Mini-Meals Or Three Meals A Day?

Is it better to eat mini-meals all day or 3 full meals? This one one question Joel Fuhrman answers in the book  "The End OF Diabetes". 

My aunt once told me that it is better for your body to eat small meals multiple times a day because it is easier for your body to digest and keeps you from feeling hungry. In the book Joel says otherwise noting that the "cellular repair and detoxification occurs most readily in the non-digestive stage"(Fuhrman142) and that snacking is bad for your body because you "take on more needed calories if you eat when not truly hungry." (Fuhrman143).

Eating 3 regular meals can help your health.

I decided to try eating my meals at more standard times and to cut back on the amount of snacking I do. The first few days I felt hungry between meals and wanted to snack, but then tried eating larger meals compared to what I normally eat and this helped me with the feeling of being hungry in between meals. It also made the urge to snack go away compared to when I was eating smaller irregular meals.

Eating larger meals can stop the urge to snack

Overall I feel that eating 3 large meals a day works and can be beneficial to your health but this can be hard to do especially if you have a irregular schedule or are on the move a lot and is worth the effort.

What changes to your schedule could you make to eat healthier?


Fuhrman, Joel. The End of Diabetes: The Eat to Live Plan to Prevent and Reverse Diabetes. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

Putting it all Together

    Looking back at the last post you can see that I posted a picture about how to draw manga eyes.I decided not to do any posts on drawing of the mouth or the hair because they did not give a in depth of how to draw them.So now I will just show you how to put it all together and how to draw the face and how to put the eyes, nose,lips, hair and many more together into a manga anime girl. I hope some of you now that I will be focusing more on drawing the girls rather then the guys;with the book it allowed me to draw a face better and know the steps on where to put all the anime features at.

   As you are deciding on how to draw a girl's head shape keep in mind what Camilla D'errico says " Always remember that girls have rounder faces, and the lines of their features are always softer and curvier"(34.) As you are starting out on the face shape "Start with an oval and crosshairs; drawing eyes on the horizontal line and eyes brows above. Draw a little line to indicate the nostrils, then add a mouth halfway between the nostril and the chin. To complete it draw little vertical lines for the ears (Camilla D'errico 34).

   Next step is to "Shape the head a bit by making the sides a little straighter; and by creating a jawline." (Camilla D'errico 34). You are basically now staring to face out the shape a little better, you would then make little half-ovals for the ears and the ears should be barley noticed (Camilla D'errico 34).

   Adding onto the next step you are still defining the face you would then add two small dots for the nose and also draw the neck line, as you are drawing the neck line  Camilla D'errico says "A female character's neck is slimmer than a guy's so curve the neck lines inward" (34.)

   This time you are starting to define the eyes and eyebrows a little further( Go back to my last blog post if you don't remember how to draw the eyes in) In this stage Camilla recommends that you start " Begin sketching in the hairline" (35). Of course start sketching out how you want the girls hair to be.

  We are now moving on the defining the hair and Camilla likes to point out that you should start defining the " basic shape and texture of the hair and don't worry if you don't get it quite right and that you'll be able to refine it later on" (35.)

  Dosen't seem like this is a lot of steps and a lot of work? yes it may seem like it but, in the end it will all be worth it now continuing you are going to change to a darker pen and "start out with the eyes, defining their shape, then moving onto the nose, mouth and eyebrows. Don't be afraid to make adjustments." as what Camilla D'errico says (35).

  Now we are at the last two steps! In these lap two steps you would like to " Fill in the rest of the face, shading the eyes and adding details to the hair." (Camilla D'errico 35). As you start to finish up the face erase the blue lines and now you have a cute manga girl face presto and finish! (Camilla D'errico 35).

A question I have for you guys is that if you guys were about to draw a manga drawing how would you like them to be? What features would you like them to have on their face? what gender would they be? and mostly for the Anime lovers what anime would you want them to be on?
Citations: D'Errico, Camilla, and Stephen W. Martin. Pop Manga: How to Draw the Coolest, Cutest Characters, Animals, Mascots, and More. First ed. New York: D'Errico Studios Ltd and Stephen W.martin, 2013. Print.
   
