Steven Ho's Blog - Deconstructing Fighting and Stunts for your enjoyment

The first step in losing weight is to acknowledge that it’s going to take time to do it right. If you wouldn’t invest your hard earned money on a obvious get rich quick scheme, then why would you hand over your precious body to a random fad diet you saw on an infomercial?

It’s easy to lose weight fast….don’t eat, don’t drink, and dehydrate whatever liquids you do have left in you. You’ll definitely lose the weight…but you’ll also confuse your metabolism and severely jeopardize your health. Not to mention that you’ll gain all the weight back the second you have a bite of anything. People go through fad diets their entire lives…constantly seeking that quick fix for immediate results, only to eventually yo-yo back up. It’s an endless, frustrating cycle.

But if you take the time and energy to exercise, eat properly, and lose weight sensibly, your metabolism will conform to your needs and eventually be your friend. Cheap and Fast is always expensive. Be patient and realistic and do it right.

The first step is to quit obsessing on your scale. When you start training, your body will shift quite a bit. Muscle will takeover fat and your weight may or may not change. The best indication is how you FEEL, how you look in the mirror and how you fit and look in your clothes…particularly those tight jeans. Get fit for your heart, your health, your family, and your mood - a secondary and added bonus is how you’ll look at the beach.

The next step, which I’ll talk about in more detail in this entry, is Portion Awareness. You can eat the best food for your body, but if you are intaking too many calories daily, you will not be able to lose weight. By becoming aware of what a portion size really is, you’ll be able to eat within your limits and lose weight sensibly.

Here are 8 Portion Control Tips to help you reach your goals…

Portion Control Tip #1: Look at your Eating Portions Objectively

Don’t get caught up in the “value” of what you’re getting for your money. Most American restaurants will let you indulge you in 3-4 servings per plate. Once that pile of onion rings is in front of us, our urge to “complete” kicks in and we shovel everything in our mouths to make sure that nothing has been wasted. When we’re offered that extra size up for $1, we take it because it makes financial sense. Ignore this nonsense. Instead, try splitting a meal with a friend or taking half of your meal home.

Portion Control Tip #2: Don’t Leave Food in Sight

Eating meals family style (where the dishes of food are in your sight) can make it much easier to reach for seconds. If they are not in the same room, you are much less likely to want more. Leave the pots and dishes in the kitchen, and fix yourself one serving. Once you’re done with your serving, let it settle for at least 20 minutes so that you acquire the feeling of being full.

Portion Control Tip #2: Don’t Drink your Calories.

Stick to water and unsweetened teas instead of coffees, soft drinks and alcohol. (wake-up note: drinking one can of Coke a day is equivalent to consuming 32 lbs. of sugar a year - that translates to you gaining an additional 10-20 lbs a year)….and don’t even think about drinking Diet sodas. We’ll get into that in a bit…

Portion Control Tip #3: Eat without Distractions

Lifelong habits are difficult to break. If you’re accustomed to eating a lot and quickly….reprogram yourself so you’re no longer eating on auto-pilot. As an exercise, literally put your fork down between bites. Remove the distractions of watching television and surfing the net while you eat. Put on some nice music and become aware of how much you are actually taking in.

Portion Control Tip #4: Learn Serving Sizes

By learning to visually identify some simple serving sizes, you can better control your portions. Once you realize what a proper portion is, you may see how much you have been overeating. When eating a typical serving size of meat, it should be about 3 ounces or the size of a deck of cards. A standard serving of grains or raw vegetables is about the size of a tennis ball or your fist.

Portion Control Tip #5: Keep your Blood Sugar Even

Keep your blood sugar even throughout the day by eating three meals and two snacks (I said “snack”…meaning a piece of fruit, a health bar, or a small portion of nuts). You can keep your energy up and eat less overall because you do not get ravenous and overeat. People who eat 5 to 6 small meals a day are much more likely to maintain portion control because they never become too hungry.

