Friends, patrons, and colleagues know that James Smith is a fitness buff. Inspired by his active lifestyle, many ask James Smith how they too can get healthy. He tells them the same thing he tells everyone – diet and exercise are the most reliable ways to get fit. Many people, notes James Smith, think that exercise means repetitive drudgery on a treadmill or weight machine. For people that do not like working out this way, James Smith says there is a very effective alternative.
James Smith highly recommends that people get their kicks – literally. Even without taking a martial arts class, a person can use the basic techniques of stylized fighting as part of their personal workout at home. James Smith describes how to do this.
First, warm up for ten minutes with some jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, and stretches. During your warm up, advises James Smith, do light punching and kicking. Once you are warmed up, get into the correct fighting stance. Bend your knees slightly, put your left leg forward, and turn your right foot out. James Smith says that most of your weight needs to be on your back foot. Raise both fists, keeping your right fist near your ear and your left fist in front of your chin, as if holding a microphone.
Let the punching begin. Throw ten swift punches with your left hand. Follow up, continues James Smith, with ten combination left/right punches. Next up, instructs James Smith are the straight kicks. Kick with your left leg by lifting your knee as high as you can then driving your left foot forward. After a few kicks do more combinations of left/right punches followed by a left kick. Eventually, recommends James Smith, you will need to reverse your stance and do combinations with a right kick.
James Smith also says that it is recommended to use these basic punch/kick combinations to three to five “rounds.” A round, explains James Smith, is about 100 punches and 50 kicks. Work up a good sweat, take a short break, and start the next round.
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Konrad Kafarski
Cordia Harrington