Fitness, Martial Arts and Chi Gung

This is a fun question from Jack.

What I like about it is how far away from the mainstream fitness message it is.

I'll tell you how much I dislike mainstream fitness later, but first, a reminder that I want your questions, the best newsletters come from the best questions.

But for now, onto Jack's second question:

"You know I've qualified as a qigong teacher a couple of times and as my energy keeps rising I'm looking to get fit(er) (per point 1). I like the idea of martial arts to get fit - in particular the psychological and spiritual aspect that's comes with these. It would be interesting to hear you talk about this and some of the different martial arts and their benefits in terms of fitness. (Of course you could even give yourself a plug that you can teach us how ;-)

Cheers Dave

Jack"

Qi Gong or Chi Gung depending on which transliteration you use is a practice associated with the Chinese Martial Arts.

There are several ways to think about it from basic mindfulness, to meditation, to "energy building" and more.

As in any field of practice, there are different methodologies from good to bloody awful, from high value to utter nonsense.

And hopefully you, my dear reader, are well away of my absolute disdain for nonsense.

However, on the topic of Chi Gung, a great start point if for you go to www.davehedges.net/onlinecourses where you can see the basic Standing Chi Gung course.

And at the risk of tooting my own horn, this is great start point.

Fluff free instruction, akin to the live teaching that comes as part of my Force of Nature course.

It is my opinion that good Chi Gung practice brings together the current “trendy” practices of Breathwork and Mindfulness, with the added bonus of helping develop both proprioception and interoception.

It can be a powerful tool for learning about the relationship between Body, Mind and Spirit, which is what helps you become an all round more awesomer human animal.

What about using Martial Arts to get fit?

This is the reason most folk take up a martial art in the first place.

And depending on the art you choose, it will certainly help you.

Obviously the combat sports, BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai, Kick Boxing, MMA etc will have a higher emphasis placed on fitness than say Aikido or Tai Chi.

So the art you choose will be determined by it’s availability to you and your desired outcomes.

I’ve always been of the opinion that fighters exhibit some of the best all round fitness.

They’re not the strongest, although wrestlers/grapplers are very strong.

They’re not the most enduring, but they can go all day.

Traditional arts, such as the Karates, Kung Fu’s, Siltas etc do have associated S&C practices.

Be it simple Skipping, Push Ups and Sit ups, or more complex animal type movement and small joint preparations.

After all, the goal is to create a skilled and powerful warrior.

It does of course depend on the teachers knowledge and the overall culture of the club.

Most combat sports guys to also go to the gym for additional S&C

If you’ve been around my work for any length of time, you should be aware of my own background in martial arts and how the martial arts have hugely influenced the training I deliver.

Swinging weights, such as the kettlebell, but also the Mace, Clubs, Bulgarian Bags and Stone Locks hare synonymous with martial arts.

Stone Locks are used in Chinese Kung Fu, Maces and Clubs are associated with Kushti wrestling, Bulgarian Bags also come out of wrestling training.

Add to these the low gait movements such as Duck Walks, Lateral Ape like sideways movement.

Numerous crawling patterns.

The Jumping and Bounding movements.

And yes good martial arts training includes everything you need to develop well rounded fitness.

The issue you may run into, and why getting help from a good S&C coach is useful is that martial arts tends to proritise it’s specific needs, which creates what I refer to as “training scars”

A good external strength coach will spot these and design training that brings balance to the body.

Helping bullet proof a BJJ players back and knees

Helping the Muay Thai fighter be explosive and keeping the hip and shoulders strong and mobile

Helping the Judo player keep the hands strong and safe

Helping the Karate guys balance out left/right imbalances

I highly rate the work of people like Karl Goch and his student Matt Furey, legendary boxing coach Ross Enamait and wrestling inspired Zach Evan-Esh for their strength and conditioning knowledge and how they’re not afraid to buck the usual fitness trends and lean into the old knowledge that has come up through the martial arts.