Portion Control Tip #6: Portion out Food

When you are having a snack, be sure to separate your portions before you begin eating. It is quite difficult to eat just one portion of any snack food when eating straight out of the bag or munching with the refrigerator door open. Organize…then eat. By separating out one portion at a time, it is much easier to stick to your plan. Do the same with your leftovers; instead of storing leftovers in a big container, separate them out into single servings. Then you can easily reach in the fridge and pull out one single serving to reheat. This will help you limit how much you are eating with very little effort.

Portion Control Tip #7: Fill up on Vegies

During a meal, fill up on fruits and vegetables first. They will fill you up and they are low in calories. Salad with a low-calorie dressing is a great way to start any meal. You can also use meat as a side dish, as opposed to your main course.

Portion Control Tip #8: Indulge…responsibly

Avoid the “diet” labels on your foods, sodas, and snacks. Typically their ingredients are loaded with chemicals that will cause long term issues in other areas. You’re much better off having the real thing (in controlled portions) every once in a while. If you absolutely must, you’re better off with a half bottle of Coke every so often, rather than a can of Diet Coke daily. If you’re feeling a craving for chocolate, have a bite. It’s better to satiate your desire before it becomes and all-out binge. Like everything in life, balance is always the key.

By practicing these tips on a regular basis, you can help to regulate your portion control and maintain a healthy, long-term diet. Throw in a minimum of 3 days of cardio a week and you’re on your way.

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Here are some behind-the-scene photos with Suzanne Marques from our stunt segments on FOX’s Good Day L.A. (Los Angeles #1 rated morning news show) that we shot at the Westside Boxing Club on December 23rd. It was fun to finally meet and talk to Steve Edwards and Lisa Breckenridge whom I watch every morning - a bit weird though just hearing their voices in my CIA ear a piece, but not actually seeing them. Now I understand why guests on location often look puzzled during their interviews.

Shooting live TV is always a bit tricky because you literally do not get a second chance. Even in live tapings like The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, what you shoot is what you get.

If you make a drastic mistake on a film shoot, you’ll typically get another take. But if you make a mistake in a live situation, your mistake will most likely be the brunt of a joke and immortalized on youtube forever.

So you really have to keep your head on a swivel, and watch what you say and where you itch when the cameras are rolling. Luckily Suzanne is the consummate professional, so all I really had to do was follow her lead and have a good time. I’ll try to get a vid up shortly.

You can also watch Suzanne covering for Jillian this coming week (starting December 28th) on FOX’s Good Day L.A.. 7-10am hour.

Thanks to Paul-Brian McReynolds for being a good sport and a human punching bag for me and Suzanne, and thanks to Jose and Nacho Saucedo for opening the gym early for us to shoot at.

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Davide Luciano and Claudia Ficca are a husband & wife team who have brought their successful “Pothole” photography to Los Angeles. It was a pleasure (and lots of fun) being a part of this project on the West Coast. Here is today cover article from yesterdays LA Daily News that can much more eloquently explain this original concept much better than I can…

ART IMITATES L.A. FOR NYC GALLERY

By Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer LA Daily News Posted: 12/22/2009 07:08:18 PM PST

Hollywood stunt fighter Steven Ho had it all - the red carpet, paparazzo, bodyguard, the scantily clad glam girl.

But when the martial arts stud, with three “Tonight Show” appearances, pressed his lightning fingers into cement on Tuesday, it wasn’t on Hollywood Boulevard’s Walk of Fame.

It was inside a lowly Los Angeles pothole.

“OK, we’ll have one paparazzo in front, let’s shoot it,” photographer Davide Luciano, 31, said to his wife and partner, Claudia Ficca, as Ho made his mark in faux cement in a residential pothole in Los Feliz.

“I think it’s looking good. It’s good. It’s L.A.”

The photo shoot was the latest in zany guerilla pothole photographs taken by the Montreal duo who will open a SoHo Photo Gallery exhibit in New York this spring.

Picture a baker frying doughnuts inside a Montreal pothole. A man scooping spaghetti and meatballs from a pothole in New York.

