Knight Self Defence and Fitness

Pigeon Pose.
One I actually do! And really need to get back into doing more of. Given how sedentary life gets sometimes, especially if unwell or doing extra shifts driving or in an office etc, things need stretching lest they get bad. Hip flexors often.
Crack out a minute of this a day and it should help keep that at bay!

Another sleep appreciation post.
Best is best.
Without it you dont recover or learn and therfore cannot progress.
Also, your general wellbeing will decrease too which is very counter productive.

Sorry for the delay all.
I have been ill.
Also my routine will be changing on here!
To explain the quote though, I was talking about how I get reminders of my faults every week. With clients hitting me, me missing targets, etc.
This was their response.

I am not arrogant enough to claim to be an "absolute machine" but my main reason for not falling too far behind is this. I fail and I recognise and learn from it. This mindset is key and what I try to instill in clients. Failure is a step forwards unless you let it drag you back.

Yoga timencontinues!
Sorry that the last one was in the wrong order...
Moving on, we have the standing forwardnfold, which for all us office workers is a gods send. Trust me when I say your low back will appreciate it.
Combined with some hip flexor stretching, you can more or less undo the main issues of being sat at a desk for 8 hours a day.
Give it a go regularly and you will be pretty happy with the results, even if just being able to take a quiet moment.

Hobbies, they often lead to passions but even when they don't, they burn stress and breed joy. This is important for health, mental and physical. Do you have any hobbies? I have a few... (too many)

Testimonial Time!
I am particuarly proud of this one. Being a good instructor is always a personal goal!

Yoga!
I have done it in the past in fits and starts, bouts here and there.
I am back on that train and so, to help my own journey I figured I would bring you along with me. So, for a while at least, expect functional fridays to be be rather Yoga focussed!
Tree Pose, an easy one to start with, is one I truly am a fan of and do somewhat unintentially too! Ankle stability is a must for more intensive exercise and balance is functional for everyone that ever stands.
Thus, it felt ideal to start with.

With it being a few weeks into the new year, it is likely that you may need a reminder - stay on track!
You may have set a goal for the year, a routine to follow etc.
Do it!
You may need to adapt around circumstances but stay on track.
Focus.

Another Testimonial.
Commitment is key. This is a fundamental, and I always aim first for adherence, find what you will *actually* do. Otherwise you will stop and then lose progress!

I love sit ups. Not because they feel good or because I am good at them, but due to their functionality.
Sorry the post is a bit of a mirror of last time; I am somewhat under the weather and very busy.
Forgive me!

It is New Years Day Sunday.
Welcome to 2023, my theme this year is art.
In many forms, Martial, Literary, Trade, Visual and so on.
The way of the artist is a way of constant improvement; however, these must be made sustainably. As such this year I have a sub-theme of Sustainability.

What are your changes, goals and directing influences this year?

Another Testimonial!
Realism, I value it - if you do too then perhaps training together is a good idea.

My favourite. I am no Calisthenics athlete but they have a great degree of my respect.
Bodyweight training is reliable and repeatable. Have you given it any thought?

The festive season is here!
Hopefully everyone enjoys it. I just wanted to let everyone know I will not be active on the 25th of December or the 1st of January. I may still be reached via normal means, but no training is scheduled to take place.
Thank you for understanding.

Tes-ti-mon-i-al Time!!!!

I think I may have missed a post last week... sorry! The rest of life distracted me. Regardless, Functional Friday time.
Active Stretching is like normal Stretching but harder (and better) to do. The idea is to stretch and engage the muscles at the same time so rather than just abusing them you use them!

Many people have said things such as 'the master has failed more times than the student has tried' etc.
This is not something I disagree with, but knowing others have failed as well does little to blunt the blow. I recommend learning to enjoy your failures. Laugh about them and move forward, this doesn't mean to ignore them, but you can learn as you laugh.
Relax.
Failure is inevitable.

Confidence is key.

Sleep is my favourite part of training. Probably due to how little of it I have managed to get as an adult... nevermind though, it is key for recovery and learning as well as just feeling good, being safe and healthy.
Sorry the post is a little sparce but if you have any questions then drop me a message!

Martial Arts
I will always sing their praises. Some are practical, some are not. I have yet to encounter one without some merits, even if I don't necessarily approve of them all.
They help improve fitness, mental clarity, computational speed, confidence and more.
A traditional(ish) martial art got me into fitness, and it is the most recent of the many gifts it has given me.
Now, I do not yet teach martial arts, but some of their lessons I am comfortable to pass on. If you are interested in some training, or even to try some basic martial art styles to see what you want to learn eventually then send me a message!

A single session is hardly enough to base a full opinion, but coming away with this mindset after one session makes me very happy with myself as an instructor.

I am currently focusing on stability with one of my clients and the links to mobility led to this post.
Would anyone be interesting in the next Functional Friday being on Stability.? I feel maybe I should revert to doing more specific exercises rather than generic concepts perhaps...

Learning.
It is the key thing for humans and I find the more of it I do (with ample rest time) the better I feel and the clearer I think.
But learning is more than reading books and going to school. Learning is increasing your depth and bredth of knowledge. It can be how much you know intellectually or what you can do physically, games and sports and hobbies of all sorts.
If anyone tells you off for a healthy amount of a hobby thell them it is in the name of self improvement - a PT told you so!

With the "Cost of Living Crisis" a lot of people are gonna have to cut back on things.
The gym is a place of comfort for many, solitude for others. A refuge as much as a tool.
I am happy to hear that I can supply not only the workout but a similar friendship and safe space to the gym.
If you need a PT but cant afford both that and the gym... then come to me!

Functional Fridaaaaaay!
Breathing.
Many of you may know I am asthmatic, so perhaps my innate failure to breath well is why I focus so heavily on this. However there are less subjective reasons to aswell.
Without breathing, we die.
Easy one, but also you know how Yogis focus on breath a lot, so do many martial artists and even people who focus heavily on resistance training.
It is because it is part of the baseline required to do anything from.
The better you breath, the better the rest of what you do is likely to go.

Sudoku is a brain trainer!
Today is apparently international sudoku day, which is a bit odd.
But,
Brain training is as key as muscle training to be honest - if not more so (on a person to person basis)
I have never tried a binary sudoku, anyone screenshot it and send me a completed one?

Testimonial!
Been a little while eh?
Always nice to have a client with more confidence in themselves and around others!

One of the exercises I do!
It is like a plank but the other way around so your back faces the ground and your belly faces upwards
Try to keep your hands below you in as comfortable of an extended position possible.
Sorry for not making the 3rd page of this Functional Friday but I have not been sleeping well so havent have the time+energy combo to do this!

I am no Taoist (Daoist?), but I am a Philosophy Graduate for a reason.
I love looking into view points and ideas from everywhere.
On top of this, I do martial arts and like many in the modern day am familiar with the concept of a flow state.
Wu Wei in my brief understanding is a state of being or achievement, skill, where you have overcome what you do not know and got past your insecurities. You are both knowledgeable and confident.
You are aware of the things you don't know but don't let it hold you back.
You act without acting, do, without doing.
This is instinctual.
And only acheuved through a *lot* of hard work.
Something I work on with myself and my clients both.