My Martial Arts and Fitness

That's me, trying to look all badass. Okay, so I'm no fitness model. On the other hand, I'm 56 years old and I'm not trying to be a fitness model, I'm just trying to stay in shape and keep my martial arts skills intact. So, all things considered, I'm pretty damn happy with how I look and what kind of shape I'm in for my age. Here are some of my ideas about getting in shape and staying there.

My Workout Schedule

• I typically work out 4 - 6 times a week, if illness, injury or or other circumstance doesn't get in the way.
• During the week, I work out on my lunch hour, about 30 minute or so. It fits for me and I've been much more consistant since I've switched to lunchtime workouts. I did evening workouts for years (after I retired from regular Martial Arts teaching), but something would often get in the way.
• A former student of mine, Scott Harper, always said that you had to "steal time" for your workouts. It's just a matter of where you can steal time from. I steal it from my lunch hour. Don't get me wrong, if I couldn't work out during my lunch hour I would steal it from somewhere else, probably right after work.
• If you decide to work out, you have to commit to it. You have to understand that it is a lifelong commitment. As for me, I figure it's just another life function, like eating, sleeping, or working.
• On the weekend, I try to fit in 1 or 2 hour-long workouts.

The StrengthWorkout

I believe in order to have a complete fitness regimen it has to consist of three balanced elements: strength training, cardio, stretching.

• 2 - 3 days per week my workout is geared toward strength training.
• I have 3 types of equipment that I use: Bowflex, Total Gym, and dumbbells.
• I also use body weight exercises - push ups and pull ups mostly.
• If you don't have any other equipment, all you need are dumbbells and body wieght exercises.
• The strength training workout.
• I don't "lift wieghts". Most of my strength exercises are chosen for functionality not body buidling.
• I generally alternate between "pushing" and "pulling exercises.
• For example: I use the Bowflex for straight punches, hooking up the bars, grabbing the straps, and firing punches, making sure to turn my shoulders and hips into it so I work my core also. That is one of my "pushing" exercises.
• Also using the Bowflex, I grab the straps and alternate yanking the handle to my ribs, turning my torso with it. That is a "pulling" exercise.
• I try to include as many muscle groups into an exercise as possible, in order to make the most of my 30 minute lunch hour workout.
• For example, turning my torso fully into the punch and the pull, utilizes my back muscles as well as biceps, triceps, and forearms.
• Keeping the muscles balanced.
• I try to work as many pulling exercises as pushing exercises.
• I try to do the pulls and pushes on 3 planes.
• For pushes:
• Push straight out from my torso.
• Push down.
• Push overhead.
• For pulls:
• Pull straight in (toward my torso.
• Pull  upward (from the floor).
• Pull downward (from the ceiling)
• For instance, for a pushing exercise:
• I'll do a basic press, laying on a bench or a swiss ball, pushing the weights directly over my chest.
• I'll do a standing shoulder press, pushing the weights directly up from my shoulders.
• I'll use the Bowflex, pushing the grips straight down, from my chest toward the floor.
• For a pulling exercise:
• I'll do a bent over row, bending over at the waist, pulling the weight to my chest, twisting my torso.
• an upright row, standing straight, holding the weights at my thighs, pulling them up to my chest.
• Pullups on a chin bar (I have one of those Iron Gym bars that fit in a doorway) for the overhead plane.
• Mix it up.
• Your muscles adapt to a regular exercise, stagnating your workout if change it up every few weeks.
• I try to change the workout every 6 weks or so.
• I'll change the equipment I use (keeping the same basic motions).
• Or the weight (or resistance) and number of reps.
• Or the order in which I do the exercieses.
• Or how fast or slow I move the weight.
• It doesn't have to be a big change, almost any change will do in order to keep challenging your muscles.
• Be Consistent.
• Look, there are days (a LOT of days) that I just plain don't feel like working out. I'd rather relax for lunch. Or read ot write or watch TV instead of my weekend workout. I have to push myself hard to get going. On those days, I tell myself just to start and do as much as I can. Getting started is always the hard part. I find that once I get myself started, I usually end up doing the whole workout.
• Stay Motivated. What is my motivation for workng out? I often have to check my motivations whenever I have times that I don't want to workout.
• What are my reasons for working out?
• I want to stay healthy.
• I care about my body and how it looks.
• I want to able to stay active.
• One of my favorite things is to take trips with my wife. On those trips, we walk everywhere, so that we can see the sights and enjoy the atmosphere. I want to be able to enjoy that experience for many, many years to come.
• Pride.
• I am proud that I am still able to do things that I could when I was younger. Many things that most people my age are unable to do.
• Maintenance.
• As we age, our bodies begin to decay, wear out. Whenever I don't put an effort into maintaining it, I can almost feel my body rotting away, slowly but surely. Working out delays the rot. I want to delay it as long as possible.
• My Martial Arts.
• I love the martial arts. It has made me what I am. I love that I am able to still perform those arts well. I love that I can still kick a guy in the head! I want to be able to do martial arts effectively as long as I can.

