Back to basics

Today's blog comes to you from the comfy surrounds of my sofa. I'm here for a reason, I'm sore and not really enthusiastic about moving. The cause, a thorough back workout.

We did a complete back workout yesterday, but that's a bit of a misnomer. The exercises used are really over all body workouts but mainly hit the large muscle groups of the back.

We started with chin ups, three sets of twelve. My last set had to be assisted, me being tall and long I find chins difficult. My training buddy, Denny, is small and blocky, he eases through the chins. This morning the latimus dorsi muscles are well worked all the way down to the hip. It's a great feeling.

Moving from the chins, we went straight into deadlifting. Deads' are a super compound exercise. It looks ridiculously simply, you pick a weight up and stand up straight. However, it is much more than that. Form is everything for deadlifting, if your form is off you run the risk of seriously injuring yourself.

My heaviest deadlift recorded was 160kg's, this day we went as far as 100. We were aiming for more reps, and we achieved three sets of ten. Denny struggled with this, I was surprised, he usually leaves me behind in every other exercise. I like deadlifting though. After three sets, the buzz kicked in and the second wind arrived, good timing.

To finish the back workout, we used 30kg's for dumbell rows, again high reps. These were tough as we reached the end.

To add insult to injury, we did a bit of body sparring for 3x3 minute rounds. Denny has no technique so it was all about movement, high work rate, standing toe to toe at a light fast pace. He was knackered. I was ok funnily enough, I felt good though. Maybe it's just Denny stepped out of his comfort zone for some exercises he doest normally do.

Today I feel well and truly worked. I think it'll be a day off. Going to get some veg for juicing later on today, I live for veg, it's alive inside you know!

I've changed my protein also, instead of my usual whey isolate, I've changed to egg albumin. No reason for the change other than I've always wanted to try it, not that you notice any immediate difference. Egg protein does however have a higher BV, which means it's digested quicker and put to use sooner.

In the news, our finance minister has pancreatic cancer. Lenihan is at the other end of the political spectrum for me, politics aside, he's a human being and I hopes he beats this horrible disease, once he recovers he can set about abolishing the banks, scrapping NAMA and putting that 90 billion into local government so they can directly employ workers of all nationalities to get about developing our infrastructure, they could start with constructing a proper school for Gael scoil Barra!

Happy crossfit

Well we're nearly there, another few days and this barmy time of year will be over. We'll be back to normal, what ever normal is.
It has been freezing all week, the hall I'm training in is like an ice box, the local butcher asked me the other day if he could rent out a bit of space as he wanted to hang some beef in it!

I've been pairing up with a buddy of mine for training over the xmas. He's a crossfit fanatic and trains with the big lads in the Hercs' gym. Your man said Crossfit is easy, sure it looks easy when you look at it on youtube, your man is wrong!

I've had two sessions this week, and it's ego bashing. The last one included push/presses and ab roles, I felt sick at the end, but what a rush. It's really great stuff. We'll be back again tomorrow morning for some dead lifting sets and a few other killer sets, I'll see what he has planned.

I love training over the xmas period, I get frustrated if I don't. Although there is too much grazing on rubbish, every where you look, rubbish. Chocolate sweets, chocolate biscuits, chocolate crisps, well nearly.

I thought I'd go for a run today, but instead I decided I'd go for a cycle. The canal was frozen over, my two buddies had to be content with standing on the water, jebus like, instead of swimming around. They looked peeved!

The best news this xmas was Rage Against The Machine keeping the X factor kid off the number 1 spot. It's just a point of principle. I'm a fan of Rage, they speak the truth.

Fuair mo chara nuacht olc seacthaine sa chaite. Nuacht go hainnis maidir a athair agus a dreartháir. Tá suil agam go mbeidh sé ceart go lear amach anseo, is duine ar fheabhas é.

Tá an bhliain nua ag teacht!

Swanning around

I hit the road again today for a run. The thing with running is that it takes a couple of trips for the muscles to adapt. Already today I felt more of a spring in my step even though the quads were still a bit achy from the other day.

Off I set down the canal again, and there were my two new fans, pictured here!

If only they had the internet, I'd probably have 8 followers instead of a whole 6.

