Traditional month has continued in the same veign as it started, although i think all of the instructors are desperately trying not to slip back in to sports karate mode. The punishments are still coming thick and fast though... the students may have forgotten to say adress us correctly but we havent forgotten to punish them! I dont actually know how many press ups i ahev done this month! Not as punishments but simply from joining in the class. I do need to practice some more flashy ones though.
Training has continued in much the same as normal, visits to the gym and Coalville twice a week to train. The new timetable for instructors now means that we have our CIT training in the evenings again and not in the mornings. The timing of this means that again i will miss out from time to time but having a purple belts and over class starting soon at Coalville means that more specific higher level drils and self defence will now become a far more regular affair. In additon, and this is a big one!, no longer training in the mornings for cit now means i can do my own training before work again. The advantage being i can now taylor what i do to what i need to concentrate on and in additon, to a lesser degree, on the days where i do feel truely knackered and know that i should rest i can have an extra hour in bed. Although knowing me i wont take adavantage of this, purely down to my nature.
Sleep is defiantely an area i need to work on. To improve and stay more motivated i need more rest, i may not a champion world class 'as seen on tv' fighter or athelete but i do push mybody quiet hard most weeks and having done so for almost 18months 2 years now, there are time where my whole body just feels heavy.
Tommorrow is the WUMA euro open in Worcester. Having not fought in a points competition for a while Sensei Craig has put me forward to fight as part of the The RSL Sponsoured Stealth Black Belt Academy - elite squad. Checking up on the website i have noticed that there is a kata section as well as points and will be entering the Korean section of this in order to see how i fair against some god quality opposition. In additon i WANT one of the trophies from this event they are nice and big will look very good in Barwell studio. I could do with the ego boost at the moment!
I am some what nervous about tommorrow, purely ring rust though. Ross has a great deal of drive at the moment for winnig competiions, i wanted to know where he got his energy from....
but thinking back i realised when i was a purple belt i was exatly the same, i wanted to compete and did so, sometimes twice or even three competitions a month. In doing so you condition yourself to fight in competitions, the nerves, the wainting and what to eat and when. The break from pushing for my second dan may afford me more space to do this.
Craig seems to think so, having signed me up for a light contact fight at a fight night in two weeks time, having wanted him to set me up a fihgt ina few months so i could train for it and nothing but that, two weeks is not what i had in mind. Having cut weight to meet put myslef a the top of my catagory tommorrow come sunday night i will start the opposite approach.... eating!!! Plenty of carbs but all the good stuff.
Best practice continous, BIG STYLE!!!!!!!!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Eleven days later
Almost 11 days since my last post and much has happened. One of the main reasons for another large gap is down to the grading date.
With my counter part Matt Smith from Stealth Scaffolding, fully involved in his new business and doing very well by all accounts, there has been a time of reflection and evalution. Richard and myself have been busy sorting out the Barwell Academy our training had dropped off, especailly as Richard has been injured on and off for near on two months now. Concerned about his ability to take his next grade ( black and brown ) and feeling a lack of progression from being injured he decided to speak to Sensei Craig and voice his concerns.
The combination of this and Matts invovlement with Scaffolding has meant that the black belts and 2nd grading at the end of the year has now been postponed until spring 2010. Lucky as all of the poeple in question are instructors and long standing memebers of the club, everyone undertsands the reasons. I am a little disapointed but the extra breathing room gives me chance to complete soem fo the other tasks in the sylabus is a more relaxed time frame. As i mentioned at the begining of this process to complete 2 years of training in 10 months was going to be a challenge, although i can quite hapily stand up and say 'i would have been ready'.
Both myself and Mat had already missed one deadline by both being so busy, we hadnt crossed paths and had chance to present our charity event proposal. That said, as i mentioned at the begining of this process to complete 2 years of training in 10 months was going to be a challenge, although i can quite hapily stand up and say depsite missing a dealine i could have pulled it back and 'i would have been ready'.
With my counter part Matt Smith from Stealth Scaffolding, fully involved in his new business and doing very well by all accounts, there has been a time of reflection and evalution. Richard and myself have been busy sorting out the Barwell Academy our training had dropped off, especailly as Richard has been injured on and off for near on two months now. Concerned about his ability to take his next grade ( black and brown ) and feeling a lack of progression from being injured he decided to speak to Sensei Craig and voice his concerns.
The combination of this and Matts invovlement with Scaffolding has meant that the black belts and 2nd grading at the end of the year has now been postponed until spring 2010. Lucky as all of the poeple in question are instructors and long standing memebers of the club, everyone undertsands the reasons. I am a little disapointed but the extra breathing room gives me chance to complete soem fo the other tasks in the sylabus is a more relaxed time frame. As i mentioned at the begining of this process to complete 2 years of training in 10 months was going to be a challenge, although i can quite hapily stand up and say 'i would have been ready'.
Both myself and Mat had already missed one deadline by both being so busy, we hadnt crossed paths and had chance to present our charity event proposal. That said, as i mentioned at the begining of this process to complete 2 years of training in 10 months was going to be a challenge, although i can quite hapily stand up and say depsite missing a dealine i could have pulled it back and 'i would have been ready'.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday 10th - EMTA Instructor Training
Far, far away from the Stealth Black Belt Academy…. In Littleover - Derby a young Instructor attended his first Tae Kwon Do instructor training course.
