Friday, December 28, 2012

Cain Velasquez Takedowns

Here's a clip of UFC Heavyweight, Cain Velasques doing his takedowns. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKNnny_A7AM

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Judoka Kifayat Gasimova

I came across this clip of Kifayat Gasimova of Azerbaijan. Watch her win these matches with beautiful judo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4pjx6zZ_yM

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Tyrone Spong

Tyrone Spong is a dutch kickboxer and mma fighter. Here's a cool clip of the champ in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGci5apaYZU

Monday, December 24, 2012

Martial Arts Tricking

For those of you who aren't familiar with "Tricking", look out for it. First there was creative forms (kata), Xtreme Kata, now Martial Arts Tricking. It is now a sport based on martial arts techniques and acrobatics. You will see it if you haven't. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGtn68dX-iw

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Judo Newaza

In judo, submission comes off of transitions. Also, they happen fast! Unlike other grappling arts, judo requires one to get it done quickly. So, what happens is explosive and precise attacks. Check this highlight of choking attacks (shime waza). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTtVCzC7rhg

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Shidokan Atlanta

Shidokan Atlanta was established in 2001. Since that time I have had 4 black belts promoted by Shidokan founder, Yoshiji Soeno. I have promoted one student to black belt. Several have made it to brown belt and a lot of folks come and go. The great thing is that the core members have always been here. We have students who have fought in every combat sport out there. Over the past few years we have been developing a few youth competitors. Our first wave of fighters are able to give the up and coming fighters a plethora of skills. We are able to streamline the most effective techniques to them quickly. So, I look forward to the future.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Me and Boxing

I enjoy all combat sports. I have sought out what I believe to be the most practical combat methods to train in. Kickboxing, full contact Karate, Judo and JuJitsu, etc. My first martial art was Tang Soo Do. I trained for almost 10 years before doing and type of competition. After seeing professional kickboxing on TV, I imagined myself becoming a kickboxer. During the 80s I watched Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, etc. box on TV. In high school I was sparring with some friends and got hit with a body shot so hard, that I asked the guy "where did you learn to punch like that?". It was obvious to me that there was something really different about this body shot. He said that he also boxed. Years later, I went to a martial arts demonstration by former World Welterweight Kickboxing Champion, Jeff Gripper. In addition to being a kicboxer, Grip held a couple of blackbelts and was also a boxer. He referred me to Asa's Gym run by an old boxer named James Asa Gordon. At this time all the top kickboxers would come to this gym to train. Some of the top pro boxers in town would frequent Asa's too. Evander Holyfield even came by the gym. I ended up training with boxers and kickboxers. Kickboxing fights became hard to come by, so I started competing as a boxer to get fights. One of my trainers, Bernard Styles, asked me to try it for atleast a couple of years before I actually did. I would say, "I'm a Karate Guy, not a boxer". He said, "Well, you're in here everyday boxing, so why not?". He had a good point. From my boxing experiences, I learned about hard training, mental and physical toughness. I now realize that my 13 years in boxing gyms help make me that martial artist I am today.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

My First Favorite Sport

Before the martial arts became my favorite thing to do in life, there was Soccer. From age 8 until highschool, soccer was my one of favorite 3 things to do (the other two being drumming, and you already know the other one). My first sports hero was Pele, the Brazilian soccer legend. He is the greatest to ever play the game. For you youngsters who don't know about him, check this out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJe1zmYYlNg

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Learning from A Loss

I competed in the IV World Grand Masters Judo Tournament on November 10th, last month. It was my first international Judo competiton. Locally, I still compete with the young guys. On the national level higher, compete as a Masters athlete. I compete in the M4 category (age 45-49). I won this years U.S. Nationals. The International Judo Federation had the WorldCchampionships in Miami, so I took advantge of the the opportunity to compete with the best in age group. I was challenged and I had two very educational matches. I've been waiting to get footage of my fights. I looked on youtube yesterday and found one of my matches posted so I wanted to share it with you. I lose in this match and wanted to share my lessons. The good things my opponent did: 1. He attacked right off the grip, 2. He kept me moving, and 3. He countered attackes immediately. The good things I did:1) I was able to turn out of throws to stay in the match (remember landing cleanly on your back is a full Ippon, match over), 2. I started to grip better as the match went on. Here's what I didn't do well: 1). Not stay aware of the boundries (sometimes opponent would position near the out of bounds line, attack and once action stopped the ref would stop and moves us back to center), 3. I didn't counter his counters, and 4) I did not effectively attack in combinations. Here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR271SgFzJo&list=FLmOjhLKfM09ymrJRgYAEJnA&index=1

Monday, December 10, 2012

Action Speaks Louder Than Words

It was a pretty good weekend for Shidokan Atlanta. I took a couple of guys to a local Sanshou tournament. Sanshou is Chinese kickboxing. It allows kicks, punches and throws. My 2 fighters, Chuck and Josh fought in their first tournament of this kind. When we got their, they were treated like neophytes and given the outsiders have trouble with this and we'll be easy on you. In the fighter's meeting, the promoter spent most of the time name dropping who he trained. Anyway, they were suprised as my guys showed them that we can kickbox and throw. Our gym pro, Jaral went to NC on a weeks notice. His opponent trash talks him the day before at the weigh ins and then pulls out of the fight the next day. These are a couple of examples of talking too much. Nobody cares about what you say. It's about what you do. Put up or shut up!

Friday, December 7, 2012

How Long Should You Train?

Yesterday, I talked about the best way to train for your sport. I said that the most sport specific method of preparation is to do that particular sport. Now, how long should you train? Should your workout be 5 hours or 6? A lot of fighters say they train 3x day for 2 hours at a time. If you train with intensity and purpose, your workout shouldn't take more than 90 minutes or 2 hours max. If you go through the motions, you can workout all day long. If you are getting ready for a 10 round bout, you should practice training 10 rounds as hard as you can. This would be better than you half training for 20 rounds (because you would slow the pace to accomodate that time frame). You will pace your self for what you are going to do. It's like trying to improve your mile run by training for 3 miles. You have get on that track and hump 1 mile and time it and work on increasing your speed by practicing running 1 mile.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

The Best Way To Train

What is the best way to prepare for your sport? Should you run more, lift more weights, or do more plyometrics? Nope to all of those. Of course you should have a fitness base. You have to stretch, work your cardio, strength, etc. But, the most important way to train for your sport is do do your sport. A boxer can hit all the bags, pads, and shadow box in the mirror all he wants, but only in the ring sparring will he sharpen his tools. You can bench press all you like and it won't necessarily make you better punching. I've seen guys who could run marathons gas out from a 3 minute round of boxing. This does not mean that they are not in shape. It just means that you have to train your body in a sport specific manner to handle the work load of that sport. So, don't listen to all the stuff you hear and see. Remember that your sport comes first and everything else is supplemental.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The Importance Of The Heavy Bag

Out of all of the training equipment out there, which is the most important? I say the heavy bag. Many people feel that pad work is the most important. The big bag helps you develop power, speed, and endurance. The constant resistance of hitting the bag makes you strong and explosive. You have to incorporate movement, defense, etc. in your bag work and not just go through the motions. Here I am on the bag. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcoQJL331CM