A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

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

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...

For a good finish, here's Hanna's fights from the International Polish Taekwondo Championships 2016 in Wieliczka. Hanna scored third place in Semi-Contact, winning two out of her three fights via TKO. Enjoy! Semi #1 Semi #2 Semi #3 Light #1 Now, as soon as I can get my hands on the fights of this year's NMAC state championships, I'll upload them ASAP, so watch out for more. So long, don't get hurt

Here we go with Valentin's performance at the International Polish Taekwondo Championships 2016 in Wieliczka. Valentin was fighting a marathon that day - 6 fights for a total of 12 rounds! Five of those fights where in the pointfighting (i.e., semi-contact) division, where Valentin lost in the semi-finals and then slightly missed 3rd place. Still, having five fights and going without a medal ain't a shame - it's just a sign of the high level of participation in the event. As you'll notice, I screwed up with the title in the first video. Well, guess I'm a better at training fighters than I am at editing videos...  Enjoy anyways. Semi Contact #1 Semi Contact #1 (2nd Camera) Semi Contact #2 Semi Contact #3 Semi Contact #4 (Semi Finals)   Semi Contact #5 (Fight for 3rd place) Light Contact #1  Light Contact #1 (2nd Camera) One more fighter to go - I'll upload Hanna's fights ASAP and finally have the w...

'ere we go - Enjoy Manuel's performance at the international polish taekwondo championships on March 13th 2016 in Wieliczka, Poland. #1, Semi-Contact: #2, Light Contact: #3, Light Contact: #4, Light Contact: Next uploads due soon, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt

So here's Mareike's fights from the  international polish taekwondo championships on March 13th 2016 in Wieliczka, Poland. Mareike had one pointfighting match and two light-contact bouts, the first of which she won by TKO in the first round. Enjoy! Semi Contact #1 Light Contact #1 Light Contact #2 Next up is Manuel, who had four really exciting fights, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt

The title isn't wrong - actually, we have two girls by the name of Anna in the team. So again (but then again, not...), here's Anna's fights from the  international polish taekwondo championships on March 13th 2016 in Wieliczka, Poland. I'll be posting videos as soon as I manage to edit and upload them, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt

This time Im faster than last time. Below is Anna W's fight at the international polish taekwondo championships on March 13th 2016 in Wieliczka, Poland.   I'll be uploading the other fights one after the other (there's 22 of them), so stay tuned.  So long, Don't get hurt

Ok, I guess that if you've been following my blog lately, you know what's going to happen now. This is Mareike's fights from our trip to the [TaekwonDo Open Polish Cup last year] . Enjoy! This was Mareike's Semi-Contact fight: Now here we go with light contact: I guess I've uploaded all fights now (might be wrong, though, so I'll check again). Next, I'll collect, edit and upload all the stuff we filmed at the [International Polish TaekwonDo Championships in Wieliczka] this month. Bear with me, that'll take me some time. Make sure to check in often, though, as there's always new content. So long, don't get hurt

Just like [Anna] , Anton had four fights in Opole, three semi-contact fights and one light-contact fight. Here we go: Here we go with Anton's first fight: The win in the first fight took Anton to the semi-finals: After losing in the semi-finals, Anton fought for the bronze medal: As mentioned, after the semi-contact fights, there was a light contact bout as well: I'll be uploading Mareike's fights next, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt

Before I start uploading [the most recent] fights, I'll finish the series on the Opole Open last november. This time, here's Anna's fights. Here goes Anna's first Semi-Contact Fight: After the first fight, Anna advanced to the Semi-Finals: Having lost the Semi-Finals, Anna went on to fight for bronze: After the three Semi-Contact Fights, Anna entered the Light-Contact event, here we go: Considering the fact that this was only her second tournament, I'd say Anna did great. I'm definitely waiting for things to come here. Next, I'll be convering Anton's fights. So long, don't get hurt

Just returned from the open polish taekwondo championships in Wieliczka. In a nutshell : Manuel took gold in the flying high kick, silver in semi - contact and silver in light contact.   Hanna took bronze in both semi-contact and light contact.   Anna took bronze in light contact.   Valentin was the marathon fighter of the day, going through a whopping six fights (5 semi contact, 1 light contact). Despite that high number of fights, he didn't score a medal. This should make the level and sheer amount of competition obvious.  Everyone did their best and improved greatly since our trip to Opole last November and I'm damn proud of every single one of them. More to come, so stay tuned.  So long, Don't get hurt

