If you’re like most golfers, you’re always trying to duplicate that “perfect” golf swing. I know I am. Doesn’t it feel great to hit that effortless shot? Don’t you wish you could do it every time? That would be a similar feeling of what the pro’s have most of the time. It would be such a high!
So what’s keeping you from this goal? Do you think you just need to hit more balls? Or, are you already hitting hundreds every week? If that’s not working, do you need more golf lessons? Or, have you taken lessons but not seen improvement?
If it’s none of the above, then what?
I can tell you almost 100% for sure…it’s your BODY!
Your body dictates your golf swing. How many times have you felt like you can’t make a FULL turn or backswing? Do you think the solution is hitting more balls or taking more golf lessons?
It’s not! It’s improving your golf-specific flexibility and even strength.
Once you address and improve your physical limitations, your golf swing mechanics fall into place, with very little
effort. Unless you don’t have a concept of what needs to be done to complete a proper golf swing, in which taking a golf lesson to understand it would be first priority.
The majority of amateur golfers have some kind of physical limitation that keeping them from a great game of golf. It could be flexibility, or it could be strength.
Combining the two is your most effective approach.
Getting a golf-specific evaluation by a golf fitness professional is your first step. Then, you can set up a game plan on what you need to work on and how to do it.
You’d be amazed at how quickly you can improve your golf swing and game with this approach. Don’t keep looking for the silver bullet. The answer is in the mirror. Now do something about it!
About The Author: Mike Pedersen is a respected golf fitness expert, and the author of the Ultimate Golf Fitness Guide, numerous golf fitness tips and founder of several online golf fitness sites. For more information on his new, cutting-edge golf fitness e-book, go to http://www.ultimategolffitnessguide.com.
IL Fitness Tips – diet plan, exercises, weight loss and gain muscles latest information.
“Release the grip by striking here, weaken your opponent’s balance with a leg trap then apply your response to subdue him appropriately.”
It could be a half dozen movements with blending, turning and fluidity. Part of the sequence might include an outside to inside movement of the arm co-ordinated with rooting of the feet and a vibration of energy from the ground up through the hips, waist and spine. To perform the arm lock you need to disrupt his internal posture with a vital point strike using the other hand and finally you execute the throw or tie-up and if necessary strike to further vital points to disable your attacker.
It’s a possible kata sequence. But try teaching that to sixty people in one go. You don’t have time to show them the subtleties; besides, the training methods to learn the technique are quaint and old fashioned (sparring’s better than push hands and more suited to physical education).
The sequence has to be broken down and movements are made bigger so the people at the back of the dojo can see. Over time it becomes step forward in front stance with a “preparation move”, inner block, reverse punch. Ichi ni san. Stand in line and we can all drill it together. Let’s do it faster and with more power because you need to get fit. And it’s good for your spirit, it’s the Budo way.
The soft flowing kata changes because the basic techniques have been broken down too far into start-stop jerky movements with too much strength and tension. The kata loses its essence. A whole bunch of new techniques called kicks, blocks and punches are created out
of the modified form. They are vaguely similar to some of the original movements, but somehow they are not right. The old school teachers wouldn’t recognise them.
The applications become strong blocks and counters to big, long range attacks. We could have a competition to see who’s the strongest. It will encourage the students to work harder and make the dojo look good.
Years later open minded people ask awkward questions. They know the explanation of the technique doesn’t work on the streets so they come up with alternative meanings that fit their own cultural needs of the day. They have experience of different self defense requirements and are well-educated thanks to the wider availability of information. They come up with better applications that work against more realistic attacks they might have faced in the local bar.
The new ways of interpreting movements are reverse engineered into the kata to help make sense of it all.
After some time their bunkai and applications become more refined and they start to rediscover the original inner teachings of the form. They learn that some teachers didn’t modify the techniques so the essence of the form remained intact. They are able to go out and find the missing links. The kata comes alive. They discover internal training methods required to learn the principles within the form.
Now the bunkai changes as the kata becomes softer, more fluid. The block-punch combination becomes “Release the grip by striking here, weaken your opponent’s balance with a leg trap then apply your response to subdue him appropriately.”