    
 

How to Beat the Cold

The cold and dark are huge factors in riding this time of year, for this you should ride differently. in the winter there are extra persuasions you should take, without these things could go drastically wrong quickly. Your body is an essential thing to protect. You should do this by using multiple layers, "The first rule of cold-weather riding is to dress in layers" (Pavelka 53). this allows for good moisture-transfer capability so that the sweat can move away from the body. When i whore cloths like this I wouldn't get that sudden chill when first going out, making it more appealing to ride this time of year. Another smart thing to have are lights and reflectors, at this time of year it gets dark very early. This means that you are riding in the dark or on the edge of dark when you are riding. These things allow for safe riding at dark, "Install rear reflectors or carry reflective ankle bands for times when dusk catches you a few minutes from home" (Pavelka 55). I have been out riding many times and been close to cars, just these few things made me more comfortable in that situation.

Would wearing less layers but better material for drawing sweat off work better to keep you warm during the winter or is the solution always layers 

Making the New Year delicious

Every New Year's my parents have big party at our house and of course there is a lot of yummy food! This year I decided I would contribute to the deliciousness by making a unique snack with following the recipe from my Toll House, 3 Books In One Cookbook by Nestle.

The treat is called Confetti Bars. This snack has "Chunk Cookie Bar, miniature marshmallows, milk chocolate-covered pretzels, broken into pieces, rainbow pretzels, Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Morsels" (191). Now although this treat sounds like a carb over load, it's okay, you can eat better next year!

Although you are supposed to buy the cookie dough, I decided I wanted this to be a more authentic recipe and make the cookies from scratch.

After I had made the cookie dough, I followed to directions of baking the cookie dough for 12 minutes and then I did the next step, which was to "Sprinkle marshmallows over cookie; bake for an additional 2 minutes or until marshmallows were puffed" (191). After this I "Distribute pretzels, sprinkles and morels over marshmallows" (191).

After all of the treats were on top of the cookie I was finished and just needed to wait for everything to harden. Once everything was cooled off I cut the cookie in to pieces and set it out for everyone to eat.

I had gotten lots of compliments on this treat and was glad I had taken the time to make a unique yummy treat for this New Years celebration.

Question: What was your favorite treat this on this New Years?

Citation:
Nestle. Toll House 3 Books In 1. N.p.: Nestle USA, inc, 2010. Print

Herbalistic Cookies

Cookies are delectable, but have you ever had a cookie with herbs in them? Well this time for my second blog, I made cookies with mint leaves and rosemary and the result surprised me.
The recipe for the dough it self is from " Crazy About Cookies" by Krystina Castella is:

" Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 large cookies
- 3/4 cup sugar " (Castella 117)

The recipe book let me chose from a variety of different spices like, lavender, anise, and pepper but mint and rosemary were the easiest for me to do.

So after making the cookies dough, the recipe says to divide the dough ball into two and knead in the spices into the separate balls, (Castella 117). Then roll the ball into a log and cut 1/2 pieces and place on a baking sheet,(Castella 118).

So after they baked, they looked like greem speckled sugar cookies,

So the ones on the left are the rosemary cookies, and the ones on the right are the mint ones. I tried the cookies after they finished and I preferred the rosemary ones surprisingly, the mint did not have a strong flavor but they had a weird after taste.

After making these cookies, I now know that herbs like mint and rosemary add a weird twist to cookies, if I were to make the cookies again I'd try to add lavender and cardamom. The thing I will take from this experience is the regular dough recipe, it's really great and soft, an holds their shape in the oven, perfect for cutting out shapes to decorate.

my question for you is, Have you ever tried a herb/spice cookie or dessert?

Bonnie Lengele

Citations:
Castella, Krystina. Crazy about Cookies: 300 Scrumptious Recipes for Every Occasion & Craving.    New York: Sterling, 2010. Print.

Which Type of Average; Mean, Median, or Mode?

Let me start off this by defining a few words for you. A refresher if you will of a few words you may have forgotten or haven't used in a while.