As mentioned in an [earlier post] , I'll be posting video footage of our trip to Opole last year. Took me a while, but hey, better late than never, right? After watching [Valentin's fights] , now it's time for Manuel. Note that I won't be analysing anything here - I'll cover that in a later post, when I have time. For now, it's just the video footage. Manuel didn't do any semi-contact fighting, instead focusing on the light-contact side of things. Enjoy! Here we go with Manuel's first fight: And here's the finals: Next I'll be posting Anna's fights, so get ready for some lightweight-action! So long, don't get hurt

As mentioned in an [earlier post] , I'll be posting video footage of our [trip to Opole] last year. Took me a while, but hey, better late than never, right? After going through [Chris' fights] , here's Valentin. Note that I won't be analysing anything here - I'll cover that in a later post, when I have time. For now, it's just the video footage. The only thing I will add here is that this was Valentin's debut in tournament fighting. Considering that and the fact that his opponent in the light contact bout is the vice-world-champion, I think Valentin did pretty well. Here's Valentin's first fight of that day, under Semi-Contact rules: And here we go with his light contact fight: Next up: Manuel. Watch out. So long, don't get hurt

As mentioned in an [earlier post] , I'll be posting video footage of our [trip to Opole] last year. Took me a while, but hey, better late than never, right? After going through [Hanna's fights] , here's Chris. Note that I won't be analysing anything here - I'll cover that in a later post, when I have time. For now, it's just the video footage. Here's Chris' first fight of that day. Winning that fight took Chris to the Semi-Finals. Finally, the third fight was for bronze: Next, I'll be posting Valentin's fights, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt

As mentioned in an [earlier post] , I'll be posting video footage of our [trip to Opole] last year. Took me a while, but hey, better late than never, right? Since Hanna had the most fights out of all our fighters, I'll start with her. Note that I won't be analysing anything here - I'll cover that in a later post, when I have time. For now, it's just the video footage. The first Semi-Contact fight was over relatively fast, with the technical KO (10 point difference) coming down just two or three seconds into the second round. Here goes Semi-Contact #2: After winning that fight, Hanna went on to the Semi-Finals: The fourth fight was the finals: Finally, Hanna did a light contact fight - after all those fights, there unfortunately wasn't all that much gas left in the tank. So much for Hanna's fights, next up will be Chris, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt

So over the next couple days I'll post the videos of our fights at the Opole Open 2015. I have to say, the [PUT] people really did a good job on organising the event, and while international participation was a bit lower than usual, the level of competition was awesome. What I like most is the non-dogmatic approach these guys take. Most schools offer both Taekwondo and Kickboxing, some also do other styles such as MMA or even Krav Maga. As long as they adhere to the rules, everyone's welcome to fight. Contrast this with the rivalry and bad blood that dominates the martial arts world here in Austria. For example, I've once witnessed all participants of the [WKF] being barred from entrance to the [OEBFK] national championships due to inter-federation rivalry. Needless to say, the level of competition suffers from stuff like that. Now you could argue that the situation in Poland is different in that there's no competing federations from the same style involved. ...

Today's post is all about Anna, one of my students who are going to fight in [Poland] . During alactic capactiy training, Anna hit the pads with 13 left roundhouse kicks over the course of 6 seconds (although the video shows the previous set, which comes at 12 repetitions) - definitely not bad. "Hitting like a girl" takes on a different meaning here. The following video just gives you an impression of Anna's impression during yesterday's class. Countdown until departure is at T-8 days. Stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt

So it’s been a while, but finally, I’ll officially release the video footage we have of the [open polish taekwondo championships in Czestochowa] . Maybe I’ll analyze some of the fights in-depth at a later time, but at this moment, I’d rather focus on some philosophical issues. Hence, without further ado, here’s Chris’, Frank’s and my own fights: Frank, Fight #1 Frank, Fight #2 Frank, Fight #3 Chris, Fight #1 Lukas, Fight #1 Lukas, Fight #2 Lukas, Fight #3 Lukas, Fight #4 Hope you enjoyed the fights!   So long,   take care

Yesterday night we returned from this year’s [open polish taekwondo championships in Czestochowa] . As expected of a [PUT] event, it was superbly organized. Everything went down smoothly with the exception of some misunderstandings regarding weight divisions, but this was also quickly taken care of and handled professionally. The schedule had weigh-in on Friday night, semi-contact sparring on Saturday and continuous sparring on Sunday. Now at most tournaments, you can never be sure when you’re going to fight – I had days where I spent 10+ hours at the venue before stepping into the ring. That’s not so much of a problem by itself, at least if you know it in advance. What’s troublesome is having absolutely no clue as to when you’re up, because that means warming up again and again so as to be ready to compete at every moment. Good luck going through a fight after having warmed up like ten times or so. This time, despite the fact that more than 550 competitors from four countries (Pol...