The group was 10 strong, 4 instructors and 6 ‘students’. Being the first course of its kind for us since we joined the AMA.
We spoke on many subjects, most of which you’d expect in a instructor training course such as; child protection, new students, insurance, duty of care, stretching and health and safety.
Having done essentially 2 years of instructor training, much of what they did I knew already. But it is never a bad thing to refresh and there were a few basics that, although not forgotten, we re-emphasised to me. These points I will be working on with Richard in the near future.
Having established a comfort zone with Sports Karate and kickboxing, to then have to demonstrate how you teach to black belts was daunting. Especially given the super technical nature of Tae Kwon Do. I made a few mistakes on my tuition of basic moves and didn’t even notice. Although these were basic errors I guess it is important to remember that the way in which TKD clubs run in our federation is so far removed from the upbeat chirpy fitness based methods of the Stealth Academies and thus I shouldn’t expect to be instantly brilliant at teaching TKD.
Overall it was well worth attending, one so I am recognised within the EMTA as being capable of teaching TKD, but also to simply add more weight to my experience, I don’t think you can ever knock having another certificate on the wall, providing you’ve earned them!
The group was 10 strong, 4 instructors and 6 ‘students’. Being the first course of its kind for us since we joined the AMA.
We spoke on many subjects, most of which you’d expect in a instructor training course such as; child protection, new students, insurance, duty of care, stretching and health and safety.
Having done essentially 2 years of instructor training, much of what they did I knew already. But it is never a bad thing to refresh and there were a few basics that, although not forgotten, we re-emphasised to me. These points I will be working on with Richard in the near future.
Having established a comfort zone with Sports Karate and kickboxing, to then have to demonstrate how you teach to black belts was daunting. Especially given the super technical nature of Tae Kwon Do. I made a few mistakes on my tuition of basic moves and didn’t even notice. Although these were basic errors I guess it is important to remember that the way in which TKD clubs run in our federation is so far removed from the upbeat chirpy fitness based methods of the Stealth Academies and thus I shouldn’t expect to be instantly brilliant at teaching TKD.
Overall it was well worth attending, one so I am recognised within the EMTA as being capable of teaching TKD, but also to simply add more weight to my experience, I don’t think you can ever knock having another certificate on the wall, providing you’ve earned them!
Thursday night – Friday and the mysterious back injury
Well its happened again. The mysterious weak muscles in my back which likes to go from time to time has emerged once again. This time was the first time a muscle spasm has caused me a pulled / damaged muscle. I was stood bolt up right doing nothing waiting for he next explanation in a kata and suddenly, gripping pain and a need to flat on my back took over.
The result of which was no visit to the gym, other than a sauna and stream. Although the ones at the gym are quiet cold you don’t feel like anything is happening. I trip to Finland is definitely in order for a good sauna, swiftly followed by a plunge in either fresh snow or a deep lake!
Friday night was TKD again. We touched on the usual stuff and did a little sparring. I’m looking forward to having more space when we move premises, then I can actually spar properly. It the moment it gets cramped and I cant really use my speed to catch the guys out.
The result of which was no visit to the gym, other than a sauna and stream. Although the ones at the gym are quiet cold you don’t feel like anything is happening. I trip to Finland is definitely in order for a good sauna, swiftly followed by a plunge in either fresh snow or a deep lake!
Friday night was TKD again. We touched on the usual stuff and did a little sparring. I’m looking forward to having more space when we move premises, then I can actually spar properly. It the moment it gets cramped and I cant really use my speed to catch the guys out.
Thursday 7th - The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle!
Thursday was a manic training day! loved it though.
No cit in the morning so i headed down to Coalville at 6am to get personal training in. Knowing i might not be training at lunch time i had a thorough warm up and lots of reps in mind.
I warmed up using the bleep test, again out of pratice with this, got to level 14.2 - over a level off my best. After that i headed to the weights bench and worked arms, shoulders and especailly the chest and abs. In addition i forced myself into a really horrible 3 minutes of the knee in using the trx.
I returned to Coalville for 18.45 and went back into the gym with dozer to again work the abs. 19.30 and class rolled round and we were straight into traditional mode. Thoes that forgot their etiquette were punished with pushups and the poor sods on their left hand side paid for mistakes as well. All in good fun. We continued with reverse punch, and introduced lunge punch. After serveral drills of 50 we learnt a bloke followed by a grab sweep defence.
Black Belt club introduce traditional kumite sparring for the first time. I have tounched on this before but simply as a one off. It was pretty painful to begin with, but once the body strating pumping adrenalin the pain eases and the will to win comes back. I sparred twice, found me feet against johny and scored a few nice points, including two kicks round the chops!!! muhahahahaha
Great stuff, looking forward to developing it.
No cit in the morning so i headed down to Coalville at 6am to get personal training in. Knowing i might not be training at lunch time i had a thorough warm up and lots of reps in mind.
