A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

I wish you all a happy new year. Photo by camera slayer, found on flickr.org For me, the year won't start particularily good, I guess. On january 7th, the doc will put my foot into plaster again. This time, it's 4 weeks. After that, we shall see further. Now on the one hand, this is significantly screwed up. Gone are my plans of doing a max strength program to begin the year. Also, as a professional trainer, not being mobile at the beginning of the year means a serious handicap to my marketing actions. Novembet through February are, after all, the best months for any sports school, finance-wise. Also, I need to make up for all the losses my second studio has produced over the last year anyways. Instead of recovering financially, I'll now have to pay an instructor to teach my classes. Great. Not to mention all my plans of offering more classes at my Dojo. They're most definately put on a halt at the moment. As you can see, from a business point of view, my situation is s

It's Sunday, December 27th. Why am I wishing you a merry Xmas today? Well, although I did plan on writing an article on christmas, family, togetherness and the like, I was far to busy celebrating the holdiays with my loved ones. So, here it goes, albeit 3 days late: Merry Xmas and a happy new year. May 2010 be injury-free and successfull for all of you.

Sometimes it's so simple. Still, we fail to think of it. Afterwards, it's quite awkward to think such an obvious thing didn't cross the mind in the first place. But then it just didn't. I had a situation like that today, while teaching my conditioning class. Now "class" is a bit of an overstatement here, it was more of a personal coaching with one of my advanced students, Doris. Usually, the conditioning class quite full. Today, however, with christmas being just two days away and the streets being covered in ice and snow, most of my clients chose to stay at home. Not that I was really surprised. This gave me the opportunity to tailor the session specifically to Doris' needs and address some points I sometimes have to leave unattended. When it came to strength training, we basically did a modified version of Charles Staley's EDT (escalating density training). In a nutshell, the idea of edt is to do two exercises alternatively over a certain time period

On Friday, December 11th 2009, Mariusz Pudzianowski, polish strongman with an impressive record of 6 european titles and 5 won world chmapionships, made his MMA debut at the "Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki", or short KSW. Pudzian, as Mariusz is called in Poland, was facing Marcin Najman, a professional boxer. There'sa good intro on both fighters on youtube, for your convenience I've posted the video here: As you can see, Mariusz is obviously the bigger, stronger fighter. There's a weight difference of approximately 25kg. Although Mariusz is a strength athlete, he's been doing Kyokushinkai Karate and Boxing for years (according to his homepage boxing for 7 years, karate for 20+ years, see http://pudzian.pl/mariusz.php ). Also, the guy was practicing BJJ with Miroslaw Okninski, propably the number one expert in poland when it comes to the brazilian art. You can look it up on their homepage, www.valetudo.pl , all that training is no urban myth. Of course, there's a

Last saturday (I know, I know,... I'm always a wee bit behind when it comes o posting), some pictures were taken during my adults class. So, here's a "premium selection". Enjoy!

This weekend, my partner Chris took a break from teaching, so I held all classes for him. So on Friday, I was doing a children & youth class in our Aspern-based dojo ( www.shinergy.com/aspern ). At some point near the end of the class I noticed one of the kids was missing, so I told the rest to wait and went to look for the boy. When I saw him standing in the anteroom, I told him to immediately go back to the others. Thereupon his mother, who was watching the training, explained to me he told him to drink something and that he was only 5 and I'm too strict by far at all. She insisted on discussing my teaching methods after class. Now I can handle constructive criticism, however, criticising me in front of the class is something I just can't tolerate. All that does is wear down the discipline - something that was lacking at that particular class from the beginning. Quite frankly, I don't care how old or how special someone is, as soon as he sets foot in my class, the sam

Today, I've been down all day. I failed at doing even one single repetition of whatever exercise. I'm not exactly sick, but everything's aching and my body just feels heavy. Altough I've already devoured loads of food today, I'm still starving. My motivation to do just about anything is on an all-time low. That's all classical signs of overtraining. Seems like my HFT is beyond my current possiblities. As mentioned in my previous post, training volume has to be put into a proper relation to everyday life. For me, personally, everyday life means teaching martial arts 7 days a week (since my partner, Chris, is taking friday and the weekend off, I have to teach on friday and sunday as well). That is, besides stuying at university and writing an exam or two every week. I spend a good portion of my day on the way, going from one place to the next. That's an additional source of exhaustion. Despite the above said, I'll stick to the plan for now. In any case, th

Over the last week, I've finished my HFT training on one day. That's not exactly a lot. So, I've decided to alter the routine. Instead of pullups and leg raises, I'll now be doing one-armed pushups. 50 per side. Today, this routine worked out just fine. You see, sometimes, you have to adapt your training to your everyday life. Working 10 hours a day on a construction site doesn't match well with a high-intensity training routine and a carb-reduced diet. Likewise, being on the run all day every day doesn't abet a gym-dependant program. To quote Pavel again on this one, there's a huge advantage in doing bodyweight-only exercise: "Because it is always there ." Sometimes, it's as simple as that. By now, if you've been following my posts, you know that I hold Pavel in great respect. That's not because he's pointing out some revolutionary, brand-new concepts and ideas. He's not. What makes "the evil russian" such a great tra

