FitSugar

Class Act: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

FitSugar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:00:00 -0700

If you're looking to try a martial art for both fitness and self-defense, you may want to give Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu a try. Jiu-Jitsu stands for "flexible art" and is considered by some to be the oldest form of martial art. It originated in India, spread throughout Asia into Japan, and eventually landed in Brazil.

Even though this combat sport is practiced mostly by men, it's especially great for women to learn to defend themselves in unsafe situations. Why? It's all about the belief that it doesn't matter if you are small or weak. As long as you master the techniques of gaining leverage over your opponent, then you'll be able to protect yourself against an attacker who may be larger or stronger.

Check out this video to see what it's all about.

Want to hear more about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? Then read more

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) focuses on grappling, which basically means you're holding, gripping, and controlling your opponent without kicking or punching. It's a lot like wrestling where you're rolling around on the ground trying to obtain the dominant position over your partner. You'll learn chokeholds that affect your opponent's ability to breathe, grappling holds to control your opponent, and joint locks where you're holding a person's body in such a way that their joints reach their maximum point of motion. With BJJ, it'll work your entire body, enhance your sense of balance, flexibility, and strength. It will also benefit your cardiovascular and respiratory health, and build personal courage and self-confidence.

Fit's Tip: If you're looking for a good place to learn, go to BJJUSA.com and click on Affiliated Schools. These centers usually offer hour long beginner classes.

Exercise Safety Tip: Take a Self Defense Course

FitSugar — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 10:15:00 -0800

I recently polled you guys about skipping workouts due to not feeling safe, and I've been giving you all sorts of tips on how to make your outdoor exercises safe.

User nikodarling shared her own great safety tip that I wanted to make sure everyone saw:

"Ladies - if you do go out running or walking at night, or even during the day I hope you will take a self defense course. I took one when I was in college at the urging of a friend. I hated feeling like everyone was out to get me when I first took it, but it is really good to know how to handle certain situations. And some of the tips they give you are so obvious and simple, yet we rarely put them into effect in day to day life. Even if you feel like your neighborhood is safe or you know what to - please consider it if you haven't done so."

Great tip, thank you for sharing. Still dragging your feet? Well you'll end up burning a ton of calories while learning the basics of defending yourself. Have you ever taken a self defense course?

Source

Have You Ever Taken A Self Defense Class?

FitSugar — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:30:00 -0700

There are many classes out their designed just for women to learn self defense skills. I have even seen boot camps designed especially to train women with defense skills. These classes seem like a good idea and I am wondering if you have ever taken a self defense class.

Source

Burn a Few More Calories: Take a Self Defense Class

FitSugar — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 09:30:00 -0700

Some of my favorite kinds of workouts are the ones that kill two birds with one stone. For example, I love getting in 30 minutes of cardio while watching the last episode of TopChef (yes, I watch that show too). I also love doing pull-ups and dips on the monkey bars while I am at the park with my kids.

Another way to get fit and accomplish something (aside from plain ol' getting healthy) while you're exercising is to take a self-defense class. Here's why: Your first defense in self-defense is to run (run Forest, run...), and we all know how good running is at burning calories. Your next defense in self-defense is to try to fight off a possible attacker, which means you'll be learning how to protect yourself with specialized moves. Perfecting moves such as the Hammer Fist and Elbow Shots is an excellent method for burning calories as well as empowering yourself too. Check around for self-defense classes near you. A lot of local YMCAs offer them as well as community centers, and even gyms, nationwide.

Swank Worthy: Krav Maga

FitSugar — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:30:00 -0800

On the red carpet yesterday, Oscar veteran Hilary Swank mentioned she was keeping fit with Krav Maga. The name sounds a little like a spell from the Harry Potter series, but the health and fitness nut seems to be expanding her workout repertoire.

Krav Maga is a form of self-defense used by the Israeli army, and "Krav Maga" translates literally from Hebrew to mean "contact combat." Let me tell you, it sounds intense, both mentally and physically. Krav Maga is described as a "practical and tactical system, which teaches how to prevent, deal, and overcome all kinds of violence and attacks." The classes seem extremely physical and are designed to create fatigue using stress drills that help students learn and react under adverse conditions. Sounds really fierce to me.

To see what Hilary has to say about it, just read more.

Hilary explains it like this:

You punch, you kick, you also learn how to get out of a choke hold. I love, love it.

