Preventing Injury During Training

Another form of safety is taking the correct steps towards preventing injury during training. This is broken down into 3 segments: before training, during training, and after training.

Before Training: It doesn’t take long the older you get to realize how important it is that what you do before a workout can have a significant impact, not only on results, but in preventing injury. Phase 1) Insure that you are hydrated before each workout. Don’t wait until afterwards to drink a gallon of water. Phase 2) Dynamic stretching should take place to allow blood and oxygen to circulate through all of the muscles, especially those that will be worked more than others during the training or workout. Phase 3) Mental preparation: If you are very tired or already have an injury that needs to be protected, be sure to let the instructor know and use caution.

During Training: Always be aware of your surroundings, especially if you are required to move in all directions. Listen to your body. If you work out on a regular basis you will know your limitations better. Don’t be afraid to stop if you are feeling dizzy, light headed, or feeling pain.

After Training: Now is the best time to do static stretching, hold various leg and arm stretches for 10 to 15sec. This is the best time to stretch while your muscles are warm and tired, but do not over stretch. Next, sip on water do not chug it, and in the 30min after completing a workout be sure to eat something with protein, and potassium for faster muscle recovery.

Whether you workout and train every day or once a month, it’s always important to do everything you can to avoid injury so you can feel better, workout more, and live a healthy lifestyle.

For more ways from Empower Martial Arts on preventing injury contact tj_holgerson@hotmail.com

Safety

With the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, where over 2 dozen children and adults were gunned down at an elementary school, there is a lot of talk about safety and guns.

You don’t have to have a risk management personality to understand the importance of safety, especially if you have a family. In the last 12 years our country has gone through many natural disasters, tragedies, shootings, terrorist acts, and not to mention we are currently in the middle of one of the longest wars in history. That being said, how do you insure safety for you and your family? I wish I could tell you that if everyone bought a security system for their house, pepper spray for their purse, and put GPS trackers on all of their children, life would be fine.

Unfortunately no matter how many promises of safety you buy into, you will never have a 100% guarantee. Safety isn’t something you pay for once and you’re good forever. It is an ongoing dialog between students and instructors, co-workers and bosses, children and  parents, and you and yourself. Knowledge is great, but if you aren’t continually practicing safe behaviors everywhere you go, you may be caught off guard.

Take some time today to go over safety with your family, and look forward to child safety seminars coming soon! Empower Martial Arts wants to equip you with confidence and understanding to prepare you for the many challenges that come your way in Tae Kwon Do, school, work, and wherever life takes you.

For more questions e-mail tj_holgerson@hotmail.com

First 8 moves of CHUN-JI

Merry Christmas from Empower Martial Arts

Self-Defense Against Dating Violence

Have you or has anyone close to you ever been abused physically, emotionally, verbally, or spiritually by a dating partner? This may not surprise you but the statistics of those being abused in a teen dating relationship is NOT going down.

"Nearly 1.5 million highschool students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year. One in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner, a figure that far exceeds rates of the other types of youth violence. One in 10 high school students has been purposefully hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend. One quarter of high school girls have been victims of physical or sexual abuse."

How does Self-Defense come into play?

We're not talking about defending yourself from your dating partner's physical attacks but avoiding it and being aware of thsoe who are abusive. True self-defense is knowledge, being aware of your surroundings, and being prepared for anything. This isn't always just for you but for those close to you as well. You want to strive to be a "peace warrior" or the person who others feel safe around, not just because you know how to knock someone out, but because of your strong leadership qualities and unwavering morals.

EMA is continually working on new ways to educate, raise awareness, and put an end to the many forms of violence that are affecting the community each and every day.



Building upon the foundation of Perseverance

Perseverance defined is steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc…, especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

This being said; take the number of activities and challenges you did perfectly the first time and compare them to the number of ones you had to work at. If you have done more perfect the first time you need to be writing this post!

Empower Martial Arts is the result of years of perseverance. Learning through hardships and pushing past difficulties doesn’t just keep you on the road towards achieving your goals, but more importantly develops strong character.

Setting a goal is step one. Step two is working to make it happen. EMA wants to not only show you what the end can look like, but teach YOU how to get there. Having accountability, a mentor, and someone to encourage you through the highs and lows is what EMA is all about.

One of the best tools you can have in your bag is knowing what to do when you’ve hit the wall. When you’ve lost all motivation to continue on, what do you do? Who do you call? Knowing the answer to this question ahead of time and having a game plan is planning for success.

“God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them." C.S. Lewis