Dear Dana White,

So as many people now know, Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos, the women's 145 lbs Strikeforce champ has been suspended for testing positive for some sort of steroid after her 16 second knock out defeat of Hiroko Yamanaka. She is said to be one of the most dominant MMA fighters, male or female, in the sport today.

If it is indeed true that she knowingly took the substance in question in order to enhance her performance in the cage then, yes the suspension and $2,500 fine is completely deserved. As the willing use of PEDs is one of the worst forms of cheating any athlete can do. If you feel like you have to cheat to win, maybe it's time to retire.

Now what is just coming into the MMA news is that Dana White that all so big fan of women's mma, has stripped Santos of the 145 lb title because of the positive test. And since it appears that the likely course for the women's strikeforce 145 lb division is oblivion. Since to quote Mr White; "We were going to hold that division and just do fights with 'Cyborg' whenever there was a new contender. She's getting stripped of the title. I don't know. We'll see what happens."

So because of one woman's screw up, the entire Strikeforce Women's 145 lb division goes up in smoke. 

Hey Dana, remember when Miguel Torres made a joke about rape and you cut him? Then once the media hooplah died down you brought him right back in? Or when former UFC Lightweight Contender Hermes Franca was sentenced to 42 months in prison for unlawful penetration and the sexual abuse of an under age student at his gym? Just so everyone is on the same page, unlawful penetration is rape.

The usual course of action, sad that it's "usual", for when a champion tests positive for PEDs is for he or she to sit out while the top two contenders slug it out for the title. Then after the champion's suspension is up, the formally suspended champ and the new champ duke it out for the title. You know, when Sean Sherk was busted for PEDs then after his suspension was up he fought Penn for the title. I didn't see the men's 155 lb division go under because of one guy's screw up.

Granted there seems to be a huge lack of women at 145 in MMA. But hey, why not hold The Ultimate Fighter for women at 145? With the finals being for the Strikeforce 145 lb belt? Best case, it might just bring in more viewers and make more money for Zuffa and bring more high calibre women for 145. Worst case, Dana may not look like a total douche bag to a lot of women.

But hey, this entire situation just goes to show that currently in 2012 it is more socially acceptable for men to joke about rape than for a woman to screw up. 

You know what Dana, sign me up, I'll fight at 145. Bring it on.

Progressive Overload Theory and the Plateau Effect

This theory states that if you do not keep challenging your muscles you will not see any gains or changes.

This has to do with something called the "plateau effect". The plateau effect kicks in when your body has become accustomed with the exercises that you have been doing. During this effect you will see little to no gains either in mass, or strength and you just feel like you are going nowhere in your training.

The solution to this? Confuse them. Making changes to your routine every 4-6 weeks will help you start seeing gains again.

Ways to do this:

• Progressively add more weight - no more than 5-10% every 1-2 weeks depending on how often you are lifting.
• Change the muscle group you start with (ie) Start with your legs one day, than chest or back the next. Again depends on what you are doing.
• Switch up your routine, add new moves or do new things. Such as classes, crossfit and etc.

There is nothing wrong with trying something new with your training if it is under the supervision of a qualified individual who can give you pointers on form and technique so you are getting the most out of everything you do. Hell, you might even find something you didn't know you liked or were even good at. Never be afraid of not doing something because you think you cannot do it, give a shot you'll either like it and do it more often. Or not like and never do it again. But the difference is, you would be one of the few people out there who got out of their comfort zone for the sake of trying something new. And that, in my opinion, is worthy of bragging rights.

One of my students asked me tonight during my kickboxing class "When does this training start to feel good?"

I thought for a moment and replied with, "When you are on the beach and you take your shirt off and you look better than every other guy out there. That's when."

Keep that in mind.

Going Through Phases

Sorry about the delay in posting. I recently landed a new job and I have been very tied up with it.

There are four main phases in the exercise world. And they are:

Foundation:
Nothing can be built if it doesn't have a solid foundation. During this phase which can last anywhere 2 to 10 weeks depending on the person. My personal recommendation, is 4 weeks in the foundation phase to weed out any muscle imbalances or instability. The exercises used during this phase go hand in hand with the 6 primal movements of a human being: Push, Pull, Twist, Lunge, Squat and Bend.

