Toughen Up Self-Defense Training Tips

For the past several months, I’ve been searching, studying, reading and investing a ton of time and a small fortune acquiring information and resources that I can use to bolster my own training, the curriculum of my courses and seminars and the content and quality of my Toughen Up Training Guides.

In addition to punching and kicking workouts, I’ve been exploring, reviewing and “test-driving” various combat-specific and combat-compatible training methods that will not only increase your legitimate self-defense skills but improve your health, tone and strengthen your muscles, prevent or rehabilitate injuries, burn body fat and “turn back the clock” on age-related performance problems.

Allow me to refresh you memory about the “Toughen Up Training Philosophy,”

• to use combative training methods to improve health, fitness, functional performance and mental toughness, and…
• to implement conditioning methods that translate directly to your functional performance and fighting abilities.

Over the past several months, I’ve come across information and resources that have lead to a “breakthrough” in my own training and have DRAMATICALLY changed my understanding about training, conditioning and injury prevention.  (And don’t forget, I’ve been searching for stuff like this for almost 35 years!)

That being said, the absolute, hands down, BEST resources I’ve come across have come from a company called, “DragonDoor.com .”

I’ve bought and reviewed several of their books and DVD’s and, without exception, I’m thoroughly impressed!

It’s hard for me to write this without coming across as “pitchy” or like I’m trying to sell you something.  If you know me well, you know that I’m not like that… BUT…

At the risk of being blunt… If you want to get the most out of your combative workouts you want to:

#1 Buy my Toughen Up Training Guides. ;-)  The current guides provide you with the “building blocks” you need to design your own productive and safe self-defense workouts and…

#2 Checkout the ton of free conditioning information and products that I’ll be reviewing and recommending at DragonDoor.com .

In the future, I’ll be writing reviews about some of the Dragondoor.com products that I’ve studied and will be working much of the material and concepts into articles and training guides. (as well as information from other high-quality sources)

In the meantime, I suggest that you download a copy of Dragondoor’s “Hard-Style” Catalogue. 

Without exception, I’ve been thoroughly impressed by all of the products that I’ve reviewed. 

Download the free catalogue.  It’s loaded with excellent articles and training advice.  It will also give you a sense of what Dragondoor has to offer, what I’ve been studying and the direction I’m heading with my Toughen Up stuff.

If you’re interested in downloading a copy of the Hard Style Catalogue, you can do so at a link I’ve set up for you:

Dragondoor Hard-Style Catalogue

Go ahead and download the catalogue… It won’t cost you a thing to take a look and you might just find the articles to be the kind of thing you’re looking for. 

If you do, fire me back an email at Randy@ToughenUp.com with any comments or questions you might have and let me know what you think.

Take care, train smart and stay safe,

 Randy

What’s nutritional advice doing on a Self-Defense Blog?

Actually, I’m throwing this info at you because I get a lot of questions about the connection between combative training and weight control.  To focus exclusively on training strategies and NOT provide at least a nutritional overview would be an incomplete answer.  So here’s my two cents on eating.

I’m not a nutrition expert so take what I say with a grain of salt (but not too much salt because its bad for your blood pressure and makes you retain water ;-) 

That being said, I betcha I’ve read a hundred diet books: Atkins, The Zone, The Paleo-Diet, The South Beach Diet, The Abs Diet (one of my favorites) and the list goes on.  And the more I read, the more confused I got.  They’re ALL different!  Who’s right?  Who’s wrong?

Eventually though, if you keep reading, stop looking at the differences and begin looking for similarities, you’ll begin to put the pieces together that make sense and call bullshit about the weird, off-the-wall stuff.

Having been blessed with an exceptionally small brain, poor memory and short attention span… I like to keep things simple… So that’s what I’ll do here.  Here is my Down And Dirty List of Smart Eating Tips.

Tip #1: Include All Three Food-Types

Combine three types of foods in your meals: lean protein, “slow” carb’s and good fats.

