We humans are natural procrastinators... we like to plan to start things we really don't want to do later.  Maybe Monday, or the First of the month... or maybe for New Years, after the holidays.

Of course when those days come around we still won't want to do it. If it was something we wanted to do we'd already be doing it.  So Monday comes around, then it's Tuesday... then it's might was well just start Monday as the week is half over already.

The difference between success and failure is action.  Start now, not tomorrow, not next week, not after the holidays.  If you want something start now.  The time will never be perfect, you're probably never going to run out of reasons not too.  But by starting, even if imperfectly, at least you are moving forward.  And as long as you are moving forward you'll get somewhere.

Start and stay committed to continuing, even when you might not want to.  That's the secret to succeeding in so many things.

I did a series of pictures years ago, but figured a video might be more useful.  So here it is, how to wrap your hands for class:

Good wraps are also important, they protect your hands and lengthen the life of your gloves.  The short ones available at big box stores aren't going to give the same level of comfort and support as a good pair :)

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In the movies, screaming and yelling is certainly common.  It's also a staple of a lot of traditional martial arts, ever wonder where it came from and why?

Or why if you watch a actual match, whether it is kickboxing, boxing, MMA or really anything with actual contact it never shows up?

Quite simply it gives you a bit of tunnel vision, having your mouth wide open is a bad idea when someone is trying to hit you unless you like drinking all your meals.

Anyways, all that was probably well and good if you where a samurai who was set to live and die on orders.  Might need that little boast if you are walking into someone else sword as you attack.

So how about Karate & Tae Kwon Do?  Well, traditional karate only really goes back to the early 20th century, and Tae Kwon Do branched off of that.  It was in the lead up and aftermath of WW2 that it really took it's shape in Japan.  Karate became a tool to train children in Physical Education, which in imperial Japan meant prepping for battle.  Taking a lot of influence from Kendo (way of the sword) it developed into it's modern form.

A big piece of this was attacking with everything, for one hit.  Forgetting about the after, and focusing all you got into landing that single hit.  From this we got modern point fighting competitions, where action is halted every hit.

We don't believe in this at Innovative Martial Arts, our philosophy is not one hit, one kill.  While yelling can, at times, be used to develop confidence, so can many other things.  We believe in tactical and strategic fighting, protecting yourself first and foremost. Remaining calm and acting intelligently under pressure...  and not upsetting our neighbours too much :)

Every year at this time countless people set a goal to eat better, lose weight and get in better shape.  And by mid-February are back to their old habits...

I've been training clients for a long time, I've trained 100's of people over the years and I've seen the difference in the people that succeed and the ones that fall flat.  So here it is, these are the top 5 things you need to do in order to maximize your chances of success.

1 - Be consistant and committed.  By far the biggest challenge for a lot of people is staying consistant.  But it's the people that set a schedule and stick to it that get the best results.  If you plan to train Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays stick to that.  It's very easy to find excuses to skip a day, and even easier to find excuses if you let it happen once.  Sometimes things come up, but if your health takes second seat to everything you won't get far.

2 - Fight through the first couple weeks.  In any fitness program the first couple weeks are the hardest.  Your body isn't used to doing it, and it's going to object... strongly.  This is called "Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness" or "DOMS", it is the pain you get the next day after starting a new workout.  Once your body adjusts it won't come back in the same way, but it will take a week or two. The best thing you can do to cure it is to get moving, get the big parts of you moving, if you need inspiration, this blog post has practical advice for hip thrusts and bridges to get the circulation going again and don't let your muscles tighten up.

3 - Make it social.  Peer pressure is a real thing, and it works for good habbits as well as bad.  A group class will help hold you accountable once you are a part of it.  "Friend" your workout partners on Facebook, get active in online groups, don't put up a wall that seperates your life from the gym, it needs to be part of your life.

4 - Commit to the next class, every class.  At the end of every class all you need to do is commit to the next time you will be there and stick to it.  A verbal "See you Wednesday" to someone can go a log way to keeping that commitment.

