Friday, July 29, 2016

The Power Of Nutrition

Here's an interview done with Judo Olympian Leo White. He will tell you about how he has dealt with ailments and for years used anti-inflammatories and stopped by changing what he ate. Take a few minutes and listen to my Judo coach share some good information on nutrition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApShX2sizeI

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

You Can't Win In Practice

A lot of people base their ability to win on how they perform in practice. Sometimes practice is competition for a lot of folks. Now, I'm not say that you can't be competitive during training, but remember that training is training and the pace, intensity, and focus in a real fight is completely different. For some people they lose focus and emotions overtake them in practice and they think that what happens is real. If you can't control yourself in practice you won't be able to do so when it counts. In practice you must put yourself in the worst case scenarios so that you improve your weakness. If training with someone with less experience or ability handicap yourself and work on things that you don't do well. Don't try to overwhelm your training partners by kicking the butts and making yourself feel like you've accomplished something.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Glory Kickboxing Fights

This past weekend I rode up to Norfolk VA with my good friends to watch Glory Kickboxing. Glory is now the premier kickboxing event. It is an international organization feature fighters from all over the world. For the most part the fights were good. I noticed the European fighters are more experienced and seasoned compared to the US fighters. The Americans don't have the same experience as the other fighters. In hearing the records of the Americans, it was evident from their records that they were overmatched and in some cases outclassed. It made no sense to match a guy with less than 10 - 15 fights with a guy who has 40 plus fights. I've noticed this on Glory shows. It's usually the American fighters who have little experience. The international fighters are able to fight more frequently as Kickboxing is bigger outside of the States. Hopefully we will get more American fighters competing on regular basis as I think the level of skills (or better yet experience) are behind the rest of the World.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

The Importance of Boxing In Combat Sports

In looking at combat sports that allow hand strikes to the head, Boxing skills are an advantage for an athlete. Even though Kickboxing, MMA, and Thai Boxing allow the use of other weapons (kicks, knees, elbows, etc.), the hands are used more often. All else being somewhat equal, the better boxer has an advance. Boxing help set up kicks, knees, etc. When an opponent is hurt more often than not, it is with the hands. So, get with a boxing coach and improve your hands.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Rules In Combat Sports

There are many different kinds of combat sports. Along with these sports come rules. Many people will look at these sports and judge them based on what they thing will be effective in real fighting. Some styles of kickboxing don't allow leg kicks and knees. Some grappling sports require you to wear a uniform (GI). In boxing there is no kicking. In Olympic style Tae Kwon Do, punching to the face is not allowed. Greco Roman wrestling doesn't allow grabbing the legs. Do these limitations mean that principles from these combat sports are not applicable to real self defense? Absolutely not. If someone has dedicated enough time to developing a certain skill set, that individual will be able to apply there skills against most adversaries. This doesn't mean they are invincible, but they are more prepared than the average person who doesn't train. Rules are put in place to make sport exciting and so that a winner can be determined. Imagine if holding and clinching was allowed in boxing. You would get less action, which means less knockouts. In Judo and Wrestling, athletes could get ahead and stall their way to victory. Even in MMA, if athletes lay on the fence or ground too long with out anyone gaining a real advantage, the ref will separate and stand them up. Fights have rounds the are judged to create a winner. It's not like fighters fight until someone gives up. If there were no time limits, everybody would fight at a slower pace. So, the structure of sport is to provide entertainment and sportsmanship. But don't be fooled into thinking any combat sport is easy or impractical. Keep in mind these are athletes who train many years to develop skills that most can only dream about.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Saddened By Today's U.S. Karate Fighters

My thoughts on Karate Fighters haven't been good over the past several years. In looking at my Karate style, Shidokan, for years we hosted national and international events featuring some of the top full contact (bare knuckle Karate) fighters. Events like the Sabaki Challenge, World Oyama Ultimate Challenge, Shidokan Open, etc. featured many of the same fighters competing at all of these events. A lot of fighters from the US and Canada (Norm Rivard, Tomaz Kucharezki, Moti Horenstein, Bo Medenica, Ralph Linares, etc.) would throw down at these and other international tournaments. As the Shidokan open transitioned from Karate only to Triathlon events, Karate fighters slowly faded from this new challenge to be replaced by kick boxers and mixed martial artists. These new fighters would put on a Gi, fight under bare knuckle, kickboxing and grappling. Whether they were black belts in Karate didn't matter. Karate groups started to separate and stay to themselves. Sabaki is primarily done by Enshin Karate fighters, World Oyama tournaments are primarily for World Oyama guys, etc. Karate groups stopped supporting each others tournaments. Their dojos focused less on full contact to get more students. This is cool, but gone are the days when instructors told students to fight and they fought. As an instructor I have been disappointed in the lack of commitment some of my so called fighters have displayed. Many young fighters say they want to fight, but get scarred and don't follow through as opposed to facing and overcoming fears. I promoted Karate, Boxing, and Kickboxing events. Boxers are always the easiest to work with. Reason is most guys who box are going to box. Whereas most people who take martial arts (i.e. Karate, Taekwondo) are not going to fight. In looking at Knockdown Karate in particular, it came about for Karate people who wanted to fight for real instead of in theory or in light contact. Now these styles have become like the non contact styles. I can go to Europe, Asia, South America, etc. and Karate fighters there will fight with no problem. American Karate fighters are different these days. The used to fight (kickboxing, bare knuckle, MMA, etc.) because the style was presented as a no nonsense practical style. Now if you want to fight, it's much easier to go the Boxing, Kickboxing, or MMA route, because they are the no non sense fighting outlets these days. I am not optimistic about contact Karate in the U.S. Every time I go to a Karate event abroad, I shake my head about what is going on here.