Mean- The value obtained by dividing the sum of several quantities by their number.
Median- The direct middle value of a group.
Mode- The value that occurs the most in a set of numbers.

Many sources end up using an average as their statistic. This is because these averages look a lot neater and nicer and can appeal to a certain audience if needed. However when a source uses an average most of the time they are unspecified averages.

Unspecified averages are when you can not tell what type of average was used. Remember the types of averages are mean, median, and mode.

"If an average is a median you can actually learn something from it" Says Darrell Huff, author of How to Lie With Statistics who is also a mathematician. Lets say we have a median average of $40,000 per annual salary of a group of lawyers from a law firm. With this being said we can determine that half of the lawyers make more than $40,000 annually and the other half of the lawyers make less than $40,000 annually.

Darrell Huff also says, "But if it is a mean (and believe me it may be if its nature is unspecified) you may be getting nothing more revealing than the average of one $45,000 income." The average is often a mean because it may look more appealing to a certain audience or maybe more clean cut than the median and the modes.

A mode is the value that occurs the most. This can also lead to a biased average. Because lets say you have a company and there are different salaries for different workers. If you have more higher paid workers making say $1,000 weekly and only a few lower paid workers making $500 weekly than your mode will not include all of the workers. The average for this company is that the average weekly salary of a worker is $1,000.

When looking at averages, Darrell Huff, author of How to Lie With Statistics, says "Nearly everyone is below the Averages."

Take a look around you and evaluate the averages that you see on a daily basis.

Do you know what type of average they are?

Running with a dog

Exercising with a dog can be fun, but can also be difficult from my own personal experience with my dog, Dexter, along with my friend's dog.

 I enjoy running 5k's every month with my friend Jennifer, who owns a golden retriever named Ozzy that has ran over three 5k's with us. Val Mallinson a dog lover and author quotes, " dogs are a natural fit into the...outdoor lifestyle...met [Val Mallinson and her two dogs] dogs who hike, bike, kayak...and ride motorcycles with their humans" (Val Mallinson 2). This quote surprised me because of how Val Mallinson has met dog owners who take their dogs nearly everywhere they go and let their canine friends experience such great adven mtures.

In the book, The Dog Lover's Companion to the Pacific Northwest, Val Mallinson mentioned 5k's that allow dogs to participate in. That brought me back to the time Jennifer and I ran with Ozzy during a 5k and 12k. The 12k and 5k's that Jennifer and I participated in with her dog were the "Dawg Dash 5k", " Candy Cane Dash ", "Purple Stride " and " 12ks of Christmas ".

The difficult part that I mentioned earlier before is that dogs need to go to the bathroom frequently (my personal experience) which slows you down when running. Dogs also need to hydrate just as humans need to so during runs, I stop to take a rest and allow my dog to drink plenty of water. My overall experience with running with Dexter and my friends’ dog together is that it can be very fun and I highly recommend any pet owners to try taking their pet to any available events that allow you to take your pet.


My question to any pet owner is: Do you think older pets have the same ability in running as a younger pet?

Citation:

Mallinson, Val. The Dog Lover's Campanion to the Pacific Northwest. Emeryville: Avalon Travel, 2005. Print.

Be Silly

Another way to be happy is to be silly, and have a lighter heart. "A happy atmosphere isn't created merely by the absence of nagging and yelling but also by jokes, games, and tomfoolery." pg 126. If people are always worrying then there is no room in your life to try and be silly. Being silly will get your mind off of things and make you less stressed out. You can also try laughing at yourself once in a while, it lightens the mood. You just sometimes have to loosen up and dance just for the heck of it. sing in the shower, make funny faces in front of the mirror.

 

When I'm silly I'm usually around my friends and just kicking it back, and relaxing. I also know that's one of the biggest reasons I'm happy. Sometimes people over think and maybe that's the reason they can't get things done. Every once in a while you have to take a break from work and school. Proven benefits like being silly leads to laughing and "laughing triggers the release of endorphin's- the body's natural "feel good"  hormones." The many benefits of being silly. That's why there's a million reasons to be silly, if your feeling down just do something that makes you happy. 

