Next Level Performance & Fitness

Fit 2 Fight - Morning or Night

2008-09-05T13:47:00.001-04:00

Fit 2 Fight is cutting edge group fitness training, combining the benefits of boxing (both the cardio-vascular conditioning of the movement and the anaerobic impact of heavy bag and pad training) with bodyweight, jumprope, kettlebell and interval training.

Based on years of experience preparing athletes to be in peak condition when entering the ring; each 60 minute session will be a Fun, Hi-Intensity Hardcore Training Session guaranteed to shoot your strength, power and endurance through the roof!!!

Monday and Wednesday 10 - 11am

Maryland Martial Arts LLC
2080 York Road Suite 200
Timonium, MD 21093

Mondays and Wednesdays 6 – 7pm

Baynesville Boxing
& Fitness
8630 Loch Raven Blvd
Towson MD 21286

Sign Up NOW

Space is VERY LIMITED!!!

FIRST COME FIRST SERVE!!!

Contact Me for more information.

…AND IN THIS CORNER… An Interview with Pro MMA Fighter Brice Ritani-Coe Part 1

2008-08-27T15:44:00.008-04:00

If any of you know me personally, you know that I’m always talking about “living your dream” and “doing what you love, your passion.” Well, a little over a year ago, as part of my dream and passion, I took a trip to New Zealand to do some sight-seeing and training. One of my stops took me to Queenstown, New Zealand, a picturesque party/adventure town surrounded rugged mountains, majestic lakes and crystal clear air. I was lucky enough to find a gym right next to my hostel and paid them a visit. There I meet and had to chance to spar one of the biggest men I ever met in my life. He had quick hands, lightening fast head movement and big dreams. Unfortunitly, all good things must come to an end and I had to head back home.

Shortly after arriving home, I get a message asking about MMA gym in the States. Shortly after that I get another message stating that “I’m training at Exterme Couture.” Talk about making BIG moves. I’ll let him tell you his story.

Rahsaan: Tell us a bit about yourself.

Brice: I’m Brice Ritani-Coe. Im originally from Queenstown New Zealand. I moved to Las Vegas in February of 2008 to pursue a carrier in Mixed Martial Arts. I showed up at Xtreme Couture with a background in Boxing and Muay Thai and took it from there!

Rahsaan: How is your weekly training schedule set up?

Brice: I train 2 times a day 4 times per week. On Wednesday and Saturday I train once on those days. On the mornings of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, I do conditioning at 8am involving different types of strength exercises, plyometrics and conditioning sort of exercises and cardio and stuff. At 10 am I do BJJ or pad work or something else depending on what i need to work on.
4pm I go into Xtreme Coutrue again and do the pro practice which is 2 hours of drills, sparring and grappling, working from positions and other such things that are involved in MMA On Wednesday, I just go into pro training and on Saturdays, I normally work on my striking and BJJ.

Rahsaan: What is a typical day like for you? And what do you do for money?

Brice: I wake up at 7am drink water then go and prepare my food for the day. I leave for the gym at 7:45am, get to the gym around 8:00-8:15am train with a few of the Hawaiian boys and go though strength and conditioning drills for about a half hour to an hour. I’ll stretch at 10am or 11am depending on when we have the BJJ class. I’ll do the BJJ class cause my ground game still needs alot of work. I’ll go home at 12pm eat chicken and salad or a sandwich and have a power nap, watch fights and stuff on youtube, go on facebook and chat with people from back home, and then at 3pm i head on back into the gym to train till 6pm.Then I’ll come home and watch tv and relax. I’ll do that most days of the week!

For money, I sometimes teach boxing or muay thai at the gym and help out with the kids class.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our interview.

“If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.” ~ T. Alan Armstrong

A few things to learn from the Olympians.

2008-08-13T22:36:00.002-04:00

By Neil Patel

1. Be dedicated and passionate – if you don’t love what you are doing, there will not be much to keep you going. Not everything in life is simple, so make sure you are passionate and dedicated about whatever you are currently doing. If you aren’t you may want to consider a new career path.

2. Keep your goals in mind – some things could take years before they are obtained, so make sure whatever you are doing now helps you get one step closer to your goal.

Read more

5 Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW to Manage Stress

2008-07-28T23:32:00.000-04:00

1. Do something else – You know when you are stressing. If not, pay attention to the signs: irritable? Clenched jaws/fist? Depressed mood? Tears? Learn to recognize the onset of a stressful event and quickly DO SOMETHING ELSE. Recognizing your stress and ACTIVELY seeking to DE-stress is the MOST IMPORTANT concept in stress management.