On my way back up the canal I decided to do a few knuckle push ups, I like doing them on the concrete for that extra impact. However the path on the canal is not concrete, it's made of thousands of little sharp bits, laid into the tarmac. Jebus, I lasted a full four push ups, these little yokes were painful! Ah ha a new challenge! If I can muster twenty towards the end of January parana pine won't be a problem. I hope!

It's nearly the xmas break. The last class will be on Friday. I look forward to the break, although I will be training over the xmas, I don't understand the need to gorge food over these two weeks. Families go out and buy food as if we're heading into a nuclear Holocaust. It is indeed a strange time of the year!

Bah! Humbug.

Road wars!

Let the battles begin! I took to the road this morning I upped my running input for this grading training. I hate running, but that's probably because I run on a tread mill in the gym. Nothing passes you buy on a tread mill, only time.

Running on the road is so much more interesting. I set out down the canal this morning, the air was sharp as it cleared my head and all inhibitions about running passed and the heart woke up.

I was met on the first quarter by two huge swans, these guys were incredible to see and not a bother on them as chuffed passed. They looked at me with passive interest as if to say - "another dumb humanoid". It's times like this I wish I had my camera. But onward I slogged.

Down as far as Campbells bridge and into Cabra. Hard to believe it's 2009, nearly 2010 and we still have 19th century level crossings. Of course the country is broke so there'll be no investment here. Maybe if we call the level crossing AIB Bank the government will throw money at it. Who knows.

On into Cabra and around the estates. This is what makes running on the road more interesting than the boring tread mill. Passing known faces, friends and past students. How big some of these guys are now! They were in the club as kiddies, now it looks like they're giants. Good to see them.

Back around by Broombridge and an upward challenge, time to sprint up that hill and back down onto the canal. The canal is great. Plenty of wildlife and water. I have fond memories of fishing that canal as a young lad with my brother. I never caught much, he caught everything. He was a master fisherman, he could pull fish from a puddle. Everything went back into the water. He was a real angler, and I guess these early days on the canal cultivated a love of wildlife in me. I've always said I'll go back and do a bit of fishing some day. Nothing like it.

The last stretch back up the canal was tough, it's all up hill so I picked up the pace. The brisk air was now stinging the back of my nose. It's fresh though and clean. The heart is well up and the sweat is starting to flow. Your man kept telling me to stop, you've done enough. Your man got told where to go, it's so easy to give in, I was finishing this stretch, and I did.

My inspiration for running is Wayne McCullough. If you keep up to speed with him on his website http://www.pocketrocketbox.com/ you'll see he makes running sound old school, rockyesque!

Anytime you head out for a run you can't help but hum the Rocky tune as you head off, as you finish your humming is more like gasping, and the tune is incomprehensible!

Anyway the road wars have begun and I'm happy.

Living history

As you will know, my thesis for my 4th dan test will be on the history of Taekwon-Do in Ireland. This subject has been covered before by many gone before me. This thesis will be different. I intend to interview as many as the original pioneers of Irish Taekwon-Do as possible.

I started my thesis this week, and there was no better start had than to conduct an interview with the very first ITF Taekwon-Do black belt, Senior Master Robert J Howard 8th degree.

This blog made contact with the RITA's Master Robert Howard junior, the son of Senior Master Howard, a number of weeks back. Master Howard junior is the youngest ITF Master in Europe. I was delighted to hear that Senior Master Howard would allow me the time to interview him.

I landed into the Cabra parkside sports centre on Tuesday last and waited patiently for this great man to arrive. I was nervous I have to say. I mingled with other RITA members telling them of my interview and then in he arrives, with a very proud walk and bundles of presence, he made his way down the corridor of the sports hall. I bowed and greeted SNR Master Howard, and he cheerfully said "hello Jon!" - The first thing you notice about SNR Master Howard are his hands. He has hands like shovels. Real Taekwon-Do hands, which have been responsible for the death of several hundred bricks, blocks and tiles over the years.

We headed upstairs to the cafe where SNR Master Howard brought me through a unique and highly interesting Taekwon-Do history, from 1967 to present day. I was delighted with the content, he remembered everything with clarity, from being with General Choi in Winnipeg, the first Taekwon-Do world championships and the very early days with GM Rhee Ki Ha.