Q: What do you do to be silly?

Hitting Tactics

Hitting a baseball is considered to be one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. Major league players have a little over a quarter of a second to decide whether to swing the bat or not. Hitting is something that takes plenty of practice in order to do it well. A great MLB hitter gets a hit 3/10 of the time. That means they fail 70% of the time. This shows just how hard hitting is.

There is multiple steps and ways to hit a baseball but most players follow similar movements with their own twist to what feels most comfortable for them.

In order to hit a baseball (well) you must start out with a wide stance for more balance in the batter's box. Your hands should be over your back knee and the knob (bottom) of your bat should be angled at the catcher.

When the pitcher starts his wind up you load and then stride, controllably, to gain momentum at the baseball. Then you bring your bat threw the zone and turn your hips to gain power. Most people think that you generate power with how fast you swing the bat and how much arm strength you have. Even though this is slightly true, you generate the most power through your legs and hips.

Baseball also has many other offensive tactics like bunting. Bunting is a very important skill set to know because it can win or lose games. Bunting is used to move the runner over and sacrifice an out for yourself. According to my book Splitters, Squeezes, and Steals "The idea of the bunt is to 'catch' the ball with one's bat" (Gentile 96). When they say "catch" the ball they mean to let the ball absorb into the bat and not push the bat at the ball. A good bunting stance consists of having your hips turned slightly, your knees bent a little bit, and your bat on a flat plane to the ground. With your eyes staring at the barrel this allows you to move your knees up and down to get a high or low pitch.

Another tactic is the hit and run. The goal of the hit and run is to get the guy on first to third base on a hit. My book explains that, "During the hit and run, the baserunner or baserunners are in motion before the ball is hit, while the batter attempts to make contact with the pitch" (Gentile 103). So basically the runner on first steals while the batter tries to make contact. Preferably the hitter wants to hit the ball to the right side to allow the guy stealing to get to third.

Overall hitting is something the needs a lot of practice in order to be good at it. There's really no such thing as a perfect hitter because everyone messes up at one point or another but its how you overcome your mess up that determines if your a good hitter or not.

Q: Have you ever tried hitting a baseball before and was it hard or easy?
Citation: Gentile, Derek. Splitters, Squeezes, and Steals: The inside Story of Baseball's Greatest Techniques, Strategies, and Plays. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009. Print.

Motocross - Maintenance

Has anyone ever had a time where they've talked about something people should avoid, then by bad karma, it happens to that person? Well, add me to that list of people because recently I had to make a few repairs to my motorcycle and was going to post a bit earlier. However the parts I needed to order were fairly expensive and took a while to install so I had to put posting on this blog off until I knew my motorcycle was running perfectly.

I had ended up bending and breaking the forks on my bike, which if you also participate in motocross, are extremely expensive to replace. The forks are a set of two oil compression shocks that are attached to the front wheel of a motorcycle.

Here is a visual of the new forks on my bike shown at the right



I had been reading a bit more of my book after I had made the repair and found that riders that get stuck in-between two ruts in the ground usually end up on their face and their bike is usually damaged in some way (Casper 7). This is exactly what happened when my forks broke. I was about to jump my bike for a photo I was going to upload earlier, but as I was going up for a jump, my front wheel became caught in a pothole (a rut). This, in turn, stuffed my front wheel into the ground, sending me over my handlebars and bending my forks forward to the point where they couldn't travel up or down without becoming stuck.

Also, when I was performing this repair, I had underestimated how long it would actually take. I had just supposed that I would swap out forks and be done. This, sadly, was not true. I soon learned that I had to remove my handlebars, front break system, wheel, axle and multiple hoses that lead to my forks. my frustration grew when I realized that as soon as I removed the forks, they began to leak oil on the ground. The dark stains on the ground in the picture above are actually the puddles of oil that my old forks created.

As soon as I had attached my new forks, I also had to spend the rest of the day testing my bike and tuning it so that my forks wouldn't bend and burst a second time. I had learned a lot about how to tune my bike though. I had learned that the forks had to be bled of air at least once a week and that they could be separately tightened on each side for different types of tracks or riders along with their style of riding. I made sure to set my forks on an extremely tight setting so that it wouldn't buckle if I go over jumps.