Today me and my girlfriend went to the Health & Wellness Fair 2009. In a cooperation with Kybun - exercise mats for rehab and therapeutic training - we were representing the Shinergy system. Those KYbun mats are soft, bouncy and non-slippery. They can be used for proprioceptive training, stability work and the likes of it. As I told the guys at the booth, they resembled a more expensive, more mainstream version of the tatami that cover the floor of my dojo. Guess that makes me a "super-advanced kinesiologist", since I'm having my students train on those mats every day. But then I guess it doesn't, after all. Now, the amount of visitors was far less than expected, so we've checked out the other booths. Quite frankly, I was pretty disappointed with the direction the terms "health" and "wellbeing" seem to be taking currently. To quote Baird, a character from Epic's videogame "Gears of War 2" on this one: "Anyone else's b

It's been a while since I did a post on the martial arts. Over the last weeks, due to my injury, my main interest was strength training and general physical preparation. Today's topic deals with the martial arts again. Today the Shinergy[young stars] Battle Winter 2009 took place. "Battle" is what we call our Shinergy championships, because in the beginning, those championships were held in music clubs, just like breakdance battles. Unfortunately, I couldn't be there because I had to hold classes at my dojo, but 5 of my kids competed. I have to say, team Stadlau (that's the part of Vienna where my dojo is) did really well: 5 competitors, 4 medals. Now of course, competing isn't all about winning some precious metal, but it does play a part. Especially for kids, I'm convinced that competition and reward are a great way to hold motivation. Also, it provides a great feedback for everyone: the competitor can measure his progress, the instructor can object

Yesterday was the 4rd day on my HFT program. I decided to pay a visit to my Stadlau-based dojo (for those non-Vienna residents amongst you: Stadlau is a part of Vienna's 22nd district) before going on to teach at my Aspern-based gym (again, Aspern is another art of Vienna's 22nd district). While my partner, Chris, was holding the children and youth classes, I set a basic "outdoor-gym" that perfectly suits my needs at the moment. All the equipment I used was a stool, a piece of rope (which I could have done without), a towel and a 12 KG kettlebell. The kettlebell and the stool I used for the pistols. To add some variety, I've decided to do them with extra weight today - that's where said kettlebell comes into play. Due to my ankle injury, I did box-pistols for my left leg. Hence the stool. Also for the sake of variety, I used my rope (which is usually used in kids and youth classes for strength-building games) for the pullups. The first 5 sets I did only with t

So today is the third day in the second phase of my HFT program. It is also the first day I completed the whole thing. During the last days, I just didn't have enough time to work all those 200 repetitions. The pistol squats can be done just about everywhere, however, the pullups and leg raises require some form of equipment. Today, I was teaching the the dayschool I mentioned in my original "Wednesdays are easy post", so I had three breaks of about 15 minutes each. Plenty of time, if you're at least a bit smart about how you organize your sets. As for the program, although it's a bit harsh (my quads are sore from the last two days, so stairclimbing is no fun at all), I think it's the right thing to do at the moment. My goals are, as mentioned before, better lower-body intermuscular coordination, a strong core that prevents spine injury and general upper-body strength. That's why I choose the pistol squat (lower body), the hanging leg raises (core) and the

Today I started painting my new kettlebells. As promised, here's the graphics: AS you can see, I'm not done with the painting yet, but it shouldn't take more than one more session. So long, take care

So yesterday I've finished my HFT phase #1. Basically, that program had me do 100 pushups and 50 pullups per day. Each sunday, I did what I call "max days", so those 150 reps were done in one session. Yesterday, I figured out a way to do those pullups more easily by adding a plyometric element. Instead of doing the excentric movement in a slow, totally controlled fashion all the way down, you release tension just before your elbows are completely straight. Gravity will pull you down rapidly, thus stretching all participating muscles. As in all plyometric exercise, you then take advantage of your CNS's response - which is a reflex to contract those stretched muscles - to add more force to the concentric movement. Anyhow, since it's Monday and I had my last max day yesterday, it's time to move on. My new program will have me do the following each and every day: 1) 50 neutral-grip pull ups: Those will strengthen my arms and lat, supporting my grappling 2) 50 pis

Just got my new set of kettlebells. Finally. I've been holding kettlebell classes at my dojo for about a year now and since then, my students have gotten stronger and fitter. That's why I decided that when it comes to conditioning, the only thing better than a kettlebell is more kettlebells. Now, my kettlebell arsenal looks like this: 04kg x 2 08kg x 1 12kg x 1 16kg x 2 20kg x 2 24kg x 2 32kg x 1 This should do for the moment. There's heavy weights for strength and power, medium weights for hypertrohpy and lighter weights for conditioning. Since I can proudly say that my conditioning classes are attended not only by my male students but also by women, the 4 and 8 kg 'bells make sense, too. Now, whenever my students need to change weights (e.g. they switch exercise from a press to a squat), there's some confusion as to which kettlebell is of which weight. You know, a 24kg kettlebell can easily be mistaken for a 20 or a 32. Some solution to this issue had to be found.