Or a purse pooch being washed inside a notorious L.A. street crater.

It’s about fun. It’s about art. And it’s about capturing a city’s raison d’etre from its lowliest municipal vantage.

“We drove around two hours, and found four really good ones, but this (photo) had a great palm tree in it,” said Ficca, before she shot the Walk of Fame-like scene. “Our eyes are always open.”

“There is definitely an L.A.-ness about the potholes.”

Never mind that the potholes they’ve found since they touched down in L.A. last month

to escape the frigid Montreal winter had the character of pothole fugitives, or even defiant pothole partisans.Since Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched his Operation Pothole in 2005, municipal crews filled 1,565,044 potholes as of last month.

The nation’s largest pothole-filling campaign has only 125,973 to go, according to the Mayor’s Office. And that doesn’t include the fire engine-size sinkholes.

But for some Angelenos, one pothole is one too many.

“Potholes have become the obstacle course in Los Angeles,” said Paul-Brian McReynolds, a health and fitness instructor who played the bodyguard in the Ho scene, looking at his 400-horsepower C6 Corvette. “But that sucker has navigation, I don’t need eyes.”

Others thought L.A. potholes exist solely to boost local car repairs. L.A. drivers pay $746 annually for wear-and-tear to their vehicles, a recent national report found. And they file about 500,000 auto insurance claims for pothole-related repairs, according to the Mayor’s Office.

“I bought my car, a brand new Mercedes - it now handles like a shopping cart,” said Patrick Srail, a Sony engineer who played the scene’s paparazzo. “Every time I drive through a pothole, there goes another $6 in resale value.”

But if they think sunny California potholes are bad, try motoring through the Canadian Great White North.

Luciano, a film school grad, and Ficca, a graduate in Italian studies, were tooling through Montreal when the tail of their VW sank into a humongous pothole. The cost to fix it: $600 Canadian.

So one of them (they can’t remember who) asked, Wouldn’t it be funny to see a woman washing clothes in a pothole. So they staged a scene, and the “Potholes” project was born.

After getting married last summer, they cashed in their savings from restaurant and nightclub work and hit the road in search of the asphalt holy grail.

They’ve shot 13 pothole scenes in Montreal, one in New York, and plan five in L.A - including a Pamela Anderson look-alike performing a “Baywatch”-style rescue from a pothole.

Potholes permitting, they hope to drive across North America next year to shoot enough pothole scenes to fill a coffee-table edition.

But it was while flying into Los Angeles last month that a passenger informed them there were “no potholes in L.A.”

“They’re everywhere,” said Ficca, 28, pointing to the nearly 2-foot wide pothole on a quiet residential street in sight of Griffith Observatory. “For some reason, L.A. potholes are square, or rectangular.

“See what I mean? This is the classic L.A. pothole.”

Ficca and Luciano said they are inspired by each city and its notorious holes - given useful purpose by each quickly staged photo.

For where else but L.A. could they have shot a pothole of fame, or shoot a “Baywatch” pothole save? And where else but L.A. is street cred simply not enough?

“This is a Walk of Fame, but I don’t think I’ve arrived,” said Ho, in a black suit and tie, standing by his hole. “I hope this isn’t it.”

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Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams was my favorite book growing up as a young martial artist. As many times as I’ve read these Zen short stories, I still enjoy reading about Mr. Hyams’ training experiences with OG’s like Bruce Lee and Bong Soo Han.

Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite chapters on Beginner’s Mind:

The air was muggy and fetid in the Long Beach Sports Arena on that summer day in 1962. The air conditioning was malfunctioning and the crowd at the International Karate Tournament was getting restless after watching hours of matches. The Ed Parker, sponsor of the annual event, took the microphone and introduced Bruce Lee, who was to put on a demonstration of jeet-kune-do. There was an instant hush and all heads craned forward. Before his movie career began Bruce Lee was already legend among martial artists.