5 - Excercise & Diet, you need both.  Nothing will encourage you more then seeing great results quickly with help of flexx labs usa. To get that you need both diet and excercise.  Fad diets tend to fail, and the trick is to make it a lifestyle change, not a 30-days and done plan.  Sit down with a fitness instructor or nutrition coach to look at small changes that can add up to big results.

If you are not sure where to start consider taking advantage of our New Years Special.  We will set up a one-on-one consultation to help you work out a plan for training and improving your diet.  We will also walk you through some of our excercises and movements to ensure you don't feel lost and can safely join in with our classes.  We will include a pair of boxing gloves so that you can safely do the pad work we incorporate into our classes.  You will then have 6-weeks to train as often as you like, and if you follow the plan we set up for you in the consultation we guarantee you will see results.

To take advantage of this offer fill out the form located here and we will look forward to helping you get in the best shape of your life.

Here's what some of our clients have said about us:

This is a great gym. After going to fitness classes for 6 months my endurance, my strength and my flexibility have all greatly increased and the pounds have come off. - Sylvia

My fiancé and I have now been members for almost a full year. In that time, I have lost weight (gotta fit into that wedding dress!), made new friends and discovered that I really enjoy the MMA elements. I am continually seeing improvements in my endurance, strength and confidence. 

- Andrea

I've been a member of this gym for 2 years and thanks to the owner and main instructor Andrew Green, I am in the best shape of my life at age 38. When I first started I had been training at home and at some of the larger gym's. At that time my motivation to train and fitness progress had plateaued and I didn't know what I needed to do in order to make the changes to drive my progress. ...
The atmosphere at Innovative is very welcoming to newcomers and other members are always willing to help people out if they need assistance.

- Steve

Once again, to take advantage of our New Years Special and get 6-weeks training, a private consultation and a pair of gloves, everything you need to start click here.

Summer holidays are here and sometimes everything seems to go into "lazy mode", but this is not always the best solution and can make back-to-school time that much harder. So here are 5-reasons to keep your child involved with a structured activity over the summer:

1) Routine is important - Adults benefit greatly from routine, and kids much more so. If summer is a time to do whatever, whenever then going back to a routine is that much harder. Retaining some sort of structured activity over the summer months is a great way to keep things in check.

2) Learning shouldn’t take breaks - A very important key to success is to keep learning, all the time. Time off from "required" things allows us to focus on things we have a interest in. If we build the habit early of using down time to pursue other things we are setting kids up for success.

3) Avoiding anxiety about returning - Back-to-school can be a stressful experience, especially when a child has been more isolated to a smaller group of friends and taken a break from "learning". By keeping them involved in structured activities, or even starting a new activity they retain a larger social circle of peers which helps build confidence rather then losing it over the summer.

4) A time to shine in the fall - By maintaining extracurricular involvement over the summer your child will have a opportunity to gain a huge confidence boast in the fall. Fall is when new kids join activities and kids that did take a break return, and generally with some confusion and anxiety about doing so. The kids that where active over the summer have the opportunity to take on leadership and mentoring rules early and gain a boast of confidence from starting the fall off at a higher level then their peers.

5) Sometimes, you just have to do it - This is a lesson that sometimes gets forgotten by kids over the summer. During the rest of the year there are all sorts of things they have to do. No one lets their kids stay home from school because they would rather play video games that day, it’s not a option. But after a summer of not having any activities it can be very hard to rebuild that routine again in the fall. Sometimes as adults we have to make sure that what’s best gets done, not what seems easiest at that moment.

Now kids should definitely get plenty of unstructured free time over the summer. Exploring, being bored and having to figure out what to do about it are essential skills that need to be learnt. Sometimes its even a good idea to take away pieces of the structure to force those skills. For example taking away video games and tv’s will force a child to find other ways to occupy themselves, which can be hard to do as they will often complain about that boredom until they figure out what to do with themselves. During much of the year many children have "too much" structure.

But, during both the summer and the school year it is good to retain a balance of both. There may be times where there is more structure, and times where there is less. But going from extreme to extreme is going to be stressful for the child and the parents.