makeqfit

I've set up home!

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:38:39 +0200

my blog has move to my new site at makeqfit.co.uk - it's a bit hidden. click on the blog pic on my site. there is also a forum for all to get involved in anything fitness or martial arts related. see you there!

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monday night fun!

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:11:48 +0100

no better way to start the week!

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Friday night 09

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:02:55 +0100

Sore shins all round!

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We had a party!

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:01:08 +0100

Xmas party for my wonderful students from London Bridge and Battersea Park. Fun had by all!

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You train for twelve weeks......

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:15:07 +0100

get into the best shape of your life. You are pumped. As the great Mickey would have said: "You're a wrecking ball!" And then this happens....

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a new appreciation.

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:51:47 +0100

Having seen a few MMA fights, i've got to say I was bored to tears - what is with all the hugging and grunting on the ground? - but this fight, this is why MMA is growing! Check it out.

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Would you mess with this girl?

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:08:06 +0100

I've trained a few women in my life, but i can't say i've come across to many like this.

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Keeping the inspiration coming!

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:14:20 +0100

Besides youtube's many, many idea fulfilling videos, another place I tend to look to for EVERYTHING to do with fitness and getting into shape is bodybuilding.com. This is one of the best sites I have found for many fitness, nutrition and weight management queries. Just click logo below.

meanwhile check out Jamie Eason with an interesting card came i'm sure i'll be introducing on the next La Santa trip.

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Just when you thought I couldn't come up with anymore press-up variations...

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:33:27 +0100

And I have the TRX suspension system! This guy is crazy!

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Lest we forget....

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:43:32 +0100

Before the wrestling for tax money and the infamy of prosecution and jail, Mike Tyson was one hell of a fighter.

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Let's do it again...! La Santa 08

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:07:49 +0100

We were up to usual antics in the Canarian sunshine. La Santa was rocking as per. Here's a few pics.

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Sometimes you feel old....

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 12:19:43 +0200

Trainer, 71, is inspiration to clients

By Ericka Blount Danois | Special to The Sun

February 3, 2008

On this rainy day, only the resolute are in Energy Fitness Center on Liberty Road in Randallstown , getting in their evening workout.

In the corner of the gym, Ernestine Shepherd is quietly training a petite client, Cynthia Evans, who weighs 110 pounds and is 4 foot 11 inches tall. They are working on their rear delts, lifting 5-pound weights and stretching their arms into a 'T' before they move on to the 30-poundweights.

It would all seem pretty dreary -- the rain, the routine of weightlifting -- if it weren't for the fact that Shepherd, at age 71, is so dazzling to watch. Wearing red sweat pants, a red-and-white sports bra and a baseball cap that reads, 'Determined, dedicated, disciplined to be fit,' she is a unique figure in the world of fitness.

Shepherd's attitude lends credence to the adage 'age ain't nothing but a number.' Five days a week, she trains women of all ages -- three days at Energy gym and two days at her church, Union Memorial United Methodist Church , 2500 Harlem Ave. , where she has a class of 25.

? ERNESTINE SHEPHERD
Age: 71

Profession: Certified personal trainer and retired school secretary at City Springs School in South Baltimore .

Training grub: She drinks 16 ounces of water and eats a light snack that includes a bagel with peanut butter or two hard-boiled eggs before starting her workout.

On the run: SusanG. Komen Breast Cancer, Turkey Trot, Women's Classic in Baltimore, Resolution Run at Patterson Park, Race for the Kids, the Dreaded Druid Hills at Druid Hill Park, Baltimore Marathon.

Other acclaim: Has appeared in Essence (1991 and 2003); The Baltimore Times (2002); and the book Self Seduction, Ultimate Path to Inner and Outer Beauty (2003); has appeared on The View (2001); in a Carmax commercial (2004); and in the Miss America Senior Pageant (2004). She models for Nova Models in Baltimore .

Status: Married to Collin Shepherd, 77, for 52 years. They have a son and a grandson.

What her husband says: 'She is a very determined person and she is not only in this for herself, she is interested in helping other people, including myself,' he says. 'We exercise at home. She is an inspiration tome; sometimes I get lazy, but she gets on me. I learned you are never too old to exercise.'

'I usually start off with about 15 minutes of cardio, running in place, then we do floor exercises working on the abs, legs, upper and lower obliques, and then we proceed with the weights,' she says about her training sessions that last about an hour. Wendy Barry, 38, started training with Shepherd six months ago. After her weight went up to 241 pounds, she started working with a nutritionist and lost 50 pounds.