Krav Maga academies are located internationally. If you are interested in studying this form of self-defense, you can find a school near you here. The studio near my house offers two classes for free so you can try it out before buying a class package. Taking a physically intense self-defense class like this sounds like a way to burn some serious calories and learn some important skills at the same time.

Have you tried Krav Maga? Tell me about in the comments section below.

Source

Have You Ever Taken a Self-Defense Class?

FitSugar — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 04:30:00 -0700

In making the transition from playing Jane Austen to super agent/action hero, Anne Hathaway decided to buff up. She told Self that she wanted her character, Agent 99, to have muscles and curves.
After wrapping the movie, Hathaway was inspired by her tough character to take a self-defense class. Not wanting to play the victim literally, she learned how to take care of herself if someone attacked her. I'd say she has made a 180-degree turn, with a round house kick, since her days of playing princesses.

How about you . . .

Source and Source

Martial Arts Explained

FitSugar — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:45:00 -0800

I am always looking for a new way to exercise and keep myself healthy. I've always thought about trying martial arts, partly to learn self-defense skills, but more for the mind and body strengthening aspect.

There are many styles including Stand-Up, Ground Fighting, Throwing, and Meditative. And each style has many different kinds within them. Once you get a sense of each, then you'll be able to pick which one might be right for you.

Stand-Up Style

Karate - Originated in Okinawa, it's considered Japanese, but has its roots in China. Karate uses linear footwork and stances that emphasize power in technique. Many women began taking Karate as a form of self-defense.

Kung Fu - A Chinese martial art, it literally means "hard work." There are more than 400 different types of Kung Fu, and each one has its own unique set of characteristics.

Tae Kwon Do (also written as Taekwondo) - A Korean martial art, it's famous for its fast, high spinning kicks.

I'm just getting started. Want to see the rest? Then read more

Ground Fighting Style

Jujitsu - A Japanese martial art that means "gentle," or "compliant." It's all about yielding to the force provided by an opponent's attack. There's also a lot of throwing, pinning, joint-locking, and strangling (how lovely), kind of like wrestling.

Sambo - A modern martial art developed in Russia. It is an abbreviation that means "self-defense without a weapon." It's also similar to wrestling.

Throwing

Judo - A modern Japanese martial art that means "gentle way." It's very competitive. The object is to either throw one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an opponent to submit by joint locking the elbow or applying a choke. That doesn't sound very "gentle" to me.

Aikido - A Japanese martial art that's not about punching or kicking opponents. It focuses more on using your own energy to gain control of an opponent or to throw them away from you. It involves a lot of movement.

Meditative

Tai Chi - A Chinese martial art practiced as a sort of therapy to promote health and longevity. It involves much slower movements and deeper relaxation. It's a kind of moving meditation.

Qigong (also written Chi Gong) - It's an aspect of Chinese medicine that involves the coordination of different breathing patterns with various physical postures and motions of the body. Wow - that sounds a lot like yoga.

Fit's Tips: To get a better sense of which one you'd like, go and sit in on a class in your area. Since martial arts classes can tend to be mostly men, look for a school that offers women's classes so you'll feel more comfortable. Or better yet, find an all women school, like Seven Star Women's Kung Fu in Seattle - they even offer childcare while you train.

Biggest Loser Families Recap: Alliances Prevail

FitSugar — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:00:00 -0700

There is always a point in the Biggest Loser where you are reminded repeatedly that this is a game with prize money involved. The show starts to seem like a character study to see what the possibility of winning $250,000 does to people rather than a weight-loss show. I know editing has a lot to do with it, but how many times did Vicky smirk right into the camera after brokering deals, stirring up tensions, and judging prizes not worth her effort.

Even while the gaming is on, both teams were treated to unorthodox workouts: a challenging ropes course for the black team and circus arts mixed with a dose of self-defense for the blue. This show really hammers home the power of physical metaphors, and watching Michelle and Renee, the last remaining parent/child team meet in the competition, meet each other halfway while balancing high above the ground was rather sweet.

The challenge, with the prize of a video from home was upgraded to a live video chat - almost as if to spite Vicky's lackluster attitude toward the reward, involved stability and concentration. "Take it one step at a time" was the mantra as the team walked circular balance beams placed over water that challenged balance as well as focus. Renee rose to the challenge finishing the last nine laps solo after Phil fell into the water. Before competing in the challenge, all the contestants were treated to a midpoint checkup with Dr. Huizenga and everyone was quite pleased with their results - all the contestants are considerably healthier after six weeks of lifestyle change.