The nuts at the top of my forks right under my handlebar cover are what can bleed out the air inside the fork tubes. They can also tighten the resistance on my forks. Also, the other picture of the rear of my bike, the swing-arm is clearly seen. The swing-arm is the name for the thick piece of metal connecting the rear shock absorber to the rear wheel of the motorcycle. The resistance can also be changed on this, which I found out a while before my forks had failed.












Question To Make You Think: Have you ever taken something apart and then tried to put it back together again? If so, explain in the comments what it was, why you took it apart and if you were able to put it back together again. Ex-Legos/The TV Remote/Some sort of collection.

The Toe Poke

Hi, my name is Dylan Leeman; welcome back to my blog on Soccer IQ. Today I am going to explain the 2nd of 5 clinical skills that are important to learn. The other clinical skills are: receiving with the proper foot, passing to the proper foot, lifting the tight angle pass, and the ball in behind. If you didn't get a chance to read my last blog on lifting the tight angle pass, you should go check it out. Today I will be talking about "The Toe Poke".


"We teach our kids not to drink, smoke, steal or kick a soccer ball with their toes. So while Brazilian strikers are gleefully scoring goals with their toes, American players treat the toe-ball like its a disease"(Blank 48). This is an interesting quote because poking the ball with your toe is usually frowned upon due to lack of control. It can be very helpful at times, on both offense and defense. On the offensive end it can be used in situations when you are very limited on time, or in a scramble in front of goal when you just need to get a touch on it to score, On the defensive end it is also used when you are lacking time but you are just using it to get the ball away from your goal(Blank 48).

Why do you think more coaches don't teach their players about how to successfully execute a toe poke?

Motivation To A Heathier Life

Motivation To A Healthier Life

With A Motive Anything Is Easier

     Most people do not take time to exercise and eat with nutrition in mind because they don't find a reason to. Without a point, why do it? In Lou Schuler's book Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess, he brings up some very good points on reasons why you should live a healthy lifestyle.

     Age is something Schuler brought up. In a study it showed that with age those that were stronger, lifted in younger years, were twice as likely to NOT be affected by a disease or disability (12). In other words, think about the future. In your future do you want to worry about problems you could have prevented while your young?

Me and my grandparents, they were active when they were young and now are far more capable than if they were not! Papa still builds houses. Look up to those who did themselves a favor when then they were young and follow their foot steps.

    Alwyn, a professional exercise coordinator, always says to his clients, "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten" (16). This means that you have to push yourself, make new boundaries, or set a personal record. if you repetitively lift the same weight or run the same timed mile, then you'll never get any better. You'll never be able to lift anymore or run any faster. Schuler also brings up the truth about muscle growth. Directly after a workout the muscle you worked will swell as it absorbs water. This is not permanent, the actual true results or a workout will not show for weeks (17). From this, know not to be discouraged when you feel bulky right after a workout, or seeing no results the next day

Me right after I finished training my abdominals,
you can see they are full of water and appear bloated.

Me a week since I trained my abdominals,
now they appear less bloated and they used the water
 that filled them earlier.

    

















    



Finally, don't feel like you need to live in the gym to get results. Schuler talks about negatives of over training. Either you'll never a physique to show for your time and work, or even worse you'll get hurt or burn out (17). As much as too little isn't good, too much isn't either. This doesn't mean you only need to go once a week, that's not enough. It is simply to say don't feel like it's not worth it all together because you have to miss a few days a week. It is okay to have a couple rest days each week; your muscles need time to repair between workouts. Me personally did not workout at all between the photos above, although maintained the figure I had.

     How do you get motivated to train? If your not, how will you use these tips?

Schuler, Lou, and Cassandra E. Forsythe. The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift like a Man, Look like a Goddess. New York: Avery, 2007. Print.