2. Take a deep breath – Learn "belly-breathing" Practice this style of breathing, driving, while at work starring at the monitor and use this technique IMMEDIATELY after a stressful event. MAKE THIS A HABIT .

3. Turn the music up and dance – Stuck in traffic and running late? Frustrated? Guess what? There is nothing you can do about it. Now you have some time to yourself. Turn up the music, dance, sing, and enjoy yourself. The traffic is going nowhere so you might as well make the best out of it. But whatever you do, DON’T get on your cell phone to COMPLAIN. That’s not managing stress… that is making it worse.

4. Take a mini-vacation – Hawaii WOULD be nice, but sometimes we just don’t have it like that. But instead of doing nothing, go out and become a tourist in your own city. Go to a restaurant that you have never been to, treat yourself to a massage, or just enjoy an ice cream cone (ONE ice cream cone, not the whole gallon. If food and stress impacts you negatively, skip the ice cream.). Doing the little things in life can be just as good as a week away on an island, plus you don’t have to deal with rude security and insane baggage claim rules.

5. Be Quiet – Take some time out for YOURSELF. Turn the TV and Ipod OFF and be free from all your stressful thoughts. Take up yoga or tai chi . Take sometime out of your day to totally free yourself from stressful self talk . Take up activities that force you to focus your mind AWAY of your To-Do lists.

To begin, practice these steps at least 3 times daily for just 3 –5 minutes a pop. In just 21 days you’ll notice a significant improvement in your ability to manage stressful events.

Leave a comment below, let me know if these techniques work or let me know of some techniques that work for you.

The Deadlift – The KING of all Lifts

2008-07-10T18:03:00.003-04:00

The deadlift is a weight training exercise where one lifts a heavy object off the ground from a stabilized bent-over position. The deadlift works all of the major muscles of the body. Training this movement using a mix of high rep and low-rep training is a tremendous way to add strength to your back, shoulders, legs, forearms and biceps. Furthermore, the deadlift is the most effective exercise for building core strength. The deadlift is a very functional lift. We often squat down to pickobjects up: groceries, a laundry basket, furniture, or a child. It’s a lift you WILL use in the real world.

Why do they want to drug our children? (A Late Night RANT)

2008-07-08T00:20:00.006-04:00

I watched 2 very interesting stories on the news tonight. The first story, they want to put KID’s on cholesterol drugs as young as 8 and want to start testing as young as 2. The other story , the HPV vaccine that they are giving young girls, the side effects are starting to be reported. You know the side effects, the ones they say really fast at the end of the commercial, they ARE really real.

We are quick to run to a drug to help correct our “problems,” but let’s look at the CAUSE of the problem. 8 year olds with high cholesterol, so high in fact that they need drugsto control it? BABIES tested from 2 years of age and will be, most likely, medicated for the rest of their lives? Or are drug companies expanding their product life-cycle? Do you know what will really help combat the obesity problem (which will solve our juvenile diabetes "problem", heart disease "problem", etc.)? Giving our children healthy food, healthy lifestyles, healthy attitudes and healthy doses of physical activity.

What are we doing to our young women? We are voluntarily giving them a dose of a virus that: 1. They may already have. 2. They may not have and we are afraid they might get (so we GIVE it to them anyway). We are aware of the immediate side effects, but what about down the road?

We preach and beg our children to avoid the illegal street drugs. But what about the drugs or Doctor's prescribe? Are perscription drugs just as dangerous as illegal, if not more? Whose side are the Doc's really on?

Choose the people you trust wisely. Question your health professionals. Make sure they are looking out for what’s best for YOU and your family.

Send YOUR questions to Rahsaan@NLPF.NET.

What is CrossFit?

2008-06-27T19:21:00.003-04:00

CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide. CrossFit is a program built on constantly varied if not randomized, functional movements executed at high intensity.

What is “Strength & Conditioning?” Simply put, it is FITNESS. Our model of fitness identifies and improves the 10 general fitness skills:

1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance
2. Stamina
3. Strength
4. Flexibility
5. Power
6. Speed
7. Co-ordination
8. Agility
9. Balance
10. Accuracy

Developing theses skills will help you boost your metabolism, increase your lean muscle mass, accelerate your fat loss, and burn belly fat….

