Tag: fitness

flexibility 3

Flexibility – Why it’s important and how to develop it

Flexibility – Why it’s important and how to develop it.

flexibility

Flexibility offers numerous benefits, including:

  1. Improved range of motion: Flexibility training can increase the motion of your joints, allowing you to move more freely and perform daily activities with greater ease.
  2. Reduced risk of injury: Flexible muscles and joints are less prone to injury as they can better withstand sudden movements and unexpected stress.
  3. Improved posture: Poor posture can lead to pain and other musculoskeletal injuries. Flexibility training can improve posture by stretching and lengthening the muscles surrounding the spine and other joints.
  4. Decreased muscle tension: Flexibility training can help to reduce muscle tension and ease muscle soreness, allowing you to recover faster after exercise.
  5. Enhanced athletic performance: Greater flexibility can improve athletic performance by allowing you to move faster, lunge further, and jump higher.
  6. Improved balance and coordination: Better flexibility can increase bodily awareness and control, improving your balance and coordination.
  7. Reduced stress: Stretching and flexibility exercises can help to relax your body and mind, reducing stress levels and promoting overall well-being.

Overall, flexibility training is an essential component of any fitness routine and offers numerous physical and mental health benefits.

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There are various ways to improve flexibility, including:

  1. Stretching: Stretching exercises, such as dynamic stretching and static stretching, can elongate your muscles and help to increase your range of motion.
  2. Yoga: Practicing yoga is an effective way to improve flexibility as it incorporates stretching and can help to increase stability and balance.
  3. Foam Rolling: Foam rolling is a method of self-myofascial release that can help to release muscle tension and increase flexibility.
  4. Pilates: Pilates exercises focus on building core strength and stabilization, which can help to improve flexibility in the spine and other areas of the body.
  5. Warm-up exercises: Doing a warm-up exercise before starting any physical activity can prepare your muscles and joints for the upcoming workout and can prevent injury.
  6. Regular exercise: Engage in regular physical activity, such as light jogging, cycling, or swimming. These exercises encourage blood flow, loosening up the joints and muscles.

It’s worth noting that it’s important to listen to your body and not push too hard as overstretching can cause injury. Gradual and consistent progress is crucial to achieve long-term gains in flexibility.

flexibility 3

 

global fitness institute

Personal Training Courses & Fitness Courses

As our name suggests, Global Fitness Institute specializes in Personal Training courses and Fitness Instructor courses .

For those people looking to save over $1000, you might consider signing up for our Personal Training Course Combo , which includes both the SIS30321 Certificate III in Fitness & SIS40221 Certificate IV in Fitness.

Our largely online fitness courses offer a flexible approach to learning, including reading material, instructional and informational videos, interactive practical tasks which are all accessible online, allowing you to study from home, at your own pace.

Sports Courses

Global Fitness Institute offers a number of Sports courses from Certificate to Diploma levels.

Double Diploma of Sport (Coaching & Development) is the best option if you want to achieve the most efficient outcome for your time and to get more bang for your buck, SAVING YOU OVER $1000.

lockdown blues

Kick those lockdown blues

Kick those lockdown blues

lockdown blues

After many weeks and months in lockdown or heavily restricted, it’s quite common to feeling a case of the lockdown blues.

Less than 2 years ago, the very notion of having our movements and behaviours restricted would have been scoffed at, as something that could and would never happen, especially in this country.

Fast forward a little over 18 months, and we boast the World’s most locked down city, and with much of the East Coast still in lockdown, or very heavily restricted.

Freedoms we once knew, and once took for granted, now seem a World away with QCode check-ins, mask wearing, social distancing, vaccinations, curfews, travel distance limitations, threats of fines or imprisonment.

Once easily accessible regular holiday spots are now impossible to visit, without quarantining on arrival or return, or the fear of getting stuck in transit, and that’s if you can even leave at all.

Being isolated from friends, family, your workplace, your hobbies, sports and travel has been a real strain on people’s mental health. This has been exacerbated by the loss of employment, collapse of a business, illness or even death of a loved ones.

The challenge of maintaining a positive outlook has been a real one, let alone caring for our physical health, diet, education, employment and general health.