When she started working with Shepherd, she lost another 20 pounds and traded her size 22 dress for a size 8. Some days she walks 10 miles with Shepherd before she goes to work at the Department of Social Services in Baltimore .

With 10 percent body fat, Shepherd is 5-foot-5 and about 130 pounds of inspiration to her clients, many of whom she includes in her routine of walking or running, which begins at 4 a.m. at Druid Hill Park.

Sharron Woods, 60, and her mother, 85-year-old Eva Miller, attend Shepherd's Saturday class at the church. Both are former body builders who have successfully competed in weightlifting competitions.

When Miller was 70, at 5 feet 3 inches tall and 150 pounds, she could bench press 175 pounds. So she and her daughter were skeptical when they began Shepherd's first class and were instructed to run in place.

'I looked at my mother and said, 'This is not going to get it; we are used to vigorous exercise,' ' Woods says. 'Well, then she pulled out some exercises I had never seen. Before we left, I was begging for more.'

Some of the exercises, Woods recalls, included trunk twists while holding a pole-- right, and then left, before going down and doing squats still holding the pole.

Still, Woods wasn't convinced. When Shepherd asked her to run with her in the morning, her first thought was, 'She's 70, I can keep up with her.' 'That woman was a road runner!' remembers Woods. 'I am really energized working out with her.'

Her mother was equally humbled: 'She didn't go easy on me because of my age,' says Miller, who works part time as a teacher's aide in the Baltimore school system. 'She works me just like she works everybody else.'

Indeed, she even works hard enough that her former trainer, Raymond Day, can't keep up with her.

Though he runs with her some mornings, he is reluctant to take her up on offers to participate in the marathons she runs in. In addition to her regular workout routine and training others, Shepherd has participated in numerous 5K and 10K races and marathons.

But Shepherd hasn't always had a focus on fitness in her life. In fact, in her younger days she was a 'prissy' girl, with little athletic interests.

It wasn't until she turned 56 that she began to exercise with the aid of her sister.

They were both spurred on to join a gym after shopping for bathing suits and not liking what they saw in the mirror.

Day trained them both at a gym on U.S. 40 and remembers that Shepherd was in good shape, but had a lot of body fat and didn't know how to lift weights. Her sister, a year older, acclimated her body quickly to the routines.

Then one day in 1992, her sister came into the gym complaining of a ringing in her ears. 'A few days later, she passed away,' remembers Day. 'She had a brain aneurysm that burst in her head. They were really close, they did everything together.' 'When she died, I said I didn't want to do anything,' says Shepherd, a retired Baltimore schools secretary. 'A friend of mine said, 'You know your sister wouldn't want you to do that.' '

Day says that when she decided to come back to the gym, she came back with a new vigor and dedication. Before long, people would compliment her on how she looked. 'She was the most dedicated person I have ever trained,' says Day, who worked with her for 15 years.

Nowadays, she works with nutritionist Todd Swinney. She keeps busy by modeling in magazines and commercials and recently participated in the Senior Miss America pageant in Baltimore .

But mostly she inspires others.

'She is a people person,' says Woods. 'She is constantly asking, 'How do you feel about this? Are you feeling OK?' Most people just follow a routine and they don't pay attention to how you feel. With Ernestine, every day is different.

'So that means, it not only keeps you thinking, it keeps your body thinking and challenges your body,' she says. Miller agrees.

'She is amazing,' she says. 'I don't think I'll ever look like that, but I am working on it!'

unisun@baltsun.com

Okay... time to get back in the gym!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!

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And you wonder why we haven't won since 1966!

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:49:36 +0200

It's hard to know if this is sports related or very bad method acting! It does have to be seen to be believed. Steve Mclaren, England's great-sch ever (total) football manager-sch, we salute you!

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Benny "The Jet" Urquidez

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:17:29 +0200

When I was growing up and getting into martial arts, watching kung fu films and hearing about the legend of Bruce Lee, I also stated buying martial arts magazines> One name which would crop up on a regular basis was Benny "The Jet" Urquidez. Referred to as "The Jet" due to his speed and accuracy when striking, Benny Urquiduez contested over 200 bouts in his fight career including some 58 title fights. There is some dispute over whether his record - win-lose -draw - is 58-0-0 hence making him undefeated in 58 fights, or, as two of the fights were deemed "no contest" and in some quarters one fight was seen as a loss - his 1978 bout against Prayout Sittiboonlert - in which he loss by decision as you can see below.

