A new chapter is about to begin.... Stay posted.

New Shoe Review: Asics Tiger Tai Chi

The Asics Tiger Tai Chi are the best minimalist shoe i have owned so far! There is no arch support so I would progress to these shoes slowly. Id recommend wearing the Nike Free 5.0 for 3-6 months while doing your Z-Health mobility work. Then the foot mobility may increase and it will be better suited for the minimalist Asics. The only con I see as of now would be that the tread on the bottom is very thin. So, it may have durability issues. But, thats the price one must pay to be an early adapter and have an efficient movement pattern. Speaking of movement pattern, mine has improved as Ive worn these shoes.

I highly recommend following the aforementioned plan for you footwear.

Yours in Health,

Austin

Turkish Get Up

Hey everybody!

As you all know, I am bell crazy! I just wanted to share a quote with you from Mike Boyle. MB is one of the top strength and conditioning coaches in the world. He trains many professional athletes. Not just the good ones but the ones that may not make the team. He makes sure they do!

He has written books and lectured around the world. Here is what he has to say about kettlebells - specifically the Turkish Get-Up:

"If you'd have asked me a year ago I would have said the

Turkish Get-up was a gimmick. Now I think it's probably the
best total-body core exercise you can do. And that's part of the
learning process!"

"I can remember reading the early kettlebell stuff and being
decidedly unimpressed. I had a million reasons why I didn't
like it. But then I started watching my athletes get up off the
floor. Nearly every one of them did a Turkish Get-up without
even knowing it. I think it's a skill we lose as we age. Have
you ever seen an old person try to get up off the floor? It's very
difficult for them. I think it's an exercise everyone needs to be
doing."

Remember - You gotta get up to get down!

Yours in Health,

Austin

Jones Report 2

I'm writing the Jones Report #2 today with an equation w/ explanation:

Healthy Movement

(Z-health and kettlebells)

+

Nutrition

(See Sustenance below)

+

Lifestyle

(day to day stressors and input/output)

=

Mindful Living

(Optimal Health and wellness)

- www.zhealth.net

-Kettlebells teach us how to engage our musculature and harness its power, strength and beauty and, when done properly, w/o breaking ourselves down either.

As you probably know, I'm BellCrazy. Z-Health and KB's are not the only avenues to attain these goals. Im my experience and research, I have found these two systems to be the most effective and efficient. We will explore any and all options during our sessions.

-Sustenance - sus·te·nance/ˈsəstənəns/Noun

Sustenance is food or drink which a person, animal, or plant needs to remain alive and healthy.

• This word and its definition were chosen to explain nutrition instead of the word diet. The reason should be apparent after reading the definition.

-Lifestyle refers to what your day to day life is like. Are you in front of the computer all day in an unhealthy posture? If so, you then may move inefficiently once you get up. Is your job stressful and you haven't found how to cope or a mechanism to release all that built up tension? This non-pain threat signal of stress could manifest itself as pain as way to get your attention and alert you that you are not operating well or optimally. That could be your mystery back pain or tendonitis of the knee. Inefficient lifestyle leads to inefficient movement (and vice versa) which can turn on a pain signal somewhere in the body.

- Lastly, this all equals optimal health and wellness. That means life is a long race: it's not about arbitrary numbers on a workout set that, when done w/o the Four Elements of Efficiency (4EE), break you down. It's about the quality of the movement of the exercises. How well do you do the movement? After that comes the progression of reaching goals. This should shed even more light onto the importance of 4EE from Jones Report 1, eh? We need the 4EE in our life.

And our quote today is about always moving forward. A constant progression...

"You should take as long as possible to reach your fitness goals." - Joe X

Lets take a minute to meditate and think about today's Report and what it means to you.....

Yours in Health,

Austin Jones

FYI

FYI, IM TWEETING NOW... @AUSTINJONESRKC

4EE - Jones Report 1

Just writing again because I got a decent response from some of the topics and ideas in previous writings. Some Q's have come up... I think Im going to write randomly to everyone and call it the Jones Report. This will be issue Number 1. Todays topic comes up on every session on every rep and sometimes you see it sliding and dont even know it. It is the crux of your training and mental engagement on every exercise - every rep.

Todays topic is the Four Elements of Efficiency (4EE). The four elements of efficiency are: Perfect Form, Dynamic Postural Alignment, Synchronized Respiration, and Balanced Tension and Relaxation. The order does matter. This may seem like too much to worry about but this is critical to success.

These elements are a path to success in training. This Path to Efficiency leads to the PERFECT REP! Which should be the goal of each rep. As 4EE breaks-down, so does your training and the benefits of what your doing. The breakdown of 4EE leads to The Path of Inefficiency :( This leads to a decrease in development and a decrease in performance.

If you train inefficiently, then you are training to be inefficient!

Its best think of this as a continuum. Where are you on the continuum?

There is a Fifth Element of Efficiency. This fifth element will be discussed in the future. First- Master these four elements over the next few months. Consider every rep a practice of efficient movement. Mastery takes practice :)

I'd like to close with a quote, everyone seemed to like the quotes,

"Getting the most out of life is giving life your most." -Janice Markowitz

Yours in health,

Austin Jones