We have come up with a few tips and suggestions to assist you and loved ones get through these tough times, and a case of the lockdown blues.

Keeping a Positive Mindset

Muleta There’s no doubt it has been a struggle, more for some than others, but a huge culture change to the way we’ve previous led our lives. Many have suffered from depression, some have inflicted self harm or worse, while others wallow in the impending doom of the situation.

The important thing to understand is it will pass. There are countries in other parts of the World, who statistically have lost more people and far greater infection levels, already starting to enjoy the freedoms we once knew. It stands to reason that we will follow in due course.

Naturally, the sooner the better for us all, but it will happen. You just have to hang in there.

Constant negative self talk, social media posting, and getting worked up doesn’t do anything to improve your situation, if anything, its only your mental health that suffers.

We know the strong link between mental health and physical health, so in time it will become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Also be aware that if you are constantly negative, it drags down the people around you, your partners, your kids, your friends. Or they may just take a wide berth to avoid the constant negativity.

Find yourself things to do that make you happy, a hobby, a craft, listening to music, making music, painting, drawing, gardening, enrol in an online course, watch funny movies etc., there’s endless things you can do …… you are possibly working from home anyway, so that in itself should keep you busy.

More importantly, don’t shut yourself off from the world. Stay in touch with friends, family, work colleagues. There’s an abundance of technology available to facilitate that, whether it be messaging online, video chatting, or depending on your locality’s restriction levels, catching up on a social walk to coffee on the go.

Exercise daily

winterThe running joke for a lot of people, no pun intended, is the weight they have put on during lockdowns, or the loss of physical conditioning and fitness.

This doesn’t need to be the case, of course. whilst in some cases it relates to loss of motivation or some form of depression (see above section), in many other cases, people just  throw their hands up in the air because gyms might be closed, or their community sports are in hiatus.

However, for maintenance or improvement of physical health and fitness, there are a plethora of things you can do with minimal equipment.

The obvious one is walk briskly or jog, get that heart rate up into the zone where it may have some fitness benefit, around 70-80% of your max HR, and do it for at least 30 minutes daily.

On your outdoor stroll you can incorporate steps, benches, playgrounds, hills, so many options for those who really want to make an effort.

If that’s not your cup of tea, kills two birds with the one stone, walk to the supermarket with your shopping jeep, or go for a walk to get your skinny latte, walk off those lockdown blues.

If you find it boring, don’t walk the same route every day, mix it up, Walk with someone else, grab your headphones and listen to your favourite playlist. Or jump on your bike and cycle at the same work rate and length of time.

If you’re a little more motivated, set up some mini HIIT circuits, even incorporate body weight exercises, push ups, sit ups, squats, burpees …etc there are so many. If you have a couple of dumbells, you can incorporate dozens more exercises. The higher intensity intervals will not only help maintain fitness levels, if done regularly, will even improve your fitness.

In many places, outdoor personal training is now permitted, even where gyms are closed. Grab a friend and share the cost of a PT.

Keep Practicing

With a lot of dojangs closed, or your Taekwon-Do training schedule and routine constantly interrupted, it can be very frustrating and even seem to hamper your progress.

There are many things you can do from holockdown blues 2me, or in the yard or park. In addition to the fitness tips above, you can practice your skill components as well. 

Patterns can be performed anywhere, stretch regularly either during practice or upon waking, or before sleeping, even while watching tv.

Maybe someone else in your household can hold targets or practice routines with. Your instructor is probably running zoom sessions. If they aren’t, many other people are.

There are even regular online competitions now that you can take part in, this keeps you motivated and training. Jump on YouTube and follow some of the many online tutorials or workouts.

Eat sensibly

There is not a pandemic on good food and nutrition. Don’t fall into the trap of ordering home delivery every day of the week. That is not only financially taxing, but also not going to help with everything we just spoke about in the previous section.

Interestingly, the fast food industry has gone gangbusters during the pandemic, especially those who deliver. Sure it’s convenient, but you can’t really use Covid as an excuse for poor eating.

Leaving home for food has always been permitted, so shopping for your normal groceries was, and is, always possible.