Bruce walked onto the elevated boozing ring wearing a simple, black, tailor-made kung-fu uniform. He spoke quietly for a few minutes about his art and then began the demonstration. It is always impressive to watch a large, muscular man perform karate, overwhelming the observer with the display of sheer, vibrant power. But to me, it even more impressive to see a slightly built man executing techniques with blinding speed, his motions as quick and elegant as those of a bird in flight. When Bruce finished there was a moment of silence and then shattering applause.

Some weeks later a friend arranged for me to meet Bruce, from whom I hoped to take private lesions. Bruce was highly selective about the students he chose to teach, and this meeting was to be a kind of audition for me.

Since he gave only private lessons and had no formal studio, the meeting was at my home. He arrived promptly and I went out into the front yard to meet him. At first glance he appeared even smaller than he looked on stage. He was wearing snug-fitting, full-length athletic pants and a green tank top shirt that revealed rippling muscles. He was smiling when we shook hands, but he quickly got to the point.

“Why do you want to study with me?” he asked. “Because I was impressed with your demonstration and because I have heard you are the best.”

“You’ve studied other martial arts?” he asked.”For a long time” I answered, “but I stopped some time ago and now I want to start over again.” Bruce nodded and asked me to demonstrate some of the techniques I already knew. We went out to my driveway and he watched intently as I went through the various katas, or exercise, from other disciplines. Then he asked me to execute some basic kicks, blocks, and punches on a bag hanging from a rafter of the garage. “Do you realize you will have to unlearn all you have learned to start over again?” he asked. “No,” I said.

Bruce smiled and placed his hand lightly on my shoulder. “Let me tell you a story my sifu told me,” he said.

“It is about the Japanese Zen master who received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. It was obvious to the master from the start of the conversation that the professor was not so much interested in learning about Zen as he was in impressing the master with his own opinions and knowledge. The master listened patiently and finally suggested they have tea. The master poured his visitor’s cup full and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the cup overflowing until he could no longer restrain himself. “The cup is overfull, no more will go in.”

“Like this cup,” the master said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup”

Bruce studied my face. “You want me to empty my mind of past knowledge and old habits so that I will be open to new learning”

“Precisely,” said Bruce. “And now we are ready to begin your first lesson.”

This does not mean that Bruce prevented me from applying a critical mind to his teaching. In fact, he welcomed discussing, even argument. But when challenged too long on a point his reply was always, “At least empty your cup and try.”

Later I learned that Bruce practiced what he taught. As a youth in Hong Kong he had studied wing-chun, a branch of kung-fu, under the celebrated master, Yip Man. When he came to America as a teenager he observed Ed Parkers’ kenpo-karate, taking from it many hand techniques that appealed to him. From tae-kwon-do he borrowed the devastating kicks that make the Korean style so formidable. He also studied other styles of martial arts, taking from all of them whatever he thought useful. Although considered one the best martial artists of his time, he was always learning, always in a constant process of change and improvement. He truly kept his cup empty.

Bruce had not only developed his physical abilities to a point of perfection, he had also honed his mind with the study of Zen. His den in Los Angeles was stacked ceiling-high with worn volumes of the Zen masters written in Chinese and in English.

It has been more than a decade since my first lesson with Bruce, and I am now in my mid-fifties. With half a century of life experience behind me, I sometimes get impatient with a new idea or technique. But when I feel impatient or act dogmatically self-assured, I remind my self of the lesson Bruce taught me, and I try to empty my cup to make room for new methods and ideas.

That was my first real lesson in Zen in the martial arts and its application to life-although at the time I didn’t recognize it as Zen. It was merely good sense-which is what Zen really is.

###

If you enjoyed this story, I recommend this book highly…Zen in the Martial Arts on Amazon. $7.99

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I have to admit, his form on Jump Spin Hook Kick is actually pretty good!