It’s called progress don’t ya know!
Stephen Irwin
http://www.totalkarate.com
The ezine for karate and personal development
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A golfer elbow injury has got to be one of the most dreaded injuries on any golf course.
And it is not too difficult to figure out why. To begin with a golfer elbow injury will usually take a long time to heal properly and quite often recurs shortly after a golfer gets back to the course. Golfer elbow injury is very similar to tennis elbow, which tennis players equally dread.
It is the sort of injury where a doctor will prescribe total rest well away from the course. For many a keen golfer, this may be even more punishment than the nagging, and often sharp pain from the golfer elbow injury.
The reason why a golfer elbow injury takes so long to heal and in some cases may never really go away, is because it is the sort of injury that involves a joint. Usually injuries on joints are troublesome. One of the reasons is that it is difficult to rest a joint completely and one ends up using the muscles whenever they make any slight movement.
Therefore any advice or tips to help reduce the risk
of golfer elbow is extremely important to any golfer.
Stretch exercises designed for golf specific muscles or muscles that are used while playing golf can help a great deal in strengthening and conditioning the muscles involved. By strengthening golf specific muscles a golfer ends up putting much less pressure on the tendons that join the muscles to the bones around the elbow area. This greatly reduces the risk of this injury in golfers.
Warm up exercises before getting into a round of golf and a warm down as well, at the end of your game, also help tremendously in reducing the risk of golfer elbow injury. Warm ups ensure that the pressures involved in playing the game are not exerted on cold muscles, which usually dramatically increases the chances of all sorts of injury and not just the golf elbow injury.
About The Author: Mike Pedersen is one of the top golf fitness experts in the country, author of the Ultimate Golf Fitness Guide, and founder of several cutting-edge online golf fitness sites. Visit his new golf fitness training site at Perform Better Golf.
AK Fitness Tips – diet plan, exercises, weight loss and gain muscles latest information.
If you’re coming to experience Hawaii sport fishing, youhave one heck of an adventure awaiting you! Anglers from allover the world journey to these deep blues waters teemingwith trophy fish. This is where you come to get the bigones. In fact the biggest fish ever caught on rod and reelwas a blue marlin caught just off Oahu, weighing in at ahefty 1805 lbs.! Hawaii is so legendary among sport fishingenthusiasts that several “big-game” tournaments are heldhere every year, including the granddaddy of them all, theHawaiian International Billfish Tournament, luring fishermenfrom all over the globe.
Hawaii sport fishing is the home of big-game fish. Some ofthe species you’ll encounter here are three types of marlin;blue, black and striped. It’s entirely possible to hookyourself a “grander”, meaning a monster fish weighing atleast 1000 lbs.! Other top game fish include Ahi (YellowfinTuna), Ono (Wahoo), Mahimahi (Dolphin fish), and SkipjackTuna. All of these babies can give you a reel-spinning runfor your money, and an experience you’ll not soon forget! Infact the tuna are among the fiercest, most tireless fightersof the bunch! Only the striped marlin is a sometimesresident, showing up only in winter. All of the
others canbe found year-round. Some of the best fishing spots you’llwant to try would include Kona; long regarded as the bestbig-game fishing in the world. Oahu’s North Shore is morefamous for it’s surfing, but it’s just under the surfacehere where the real action begins! Actually, there’s prettymuch not a bad place for Hawaii sport fishing: some are justmore excellent than others!
Booking your Hawaii sport fishing adventure is easy. Thereare literally hundreds of charter fishing boats operatinghere, offering you a ton of choices. Some things to keep inmind would be to consider how long you’ll want to be out.Most offer half or full day trips, but also know that of youwant the best chance at hooking a big-game fish, a longertrip may be called for to give yourself time to get to thebest fishing grounds and keep your line in the water awhile.No experience or fishing license is required, and should youhook a trophy fish, taxidermy can be arranged. Come andexperience Hawaii sport fishing and come home with a littlesomething for that bare wall!
Keith Thompson is the webmaster at HawaiiVacation Directory, a top resource for your Hawaiianholiday adventure!
A new book with a practical look at Aikido and its history. The Co-authors are direct students of the legendary master Kenshiro Abbe Sensei from 1957. the following is an indepth look at how the book came into being.
