McMinnville Taekwondo

Saturday, April 17th. The walk started at Pioneer Courthouse Square, went down to the waterfront, along the river, across, and back. The weather was beautiful, the cause was to raise money for MS research, and the company was excellent. We used to do the MS walk each year in Forest Grove, in honor of our classmate Kathy, who has Multiple Sclerosis. This year, Ed and I decided to get back into the habit and joined the Masters Tesdal and various other Kim's Taekwondo schools and do the Portland walk. Next year, we'll work harder at inviting our students to join us, in honor of another close friend who has MS.

A safe work out includes warming up before any serious activity. We do warming up exercises as part of class, but these are meant to follow a slower, more careful warm-up, so I encourage students to move and stretch before class starts. It is vitally important that students (and teachers) warm up carefully and don’t just dive into class unprepared. If you warn muscles as to what you want them to do, they respond a lot better… and you avoid pulls and strains. Also, warming up gets your heart ready for exercise. At the bottom, I included a couple of hot links to articles on stretching. These offer visuals and more detail than I included here. First: Warm Up Studies have shown that muscles need warmed up (literally, raising the temperature of your body) before you put harsher demands on them. The best way to start warming up is to walk or jog slowly around for a few minutes. Once you’re warm, start at the top: move your neck gently and slowly, back and forth (stretch out your chin...