A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

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...

Returned from Linz (upper Austria's capitol city) on saturday. I spent six days there to go through the first part of my fitness instructor course. I have to say, I was pretty surprised - on the positive side, that is. You see, the course is organized, held and paid for (most of it, at least) by the Austrian ministry of education. Although that's great when it comes to the certificates appreciation, I wasn't sure if it wasn't all old-school and slowed down by bureaucracy. Now I can say it isn't. Basically we had about 4-5 hours of training a day as well as 5-6 hours of theory lessons. On the training side, we did lots of functional training, sensomotoric drills, posture correction and the like - there was almost no bodybuilding-style isolation training or the like. I say almost, as those things naturally are a part of a fitness instructors course. They were limited to a minimum, though. The teaching staff was great, there were sports scientists, a doctor, active tra...