What to Eat for a Competition or a Fight
The day of a tournament or fight is a time of excitement to some, fear
to many or curiosity to others. To veterans of these types of events,
who enjoy the thrill of competing they wake up buzzing, not being able
to wait until the "opening bell". Others, mainly beginners are scared
or curious, not knowing what awaits them and become very agitated.
Whatever type of person described above, there will always be nerves,
and going by my own experience, nerves can take up a lot of energy.
For this reason, good healthy meals are essential the day of
competition. What youeat will depend on what type of competition and
what time.
Night time events usually consist of "card bouts" where a fighter will
fight once in the night against one opponent of similar weight, and
for a certain number of rounds. For this type of situation a good
hearty breakfast consisting of protein, carbs and healthy fats should
be consumed. A couple of eggs, some fruit, wholemeal bread and milk
would be good. Then every two hours up to a couple of hours before the
event some energising snacks such as turkey sandwiches, oatmeal, tuna
salads and fruit juice should be consumed to keep the fighter steadily
fuelled and to give enough energy to keep him/her going through the
fight later on.
Tournaments are usually events starting early morning and can in some
cases go right up until early evening time. These types of fighters
will fight many short round fights every so often, (normally every 20
minutes or so). For this type of situation, it is no point the fighter
having a large slow digesting breakfast like a night time fighter. A
quick, easy and small breakfast is needed. Something like a cereal and
protein shake is realistic for early bird tournaments, and should be
taken in at least an hour and a half before the tournament starts.
Then I would suggest that after every time you finish a fight, as soon
as you come off the mat, something quickly digestible like fruit or an
energy beverage should be taken to keep energy levels up. It is very
easy to forget to eat during tournaments and this can have drastic
effects to your fighting.
Water is a must for every type of fighting situation. It should be
sipped constantly throughout the day to keep you hydrated and to
provide good cooling through sweat as your body gets hot. If you are
on your own, always have some handy, if you have someone with you
(your friend, trainer) get them to ask you to take a few sips often as
chances are you shall forget.
Marks
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Posted by MARKS at 4:36 PM 0 comments Labels: breakfast, competition,
eat, fight, tournament
Friday, 8 February 2008
Training to Failure, Martial Arts and Life
Martial arts and weight training go hand in hand. When done correctly,
weight training, can strengthen, make faster and make more flexible
the muscles used to become a better martial artist. Many weight
training principles have been adopted by martial artists, including
the cheat principle, negatives, running the rack etc, but I think none
will benefit the martial artist as much as the Failure principle.
Imagine you are working biceps by curling a barbell. You carry out a
few reps and find that you're still feeling strong. After a few more
you start getting tired in your arms and your grip feels weaker. After
two more reps, you feel like dropping the bar and resting as your arms
are very tired and weak. It's at this point that the failure principle
starts to "kick in". You can either stop the set, or go through the
pain for a couple more reps. If you decide to keep going, you know it
will be hard, but your biceps will gain that little bit more strength.
This is where the failure principle relates to martial artists. When
you are sparring or fighting and you reach a certain point where you
feel you can not continue you have to dig deep inside, and find that
little bit more effort and spirit to carry on. If you give up, you
will be overpowered by your opponent, but most importantly, if you
carry on doing this, it will become a habit and could become part of
your every day activities. By going that little bit more, carrying out
them extra couple of reps, throwing them few more punches, eventually
you will create a habit of NEVER GIVING UP. Although yes, your body
will have to give up some time, your mind and spirit should always
remain strong.
Marks
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Posted by MARKS at 10:18 AM 0 comments Labels: Biceps, Curl, martial
arts, Principles, Spirit, Weight training
Thursday, 7 February 2008
How to Sprawl for Fighting and Training
A while back, I wrote an article entitled Defending the Takedown (for
Strikers), in which I talked about the basic takedown defences. I
mentioned the Sprawl as part of the defences. Many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
and other grappling styles know of the sprawl and use it to defend
mainly pickups and tackles (shoots).
One thing I have noticed unfortunately though is that most Judo
practitioners still don't use this technique when attacked with the
above takedowns, and instead try to spin out them, by trying to turn
so they land on there front. Although they will stop there opponent
from winning in competition, they will always find themselves in a
very vulnerable position, and it is not wise to be done on the street.