Lean Protein: Proteins are the building blocks of your body… you are essentially “made of” protein.  Examples: eggs, fish, poultry, lean beef, low-fat dairy, whey protien powder, tofu

Slow Carbs:  Carb’s are basically the energy source for your body.  What I mean by “slow carbs” is carbohydrates with a low glycemic index (GI). GI is a measure of how fast carb’s are broken down into sugar and enter the blood stream.  Sudden increases in blood sugar causes your pancreas to secrete insulin to lower your levels. 

High insulin levels cause elevated cholesterol, blood pressure, risk of heart disease and stroke and oh yeah… increased body fat.  Examples: fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads and pastas

Good Fats - there are good fats and bad fats.  The good fats reduce the risk of strokes, heart attacks and other diseases, lowers cholesterol, helps transfer vitamins and satisfies your hunger sooner, with less food.  Examples: fish and fish oils, nuts, olive oil

Tip #2: Eat Natural And Unprocessed Foods

As a rule of thumb, eat foods that are as close to their naturual state as possible.  Highly processed foods, fried foods, artifically flavored foods tend to be full of unhealthy ingredients and digest too quickly.  In terms of body fat… thats not good.  Natural foods will also have higher levels of vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Tip #3:  Eat Several Small Meals Per Day

If your body “thinks” its not getting enough food, it begins to store fat as a survival mechanism. Skipping meals or not eating frequently enough can turn on the “starvation response” that will slow your metabolism to a crawl.  That spells body fat.

Eat several small, evenly spaced meals (5 or 6) a day rather than a couple big ones.  This regulates blood sugar levels, revs up your metabolism, prevents the starvation response from kicking in, and prevents cravings that will send you searching the cupboards for junk or gorging yourself when you do eat.

I recommend three meals and three snacks spaced about every three hours or so.  Eat your last meal about 3 hours before bed.  Protein shakes are a quick and convenient meal replacement rather than spending all of your time preparing meals.

Tip #4: Eat A Little Less Than Your Maintenance Calories

If you eat too many calories you get fat.  If you eat too few calories you lose muscle and slow down your metabolism.  Believe it or not,  eating too little will make you get fat!  Find out what your maintenance intake is… the amount of food you can eat without gaining or losing weight.  Then, if you want to lose fat, eat a little less…  Its that simple.

Keep track of what you eat for about a week.  If you haven’t gained or lost weight consider that your mainenance amount.  Be careful not to reduce your calories too much or you’ll activate the starvation response.

I hate counting calories.  I’m too lazy, disinterested and can’t be bothered measuring exact amounts of food.  Just adjust your meal size, a bit at a time, and you’ll find the “sweet spot” of how much to eat.

Tip #5:  Drink Lots Of Water

Water is good for you… drink a lot… (there, how’s that for a revelation?)  The health benefits of water are many.  Don’t rely on your thirst to tell you  when and how much to drink.  Carry a bottle around and drink constantly. (I have one sitting beside me right now)

Especially when you’re training regularly, you’ll need a lot of water to replace the fluids that you lose by sweating.

I’ve also read that drinking very cold water will burn fat because your body has to expend calories to warm up the fluids in your gut.

Tip #6:  Take A Multi-Vitamin

Food loses vitamins through cooking and storage time.  My head spins when I try and figure out all the rules and recommendations about vitamins.  I alleviate the pain and agony of unnecessary thinking by just taking a good multi-vitamin and getting on with my life.

Tip #7:  Cheat Once A Week

If you deny yourself your favorite foods permanently, you’ll lose interest in your eating plan and have less discipline to stick with it. Here’s a little trick to keep you on track:  give yourself one meal a week where you can eat as much of anything you want.

It makes it easier for you to stick with a healthy eating plan if you allow yourself to “cheat” every once in a while.  Some people also believe that adding a high-calorie meal every now and then prevents the starvation response from kicking in and slowing down your metabolism.

There you have it, hardly comprehensive nor complete but good enough to get the ball rolling with a smart, healthy eating plan that will keep your body fat under control.

If you’re looking for a good online resource  on losing body fat, I recommend… Alywyn Cosgroves “Afterburn: Extreme Fat Loss Training” (click on the link to read about it)

OK… now I’ll get back to self-defense stuff.  I promise.

Take care, EAT smart and stay safe…

Randy