Rudy Reyes is a martial arts success story... one in which the Asian disciplines, coupled with a heaping of determination, have helped this Recon Marine survive the Iraq war and prevail over his personal aftermath to build his mind and body stronger than ever before. He has been featured in HBO's Generation Kill and the History Channel's Apocalypse Man. And he recently authored a book about his total experience called Hero Living. In this EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, Rudy talks about what he's found the most rewarding in his own journey through everyday life and the martial journey... and how he forges ahead to inspire others.
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Want to Know Bruce Lee’s Favorite Cardiovascular Exercise?
December 03 | 2021
d2e111jq13me73.cloudfront.net / Enter the Dragon/ Warner Bros.
Bruce Lee really did have the Midas touch when it came to training. Most people think Bruce was advanced and complicated, but he was the master of simplicity. He was not worried about doing the jump-up flip spin-around back kick. Not sure if there is one. But by the time you land, Bruce would just throw a simple kick or punch to knock you down as you landed to the ground. However, that is the point. Simplicity is often overlooked because of the coolness and the latest and greatest workout when simplicity produces the most significant effect. Super complicated does not mean superior. This is actually reverse in fact. We see super complex exercises that don’t need to be. Truthfully, if an exercise or method is not straightforward in its approach, then it probably is not good.
Such as for flexibility. Bruce had some classic stretches, but he learned how to maximize the range in each stretch fully. And the same goes for jogging, one of Bruce’s favorite cardiovascular training activities. He would develop his aerobic speed and distance to be faster and more.
Different Styles of Jogging
Like life and JKD, Bruce was not an optimist nor a pessimist. He did not see the glass half empty nor half full. Instead, he saw the water in the glass take shape. For water, life, and JKD to take shape, it is developed from experiences and angles. Lee’s training was quite the same, and so was his jogging. Bruce never saw or just ran a straight line. He would run forward, backward, laterally, and probably any other direction you can think of, during his jogging. He would run heel to toe, flat-footed, and on the balls of his feet. He would incorporate skipping, hopping, jumping, and sprinting. After a while, he began adding weights into his jogging when it was not challenging.
Bruce’s Reasons for Jogging Every Day
1. It is quick. You just need to jog a few miles or about 20 minutes running your pace.
2. It is safe. You don’t need to over-exert yourself.
3. It improves your cardiovascular system. It is good maintenance for your heart and lungs, and you can do it every day. With strength training and intensity, you have to take a break. However, jogging and aerobic training help your muscles recover faster from intensity training.
4. It helps you lose weight.
5. It makes you feel better. Jogging releases the feel-good hormones that drastically reduce stress and improve wellbeing. It circulates your blood. No other exercise makes you feel good, gives you energy, produces confidence, and a better outlook in life without overexerting yourself. You think better and become more productive.
Bruce felt running was just as essential for the martial artist, much like practicing kata. Bruce always said the natural way is the best. It is true. Simplicity opens the door to greater perspective.
Unless there are human beings with three arms and four legs, unless we have another group of beings on earth that are structurally different from us, there can be no difference in training and style of fighting. Why is that? Because we have two arms and two legs. What’s most important is how we can use them to maximum? In terms of paths, they can be used in a straight line, curved line-up, down, round line. They might be slow. Depending on the circumstance, sometimes that might not be slow. And in terms of legs, you can kick up, straight-same thing, right? Physically then, you have to ask yourself, “How can I become very well coordinated?” well, that means you have to be an athlete using jogging and all those basic ingredients, right?
Start jogging every day. And when you build an excellent base for jogging where your breathing is relaxed, you can add in exercises to challenge your jogging.
To achieve this aim, we have two ways. One is running, but you have to increase the distance of your course every day until you are satisfied with it. The second thing is to observe progression. Start out slow and then gradually build speed as your conditioning improves. All of this will lead to a result of increased frequency of breath and heartbeat. And during intense training, you will feel an unbearable feeling, but you do not have to fear that point. It will be the maximum limit of a man's physical energy. If you do not have heart disease after taking a rest, you will soon recover. It is only through this compulsory hard training that one's physical energy can expand continuouslyBruce Lee’s Exercise for Endurance
Lee also loved stepping. He would take a bench or a stool and step up and down for one minute using the right leg then the left leg. After doing both legs, he would stop and stretch, take deep breaths, do abdominal and arm exercises, and then go back to the chair step-ups. It sounds like Bruce did this for about 30 minutes because he advises you to build up to do the same
For more Bruce Lee videos go to my channel, Balanced Body.
For more information about strength, check out my book INSTANT STRENGTH.
For more information about flexibility/ breathing, check out my book, THE BALANCED BODY
Information in the text is referenced from: Bruce Lee-The Art of Expressing the Human Body: By-John Little, Tuttle Publishing
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Welterweight Contenders Clash At ONE Winter Warriors II
December 08 | 2021
cdn.onefc.com ONE Championship
ONE Championship welterweight contenders will slug it out when former ONE Welterweight World Champion Zebaztian “The Bandit” Kadestam meets the undefeated Murad Ramazanov at ONE: Winter Warriors II, a previously recorded event, on Friday, December 17.
The former king of the division is looking to get himself back in title contention with a victory and does not plan on being the stepping stone of the rising Russian contender.
Kadestam has been at the bottom before and knows how to battle his way back. It is his plan to do just that at ONE: Winter Warriors II. The talented Swede has a 91% finishing rate with 10 KO/TKOs to his credit.
But Ramazanov wants to make his name off the former division king to move into contention.
The talented Russian is already 2-0 on the global stage. Adding a third win in ONE against the former champ will almost assuredly position him for the title shot in 2022. Ramazanov has shown his well-rounded abilities with four KO/TKOs and three submissions thus far in his career.
This matchup could be a changing of the guard in the welterweight division with the future overtaking the past, or a former World Champion could show the world how to overcome adversity and defy Father Time for the time being.
The contender’s battle will grab the attention of every major welterweight, but one, in particular, will keep his eyes glued to the screen.
The two will tussle inside the Circle as ONE Welterweight World Champion Kiamrian “Brazen” Abbasov looks on as a victory will position the winner right back in the thick of the title hunt for 2022.
Expect the high-stakes battle to be one of the can’t-miss matches from ONE: Winter Warriors II.
ONE: Winter Warriors II will air on Friday, December 17, across all Bleacher Report platforms at 7:30 a.m. EST/4:30 a.m. PST.
Zebaztian Kadestam vs. Tyler McGuire | Full Fight Replay
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d21yqjvcoayho7.cloudfront.net Photo/John Locher
On Tuesday former UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm made combat sports history becoming the first UFC champion to also gain entry into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Holm competed as a professional boxer from 2002 to 2013 before capturing the UFC bantamweight crown in a memorable upset of Ronda Rousey in 2015. As a boxer she went 33-2-3 winning world titles in three weight classes and was twice named Ring Magazine's female fighter of the year.
Holm will be joined in the new class of hall of fame inductees by James Toney, who also once appeared in the UFC, losing his sole mixed martial arts bout by first round submission to Randy Couture. Other inductees include men's champions Roy Jones Jr., Miguel Cotto, Tod Morgan and women's champion Regina Halmich, as well as boxing writer Ron Borges, publicist Bill Caplan, historian Bob Yalen and ring announcer Chuck Hull. Due to the past two hall of fame ceremonies being canceled by the COVID pandemic, this year's group will join those voted into the hall in 2019 and 2020 for a massive 4 day induction event slated for June 9-12 in Canastota, NY.
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