These guys have been huge influences on how I develop training programs for my own clients

Just as breath work is now the darling of Neuroscience, and plyometrics are becoming social media gold. My karate instructor was teaching me these things 30 years ago, and he would have got them from his instructors who got them…. You get the idea..

And while not everything that is old is gold.

But look across the various disciplines and when you come across commonalities, that is where the truth lies.

Regards

Dave

Sleep and Minimum Standards

Got great question in from Jack:

“We're due to have our first baby any minute (was due on Sunday) so I have a few months off from work. I have grand plans to get fit and I'm curious as to the reality of having a newborn and trying to get fit (obviously different for men and women and very different for all as each baby + circumstance is different). I will have more time as not working but assuming a lot less sleep with a significant emotional load from the life change. So it's interesting to see what reality unfolds.”

This question is one of two that have come in from Jack.

And what a question it is.

I am a dad, I have two boys. The eldest of which is the same age as WG-FIT. He was the reason I worked so hard to build the name and reputation of that little gym.

And in the years since founding it, I have had several members who have become Mum's and Dad's for the first time.

And I do believe that there is one lucky child out there whose parents met in Wild Geese and went onto marry!

So what is the reality of having a newborn?

Our hero has correctly identified the two main points, less sleep and an additional emotional load. Let’s talk about the sleep aspect.

There is a bit of joke made by parents where we say "I used to think my life busy, but then I had kids"

Or after hearing a person say how tired they are, "oh, and how old are your kids"

Both these comments are guaranteed to get up the nose of a non parent. But once you cross into parenthood, they make so much sense.

You are going to be tired.

Like really really tired, pretty much all the time.

Personally I am OK with this. My earlier career was in the hotel trade where a 65 hour work week would be a "quiet " week.

I'm well used to a less than optimal sleep routine. Not everyone has my history, and different individuals tend to have different sleep requirements, as similar we all are, that doesn’t make us all the same.

Sleep is where our brain "cleans" and repairs itself. It does a sort of "defragment the drive" process as well as wash out dead cells and metabolic waste products.

Without sleep these processes can't happen.

We go through a number of cycles while sleeping, each cycle lasting in around 90 minutes.

Sometimes a bit longer or shorter than 90 minutes, but that’s a fair estimate of the average.

Each cycle has each of the sleep stages within it, deep non REM sleep being where the physical repair occurs, and REM where the software seems to sort itself out.

On average we require 5 or 6 cycles to be optimal. That is 7.5 to 9 hours sleep.

We can operate on less, 4 cycles gives 6 hours, but pretty soon we will start to feel the sluggishness.

And long term there is evidence to suggest chronic brain health deterioration.

The good news is these cycles don't necessarily have to be concurrent. At least all the time

The idea of biphasic or 2 stage sleep gets talked about a lot.

That is to wake up for a period midway through the night.

So rather than a solid 8hour sleep, we sleep in 4+4 with a gap in the middle.

This is observed in hunter gatherer tribes living without electricity.

Even before I knew this was a thing, I recognised the value of 4+4 in my hotel days, and also when travelling. I'd often get 4 hours at night and the other 4 during the afternoon.

Again, not optimal, I cannot recommend you use this long term, but it's a strategy that can get you over a hump.

Could we sleep in 90-120 minute blocks spread over the 24 hours? I wouldn't like to say for definite, and I'm sure the science guys wouldn't approve, but that is what having a newborn feels like.

As much as I like the idea of the blocks, it’s important to learn how you and your body responds to sleep. If you wake feeling groggy and discombobulated, the chances are you woke from deep sleep. If you wake relatively alert, then you’re likely at the start or end of a block.

Now, napping.

It is a really good idea to learn how to nap. This is true in general, but especially with young kids.

A nap is NOT sleeping.

A nap is more like the process of falling asleep. Just entering the first, very light stage but definitely not going into deep sleep. Waking from deep sleep is horrible.

