Did you notice how all of the characters are super-fit and athletic looking? When the werewolf guy (Taylor Lautner is the actor) was on the screen without his shirt on, I could hear all of the girls start whispering (การกระซิบ) each other in the theatre.

Actor Taylor Lautner said to get in shape for the movie he had to "eat a lot and work out."

It wasn’t just the werewolf, it was the whole cast! Now I know why all the girls are rushing to go see that movie. Before, I thought girls didn’t like vampires. But I guess they like vampires if they are handsome. Haha.

Another fit vampire with abs. I think drinking blood must be really healthy!

However, some people in the news and gossip magazines think that it is not good for Hollywood to have fit stars in movies that are popular with teenagers. Some people think that teenagers will feel depressed (ดีเพรสดฺ’) adj. หดหู่ใจ,เศร้า,ถูกกดลง,ตกต่ำ (เศรษฐกิจ),ซึ่งอยู่ต่ำ คำที่มีความหมายเหมือนกัน) their own looks if they see actors, singers and models, who are slim, fit and have nice abs.

I disagree! I think having people who are fit in movies can be a good thing. Often times, they will be role models for other young people, motivating them to be healthy and fit themselves.  Too many people are indoors all day long, playing video games, chatting on the internet and watching TV.  I am hoping that watching these movies might encourage (vt. ปลุกใจ, ให้กำลังใจ, กระตุ้น) to get out and exercise!

As a matter of fact, many young stars are starting to enjoy the fitness lifestyle.  Harry Potter’s Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe are both leading healthy lives!  Emma Watson told Grazia magazine that she doesn’t diet.  ”My philosophy (หลักปรัชญา, หลักความจริงของชีวิต (syn. axiom, truth); วิชาปรัชญา) is to eat what you like and be healthy and exercise,” she told them.

Harry Potter has ripped abs too. But, it seems he forgot his shirt, his glasses and even forgot to brush his hair.

I KNOW movies, actors and actresses can motivate people to get fit!  When I was young (A LONG TIME AGO), I remember watching the movie Rocky 4. Rocky (actor Sylvester Stallone) was in amazing condition. They showed him workout in the movie and prepare for his boxing match against a very big and strong Russian fighter. After watching the movie, I got a set of dumbbells and the Rocky 4 music soundtrack. I was motivated to look and be as strong and fit as Rocky.  Okay, I was a bit of a nerd.

Rocky trains hard, fights hard and looks RIPPED! But, why is he standing in the clouds?

Well, I am old now, but I am still fit and I have exercised regularly ever since then. The movie inspired me to be healthy and take care of my body. Why am I telling you all of this? Well, I hope that some of you will also be motivated by new movies like Twilight, Transformers and Harry Potter to get in shape yourselves.

You only have one body in this lifetime. As a teenager, NOW is the best time to start taking care of it. Being healthy now will make it easier to stay healthy for all of the years to come in your future.

Good luck!!  Remember, if you need any advice, feel free to leave comments or an email.

Wishing you all health and happiness always…

Mr. Jeff

http://www.paradisefitnesscamp.com

As a fitness coach, I am often asked, “Jeff, what percentage of getting in shape is nutrition and what percentage is the workout?”

I don’t like percentages.  It’s like asking which is more important to a car- the engine or the tires.  They both are important.

But, without gasoline, neither the engine nor tires are worth anything at all.   I think a strong mental approach to fitness is like the gasoline.  In particular, the will (ความมุ่งมั่น) and desire to improve your current self!   I have worked with many people who have made amazing progress.  The people who were the most successful were the ones who were ready to try fitness with the mind of a warrior.

Everyone knows soda and pizza are bad for them.  They know exercise is the right thing to do.  They are not stupid!  They haven’t been living in a cave their whole lives.

Getting fitness results is more than just nutrition and exercise.  It is psychological.  To make the permanent change, you must dig deeper and start challenging your inner self and decide you want to be better than just “average”. Ask yourself that powerful question;

“Do I want to just be average?”

We ALL have willpower (อำนาจจิต) .  We just have to exercise it.  Our muscles don’t get stronger overnight from exercise.  Well, we must also exercise our willpower on a regular basis in order for it to strengthen.

Each workout you don’t skip is a positive step towards strengthening your mind.  Each workout is one step closer to creating a new habit and a new you, mentally and physically.

Every time you find yourself wanting to buy a chocolate bar, turn it into a mind-challenge.  It’s not about the chocolate bar.  It’s a Mind Challenge! Your inner self is challenging you to be more than you are now!  If you put the chocolate bar down before getting in queue at the grocery store, your willpower has become that much stronger!  The more times you win the challenge, the more powerful your mind will become!  Do things just to challenge yourself.  Enjoying your hot shower?  Well, how about a mind challenge?  Put the water on cold for 10 seconds.  It seems silly but it works.  Soon, you will believe that you can make yourself do anything you ask of yourself.

Challenge yourself to be better than average.  The changes you want to see with yourself will come one small moment at a time.  You can do it!

