Beginning Thursday, July 11, we’re going to have a little extra kick in our step at Dane’s.
KO Fusion is bringing kickboxing training to the Shop. Before you picture Billy Blanks or other gym cardio-kickboxing, stop right there. KO Fusion is not a choreographed routine of punching in the air; instead, it is a demanding Fusion class, in true DBS style, where students will increase their speed, strength, agility, and endurance working with partners on punching and kicking pads.
Led by Juliana Sciaraffa, KO Fusion will incorporate Martial Arts technique with the intensity of a DBS workout. Juliana will observe and teach each student closely, helping you feel confident and capable in your technique so you can safely push your body to new strength and endurance.
And who are we kidding? Punching and kicking pads is an excellent way to decompress from the daily grind.
KO Fusion is offered Thursdays at 7:30 pm, and 2nd and 4th Sundays at 9am.
I’m going to tell you right now that working out shouldn’t be a habit.
A habit is a behavior you acquire that becomes automatic due to repetition. Brushing your teeth, taking a shower, eating breakfast, driving to work are all habits that we have acquired due to repeating the action so many times it becomes automatic.
So, why wouldn’t we want working out to become a habit? Wouldn’t we want working out to become automatic; something we do without even thinking about it?
No. Working out is not something you are doing to make your life easier. The point of a workout is to make your body into something better: to become fitter, stronger, and healthier. That requires a determination from within yourself to move your body faster and harder than the day before. This also requires you to move out of your comfort zone and demand that your body be better. Working out should be tough because it takes commitment, motivation, and hard work to make yourself into something you weren’t before. To do that, you have to struggle and sweat and run and jump and lift and throw and sprint and swing and move.
So, if you truly want to get better, truly want to get fitter, truly want to make a change, you have to face the fact that working out will always be and SHOULD always be a challenge. The point of a workout is to achieve something you didn’t have before. So, no. Working out shouldn’t be a habit. You cannot just go through the motions. Because then it would be easy. Every day you should push and hurt and sweat and try harder than the day before.
And if you do that, that’s not a habit, that’s a workout. And that’s making yourself better.
Don’t let making yourself better become a habit; make it something you can’t live without.
Ali will push you harder than you’ve ever pushed yourself before in the 5:30 Fusion class, as well as DBS Run Group every Tuesday and Saturday. To register, click here.
Do you ever wonder what the heck Coach Matthew is talking about when he breaks down the clean and jerk (everyone’s favorite Olympic lift)? Well, he’s got it down to a science, for sure. The clean and jerk is definitely a complicated motion that may feel unnatural while you’re trying to get the motions down, but it’s really the sum of some very basic movements you may see all the time in your workout.
Broken down, the clean is a Romanian deadlift (a deadlift where you lead with your butt and sweep the bar against your legs), an explosive hip thrust (much like when you perform your kettlebell swings), a shoulder shrug, and a front squat. The jerk combines a push press with an overhead squat.
Check out this slow motion video of Lu Xiaojun, China’s world record holder for the snatch, and notice how he utilizes these basic motions. It’s also important to notice how little the bar actually moves. In other words, don’t be intimidated by the weight. Instead, focus on ways to move around the bar.
Watch this a few times before coming to next week’s strength classes and see if understanding how the basic motions fit together will help!
Imagine yourself in the wild: the desert, forest, jungle, or the Great Plains. Your family is depending on you, and if you fail, it may be months before you find food. Now imagine you’ve spotted your target, only it’s got two more legs than you and can run about 15-30 miles per hour faster. Maybe it’s a water buffalo or a majestic antelope buck. Luckily, you practice strength and conditioning regularly, and can pursue your prey until it’s exhausted itself and slows down enough to be captured.
This practice is known as persistence hunting, and can be traced to early human ancestors nearly 2 million years back. In persistence hunting, the hunter can use cardiovascular endurance to exhaust their prey.
Persistence hunting is suggested to be early evidence of the “runner’s high,” or the point at which a person breaks through a mental barrier during heavy doses of strenuous activity — an hour of Fusion class, for instance — due to the release of endorphins.
Endorphins, as you may know, are the chemical released from the pituitary gland when the body is put through moderate to high intensity workouts, for continuous periods of time, where breathing is difficult and the muscles are pushed to their full limit. The athlete’s sense of pain is known to lessen, and a sense of euphoria can overcome them when experiencing runner’s high.
If you just ripped through a round of 21-15-9-3 only to be met with a mile run immediately after, yet you managed to get that mile in under 8 minutes, it’s very possible that you just reached the runner’s high.
Now, we may not be training for the primal fitness that our ancestors needed for survival, and we probably don’t have to hunt for our dinner anymore in this modern world — unless we really want to. However, we are training for longevity, whether it’s for a healthier life or for increased stamina on the field or at the office. Hey, walking up stairs can be taxing on a Monday morning. Thankfully, your survival through the next season doesn’t depend on your endurance, but you’re workouts contribute to a practice that has long been a part of human survival.
Train with Team DBS for Austin FIT’s FITTEST Competition
The AFM FITTEST competition is a few months away, and if you saw Team DBS take home the gold last year, then you know the work that lies before you. This Saturday, March 16, at 9am, age 30-39 division winner, Dane Krager, and 40-49 division winner, Tim Zeddies, along with their team of coaches from Dane’s Body Shop, will be developing, coaching, and participating in benchmarks for every event in the FITTEST. See where you stand and what needs work.
The FITTEST training lasts six weeks and will aim at improving speed, endurance, strength, and agility. The full six-week program is $60, or $15 for each drop-in session. Register here.
Run with Dane’s!
We are happy to announce the first DBS Run Group for all levels! It begins Tuesday, March 18. From novice to seasoned runners, these group runs are designed to get you running with your favorite workout community over the course of 8 weeks. The group will meet twice a week (Tuesdays at 6:30pm and Saturdays at 9:00am) for speed work and longer group runs. We’re determined to get you race-ready, improve personal records, complement your weekly workout routine, or to simply become a runner.
The entire 8-week program is $50. Bring a friend, and your registration is free. Register here.
More group run details:
Tuesday speed work is meant to be taken at your own pace, so you dictate how fast and hard you go. All workouts will be provided, and a coach will be there to guide and push you through a number of short distance exercises, hills, and more.
Saturday long runs will range between 2 and 100 miles depending on your running level and experience. All routes for all distances will be provided, as will water and food to refuel post-run. These runs start and end in the same location so no one will be left behind.
In order to see the full benefits of the group run, runners must maintain their usual schedule at Dane’s Body Shop throughout the entirety of the course. Participation in the runs and fusion classes will be mutually beneficial, and once it’s over, you’ll feel better than ever!