Build:
In this phase you start using weights in order to build muscle. Typically lasts about 6-8 weeks, again that depends on each person. If you are just going for general fitness stick with the 6 primal movements in weighted variations. This is also the time to start introducing isolation exercises such as bicep curls, shoulder press, leg curls, rows and etc. Weights used are typically 60-80% of your one rep max (orm), try to max out the reps at 10. If you can do more than ten, add more weight. The tempo of your lifts are 2 seconds up (explode) and 4 seconds to start position (control going down).

Neat, but how do I know what my one rep max is? Good question, you basically guess.

Burn:
In this phase, which should never last longer than 4 weeks. Because during this phase you lift faster and longer sets and you are burning off more fat reserves in order to uncover all that muscle you built in the build phase. Typical the weights used in this phase is no more than 50% of your ORM. Sets of 15-20 reps and a tempo of 2 seconds up, and 2 seconds down.

Strength:
In this phase you are building your strength through lifting your ORM. Sets are only 1 rep, and the rest is usually 4-5 minutes. Very intense phase, lasts between 4-6 weeks. Movements are typically Olympic style lifts (Clean and Jerk etc) and should be done under the supervision of a qualified trainer.

To Dana White, RE Womens MMA - An Open Letter

So as some Mixed Martial Arts fighters may know, UFC/Zuffa has bought out strikeforce back on MArch 12 2011. You can read about it here.

A couple of years ago I was watching a video interview of UFC President Dana White. The interviewer asked Mr White what he thought about a womens division in the UFC someday. White replied that he did not have any interest in Womens MMA or a Womens Division in the UFC. He has repeated this feeling in a couple of other interviews.

Now I have a question, since Strikeforce had a very active womens division and that White has no interest in Womens MMA. What is going to happen to the Women Fighters? White has said that Strikeforce will operate "as usual" which is all well and good for now. But what will happen when Strikeforce ultimately gets folded into the UFC like other Organizations before it?

Or what will happen when the Womens contracts come up for renegotations? How will the Women end up getting paid if their Boss doesn't support womens MMA? How will the division get valued? These are the questions that need to be answered.

I personally love watching womens MMA. Not just because I'm a woman. From a purely technical standpoint, the women tend to have more technique and it's more of a thinking game than alot of their male counterparts. However, you do still see a fair number of knock outs or very slick submissions.

Female fighters train and fight just as hard as their male counterparts, yet they get paid and respected far less. A comment on an article on mmafighting.com spelled out the lack of respect pretty well:

"If they were fighting in jello and wearing wet tshirts, then they'd get my $39.99."

Asides from the poster being an immature chauvanistic moron, he does hit very close to a very real issue plaguing society today. There are some younger guys that are jerks and just see women as sex objects or something for them to conquer. And perhaps the idea of women being able to fight and take back control kind of freaks them out a little bit.

-Amanda

Diet Supplments, my rant about "fat burners"

One time in 2008, I bought a bottle of fat burners to attempt to make an ungodly low weight for a fight. I read the directions on the bottle, which was to take 2 twice a day for the first 7 days, and then 1 twice a day afterwards. It also said that it worked better if taken within 1 hour of working out.

So I did as the bottle directed. Then I was up for 4 days. My heart was beating so hard my chest was pulsing. Everything and everyone seemed to be going really slowly, except me. I managed to write a 15 page Canadian politics paper in 2 hours. I was incredibly jittery and easy to startle.

I immedietly stopped taking them. I also did a little research into this item, I was shocked to see the chemical equivilent of an illegal drug in it. Along with copious ammounts of caffiene and ephedra.

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you are going to take supplements please consult someone who knows about them. Try to avoid the fat burners, they put an unneeded stress on your system and sometimes they are not approved by your country's health board. These can be really dangerous products if not used correctly, or if they interact with another prescription you could be taking the effects could be diasterous.

My personal oppinion would be to avoid almost everything except a really great protein powder.

My issue with "Cardio" Boxing/Kickboxing

This is my issue with "Cardio" Boxing/Kickboxing/Thai Boxing. Like that Tae Boe crap that was all the rage a few years ago. I have two big issues with this sort of stuff.

