It's Louse Time! Learning and Succeeding

If you're new to my list of focused, motivated, self-starters, Welcome.

Every day I communicate to you the best ways to train and the kind of mindset it takes to get results either in your physical fitness or martial art training.

Friday is always what I call: "Louse Time". Modeled after Bruce Lee's strategy in Enter the Dragon.

This is where I share with you Life Lessons and Direction given to me by my dad (and Sifu) every Friday.

So here goes.

Today we talked about Fang Shen Do. (What a surprise!)

It boils down to this: Fang Shen Do is about Learning and Succeeding

That is what we're all about.

Who doesn't want that?

Who's against that?

My father said it many times, in Life you're either growing or stagnating, climbing or sliding, living or dying.

In FSD you learn HOW to learn.

You first listen with your eyes. You listen with your ears and you listen with your body.

You then absorb and internalize what you learned through repetition and trial and error.

And finally, what you learned becomes second nature, a part of you. It becomes fully integrated.

Success is a moving target. If we take your training for example you can remember having a specific fitness goal that today seems like a joke because of your natural progression.

It might of been a certain number of push-ups or sit-ups, certain running time and distance, flexibility levels, performing specific feats of strength.

Where I'm getting at is remember to celebrate successes. You might be guilty of this as I am.

Often times you hit the goal you wanted to accomplish and then you immediately set another one, then another and so on.

My dad uses the example of a runner who spots a bench in the horizon (your goal), when he gets close to it to finally take a seat (celebrate) the bench disappears and re-appears in the horizon only to have the same thing repeat itself.

Avoid that mistake.

Celebrate and Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

Family & Friends fitness

The easiest way to stick to an activity is to find or ask a friend to train with you.

If you've commited to waking up at a certain hour to do your training chances are knowing a friend is waiting for you outside will force you not to miss.

The power of a partner is quite amazing, here's a quick list of why you should find a training partner:

-you can push your limits

-you have a way to measure your progress (against your partner)

-you have friendly competition

-you can model your partner if they are better than you

-you are held accountable to them

-once you've mastered your own body weight you can start using theirs in certain exercises.

-you can work through plateaus together

-And if your training partner is a spouse or family member it strengthens your bond with each other.

Families and couples that train together stay together.

You feel like you have a common goal and you both realize there's no need to "let yourself go" after a certain age.

Some women let themselves go after having kids. Some men do the same after a certain age.

More and more people never even start a fitness and strength program let alone stick with one.

Avoid falling into that trap. Refuse to let your health and vitality dwindle away.

Hook up with a training partner today and start putting our Partner Conditioning program to the test, it's especially conceived for team training. The best drills and exrecises to do with a partner.

Master Yourself (and someone else),

Sifu Martin

Get fast now!

If you're a martial artist, what would you do without speed?

If you ask me : Not much!

Speed isn't just a PIECE of the puzzle. It's something bigger than that.

It's the cardboard mat you glue the pieces on when framing one.

If you need to understand the principles behind speed.

If you need to increase speed.

If you need to add speed training drills to your routine.

And if you want to get fast and you want it now, you'll find a detailed article on the subject of speed worth checking out right here. It's titled Speed: The Holy Grail of Martial Arts

Enjoy,

Sibok Martin

Breaking the Habit - Part 2

Following up on my e-mail yesterday, when I answered J, I didn't get a response until almost one month later.

I was impatiently waiting for a response from him until finally I saw his name in my inbox.

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Sifu,

It's been almost 3 weeks since my last puff and the cravings are starting to go away.

I've been using vase meditation as a way to relax myself during cravings and I've told my friends that I no longer want to associate myself with smoking and don't want to be around it. They haven't even given me a call.

So it seems the smoke was their main priority in our friendship, too bad. I'm also starting to notice that my energy is coming back as well as my confidence. I've proved that I can do anything now.

Thanks for your help, I mean I'm not completely through this yet but I feel that the hardest part has past. So thank you very much, it was your words that stuck in the back of my mind when I denied countless opportunities to have a smoke.

Now the next step is starting back into training again. I know I will have trouble with breathing at first but in time I'm sure I'll be back where I left off.

Cheers,

J
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Hi J,

I was waiting for your reply.

I knew you could do it. Like you said there will always be that little craving but if you're training hard and giving it all you got, you'll squeeze out whatever is left of it.

Do you know how many people can't do what you did?

I'm proud of you.

Hope to see you soon at a seminar or training session so I can congratulate you in person.

Again, keep me posted on your progression.

Right now you need to use this momentum to set some high fitness goals.

Here's a list (these are just examples, I don't want to scare you!)

500 Rowing Squats
1 mile run under 6 minutes
120 push-ups in 2 minutes
Hold Bridge for 3 minutes
Handstand 3 minutes

Replace the old craving with the best craving of all: MASTERY!

Sifu

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This is why I love to do what I do. Helping people achieve their personal & fitness goals through our martial art system.

The whole purpose of this daily e-mail is to provide you with inspiration, training tips and to share stories that you might connect with. If you have any questions or testimonials about our training system send them my way.

Aim Higher,

Sifu Martin

Need to break a filthy habit?

A few weeks ago I got an interesting e-mail from an ex-student.