Next: Cardio

UFC 101

UFC 101 -

My Viewpoint

UFC 101 is in the books. I was very excited about this one. Anderson Silva, Forrest Griffin, B.J. Penn, Kenny Florian; this had the potential to be one of the most exciting UFCs of the year (except for UFC 100, which is a tough act to follow, by any measure). But, all in all, it turned out to be a little lackluster for me.

First of all, the Amir Sadollah vs. Johnny Hendricks fight was a dissapointment. I think it was stopped too quickly. Dan Miragliotta jumped in a little too fast to end the fight. It was a judgement call on his part, but I think a few more seconds would have been appropriate. And, is it just me, or did anyone else think that Hendricks was totally punching the back of Amir's head while he was down on all fours? Amir is a very talented kid and could be a very exciting fighter in the future. He is still young and relatively inexperienced. He deserves another shot in the limelight I think.

Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffen. Anderson is amazing to me. There is no one else in MMA that fights like he does.He pulls thngs out of the hat that just blow me away. His hands were hanging at his and he shoots off a straight punch like lightning. Wow. On the other hand, Forrest didn't seem quite right to me. He looked a little off and kind of sluggish. Not too take anything way from Anderson, he is incredible.

Forrest is one of my favorite fighters. I love his attitude, humor and humility. He is refreshing in an MMA universe that is full of predictably oversize egos. I'm hoping that he hasn't been in one too many wars. The knockout seemed to come a tad too easily. We all saw the same type of thing happen with Chuck Liddell. While the all-out battles are exciting, they tend to shorten a fighter's career. Silva and Machida are two of the only fighters that are savvy enough to remember that smart fighting is all about hitting the other guy effectively and taking as little damage as possible while doing it. Most fans aren't so savvy about that either. Anyway, my hope is that Forrest can regroup and still have a successful career.

B.J. Penn vs. Kenny Florian. As I have said before, in spite of his ability, I don't like B.J. Penn. I think he's a dick. But he is a very talented dick. And he seemed a little better in this outing. A little. Maybe, just maybe, the beatdown from GSP taught him a little humility and maybe, just maybe, he'll be a better person because of it.

The fight itself was not all that exciting, mostly due to Florian's strategy of charging Penn and pressing him up against the ropes. He just wouldn't give up on that. It seemed smart for the first two rounds -- try to wear Penn down and gas him in the later rounds. But, he would't listen to his corner and give up on that to concentrate on his kicks. I think Florian should have kicked the crap out of Penns legs and then worked in the takedowns later when Penn's legs were too tired to fight them off.

The Aaron Riley vs. Shane Nelson fight was boring. Sorry.

The two best fights, as far as I'm concerned, were Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellegrino and George Soritopoulos vs. George Roop. Neer is a jerk and I was glad to see Pellegrino handle him for the most part of three rounds. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. This Soritopoulos guy will be something to watch in the future. He put on a tutorial in groundighting. Excellent.

