These are the notes from the seminar that I did for the City of Doral’s Silver Club on my book Anta’s Ageless Warrior Fitness at Morgan Levy Park on June 3, 2015.
I’m Julio Anta I’m the owner of Anta’s Fitness and Self Defense. I’ve been changing lives in Doral through my martial arts fitness programs for 17 years since 1998 and now through my book “Anta’s Ageless Warrior Fitness.” I’m 58 years old. I train everyday in martial arts and fitness and I’m in better shape today than I was last year and the year before. I want to talk to you about training & how to stay in shape until hopefully the day you die and training around injuries. Jack Lalane worked out until the day he died at 97 years old.
Let me tell you about my background. At 12 years old we moved to Virginia Gardens a small town next to Miami Spring and lived there until a few years after I got married. I started working at South Florida Reception Center a prison in 1990 and coming to work I fell in love with Doral I been living in Doral for 17 or 18 years I lose track. Before that I was in the USMCR. In the mid 80’s I was a competitive bodybuilder, today I’m certified in Muay Thai Kickboxing, Krav Maga, Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do and I have the title of kung fu master under the late William J. Chung. I also study Gracie Jiu Jitsu. In fitness i’m certified as a personal trainer, KB, battling ropes, Indian clubs, MMA Fighter Fit, Action Strength, and much more. I believe that i’m a student for life and age is just a number. I been on over 150 TV shows, numerous covers of newspapers and on the cover of 4 magazines. I’ve also trained numerous celebrities. For more information on my school you can log on to some of my websites, Facebook, youtube channel and blog.
I titled my life story as how Charlie Brown became Superman. This is the story of my transformation. I came to America the greatest country in the history of the world 3 weeks before my 5th birthday in 1962. We stayed in Miami Beach for a few months yet we left to Yonkers NY where my dad found work. I was a sick, small boy. Due to my allergies and being allergic to cold weather my parents relocated to Miami Beach. I did not date in high school because of an illness called being shyness. My wife says that’s why I can’t shut up now or stop talking. Until my senior year in high school I was the last kid picked in PE, I was short and skinny. I did not get good grades because I have always had a terrible memory and I think I have ADD. In January of 1976 my senior year I began serious bodybuilding and since then I worked out. Before that I had played around with weights and done some martial arts. Stop feeling sorry for me I had to go through all that to be who I am today.
Now lets talk about the positive. My first change that build my self esteem up was bodybuilding. As I built my body I became more confident but was still shy. My next life changing experience happened in 1986 I dislocated both shoulders in a karate tournament, Therapist told me you should never lift or do martial arts again because your shoulders will get worse, I got fired from my job due to a crazy girl friend, and blew my car’s engine. I was feeling depressed. I living with my parents at 29 years old. All I had left was getting closer to God.
This had to happen for me to go to church and meet my wife and I have been married for 26 years in July. From our marriage we have two successful sons Julio who is 25 and gave us our first grandson in Nov and Jon Paul who will be 20 in August.
At 31 years old I started training steady and seriously in martial arts. Then in 1996 a friend told me about a Bible verse that I had never heard off Habakuk 2:2-3 in the Bible. It said that if you wrote your vision that in time it would come. I did and did it work. Since then I’ve been writing my vision and with God’s blessing I’ve succeeded.
At 40, at an age were most people are stopping I finally got my black belt. At 41 I started teaching martial arts and fitness Kickboxing at the Doral Park Country Club in Doral. Today I own and operate one of the most successful martial arts training centers in Florida.
Now that you have an overview of my background lets talk fitness and how you can get in the best shape of your life. I am holding more muscles now at 58 than any time in my life with the exception of my mid 20’s when I was a competitive bodybuilder. Even though I been working out since I was 18, at 49 I notice the wrinkle in my arm. It was a shock was I turning to an old man? I decided to build more muscle by training harder and heavier. It’s been a slow journey yet every year since then I’ve seen improvement.
There are 2 important points that I want to leave you today. You need to build muscle because there are difference statistics that say that you lose up to 40% of your muscle from 20 years old to 80. I’ve also heard that after 35 you lose 1% of muscle a year and other contradicting statistic. Yet, the bottom line is that you will lose muscle as you age unless you train to build muscle.
The other important point is a saying that I came up with after looking at books, video and seeing how people train seniors and how little muscle and how bad the authors and models in the books looked. “Train like a 50 year old and you’ll look like a 50 year old. Set no limitations. Train like an Ageless Warrior and you’ll look like an Ageless Warrior.” Here is a great example Putin Russia’s president is 62 going on 63 he trains with weights, rides, horses, hunts, trains in Judo and looks strong and manly. On the other hand our president Obama is only 53 and if you see how he works out with paper weight type weights you’ll understand why he looks so weak. On the other side of the coin his wife looks strong and trains functional and kick boxes.
I’m sick and tire of people trying to tell me that I’m getting older so I should not life heavy weights or train in the martial arts. In my Krav Maga class I had a 71 year old man and a 69 year old women. She had both hips replaced. Henry Ford said If you believe you can you can. If you believe you can’t you can’t. Don’t set limitations I am working on being in better shape at 60 than I am today. I’m telling everyone this to have you keep me accountable. I believe in keeping my word and leading by example. So, I must, I can and I will look better if God is willing.
If I can do it, you can do it. Remember I was the quite, unpopular sick, skinny, un-athletic kid that got bad grades. I would watch Charlie Brown and associate with him. Now I feel strong and empowered like Superman.
Don’t set limitations or let other people set limitations for you. I love it when someone tells me that I can not do something especially if they are telling me due to my age. I love to defy the odds. I want to live life to the fullest and will not let anyone set any limitations on me.
So let me tell you of my 10 Commandments of Health & Fitness.
- Faith/Vision
- Healthy Life Style Peaceful Living/Rest
- Eat Healthy Foods
- Water
- Functional Anaerobic Exercising (strength training, build muscle) long cardio destr
- Aerobic Exercising (HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training) Long cardio destroys muscles
- Stretching & Joint Mobility
- Breathing Exercise
- Sunshine
- Fasting
Longevity is super important you must learn to train around injuries and not injure yourself. I am training around injuries right now. Both of my shoulder are in pain from the past dislocations, I have back problems and Sciatic pain, I have neck pain and arthritic in my thumbs. I also have vertigo. Yet, I workout 5 to 6 times a week and teach martial arts classes. Granted as we age it’s harder to lose fat and build muscle yet it can be done. You just have to be more patient. Remember Age is just a number.
For more information on our life changing classes and seminars log on to AntaMartialarts.com or call us at 305 599-3649