But if we nap from anywhere between 8 minutes through to maybe half an hour we should feel refreshed.

As you begin to drift into sleep the brain wave activity changes, this same change has also been shown to happen during meditation, and it’s this I think that revitalises us.

Caffeine here helps.

Caffeine takes around 20 minutes to act, this means we can drink an espresso, go lie down, ideally with our feet elevated, close our eyes and nod off. In a around 20 minutes the coffee will aid us to wake up naturally, rather then a buzzer going off.

I have used napping on and off for decades and highly recommend it. The busier and more time constrained you are, the more valuable it becomes. It can take some getting used to, but well worth the effort.

Now, what about fitness training.

I advise almost all my clients to exercise and train, but to do so without expectation of progression.

Athletes are different, they may still have athletic goals to tick off.

But non athletes who are training for simple "always ready" health purposes don't need to worry about progression during this stressful life period.

This is where the idea of minimum standards really shines.

Minimum standards is kind of an in-season training idea, where we want athletes training but not fatigued for sports practice or competition days.

We can look at having a newborn as an analogue of being in-season.

So what are minimum standards?

They are standards that you know you can always hit.

While they are personal and individual specific, there are a few that ought to be fairly universal.

Such as being able to run 10k in <60 minutes (or an erg equivalent)

A bodyweight deadlift (1.5 is better) and a bodyweight squat (adjusted for squat type)

If you're a kettlebell person, can you do 100 reps in 5 minutes with a weight approx 25-30% bodyweight?

These are merely suggestions

The point is, if you do them today, you can repeat them tomorrow, and the day after that.

If you got zero sleep, you can still hit them.

This why they are minimum standards

And if any day happens where you struggle to hit one or more, then this is indicating that you are operating below minimum.

You may need additional rest, additional calories, maybe you’re neglecting your maintenance work (rehab or mobility work)

Training then is simply warming up, work up to the minimum and make an executive decision whether to stick with that or push on.

Utilising the “Rule of 10” as per Dan John is a good idea here.

Say you’re doing squats and you get to your minimum standard load.

You now have 10 reps in which to decide where to go.

Will you stay at this weight for all ten reps. Or increase over a few reps.

You could do 5 at minimum, increase and do 3, increase again for 1 or 2.

You could to 5 at minimum, then 5 slightly heavier

You could do 2 reps at 5 gradually heavier sets

The choices are many, just keep it in around 10 reps of minimum or more.

Endurance can be slightly trickier to manage, but I’d be watching the heart rate and not spending too much time over 90% max HR as this is where you eat into recovery.

If you focus on these minimums, you will remain fit and strong. You may not necessarily get fitter or stronger, but you'll not go backwards, nor will you eat into your limited recovery bank.

This idea of minimum standards is not just for in season athletes and new parents, it's a solid idea for everyone to have.

If your regular training is going in the right direction you may find some of those standards change. Your minimums raise.

This tells you your training is good

And anytime life gets a bit chaotic, you simply get into the gym, warm up to the minimum and then decide whether to push on or not safe in the knowledge you are at least in good shape.

I hope that helps

As ever, I want your questions, so hit reply and send them in.

Chat soon

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net

www.wg-fit.com

On Being Strong to Be Useful and how to get there

This one wasn't so much a question but a confirmation of a couple of very simple concepts:

"Hi Dave,

Thanks for the emails! Glad to see them again. I still check your YouTube videos for a tune up on technique , especially clean and jerk!

'Be strong to be useful'! Yep, it still makes a lot of sense to me as I get into my 50's.

Best regards,

Owen"

That phrase "Be strong to be useful" isn't mine, I borrowed it from the legendary Georges Hébert, a French physical culturist from the 1900's

Herbert was a man ahead of his time, and we could really use someone of his ilk back.

When I use the term "Physical Culturist" as opposed to strength coach or fitness instructor, I'm talking about a person who understands the value of physicality as part of being a well-rounded human being.

