Monday, February 6, 2012

John David Shackelford

www.jayshackelfordmemorialfund.com

A memorial fund has been set up for the family of John-David Shackelford's brother.  JD's little brother left behind a wife and small child and his friends are trying to help.  If you feel so inclined, have seen JD fight or know David Ferguson through Memphis Judo & Jiu Jitsu, then please visit the link above and help where you can.  Thank you for your continued support of MMA.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

CrossFit Tupelo... "What is it?"




Fact, “CrossFit” describes a way of thinking and a way of life.  Simply put, the things you already know can change your life.  The question is, how do you manage it and fit it into your lifestyle and schedule?

CrossFit could be defined in this way:  High intensity, functional movement with constant variances to increase speed, power and balance.

I have been meaning to sit down and speak with John Prince, a certified CrossFit instructor, for a number of weeks now.  I finally got the opportunity to talk to him about what CrossFit was and how it will benefit those participating. 

Ultimate Fitness & MMA Tupelo recently began offering CrossFit and I had the opportunity to witness it first hand to a small degree after a Monday evening boxing class.  It seemed simple enough.  The following Monday, Jeff Chambers announced before boxing class that he wanted to introduce John Prince to the class.  After the intro, John took us through about ten minutes of simple exercises.  I quickly realized that simple doesn’t mean easy.

CrossFit Tupelo is for the person who is very serious about getting results, let there be no mistake about that.  What I found was that it is challenging but simple.  John explains how the exercises we all grew up doing can be done in a correct way to get maximum results in a very short period of time.  He takes the time to not only explain the movements but also details the benefits.  For someone like me, it is fantastic because just like every other UFM class, you do what you can do.  No one is judging you if you cannot do 5000 burpees.

Johns stated “CrossFit is regular people doing extraordinary things.”  I would have to agree, especially after seeing the world CrossFit Challenge on ESPN a few weekends ago.   “It is not only high intensity with functional movement, but it is universally scalable so anyone can do it and get great results,” he added.  “Speed, balance, and power are some of the results you will see quickly.

So no matter what your age or past difficulty in getting into shape, you would be well served to contact John or Jeff Chambers as soon as possible to see if they can get you into one of John’s classes.  Be warned, availability really is limited so the sooner you get your slot reserved the better. 

You can reach John Prince via email a crossfittupelo@gmail.com , and you can follow the program on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/136285949741283/ or search “CrossFitting Tupelo" in the Facebook search window.

Ken Dulaney
UFM Tupelo
John Prince, Certified CrossFit Instructor