We have so many tools at our fingertips, but sometimes trainers can rely too much on fancy tools and not enough on being creative with the basics.  I do my very best to balance both.  For example, I broke out these tombstone bags I bought when I was training in Krav Maga.  They are my favorite type of bag for striking (punches, kick, knees and elbows), but I’ve come up with some fairly unique ways to use them for fitness.  Thanks to all who let me use them as Guinea pigs.  I hope you enjoy the workouts.

Hi everybody! It’s been about a week since my last post on this blog. I promise I have a great reason.

We have been working hard to promote our grand opening event this Saturday between 11am and 2pm. It’s going to be a blast and I hope you all have a chance to come. Join us on the rock wall, ropes course, and our inflatable obstacle course.

Remember to invite all your friends. You would want them to miss out on the festivities.

Click here to check out our video.Camp Keystone Fitness Promo

Hi everybody.  Today was a fun day for me.  I hope it was fun for everybody else too.  We did strength training, agility training and we learned a little about self defense.  I have a history of teaching self defense and it remains a passion in my life.  So, I try to pass on some of my knowledge from time-to-time.

We learned how to defend against what is called an overhand club strike.  The bottom line: Stay away from the “business end” of the weapon.  The very end of the weapon is the most dangerous part and acts as an extension of your arm.  Therefore, treat the arm as the weapon and the club as the extension.  Stop the arm (or redirect for those of you in attendance) and you stop the club.

Any blunt object can be considered a weapon.

Ask me for more and I’ll go over the whole technique with you when we have a chance.  But remember, the best defense is to not have to

defend yourself at all.  Never put yourself in a position where you have to defend yourself.  Be aware and act confident and most would-be attackers will pass you by.

You can practically pay for your entire membership by giving us referrals!  I’m not talking about the awesome incentives you get if one of your friends or family members sign up.  Rather, I’m talking about getting 5 percent off for each person you bring to class!  All you have to do is encourage a new visitor to show up for one week of free classes.  If they attend at least 3 classes during the week, you get 5 percent off your next month’s membership fee.  And you get the same incentive for each person you bring!

Of course, if they sign up you get 25 percent off instead of 5 percent.  Send people our way and let us pay for a portion of your tuition.

This one is nearly 3 miles.  It’s literally one of the most beautiful areas to run and it offers a safe place and clean air.  Can wait until 7pm when we all meet at Camp Keystone.

I just wanted to say how excited I am to have an 8:00 am class today.  This is one of those rare occasion when we can get people from different classes together at the same time.  It’s always a great dynamic.  Also, Justin and I get to instruct together.  That doesn’t happen as much as I would like.

The weather is perfect and we’ll likely be using the entire park today.  I look forward to seeing you all in about 30 minutes.

We’ve had quite a few tough workouts this week.  I know this because everybody has been dropping little hints about how sore they are.  So tomorrow I’m going to try to break out some fun stuff for an easier recovery workout.  Perhaps it’s time to use the zip line.  It’ll give me a chance to wear my new helmet.

Here is the route for our run today.  We’re going to meet at 7pm rather than 6:30pm so we can try to avoid some of the summer heat.

All went well on the last run.  I didn’t expect the hills, but it was all for the better.  Todays run stays on Kanan so we can get a little attention from all passersby.  Honk if you see us!  2.64 miles, here we come!

We’re a fan of these.  Using dynamic warm ups allows you to warm up and stretch at the same time.  It’s far more effect in the beginning of a workout than seperating the stretching and warm up portion of the workouts.  We’ll be using these warm ups often and often save the static stretches for the end.

I’ll write another entry later on stretching…one of my favorite topics.

Check out this link of a great dynamic warm up I used in class yesterday.

I don’t know who came up with this brilliant idea:  Let’s start and end our run at McDonald’s.

OK…it was me.  And I think we were all salivating when we finished with our run at  the golden arches.  Samantha was thinking Big Mac.  I was thinking chicken nuggets with BBQ sauce.  I’m happy to announce none of us entered the restaurant…unless someone turned back after I left.

It was a good run and I look forward to tacking on an extra half mile tomorrow at 7:00 pm.  All are invited.  I will post the route tomorrow morning. Remember to wear your CKF T-shirts.