Jumpsoles?

If you are into improving your vertical jump, or speed then you may have seen these things called strength shoes, platform shoes, plyometrics shoes, or Jumpsoles.

Are they worth your time and money or just a useless gimmick? I have wondered this question myself before.

Here is a small report detailing what it takes to increase your vertical jump, what these training devices do and what some of the "experts" have said about strength shoes.
REPORT

Incidentally this report is on my site (amoung others) Sports Training And Fitness

Diet

I spend hours everyday (most days) browsing through fitness sites and looking for content etc... I see so much stuff out there that is total bull. Many people are either stuck in the past using old diet plans or else or following plans that aren't even intended for there particular goal.

Now if this was an advertisement then I would plug in some product here (But not this product this will show you the keys to diet success)

But this isn't and advertisement, just some rambling. Maybe when I finish with my current sites then I will make a nutrition site to educate people on diet and nutrition. But I don't see my self having the time anytime soon.

Anyway I will plug in one real quick add here and say that I agree with MOST of what this guy says

Nutrition Secrets

IFA Sports Nutritionist Certification

I passed the IFA Sports Nutritionist Certification test, now before you get all that excited it's not that big of a deal. But it is a real test, and I did have to study for it.

If you go to http://www.ifafitness.com/ you can take the test online, for free. It doesn't cost you anything to take the test. But if you pass the test then you have the option to pay to receive the certificate that you passed. The good news is that you don't have to buy it right away (or ever if you don't want to). They will give you a code and if you use it to log back in you can buy your certification later.

IFA stands for International Fitness Association and there is actual three tests you can take
Aerobics Instructor & Personal Trainer
(Step - Kickboxing - Group Exercise)

Sports Nutritionist

Senior Fitness Instructor

If are into fitness training then having these certifications might be nice...

But if you aren't really interested in this little certificate you might still be interested to know that IFA gives away a free ebook to study from for the tests. So you can still get this ebook and learn about nutrition and fitness things.

The ebook is called Fitness ABC's manual and is available on the homepage. One note that is ebook for all three tests. There are some other PDF files that you can download that actual have the names of the certifications. But those are actual just for taking the test on paper and sending it it.

I am not sure that these certifications hold any real weight. But this is a good (free) resource to study and learn more on these subjects. And if you pass it's something cool to tell your friends about.

Unilateral

I received this through the JumpUSA enewsletter. I have known this for years but it occurred to me that some of you may not be familiar with this

"Unilateral training - exercising one side of the body at a time - is a very effective training method often overlooked. Unilateral training creates more muscle involvement because of bilateral deficit. This means that the total weight you can lift with each limb working independently is greater than two limbs working together.

Example: The Leg Press. Adding up the weight you can lift with each leg will often be greater than the total weight you can lift with both legs. Because the weight you lift with both legs is less than each leg lifting a weight independently, you have a strength deficit.

Unilateral training also increases the strength of the inactive side. This is a little known fact of neurophysiology. If you do knee extensions with your right leg, your left leg gets a small training effect - without doing anything. Australian researchers found that that fast unilateral training had a greater effect on the untrained limb than slow training did. Unilateral training is a good change of pace, which may boost you to the next level of performance.

J Appl Physiol, 99:1880-1884, 2005"

JumpUSA

Basically doing things with one arm or leg instead of two is more effective. So when doing squats, make them Bulgarian Split Squats, when doing arm curls, do them one armed with dumbbells instead of with a barbell. In general if there is an exercise that you can do with both limbs and a barbell or one limb and a dumbbell then chose the one that works a single limb at a time (make sure that you hit both limbs though).

My Cardio Workout

I just finished doing some training, I was trying to burn fat (I don't have a lot to burn as I am well under 10% bodyfat) and build endurance. Just some basic conditioning work.

It's important to remember that same pace cardio like jogging, is not a good way to train. Basically same pace cardio is when you perform an activity at a even pace for a length of time (usually a moderate pace). Examples of this would be jogging, speed walking, most treadmill work or most biking.

What you should do instead is intense interval cardio, you know something that is very intense and you couldn't even do for 20 minutes straight without a breather. Examples of this would be sprinting, very intense biking (mountain biking or something that requires you to ride up steep hills etc...) or something like boxing training.

