A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

I wish you all a wonderful christmas and a happy new year! -Lukas

Yesterday, the Shinergy[battle 2010], took place. The Shinergy[battle] is our version of a championship. It's hard, fast-paced and full of action. As for the rules: The fights are full-contact bouts that are fought in a "best-of-three" manner, i.e., the first fighter to win two rounds wins the fight. We employ what we call an "action/stop" system, so every exchange of blows is stopped after a couple of strikes. That is to prevent long clinching and keep the pace high. To cite Ryan McCarthy from the movie "Never back Down": "It's a spectator sport after all!". All kicks and strikes above waist level, including elbow- and knee-strikes are allowed, as are sweeps. Every technique has to be executed properly and in a clean manner, no pushing or wild swinging. The area of combat is an octagonal mat-area with a radius of 7 meters. Kicks to the head give 3 points, as do sweeps that result in a visible loss of balance. Kicks to the body and knee

When Jackie Chan's "Karate Kid" was first shown at the movie theaters in Austria on July, 21st, we entertained the audience with a little show. Now, half a year later, it's obviously a bit out of context, but I only just got the video yesterday, so here it goes: Hope you enjoyed it! So long, take care

Today's master class was awesome. The trainer, Alex, really did a great job in adapting competition-proved Judo techniques to work in a no-Gi setting. As most of us are absolute beginners in terms of grappling, we started the class with some falling exerices. Alex then transitioned into a double-leg takedown. I have to say that there's a lot to this seemingly easy technique. Also, although the very same technique exists in every grappling system, I noticed that everyone seems to be doing it slightly different. For me, the Judo-approach with a vertical spine and strong shoulder pressure makes sense. Not connecting the hands was new to me, but with some practice, I'll get that down too. Having took down the partner, we practiced passing the guard, going from guard to side-mount. Again, there were some hints and tricks that were new to me, at least in this form. Personally, I consider the battle for a dominant position the alpha and omega of grappling, no matter which style. F

Just returned home. I passed all exams. 'A's only. My general practice topic was reaction-training. 'Nuff said. The preparations took me approximately 35 seconds, including the time to get all the stuff (balls, rings, markers, ...) together. I have to say that although some lessons were a waste of time in my opinion, the course in general was a great experience and definately offers quite a lot. Now, it's time to put all that stuff into practice. Also, I already have plans on what to do next, education-wise, but I won't explain them just yet. Tomorrow, I'll hit the kettlebells again and sunday there'll be another masterclass at my dojo, this time on the topic "no-gi grappling 101". I sure hope there'll be lots of interested students. Of course, I'll post more on that coming sunday. So long, take care

Just finished three more exams: Special practice : basically that's everything related to strength training. I had to describe some cardio-tests, 1rm-tests, tests on max. strength deficiencies and mobility tests. Exercise testing and prescription : Here I was questioned on max. strength training, training periodization, super-compensation and the principles of proper training in general. Functional kinetics : Here, I had to deal with questions concerning special issues with young athletes. Also, there was a part on innervation and the physical explanation for muscle activity. Up until now, my marks ought to be excellent. Tomorrow, however, we'll be dealing with special practice. Now this could get tricky, as I have no clue what lies ahead of me. There's just so many possibilities, including but not limited to senso-motoric training strength training with a partner spine stabilization with the thera-band small games running coordination rope-skipping endurance training ... L

Today I passed my first anatomy exam. I'm in Linz again, going through the examination circle for my BSPA-License. This can be compared to a strength and conditioning certification. Anyhow, yesterday we did some coordination training and went down to the lab to conduct performance tests. Four people were tested, the tests covered were: the WHO tri-level aerobic test the PWC 170 test the Conconi test a lactic acid analysis All pretty interesting. Today, we focussed on nutrition. The lecturer is a cool guy who goes by the name Christian Putscher. You can find his webpage here . Now this Putscher really has a way of making bio-chemistry fascinating. There was a lot of stuff I didn't know/didn't think about before - basic stuff, as it turns out, really. Amongst other stuff, he conclusively pointed out why the whole metabolic-balance concept is screwed up, why vegans are nuts and how certain dogmas need to be challenged from time to time. Also, his points made me strongly questi