Van - how do you feel - don't wanna say afterwards - during the final minutes of sparring or padwork - knackered at all or feel like you have more left in the reserve tank. If, you found yourself unusually flat or winded during your session, how would you deal with it? I.E., take extra rest, change diet, change routines around, stiff-upper through it?
My cardio feels strong enough that I don't feel tired (lungs or muscular) but I get a general sense of fatigue throughout my workouts towarda the end of the week (day 5 or so). Do find myself getting bored much quicker during those times, but that is probably down to my tired mind searching for reasons to quit. If I'm feeling crappy I'll up my carb intake. If that doesn't work, I'll get more sleep (than I normally do) between workouts. But I'm not averse to saying "screw it" and just skip a workout entirely. My coach doesn't really mind as long as I don't miss sparring practice. I am feeling the workouts getting easier already, but this lifestyle does get boring fast.
Apologies for the late update. I had another busy week of training since my last post. Pretty much the same timetable as before: 3 to 4 workouts a day focusing on pad work, sparring and conditioning. This training has been going very well. I feel strong and everything is working for me in sparring. I believe very strongly that I could win the fight - if I had continued with training. But yesterday was my last day of camp. I had been mulling over a phrase I wrote in one of my previous posts for several days. "This lifestyle does get boring fast." I've thought about it A LOT this past week. It was even waking me up in the middle of the night. I slowly came to realise I have become bored with competition karate, specifically kumite (sparring - I'll explain why that distinction is important further down). Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE training. I have done this all my life and I'll keep doing it. But I just don't feel any excitement for stepping on the mats anymore. Maybe it's because I've pretty much seen and done it all, short of going to the Olympics (which isn't even an option in this sport). It certainly isn't an excuse to quit tough training because my body was handling it fine. Anyway, I found out yesterday my opponent for the fight pulled out due to injury. Coach was confident of finding me a replacement, but this morning I went to his office and announced my retirement from competitive sparring. I just don't want to fight anymore. And he completely understood. He thought my boredom is a symptom of burnout. Not acute fatigue from this camp, but rather being jaded from doing the same thing for so many years. He felt exactly the same when he was in his forties. He said I'm feeling it now probably because I started so young. I have reached the limit in terms of what can be achieved in kumite so now I have nothing left to excite me. He was very supportive. I made the distinction of competitive sparring because Coach thinks I should try competitive forms (kata). I bagged a few national titles in traditional forms back in my taekwondo days but nothing on the international circuit. He said it might give purpose to my training and there are plenty of variations to keep me interested: traditional empty hand, traditional weapons, musical empty hand and musical weapons. He said I have the flexibility and kicks to do well, what I really need to focus on is the aerial moves. My artificial hip will no longer be an issue and there will be a great deal of carryover to stunt work (which is the direction I want to take my career). But, yes, looks like I will be an XMA-er! I will still remain a part of the England Team to coach and spar with the guys who still want to fight (because I love kicking people in the head too much to give that up!) as well as lead the development of a forms squad. So there you have it. I have officially retired (kinda). I'm very comfortable with my decision, I have the full backing of my wife, Coach and team mates, and I'm excited at the change in direction. No doubt I'll get the occasional inner voice telling me "Go on, fight you big girl!" But I can deal with that. I'm going to take a day or two just to chill out before I start the process of training for forms competitions. I'll still update this log as I chart a new chapter in my martial arts career.
:ban: :ban: :ban: :ban: Just kidding! Good luck with your change of direction and with the stunt work!
You know what? I'm not gonna resize that - it really was that shocking. Plus I got to use a classic image Seriously though, that was a surprising turn of development I hadn't expected from you just yet, how long have you been doing stuff competitively? The stunt work sounds like a great idea and I'm glad your coach, your wife and everyone else are supporting you on this. There's no point competing if your heart just isn't in it like it used to be any more. Have you given any consideration to when you want to start competing, or does it simply not matter to you? Best of luck either way dude
Thank you. You too, Frodo. I started competing (in TKD) at 10 years old and (with the exception of brief layoffs due to injury) I've been fighting more or less constantly that whol time. I sat down the other day to try and calculate exactly how many tournaments I had fought in - I gave up after 500! If you consider there are usually a minimum of 3-4 matches per tournament (more at the bigger events) and, well, that's a lot of fights. I last fought at the British Championships in 2012 so this is the longest period in my competitive career without stepping on the mats. And you know what? I really haven't missed it, even though my inner voice calls me weak for saying it. My primary goal this year had been to reclaim my world #1 ranking but, if I'm honest with myself, I'm so far behind the other guys that I'd be lucky to break the top 10 by the end of the year - and the intensity (of training and competing) needed to achieve even just that would very likely give me an injury. I feel like I would just be repeating a process I've done so many times already. There is nobody in the current top 10 I haven't beaten, I won gold the last time I fought, so I'm very happy to go out on a win and on my terms. I'm going to take my time getting into forms competitions. I enjoyed fighting in the States and plan to do the same with forms, but the guys in the black belt divisions over there are red hot so I need some serious training if I want to stand a chance! But the stunt work is my top priority and right now there is so much I need to do for that.
