Saturday, October 15, 2011

Sports Karate Anyone ?



     The Karate Club which I have been an active member of for the last 10 years is on a recruitment drive. Helmed by Sensei Chia Kwek Fah, who holds the title of "Hanshi" and has a 7th dan Black Belt in Shitoryu style karate. We conduct our classes every Sunday from 6.00 to 7.30 pm. Interested participants can come a little earlier and speak with the class instructors, Sensei Mickey Tay or Sensei Jason Chua who can assess their fitness and flexibility level.

      Whilst running is an excellent cardiovascular and aerobic exercise, one must cross train, so either swimming, martial arts or the softer exercises like yoga and Pilates would be recommended for one's personal fitness regimen used together with running. From the sports experts, one needs to have training in the following 4 key areas to fully achieve the benefits of fitness, they are :

a) Endurance (running, cycling, triathlon,walking,swimming)
b) Flexibility  (Yoga, martial arts, Pilates)
c) Strength (Weights training)
d) Balance (Martial arts, Yoga) 

    Exercising of Core muscles (belly) area is a must for middle aged men like myself. So there are alot of leg raises, crunches, turning kicks, poses such as the cat stance, which require core or stomach strength.It is essential that core muscles are first strengthened before attempting to do these exercises. Hanshi Chia also holds a Bach of Sports Science (Edith Cowan, Australia) and is well qualified to train not oly karatekas but also can offer body conditioning classes.

    There are currently about 50 regular trainees, ranging from 5 years to 60 years old, so I am not the oldest !!  

    So stop sleeping the whole afternoon on Sunday, get up and work that body !! 

       

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