I warmed up using the bleep test, again out of pratice with this, got to level 14.2 - over a level off my best. After that i headed to the weights bench and worked arms, shoulders and especailly the chest and abs. In addition i forced myself into a really horrible 3 minutes of the knee in using the trx.
I returned to Coalville for 18.45 and went back into the gym with dozer to again work the abs. 19.30 and class rolled round and we were straight into traditional mode. Thoes that forgot their etiquette were punished with pushups and the poor sods on their left hand side paid for mistakes as well. All in good fun. We continued with reverse punch, and introduced lunge punch. After serveral drills of 50 we learnt a bloke followed by a grab sweep defence.
Black Belt club introduce traditional kumite sparring for the first time. I have tounched on this before but simply as a one off. It was pretty painful to begin with, but once the body strating pumping adrenalin the pain eases and the will to win comes back. I sparred twice, found me feet against johny and scored a few nice points, including two kicks round the chops!!! muhahahahaha
Great stuff, looking forward to developing it.
Wednesday 6th - Barwell Tag Test
Lunch time was the usual gym workout.
Last Wednesday was a weird one for Barwell. The Jedi's and Adults were due to complete their tag tests. This tag test was based on two things, pad holding being the main one. Having nOticed that the pad holding quality in the lower grades needs work, we deliberately gace them drills that would test their ability to hold pads correctly. In additon, for their parteners striking the pads it was a chance to demonstrate their proficiancy at the drills we have been doing over the last month or so.
Last Wednesday was a weird one for Barwell. The Jedi's and Adults were due to complete their tag tests. This tag test was based on two things, pad holding being the main one. Having nOticed that the pad holding quality in the lower grades needs work, we deliberately gace them drills that would test their ability to hold pads correctly. In additon, for their parteners striking the pads it was a chance to demonstrate their proficiancy at the drills we have been doing over the last month or so.
The drills were as follows
- jab cross front leg roundhouse
- jab hook trailing leg round house followed by spinning hook.
- straight punches, jab cross
- 45 degree thai kick followed by axe kick. Not dropping the leg.
As the adults came into the class, it was clearly going to to be busy. In fact we had more Coalville students doing a catch up tag test than Barwell students. It was nice to see them though despite how full the room was.
This is how it should be, The Stealth Black Belt Academy is one team, we simply train in different places. Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays it humbles me to know that our counter parts at Coalville are training at the same time as the Barwell guys.
Tuesday 5th - Feudal Japan
CIT – 6.30 am – Coalville
Started off with a chat and a bombshell, although I was half expecting it. Craig has puzzled for a while now over the way the two clubs run in an effort to improve certain aspects of Stealth we now have monthly themes. Last month we worked on a bit of power and plenty of kicks. The month of May is the first official ‘out of phase’ month. During the entire month all sports karate class will be purely traditional karate based.
Sensei Craig laid down the ground rules, specifically the etiquette which we need to instil in the students. This will be a lot of fun to implement, I especially like the idea that if a student does not do what is expected of them, they have to do 50 push ups and the person on they’re left must do 10! Brilliant. Al though we will conduct this new way of doing things in a fun and ‘stealth’ fashion the underlying reason is to gain back some of the clubs traditional roots.
Once we had discussed this we began to look at the three fundamental kicks in traditional karate. Side, front and roundhouse. As much as hours and hours of kata or patterns can get boring, I’m thoroughly looking forward to both teaching at BArwell and especially taking part in these classes.
Lunch time was down the gym as usual, working the upper body.
7.30pm – Core Class – Coalville
After our discussion in the morning we cracked straight on with traditional month. All the students were introduced to the new rules and after that they were lined up and the traditional May truly began. I loved it. Plenty of reverse punches with the rear hip, loads of untapped power there and nice old school warm up. I can already see the effect this is going to have on the club. As far as I can see its all positive.
Started off with a chat and a bombshell, although I was half expecting it. Craig has puzzled for a while now over the way the two clubs run in an effort to improve certain aspects of Stealth we now have monthly themes. Last month we worked on a bit of power and plenty of kicks. The month of May is the first official ‘out of phase’ month. During the entire month all sports karate class will be purely traditional karate based.
Sensei Craig laid down the ground rules, specifically the etiquette which we need to instil in the students. This will be a lot of fun to implement, I especially like the idea that if a student does not do what is expected of them, they have to do 50 push ups and the person on they’re left must do 10! Brilliant. Al though we will conduct this new way of doing things in a fun and ‘stealth’ fashion the underlying reason is to gain back some of the clubs traditional roots.
Once we had discussed this we began to look at the three fundamental kicks in traditional karate. Side, front and roundhouse. As much as hours and hours of kata or patterns can get boring, I’m thoroughly looking forward to both teaching at BArwell and especially taking part in these classes.
Lunch time was down the gym as usual, working the upper body.
7.30pm – Core Class – Coalville
After our discussion in the morning we cracked straight on with traditional month. All the students were introduced to the new rules and after that they were lined up and the traditional May truly began. I loved it. Plenty of reverse punches with the rear hip, loads of untapped power there and nice old school warm up. I can already see the effect this is going to have on the club. As far as I can see its all positive.
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