Circuit Of Change

Some people call circuit training a shortcut to fitness. It burns up to 30% more fat than a typical workout, while rapidly elevating fitness levels. If you're a runner and you mix in circuit training, you'll find an improvement in your long distance times. 

Many people ask me if I do weight training. I don't. My Shaolin Circuit Training DVDs are the main workout I do on a daily basis. These DVDs are designed for fit busy people who want results fast. Combining push ups with punches while keeping the heart rate elevated means the muscle are being constantly challenged.  If you're pushed for time then you'll achieve more from circuit training than any other type of exercise. 

Shaolin Circuit Training combines cardio and strength training into 9 tough interval circuits.  The level of intensity depends on how hard you push yourself but you should be working at an uncomfortable level of exertion the entire time. How many punches can you do in round one? How many kicks can you do in round five? How about the final round? It's a good idea to make a note of this so you can track your improvement.

Alternate between the Circuit Training Volume 1 and 2 on different days so you're focusing on building the strength of your arms or legs and improving the skill of your punches and kicks. I recommend you alternate these two DVDs twice a week and then, if your doing 5 or 6 workouts a week, do any volume from Shaolin Bootcamp or Shaolin Workout. If you've more time then you don't need to follow the Qigong at the end of the DVD but can do your favourite Qigong followed with the Instant Health Massage. And remember, even though you're out of breath, it's still the breath of Qi. Training in Shaolin means everything we do is a meditation. Even circuit training.

Shaolin Circuit Training is not suitable for beginners.

 Shifu Yan Lei teaches a graded path to Shaolin. Click for more details

Food Variety, Calorie Intake, and Weight Gain

Let's kick off this post with a quote from a 2001 review paper (1):

Increased variety in the food supply may contribute to the development and maintenance of obesity.  Thirty-nine studies examining dietary variety, energy intake, and body composition are reviewed. Animal and human studies show that food consumption increases when there is more variety in a meal or diet and that greater dietary variety is associated with increased body weight and fat.

This may seem counterintuitive, since variety in the diet is generally seen as a good thing.  In some ways, it is a good thing, however in this post we'll see that it can have a downside.
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Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... ice cream!!

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Shifu Yan Lei talks about his daily workout, diet, and meditation

What's your daily workout like?

My training day usually starts with either a 10 or 12k jog or interval running, sprinting 800 meters then resting for 800 meters and doing this 4 times or varying my runs like I show in my youtube video. I then do some circuit training, the same as on my DVD though I mix the punches and kicks together. I think it's important to sweat when you're training, only this is true training. In the afternoon I do bag work, and pad work if there's someone at the temple to hold pads. I finish off with Iron Shirt Qigong and combine Iron Shirt conditioning with Instant Health Massage using a metal brush.

Can the average person hack Shaolin training?

Shaolin is for everybody. Of course the average person doesn't have 4 hours a day to train but a lot can be accomplished in one hour five days a week. This is enough to be healthy and fit. If you're not close to a school and train from my DVDs then you need to make a program. The best DVDs for fitness are the Bootcamp and Circuit TrainingDVDs but you need a level of fitness before you can embark on them. Like all things, take one step at a time. Most people have no desire to do hard Qigong but they  have a desire to have more energy and increase their longevity so they do Eight Treasures.

You've talked about the Shaolin Monk's diet in another post, but how important is diet to you?

The more you do Shaolin martial arts, the more you tune into your body and the harder it is to eat badly. If you're craving unhealthy food, don't worry about it, start working out the Shaolin way and the cravings will go away of their own accord. Before I train I eat a lot of noodle and vegetable with some meat then a banana, which is a great thing to eat before training as it helps to keep sugar levels up. We don't use ovens in China but something new I've discovered in the West is roasted sweet potato. Very healthy and a better carbohydrate than potato. I eat fruit and nuts through out the day. I tend to cook two days food in advance so when I come home and I'm hungry my food is already prepared.

How focused are you on Buddhism and Zen meditation?

I'm a simple person. I feel that many Western people read too many books and this makes their mind complicated. My master gave me one sutra, The Hui Neng Sutra, and he told me not to sit in meditation but to make training my meditation. Zen is about experience, not knowledge. When people do kung fu or Qigong forms, they get a taste of this Zen experience and then there are no questions. The important thing is not to look outside, but work with where we are and what we have here and now. There's no need to go to the temple, the temple is right here and now

Shifu Yan Lei teaches a graded path in Shaolin Kung Fu and Qigong, click here for more information. 

Book Review: Salt, Sugar, Fat

Michael Moss is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who has made a career writing about the US food system.  In his latest book, Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, he attempts to explain how the processed food industry has been so successful at increasing its control over US "stomach share".  Although the book doesn't focus on the obesity epidemic, the relevance is obvious.  Salt, Sugar, Fat is required reading for anyone who wants to understand why obesity is becoming more common in the US and throughout the world.

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Healthy World Cafe will be open for lunch Wednesday, April 24!

If you missed us at Go Green in the City, never fear: Healthy World Cafe will be open for a delicious, locally sourced lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 24 at First Moravian Church, 39 N. Duke St., downtown York.

Our spring vegetable quiche returns for lunch April 24!

April's Menu:

-- Cardamom applesauce

-- Chicken, rice & spring greens soup

-- Pork, beef & bean chili

-- Oriental sandwich with Asian-inspired coleslaw

-- Tossed salad with Green Goddess dressing

-- Spring vegetable quiche

-- Dried fruit and oatmeal cookies

Of course, our offerings are always based on whatever is available from our farmer friends, so also stay tuned for updates!

At Healthy World Cafe, we always feature our "eat what you want, pay how you can" philosophy.  The ability to pay should never be a barrier to accessing delicious, unprocessed, healthy food.  Take out orders are available by e-mailing your selections (by 10 a.m. April 24) to healthyworldcafe(at)gmail(dot)com.

Interested in volunteering for food prep or serving? Sign up through VolunteerSpot for our April lunch or other upcoming events.

And don't forget our switch to volunteer shifts for Wednesday's lunches: In order to better respect our volunteers' time, we'll be splitting the Wednesday lunch into two volunteer shifts: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and noon to 3 p.m. Feel free, of course, to sign up for both shifts, if you wish.

If you can't volunteer for an exact shift, hey, we understand that, too! We love that you're still eager to help out when you can. We would just ask that, after signing up through VolunteerSpot, that you'd send a quick email to sarah.e.chain(at)gmail(dot)com and let us know when to expect you. That makes it easier for us to plan out volunteer duties.

Check out a calendar of other upcoming events as well, including our May lunch.

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... energy bars!

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