I'll briefly restate my goals following my "shock" admission I have gone over to the Dark Side (XMA). I'll continue with a strength and conditioning program (got to retain an ounce of respect from my MAP peers somehow!) though it will likely change from barbell stuff to nearly all bodyweight/gymnastics. A lot of the 'Agility & Strength' phase of the Stunt Register test revolves around things like handstand push-ups, ring muscle-ups and pommel horse works. I'll post my planned program when I figure it out. A lot of my time will be taken up with weapons practice. I know some basic traditional forms and I'm okay at them, but I've got to get to grips with all that baton twirling stuff! There are trampolining, gymnastics and tricking classes I'll be attending so I'll post details when I go. I was cutting from 73 to 65 kg for my fight. The cut was going very well (1 kg a week and not hungry) so I'm going to continue it, very likely beyond to 60 kg. I think this weight will help me with all the aerial stuff. There's more, but all in good time. Anyway, here's what I did today. Workout A - Cardio (1 hr.) • Mobilisation exercises (10 min.) • Brisk walk to warm-up (5 min.) • Steady-state run at 8 min/mile: 4.5 miles (35 min. 46 sec.) • Relaxed stretches (10 min.) Workout B - Bo (2 hours) • Spin #1 (two-hand clockwise): 1 min. spin, 30 sec. rest (30 sets) • Spin #2 (one-hand fig. 8): 1 min. spin each side (15 sets each side) • Spin #3 (two-hand fig. 8): 1 min. spin, 30 sec. rest (30 sets) Forearms! Yowzer!!
Are you looking to specialise in MA stunts or are you thinking of branching out and learning other skills, e.g. horse riding, stair falls, fire stunts etc?
I'm really only interested in MA stunts but you need to qualify in 6 categories if you want to get on the Register, which is the only way to get legit work. I will do high falls, fire, car knockdown etc courses at some point, but sadly none of those count towards the Register.
Possible to vid some of it? Or post a Youtube vid of someone doing the identical routine. Probably an asinine question, but what is Spin #1,2 etc., a gymnastics routine?
I can post videos of the individual exercises that form the routine if that helps? "Spin #x" just refers to a way of spinning the bo. They're transitions between blocks and strikes and done mostly for visual effect. Pretty hard to explain in words so will try to find matching videos on YouTube. In the meantime I'll just list outlines of training I do with the weapons as I guess specifics aren't all that important right now.
Yesterday's stuff. Workout A - Karate (1 hr.) • Mobilisation exercises (10 min.) • Jump rope at 120rpm (5 min.) • Shadow boxing (2 x 2 min. rounds) • Punching the heavy bag (2 x 2 min. rounds) • Shadow kicking (4 x 2 min. rounds) • Kicking the heavy bag (4 x 2 min. rounds) • Relaxed front and side splits (5 min.) Workout B - Forms/Misc. (1 hr. 30 min.) • Mobilisation exercises (10 min.) • Taikyoku-sono-ichi x 2 • Taikyoku-sono-ni x 2 • Taikyoku-sono-san x 2 • Pinan-sono-ichi x 2 • Pinan-sono-ni x 2 • Pinan-sono-san x 2 • Pinan-sono-yon x 2 • Pinan-sono-go x 2 • Pinan-sono-ichi-ura x 2 • Pinan-sono-ni-ura x 2 • Sanchin-no-kata x 2 • Gekisai-dai x 2 • Yantsu x 2 • Tsuki-no-kata x 2 • Bo basics - blocks, strikes and spins (20 min.) • Handstand facing wall (walk up and down) x 10 • Handstand facing wall (6 x 10 sec. holds)
Spent most of today laying on the sofa watching movie after movie. Did get up to do some flexibility maintenance work: • PNF front oversplit stretches x 6 sets each leg (hit 200° both sides) • PNF side split stretches x 4 sets (stopped at 180° due to artificial hip) • 180° static side kick hold (3 x 10 sec. holds - right leg only) • Chloe Bruce's 180° "scorpion kick" (3 x 10 sec. holds - right leg only)
