students, especially children, often ask me: “Are you a grandmaster because you can beat up anybody and you were a champion in tournaments and you’re not intimidated by anyone?”
My answer to them is always, “No, that’s not why I’m a grandmaster.”
Grandmaster is really a teaching title, like a professor, but in many ways it’s a bit more. You can almost say that I’m a teacher of teachers (or professors). It’s a title that takes more than a few decades to achieve—it usually requires a lifetime of dedication.
A grandmaster’s expertise should go beyond teaching individuals just martial arts skills.
A grandmaster should be able to get into the minds of the students.
A grandmaster should be able to teach them how to develop a higher level of integrity, humility, self awareness, and confidence.
A grandmaster is a teacher who is not selfish, but willing to share his life’s hard work, and able to pave an easier and clearer path where others can follow and learn to be their personal best.
Finally, a grandmaster is one who can express his true level of confidence by making his ultimate goal helping others to develop and even surpass himself.
CHAPTER 2
Jump Start
There are many books out there that advocate weight training and dieting for a short period of time—4, 8, 12 weeks, etc. These books show incredible transformations of the body through before and after pictures. How many people do you know, or can think of, that tried one of these workouts or diets and went through an extreme transformation from overweight to shredded and were able to maintain their new bodies? I’m willing to bet not many. What these books don’t tell you is that extreme workouts and diets don’t work in the long run. To lose that kind of weight in such a short period of time requires extreme physical and mental exertion. Even professional athletes have trouble adjusting from being mostly sedentary during the off-season to getting back into game-day shape. And these are athletes who are still active—retired athletes are a different story! Let’s be honest, it’s not easy maintaining that kind of discipline after completing one of these workout or diet regimes. They’re temporary cures for a permanent situation.
Not only do these extreme workouts and diets not work in the long run, but most of them are based on a short, fixed period of time. If you lost 50 pounds in four weeks, you’ll look fantastic. But your internal organs will not reflect how good you look on the surface. When your body goes through such a drastic change in so little time, it wreaks havoc on your internal organs. It’s not uncommon for people to experience kidney failure from over-consumption of protein in an attempt to bulk up too quickly. Changes to the body have to be done progressively so the internal organs can adjust to the physiological changes.
You know the story of the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. Gradual progress is the key to losing weight, becoming healthier, and maintaining fitness. Can you picture yourself following one of these intense diets or workout programs for the rest of your life? Even the greatest athletes don’t have that kind of discipline. Think of some of your favorite athletes who are now retired. How many of them have been able to maintain the weight they were at when they were active, or even just stay slim? A very small percentage. These athletes have to consume an enormous amount of food daily because they’re working out multiple hours a day. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps reportedly ate 10,000 calories a day while training! That may be an extreme example, but the fact of the matter is once an athlete stops training, the number of calories they burn reduces but their appetite doesn’t. The only way they can keep the weight off is if they continue to train like they did during their professional careers. That’s a very tough thing to do. That’s why my system will work. It’s not designed just for people in their prime, it’s designed for any age group—and it’s something you can do your whole life.
In my 40-plus years of working in the fitness industry and teaching students, I’ve found that one of the problems with exercise is that people dread it. If most people have a choice whether to exercise or not, most will not. It’s not until something happens—like not being able to fit into an old pair of jeans or being told by your doctor that you have high blood pressure or even worse, having a stroke—that they realize exercise is the only option. And by then, exercise becomes a chore. I’ve been exercising all my life, not because I was forced to but because I enjoy it. It’s something I look forward to every day. I can help you feel the same way. It’s never too late. You might think you have a long road ahead but the sooner you get on that road, the shorter it will seem.
The first thing you have to do is be selfish. Now I don’t mean drop everything and do whatever you want and go on a wild shopping spree. I mean be selfish when it comes to exercising and taking care of yourself. Some of you might be thinking, “but I have no time!” Do you really have no time? If the only things you’re doing are working, sleeping, eating and nothing else, seven days a week, then yes, I believe you when you say you have no time. But usually, you can squeeze in the time. It won’t be easy. You might have to make some sacrifices. Maybe you might have to miss some TV time or not go out and socialize one night, or wake up a little earlier or go to sleep later; but I’m certain you can find the time. If you met the person of your dreams and he or she asked you out on a date, would you say you have no time? You’d find a way to make time! You can always make time for something if you really want to. And think about this: the healthier you are, the longer you will live. This is even more of a reason why you should exercise. By finding time to exercise, you’ll create more time to enjoy life.
Another problem people have with exercising is that they’re too self-conscious about other people’s opinions. Or they feel exercising is too difficult. These are great excuses, but if you’re not exercising and keeping healthy, who’s going to do it for you? I tell my students that their safety is their own personal responsibility. It’s the same with your health. If you want to be there for your children, you’re going to have to save yourself first, you have to be selfish. If you’re on an airplane and there’s a sudden loss of cabin pressure, your first instinct might be to put the oxygen masks on your loved ones so you can save them. But how can you help anyone else if you’re starving for oxygen? You have to help yourself first in order to help others. Be selfish.
If you have children, by exercising, you’ll set a good example. Obesity rates are increasing at an alarming rate for kids in America. I’m sure you care tremendously for your children’s health and well-being. And even if you don’t exercise, you will still push your child to exercise and eat right. But you have to look at things from their perspective. Your kids are probably wondering why they should exercise if they don’t see you exercising? If all you did was sit around the house and play video games, but you told your child not to do the same, they’d think you’re a hypocrite. But if you exercise and tell your kids to exercise, they won’t question you. We may not be their heroes, but we are their role models. We have a huge influence on our kids, whether they’d like to admit it or not. And that can go both ways. We can be good role models, or bad ones.
My students tell me one of the biggest factors that stop them from going to the gym is feeling unfit and overweight when everyone else is in great shape. If that’s the case, don’t go to the gym! Maybe the gym is not for you. You have to be able to feel comfortable where you’re exercising. Maybe you’ll feel more comfortable in the privacy of your home. If you’re feeling too self-conscious about what other people think when you’re exercising, just remember what Dr. Seuss said: “Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
If you’re reading this and you don’t have any disabilities, you have to realize how fortunate
