August 2008
| Published: 2nd September 2008 14:37 |
imprisoned in a concentration camp after Jack's father refused to work for the invading forces). In 1945 they were rescued by American troops.Jack's most treasured possession from this time is a plane made of bullets given him by one of the US soldiers. The family then moved to England where Jack was brought up. He studied English at Cambridge, and has spent 33 years of his life teaching in three London Comprehensive schools. Jack has received several awards and commendations for teaching both religious studies and the martial arts. He still teaches martial arts after beginning training in kung fu and karate at the age of 37. The style he now teaches is Choikwangdo. Jack is a 5th degree black belt in free style martial arts, a third degree black belt in Choikwangdo, a second degree black belt in Iai Batto Jutsu, a second degree black belt in Taekwondo and a 1st degree in Karate and a brown belt in Okinawan weapons. Jack enjoys his local daily walks and has agreed to share his Walk in the Woods experiences for all to read. Saturday August 30th, 2008: "Lazy Labrador! Try standing more often.
Tonight, Saturday 30th Aug 2008, I walked out along my usual route at about 8.30 p.m.
I said ‘Good Evening' to a lady with a large golden labrador just up the road from my house. She seemed nervous at this time of night but the dog came over at once wagging its tail.
"She likes men", the lady said. The labrador sat down in front of me blocking my path effectively. She was overweight and probably felt like a rest. I sympathized entirely.
Eventually, the lady pulled the labrador away and they continued their evening walk. The incident reminded me of the importance of exercise for lazy labradors and lazy humans.
We all need to move around more. Moving around more gets the blood flowing and expends more calories so that we can lose unnecessary weight.
Just standing burns more calories than sitting down like the labrador! Instead of sittting down and saving calories we only need to stand up more often. The football crowds who prefer to stand to watch football have the right idea!
We should, then, stand rather than sit and walk whenever there is a chance to walk. Even stretching when you are at your desk can burn calories. Chewing gum can burn extra calories.
Thank goodness there is at least one benefit from chewing gum.
Even bending over to pick it off your shoe might help you gain flexibility!
Of course, sitting probably uses more calories than lying down. Some dogs unlike the labrador hit the pavement as soon as their owners stop for a chat!
You can also split your workouts into small sections throughout the day. Instead of 15 mins do 5 minutes in the morning and at noon and in the evening.
You might find an acronym helpful as a way to remember some of the key ways of burning calories. I can't think of a good one yet, but try remembering the 4 S's.
Stand often
Seize chances to walk
Stretch
Split your workouts
Saturday August 23rd, 2008: "With Hard Work Anything Is Possible!"
Today I walked round the neighbourhood twice. The second time was after dark and I noticed one burglar alarm that had a flashing light. Another one had a flashing light with a minor explosion of light every few seconds!
I expect that the competitive spirit will lead to more burglar alarms with flashing lights in the near future. Competition can push the human race from one astonishing achievement to another!
The Jamaicans are so competitive that over fifty thousand people will attend a high school sports day looking to discover yet another great runner like Usain Bolt.
Usain has just won three gold medals and broken three world records in the Beijing games. In fact the Jamaicans have dominated the track events.
Usain believes strongly in the power of hard work: "Tell the world that with hard work anything is possible."
He also believes in avoiding worry in the spirit of ‘Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile boys that's the style'.
An interviewer asked Usain: "You always seem so relaxed, laid back and enjoying the moment." Usain gave a clear explanation for his attitude and for the antics which the crowd love:
"That's what you should do. You have to enjoy yourself. When you start thinking too much, that is when you get problems. You think about the race too much then you get nervous: ‘Oh God! I've got to get a good start. I got to remember to run up my drive (lane?).'
"Then you start to over think. You lose focus on what you should do or you keep telling yourself you are going to make a mistake. So I do all kinds of stuff to keep my mind off worrying about the race.
"When the starter says: ‘On your marks!' then I say: ‘Alright! Lets go!' I get on my marks and I have no time to think about anything. You just do what you were trained to do. You trained for months for this moment and you just execute."
Maybe we need to worry less and free up our minds to take action. Working hard and walking a lot will also help to remove worry from our minds and allow us to do almost anything we want to do.
