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Problem Solving, Not Avoiding – In our lives we encounter many problems that we simply avoid. Avoidance is a perfectly passable option for problems that are non-recurring issues that are not problems for others. However, if a problem is recurring, or impacts others negatively, then we should challenge ourselves to fix it. By taking ownership of a problem and fixing it we become problem solvers, and not problem avoiders. It’s an incredibly empowering idea, but one that is often underused. This week look into your own life – home, work, interpersonal – and find problems that you’ve been avoiding and not solving. Maybe it’s a health issue; perhaps it’s a fitness issue, or a personal issue. Once you’ve identified it, fix it! Don’t forget to solve any challenges that come up this week too!

Good luck

Philip Woo

Weekly Challenge #42

1 minute drill – Start from standing straight, raise your left knee to your chest, then your right knee. Follow the knee lifts with a left side kick to the left of you, then a right side kick to the right of you. Squat down for a single push up and then spring back up to your feet. Repeat this drill for 1 solid minute every day this week. How many reps can you do?

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List your top 10 achievements – Write down 10 of your top achievements you have accomplished in your life. It could be familial, social, academic, career-related, or any personal victory. Thinking of and writing down the achievements is the easy part: the deeper value comes in understanding how those victories have shaped us. For better or for worse, our lives have been shaped, in part, by these achievements. Another layer of this challenge is to look at which achievements you chose to consider being your “top achievements” and ruminate on why you value those achievements so highly.

Good luck

Philip Woo

Weekly Challenge #40

Superman Plank Push Ups – Keeping your fitness routine from getting stale means mixing things up a little bit! Even a basic push up and plank can be put together in a way that keeps things fresh. For these push ups, start with a basic push up with your feet shoulder width apart, and at the top of your push up raise an arm and leg up into a Superman position (alternating opposite arm & leg) before returning to the original position. These will target your upper body and core simultaneously. Be sure to take a full breath in and out for both the push up and the Superman. Try 3 sets of 20 seconds each day this week!

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Goal Setting – Setting goals for ourselves helps us to decide what is important to us and can keep us focused and motivated.  We build self confidence when we reach our goals – regardless of whether the goals are fitness, academic, work, or personal. Writing down and reviewing our goals helps us to stay on track with success. This week write down 6 goals for yourself: 2 to be done by next Sunday; 2 by Canada Day; and 2 by Canada Day 2011. Have these 6 goals written down before you go to bed tonight!

Good luck

Philip Woo

Weekly Challenge #38

Sideways Planks – Similar to a basic plank position, with the key difference being that you balance on the side of your feet and one forearm to help strengthen your abdominal oblique muscles. Lift and hold your body in a straight line for 30 seconds on each side of your body – see if you can do this at least 3 times each day this week!

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1 Act of Kindness – Spend at least 1 hour this week doing an act of kindness for someone in your life. This act shouldn’t be monetary-based, but should take at least an hour to perform. Martial artists are powerful and capable people, but those skills shouldn’t be limited to the training mat – yard work & house cleaning for someone else are some great examples – anything which takes a substantial amount of effort.

Good luck

Philip Woo

Weekly Challenge #37

Slow Punches – Slow & simple straight punches with a small weight in each hand can help to speed up your punches as well as tone the arm and shoulder muscles. Each day this week try to do 3 sets of 25 slow punches on each arm using a 2 – 5 lb weight. Ensure that the punches are slow, controlled, and should have no snap. Do not fully extend your punches – this will put less strain on your joints and help prevent injury.

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Much like the Weekly Challenges, martial arts classes have evolved into a training ground for our lives. We are using the martial arts to become better people. The long journey to become a better person is a challenging and sometimes frustrating mission. Not unlike quitting smoking, becoming a better person usually requires having a support network of individuals who understand and support your goals. As martial artists we should help those around us understand our journey; those who have family or friends in martial arts should learn about their training and goals. This week spend at least one hour either learning about someone’s journey in the martial arts, or sharing your knowledge of the martial arts beyond the physical training.

Good luck

Philip Woo