To hear about the drama of the last workout, the weigh-in, and the player eliminated, just read more.

Jillian seemed hellbent on making a black team member vomit. "If you are not throwing up you're not working hard enough" might just be my favorite quote of this episode, and of course this sentiment was uttered by Jillian, with a smile on her face! Bob was determined to load the leg-press machine with the maximum challenge for his team members. This left Phil to comment that he hadn't noises like that come out of his wife since childbirth, as Amy P. pressed 450 pounds with her legs. Unfortunately, Amy P.'s positive attitude and hard work did not pay off. After only losing two pounds, the alliance of Heba, Vicky, and Brady joined forces to vote Amy off the show. Aside from personal grudges, their theory is that with Amy P. gone, her husband on the black team would lose focus, making him vulnerable for elimination.

After all the subterfuge, I still have no idea who will win the game, but I do know now who I hope loses. To see how Amy P. is looking these days, check out this video.

Are you rooting for a player? If yes, tell me in the comments section below.
Source

Rape

admin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:49:56 -0700

Illustrations

Post-traumatic stress disorder

HEALTH GUIDE REFERENCE FROM A.D.A.M

Definition

Rape is defined as sexual intercourse forced on a person without his or her permission.

Alternative Names

Sex and rape; Date rape

Information

According to most estimates, 80-90% of rapes are not reported to police. Current trends project that 1 in 3 American women will be sexually assaulted at some point during her life.

The typical rape victim is a 16-24-year-old woman. Anyone, however -- man or woman, adult or child -- can be the victim of rape. Most commonly, the rapist is a 25-44-year-old man who plans his attack. He usually chooses a woman of the same race. Nearly half the time, the victim knows the rapist from working or living near him. Alcohol is involved in more than 1 out of 3 rapes.

Over 50% of rapes occur in the victim's home. The rapist breaks into the victim's home or gains access under false pretenses, such as asking to use the phone or posing as a repairman or salesman.

Rape is a violent act, and is most often committed by a male upon a female. However, some cases of rape have been reported in which a woman has raped a man. Rape also may occur between members of the same sex. This is more common in places where there is limited access to the opposite sex (such as prisons, military settings, and single-sex schools).

Rape is an act of violence expressed through sex, but it is not mainly about sex.

Those who face some form of discrimination are believed to be at higher risk of sexual assault. For example, those with disabilities or limited language skills are less able to call for help; prostitutes or convicted prisoners have less credibility.

PREVENTION

The most useful prevention tool currently available is to be more aware about rape. Law enforcement agencies say prevention is the best form of protection. The following safety tips may help reduce your chances of being raped:

Carry items that can call attention to you if needed (whistles, personal alarms, etc.).
Consider taking a self-defense class, which can give you self-confidence and provide useful skills and strategies for different situations.
Do not hitchhike. If your vehicle breaks down and someone offers to give you a ride, ask the person to call for help while you stay locked in your vehicle.
If someone tries to assault you, scream loudly and/or blow a whistle.
If you are walking or jogging, stay out of secluded or isolated areas and arrange to do the activity with at least one other friend, rather than alone. It is best to do these kinds of activities during daylight hours.
Keep car doors locked while driving, check the back of your car for intruders before getting in, and park in open, well-lit areas.
Keep doors/windows locked.
On public transportation, sit near the driver or up front if possible; avoid sitting near groups of young men who are obviously with one another.
Try to appear strong, confident, aware, and secure in your surroundings.

It is better to respond quickly and actively to an attack, according to many studies. People, especially women, who resist the attacker this way are more likely to avoid being raped, compared with those who act passive or offer no resistance.

SYMPTOMS

Rape is a very traumatic event. People who are raped may or may not be able to say that they were raped, or may seek medical help for a different complaint. Emotional reactions differ greatly and may include:

Confusion
Crying
Fear
Hostility
Nervousness or inappropriate laughter
Numbness
Social withdrawal

Other physical problems are often present as well. Emergency room staff are specially trained to deal with all of these situations.