Rediscover the joy of cooking, it will keep you focused on what you eat, and also acts as a great therapeutic tool, keeping you mentally active. Experiment with different meals, follow some of your favourite chefs online. Try to recreate some of their dishes or come up with your own. Maybe now you will have time to make some of the things your previously rushed lifestyle limited.

Whilst its OK to treat yourself from time to time, remember to eat all those things we know are good for us – lean meats, vegetables, fruits, grains and cereals. Be sure to get a good cross section on vitamins and minerals through your diet, along with your macros, lots of fluids and fibre.

Don’t forget, drinking litres of soft drink, or should I say wine, throughout the day is going to do nothing for your health or figure. Aim for sugarless or low sugar options, or even water.

Poor eating can also affect your mood and general energy levels, so you’ll exercise less, lose motivation, and it can become a vicious cycle, then your lockdown blues will be harder to shift. Often the best way to kick start a health regime begins with selection of food.

Monitor your health

SISFFIT001With the media saturated with covid talk, you could be forgiven for thinking every other ailment which can impact your health has become obsolete.

There are many cases of cancer and heart disease going undetected, or mismanaged, as people become more reluctant to see their GP.

Compounding this problem, a lot of GP’s and specialists are wanting to do online consultations instead, which is not ideal to physically examine you.

Make sure you are still having your regular blood tests for cholesterol, prostate, blood sugars, checking for lumps and mole changes as well as monitoring blood pressure. If you at all concerned or in doubt, see your GP as soon as possible.

If you are reluctant to get to the doctors, be sure to brush up on your first aid skills and knowledge, for those household mishaps.

Don’t leave monitoring those health issues until Covid is over, remember, we thought that was going to be a year ago.

If you are on prescribed medications for a health condition, be sure to get your repeat prescriptions once you run out.

Of course, exercising regularly and eating well will help a lot, but some conditions need close medical monitoring, irrespective of fitness levels. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Keep on top of your finances

moneyFor many people, this period has had a major impact on their financial situation. Perhaps you have had your work hours cut back, or lost work altogether, maybe your business is closed or suffering. There’s nothing like being broke to make you suffer the lockdown blues.

Maybe you are getting a few dollars from the government to support, but it may not be enough to meet your regular expenses.

It’s important that you keep an eye on your money,  especially if your income has reduced. Take it easy with the online shopping, online betting and delivery meals.

For others this has been a great time to save money, with many regular expenses reduced quite heavily, such as travel, fuel costs, pokies, dining and entertainment.

Whilst we all want to go back to doing all those things as soon as we can, it has allowed us a bit of a spending and lifestyle reset.

Remember, much of the Government support is still deemed as taxable income, so you need to ensure you have enough set aside for tax time. Keep an eye on your credit card statements, watch that you aren’t paying interest through the nose on purchases.

Maybe even cut back further by considering cancelling or selling some of the things you are not using – like recurring direct debits for memberships, subscriptions, insurances for cars not being driven, look for cheaper energy suppliers given you are home more and using more gas and electricity.

Communicate

lockdown blues zoomAnd finally, communicate, communicate, communicate. As mentioned earlier, stay in touch with family, friends, colleagues by whatever means is available to you.

Particularly if you are feeling a case of those lockdown blues, these feelings can escalate into a depressed state. Don’t be afraid to reach out.

Be mindful that your friends may be feeling the same way too, so touch base to see how they are coping.

Anyway, we hope some of these tips and suggestions help you get through this extended period of lockdown, restrictions, and beyond.

Take care and stay safe.

Written by: 

muleta wellington

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Muleta, 8th Degree

President, United ITF Taekwon-Do Australia inc

CEO, Global Fitness Institute

 

 

taekwondo videos michael muleta

YouTube Interview with Master Muleta

YouTube Interview with Master Muleta

In April 2020 Master Michael Muleta was interviewed by Sabum Andrew McKay from the YouTube Martial Arts Show.