Half-time

Half-time is a crucial part in any game where you and your teammates review how you played in the first half. The good half-time talk is an always a big contribute to how well you play in the second half. Dan Abraham states in Soccer Tough that half-time talks should include memory and imagination.

During these team talk it is important to remember the good moments in the first half and when your team played it's best. Thinking this way will help you to have more of those good moments. You also should review the mistakes and bad moments that your team had in the first half. You should do this so you can learn from your mistakes and improve off of them. "This doesn't mean I want you to ignore your weaknesses. Excellence requires a long look at what you don't do well enough on the soccer pitch" (Abrahams 58). Abrahams suggests to review your mistakes and to be excited about improving them in the second half (58). Lately during my half-time talks with my team we have been reviewing both the good and the bad. Doing this has helped us improve where we are weakest and continue to do what we did well before. 

Abrahams in this chapter also talks about having imagination in a team talk. "Champions are champions because they envision success. They use their imagination to shape their future- short term and long term" (58). I agree with his statement because I tried this out last weekend. Our team was down 0-2 at the half and it was half-time. Our talk that we had was good and we all believed that we could come back and win. With that self-belief that we all had, we were able to come back and win 3-2. Positive imagination produces good results.

Have you ever had a good half-time talk that helped your team?

Abrahams, Dan. Soccer Tough: Simple Football Psychology Techniques to Improve 
     Your Game. Birmingham: Bennion Kearny Limited, 2012. Print.

The Millionaire Next Door Post #2: Living Below Your Means

The Millionaire Next Door Post #2: Living Below Your Means

By: TERAN LONG

My last post covered some of what a millionaire actually looks like and touched briefly on the big-hat-no-cattle principle. This post will cover highlight two techniques millionaires use to accumulate wealth by living below their means.

To be a millionaire means that you have accumulated a certain amount of wealth, in this case one million dollars. One can not have one million dollars if he has spent it all. The majority of millionaires get rich by saving money. There are two techniques that my book, The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley highlight. the first being careful budgeting and the second being the "Artificial Environment of Scarcity" or "Pay Your Self First" method (Disk 2 Part 3).

Method #1: Budgeting

This method includes setting limits on how much money one will spend, and not spending more than that amount. a budget is often divided in to different categories and includes a cap on how much one will spend on items in his category (Disk 2 Part 4. This method utilizes self discipline to save money.

Method #2: Artificial Environment of Scarcity method / Pay Your Self First method

This method involves putting money away first then spending the balance of it. This means allocating a certain amount , or percentage of money to the future, putting that amount away and then living off the remainder (Disk 2 Part 7). This method utilizes foresight and planning to put away money over self discipline not to spend it

These are two methods that millionaires use to limit their spending and live below their means.

Money that I have not spend because I hid in in a box in my room and forgot about it (Artificial Environment of Scarcity). Feat. the box that I hid it in  in background 

My preferred money saving method is the Artificial Environment of Scarcity. I often put money away or "pay myself first" by putting money out of sight in my room or in my savings account. The picture above is a stash of money that I have been storing in a box in my room where it does not get spent. By hiding this money I create and environment of scarcity and am more able to save money.


Thought provoking question: Have you used one of these techniques and not even known it?

Citations:

Stanley, Thomas J., and William D. Danko. The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy. Atlanta, Ga.: Longstreet Press, 1996

Home Made Grout Cleaner

I've always been interested in the sciences, especially the scientific process of the experiment that had to occur to create the results.
The grout in between the tiles in my family's kitchen have normally been cleaned by using bleach of some sort. I thought that one of my independent books might have an enviornmentally clean way to clean the grout. I was correct in  Salt, Lemons, Vinegar, and Baking Soda there is a recipe consisting of only two ingredients: baking soda and water. 

