Adult Homework: Physical Fitness

By Ace A, brown belt

Physical fitness is one of the best things you can do for yourself. Movement and exercise improve your health and help you lose weight or maintain your current weight. Often overlooked although are the benefits to your mental and phycological wellbeing. Physical exercise greatly increases levels of dopamine in your brain making you feel happier and more content.

By exercising more often we counteract the effects of modern life where all of us spend hours and hours a day sitting and not moving or only moving our fingers at a computer. Simple daily movement, even just standing up and walking around for a few minutes every hour can help maintain your positive attitude and mental acuity but more often than not can give you that small break you need to solve a difficult problem or o help you focus better on the task at hand. More vigorous exercise, even if it is only twice a week, will increase your metabolism allowing for better overall health and maintenance of your body.

Mentally, the release of adrenalin and dopamine during exercise will make you feel better and think more clearly. It will also provide a better sense of self and better opinion of yourself. All this added to the way exercise help us sleep better every night keeps us from feeling depressed, closed off or alone.  The better you feel on the inside the you want to do on the outside and the more often you want to exercise or simply just move around. The people in life that turn to drugs and alcohol or have a deep feelings of depression or anxiety are more often the people whose physical activity is minimal and are looking for something in life to help the feel better. The simplest answer is exercise and activity.

Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo and martial arts and the variety of movement offered during a single class not only gets us asleep better but will get you out of bed in the morning excited for a new day and for the opportunities to learn, to grow, to push yourself and to feel better about life.  It is the act of repetition of movement and the drive to excel and to succeed in class that will translate into a more focused mind and a more healthy body.

Teen Homework: Physical Fitness

By Evan M, Junior Red Belt 

Exercise should be incorporated into everybody’s life. Exercise is the practice of strengthening your body which is important to maintain your health. Your muscles, your heart, your lungs, your brain rely on the blood and nutrients that is helped by maintaining a healthy body. 

The two forms of exercise are aerobic and anaerobic. Aerobic exercise is beneficial for your cardiovascular system and requires oxygen to be completed such as is required for doing jumping jacks. It strengthens your heart which pumps blood to your muscles. If you don’t do aerobic exercise then your muscles don’t get enough exercise. Anaerobic exercise makes your muscles stronger, like lifting weights or doing push-ups. 

So, exercising consistently has many benefits. And we do a lot of regular exercise in our Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo classes! In addition to getting stronger, you will have heightened cardiovascular endurance and energy. You will feel a lot better about yourself if you exercise than if you don’t and you will likely live longer and better if you exercise routinely. Although TKD already adds exercise, you should still exercise outside of class. Exercise is very beneficial and good for you.

The Importance of Physical Fitness

By Kim W, white belt

The CDC states that adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of intense exercise every week. Many American adults struggle to meet this recommendation though.  Prioritizing time for personal exercise can feel daunting or even impossible when faced with other demands from work, family or social obligations. However, heeding the recommendation for physical activity on a consistent basis leads to significantly improved physical and mental well-being, even helping you avoid injury as you age!

The physical benefits of regular exercise are well-documented. These benefits include weight loss, increased muscle tone and cardiovascular health and lower risk of serious illness. We can all feel the impact that exercise has on our bodies when we look fitter or can last longer with aerobic exercise without huffing and puffing, but exercise has a long list of lesser-known physical benefits that aren't always easily seen. Two of these additional benefits are increased brain health and strengthening of bones. The most immediate of these benefits relates to how exercise impacts your brain. When you exercise, your body releases chemicals such as dopamines and endorphins that are shown to increase happiness and lower feelings of stress and anxiety. Physical activity is also shown to have a positive effect on cognitive abilities, so exercise can help you think, learn and problem solve! Scientists are even studying the impact exercise can have on preventing certain cognitive diseases, such as Alzheimers or dementia. Another "hidden" benefit of physical activity relates to bone and joint health. Regular exercise has been shown to reduce the rate of bone loss and conserve bone tissue. Your bones react to exercise in a similar way to your muscles. As you continue to exercise, your bones become thicker and denser, which reduces the risk of bone fractures. Exercise also leads to increased balance, which can assist with preventing falls and also reduce risk of fractures. This is especially important for older adults as a bone fracture can be severely debilitating or even fatal. 

