A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

The event Last saturday (2012-12-15), the Shinergy[battle] winter 2012 was held in Amstetten, Lower Austria. The event was also something of an opening ceremony for [Dietmar's] [new dojo] . First, the children (-10 years) competed in contests that relied on agility, speed and technical skill. Then, the youngsters (+10 years) had some semi-contact sparring. From my school, there was only one competitor, David. This was David's fighting debut and he dealt with the situation just fine. You see, the fight was scheduled as a "best-of-5" match, meaning that it takes three won rounds for victory. In a best case scenario, the fight is over after three rounds, worst case is five. The latter was the case with David's match. Each of the boys took two rounds, so the fight was decided in the fifth - by just a couple of points. Seems like the match-up was nearly perfect in this case. Now the thing with David is that he always shows up for training, always pays full atten...

Below you'll find video on our fights at the Open European Taekwondo Championships 2012 in Wieliczka, Poland. It's neither a lot, nor is it particularly high-quality, but then it just has to suffice. Not going to comment much on what happened there - just enjoy the clips. Come saturday, the Shinergy[battle] winter 2012 will take place. Needless to say, my boys will be there and compete. Also, it's pretty obvious I will be there as well, coaching and taking video. I'll cover the event in a post sometime next week. So long, take care

At this years Shinergy[instructor conference], the Warrior Warmup Routine was introduced as the standard warmup for every Shinergy class. Below you'll find video footage of the official presentation. After the detailled walk-through, we did everything again, at a higher pace, so that the translations between the individual exercises went smoother. That part didn't make it to the tape, however, due to battery shortage. Anyway, enjoy the clip and feel free to post your thoughts, questions and remarks to the comments section! So long, take care

Video footage of yesterday's sparring session. No comment from my side this time, just the visuals. Enjoy! Next sparring session is due next saturday. So long, take care

Didn't post for quite a while now. Didn't really have a chance, as my academic program is in crush-mode at the moment. That's just crazy. Also, I frankly wasn't motivated after those European Championships. Now, though, it's back to business, both when it comes to training as well as blogging. Lots of work to do in respect to both regards... Today's topic isn't exactly martial arts related at the first glance, but bear with me and I promise I'll make the transition into our world... You see, yesterday was my girl's birthday. Well, not really, that's when we partied. You know, it's not easy to party on weekdays, as everybody needs to get out of bed early the next day... Not that it had mattered, in our particular case. Birthday's are about getting old and now that we're both too old to hit the clubs and party all night (never particularly liked that, anyways), we just celebrated at a neat little café here in Vienna. Just hanging a...

The Bad I'm hugely disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the tournament was awesome and except for a few details the organization was highly professional. What I'm unhappy about was my own performance. I feel like I under-performed really bad. To say things straight out, I lost in the first round. It's not the fact that I lost in the first round that bugs me. Every other competitor does, in a [single-elimination tournament] . There's an important difference, however, between doing your best and losing with dignity on the one hand, and just not fighting well on the other hand. Consider [my last full-contact bout] - even though I lost those finals, I'm much more content with that fight than [the corresponding half-finals] . Did my best, put up a great fight and got knocked out in the last round. Stuff happens, that's just part of the game we play. Still, this time, I lost before even setting foot on the mat. There's a couple of reasons for that, most o...

This is my last post before I leave the country tomorrow and head for the [Open Europen Taekwondo Championships 2012] in Wieliczka, Poland. Just weighed in at 73.3kg. Still 3.3kg to lose. Still got around 18 hours... In [yesterday's post] I mentioned I was feeling sick - just as I thought, I'm back on my feet. No problem. Couldn't do the planned workout, though - just didn't find any spare time, not even for a light run. Doesn't matter, I'm fit enough. Initially, our team consisted of 5 competitors. Now, it's down to 3. Roman cancelled the whole thing because he's injured, Thomas because his daughter is sick. What remains is Chris (semi-contact -70kg), Frank (semi-contact -76kg) and I (continuous sparring, -70kg). No point in crying over spilled milk, though. Just packed my things and put my [mixed nut bars] (scroll down, you'll find the recipe) into the oven - although they're supposed to be pretty low-carb, I like to use them as peri-c...