A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

Last Saturday, this year’s first Shinergy[battle] was on. Great fights, great event, Fighters competed in four divisions: Men, full contact sparring, +80kg Men, semi-contact sparring, +185cm Cadets, semi-contact sparring, catch weight Women, semi-contact sparring, catch weight For a short recap considering the rules, let me summarize the key points: Fights are “best of three”, so it takes two won rounds to win a fight Each round is two minutes, with one minute break in between rounds Low-kicks, throws and takedowns are prohibited. Pretty much everything else, including but not limited to the following techniques, is fair play: all kicks above waist level all hand strikes (closed and open hand) above waist level knee strikes above waist level, also to the head elbow strikes above waist level, also to the head, foot sweeps it goes without saying that dangerous and unsportsmanlike actions such as fish-hooking, biting, eye-gauging, etc. are prohibited full-contact bouts...

As mentioned in [this post] , I had a chance to attend [Ludwig Bernhard’s] new show “Neues von Herz, Diet und Sex” at the end of the last year. In case you don’t know him, Bernhard, who studied medicine (although never graduated from what I’ve heard – roger that, just checked Wikipedia, he never graduated) considers himself an “Infotainer” and his shows [“Cabaret Seminars”]. That means that although you definitely get a good laugh or two while hearing the guy talk but still, he tries to actually educate his audience, to transport a message. Now you have every right to wonder how all of this relates to a martial arts blog. Fret not, for the answer will be served shortly… You see, Bernhard is a proponent of [intermittent fasting] . I’ve written quite a few posts on that topic myself and feel that it’s probably the best way for a martial artist to eat (and live, for that matter). In case you’ve never heard about the concept, quit reading now and go to [www.leangains.com] or fetch your...

So tomorrow I'll be teaching at a teambuilding workshop. In cooperation with www.learningevents.at , I'll introduce 28 youngsters from a finance college to the martial arts and present them with new ideas on how to improve the social climate in their class utilizing the lessons learned at the dojo. Since this is my first teambuilding workshop, there'll be two personality coaches present, Christian and Sandra. They'll take care of 2 out of the 7 hours that the workshop will take. As for a rough schedule, the day will be organized like this: 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM, Teambuilding Part 1 At the beginning of the workshop, the coaches will take the students through a couple of motivational games to break the ice and get to know the group. 10:00 AM - 12:00PM, Shinergy Part 1 When everyone is comfortable with being at the workshop, we'll do the first Shinergy lesson. During those 2 hours, I'll outline the basic philosophy that lies underneath the foundation of every martial...