We spent close to two hours chatting, and like anything that you're enjoying the time runs out on you. I hope to come back to SNR Master Howard again at some point. I FORGOT TO GET A PHOTO!!! "Blast it" I said as I drove away, but I hope he'll allow me the opportunity again soon.

I intend using this new found knowledge of Irish Taekwon-Do as the foundation of my thesis.

In conclusion here, SNR Master Howard is an absolute gent, he has a super sense of humour and carries all the traits of serious martial artist. I am very grateful for the opportunity, both to SNR Master Howard and to JNR Master Howard also.

My next stop will be Mr Aidan Walsh, then hopefully as suggested to me SNR Master's Phelan and Barrett. I have another few people to track down after that and then I should be ready to put pen to paper.

Brushing up

This week has been very busy. I managed to get a patterns session in on Sunday. In the cold near Baltic conditions of our dojang in Cabra, but like Ernest Shackleton I ploughed on through the icy conditions!

I have to say, I'm always impressed at how patterns, while looking easy, have the ability to knock the wind out of you when done with full power. I began with Chon Ji, and worked up through the kup patterns. By the time I got to Won Hyo I was feeling warm. I do have problems keeping my hip muscles warm, but so far so good.

I came across a small problem in Toi Gye where I felt myself speeding up through the 'w' shape blocks, maybe it's because they're stamping motion that I felt I was going beyond the normal pace of the pattern. After Choong Moo, I moved on into the dan patterns, if it was Shackleton, he would now have the South Pole in sight! Only Juche and Eui Am stood in the way as awkward patterns, akin to a dodgy ice crevice in the Antarctic!

Unlike Shackleton, I didn't lose the endurance and made it through to Yoo Sin. I had to re-do Choi Yong though as one of the turns had me finishing the wrong direction. A quick glance through the encyclopedia and I was back on track. I did three versions of Yoo Sin. I taped the last one for you criticism.

Please feel free to let me know what you think, now bear in mind, I am feeling tired and I do realise I made the wrong step turn from the middle punch to the reverse knife hand middle block, your man says the back leg moves first. I tend to agree with your man.

But here you go, warts, wobbles and tiredness included.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXbZqC4q6B4&feature=email

My next installment will be soon. I met with Senior Master Howard of the RITA. Ireland's first ITF black belt. An incredible source of Taekwon-Do history and a gentleman at that. Stay tuned!

Brrrrr....

Tá an geimhreadh anseo! This blog hates the cold. It can be a real challenge to motivate yourself on a morning where the weather greets you with zero degree temperatures. The cold can be stingingly uncomfortable and of course it's fierce hard to get the blood flowing, and the joints remain stiff.

I missed the Sunday session gone, a lack of sleep that night got the better of me. I pushed myself to the gym this morning and gave myself a good punishment. Benching to failure and squatting like wise. I'm suffering now. Squats are a killer. My legs are like jelly, but it's a good feeling, at least you know you worked hard.

Tonight's class was good, I enjoy the Monday class. We have a good mixture of beginners on Monday and we train hard.

I really enjoy when a beginner comes along and takes to Taekwon-Do like a duck to water. Every now and again this happens and I get excited. This beginner is at the right age, 14 years old, already has a good base in gymnastics and understands body mechanics, this kid will go far once the mind is in the right place. I'm positive about it anyway. Feicfimid!

We're nearly into wind down mode now for the December holidays. A nice paganistic time of year. I enjoy the break, but the commercialism of the whole thing is quite pathetic. I would say Bah humbug, but I saw 'A Christmas Carol' - 3D the other night and it scared the pants off me! If you haven't seen it - see it! Tá sé ar fheabhas, it's excellent.

I'll be working out my training schedule over the xmas, the hardest thing will be keeping the chocolate intake down to a minimum!

This blog reckons it's time for a change. I've been toying with the idea of re branding the club and renaming it. It has been on my mind for the best past of six or more months now. I'm happy with the name Pilsung, however it doesn't resonate with the masses. The whole idea of a name is that it is automatically recognised, and recognised with success. Pilsung isn't even English, and worse again not even Irish!

This blog also needs to make more use of the interweb. I've been exploring these twitter and facebook phenomena, I hate facebook, but the king of the south east Daragh Bolton says it's great for promoting the club, I'll see. Twitter is interesting, not sure why people want to tell the world what they're doing every minute of the day, no one is that interesting! However twitter seems a good way of supplying club breaking news or updates. The jury is out though.