I'm sharing it because maybe there are others who are going through the same challenge. So here goes:

Sifu,

I used to go to Fang Shen Do Kung Fu, 3 times a week. I used to participate in seminars and extra training. I have not been back for over 3 years now.

Since then I took up smoking cigarettes and marijuana and have made friends with only people that do the same. I am realizing as the days go by that I was happier without the smoking lifestyle.

I was happier when I was fit, but I have made some really close friendships with some of these people. I have tried to break the habit more than twice now but because every time I'm around them, I see the smoking and crave it.

I really want to get back into Kung Fu but I need to break the habit first. Is there anything I can do in this situation to help myself back on the course of life I am searching for? As of today, I am one week sober from smoking but I feel like I'll crack any day now like I always do... Please help.

Thanks,

J
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Hi J,

Congratulations on your first week sober.

You are at a crossroad my friend.

You can't have both: Your smoking friends and Your health. You have to decide.

You have to associate so much pain to smoking that it will act as your main motivator when cravings hit.

I always tell this to my students or coaching clients.

Ask yourself:

What am I gonna look like in 30 years from now if I continue doing what I'm doing?

Offer to be a volunteer at a cancer ward, or visit the terminally ill (from smoking) wing.
Go take a stroll in the local cemetery.

Go in an old folks home and ask to interview one of the residents, one that has smoked for 30 + years, and just look at them and see if what you see adds to your craving or completely wipes it out?

One of my assistants' dad did smoke for that long and he's on his 5 th operation and he's only 63 years old.

Tell yourself you only want to breathe in fresh air.

Treat your body like a million dollar machine, because it is.

As for your friends, I know it sucks but you have to ask yourself or write down each person's name and list what that friend brings to you, how do they help you, what do they contribute to your life?

Is it just companionship and a few chuckles?

Remember often times friends love to see you down and out like they are, you're part of the pack, so don't expect any help from them. I have a hard time with that word FRIENDS. The only friend I trust, the only friend I can always count on is MYSELF.

First of all see the image of yourself not smoking, keep that image in your mind.

Then also see images of yourself training. Feel it. Change the craving of smoking to a craving of training.

When you have a craving go sprint. Or Do your isometric breathing (remember Lin Sil Die Dar Hard) exhale, maximum resistance, contraction. As you exhale visualize the poison coming out of your mouth and cleaning your insides. Tell yourself: "I am the master".

When you quit smoking did you know it takes over 7 years for your body to completely heal itself and clean itself out? Something to think about.

Tell your friends you'll be on Hiatus for awhile, That you have some issues you have to work out.
Give me a report every week.

Sifu
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I'll finish the rest tomorrow. If I can help just one person get back on the right track, I'll have done my job.

Until then,

Master Yourself,

Sifu Martin

It's Louse Time!

Friday is now officially "Louse Time".

Many of you wrote in to let me know you liked that idea. So I'm going to do that from now on.

It will help you get a sneak peek at the kind of guidance I've been getting since I'm a little kid.

The lessons my father taught me have laid the foundation for what I have today and I'm just getting warmed up.

Some people question my father's expertise. I think he did a pretty good job with me.

How many people can look their father in the eyes and tell him: I Love You Dad or I appreciate you and Thank You for everything you've done for me.

Most people I know don't have a good father-son relationship. They either don't talk to each other or they hate each other. Same thing with siblings.

There is no family unity.

For us that's the total opposite. To have unity and respect as a family in today's world is quite a feat by itself. Even greater the challenge to build a business together, but we have.

I don't smoke. I don't do drugs. I'm in top physical shape. I own 6 businesses. I'm a father of three. My passion is helping people through martial arts and physical conditioning, and I set a strong example for my own kids to take care of their body and to have confidence in themselves.

This is what training in Fang Shen Do can do for you.

So is my Dad certified? I can bet my life on it.

If I can do just half of what my dad did for me with my kids I'll be very happy.

Every Friday will be Louse Time, and if you're a father like me I hope you can influence your kids to achieve great things, to teach them life lessons that will stay with them so they can eventually pass them down to their own children.

Remember that YOU are a role-model for someone.

If you're not become one.

If not to someone else, hold yourself up to the highest standards.

Intentio Superus,

Sifu Martin

Guaranteed consistency in your training

Do you like pain?

For me, not really.

Although I do have a high threshold for pain I want to avoid as much of it as possible in my life.

But it is through pain that I get my inspiration.

It is our natural tendency to move away from pain.

By knowing this I use it to keep me motivated.

Here's how to do it.

Using mental images, I associate so much pain to not training or stretching that it eliminates any procrastination from coming to consciousness.

Is this what happens to you inside when you don't stretch and move regularly?

Is your body slowing "seizing up" from the inside because of lack of movement and exercise?

When I visualize this happening inside my body let's just say it gets me off my butt pretty quickly and it should for you too.

Your body like water needs to flow or else that stagnation leads to disease and toxin build-up.

What better way to get the body moving than through dynamic stretching.

Stretches designed for martial artists by martial artists.

In our flexibility training series we've compiled over 80 different stretches to get you limber, energized and on your way to mastering your body.

To have your body do, what you ask it to do at will.

This is the exact training program I've been following for over 20 years, I know it works. You have my personal guarantee.

Master Yourself,

Sibok Martin