CrossFit is empirically driven and clinically tested. It has been shown to be successful in the stadium, on rocks and mountains, in the ring, on the streets, on the battlefields and in the gym.

CrossFit works where it counts…… in the real world.

Congrats to Brandon Cherry

2008-06-24T09:38:00.003-04:00

Over the weekeend Brandon won his first MMA competition against a more experienced athlete. It was a very even match and an exciting fight. The fight was action packed with impressive stand up and ground games displayed by both athletes, but in the 3rd round, Brandon was in flow and finshed the fight by rear-naked choke.

Brandon has trained with me for several years and has always been a hard worker dedicated to becoming a better athlete. I am very proud of him and look forward to bigger and better things.

Introducing Fit 2 Fight - Now at 2 Locations

2008-05-27T15:09:00.015-04:00

Maryland Martial Arts LLC
2080 York Road Suite 200
Timonium, MD 21093

Mondays and Wednesdays 6 – 7pm

Baynesville Boxing
& Fitness
8630 Loch Raven Blvd
Towson MD 21286

Sign Up NOW

Space is VERY LIMITED!!!

FIRST COME FIRST SERVE!!!

Contact Me for more information.

The Will to Win

2008-05-10T00:04:00.014-04:00

It's not the will to win that matters...everyone has that. It's the will to
prepare to win that matters.—Paul "Bear" Bryant

Leroy Preparing to WIN

The Off-Season Strength & Conditioning Program is a complete system that brings together the most important elements that are crucial to an athletes success:

Flexibility/Mobility
Weight Training
Metabolic Conditioning
Nutrition

Call me today at (410) 580-0504 and ask for me, Rahsaan, or if you have any questions you can e-mail me at Rahsaan@NLPF.NET.

Congrats To Artis and Leroy ....

2008-04-21T19:12:00.010-04:00

.... for participating in the 2008 Nike Combine at M&T Bank Stadium.

See the video here

I Completed the CrossFit Level 1 Certification

2008-03-31T23:19:00.003-04:00

.... this past weekend at CrossFit Virginia Beach.

The Truth About Our Foods

2008-03-21T15:25:00.015-04:00

Eat Food. Not Much. Mostly Plants.
by TC

He wrote about how dead rats were shoveled into sausage grinding machines. He explained, in nauseating detail, how diseased cows were slaughtered for beef; how guts and garbage were swept off the floor and sold as "potted ham."

Upton Sinclair even described how the occasional worker would fall into a meat-processing tank and be ground, along with animal parts, into "Durham's Pure Leaf Lard."

The Chicago meat-packing industry was in deep trouble after Sinclair's landmark book, The Jungle, was published in 1906. It caused outrage in America and abroad and meat sales fell by half. The book forced the government to pass the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, which established the Food and Drug Administration.

Thanks largely to Sinclair, you can be relatively certain that your food is comparatively free of a variety of disgusting things.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of different ways to foul up our food supply and circumstances require that incarnations of Sinclair surface every generation or so to investigate our food supply.

Read the rest of the article here.

Kettlebells in the Wall Street Journal

2008-03-18T14:26:00.004-04:00

Getting a Handle On Weight Training
By LAURA JOHANNESMarch 18, 2008; Page D2

They look like cannonballs with handles. Some fitness experts say these weight-training tools, called kettlebells, create a unique, full-body workout, but other experts fear the explosive movements usually involved with the equipment could cause injury.
* * *

Kettlebells, used by weightlifters in the early 20th century, are becoming popular again. That's largely due to former Russian military instructor Pavel Tsatsouline, who teamed up in 2001 with fitness publisher Dragon Door Publications Inc., of Little Canada, Minn., to start selling kettlebells in the U.S. A number of companies now sell the bells, which have a rough cast-iron surface.

In general, men start with a 35-pound bell and women start with 18 or 26 pounds, depending on their strength. Dragon Door says women are 40% of its customers and about 80% of those attending classes taught by instructors certified in its methods.

Read the complete article here.

For High-Quality, Affordable Kettlebell visit MuscleDriver USA

!!!Introducing Next Level Strength & Conditioning!!!