Here is the workout that I just did:

Skipped Rope for 4 minutes. I didn't actual jump rope in the manner that many people think of, but I skipped. Much like the example that I showed in an early post. I recommend doing it at a very rapid pace, keeping in mind what I said about doing cardio at an intense pace.

I rested about 1 minute and then repeated that twice more for a total of 3 rounds.

Then I did 3 minutes of one armed dumbbell swings alternating arms every 5 reps, you don't have to use a lot of weight for these as you are doing this for endurance and those 3 minutes straight. Here is a webpage that shows an example of how to perform 2 armed dumbbell swings

I prefer one armeds but you can do either.

Once again I did three sets with 1 minute rest inbetween.

Then I hit a heavy bag. This boxing training is very intense, I basically go 3 minutes of (almost) none stop punching action. This doesn't mean hit the bag with a couple of punches and then step back catch your breath and then hit it with another flurry, this means going punch after punch trying to never stop throwing punches. When you do need a breather you keep moving around the bag and sticking jabs.

I did this workout first thing in the morning before breakfast, because that’s the best time to burn fat. After you have eaten your body burns a lot of the carbs that you just ate, but before you have had anything to eat all day your body burns a lot more fat. Could you eat something with zero carbs first and still get this affect? I don't know, it would seem like it but honestly I am not sure.

Skipping Rope

I have found a video that shows you how to skip rope. It's not actual a how to video but I think that it shows how you should skip (jump) rope.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ypti9kdqQ0o

Later I will give you a great routine that will burn fat and give you endurance.

Pop

Here is an article that I previously wrote, and published on http://sixpackstuff.awardspace.com/

---

We have already explained how important your bodyfat percentage (or lack of it) is to having a six pack. It’s now time to mention that many experts say that exercise is important to burning fat (you may notice that I usually say “fat loss” or “burning fat” and not “weight loss”. The reason? Because people often end up losing muscle when they are on a “weight loss” program. When building muscle you gain weight.)

But diet is even more important. So if you want to cut the fat that you need to actual show a six pack (remember you have one down there somewhere) then you need to make sure that you are on a good diet.

People make a big deal about fat. But the thing that I really feel is important to watch is the simple carbs. We often hear terms like “empty calories” or “empty carbs” those would be hollow foods right? I don’t like those terms. When was the last time that you looked at the nutrition facts on the back of a box of something and seen the “empty calories” listed?

Simple carbs are good and very important, sometimes. But often they are just turned to fat. Not only are they turned into fat much of the time. But we consume a lot of simple carbs. And another kicker is that simple carbs are found in a lot of are drinks. And it is a lot easier to drink your calories then it is to eat them. So many people that have too much fat actual aren’t getting killed by what they eat (literal) but rather by what they drink. Sometimes even by things that they thought were ok or actual good for them.

Let’s take a look a minute at “Bob” and see how many simple carbs he drinks.

Breakfast Orange Juice 30 grams of simple carbs

Lunch can of pop 40 grams

Supper a couple servings of pop 60-80 grams

During and after workout Gatorade 60 grams

Watching tv more pop 40-80 grams

That’s just an estimate. And maybe some of you don't ever drink that much. But I can guarantee that there are people out there that easily drink like that. And that’s just drinking, not including what they eat! By the way the total there was 230 grams or more. I also didn't include all the sugar that many people include with their coffee.
I know people that drink a lot more simple carbs then that. But I thought that “ Bob” still drank enough to be a good example. You probably thought that Orange Juice was good for you. And it is. But you still need to be aware that it has simple carbs that can become fat. You probably knew that pop wasn’t good for you but you may not have realized just what a huge difference it could make. Let me say something a minute. I believe in hard work. I don’t necessarily think that harder means better but when I hear something like “people used to think that they really needed to train hard to see results. They believed in turning up the Rocky music and pushing through. But now we know that we shouldn’t train like that and if you buy my product I will show you the proper way to train and it doesn’t involve hard work.” Then I figure it’s probably a marketing scam to sell products to people that want to get results without putting in the work. Point is usually if something sounds really easy and simple it’s probably not true.

But there are times when the simple solution really is best. And cutting pop is one of them. I know people that drink so much pop that if they even cut their intake in halve they could see great results. If they total eliminated it they would probably not halve to make any diet or exercise changes and still be in great shape. Keep in mind hear that I am not talking about people that are already in good shape. I am talking about people that are overweight. Some of these people could go from overweight to downright ripped just by making one diet change. Eliminate pop.

