Level 3 Martial Arts

             

              The title is misleading because I didn’t do any martial arts. My brother Tyler has been taking karate classes at Level 3 Martial Arts in Moorpark for many years now. His Sense Eric has been offering me a session of training for almost a year now, so I finally decided to take him up on his offer. Going in I mainly wanted to work on self-defense. It is one of my greatest fears to caught in a situation that I would not be able to run away from. If I were caught in a fight or flight situation, I would need to be able to defend myself and I was hoping to learn some techniques that would help me. To my surprise, we spent the hour working on footwork and balance. I am happy that we started with this because I forgot how important that was for me and how much I needed help with it. We did three exercises to help with balance and coordination: leg lifts while kicking a padded block over, grape vines, and shuffling while hitting a pad. He gave me a  platform with two poles to stand on and support myself if I needed it. This wasn’t as intense of a session as I was anticipating, but it was good to start with footwork and having to keep myself balance while hitting something. This session also showed me all of the things that I still need to work on and strengthen. He showed me some exercises that I can do at home to strengthen the back of my legs and retrain my body. You can do leg lifts while holding on to a door so that you still have some support, grape vines, and kicking. These not only help balance but mobility too. I highly recommend going to Level 3 Martial Arts for their self-defense classes 

LA glass slide 🤘

This is not much of an exercise, but it was a lot of walking so it felt like one. Recently, I went to a new LA attraction the “terrifying glass slide” by OUE Skyspace. The glass slide is located on the side of the US Bank tower, which is the tallest building in LA. You slide from the 70th floor, down to the 69th, right on to the observation deck. When you reach the bottom you have a great view of the city and are able to buy food, drinks, and take pictures. Although it was a 4 second, overhyped ride, it’s fun to be able to say that you’ve slid down the side of a skyscraper. If you’re in LA and have time to kill, I’d suggest trying the skyslide. There is a lot of walking between the parking, to the building, and multiple elevators, but it’s exercise with a reward!

Pole dancing

To end 2018 I went pole dancing for a friends 21st birthday party. It was so much harder than I thought it would be and requires some coordination. It’s a great workout for people with balance problems, because you have a pole to hang on to, but challenges you since you are constantly moving and trying to put your body into positions that you didn’t know you could or couldn’t do. You have to keep your balance trying to pivot around the pole and engage all of your muscles at some point. There was so much stretctchimg before we started, since it requires flexibility, and the teacher walks you through each step treating it like an aerobics class. Even the things I thought I couldn’t do she would modify for me or encourage me to try. If you are looking for something different and fun to do with friends, I highly suggest pole dancing it’s harder than it looks.