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Thought on the martial arts: a new season

The old season has gone, the time has come to start over again. After stepping into the ring four times over the course of just two months at the end of spring (2 fights at the [WKF Austrian Open '12], 2 more at the [WKF national championships '12]) , I took things rather easy during the summer months. The original plan was to compete in the WKF world championships in Varazdin, Croatia that took place in July - however, despite sucessfully qualifying for the national team I decided to stay in Vienna. There's been plenty of reasons which I won't bother elaborating here. Not that they matter, really - I made a decision and don't regret it for a moment.

The summer was great. First, I spent [over a week in Poland] with my family. After that, I went to Styria with some of my advanced students for a [training camp]. In fact, it was the first such camp I've ever organized. About time after five years of managing a Dojo, if you ask me. Apart from those great weeks, I participated in a [charity event] for indian kids. Training-wise, I did a lot of [strenght & conditioning training], mostly Jim Wendler's 5/3/1. Hence, I didn't waste time. Still, it's time to get down to business again. After all, I'm not a powerlifter or olympic weightlifter - I'm a combat athlete.



My main goal for the coming months is the [TKDI European Championships '12] in Cracow, Poland. It'll be the first time since 2007 that I'll fight there. To get in shape, I'll try to make it to the [Bavaria Open '12] and compete in both light- and full-contact. That's a nice halfway milestone. Obviously, fighting in the ring is a completely different thing than fighting for points on a mat, but Open-TKD fights are hard to come by around here. Also, I decided to stick to full-contact anyway. The EC are something I do for the fun of it.

Besides pursuing my kickboxing career, I've decided to take my Judo lessons more seriously. In fact, as I'm writing these lines, I'm just on my way home from a rough Judo session. The overwhelming lactate rush painfully reminded me oof Jigaro Kano's words of wisdom: "the best training for Judo is Judo".

Speaking of lactate, I'll implement Kenneth Jay's Viking Warrior Conditioning in my S&C sessions, just after my 5/3/1 lifts. Again, I'll do 2 days of strength training per week, training two exercises per day:
  • Day 1
    • Snatch (olympic version)
    • Tactical weighted pull-up
  • Day 2
    • Clean & Jerk (olympic version)
    • Bench press
 As always, I'll warm up with Chad Waterbury's [Iron Core] Circuit. Then, 5/3/1, followed by VWC. Quite a schedule, but it can all be done in just about 75 minutes. That's not perfect, considering the rather unfavorable hormonal response after about 45 minutes of strength exercise, but then I don't intend to do more than two S&C sessions per week. As I said, it's time to get specific.

On saturday, september 1st, I'll also continue teaching at my Dojo - I'm fully of ideas an ambition, so this'll be an interresting season for sure.

Bottom line: I'm really looking forward to the coming weeks and months - time to get going! Make sure to regularly check for updates here so you won't miss out on anything during that new season.

So long,

take care

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