They claim to be usefull in self-defense situations.
Guess what? When you have an attacker who outweighs you by a substantial ammount and smacks you around when you aren't trained in how to react to that. You won't be able to do anything to protect yourself. Self defense training should be carried out in a full contact setting, so you know what it's like to be hit.

Punching/kicking at the air will not lead to injuries.
No, it will if you are not properly shown the techniques. Hyperextension is a very real injury and it is not fun thing to have happen. If you are punching at full power into the air, you will end up over extending your elbow.

I have another issue but this isn't as big as the other two.

They claim to be an amazing workout.
This is true but when you are just puching the air your muscles are not having to react to making contact with a real target. That impact makes the muscles of your arms/legs/butt/core contract to absorb the impact. And thusly giving you that toned look you are going for.

My honest suggestion is that if you are looking for a really great workout to investigate your local boxing/kickboxing scene and go and try a class. If it is a credible club, they will never try to force you to spar another student if you really do not want to. However, I do suggest that everyone that tries atleast one round of sparring in their life time. It is a killer workout, and provided your opponent is not uncontrolable jerk that doesn't try to take your head off with each technique, it is really really fun to get hit and to be able to hit back. It's the ultimate stress release.

SMART Goal Setting

I think it's time I updated with how one on a fitness journey should set goals. And the method commonly used by trainers is:

SMART.

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Action Oriented
R - Realistic
T - Timed

Specific:
Goals should be as specific as possible so that you can picture exactly where you need to be heading. Skills in questioning are really needed to set specific goals. If your current goal is to "Get in shape" or "feel better:, ask yourself how you want to feel or what you want to change. Once you ask questions like this you'll have a better idea of what you want.

Measurable:
This is a great way to get feedback on your goals. Say you want to lose weight and have more energy, well once you decide how much weight you want to lose that is a specific goal. However increasing your energy is a little tougher goal to set, but not impossible. For example, ask yourself where your energy is now on a scale of 1 to 10. With 1 being a slug and 10 being Superman or Superwoman.

Action Oriented:
When you are setting a goal, you should associate a specific action with it. If you want to lose 10 lbs then you should set a plan to meet with a trainer or your workout buddy 3 times a week and atleast once by yourself to workout for 30 minutes to an hour.

Realistic:
In my opinion this is the most important part of the goal setting process. It has to be realistic for you and you alone. If it is not realistic you will not be able to accomplish it and thusly become very uninterested in your fitness journey. And please don't do any of these "I want to lose 30 lbs in 30 days and I'm 160 lbs now". That is just far to much body mass for you to lose in that short ammount of time.

Timed:
This part is easy, this is how much time you will dedicate to this goal.
You can also use this entire SMART method to set a short term and a long term goal.

Unbearable Lightness a Review

I recently read an incredibly well written and at times painful memoir entitled "Unbearable Lightness" which is authored by Portia de Rossi. An Australian actress and model who was on Ally Mcbeal she is also married to Ellen DeGeneres.

In her memoir de Rossi chronicles her entire battle with Anorexia and Bulimia. At times the book is incredibly painful to read because as the reader you know that she is not healthy but in her mind (at the time) she thought she was completely healthy and that it was a professional and healthy thing to restrict her daily calorie intake to just 300 kcal.

She also talks about her struggle with her sexuality and how she was completely terrified that if she admitted that she was gay publicly that she would lose her entire career just like DeGeneres did. In the end she goes on to say that when she met Ellen was when she learned how to really love herself and how to enjoy her life.

It's a wonderful book de Rossi is an exceptional author and I highly suggest this book to anyone.

My reasoning for doing this review on a Health and Fitness blog goes with the idea that due to society and it's weird need to idealize the "perfect" female body type that the drive for perfection will more often than not get out of hand and has lend far to many people down the road of eating disorders, and even worse still that road has lead to many people dying from those disorders.

Will be updating soon.

Big changing are happening in my life that take up most of my attention right now.

I will be buying the URL for this blog soon also.

There will be an update coming. I promise, I just happen to be a little sick right and lacking the energy to research and write a new post.