Hard Work + Strong Mind = Success

]]> http://mrjefffitnessfun.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/challenge-yourself-to-be-better-than-average/feed/ 0 Mr. Jeff 190459_m03 http://mrjefffitnessfun.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/new-workout-for-you-tabatas/ http://mrjefffitnessfun.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/new-workout-for-you-tabatas/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:41:22 +0000 Mr. Jeff http://mrjefffitnessfun.wordpress.com/?p=47 ]]> Hello Goofballs! I hope everyone has had a good last few days.

Things are going well here!  Many of you know we will be doing a sports and fitness camp at Bangkok Preparatory School for a month, starting next week.  It is going to be lots of fun!  Prepare to get fit!!!  (mwuahahahahhahaaha….EVIL LAUGH!!!)

Also, as I mentioned ( พูด) in the last blog, you can see me in the new Hi Magazine!  Check it out!! hehe.

Cover of Hi Magazine

OH MY!! It's Mr. Jeff!!

Okay, I am going to introduce you to a workout called “The Tabata Protocol”.  It is named after a Japanese doctor who conducted( ดำเนินการ) some interesting tests in the 1990s.  But, I will not bore you with that stuff.

I use this workout often with the people I train and have seen them get great results from it.  It is a short workout, but very difficult and very effective (ดำเนินการ).

To do it, you do an exercise for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds.  Each 20/10 exercise and rest is called an “interval”.(  ช่วง)

Here is how you do it:

Warm up for 3 or 4 minutes by jogging lightly.  Then do:

20 seconds of body weight squats and 10 seconds rest for 4 intervals.  This will take you 2 minutes to complete.

Then do 20 seconds of pushups and 10 seconds rest for 4 intervals.  This will take you another 2 minutes to complete.

Finish by doing 20 seconds of jump squats with 10 seconds rest for 4 intervals.  This will be the last two minutes.

For your cool down, jog for about 3 to 5 minutes.  The workout is very short, but you will be sweating!!

Here are some pictures on how to do the exercises for you.

Somebody who looks like Brad Pitt doing Pushups

A lot of my students remember this one! It was sometimes a punishment for forgetting to bring your book to class!!!

Okay, have fun with the new workout!  I hope to hear from you all soon!  Send a message and say Hi!

Bye for now!!!  Miss you all!

And don’t forget…..

Uhh…errr….I forgot.  Never mind.  Bye!

I’ll scan it in tomorrow and let you see it. Hope everyone is well!

Sorry the blog is so short today, but it has been a long day.  :)  I hope you are all doing well.  Here is the workout for the day.  I told some of you today at the school that I will post today’s workout some of you did in class online.  Here it is!

10 pushups, 10 squats, 10 touch the ground and jump in the airs!

8 pushups, 8 squats, 8 touch and jumps

6 pushups, 6 squats, 6 touch and jumps

4 pushups, 4 squats, 4 touch and jumps

2 pushups, 2 squats, 2 touch and jumps

Record your time it takes to finish.  Good luck to you all of you!

He didn't smell good. But, he had the REAL human diet: Meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts.

Okay, today I am going to give you another workout to try today.

But first, a dumb joke because I like dumb jokes!

What kind of car does Luke Skywalker drive?

……….

……….

Give up?

A Toy-Yoda!!!   hahahahahaha (okay, not funny)

Yoda didn't think my joke was funny.

Anyways, here is your workout today:

First, you need to know what a burpee is.  So I have a picture for you.  To do a burpee correctly, you must

• put your hands on the ground
• kick your feet backwards so you are in a pushup position
• pull your knees back to your chest
• jump in the air as high as you can

It looks like this:

If you do this exercise on the BTS train, people stare at you! But I do it anyways while I sing "Don't Worry Be Happy" very loud!

Okay, the workout:

Do 5 burpees…..then run 50 Meters (fast)

Do 4 Burpees….then run 50 Meters (fast)

Do 3 Burpees…then run 50 Meters (fast)

Do 2 Burpees ..then run 50 Meters (fast)

Do 1 Burpee…then run 50 Meters (fast)

Time how long it takes for you to finish the workout.  If you are fit already and you found the workout too easy, start with 10 burpees and not 5.

Vocabulary words for you today:

Sprint:  To run very fast.  It can be a verb or a noun.

Verb:  I don’t like to jog slow.  I like to sprint.

Noun:  That wasn’t a jog.  That was a sprint.

Determined: แน่วแน่

Adjective:  I am sure he will get good marks on his exam.  He is a determined student.

Okay, I hope you are all doing well.  Good luck on the workout and have fun!

Leave me a comment and let me know how it goes.  (and share your time it takes to finish the workout if you wish!)

Adios! (Spanish for bye)

Mr. Jeff

Okay, Yoda! I'm ready! Let's fight! Hey, you look shorter in person than you do in the movies.

When I train people who want to get slimmer and lose fat, I train them to become faster, stronger and more powerful.  If they do this successfully, they will have  a slimmer body.