OUT NOW!
Derek Eastman – Aikido instructor helps write book
Bracknell Standard newspaper visits local dojo
To Order this book from within the UK and EU countries:
Trafford Publishing (UK) Limited. order desk
Enterprise House, Wistaston Road Business Centre
Wistaston Road, CREWE, UK CW2 7RP
local rate number 0845 230 9601
phone 01270 251396, fax 01270 254983
Email orders.uk@trafford.com
To Order this book from any other country including the USA and Canada:
Trafford Publishing order desk
2333 Government Street, Suite 6E, Victoria, BC
Canada V8T 4P4
toll-free 1-888-232-4444, fax 250-383-6804
Email orders@trafford.com
This book, an in-depth look at Ellis Schools of Tradtional Aikido’s special brand of technique, strategy, philosophy as well as unique history, has taken about 15 years to compile, but will soon be offered in print by the world’s leading publisher of martial arts material.
Trafford Holdings Ltd; is a privately-held corporation, registered in British Columbia, Canada. There are over 120 shareholders, including many authors and all the permanent employees. It was incorporated in 1991. In late 1995, Trafford opened it’s doors and website. They are the first company in the world to offer an “on-demand publishing service,” and they are the best.
The production of Positive Aikido has gone through numerous stages. The hand-drawings describing each of the positive techniques in traditional Aikido were begun in 1987 with the intention of providing new students with a reference guide – at the time to be photocopied for students in the USA and later possibly for the UK students as well. That plan however, never took hold as more and more drawings were produced. The drawings of the first four groupings were finished in 1991 and in 1993, the second four groupings were added, along with some transcripts from a recorded conversation between Sensei Ellis and Rogers on a long roadtrip between Dallas, Texas and Alamogordo, New Mexico. Rogers made his 1st Dan during that trip, and Positive Aikido picked up a lot of its histories and background information. Still, it was no more than a bunch of papers cobbled together from various sources.
In 1999 however, with the advent of digital photography, Sensei Rogers decided to augment the drawings with some digital photos and possibly put together a proper booklet for students in all the Ellis Schools. The photos however, required some supporting text – and there was a lot of other material which needed to be conveyed as well. The transcripts were re-written and cleaned up and the photos were digitally processed for the first four forms. During another visit to New Mexico, Sensei and his assistant Anita Wilson along with Sensei’s son performed the demonstrations needed for the last four forms. Later, the first four forms were re-shot with Sensei Rogers and one of his first USA students, Jeff Glaze of New Mexico. By this time, Positive Aikido was being
developed as a book.
The agent and publishers we first contacted agreed, but the material was still fairly rough. More photos were shot and extensive digital work was done on them to clarify technique. Additional sections were added to describe combat strategy and the philosophy behind “Positive Aikido”. Sections on ethics and morals within the arts were developed along with material dealing with the selection of a martial art for beginners, and of course, the history section was strengthened and sharpened.
Lastly, a complete re-organisation of the material was accomplished with an addition of a section on pins and control and weapons (jo and sword). The finished work is comprised of more than 1000 photos, 600 hand-drawings and complex explanations and tips to make the techniques of Aikido work properly. It includes detailed writing on the “Positive” mindset as well as complete sections geared to beginners, intermediate students and advanced practitioners.
Although several traditional publishers expressed interest in printing the book, and initial negotiations were entered into with one California-based company, the advent of “print-on-demand” technology and the resulting new publishing market, made for a better alternative.
Of this book as it stands now, the authors say this – “There are a lot of books on Martial Arts out there, and this one fits into the crowd well – but it also stands alone in the sheer comprehensiveness of the work. It is a nearly complete representation of a single school’s technique – it is a historical marker – a book of strategy – an ethical guide – a technical manual – and it is a chart, graph and manifest of all the things which make martial artists as a whole stand together as sisters and brothers with the same warrior spirit.”