By sprawling, you land on top of your opponent, in a dominating
position, and it is easy to get back up on your feet if you're on the
street. The best demonstration of the sprawl which I have seen was on
a production by Frank Shamrock called The Ultimate Home Workout. In my
previous article I wrote that "When your opponent dives in for your
legs in a rugby tackle type attack (or pickup), kick your legs back,
and drop your chest onto his upper back area. You will both end up on
the floor but lying on his back, it should be YOU in the dominating
position" The drill to practise the sprawl is,
From a normal fighting stance,
Drop your legs behind you, landing on your thighs as opposed to your
knees, toes as opposed to the top of your feet and hands,
Make sure you hands land on your palms, (not fingers or fist),
shoulder width apart with your fingers pointing outwards,
On landing, remember to keep your chin up and breathe out (breathing
in when you're up again)
As soon as you land, quickly thrust back, and stand, ending up in your
fighting stance, taking about 1-2 seconds for the whole sprawl.
If your new to sprawls, perform repetitions to begin with,
concentrating on slow and quality technique, and after you feel you
have mastered the movement, the best way to carry out this drill is to
sprawl by time. Perform as many as you can in 30 seconds then 1
minute, working up to two minutes, and least 5 rounds.
This is a great exercise which works nearly all of the muscles in the
body, providing a strength, ploymetric and cardio workout in one.
Marks
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Posted by MARKS at 10:17 AM 0 comments Labels: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu,
drill, Frank Shamrock, Judo, Sprawl
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
Vital Point Striking for all Martial Artists
In todays day and age, there is more and more street violence
occurring, and people use weapons including knives, hammers, bats, and
guns. Many martial artists strike hard and practice hitting with full
power, but sometimes in the street this may not be enough. An extra
edge that could help all that is not practised as much as it should be
is Vital Point Striking.
It is called many things, but people are common with Kyusho Atemi Waza
or Dim Mak. Being able to strike vital points is hard to achieve. In
practise, finding the points and practising hitting them is easy, but
against a person who is hitting back, it is hard, so lots of
controlled sparring is necessary. A good way of being able to hit
these points is by holding your opponent securely whilst striking. By
holding, it is easier to strike and easier to locate the points. If
you don't hold, you don't control and it is much harder. This is one
of the reasons why there is a lot of hikite with most strikes in
katas. The hikite represents holding the opponent, whilst delivering
the strike to a vital point.
Vital Points include obvious ones such as eyes, groin, joints, but
then there are not so obvious ones like the bottom of the shoulder
where it meets the bicep or under the armpit. These are more less
known points and if you would like to know more of them, I strongly
recommend you get a copy of the Bubishi. It shows all the points on
the human body.
To practice vital point striking, one of the best ways is to make
small dots with a pen on a heavy bag, and concentrate on trying to
strike these points. The beauty of vital point striking is that the
strikes do not have to be very hard to hurt or do damage so don't hit
with full force on the bag, instead, concentrate on accuracy and on
using more striking surfaces rather than the fist, foot and shin,
including, ridge hand, knife hand, one knuckle strikes, elbows, knees
etc.
Striking vital points can be devastating, so care must be taken when
practising, and if you find yourself unfortunate to have to defend
yourself on the street, ask yourself if the situation is dangerous
enough for you to have to resort to vital point striking. Most of the
time simply walking away is enough to defend yourself.
Marks
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Posted by MARKS at 10:21 AM 0 comments Labels: Bubishi, Dim Mak,
Kyusho Atemi Waza, self defence, Striking, Vital Point
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Heavy Bag Tip - Punching Through the Target
To be able to deliver a possible knockout strike, you need a strong
punch. You must not "pull" your punch (unless its light sparring) for
in a real situation, if you are used to doing this, your strikes will
be futile and you may end up getting beaten, whilst doubting your own
technique since it wont be effective.
Practising punching through the heavy bag is probably the best way to
learn how to punch hard through a target. When I say punch through the
target, I also mean that you should bring your hand back immediately
after the strike. Many people make the mistake of either leaving there
hand in the stretched punch position or simply drop there arm. Don't
do this, as getting used to it will leave you in vulnerable positions
in a real life encounter. Also, practise hitting the heavy bag as it
is swinging freely. Many people stop the bag from swinging. Although
sometimes this may be good if you are practising quick punching drills
on the bag, your opponent will not be standing still. Getting used to
moving forward, back or sideways whilst striking hard through the
target, will greatly enhance your ability and balance.
Marks
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Posted by MARKS at 2:09 PM 0 comments Labels: effective, heavy bag,
punching, target
Monday, 4 February 2008
Abdominal Toughening for Martial Arts
For people who take up martial arts with the thought of never getting
hit, then im afraid you are wasting your time. You will get hit
eventually, even if you train semi or non contact. There are plenty of
these types of fighters that attack so fast and vigorous that it is
very hard to "pull" there kicks and punches. For this reason,
abdominal toughening should be a must for all martial artists.
There are various ways to condition the abdominals to take hard shots.