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You all know how much I’m a strong proponent of incorporating jump roping in your regular exercise routine. Whether you skip rope as a warm-up (8-12 minutes) or even make it your main form of exercise, it’s an ideal old skool tool for developing muscular and cardio strength. You can do it anywhere, it’s cheap, and for those of you who say it’s boring….skip to the video below. So no excuses. I’ use the Buddy Lee Olympic ropes and I also use ropes from the 99 cent store. Are you hearing me? All you really need is a firm surface, shoes….and discipline to do it.

Buddy Lee is arguably one of the best there is out there in trick roping. Here’s a mind-blowing demo of some of his routines. Realistically most of us will never get to this level, but this is a great inspiration to push your workouts a little harder than a gentle school yard skip.

To keep myself from zoning out and “jogging” rope at too comfortable of a pace, I like to challenge myself by doing multiple doubles (one jump, two revolutions) in succession. Once you’re comfortable doing doubles, try 5-20 in a row, then go back to your single jumps. I like to mix up the timing so I don’t have a regular formula that I work off daily.

I may do 10 doubles after every 20 singles - 2 doubles after every 4 singles - or as many doubles as I can as often as I can for one round (3 minutes), then catch my breath with singles for the next round, etc…

The options are limitless.

The point really is to mix it up and force yourself to “sprint” rope as opposed to “jog” rope.

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As you may know, I train at the Westide Boxing Club and also volunteer with their after school kids program. Owners Jose and Nacho Saucedo are doing a stellar job instilling a sense of work ethic, teamwork, discipline, and respect to their kids. The students from Los Angeles High School created a great mural for the side of the gym’s build in appreciation to the Saucedos (once we get a clear day, I’ll take and post a pic). Whatever your sport interest may be, look into organizations and non-profits in your community that may benefit from your expertise. I really can’t think of a more rewarding way to train than to give back at the same time.

If you’re looking for professional boxing training….or even just to stay in shape, checkout Westside Boxing on the corner of West Pico and West Avenue (between Crenshaw and San Vicente).

Westside Boxing Club | 4500 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019 | T: 323 947-1306

“Family in town”, “Waiting to lose some weight before I go to the gym” “End of the year crunch”, “Too hungover”, “Waiting to start next year”, “Traveling a lot”, “Parties to go to”, “There’s a football game on”… I know. I KNOW.

I’ve heard all the excuses and have used many of them myself. The Holidays are arguably the most challenging time to maintain your fitness regime. But unfortunately our bodies are not sympathetic to our busy lifestyles and schedules.

When I find myself limited on time, my go-to exercises are jump roping (which I’ve talked about in a previous entry) and SPRINTING. Unlike jogging or walking, sprinting (or fast running) will challenge and engage your entire torso and even arms (I’m trying to avoid the “core” word because I’m sure you’re all sick of this buzzword by now).

Sprinting and fast running is one of the best all around exercises to develop long, lean muscles throughout your entire body.

20-30 minutes of intense sprinting is a fantastic way to maintain your fitness level until your schedule opens back up. And once you have more time to dedicate to yourself, this routine will be an excellent addition to your regular fitness regime.

If you’re indoors on a treadmill, here is the cycle that I personally use. Obviously you will have to select a speed that you feel matches your health and fitness level.

Sprinting Cycle:

Stretch

5-10 minute warm-up. Select a speed that will bring you to a light jog.

1-2 minute(s) of intense sprinting. Select a speed that you would chose to run if a hungry, carnivorous dinosaur were chasing you. As a gauge, my personal clients who are in good shape will run at speeds from 8.0 - 12.0 for this duration.

1-2 minute(s) of walking. If you sprinted for a minute, take a minute walk. If you sprinted for 2 minutes, take a 2 minute walk.

Repeat the sprinting cycle 5x.

5-10 minutes of light to fast job.

Cool down walk.

More Action on Steven’s Main Website: www.stevenhomartialarts.com

* oh, my lawyer told me to include this: Always consult a physician before starting a fitness program or changing your diet. Information found on this website is meant to support and not replace the relationship with your physician. Not all exercises or activities are suitable for everyone. If you feel discomfort or pain, stop. The instructions and advice presented are in no way intended as a substitute for medical or psychological counseling.