Conditioning For Your Sport

What's the best way to get in shape for a specific sport? Doing that sport. Everything is supplemental. I have worked out with guys that I could bench more than and felt stronger than from a push and pull stand point. But when punched or kicked by them, it felt like getting kicked by a mule. I once saw a boxer in his 40s who hadn't been in a ring in 10 years, walk in the gym and spar with an active fighter and handle him with ease. Now I'm not saying to do all your cool exercises and conditioning routines. What I would like to say is that once you perfect your sport you develop a way of delivering power that goes beyond how much you can run or lift. By mastering the basics of your craft, your body develops the most efficient method for you do what you do. Athletes learn to transfer energy without pure force. It adapts to the duration of the activity and learns how to preserve enough energy to do the task. So, keep this in mind when you go to do the latest conditioning routine that the sports scientist suggest. Listen to that old guy in the gym who's been doing what your trying to do for a lifetime.

Why You Never Lose

In competition sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But a loss is not a bad thing. Sure everybody wants to win and it sucks to lose sometimes. You have a 50/50 chance of one or the other so, let's look at winning and losing in a different light. You practice and train to prepare yourself for something. You get out there and lay it on the line. You've been training for weeks alongside your team the closer you get to the event, the team becomes smaller and smaller and sometimes you're the only one who shows up when it's time to perform. Your teammates came up with excuses of why they didn't but you did. You get out there and people are watching and judging you. You deal with your fears and emotions and do your best. You test yourself against another person who went through the same thing as you. So when you look at it this way you're a winner. You did something most people would never do.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.