So, other than that, the evening was a bit of a letdown for me and I can't get very excited about the upcoming events. Except for the return of Randy Couture, there are no standout fights coming, espescially after the stacked cards that we have seen recently. And, jeez Dana, give us a break, two pay-per-views in a month is a bit of a burden on my pocketbook.

My Martial Arts and the UFC

UFC 101 is this Saturday, August 8.

I have a love/hate relationship with the Ultimate Fighting Championships. I have been watching since UFC 1, way back in 1993. That night, I had a few students come over to my house to watch.

Now, keep in mind that my martial arts philosophy has been geared toward being practical, even though I was originally a Tae Kwon Do practitioner. I had named my art Freewind in 1980 and it's concept was to be grounded in the Tae Kwon Do style and then add the essence of other arts that were effective, and, of course, appealed to me.

I first added some Kenpo (Ed Parker style), because I liked the way the art was put together and was influenced by a very amazing Kenpo stylist named Sandy Sandovol. Next, I was introduced to an amazing martial artist named Kelly Worden and followed him as he journeyed through the Filipino martial arts under the tutelage of his mentor, Remy Presas. More about Kelly, Sandy, many others, and my evolution in the arts in later blogs.

Back to to the UFC...

That night, the night of the first UFC, we were shocked by the dominance of Royce Gracie. I had never seen anything like it. On the other hand, I thought he was kind of an ass.

Anyway, we added groundfighting to our style, as much as we could in our isolated little town, and my style grew again.

I followed the UFC ever since, well, as much as I could through it's embattled "human cockfighting" years (thank you, John McCain), when it was banned by our local cable company, but even then, I kept up by purchasing or renting the DVDs.

I am a fan. A big fan. I believe that the UFC has revolutionized martial arts like nothing before it (except Bruce Lee, my hero and the subject of a future blog, I'm sure).

That all being said, I have issues with the UFC. My history in the arts has been grounded by a firm belief in honor, integrity, respect, dignity, etc. The UFC oftentimes does not display these virtues. In fact, there are many UFC competitors that I found downright distasteful.

Brock Lesnar is being groomed to be the new poster boy for the UFC it seems, and, as talented as he may be, I find him disgusting.

B.J. Penn may be the most purely talented and well-rounded fighter in the UFC or maybe MMA in it's entirety (in spite of his inconsistent work ethic), but, from what I've seen, he's an arrogant, disrespectful dickhead.

Sorry, B.J., I own your book, I appreciate your talent, but tomorrow I'll be rooting for Kenny Florian all the way. Ken-flo is a class act and a very talented martial artist in his own right.

Gotta go. I'll check back after the fights and let you know what I think, whether you want me to or not.

Martial Arts and My Life - 1st Blog

Welcome to my blog.

This is my first attempt at blogging so let's see how it goes.

My plan is to discuss all things related to the martial arts: traditional martial arts, self defense, weapons, MMA, UFC, etc.

I will also talk about fitness. I'm not a young man anymore, but I still work very hard to stay in shape. My workouts are built around the martial arts but I have a variety of things that I do. Of course, my favorite is my kickboxing workout with Otis. The picture at the top is me and Otis. He's the best training partner I ever had. Always shows up. Never complains. Doesn't hit back. Perfect.

Here is a link to a clip of my kickboxing workout on YouTube (excuse the clutter, my workout room is also the basement storage room):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWXRyC2Wr10&feature=related

I've practiced martial arts my entire adult life. I owned and operated a martial arts school for close to 25 years. I had to give it up finally for a real job that actually made money, but I have always loved the fighting arts passionately and will train for the rest of my life.

Enough about martial arts for now, I'll get back to it later (but I'll always get back to it!)

So, the title of my blog is Martial Arts & Fitness & Life & Stuff. I will obiously talk about martial arts and fitness, but I have some things to say about life in general, and there will be other stuff that I will throw in now and then just 'cause I feel like it.

That's it for now. More to come...