SIGNS AND TESTS

The health care providers will take a history in a supportive and non-judgmental way. This will include the details of the attack:

The date and time of the rape
Where it occurred
What you have done since the attack (for example, showered and changed clothes or came directly to the hospital)

If possible, this interview should be done with both health care providers and police present.

Other medical history information that is taken includes:

Any possibility of pregnancy before the attack
Current medications
Gynecological history, including any previous sexual abuse or assault
The date of the last menstrual period
The presence of chronic illness or recent illness or injury

A complete physical examination should be done to document any signs of trauma. Pictures may be taken to note bruises, scrapes, or cuts. X-rays will be taken if the health care provider suspects fractures.

Many samples may be collected for evidence including:

Clothing
Fingernail scrapings
Pubic hair samples (especially if there are foreign materials in it)
Vaginal samples for evidence of sperm and sexually transmitted diseases (mouth or anal samples may also be required)

TREATMENT

In many cities, rape cases are referred to specific emergency rooms. This provides more specialized care, and assures that proper procedures are followed to maintain the "chain of evidence" necessary for a case that may go to trial.

Such sexual assault treatment centers may also hire, or have available on-call, a team that is specialized in dealing with the emotional, physical, and legal issues faced by a person who was raped. Most state laws require that the person be evaluated in the emergency room before the rape is officially reported.

Experts recommend going to the hospital immediately after the rape occurs, without changing clothes, showering, douching, or urinating. Such activities may change or destroy evidence helpful for identifying and prosecuting the rapist.

Treatment focuses on providing emotional support, while attempting to collect enough evidence to confirm the rape complaint. The treatment team should try to provide a support person--either a friend or family member, or someone (such as a nurse) who is "assigned" to stay with you throughout the interviews and examination.

If you were attacked, you should not be left alone unless you want to be. You should be offered the choice of being interviewed in street clothes rather than in a patient gown.

The examination and collection of specimens should be fully explained beforehand, and whenever possible, you should be given choices in an attempt to give you back a sense of control. Maintaining a supportive environment, without any judgment, may encourage you to express whatever feelings arise.

Treatment includes:

Addressing the possibility of pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases
Offering information on those possibilities
Planning follow-up care
Providing care for the immediate physical and emotional trauma

If there is a chance that the rapist is HIV-infected, the health care providers should explain and offer post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP, a way to reduce the odds of infection immediately using antiretroviral medications). Referral to a local rape crisis center may be helpful. These centers offer peer support, and advice to help in recovery from the trauma.

OUTLOOK

Recovery from a rape typically includes the acute phase (immediate period of physical pain and wound healing, emotional reactions and coping mechanisms put into action), and the reorganization phase (occurring about one week after the rape and lasting months to years, as you attempt to "get on with life").

Group psychotherapy with other rape survivors as been shown to be the most effective treatment.

COMPLICATIONS

Some people are never fully able to recover emotionally from a rape. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common complication. Symptoms include:

Anxiety
Depression
Memories (flashbacks) of the event
Numbing of emotions
Recurrent nightmares
Social withdrawal

Therapy and antidepressant medications have been shown to be effective treatments for PTSD.

More than 50% of rape victims have some difficulty in re-establishing relationships with spouses or partners or, if unattached, in re-entering the "dating scene."

Rape may worsen any pre-existing psychiatric disorders. Suicidal behaviors, depression, and substance abuse may develop or become more prominent.

CALL YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER IF

You have been raped: Go to the nearest emergency room right away. Do not shower or change your clothes.
You were sexually assaulted in the past but never asked for or received proper care.
You have been raped (recently or in the past) and are experiencing personal or relationship problems.

Review Date: 2/6/2008

Reviewed By: Christos Ballas, M.D., Attending Psychiatrist, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org). URAC's accreditation program is an independent audit to verify that A.D.A.M. follows rigorous standards of quality and accountability. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. Learn more about A.D.A.M.'s editorial policy, editorial process and privacy policy. A.D.A.M. is also a founding member of Hi-Ethics and subscribes to the principles of the Health on the Net Foundation (www.hon.ch).

A.D.A.M. Copyright

The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997-2009 A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.

adam.com

Source Doc: 1_001955

Exercise Safety Tips: Roundup

FitSugar — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:00:00 -0800

We've been focusing a lot on safety while exercising, especially since the days have been getting shorter. Just in cased you missed any of the great tips we've had so far, here's a roundup:

Source