A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

I've decided to move my blog. Please visit www.pezenka.com instead. So long, Don't get hurt

Past weekend I spent 18 hours in a lecture room at the University of Sports, listening to a presentation by Alan Aragon ( https://alanaragon.com ). Alan is probably the scientific authority when it comes to nutritional research. The event was hosted by the continuous education board ( https://www.bspa-fortbildungsakademie.at ) of the national sports academy ( http://www.bspa.at ), a government-run education program for sports and fitness professionals here in Austria. Among other topics, Alan elaborated on the scientific state of the art regarding macronutrient timing and construction, meal frequency, dietary supplements, muscle gain and fat loss. The presentation was concise and well-delievered, which comes at no surprise when consisting Alan's professional standing. Of all the things that were discussed, Alan's 10 rules of what constitutes a healthy diet were, in my opinion, the biggest take away point. When looking at the big picture, many factors that are often sold as the ...

This is one of the better books on applied #nutrition I've read in quite some time. A lot of the material @joshuahillis goes over roughly corresponds to the stuff you learn at the @precisionnutrition level 1 certification. #danjohn contributes with easy-to-implement workouts to accelerate #fatloss. The authors even propose an #undulating #periodization scheme for the training part, which is seldom seen in books aimed at the general public. Practicality trumps optimality and proper #habits are at the foundation of a healthy and effective diet. #recommendedreading #continuingeducation #fatlosshappensonmonday #blogpost

My previous posts were rather in-depth and heavy with references. Hence, I've decided to do something a bit lighter for a change. Today's post will be on food, which is no total coincidence, as I'm attending an Alan Aragon ( https://alanaragon.com ) seminar on nutrition this weekend. Just came home from 9 hours of lectures.  I'm currently in the process of making weight for the NMAC Battle of Vienna. I'll be competing for the first time in quite a while under a limited MMA rule set. I compete I the -70my division. Weigh I will be on competition day, so I can't cut a lot of water weight. This means I have to make smart use of my nutrition skills to get down to something around 72kg and then cut the last 3%. Currently, my intake is at 2000kcal. On this occasion, I thought I 'd share some of the recipes that help me get through the day, perform at an acceptable level and retain as much muscle as I can despite my hypocaloric diet. #1 Legal Cakes Browni...

Introduction Endurance is a broad term. Different types of endurance (short -, medium - and long term) are fueled by different energy systems. The first one or two maximum muscle contractions are powered by the phosphates in the muscle cell. After that, short bursts of up to 12 seconds draw their energy from the creatine- phosphate reserves. These two modes of energy production are known as anaerobic (lacking oxygen) alactic (without significant production of lactic acid). Longer efforts, up to roughly 3 minutes, primarily make use of the anaerobic lactic system, also called anaerobic glykolysis, i.e., the utilization of sugar in the absence of sufficient oxygen. Finally, even longer work is primarily fueled by the aerobic system. Here, oxygen is available in sufficient amounts such that sugars and fats can be oxidized in the Krebs cycle. It is this system that will be in the scope of this article. The aerobic system is, amongst other things, relevant for recovery after training se...

Today's cardiac output session, semi - variable work and rest, HR roughly between 130 and 150 bpm. For a great explanation of the cardiac output method consult Joel Jamison's #ultimatemmaconditioning. Basically there's three ways to program interval sessions with regards to work - to - rest ratios. The most basic form is a fixed ratio, e.g., the famous and often misunderstood #Tabata protocol. Alternatively, either rest our work (rare) can be chosen in a variable manner. Doing 400m sprints and recovering until HR drops under 130 bpm would be an example. Think @themartinrooney and his #tfw #hurricane training. Finally, both work and rest can be chosen variable, i.e., work up to an upper threshold HR and recover back to a certain lower threshold before starting the next interval. @alwyncosgrove and his team at #resultsfitness seem to use this type of programming a lot with great success. Each of those methods has its place. I'm using a semi - variable approach to determi...