It is from Hébert's work that we have both the military assault course and the sport of Parkour.

Hébert took fitness or Physical Education and categorised it into 10 areas: walking, running, quadruped (crawling), climbing, jumping, balance, lifting and carrying, throwing, defence (wrestling, boxing), swimming.

He also had 3 areas of focus:

Physical training: Heart, lungs and muscles, but also speed, dexterity, endurance, resistance, and balance.

Mental training: energy, willpower, courage, coolness, firmness

Ethical behaviour: friendship, collective work, altruism

As well as a number of principles such as posture, individualisation of training, competition and so on.

His three areas of focus are part of my inspiration, combined with my long study of martial arts, for the Mind, Body and Spirit categories used in my new Force of Nature program.

The 10 categories of bodily fitness are pretty inclusive.

Look at all the "functional fitness" and cross training methods currently out there all trying to be cutting edge, and here is a dude doing everything the cutting edge "functional" folks are talking about 70+ years ago.

We could say Hébert's work was simply an evolution of what came before him, as he credits many sources from gymnastics to ancient Greek texts.

We can't say what much of the fitness field is doing currently is an evolution of Herberts work!

That all said, his training was aimed very much at military personnel so is deliberately non specific.

If you're an Athlete, his method wouldn't suit.

But if you move away from sport and competition, or you're a non athlete looking for that lifelong Physical capability, that idea of "always ready" you could do a lot worse than following his lead.

How does that look and how do the kettlebell tutorials on YouTube factor into this?

I have been, for a long time, of the opinion that the one arm clean and jerk (long cycle) with a kettlebell is about as complete an exercise as one can get.

No exercise is truly complete, but Long Cycle is close.

Add in some deep squats, lunges and some other pulls (rows/pull ups) and you are going to be alright.

Traditionally long cycle, like most of the "classic" Kettlebell lifts, are done for high reps.

But this doesn't have to be the case.

Heavy for multiple sets of low reps works a treat for strength and power, light for high reps works great for aerobic development. Somewhere in the middle works everything in between.

Deep squats ensure fuller leg and hip development, maybe even keeping the hips and knees healthy

And upper back work should always be prioritised.

We could do long cycle with squats and pull ups three days per week.

Day 1: Heavy. Several sets of 3-5 reps per arm. Followed by 5x5 on the squat and some pull ups

Day 2: Medium. 2min L, 2 min R (4 min total) quick reps, drive the heart rate up. Recover for 4-6 minutes and repeat for 4 rounds.

Finish with lunges in every direction

Day 3: Light. 20 to 30 minutes continuous lifting, nasal breathing, changing hands every minute.

Any extra is up to you.

That alone will help build a strong, durable body and some good powerful lungs.

Of course stretch, crawl, do joint mobility, swing Indian Clubs and remain playful.

And get out to walk and run.

For simple, minimalistic training, you will go a long way with just this.

And if you get fed up, swap Long Cycle for Snatch.

Swap the kettlebell for a sandbag

Becoming and staying "strong to be useful" is not complicated.

It's simple, just not easy.

Effort and consistency always trumps complexity.

If you're looking for these tutorials, you can simply search "Dave Hedges Kettlebell Tutorial" on YouTube or use the search bar on the Wg-fit.com blog to get the same videos with supporting text.

And while you're on Wg-Fit, buy my eBooks……..

I've done some of the work for you here:

Kettlebell Clean Tutorials:

* https://www.wg-fit.com/post/kettlebell-clean-tutorial-part-1

* https://www.wg-fit.com/post/kettlebell-clean-tutorial-part-2

* https://www.wg-fit.com/post/kettlebell-clean-tutorial-parts-3-4

Kettlebell Jerk Tutorial:

* https://www.wg-fit.com/post/kettlebell-jerk-tutorial

Always remember, keep it simple, but not easy.

Regards

Dave Hedges

www.davehedges.net

www.wg-fit.com