One thing is for sure, there will be a new name for our clubs, and it will be coming shortly. I've run a little competition for the kids in Cabra, if someone can guess the name I'm thinking, they'll win a new dobok for themselves. There a two hints on our website - http://www.pilsung-itf.com/

There is one winner who got her answer in sharpish, I thought no one would get it, but there you go!

Training is going well, my abs are sore still from a session two days ago. It was a real burner! We're trying to get a power rack for the club, hope to have that sorted soon. That will mean the 6am starts will be more productive, the club is closer to me than the gym. I've put it out there if anyone wants to train with me in the morning starting at 6.30am they're more than welcome to join me, I'll warn you now.. it's easier said than done!

Training tomorrow as well, not sure if there'll be many there. Marto isn't going and there are plenty who have a cold, it's going around, so far so good for this blog anyway.

So the new name for the club will be announced soon enough, it will coincide with a new look website. Like any change of name, it'll take time to get used to it, or will it? Time will tell.

You are what you eat

Or so they say. I've always wondered though exactly what that meant. It doesn't make sense really. If it did, I would be an apple right now. Clearly I'm not.

That slogan would be better understood if it was - 'if you want to be a top class athlete, if you want to be fit, healthy and happy - eat well'

That makes more sense.

This blogger has been called a food Nazi in the past. I can be fierce strict when it comes to my food. I fell into ill health a number of years back. I was about 23 and inflicted an inflamed gall bladder on myself while on holidays. I could barely walk. I was over 17 stone in weight. I had stopped training for a year or two to concentrate on other projects and jobs.

I visited the hospital while away, and there the Colombian doctor who tended to me read me the riot act after he took a blood test. Here I was 23 years of age, meant to be in my prime, a fat waste of space, sick on holiday. Things were going to change and change they did.

I got back training in Taekwon-Do, the rest is history as they say.

There is no need to be over weight these days, although it easy to be. A lot of the food we eat these days is processed, meaning it has been tampered with by man, and once man has touched it, it is rendered useless. Processed food is bad.

Keeping it natural is the way to go. You cannot beat natural foods, straight off the tree or straight out of the ground.

Here is my typical food intake for an average day, beginning with breakfast;

• Raw oats with blackberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and banana - (rice milk, I don't drink milk)
  
• 30g of milled flax seed, goji berries, sunflower seed and hemp seed


• 30g of protein isolate


• Supplement g Vit C, 4g of garlic, potent multi mineral and vitamin tablets

Meals during the day;

• With me throughout the day is a box of raw vegetables, tenderstem brocolli, a whole pepper, olives, cherry tomatoes, peas, carrots and sweet corn.


• 100g of tofu


• A whole mango


• an Apple, a banana and a kiwi


• A yogurt


• 2 litres of water

I would graze on these throughout the day until the evening when I would have;

• Scrambled or boiled eggs, with some olives
  
• Cottage cheese with a yogurt

I don't eat meat anymore. I don't believe we were designed to eat meat originally. In fact scientific evidence states we were herbivores, but we adapted as we evolved, hence our different blood types. Type A were grazers off the land, type O were meat eaters.

I do eat fish though, I'm a big fan of raw fish, sushi style!

My weakness is chocolate. Although I limit my intake (sometimes) I do try have a small bit everyday. I'm worth it :D

I don't eat bread, biscuits, crisps, fizzy drinks of any kind or any processed meats.

There is no better way to go about your day knowing that what you're eating is keeping your body in prime condition. With that diet you won't even catch a cold!

The rule is simple. Eat naturally. Avoid as much stuff as possible that has been processed by humans. Give it a month and you'll see a huge difference in your hair, skin, eyes and energy levels.

For more information you should read a book called 'Optimum Nutrition' by Patrick Holford

Pic- My breakfast bowl and my food for the day =)

Integrity

This blog is tired this morning. I had every intention of an early night last night after training, but the soccer match in France dictated a different departure time for me. Never the less, the six o'clock start wasn't missed and the wet and windy trip to the gym was tackled with gusto. I've been concentrating on some core work for the past week. This morning after the warm up, I worked a wee bit on the arms then concentrated on core exercises. Those swiss balls are fantastico. I'll feel it in the morning no doubt.