Aside from the physical benefits, regular exercise also has significant mental health benefits. We've already learned that the body is producing chemicals as we exercise that improve our immediate feelings of well-being, but exercise is shown to have multiple long-term mental benefits such as improved mood, increased self-esteem and self-confidence, lower levels of stress and depression and improved sleep cycles. Group exercises are also shown to increase sense of community and belonging, also leading to lower levels of depression and isolation. The positive mental feelings associated with exercise have been shown to motivate individuals to continue exercising, leading to even more benefits, both physical and emotional.

As you can see, the physical fitness from classes at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute have many great, lifetime lasting benefits!

Taekwondo for Physical Fitness

By Brian Steward, 4th dan

Have you been looking to improve your physical fitness?  If so, you may want to consider participating in CTI Taekwondo training to help improve your fitness.  Taekwondo at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute, sometimes referred to as Korean karate, utilizes kicks, punches and blocks for self defense.  While developing self defense skills Taekwondo training also develops strength, endurance and flexibility.  Taekwondo produces improvements in many aspects of physical fitness via a range of stretches, exercises and martial arts techniques.

Because kicks are central in CTI Taekwondo techniques, flexibility is emphasized in training.  Flexibility can be improved while training first by manually stretching muscles in the legs and then further refined by performing kicks.  As flexibility increases kicks become faster and are able to hit higher targets.  An increase in flexibility leads to an increase in quality of life.  Being flexible results in improved mobility and fewer injuries, not only while training, but also in daily life.

Cardiovascular health can also be improved by training in Taekwondo.  Exercises like jumping jacks are paired with dynamic activities such as sparring to keep the heart rate elevated while training.  The longer the heart stays elevated, the better the cardiovascular health is.  Taekwondo training is energetic which results in little time for rest meaning that heart rate remains elevated through a large portion of every training session.  Enhanced cardiovascular health has many well known benefits including reduction in body weight, reduction of blood pressure and reduction in total cholesterol levels.

Taekwondo techniques require muscular strength to be effective and require muscular endurance so that they can be used in any situation.  Muscular endurance and strength complement each other in martial arts; it is useless to be able to throw only one strong punch, just as it is useless to be able to throw a hundred weak punches.  Muscular strength is built in Taekwondo with body weight exercises, like pushups and situps, and also through performing martial arts techniques, like kicks.  Repetitions of both techniques and body weight exercises not only increase the strength of muscles but also increase the endurance of the same muscles.  These training techniques result in toned supple muscles.

Taekwondo training can dramatically help individuals in attaining their fitness goals.  Whether your goal is to lose weight, to develop balance, to improve flexibility, to boost cardiovascular health, to strengthen and tone muscle, to enhance body control or to augment agility training in Taekwondo will be a great workout program for you.  General health will be positively affected by training in Taekwondo because of the balanced approach to physical fitness that is required for successful Taekwondo techniques and required for general self defense skill.

Just For You - Denver Martial Arts for Adults!

All around the country, and especially in Colorado, adults are looking for a new form of physical fitness and exercise. Considering martial arts for your new fitness program may not be as outrageous as you think. Martial arts training is ever-becoming a popular way for kids to gain focus, confidence, and physical fitness, but in Denver, martial arts training can be just as empowering for adults. The Colorado Taekwondo Institute offers training at multiple locations throughout Colorado, including Denver-area training in Lakewood, Littleton, Westminster, Golden and Confer. Martial arts are not just for kids anymore!

You can benefit from adult martial arts classes, such as Taekwondo or Karate, in the same manner as children. And, if they come to their program with the same curiosity and openness that kids and teens do, they are often surprised by how much their training has improved their confidence, helped them relieved stress and produced strength & muscle tone that helps them in other activities.

Many adult start martial arts because they are interested in learning self-defense to protect themselves and their families & friends. In fact, martial arts were originally developed for common people and soldiers to protect themselves in wartime and from wild animals. But in peace time, people continued to practice their martial arts because of the other benefits derived from them. So even in today's world, training in karate, taekwondo, hapkido, kung fu or judo will help you can reap the many benefits from adult self defense training.

