In their training stables in Japan, sumo wrestlers are taught to eat in a manner that leads to massive weight gain. Here’s what they’re taught:

1) Skip breakfast.

2) Eat lots of mostly unhealthy food and drink lots of alcohol.

3) Eat only two or three giant meals a day.

4) Go to bed right after eating a big, high-carb meal.

Does that list look familiar? Yep, the average overweight person in the UK eats like a sumo wrestler whose goal is to weigh 500 pounds!

In fact number 4, which nearly everyone I know who is overweight does (eats a meal containing pasta or rice or potatoes then goes to bed) is so effective at storing body-fat that the sumos do it twice a day!

To be honest, Sumos probably get more activity than the average 9-5 office worker too! Is it any surprise our nation is the fattest it’s ever been!?

We can learn several lessons from this:

First, going to sleep after eating a high carbohydrate meal seems to be VERY popular with the sumos. Maybe, just maybe, we should avoid eating too many carbs at night if we want to have a fairly flat tummy?

Second, if these guys, who are trying to get massively fat and as large as possible purposefully skip breakfast, drink booze, and eat only two or three large meals a day, maybe it would be a good idea to do just the opposite to these 500lb monsters!!

How about this?

Start each and every day with a nutritious breakfast, lay off the booze and junk food, and consume five or six smaller meals per day?!? Not too hard right?? Just general advice.

Just a thought …

If you read this article nodding your head, then it’s fair to say you may need to make some changes – unless, that is, you plan on donning a large nappy and trying to push a pony-tailed man the size of a small elephant out of a ring??

If you have friends or relatives who are behaving like this just ask them “Are you training to be a sumo?” – make sure you wear a gum shield whilst doing so!!

Tae Kwon Do is a Korean Martial Art. It means The Way of the Hand and Foot. There are four pillars to the art: Toning, Sparring, Forms, and Self Defense.

Tae Kwon Do encompasses muscle toning, stretching and flexibility, increasing strength and stamina through aerobic sparring, and mental challenges through becoming proficient at the patterns or forms.

Most classes start out with warm-ups. These exercises are the calisthenics such as push ups, sit ups, jumping jacks, trunk rotations, squat kicks and various stretches. Just the warm-up exercises alone will give you a good workout. Progress is usually quick. Tae Kwon Do will definitely help you to become or to stay limber.

Sparring is fighting in a controlled environment. All participants wear protective gear: helmet, gloves, shin guards and feet guards. Usually you will spar in three minute rounds. Then a minute rest; switch partners, then spar again and repeat. Jab, punch, upper cut, side kick, reverse punch, round house, hammer fist, bob and weave and repeat. It’s an excellent aerobic exercise.

Learning the forms or patterns can be a mental exercise as well as physical. Many of the forms have over 26 different movements. It’s up to you to remember them, in order, and learn them proficiently. In theory, by learning the forms, it’ll help you to become a better fighter. The patterns are complex. If you master forms, when it comes time to spar, you can implement some of these patterns into your match.

Many people enjoy Tae Kwon Do because it is an all inclusive exercise program. It’s fun, it’s challenging, and it’s an excellent way to stay in shape. As with any exercise program, start slowly have fun. If you haven’t participated in much physical exercise in a while, your muscles will definitely be very sore for the first few weeks. Don’t be intimidated by the other students may appear to be in better shape than you.

Remember this, Everyone started out as a white belt. The key is to have a blast and continue to progress. One day a newbie will be looking up to you!

When many people think of Shaolin Kung Fu they think of meditation and chi. While it is true that Shaolin Kung Fu does stress meditation and the use of inner energy, it is actually an external form of Chinese martial arts. This means that it is more involved in the external powers and forces. There are many styles of Shaolin Kung Fu which can include many types of attacks and defenses including joint locks, punching, kicking, throws, straight blocking, force direction, and many more. However, the two things that most types of schools of Shaolin Kung Fu all stress is fast handwork and quick footwork. Many Shaolin Kung Fu exercises promote these skills.

When practicing Shaolin Kung Fu, striking it is important to keep the feet moving as you punch. If your feet are planted like roots you will not be able to adjust to the next attack or set up another attack. Your moves must flow from one to another and you must be ready to change your motions in mid-movement in case an opponent launches an attack. You should practice staying light on your feet and moving your weight around. Each attack must leave the door open for another quick attack, or a sudden defense. Your Shaolin Kung Fu exercises should strive for agile footwork while striking, rather than training both aspects independently.

When practicing Shaolin Kung Fu punching you should also have targets that help improve your accuracy and speed. A strong punch is meaningless if it does not hit the target, or is so slow that it is easily blocked or countered. Your punches must also be fast so that you can quickly move into another attack, or react defensively. After a punch is thrown it should be retracted quickly so that arm can defend if needed. Many martial arts shops sell pads that can be mounted on a human body in many places such as the hands, ribs, and legs. Your training partner should wear these pads so that you can practice at full speed and have moving targets. While striking the pads at full speed your training partner should be moving around so that you have a moving target. Hand mounted pads are great because they can be moved very quickly to aid in the training of fast combos. You and your Shaolin Kung Fu training partner can develop a routine in which you strike at the left side of the face, and then the chest. Your partner can move the pad from one location to the next quickly, which forces you to strike two targets as fast as possible.

If your hands are fast and precise, and your footwork is light and agile, you will have quick attacks that cannot be blocked and will be able to react to any defense of offense. Too many people hit a punching bag target with their feet flat. Punching bags do not challenge your precision like a smaller moving target does.