Obviously you need to strengthen the abdominal muscles so crunch's,
reverse crunches, roman chair sit-ups etc are a must, and should be
carried out about three to four times a week. Then there is impact
training on the abdominals, where the midsection is struck. This gets
the abdominal wall used to taking hits. It also helps you as a martial
artist to get used to being hit, so when it happens in sparring or a
fight, it does not surprise you. There are many ways to carry this
out, including dropping a medicine ball of a heavy bag on your
abdominals while you are lying on the floor, having a partner punch
you in the midsection whilst wearing gloves, concentrating on a
variety of punches, so he/she also benefits from practising, with a
partner, kicking each other in the midsection for a few minutes,
getting harder as time goes by, or even self hitting. A method found
in Fighting Power by Loren Christensen involves positioning yourself a
certain distance away from a heavy bag, so as you can swing it and it
hits you square in the gut each time it swings back.
If you are new to impact training, you must start lightly and as your
abdominals become stronger and your punishment threshold expands, the
shots can get harder and harder. Work frequently on abdominal
toughening, especially if you are planning on fighting full contact or
MMA style.
Marks
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Posted by MARKS at 11:49 PM 0 comments Labels: abdominal toughening,
full contact, kick, martial arts, punches
Review of UFC 81 Breaking Point
Over the weekend, UFC 81 Breaking Point took place, and Im sure that
many would agree with me that many lessons were learnt by most of the
fighters.
Firstly there was one technique that became the king of the night, and
that's the Guillotine Choke. A very dangerous choke if caught in, as
the chances of escape are minimal. Having your opponent wrap his arm
around the back of your neck and digging his forearm bone into the
throat has proved that its enough to take out anyone. Even submission
grappling veteran and expert Jeremy Horn got caught in the technique.
Im sure over the next couple of months his going to practice taking
down opponents while not dipping his head to much.
Then there was the Tim Sylvia, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira fight. Sylvia
looked the dominant one through the whole fight, with some good boxing
skills, opening up the Brazilians face with cuts, except for the last
minute or so when they were on the ground. With his grappling finesse,
"Minotauro" (Nogueira) easily swept big Tim onto his back, and whilst
attempting an arm lock, transitioned it into, yes you've guessed, a
guillotine choke, proving that "it aint over until the fat lady sings"
Lastly, what many people saw as the main event of the evening, WWE
star Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir. From the opening bell, Brock looked
powerful and vicious, using his strength to wrestle Mir to the floor.
From there he pummelled away with hammer fist strikes to Mir, and Im
sure this must have been a shock to the system for the very much
experienced MMA star. But after a short while, Mir proved that just
strength alone is not enough and caught Brock with an awesome knee
bar, winning the fight. Brock is a great wrestler, and now, surly he
will go away, think about the fight, and come to the conclusion, that
he must use his strength wisely, and mix it up with technique which he
certainly does have, and maybe he could be one of the greatest
heavyweights MMA has ever seen.
Marks
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Posted by MARKS at 8:59 AM 0 comments Labels: Breaking Point, Brock
Lesnar, choke, Frank Mir, guillotine, knee bar, Minotauro, Tim Sylvia,
UFC 81
Saturday, 2 February 2008
Self Defence Training for all Martial Artists
Training in martial arts has many benefits. Fitness, strength,
competition success, surpassing plateaus etc, all of these things are
great achievements that can be attained from years of vigorous effort.
But we must not lose the fact that near the top of the benefit list
should be to attain a high level of SELF DEFENCE SKILLS.
Its ironic, that nowadays not much actual self defence is practised at
many martial arts schools. In a self defence situation on the street,
it is not practical to ground fight, feel your opponent out with jabs
until you deliver a knockout punch, try and defend yourself with a
spinning roundhouse kick or attack with a stepping lunge punch. In
many schools depending on the type of fighting concentrated on
(striking or grappling) the majority of the class is involved in
becoming a better fighter for competitive purposes in mind, with
stronger techniques, and about 10 minutes at the end of the class is
used for self defence training. Having said that, IT IS NOT LIKE THAT
AT ALL SCHOOLS, but it is at many.
We can not lose the thought that maybe one day, our well being will
depend on us being able to defend ourselves well, so having said that
I think we should all (including myself) spend slightly longer in
realistic self defence training, being more comfortable with things
like, wild swings and unorthodox kicks, defending against two or more
attackers, defending against realistic knife attacks, and learning how
to read aggressive behaviour. Throughout my time with this blog, Im
sure the following topic will come up in many articles so I leave you
by saying, FIGHTING ON THE STREET IS VERY DIFFERENT TO FIGHTING IN THE
GYM OR DOJO. PLEASE BE PREPARED...just in case.
Marks
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