To say The Jet was a proficient or even prolific martial artist is somewhat of an understatement. He gained his black belt in karate at the age of fourteen, going on to gain black belts in eight other martial arts disciplines. He is also credited with having introduced full contact karate/American kickboxing to the West, having before that competed in points only semi-contact karate.
Undoubtedly a great fighter he fought and won fights in five weight divisions - there will always be a slight cloud over his achievements due to his own insistence of maintaining a record of never having been defeated.
What is not in doubt and cannot be disputed is his talent and ability, which he took into films. His slighty unusual look, descended as he was from Blackfoot Indians and Spaniards, gave him the perfect "deadly henchman" look. This is showcased brilliantly in a clip from the film "Wheels on Meals" when he fights a very youthful Jackie Chan.

These days The Jet still imparts his vast knowledge of martial arts at his gym in Hollywood. He also teaches film and stage fighting, whilst retaining a zest for the path - martial arts - that life had set out for him.

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More standards to try an attain....

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:08:55 +0200

Checking out crossfit training on youtube and came across this. I'll try it at some point and report on the outcome. There are loads of these crazy crossfit vids. This what we trainers do in our spare time; explore more ways to nurture and torture! Coming to a class soon! Enjoy.

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And at no. 4.....

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:23:12 +0200

Below is a vid of K1's top ten knockouts from 2007. But for sheer guts and getting-off-the-canvas determination number four takes some beating!

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A little more practice needed...

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:06:35 +0200

In my classes on Thursday and Friday evenings, the warm up is skipping. The Friday guys are happy to skip away, the Thursday guys however groan as though I've just asked them to dig a deep hole and get into it! Here, for my Thursday evening guys, is a little inspiration.

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Can she kick it?

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:36:52 +0200

Women fighting, specifically fighting on film; artistically, well choreographed, looking as though they can actually fight, has always held a bit of a fascination for me. women fighting in films is not a new thing. the The late sixties and seventies martial arts boom, led by Bruce Lee, whose more story and character driven films, revolving around a strong moralled, good ass-kicking lead, appealed to the Western masses, showcased, ever so briefly, a fighting woman. In Lee's worldwide hit film one of the chief exponents of females fighting on film made a brief - fighting appearance. Angela Mao (seen above as "Lady Kung Fu") plays Lee's sister in Enter the Dragon. We see her in a brief flashback as she tries to fight off some bad guys, eventually electing to take her own life rather than be taken. Possibly because of the women's movement and colourful music seen of the seventies, the empowered female made fleeting, if sometimes comical, appearances in cinema.

Generally they tended to beat up men. The prospect of two women fighting wearing more than a bikini and executing proficient high kicks at one another was not one that really took off in the seventies, or even much in the nineties. there would be a bit of wait before we saw two women squaring up in a less than obscure straight-to-video film. A big star, within martial arts circles, was Cynthia Rothrock, was the goto girl for seeing a woman kicking, punching and handing out justice the old fashioned way in the eighties and into the nineties. An accomplished practitioner of five martial arts, Rothrock made and continues to make, a career as woman who could fight without pulling hair or scratching eyes out. By no stretch of the imagination an accomplished actress and, probably due to some of the stuntmen she had to work with, alot of her better known works, the American productions, always looked sped up and fake. But as the clip below shows, she could do it the Chinese way.

More up to date, we have had Michelle Yeoh - the other woman in the clip above - and Ziyi Zhang, both of whom have a fantastic fight scene in "Hidden Dragon Crouching Tiger". On the big screen Sharon Stone and Rachel Ticotin have a brief fight in "Total Recall". Though for a great fight scene between women, the scene involving Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu in "Kill Bill: Volume One" is a modern day classic. In fact every fight scene in the Kill Bill films is brilliant. Check out the Uma Thurman versus Vivaca Fox clip below.

On television women being able to hand out the odd can of "whup ass" has been evident for over a decade. Lucy Lawless' Xena was probably at the forefront of strong fighting women through the nineties. With her more demure sidekick, Gabrielle, played by Renee O'Connor, they smacked up marauding hordes across mythical lands right up to 2001. In the noughties we had Kelly Hu in the martial arts showcase that was "Martial Law" and present day we have Yvonne Strahovski in the spy drama/comedy "Chuck". For the martial arts lover there is plenty of action to be seen on our screens. The answer to the question'"can she kick it?" has to be "yes she can!"

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Sepp(tic) Blatt(h)er!

