Formosa Neijia

Want to look like this?

This is Dora Torres, one of our Olympic swimming hopefuls. She’s a 41-year-old mother and she’s the new poster child for physical fitness. But how did she get to look like this? Check it out:

This “resistance stretching” looks an awful lot like a version of Thai massage to me. Thai massage […]

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So why train for strength at all?
There are many answers.
One that I liked from the recent thread in have strength but don’t use it was that life doesn’t stop while you train IMA. That’s very true. We still need to move furniture. I find I need to pick stuff up off the floor almost everyday. […]

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(Warning! Beautiful Brazilian women moving rhythmically. Proceed with caution!)
So here you have gyrotonics — silk reeling as a workout. This is also known as “yoga for dancers” although that seems a little redundant. If you look at the moves in this system and in the gyrokinesis system, you’ll see that they are basically […]

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The main thing that being fat and having a weak core does to your martial arts performance is that it prevents the smooth transfer of force from your legs to your arms. Consider the following picture from the excellent book Stronger Back and Abs.

Figure A shows what having a weak gut can do to your […]

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Here’s Y.C. Chiang — a top student of Kuo Lien-ying — doing something that GuangPing Yang style is famous for — kissing the toes. I’ve been after this stretching ability for a few months and I have recently hit a bit of a plateau in my development. I can get my chest to my thigh […]

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You guys have obviously noted a switch in what I’m talking about lately. There’s more discussion of yoga and stretching issues because of a few things I’m dealing with. One of my problems lately is plantar fasciitis. I keep waking up with pain near my heels. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not doing […]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZOjNz6bjIs
This is an awesome display of power. How long do you think he’s been doing pullups?

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I thought this was interesting considering past discussions we’ve had on abs and dan tien work. Not sure what to make of it all yet, but archiving it here seems like a good idea for future reference.
Everything You Knew About Good Abs May Be Wrong
By PAUL SCOTT
Published: February 22, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/fashion/22FITNESS.html?
ex=1173157200&en=9b63ed3afe593079&ei=5070
Today, the advice to draw your […]

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I haven’t posted on fitness issues related to IMA practice in a while. So we’re long overdue. Bodyweight Culture (registartion required, but it’s free) is an excellent forum/website dedicated to providing bodyweight exercises that will help any martial artist attain a high level of strength and flexibility that will increase your abilities across the board.
Case […]

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I’ve been discussing Pavel, the so-called Russian expert on sport science with one commenter on the blog, and I realized that few people now remember the real Eastern European sports scientist that started most of the PNF stretching craze — Tom Kurz. This is a man that should be noted for his contributions,so let this […]

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