I am a huge fan of training simply using old-school equipment and ideas. There are plenty of ways you can use the places and structures in your local neighborhood to get super fit. This type of training is fresh and fun and raw. It can help take your fitness to all new levels.

This type of training is perfect for those on a low budget.

In this post I will look at the two main aspects of local neighborhood training - getting fit and getting strong.

How to use your local neighborhood to get super fit

Whether you are a martial artist, sport player, bodybuilder or just want to be super fit - these ideas are for you. I have been training for over 15 years and in that time I have used my local hood to get fit for soccer, kung fu and various other things. I love training outdoors in my neighborhood; I much prefer it to a fancy gym!

Fitness in the hood

Here are some ways I use my local parks and streets to get really fit.

Hills
I live in a suburb right under some pretty sizeable hills so I use them to my advantage. One of the absolute best ways to blast your entire body and get super fit in a short space of time is to run hills. The steeper the incline the better the results. You will find that you are able to add size and strength to your legs as well as burning off a lot of fat.

The best thing about hills, however, is how fit you will get. After running a few hills a normal run on a flat surface will seem like a walk in the park! I started running hills before my soccer finals and had the best games of my life because I was so much fitter than the competition.

Stairs
Much like running hills, stairs are a great way to get into shape and to push your fitness beyond the normal levels. You can find long sets of stairs in parks, schools, office blocks, shopping centers, etc. Go there with a certain number in mind and see if you can sprint up and down until you reach that number. Then, next time, see if you can beat that number. This really punishes your thigh muscles.

Prison rules Basketball
Get all your friends together and play a game of physical half court basketball. It is a game that really requires a lot of fitness as you have to sprint up and back to each end of the court. Add in a few pushes and a bit of physical contact and the game can become a super workout. Bring along a stereo and play your favorite workout music.

Me and my friends add in things like punishment pushups where each time one team gets a three shot the other team has to do ten pushups. By the end of a long day you are buggered!

Most cities around the world have courts and rings everywhere. Local schools, colleges, tennis courts - they are easy to find.

Morning runs
Back at my old house there was a group of guys who would meet up at the local park at 6.30am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We would have a little warm up and then run for about an hour together. Half the time the social run would break into an all out race and we would pick a location like a cafe or a well known building and see who could get there first. Last person to arrive bought drinks.

Getting together with friends is a great way to push your fitness levels, especially if those friends are fitter than you are. Try to organise a local morning run or something similar.

Strength in the hood

Like fitness there are plenty of ways to develop your strength by using features of your local neighborhood. Here are some ideas that I use and have used in the past.

Jungle gym chin ups
Back in high school I would run down to the local junior school and use the jungle gym to do a whole range of strength exercises. My favorite was to do chin ups on the monkey bars. I would promise myself at the start that I wouldn’t leave until I had done 40 reps on each bar, graudally making my way across. By the end of it my back and biceps were so sore I had to walk home in a hunch.

The jungle gym has some great strength training resources. There are ropes to climb to develop your forearm strength as well as bars to hang from to improve your grip. Be creative at the jungle gym and see what you can come up with.

Park Bench jumping squats
Another favorite of mine was to go for a run and everytime I saw a park bench I would stop and do 50 jumping squats where I would spring up onto the bench and then jump off and land in a squat position before springing back up again. This really tires your leg muscles out and was great for my soccer kicking power. My leg strength really improved.

Conclusion
These are just some of my favorite ways to use my local hood to get fit and strong. It is all about being creative and seeing what you can come up with with whatever is available to you.

I would love to hear what exercise ideas you have used in your own neighborhood.

I have been doing martial arts all my life so I know how funny it can be when something goes wrong. Unless it is happening to you, of course, because the accidents usually involve pain.

The other thing this video highlighted to me is how useless a lot of martial arts techniques are. You can really see that they are impractical and probably dangerous if you ever tried to use them.

Anyway, enjoy this video of some seriously funny martial arts accidents.

5 foods that keep your immune system healthy

My brother has been on anti-biotics for two months now. Last year my best friend got cancer. Needless to say I am very interested in getting healthy and one of the best way to do that is with good foods. A healthy diet can prevent so many diseases from diabetes to cancer and not only that you will look at feel great.

Here are 5 power foods that boost your immunity:

1. Garlic
Everyone loves garlic in pasta and other foods but did you realise that it is extremely good for your immune system? Garlic has excellent sulfur compounds in it which has been shown to block enzymes that allow bad bacteria to take over otherwise healthy tissue.

Next time your husband or wife tells you your breath stinks of garlic you should tell them you had an extra serve because it is good for your immune system. We have all heard our grandmothers tell us to eat garlic when we have a cold - maybe they were right.

You can get good odorless garlic supplements here which may be a good idea if you can’t get a lot in your diet.

2. Eggs
Doctors have dissed eggs and then supported eggs and then disssed them again. They cannot seem to make up their mind. However, the good news is there is strong scientific research that show that eggs are very good for you in moderation.

The main reasons that eggs are good for you are becase that contain zinc, iron, proteins and B vitamins. Now, all of this is good stuff but the zinc and iron are really important for proper immune function. Iron helps cells get their oxygen and good oxygen levels have been shown to have an excellent effect on the immune system in terms of fighting off diseases.

3. Mushrooms
Mushrooms are a little bit like red meat (which I haven’t mentioned here because I am sick of reading about it) in that they help with the production of white blood cells in the body. These are very important in the fight against any disease and are particulaly important (it is now known) to fight off bacteria that can make you sick.

4. Green tea
I am an absolute fan of green tea. Studies in China have shown that those people who drink green tea everyday are 60% less likely to get cancer. That is a huge statistic that should not be ignored considering cancer is one of our biggest killers. Green tea is packed full of anti-oxidants as well as flavonoids which fight off harmful bacteria.

Tea is also an excellent relaxation tool and relaxing is one of the best ways to fight off a cold. Your immune system is suppressed when you are down and depressed.

5. Tomatoes
Mark my words - the next power food that all the television stations and going to be talking about is tomatoes. Science is gradually unlocking the powerful health benefits of this commonly eaten food and soon we will know the full extent of it’s benefits.

Tomatoes have vitamin C, beta carotene and folate; all of which are excellent for the immune system.

The interesting thing is that tomatoes might actually be better for you once they are cooked. It causes an enzyme effect and becomes more potent.

Lastly, it has been shown that men who eat a lot of tomatoes have lower rates of prostate cancer.

Conclusion
To have a healthy immune system you need to have a well balanced diet and not just rely on a few foods that are good for you. Avoid things like smoking, trans-fats, alcohol and too much pasta and bread. Health is an all-round approach not something that can be fixed overnight.