Let’s get one thing straight, you can turn any calorie into fat. You can get fat off of protein shakes. But there are things that are beneficial in large quantities, things that are beneficial in moderate quantities, and things that are only beneficial in very small quantities. And soft drinks, candy, doughnuts and similar sweets are only beneficial in small quantities once in a while. In fact I do believe there are times that it’s actual good to eat the things contained in these products, but these times just don’t come around very often so I advise cutting them from your diet as much as you can and you may start to see your body get cut as well.

Jumping Rope

I have been wanting to pitch to you the benefits of jumping (or skipping) rope. But I wanted to find a website that would give you a good example of how to do it because most people do it wrong.

But so far no luck, there are a lot of websites that will tell you how many calories you will burn or how great it is for you. But no one has a good demonstration. I guess that I will have to look on Youtube. Someone has to have a video that shows proper technique. Is filmed halve way decent and doesn't take to long to load (because of all kinds of advanced stuff that most of you aren't ready to learn anyway).

When I find one I will post a whole article on it.

Bad News

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has re injured his knee, so the fight with Chuck Liddell is off. Chuck is going to fight Rashad Evans instead. That's to bad because the Shogun VS Chuck fight featured two big names who each desperately needed a win. Shogun is still considered a very good 205er but could he stand to go 0 and 2 in the UFC? That might have put him in the same boat as Cro Cop.

And Chuck has taken of some of the pressure he was facing by beating Silva. But all that was, is one guy with a two fight losing streak beating another one with a two fight losing streak. If Chuck loses his next fight he will have dropped 3 out of 4.

But this Evans fight could be interesting thought I don't think that he brings as much into the octagon as Shogun, but give credit where credit is due. Evans has had more success to date in the UFC then Shogun. And who really cares about who did what in the now defunct PRIDE?

C.C Keung

Remember that Lowrey email that we all laughed at? Well today he sent the follow up letter, the one where he actual pitches a product. Besides trying to impress us with the chicks that he is friends with he was also talking about how bad this dude is. Now he is promoting this guy's product at
http://www.street-fighting-secrets.com/

This guy (Keung) tells us that in just a few days he can teach us how to be unbeatable and we don't even need to train. I am always wary of self defense stuff that doesn't even require practice.

Sure they have a point when they say that a street fight doesn't follow the rules of something in a gym or dojo. But at least there you can actual get hit and feel the pressure. Whats a book or video doing? I am a fan of those things, but I also think that you can't just read a few technique's and become an unstoppable force.

All time best MMA knockout list

I was going to post for you a link to my all time favorite MMA knockout, But I thought why not make it a top 10 list? I have thought about such a list in the past (mostly because some of my favorite KO's involve some other peoples favorite fighters, on the receiving end) so I am going to pick my top 10 favorites and post them one at a time, counting down from 10.

So stay tuned.

Great ebook and an email I received

Ok first I want to show you this great ebook I found on Scribd, It has nothing to do with sports or fitness. And I shouldn't even call it great because I am only halve done with it. But so far I have read so much stuff that I have told myself before, that it's crazy. Basically the ideas that I have had in private and never shared with anyone, this guy has put into a book. Great book

On another note, Check out some of this of the email that Luke Lowery is sending out (I am just including the funny stuff, not the whole email)

"...As some of you know, I spend a lot of time in L.A. and go hang out at hot night spots - like Sky Bar, Hyde and Villa Nightclub.
If you ever watch Entertainment Tonight or Insider then you would have heard of these places.
Go look 'em up.
My wife's a model and she's friends with Paris, Lindsay, Mischa... you know, all those girls.
Before I lose you - YES, I know all those girls personally. Yes, my wife and I hang out with them at parties in Beverly Hills And I know Colin Farrell personally, too.
Anyway...
One night I was out at Sky Bar, up on Sunset Blvd and I was introduced to this insane looking guy by Colin.
Colin Farrell himself told me: "This guy is the next Bruce Lee."
Full body tats.
Long black hair.
Straight out of some sick Asian Triad film.
He looked like a freakin weapon.
His name was C.C.
Colin told me he was lining up some roles in Hollywood - apparently the directors are really pushing for him to be the next big Asian star.
Like Bruce Lee.
Like Jackie Chan.
Like Jet Li.
The only difference?
This C.C. guy is the real deal. It's not so pretty. It's not all acrobatic.
He's just plain deadly.
Guaranteed - in the next 5-10 years, he'll be a Hollywood megastar."