I was asked about my diet the other day and what I eat throughout the day, maybe my next installment I will detail that. But for now, this blogger wants to mention something else.

Any student of ITF Taekwon-Do will of course have some understanding of the tenets. Five important concepts that we are 'supposed' to use in our every day lives.

Courtesy

Integrity

Perseverance

Self Control


Indomitable Spirit

When you're a coach, you get many questions from the juniors asking for examples of each so they can have a better understanding of what are, for an 8 year old, complex words indeed.

Well for all you youngsters who may browse this blog and read this bloggers ramblings from time to time, I came across an ideal example of someone who has no integrity.



This is Thierry Henry of France, handling the ball deliberately, creating an unfair goal for his team.
Cheating.
Cheaters have no integrity.

Thanks Henry for providing that classic example for those youngsters out there. You've taken the 'VaVa Voom' out of your character.

HIIT or miss

No, it's spelt right. HIIT, high intensity interval training.

We got into anaerobic thresholds last night in the class. Boy was it tough, 8 rounds of 30 second explosive works with a 90 second break in between. I padded for the lads, Alvy, Fiachra, Adam, Shokri and Neidín, I threw in a little bit of adrenal stress drills, it keeps them under pressure and pushes them way outside their comfort zones, both mentally and physically. Poor Fiachra reproduced his dinner, in the shower! He's a Cork man so we'll let him away with it!There will be plenty more visits to the club from the HIIT bogey man in time to come.

Anaerobic exercising is an interesting topic. I had one of the lads come into class last week and tell me his teacher said Taekwon-Do wasn't an anaerobic sport. Apparently his teacher said an anaerobic sport has got to do with holding your breath. That sounds like a lot of fun, I must say.

Me thinks this teacher is confusing the actual term anaerobic with anaerobic exercise. The word anaerobic literally means without air. There are various forms of anaerobic materials and substances on this earth, that do actually function without the aid of oxygen, some bacteria for an example, and a special underwater adhesive, apparently.

When we talk about anaerobic exercise however we are talking about anaerobic work, involving maximum effort, the body is working so hard that the demands for oxygen and fuel exceed the rate of supply and the muscles have to rely on the stored reserves of fuel. The muscles, being starved of oxygen, take the body into a state known as oxygen debt.

The body's stored fuel soon runs out and activity ceases - painfully. This point is often measured as the lactic threshold or anaerobic threshold or onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA). Activity will not be resumed until the lactic acid is removed and the oxygen debt repaid. Fortunately, the body can resume limited activity after even only a small proportion of the oxygen debt has been repaid. Since lactic acid is produced, the correct term for this pathway is lactic anaerobic energy pathway.

The alactic anaerobic pathway is the one in which the body is working anaerobically but without the production of lactic acid. This pathway can exist only so long as the fuel actually stored in the muscle lasts, approximately 4 seconds at maximum effort.

Anaerobic endurance can be sub-divided as follows:
Short anaerobic - less than 25 seconds (mainly alactic)
Medium anaerobic - 25 seconds to 60 seconds (mainly lactic)
Long anaerobic - 60 seconds to 120 seconds (lactic +aerobic)
Anaerobic endurance can be developed by using repetition methods of relatively high intensity work with limited recovery.

Types of anaerobic exercises include interval sprints, plyometric drills, high intensity pad work, stair sprints and Olympic lifting. Types of anaerobic sports would include both WTF and ITF sport Taekwon-Do, sprinting, speed skating, Rugby, sprint cycling and other such high intensity low time span sports.

So, I suppose after 20 years of Taekwon-Do, having a secondary school teacher tell me and scientific research that we're wrong is a bit like me telling that teacher that the capital city of Argentina is Peru.

It is, isn't it?

Setting the standard.

Standard in ITF Taekwon-Do is everything, to me anyway, and I'm sure to many other TKDists out there in the real world.

Standard was something that I got a good old gander at, at the weekend. We went to the IUTF International Irish championships. The tournament is very good every year, this year the standard of Taekwon-Do competitor at it was the highest I've seen in a long time in Ireland.

The tournment itself was huge, winning at this tournament doesn't come easy. My guys did exceptionally well, most medalling. They all did us proud as usual.