This letter of recommendation is from William (Bill) Woods Sensei. Sensei Woods was in the 1950′s and 60′s Aide and personal secretary to Kenshiro Abbe Sensei. At that time Sensei Woods was considered the most influential and powerful figure in British Martial Arts. In 1955 he was the British Judo Champion. He was the first person to be graded by Abbe Sensei to 1st dan in Kendo, holding certificate No 1, he was a key figure in the creation of the British Judo Council ( BJC ) and the International Budo Council ( IBC ). There are too many credits to the name of Sensei Woods to be listed here. I am very proud to have known Sensei Woods for almost 50 years. signed: Henry Ellis.
The new book is published by Trafford Publishing and avaIlable from all good book shops and online with Amazon, priced around $18.95 or £10.00. 156 pages : ISBN number 1-4120-4668-8.
The Positive Aikido book can be ordered in the UK through Trafford Publishing www.Trafford.com. Phone your order to Trafford UK Tel: 01270 251396
http://www.EllisAikido.org
http://www.geocities.com.britishaikido
Henry Ellis a direct student of the legendary master Kenshiro Abbe Sensei from 1957 a student of the old traditional style of Aikido.
Picking a fly fishing rod is a tricky endeavor. Do you go with your ego, expected fishing environment or something else? While length is a factor, the bend or action of the rod is a key factor.
Flexibility
Fly fishing rods are often defined by their flexibility. In laymen’s terms, flexibility means how far the rods will bend when the same casting effort is used.
Minimal Bend
A fly fishing rod that has minimum bend is often called a “fast” rod. The lack of bend lets the angler get lots of speed on the cast. This speed allows you to cast very accurately and farther away than rods with more bends. While these benefits may sound great at first glance, a fast rod can be frustrating. There is no room for error when using the rod. If you are going to use one of these rods, you need excellent motion and timing. Generally, only anglers with a lot of experience should have a go at using fast rods.
Moderate Bend
The next step down from a fast rod is one
with medium flexibility. These rods tend to have good flexibility, but the bend is restricted to the top half of the rod. The rod requires less perfection of motion and timing, but is fairly accurate. If you’ve been angling for a while and have the basic techniques down, a moderately flexible rod is worth a try.
Slinky Bend
If you are just taking up fly fishing, you should use a rod with maximum flexibility. While others suggest a moderate bend is better for beginners, a “slinky bend” rod gives you a lot of leeway when it comes to learning to cast.
Fly fishing is relaxing and enjoyable. Pick the wrong rod, however, and it can quickly become frustrating and stressful. If you use your brain, not your ego, when picking a rod, you will have a blast.
Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com – makers of writing journals. Fly fishing journals are great fly fishing gifts for anglers and fly fishing trips and vacations. Visit http://www.nomadjournaltrips.com for more fly fishing articles and stories.
I talk a lot about lethal force, and one concept comes up almost universally. I call this idea the leg shot syndrome. The leg shot syndrome is expressed by the statement “I wouldn’t aim to kill; I would shoot the robber in the leg”. I believe I know where this thought comes from. It comes from the fact that everyone I give firearms classes to comprise the “good guys”. Good guys don’t go around killing, robbing, and raping people. They believe that everyone has redeeming qualities. Good guys don’t want to kill people, they didn’t start the encounter, and if they had their way, the bad guy would just leave.
Now before I get tons of hate mail, let me say that I understand the reason people think this, and I wish everyone in the world felt that way. If there were no bad guys, there would be no crime. I could then put more energy into my primary job of preparing for natural disasters instead of diverting energy to preparing for criminal disasters. While understanding and admiring this idea, I want to emphasize that this is not a good way to apply this concept.
There are many reasons why this philosophy is not sound in the lethal force arena. Some of these reasons are legal, some tactical, and some, yes, are even moral. I will jump into what I hear as the most widely use reason why the leg shot syndrome should not be used, legal.
A handgun is a lethal weapon. Unlike a baseball bat, a butcher knife, or a policeman’s baton, there is no less lethal way to use a handgun against another human. The law does not distinguish the difference between shooting a person in the head, and shooting a person in the chest. If there is not legally defensible motive and the person dies it is still murder. A bullet cannot be recalled once it leaves the barrel. The person that fired the bullet either cannot influence what that bullet does upon entering a person. There is a major artery in the human leg, which if severed, can kill a person as quickly as shooting them in the chest.