So does this mean that Paris Hilton can help us improve are vertical jumps? Seriously as much as those whores party you might see them if your in to that sort of thing. But I doubt he is friends with them, and if he is I have to wonder if he has the right mental mind set to do anything productive? Anyway I wonder if dropping these names is really helping him sell his product or not?

Brett Farve

I was driving home and just caught the DJ saying something about Brett Farve retiring. I looked it up on http://sports.yahoo.com and unfortunately it seems to be true. Clearly the most exciting QB in the game. Just watching him made you feel tough. I would like to see him change his mind and come back, when you have a team as bad as the Giants winning the Super Bowl you know that the Packers have a great chance of winning it if they just don't blow it.

But my concern is that if he does change his mind then he and the team may not be ready and he might get off to a very bad start.

I am not really a big Packers fan, just a Brett Farve fan, so if he isn't playing then I won't pay much attention to the NFL in general.

Boxing

I like boxing, it's not only a sport it's self but it is also great conditioning and even for self defense.
Read this on self defense it's a question posed to Randy LaHaie of http://protectivestrategies.com/ ;
"Q. I read your Reach Out and Punch Someone. Do your think that taking up boxing or martial arts would be a good idea for someone concerned with self defense as opposed to just practicing on objects or none resisting people?-------------------------------------------------

Definitely, I think that "impact work" (hitting and being hit) is essential for anyone who is serious about self-defense and street fighting. For example, I teach police recruits how to punch, kick, grapple and spar.

My intent is not so much to teach them to "fight" but to provide them with "building blocks" they need to participate in "Stress Inoculation" training. Stress inoculation is a progressive training program designed to reduce their fear and stress levels in a violent or volatile encounter to allow them to remain more composed and effective.

Many people come into law enforcement with no previous exposure to or experience with violence. They've never been in a fight before. They've never been hit hard or had to hit someone else in a real world encounter. The increases the potential of them being highly stressed and even "terrified" in their first knock down, drag out clash with a violent person.

That's not good. Stress inoculation training is intended to combat that and increase their "comfort level" in a critical incident. It's no different with ANYONE who wants to perform effectively in a street fight or self-defense encounter.

The more you can inoculate yourself to the fear and stress of a confrontation the more effective and successful you will be at defending yourself. This training starts with a solid foundation in striking and hitting skills and then progresses through a variety of combative training drills that will not only develop legitimate fighting qualities but a more confident and composed mind set as well. "

If you are interested on training for boxing then this website has some good videos http://www.rivalboxing.com/e/trainingtips-e.html I haven't watched them all but I have started watching them and I am planing on checking them all out.

Sportandfit-library.co.nr

Okay, I have not been the driving force behind promoting the website http://sportandfit-library.co.nr/ But I have contributed a lot to building the site. Well now I have gotten tired of the poor hosting and so I switched the entire site to another host. And well I was at it I did a lot of changing to the format. I added some new ebooks and I got rid of some old ones.

This also means of course that I have finnished the ebook on Carp baits. It has 15 (not 10) baits can be viewed here Carp Fishing Ebooks

Carp fishing baits and UFC 82

I am currently working on putting together an ebook of ten different carp fishing baits, I know that 10 isn't that many and I might make it 20 instead. But right now I only have about 5 of them down on my computer.

I was planing on releasing this ebook on this website for Free Sports Training Ebooks (yes fishing is a sport) but it's not hosted on a reliable host so I don't know if I can even get my ebook uploaded there.

Anyway I was also going to release it on a few other websites so I will defiantly get it out there.

Incidently I watched UFC 82 the other night. I correctly picked the winners of most of the fights, but I was wrong about the Silva/Henderson fight. I thought that Henderson would be able to take Silva down (he did) and overpower him. But he was unable to win the fight when it was on the ground in the first round and he lost on the ground in the second round.

So I was wrong, but I can't agree with some of the so called experts that though that Henderson was either the best of second best middleweight in the world. I did think he would win but I also knew that he has not fought at lot at that weight, so even though he is a small lightheavy weight he is not necessarily a proven middleweight. So I think some people maybe didn't take that into consideration, anyway I thought he would win but I knew it would be a tough fight and I wasn't really surprised to see Silva win.

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