Winning a TKD bout is tough, winning it with style and with that unique ITF agility and speed is even tougher. For me it is such a pleasure to watch stylish Taekwon-Do competitors, well trained, fast as hell and as tactical as they come.

Marauding and swinging your arms everywhere as if punching, isn't nice to look at and undermines our sports credibility on the world stage. Bombing and charging around the ring belongs in the WWE.

With that my hat goes well and truly off to the Dutch team the Croats and the Italians that were present at the championships. These guys and girls were hot stuff. Inspiring.

With that, I found myself asking. What makes these guys tick? What gives them the edge? What is their mindset towards training?

Mindset, this is the key. I remember Tomaz Barada telling us that his juniors train with him 12 times a week... twelve times!

Mindset, mindset, mindset... I want to know how these people think!

We struggle in Ireland to produce such quality in most major sports. I blame the government, their lack of interest in amateur sports in this country is despicable. I also blame the USA, their imposing cultural imperialism through brain washing TV has produced a generation of Zoe 101ers, Christina Aguellera (whatever you call her) and Britney Spears wannabes, I also blame the makers of Xbox and bebo. Gulags for the lot of them.

The Soviets got many things wrong, but if they got anything right it was their approach to sports, they cultivated athletes from a young age, they had sports schools and provided financial assistance to all state run sports academies.

Ah maybe i'm being bitter, but the attitude to amateur sports here in Ireland, excluding the GAA of course, is below par.

I want to know what is the missing link? What makes the Dutch so good? What makes the Italians so stylish? What makes the Polish world champions time and time again. What made Paul Germaine so good? What made Tomaz Barada the best ever?

We've a long way to go, but I'm confident, our guys can win and win in style, but they need to have that mindset to be the best, when you wake up in the morning you are numero uno, when you go to bed you are numero uno. Unless you create that mindset for yourself, skill and tactics go out the window.

One of the answers is experience of course. The more you compete the more confident you become, and Ireland does have exceptional Taekwon-Do competitors.

Anyway enough rambling, I'm inspired again and I like people who inspire me, they are few and far between. So again, to all you top class stylish Taekwon-Do and kickboxing people out there..I bow down. Keep up the good work, I may need inspiring again at some point... soon!

Pic - Silvia Farigu of Italy. One of the best in the world.

Nobody comes close.

It's as simple as that. Nobody comes close. Of all the people I've trained with over the years, Tomaz Barada has been the best of them.

Not only has this man won everything there is to win on the ITF Taekwon-Do circuit, he was also untouchable on the WAKO kickboxing circuit. He has a pro kickboxing record of 84 wins - 0 losses. He retired undefeated.

I had the opportunity of visiting his trophy gallery in Slovenia in 2008. A splendid sight indeed. You could have mistaken it for a trophy store.

The word retired however is probably a misnomer. When you retire, you normally pack things up and go off to have yourself a nice life, fishing, gardening etc. Not Barada, while he has retired from competing, he is still very much at the heart of the ITF competition circuit and the WAKO kickboxing also. He teaches everyday, he trains everyday, he has several world champions training under him, and no doubt several more to come.

All of that, and he's the most approachable, down to earth kind of guy you could ever meet. Every time I've trained with him he has something new to offer. A new skill, a new drill, a new conditioning exercise, always something new. As a coach myself, learning new skills and passing them on is the key to future success.

The sessions themselves were intense. After the Saturday sessions I thought I would never make it through the Sunday, but I did. Even some of the younger ones weren't able for it, this mindset wasn't for packing it in.

I was happy enough with the fitness levels, although the left leg was a bit stiff. That hall we have is an ice box. It doesn't help at all. You could hang sides of bacon in it and they'd be fine there for months. I'll have to do something about it, I can't train in the freezing cold. Fair enough you warm up, but my left hip flexor only needs 30 seconds to cool down and then it's a nightmare to get going again!

Tomaz is back in January, he's doing a session for Ian Kingston in Cork. We'll be travelling down for that. Then the Slovenia trip in May. I'm looking forward to that already.

Aspirations and apparitions

It was the right time of the year for the folk of Knock to be searching the skies for something spooky. Apparently a message was given, and we all wait with baited breath for that message to be revealed, maybe it'll be the results of my grading, who knows?