Tactically manipulating a firearm under lethal force pressure is extremely hard. Quite a few books, and statistics from a vast amount historical data show that only about 1/3 of the rounds fired impact on the target. This doesn’t seem to be that bad, until you look at other statistics that show approximately 90% of gun fights happen under 7 yards and comprise less than 3 shots total. How realistic is it then that when most people can would be lucky to hit their attacker, you are going to hit one of the smallest areas, and an area that is most likely to be moving?
Tennessee (and every other state I have found that has a defined handgun training curriculum) specifies shooting center-mass with the intent to stop.
This involves two concepts. The first being center-mass, this means aiming your projectile to impact inside the largest target area (the chest), since this is the largest area you have the greatest ability to actually hit it. Also the chest area has the largest ability to stop your attacker due to it being the location of most the bodies organs. Intent to stop, is neither aiming to kill, nor shooting to wound, either of these are irrelevant, your legal self defense ability is centered upon the attacker being able to kill you, and trying to kill you. If the mere presence of your legally owned firearm cause the attacker to stop, it has done its job, if one well placed round to center mass persuades the criminal to stop, that’s okay, however if it takes 3 ½ boxes of bullets to stop a drug crazed, gang-banging, neo-nazi terrorist from killing you, hey so be it.
This intent to stop is the half of my moral argument. The other reason comes from plain street sense. I have a few years working in corrections. These years are split between entry level corrections working on the recreation yards and cages listening to inmates talk about themselves and their crimes, to working as a supervisor in maximum security units and applying inmate psychological knowledge to keeping the prison running smoothly. Criminals do what they do because it works for them. If a mugger or a rapist tries to talk you into leaving with him, it’s because it has always worked for him before. Believe me, a violent criminal hasn’t decided to start being a violent criminal just because your there, a criminal starts small and works up gradually becoming more violent. If a criminal gets away with hurting you, he will do it to someone else. I am not saying that vigilante justice is okay I’m not. I am not advocating deadly force as a punishment for a criminal either. What I am saying is that you are a reasonable person, with an inalienable right to life and liberty, minding your own business, living a peaceful life. You have a right do what you need to do to be safe, to go home to your family, this criminal attacked you, tried to hurt you for no reason other than his personal gain, your not trying to kill him, only making him stop trying to kill you. This is not wrong. This is right, your family needs you; make sure you do what needs to be done to be there for them.
David is a former U.S. Marine Corps noncommissioned officer, correctional supervisor and firearms instructor for the TN Dept. of Correction. He is presently commissioned as an operations officer for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. He is also a certified NRA instructor, and holds instructor ratings with both the TN Dept of Safety, and the TN Dept of Commerce and Insurance.http://www.shepherdschool.com
The one lever golf swing involves chipping and putting. To improve you one lever golf swing these are the two areas to work on.
First of all we will talk about chipping as part of the one lever golf swing. You will need to figure out how to control your distance with chip shots.
The one lever golf swing and chip shots go hand in hand. Work on chipping close and turn a missed green into a par save and you will have mastered a part of the one lever golf swing.Another one lever golf swing tip when it comes to chipping is to remember to keep your hands loose. Tension causes bad chips.
If you play the ball back in your stance your chip shots should be more accurate. When working on chipping as part of the one lever golf swing also keep your left wrist firm. Don’t let the lead hand’s wrist break until
the ball is moving. When you are concentrating on the one lever golf swing and chipping keep your arms in front of your body.
Now on to putting as an element of the one lever golf swing. Start by keeping good posture even after the address. Your spine angle should not change even when you let your eyes follow the ball. When you are working on the putting area of the one lever golf swing you will want to select a line and stay with it.
One final comment on the one lever golf swing and putting advice; use short puts for the line and longer ones for rhythm.
If you work on chipping and putting your one lever golf swing may improve dramatically.
Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Golf-Swing-Improvement.com. He provides more golfing tips, putting tips and golf swing instruction tips that you can research in your pajamas on his website.