The 2-part  interview covered a vast array of Taekwondo-Do topics from:

  • The formation of Taekwon-Do
  • Master Muleta’s beginnings in Taekwon-DO
  • General Choi Hong Hi’s influence
  • Master Muleta’s International involvement
  • Arnold Classic Taekwon-Do World Championships
  • The Influence of MMA on traditional martial arts
  •  Taekwon-Do symbolism in belts, uniforms etc.
  • The future of martial arts

To Subscribe to the Martial Arts Show click here

Michael Muleta is an 8th Degree Black Belt Master Instructor, as well as A Class International Umpire. Master Muleta currently holds the official post of under Secretary General of the International Taekwon-Do Federation.

He is the Founding President of United ITF Taekwon-Do Australia Inc, with 30 years of ITF experience at the highest level as a competitor, coach, umpire and administrator.

Michael has with an extensive Taekwon-Do and education background. His informative seminars are some of the most highly regarded domestically and internationally.

See the video promoting Master Muleta’s school, Thoroughbred Taekwon-Do

Watch the National Body promo video – United ITF Taekwon-Do Australia

Global Fitness Institute Personal Training promo video

Global Fitness Institute First Aid courses promo

Success for Taekwondo at Arnold Sports Festival

Success for Taekwondo at Arnold Sports Festival

arnold success

Taekwondo was a huge success the Arnold Sports Festival Australia from March 16th – 18th, 2018.

Over 180 participants from across Australia and New Zealand took part in the seminars and championships over the 3 days.

Among those who attended included former Olympians, past and current World Champions, Taekwondo Hall of Famers and many Masters. A high quality collection of people under the one roof, along with all he future budding stars and first timers.

Seminars

Friday kicked off with Sparring seminars in ITF and WTF styles of Taekwondo, followed by Taekwondo for Self Defense, then an ITF Patterns session.

Masters Rua Kaiou, Noel Keating, Neil Cliff and Phill Zdybel conducted the sessions which were enjoyed by all who took part.

Day 1

Day 1 of the Taekwondo championships on Saturday featured ITF Sparring and Patterns for both individuals and teams.

Participants came from:

  • New Zealand,
  • Perth,
  • Broome,
  • Ballina,
  • Hobart,
  • Sydney,
  • Adelaide,
  • Mildura,
  • Gippsland,
  • Mount Gambier and
  • Geelong,
  • metropolitan Melbourne.

The day ran like clockwork with some high quality performances and top level officiating. It all made for some very exciting contests and fair results.

Day 2

Day 2 was exciting with the Sunday including a visit from Arnold Schwarzenegger and his official entourage. They enjoyed a demonstration of all the martial arts on show including Taekwondo. Arnold was very impressed, he gave an inspiring speech to all participants at the end of the demo.

The competition component kicked off after Arnold’s visit and featured WTF Sparring, Poomsae and Teams Poomsae, along with Self Defense.

There were some very good performances from the large contingent of predominantly children who took part.

Thank you to all competitors who took part and those who came along and helped out as seminar instructors, officials and volunteers.

Special thanks to Master Noel Keating and Master Neil cliff for assisting with the running of the Saturday Championships. Thanks also to Master Murat Eryurek who assisted with the co-ordination of the Sunday events. Thank you also for the hard work of Kathryn Marmara-Stewart for her assistance over the 3 days.

Thank you also to event Sponsor Global Fitness Institute in donating medals, logistics and admin support.-

– Master Michael Muleta, Arnold Sports Festival Taekwondo Organizer

FULL RESULTS 

Tournament Results 18 Arnold
boxing seminar

Master Muleta Boxing Seminar Tasmania

Tasmania Boxing Seminar

boxing seminar

Master Michael Muleta gave a kickboxing and boxing seminar in Launceston, Tasmania on Wednesday 10th August.

The group was made up of current Personal Trainers, graduates and students of Global Fitness Institute’s Fitness courses. It was conducted at the Global Fitness Institute Tasmania Campus at Health Revival, Longford.

Students went through a series of conditioning and skill drills, and combinations of kicks, punches and strikes. The emphasis of the sessions was placed on using the drills as part of fitness conditioning training for clients, sports and of course martial arts.

Master Muleta is the President of United ITF Taekwon-Do Australia, in addition to being the Director of the ITF Centre of Excellence and CEO of Global Fitness Institute.

 

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Post Sponsored by Global Fitness Institute

 

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