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:14:06 +0200

SEPP BLATTER, the FIFA president, has mooted an idea to introduce by 2010 a system that “protects” home-grown footballing talent by having a numerical quota system. The “six-plus-five” (rolls off the tongue!) quota system guarantees that every footballing team, worldwide, will eventually have to field a minimum of six home-grown, as in eligible for the home country’s national team, players. The English FA sees this as veiled attack on the cash rich Premier league. The major leagues in world football; English, Italian and Spanish, attract footballing talent from all over the globe. They attract the best players because: They pay the best wages and they offer the most glory; league championship medals, champions league, UEFA cup. Even for the teams within these leagues which cannot realistically challenge for top honours, for players from smaller footballing nations, the wages and the televisual exposure make the working environment appealing. As ever, media exposure and hyperbole make the lot of a professional footballer something that is difficult to see as anything other than glamorous. The image of all footballers being millionaire playboys is flawed. Of course, those in the top teams do not struggle to pay their bills, but in the lesser teams, many of these young men have to think about accumulating enough money in a decade to last into dotage. So it is no surprise that a talented footballer from a poorer nation would jump at the opportunity to ply his trade in one of the cash rich leagues of Europe.
The six-plus-five rule would hurt a lot of these young footballers and push up the price of already overpriced home-grown players. The argument that this system would give young home-grown players more chance to progress is flawed. This will simply give home-grown players more reason to not try as hard. The Premier league has already shown how some, home-grown, players have flourished, whilst others have bemoaned the influx of foreign players. Frank Lampard, a player seen as overweight and pedestrian in his West Ham days, blossomed at Chelsea in a team filled with foreign talent. Danny Murphy, a talented midfielder player, felt that he had to leave Liverpool to advance his career. Not that his career has blossomed since he moved on. His career has been patchy at best. Nor has he enhanced his national team call-up potential.
To summarise, six-plus-five is a compromise on quality. It would not help the national team, being in a team does not automatically make players better. If that were the case the Scottish Premier league would not be a two horse race, Celtic and Rangers, every season, come think of it, the English Premier league’s title is only contested by four clubs, one of which, Chelsea, can boast an English spine to the team. The six-plus-five system may be dead in the water before it gets going, as there is the small matter of European law to overcome. This will not stop Sepp Blatter from trying to push through the rule.

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From fat boy to fight boy.

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:29:24 +0200

It is well documented that Ricky Hatton balloons up to twelve/ thirteen stone (180 lbs) which is two stone plus above his fight weight of ten stone (140 lbs). I found quite an interesting interview with his strength coach, former bodybuilder and trainer, Kerry Kayes. Bringing his bodybuilding expertise to Hatton's camp at the behest of Billy Graham, Hatton's trainer. He outlines a little of how he helps Hatton achieve results.

click pic.

KERRY KAYES

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Lighting strikes again...

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:18:00 +0200

Usain Bolt - you couldn't make the name up! - broke the world record for 100 metres on Saturday 31st may, with a time of 9.72 seconds. that was two hundreds of a second faster than the previous time, held by the 100 metre specialist, Jamaican compatriot and serial big meet choker, Asafa Powell. Bolt, whose preferred distance is the 200 metres, had already laid down a mark of his potential in an earlier race, clocking a time of 9.76 seconds. For a man who claims to have a poor start and also shares with his fellow speedster, Powell, the alarming habit of slowing down ten metres from the finish line, the question is just how fast can he go? Showing admiral composure to focus after two false starts, Bolt also managed to hold off the challenge of the current world champion, the American Tyson Gay. Gay's achievements also include being the current 200 metres world champion and the burden of being the man to banish the tarnished image of America's brash and arrogant, not mention drug scandalized, athletics. If Powell can get his mind right and Bolt and Gay maintain form, the Beijing 100 metres will be a real race to look forward to. I, for one, cannot wait!

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My tuppence worth...

