Just as we were taught to read and write and all about fire and water safety so it should be that we must learn to protect ourselves.  I consider my Martial Arts training a real life skill.  It seems inconceivable and foolish to me that my woman friends have no clue how to protect themselves in the event of an attack nor do they think it’s important enough to learn how.   This is a skill, in my opinion, that should be taught to every child and in particular to girls. 

When I was pregnant with my daughter I remember thinking how am I going to let this beloved child of mine out of my site.  I wondered how I was ever going to let go and let my child walk to the bus stop or go to the park with friends or do any of the many things that young teens want to do without parental supervision.  How could I allow these things without worrying frantically about safety?  I know anything can happen these days but the fact that she was trained in Martial Arts allowed me to breathe far more easily than I would have otherwise. 

I am so thrilled that my daughter, also trained in Martial Arts, was brought up with this skill.  She has never known any different than being able to protect herself.  It is second nature to her.  When she reached the age where her and her friends wanted to walk to a park or to a store her friend’s parents would always ask if she was going.  If the answer was yes then they were allowed.  If not, they were not allowed to go.  It amazed me that these parents relied on my daughter to exhibit common sense and the ability to protect while they never considered ensuring their kids learned these skills.  These parents were always generous in their compliments on my daughter’s common sense and her Martial Arts abilities but somehow they never considered this for their own kids.

A comment that I hear over and over at the dojo (karate school) is in regard to the teenage karate students.  The comment is inevitably what great kids they are.  Not only are they keeping physically active while they are learning to protect and defend themselves but they are learning life lessons in respect, morals and self discipline. How many of our children have positive real life role models?  The Sensei (teacher) and the instructors at the dojo are terrific role models for kids.  The kids meet with these role models on average 3 to 4 times per week.  What better place could they be spending time?

For adults, there is no better way to keep in shape while we learn to protect ourselves.  Many of the adults that I know at my dojo joined the program because their children were already students.  For me this was also the case.  In fact, my husband was feeling so left out while my daughter and I continually discussed and practiced our Martial Arts training that he too became a student.  Shotokan Karate has proved to be an incredible bond between ourselves and our daughter.  We are a Martial Arts family and I wouldn’t want it any other way.  Watch for my blog on Adults Avoiding Injury In Martial Arts.

When such a high percentage of the people are overweight it seems fitting that there is significant number of the population who are extremely image conscious. Perhaps this is in part to those health magazine covers with men and women who have desirable, health and fit looking bodies. This of course has had a knock on effect with more fitness clubs and health spas being built.

Increasingly we are being targeted at home as well with fitness and health product advertising and sponsorship found on TV. But exercise is not the only way to build that body beautiful because it also entails a certain responsibility about the foods we choose to eat as being healthy and fit requires one to follow a regular diet fitness regime.

What makes this confusing for the amateur is that one side says that you are better of eating foods high in fat when you exercise and the others state you need to eat foods that are a good source of carbohydrates. What doesn’t help the average person is what diet-fitness regime to follow as both seem to make sense; there is the one that says eat foods with high carbohydrate levels and the other which says you need to eat foods with a high fat content which appears to contradict everything we are told about dieting.

The first thing you need to know would be the fundamental differences between these two diet approaches because as the name implies, high-carb diets concentrates on taking in carbohydrate-rich foods while high fat diets endorses fat-rich foods. The high-carb enthusiasts say that we need these sorts of foods because the glucose (or energy) is stored in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen which is great for short burst of energy or any type of anaerobic exercise.

The other camp believe that because fat is a higher source of calories an it metabolizes in a fraction of the time it takes carbohydrates, then these are the foodstuffs we should consume before exercise. So according to the experts, it doesn’t matter which you choose, as long as you don’t follow both at the same time, unless weight gain is what you want.

The purpose of diet fitness is to change your diet and lose excess body weight in the form of fat, by regular physical activity. To achieve this, research has shown that you need to think about how you are currently living your life which includes the type of food you like to eat and if there are any medical considerations.

It is not as if you can get away from it as the advertising for diet and fitness equipment is also on the television as well. Although it still means that that essential nutrients and proteins for example that keep the body and mind healthy should be part of that diet; amounts of which are broadly publicized by health organizations.

Those followers of eating foods with high carbohydrate content believe these are best owing to the amount of energy that can be stored in the muscles ready for instant release.

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