These two ingredients when mixed together create a paste that can be used for many purposes; one being to clean grout between tiles. I put some of the paste in the grout lines and let it sit for a while before using an old toothbrush, that my family uses to scrub these sort of areas around the house. My independent book also says to use old toothbrushes to scrub the area until the dirt and other stuff is gone. (Zukowski 181)

 

The cleaner worked quite well, but I would probably go over a second time to make sure that all the dirt is gone. In Salt, Lemons, Vinegar, and Baking Soda it goes on to explain why this cleaner is a better way to go about cleaning than commercialized cleaners "...you'll likely want to avoid commercial cleansers. Aside from producing noxious fumes, harsh cleaning compounds may not be so gentle on the surrounding tile..." (Zukowski 181). After cleaning this small portion of the kitchen counter, my parents had me clean the rest of the kitchen counters.'

What are some different ways your family tries to be environmentally cleaner?

Zukowski, Shea. Salt, Lemons, Vinegar, and Baking Soda: Hundreds of Earth-friendly Houshold Projects, Solutions, and Formulas. New York: Metro, 2009. Print.

How to move your feet correctly in Badminton?

Hi guys, welcome back to my blog. This blog is written based on the badminton instruction book that is called Badminton: Steps to Success by Tony Grice. Today, I'm going to show you the footwork in badminton. As we all know, footwork is always important in sports. Correct footwork could avoid terrible injuries for players, and it also helps players to dominate their opponents. Badminton requires fast movement so correct footwork will improve the quality of your game.

Ready Position

According to Tony Grice, the author of Badminton: Steps to Success (the book that I'm reading), ready position enables you to move as quickly as possible for actions (Grice 3). In badminton, a 1- shot rally between you and your opponent is usually under 1 second. That's why you need to have a good ready position so that you can act fast. So here is the correct description of a good ready position:

• Your feet are spread about shoulder width apart with you knees lightly bent. (3)
• Your feet are square or slightly staggered with the dominant slightly forward of the non-dominant foot. (3)
• Hold the racket in basic grip.

Here is the visual example of the correct ready position.

Foot Movement in Badminton

There are four types of movement in badminton: step- close, shuffle, Sashay, and three- step sequence (Grice 4).  Each type is applied for different types of shots. Or it could be used depend on the position which you are staying at on the court. Good movement will dramatically improve your game. Believe me, in badminton, although you have a perfect stroke, terrible movement could shut you down in a match. Here are the demonstrations of good movement in badminton.

I. Step- close: this step is the 2nd most common in the movement. It is used for high forehand stroke (lob, smash...). This step is applicable for  75% the surface of the badminton court (except the bottom left corner). Here is the instruction

    1. Start with ready position, dominant foot is always the pivot and the non- dominant (non- racket) is the leader (Grice 4)

    2. Turn you body to 45 degree angle to the right, at the same time, open your right foot so that the gap between feet is equal to your shoulder length.

    3. Move your left foot back so that your feet will be parallel to the net, with your face faces toward the net, back to ready position

II. Shuffle: this is the most common step in badminton. It could be applied to every single high strokes for both forehand and backhand. This could be used in the whole court. This is also the easiest one. 

     1. Start from ready position.

     2. Simply shuffle by your racket foot (if you are left- handed, that is left foot) toward the the place you want to go

Then..

Finished by...

III. Sashay step: this step is used for on the net play, usually for forehand net-play. This step provides stability and flexibility for the player, help them to control the shot better.
     1. Start from ready position.

     2. Move your racket foot toward the net for a 45 degree angle.

     3. Scissoring your other foot so that your feet will look like this.

     4. Repeat step 2.
     

IV. Three- step sequence: this step allow you to move further and faster (Grice 7). It also allow you to recover faster to return the opponent's stroke. This step is used to move from backhand net to the its straight line til the end of the court. Here is the instruction.
     1. Start from back- hand net play position.

     2. Move your racket foot backward so that your front side will face the net.

        * The racket foot has to be behind the non- racket foot for a shoulder length.
     3. Repeat step 1

        * This time, your front side will form a line that will intersect the net at a 45 degree angle.
     4. Return to ready position

Question: Which movement (footstep) is the best fit for you?

MLA Citation:
Jerby. "Thread: Stance When Receiving Server (doubles)." Badminton Central Discussion Forums RSS. Badminton Central, 12 Aug. 2009. Web. 31 Dec. 2014.
Grice, Tony. Badminton: Steps to Success. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1996. Print.