All of us have missed a short putt before. It is frustratingto miss something you know you can make! And most often a missed short putt can cause a chain reaction of bad play. Every golfer will have a tendency to remember a bad shot ata certain hole when he next plays that hole. Think of any short putt as a link on a chain that is a slack and being pulled tight. As the chain tightens each link is influencedby the one in front of it and influences the links behind it.What you must learn to do is break this chain of bad reactionsby silencing that inner voice. This inner voice will tell you all manner of ill-advised advice and you must build a new chainbased on memories of successful shots, not the failures of previous ones.
Next time, as you approach the green for your putt, do not speculate on what the condition or pace of the green is untilyou actually get there. Wait until you can physically checkthe conditions with your sight and touch. Here is where a key principle is at work. As you are consciously checking thegrass and the line to the hole, your memory is subconsciouslyat work, as well, accessing previous experiences with which to compare this one. Much of the time, the images that are being recalled are things that are best forgotten… Things like whether or not you hooked your last putt on this green, or pushed it on a prior hole. Indeed, I am certain that golfersmiss short putts purely because their
memory, at the most awkward time possible, reminds them of the countless othershort putts they have missed.
Thinking of missed or bad shots sets your mind and body into motion to repeat that same missed shot. Instead close your eyes for a moment and clear your mind of those memories. Visualize yourself hitting the ball perfectly, feel the clubin your hand. Hear the ball hit the bottom of the cup. Thenopen your eyes, ready yourself and remember how you just sawyourself in your mind, and make the shot.
After the shot is sunk in the hole, take a moment and remember the putt, how you made it, make a vivid impressionin your mind. This training will become a link in the chain,and it will influence the next link (putt). When you are on the next green, recall the putt you made, and then repeatthe visualization of sinking this next putt. Thus, a strong“chain” is built – a successful chain. When you do miss shortputts from time to time, even though it is important to learnwhy you missed so you can correct it, do not think of that missed put on the next green. Dismiss it from your mind and follow the above steps. Soon you will notice a dramatic change in your short game as well as your overall confidence.
(C) 2005 BlackCash Enterprises, LLC All Rights Reserved
Jarrod Cash and Michael Black have created”Psychology of Golf: The Complete Study Course” available at: http://www.LostGolfSecrets.com Are You Too Busy Practicing Your Swing to Improve Your Game?Stop Playing Golf the Hard Way!
It is very important to remember that parents are also martial arts coaches. When children first start their training in the martial arts, especially in the case of very young children, we often find that they have not yet developed the self discipline to practice at home on a regular basis. Practicing at home greatly enhances performance at the school and it should be encouraged. We suggest that you talk with your child and agree on a daily practice time. It can be as little as ten minutes per day. Pick a category each day and work on it for a solid, focused ten minutes. ( form, one steps, etc.) Developing the habit of setting a goal ( next belt) and working for it on a regular basis will give your child life skills that go far beyond punching and kicking.
One of the easiest ways to help your child is by simply showing that you are interested in his or her training and talents. Children love to show off what they have learned in class and we encourage parents to ask their child what they have learned every single week. Show your encouragement by offering positive feedback, and compliment them in the areas where you can see improvement. In fact, if you use this approach in just about everything your child does, whether it be homework or chores, you will soon notice the difference.
If children believe that they are getting better it boosts their self-confidence, which in turn encourages them to try even harder. When children know that they will receive recognition and praise, they will want to do well because it makes them feel good. Children will rise to the level of your expectations, but only if they are encouraged and praised along the way.
Our “Intent to Promote” letters are an excellent opportunity for you to praise your child’s accomplishments. Use the comments section to say something nice that your child will internalize. Help your child to reach his or her personal best by being the martial arts coach at home.
Master Wayne’s Martial Arts School, The Family Martial Arts Center located in Mt. Dora, Florida is the largest in the area. The programs themselves range from Little Ninjas ( for 3,4 and 5 year olds) to a comprehensive childrens program ( geared for 6 to 10 year olds). Master Wayne has also introduced a Black Belt Club for advanced Tae Kwon Do studies as well as a Tai Chi program for the spirital development of his students.His center also involves family members with parent /student night and mommy and me classes. His center is listed in the top 15% of all matrial arts schools in the country and will continue to serve his students with up to date and cutting edge ideas and concepts.