Relieve Stress – According to stress.org, "44% of Americans feel more stressed than they did 5 years ago." And as you know, stress is linked to increased risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke. We may not all be naturally calm individuals, but as you begin your martial arts training, you can develop the skills you need to calm your nerves and focus your energies toward simplified goals. Martial arts as stress relief may be one of the most underrated reasons to begin an adult program, but nearly every adult struggles with stress on some level, and taekwondo, karate, kung fu, judo or hapkido training is a great way to tackle this life-shortening emotional strain.

Get Healthier – Of course, any type of cardiovascular exercise can help you feel better and live longer, and martial arts are no different. And martial arts are great, because they also develop muscular strength and endurance, along with weight loss and increased flexibility. Many adults face the struggle to get to the gym or find a goal-oriented activity that is beginner friendly. As a martial arts student, adults can get the exercise they need, learn something new and push their limits while participating in something they can enjoy.

Set Goals – The belt system for adults is the same as it is for any student, six or sixty. By advancing through the belts, you can continue to set goals and achieve them, learning a little more about the art and a little more about yourself with each step.

So as you see, you should consider adult martial arts classes for your next fitness program. Call the Colorado Taekwondo Institute today to learn more about a no-obligation, introductory program!

-----------------
SOURCES:
http://www.stress.org/stress-is-killing-you/

Why Individual Sports, Including Martial Arts, Are Valuable for Teenagers

From the time they are born, children are constantly growing physically and mentally each day into the adult that they will one day become. They learn and grow as toddlers, children and as teenagers. Much research shows that children are developing well past their teenage years. In fact, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, "the brain doesn’t look like that of an adult until the early 20s."

So the teenage years are a valuable time for children to continue to learn life skills, such as perseverance, self-reliance, confidence, focus and physical fitness. Team sports often can provide the same benefits, but often they are not as beneficial because they have to rely on the team. If they aren't the best on a team, they won't play as often as the "super stars" on the team. With an individual sport, such as Karate or Taekwondo, each teen puts in their own effort and they receive what they put into it. Martial arts for teenagers are so wonderful and they develop so many benefits, including:

Perseverance: "The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places." - Author Unknown -- One great thing with martial arts, such as Taekwondo or Karate, is that they have a belt system which teaches students to persevere. Each belt has certain requirements that the teen must learn and master before moving on to the next belt. The process to get to black belt will take many years and a teen will have to persevere to obtain that goal. Luckily with the each of the small goals along the way, they learn how to push step-by-step to work hard until they reach their goal.

Self-Reliance: "Youth athletes in individual sports learn to be self reliant. Their success is entirely dependent on their own efforts. If they want to win, they can’t count on someone else carrying them through the competition. If they lose a match, individual sport athletes can’t blame anyone else for their failure. This teaches them to be responsible for their own action and decisions." -Sports Signup

Confidence: "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." -E. E. Cummings -- Often times children will start to become more shy or reserved during their teen years. But it is also the time when they need to learn to speak up and have great self-esteem. Speeches in high school, job interviews and public speaking are all right around the corner for them, and this is an important time for them to learn to have high esteem for themselves and to be confident.

Focus: “Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” -Zig Ziglar -- Teenagers are often stereotyped as being lazy and lacking focus. As above, the teen years are important for their development for the "real world" after high school. Martial arts classes, such as those taught at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute, are a great way for teens to develop their focus. Classes are structured and students need to focus on the task at hand to learn and develop their moves as they prepare for their next belt or an upcoming tournament.

Physical Fitness: "Approximately 12.7 million, or 17 percent, of children and adolescents are obese." -American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry -- This is an alarming statistic. Almost one out of 5 American children are obese, not just overweight, but obese. More and more children are eating less healthy and getting less excersise. Teen martial arts are great for developing physical fitness. Jumping jacks (cardio), push-ups & sit-ups (muscular strength & endurance), all through kicking, punching and blocking are a great, and fun way, for teens to keep themselves in shape and become much more healthy.

As you can see, individual sports are great for the development of teenagers. Teen martial arts is something you should consider for your child. With five Denver-metro locations, the Colorado Taekwondo Institute is bound to have a class and program that will work for your family. Give us a call today and see what we have to offer your family.

-------------
SOURCES:

1- http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-still-under-construction/index.shtml

2- http://blog.sportssignup.com/blog/bid/120786/5-Benefits-of-Individual-Sports

3- http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Obesity-In-Children-And-Teens-079.aspx