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:55:26 +0100

To open with a few relevant, but somewhat worn out clichés; people in glasshouses should not throw bricks and cheats never prosper. These are phrases, though well known and possibly even felt to be true, life sadly does not back up either statement. Persons with less than salubrious lifestyles routinely comment on, write about and or criticize or pass comment on situations or persons they are no better than. There has been a lot said about Dwain Chambers in the media recently. At his recent appearance in the Birmingham trials, he was warmly received by the British crowds, yet the vilification he has received in media circles is a little extreme. My personal stance on cheating, however it’s done, is, to be truthful, somewhat draconian. I believe that acts of duplicity - lying to gain an edge - are worse than stealing or assault. It is an act of disdain and shows scant respect for others. Having said that, to use another clichés, I do not believe that “a leopard never changes it’s spots”, any man or woman can change and there is always a choice, more than one path that person can take and if there is no such thing as redemption of character, what is the point of incarceration? The British athletics association (BOA) handed down a sentence of two years plus a lifetime from Olympic competition to Dwain Chambers. Beside the obvious loss of a career, he also, quite rightly, lost all his sponsors. In the interim, Dwain made some ill advised comments, to the effect that it was not possible to run at the speeds and achieve the times he craved, without the aid of chemical assistance, thus in one fell swoop he inadvertently accused every world class sprinter of being, at the very least, susceptible to the lure of performance enhancing drugs. The strangest thing is that, aside from his obvious physical change, the substance which he admitted taking - THG (tetrahydrogestrinone) - did little, if anything, to enhance his performance. So why such a furore over Dwain Chambers? Others have been caught before, admittedly not as high profile, but caught nonetheless and they have returned to their sport unaffected by the ballyhoo that seems to surround Chambers. What is even stranger is the fact that it is people within athletics who are so vociferous in their objections of him returning to the sport. Anybody who knows about athletics, sport in general, knows that, especially track athletes, only make money one of two ways; appearance fees at track meets, which they have to be “invited” to and sponsorship. Chambers somewhat unfortunate aggressive image does not lend itself to sponsorship and the pious breast beating of “clean” sports people pretty much ensures he will not have any major sporting sponsor. As for being invited to major meetings, the likelihood of that happening within Europe is slim to none. Outside of Europe his earning potential for running really fast is diminished even further when one considers that even double Olympic champion Michael Johnson in his pomp was hardly beating off the offers in his own U S of A!
I believe that, handled properly, Dwain Chambers could actually encourage youngsters to get involved in athletics, by showing them that perhaps failing, not a drugs test but in ones initial endeavours, does not mean there is no way back or that you have to give it up and go and do something else. If he can face the barbs, the sticks and stones, the inevitable obstacles the various governing bodies try to construct in order to restrict his progress, perhaps he can show that with perseverance and a refusal to be cowed even those who seemed beyond salvation can turn their lives around.

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Even the fittest get the blues....

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:47:36 +0100

This is the hardest part, when training. My race is only ten days away and since getting over a Xmas cold, training has been good and consistent, as has been the diet - with the occasional slip - and the progress...well, there's been some. In my work, in the gym, classes and clients, I hear quite often "well it's alright for you, you're fit" or "you find exercise easy", admittedly I do love my work, I get paid for what I enjoy. Having said that, I still have the same trepidations and thoughts that everyone else does when training for a specific purpose. Will I have a good race? (it is only my second race and first indoors) Is there any real point in me doing it? This is terrible! I'm getting no better. I'll start again in Spring...Will the other competitors collapse in fits of giggles when I line up for the race? The last one is a bit extreme, but you get my drift, when such thoughts enter your head, the thought of exercising seems pointless. Any ache your body has seems amplified, if the weather is chilly, it feels Arctic! Exercises you have done hundreds, thousands of times, are taxing in multiplies of ten. You tell yourself you need a rest, just give it a miss for today, I'll get right back to it tomorrow...sound familiar? Of course, some do jump straight back in, and to those who do - congratulations. But if your one of those who is thinking "what's the point?" or "I'm not seeing any results" this is not the time to rest. Getting through the "I wanna stop now!" phase is a small but necessary victory in the battle to achieve fitness, lose weight, become generally more active or, in my case, get through a "sixty metre dash"! Know that you are not suffering alone. keep training!

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Working on them starts....

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:34:00 +0100

Having managed to squeeze in only one race last season, I had decided that this season - year - I would start with some 60m indoor races. Unfortunately, I caught a bit of the bug that has been sweeping the country and haven't been able to train for a couple of weeks. D-day is Saturday February 9th Lee Valley indoors, about five weeks away, last week I was working on block starts. I think they need more work...

Click pic for my shop!

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Xmas 800metres

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:03:39 +0100

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I hold my hands up...

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:59:59 +0100

I thought Hatton was going to do it on Saturday night/Sunday morning. I got caught up in the hype, believing the little Manc's high pressure tactics would be to much for the dancing, point stealer that I assumed Mayweather would be. How wrong I was. He has proved himself to be one of the greatest fighters of his generation. Simply brilliant.

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Not much of a sporting link....

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:19:32 +0100

This has nothing at all to do with sport, it's just bloody funny!

Shop's still there! Click pic!

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La Santa...more pics

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 01:44:25 +0100

Here are few pics from John "Pecker" Woodhams. Thanks John.

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Don't quit.

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 22:30:47 +0100

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won if he'd stuck it out.
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late, when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are -
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

Author Unknown

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The Fury on film

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:50:52 +0100

You can also see these on my youtube channel. Click pic.

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