2008-03-12T21:41:00.003-04:00

Next Level Athletes at Velocity Sports Performance Baltimore

For the most up to date information on what it takes to be the best ATHLETE you can be, keep your eyes glued to the new blog:
Next Level Strength & Conditioning

The CrossFit Journal

2008-02-25T11:57:00.002-05:00

The CrossFit Journal is a monthly chronicle of the CrossFit Program. For only $25.00 yearly you can have all the details of the CrossFit concept e-mailed to you monthly. Back issues are available at $5 per issue. Designed to support and expand the CrossFit community, the CrossFit Journal will bring you the theory, techniques, and practice in use by trainers of U.S. Military, Police Academies, Martial Arts Champions, and Olympic and Elite athletes worldwide. The CrossFit Journal will allow you to duplicate with great success the same methods employed by our coaches in our facility, in essence bringing your garage or gym into ours, making you a part of the CrossFit family. Each issue covers different aspects of the CrossFit Program in great depth with articles, drawings, photos, links, challenges, and assignments. Here are all the details you’ve been asking for.

2008 NIKE COMBINES

2008-01-02T13:02:00.000-05:00

YOU ARE INVITED - TEST YOURSELF WITH THE BEST!

Sun., April 13th
Baltimore, Md.
M&T Bank Stadium

TO REGISTER:
http://sparqtraining.com/registration/

The Basic Kettlebell Swing

2007-11-30T09:59:00.000-05:00

Kettlebell training involves the entire body on every movement, and bridges the gap between resistance training, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning. For high quality, affordable Kettlebells, visit MuscleDriver USA.

Pregame 11/25/07

2007-11-29T12:07:00.000-05:00

Deadlift

Workout
- Deadlift @ 135lbs x 10
- Dips x 10
- Deadlift @ 135lbs x 10
- Push Ups x 10
- Deadlift @ 135lbs x 10
- Double Kettlebell Press x 10

Pregame 11/18/07

2007-11-18T20:53:00.000-05:00

Single-leg Suitcase

Workout

- Kettlebell clean & press @ 45lbs

- Box jumps

- Dumbbell burpees @ 10lbs

- Jumprope

- Push ups

- Single-leg suitcase

30 seconds each station

3 minute rounds

3 rounds

USKBA Action Sports Challenge

2007-11-16T12:04:00.000-05:00

GET OFF THE @!#$%^ TREADMILL!!!!

2007-11-13T14:42:00.000-05:00

Hamster or human?

Busting the Fat-Burning Zone Myth

Q. I have heard that if you go over a certain heart rate while doing aerobic exercises, you do not burn fat. Is this true?

A. This is one of those misconceptions that should be put to rest once and for all. The "fat-burning zone" idea got its start about 15 years ago, when scientists reported that during high-intensity exercise, the body burned mostly stored carbohydrates for fuel, as opposed to burning stored fat as it did during lower-intensity activity.
Exercise instructors took the news and ran, leading the charge for low-intensity "fat-burning" classes. We probably don't have to tell you that they didn't end up being a magic bullet for fat loss. Here's why.
It's true that the body burns a higher percentage of calories from fat during more mellow exercise like walking and easy cycling. But, when you pick up the pace for a higher-intensity cardio workout, you burn a greater number of overall calories(which should be your focus for weight loss) and subsequently just as much total fat.

Read the rest here:
http://www.myfooddiary.com/resources/ask_the_expert/fat-burning_zone_myth.asp

Pregame 11/4/07

2007-11-06T09:34:00.000-05:00

Wall Ball

Workout
- Kettlebell Clean & Press @ 16kg x 5 ea arm
- Wall ball x 10
- Kettlebell Swings x 15
- Wall ball x 10
- Push ups x 20
3 rds

Classic San Shou

2007-11-01T12:41:00.000-04:00

Do you face these problems?

2007-10-19T13:54:00.001-04:00

- Have you tried every diet and exercise program around, only to end up right back where you started?
- Are you frustrated and depressed with how easily you pile on body fat?
- Do you want the lean, tight body that attracts the opposite sex but you just can't seem to achieve it?
- Do you want to feel good about your body and yourself?
- Do you want to lose a lot of fat quickly and keep the weight off?

Grab your FREE copy of the The Stubborn Fat Loss Solution EBook now, while it's still available. Inside you will learn:

- Why dieting alone does not work.
- How men and women differ when it comes to losing fat.
- How dieting alone makes losing FAT more difficult.
- Why exercise is VITAL to your FAT LOSS efforts.
- The 11 Real Secrets to Stubborn FAT LOSS.

Send an E-mail NOW to Rahsaan@NLPF.NET with “FAT LOSS” as the subject to receive your FREE copy of The Stubborn Fat Solution.