1 Introduction While S&C programming is no rocket science by any means, some thought needs to be put into designing a good program. The best way to reach a goal is basically determined by the factors. First, the goal needs to be clear. If you don't know where you want to go, any way will take you there. In the S&C world, this makes the difference between training and working out. Second, the starting point needs to be established. Quantitative and qualitative assessments help in that evaluation. Finally, the available resources need to be taken into consideration. Practicality trumps optimality. Adherence and consistency are the foundation for successful training, so a program must match the athlete's lifestyle and possibilities. For someone who can train twice a week  (for whatever reasons), a three day split is inappropriate, regardless of any theoretical benefits it might offer. Eric Helms covered this in detail [HEL+2015]. Of course, qualifying the ...

1 Introduction EMOM is an acronym for "every minute, on the minute" and describes a certain way to organize a strength training session. Upon each full minute, the athlete performs a prescribed, usually low, number of repetitions of a strength exercise. Short rest periods increase the cardiovascular demand of such sessions and directly affect the athlete's hormonal situation. Therefore, EMOM training can be effectively used as a conditioning tool. However, EMOM style training may offer additional benefits apart from cardiovascular conditioning. From a neuro-muscular point of view, limiting the number of repetitions per set and keeping sets clearly sub-maximal may be beneficial, as fatigue can impair movement quality and even spinal stability [GRSW2004]. While fatigue may not lessen the effects of motor learning [ALDE1965, CARR1969], it might well lead to compensatory movements, less-than-optimal joint mechanics and hence, a greater degree of wear-and-tear. Especially ...

In preparation for this year's #nmac #worldcup in Bregenz, Austria, we just transitioned into the pre - fight lactic capacity block. This time, we chose to use a combination of kicks and punches rather than kicks alone. This somewhat alleviates local endurance limitations which don't usually play a major role in amateur fights anyways. During the four week block, we'll follow the anaerobic explosive repeat progression outlined I #joeljamieson 's brilliant #ultimatemmaconditioning. This week that means eight intervals of 15 seconds, separated by a 30 second active rest. #est #shinergystadlau

Our new #pullupmates just arrived. Not perfectly well suited for attaching a suspension trainer as the base of support is rather small, but versatile enough to foo a lot of stuff anyways. Twice the pull ups, twice the fun. #blogpost #keeppulling #pushpulllegs

As promised, I'll be uploading some video over the course of the next days and weeks. Here's Valentin at the XXIV Open Polish Taekwondo Championships 2017 in Krakow. Valentin had three fight, laid out as follows: In semi-contact, the division was pretty small. In fact, it was just four competitors. Valentin lost the first fight and hence, went on to fight for bronze in the second fight. In light-contact, he lost the first fight. No clue how this could have happened. But see for yourself. Without further ado, here's the clips. Semi-Contact #1 Semi-Contact #2   Light-Contact #1 More to come, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt

Awesome sparring session yesterday. One week out to the NMAC national championships. Everyone's sharp and ready.  Looking forward to seeing the team in action again. I'll keep you up to date, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt PS: I'm starting to upload the video material of the XXIV Open Polish Championships, so again, stay tuned...

Group training is a tricky thing. On the one hand, everyone has different needs and a different starting point that needs to be taken into consideration. On the other hand, though, it totally makes sense to periodize training in order to maximize adaptations.  In the Athletics class, this is easy. We run our athletes through an assessment that pretty much tells us all we need to know about their movement quality and strength levels. Then, when it's time to squat, everybody squats. For some, that means Pistol Squats. Others front squat with a barbell. If nothing else works, we'd have somebody bodyweight squat-to-stand just to prepare him to squat later on, when he's developed the mobility to do so. I've written a ton about this process, so I won't bother going into details at this point.  As for Martial Arts classes, things are a bit different. Of course I could just devote a part of class for solo training and assign individualized tasks to my fighters. Tha...