Well, if you're observing the scene, you'll know by now that Mariusz Pudzianowski, "world's strongest man" will be competing in December at the "Martial arts confrontation" ("Konforntacia Sztuk Walki, KSW"). In a Black Belt Magainze interview, Rickson Gracie said that "Just being strong and well conditioned gives you an advantage" and "makes the other guy the underdog, no matter what". I have to absolutely agree on that one, although power and conditioning alone don't win fights - Rickson's brother Royce proved that at the first 3 UFC events. Of course, in Mariusz case, there's no need to think about that in the first place. Apart from doing Kyokushin Karate, Boxing and Wrestling, this guy is practicing BJJ, so this fight is going to be an interessting one from a technical point of view as well as from a physical one. Now what put a smile on my face is the fact that he's working out with Miroslaw Okninski - m

Ok, so today was max day again. You can look up the phrase max day in my original post "Today's max day". As promised, here comes the complete video. Enjoy! Remarks: After the first set, I had 3 minutes rest, after the second it was 4, then 5 and lastly, between the 4th and the 5th set it was 6 minutes. On the next may day, I'll do 4 minutes rest in between each two sets. Also, I've missed a rep on the pullups with set 3,4 and 5 this time. The missed reps were done afterwards in an extra set. Next time my priority is not to miss a single rep. So long, take care

So tomorrow I'll be teaching at a teambuilding workshop. In cooperation with www.learningevents.at , I'll introduce 28 youngsters from a finance college to the martial arts and present them with new ideas on how to improve the social climate in their class utilizing the lessons learned at the dojo. Since this is my first teambuilding workshop, there'll be two personality coaches present, Christian and Sandra. They'll take care of 2 out of the 7 hours that the workshop will take. As for a rough schedule, the day will be organized like this: 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM, Teambuilding Part 1 At the beginning of the workshop, the coaches will take the students through a couple of motivational games to break the ice and get to know the group. 10:00 AM - 12:00PM, Shinergy Part 1 When everyone is comfortable with being at the workshop, we'll do the first Shinergy lesson. During those 2 hours, I'll outline the basic philosophy that lies underneath the foundation of every martial

There's something new at my dojo: each new student (adult student, that is) gets 3 private lessons for free upon registration. That's around €150 of tuition fee I'm giving away. Although the marketing benefits are a nice addition, the main reason I'm doing this hasn't got that much to do with sales promotion. In the first place, this action aims at helping new students comprehend the basics faster, thus benefiting more from group classes. The student receives constant feedback in the one-on-one lessons (those private lessons are spread over the first months), so he can correct upcoming mistakes at an early stage. If you've been practicing a martial art, you'll propably agree that during the first year or two there's almost linear progression, so after each class you know you've learnt something new, you've gotten a bit better. Also, this is the phase when you adopt errors and suboptimal patterns that are really hard to get rid of later on. As you

Today's max day. Monday through Saturday, I'm spreading my HFT routine over the day, careful not to put to much stress on the body. This is due to the fact that I'm training the same muscle groups every day - so overdoing it on one day means extreme soreness and trouble to stick with the program the next day. So basically what I'm doing day in and day out is teaching my body and nervous system to become more proficient at what it is required to do: pull-ups and push-ups. That puts the phrase "if something's worth doing, do it every day" to practical use. However, I feel that from time to time it's just necessary to max out and see must how much punishment you can handle. This brings me to the title of this post: Today is max day. In a nutshell, "max days" (for me that's sundays) differ from "normal" training days in that all the volume is done in one session. Since the program requires me to do 100 pushups and 50 pullups, I foun

Wednesdays are easy. Time-wise, that is. If you ever did some kind of HFT program, you'll know that finding enough time to perform loads of repetitions of some exercise isn't an easy taks, especially if you're doing it on top of some other training routine. Since the idea is to spread the sets and reps all over the day, some times disqualify as training times. You just don't always have the possibility to do your exercises, even if there's no need for equipment. Imagine being at university, listening to lectures for 6 hours a day. That's approximately one third of your wake time - that leaves you with significantly less time to spend on training. Subtract the time it takes you to eat, drive a car or travel by means of public transportation. Substract timespans where you complete tasks that can't be interrupted - concentrated work of some sort. Also, substract the time you spend on all your actual training. You see where this is going. Your window of opportun

So on Saturday, my instructor, Ronny Kokert was holding a master class at my dojo in Vienna's 22nd district. Additionally to being OpenTKD World Champion an god-knows how many times state champion in olympic TKD, this is the guy who brought the idea of Shinergy to live and created the system I've devoted myself to over the last decade. That being said, Ronny was always more to me than just an instructor - I consider him a teacher, mentor, role-model and great friend all at once. Therefore, it's always a pleasure having him at my dojo. Generally, I think that mixing things up from time to time and getting new/different input from someone else than their regular instructor can greatly benefit trainees from all walks of live. It's not really like there was a lot of new information, but the way it was presented was just superb. Basically, the class was all about making basic techniques work out better, biomechanics-wise. In short, the essence was: Stay relaxed. You need st