I don’t let most of the people I train do “aerobics”.   Why?

Aerobic training makes you slower, weaker and less powerful.  Olympic sprinters and anaerobic (activities that don’t use oxygen right away) athletes have  less bodyfat and they avoid (อด) doing aerobic training because they lose speed, strength and power.

Examples of anaerobic athletes are sprinters, hurdlers, boxers, high jumpers, speed skaters, gymnasts, javelin throwers, etc.  Anaerobic athletes do hard work for short periods of time and then rest.

She is an Olympic Javelin Thrower- No Aerobics

Korean Olympic High Jumper- No Aerobics

400 M Sprinter- NEVER aerobics!

Olympic Hurdler from Norway- NO AEROBICS!

Beijing Olympics Decathlete from Paraguay-NO AEROBICS!

A pig who does aerobics!

Who do you think would be better at most sports? The anaerobic or the aerobic athlete?

Okay, that is enough blog for you to read today.  In the future, I will start to tell you which kinds of exercises are good anaerobic exercises to help you get fit and firm!  I hope everyone had a great day!

I’ll have a new workout for you tomorrow.  Take care everyone!

Mr. Jeff

Here is the first workout I would like for you to try.  It doesn’t require (ต้องการ) any equipment and you can do it at school or at home.  When you are a beginner, the workout might feel brutal. (sounds like: BROO-dul / is slang for very difficult)

You will only do 2 exercises.

1.  Pushups      (see picture below)

2. Jump Squats (see picture below)

Here is the workout:

Get a stopwatch or a clock and time how long it takes for you to finish all the exercises.  Write the time down in a fitness journal.  You can write your time in the comment box here if you want to share your time with everyone.

Do:

3 Pushups….10 Jump Squats

3 pushups….9 Jump Squats

3 Pushups….8 Jump Squats

3 Pushups….7 Jump Squats

3 Pushups….6 Jump Squats

3 Pushups…5 Jump Squats

3 Pushups…4 Jump Squats

3 Pushups…3 Jump Squats

3 Pushups…2 Jump Squats

3 Pushups…1 Jump Squat   ….FINISHED!!!       Write your time.

TIPS:

• Try to rest as little as possible and get the fastest time you can.  But, you may NEED to rest sometimes in the workout and that is okay.
• Remember, this is NOT a contest (แข่งขัน) with each other.  It will be a contest with yourself.  When we do this workout again in the future, you try to get a better time!  :)

Here are some pictures showing you how to do the exercises.  One is a drawing.  The other one is a picture of Brad Pitt doing pushups.  (It looks like Brad Pitt…but actually it is me!)  555+

Squat Jump

Brad Pitt Look-A-Like Doing Pushups

Good luck everyone!  Let me know how it goes or if you have any questions!

Love, health and happiness always,

Mr. Jeff

This is Mr. Jeff and many of you already know me as the crazy Farang Intensive English teacher!  Yes, the same teacher who gave you “The Can” and made you do something silly in front of the class.  Yes, I am the same teacher that made loud noises when it was really quiet in class to SCARE YOU!  hehehe.

First, I want to say that I miss you all very much.  I miss teaching very much.  I taught Intensive English at TriamPat for 4 years and you made EVERY DAY a good day for me!  For that, I want to thank every one of you with all of my heart!

As you know already, I am now teaching fitness.  I taught fitness for many, many years before teaching English and it is something I love to do.

I believe that teaching people to be healthy and fit is as important as teaching Math or English.  When people are healthy and fit, it makes the rest of their life easier.  I am dedicating (ทุ่มเท) my life to helping people be healthy!  I believe it is what I was born to do!  I also hope you all find what it is you were born to do and follow your dreams!

I will be writing a blog everyday (or almost everyday).  Some will be short blogs, some will be long blogs.  Why am I writing a blog?

I want to use this new blog to do many things:

1. Stay in touch with everyone.  I really do miss you guys and want to continue knowing all of you for a long time!
2. Teach you about English ,Fitness and Nutrition!  Everyday, I will give you a workout to follow and some new English vocabulary words and fun slang!  Sometimes, I will post videos, audio, or pictures to help learn.

Please share what you learn with all of your friends.  Share the blog address so they can read it, too.  Also, please help give me ideas about things you would like to read about or ask me questions I can answer.

Remember,

• If you learn a little bit of English everyday, you will know LOTS of English in 1 year.
• If you do these workouts with your friends everyday (they will only take 10 to 15 minutes) you will be healthier, stronger, slimmer and more fit!  This will help you be more confident.
• If you treat people with kindness and respect everyday, you will find that you are happy.  If you are happy, you can make the people around you happy.

Thank you all for being my inspiration!  (เป่าเข้าไป,ดลใจ,บอก: แนะ)

With love, health and happiness,

Mr. Jeff

Mr. Jeff

P.S.  - As soon as I have 10 readers, I will start posting the Daily Workout and Vocab words!  :)