I wish I had an apparition. I could do with the help. Are my chambers correct? Is there enough power being generated? Is it turn left, or right in Choi Yong? God knows.

Your man says I shouldn't mock the almighty. This blogger is a realist.

Realism. The Sunday sessions continue, they don't get any more real than this. Lung stunningly tough. Plenty of pad work today, and plenty of sparring, plenty of detail and plenty of sweat.

God it was tough... here's your man again.

I'm still shooting too much off the back leg. That's the consequence of tiredness. Marto reckons I'm moving better now than I ever have. Marto knows technique, if he says that, God knows I'm happy.

News in the ITF is that the North Koreans are talking to Master Trans group about unification. It wasn't long ago they were at logger heads in the courts over who owns the office. I used to have a real interest with what the groups did at that level. Used to. It's really all about men in suits, status, power blocs and above all airgead.

Freud was right.

Tomaz Barada will be in Dublin next week. I'm looking forward to that. The most accomplished of them all, and not an air or a grace about him. I hope to be fit enough, I reckon I'll be alright, once the mind set is right.

As for my four followers, I will make an appearance sometime around 3pm tomorrow.

Jesus, even Brian of Nazareth had more than four followers!

oops here's your man again.. leg it.

A big ask

A big ask indeed. I remember turning from 17 to 18. It's a time of many wonderful freedoms, but for the Taekwon-Do competitor, it means the big step from the junior ranks to the seniors. The senior ranks can be a scary place to be. It's where the big boys hang out, and for the new kid on the block, it can be very intimidating when you now have to mix it up with the lads that you only enjoyed watching in the past.

I've come across many black belts who have stepped across the Rubicon to senior level, and who unfortunately, decided to pack their bags and leave. That's their decision of course.

One of the lads from the club made the big change over this year. If you follow our website, you'll know who it is. I admire this young lad. His first tournament at senior level wasn't only the Leinster championships, nor was it the Dublin open, it was an international fight night. To stand on the mat for the first time as a senior and against what could be the best another country has to offer takes steel.

I admire him, not only for his guts, but he has a good way about him. He's always ready to help, always ready to train. I've never heard an excuse from him not to train, or to compete. He'll go along way in life. Maybe it's his eastern European upbringing, tough times in the old bloc no doubt. New kid on the block? Maybe new kid from the bloc? who knows, either way, his performance last night at the international fight night warrants a mention within these ramblings of mine.

Back to my own training, another trip to the gym today went well enough as the cardio improves. The treadmill is now on incline runs. I prefer it that way for some reason, tough and all as it is.

Funny watching the fights last night, or any fights for that matter, you always get the urge to put the gear back on and compete. It's all about finding the time though, the training is demanding for that level. Maybe I'm just making excuses. I did say to hell with it a few months ago after a let down regarding my position on the senior team. Unfortunately, the many miles between my home and the training hall in Cork stood in the way. Such is life and it goes on.

My mind is focused on coaching at the moment. The IMAC sports council recognised coaching courses were a big help in this regard. Unfortunately, no matter how much knowledge or experience you have, nothing matters a care if you're not the right degree for coaching in Taekwon-Do. Not that you have to be of any particular degree, fact is, as long as there are degree holders higher than you, they automatically assume these positions, irregardless of experience. Such things like this represent one of the many contradictions of a military martial art, now being practiced by civilians. Experience, past record, success, means náid, nada.

Either way, ours is not to wonder why.

The real coaching for me is done in the dojang. That's where it all happens, and that's where it will continue to happen.

I think my own club now is in a very strong position. The young lads and lassies training with me at the moment have all huge potential, this is what keeps me going, thoughts of future titles are inspiring. What makes it harder for these bunch of kids is the times they are in. They're all in the teenage years. So many demands, so many problems (perceived of course!), so many challenges and so many distractions. Sure weren't we all there in the past.

Getting through these years, remaining focused and dedicated to your dreams is what it's all about.

It's easy to get distracted, there's no challenge in that, you just float down river pulled along by a peer current, you don't have to move, you just follow. There's no challenge in smoking, until your in your 40's of course, when the challenge is to breath easy. There's no challenge in binge drinking, until your liver challenges you to a life or death duel. There's no challenge in stealing some one's bike, or maybe their car. That's easy, any idiot can do that. Any idiot who wants to waste their time and cause distress to others.

There is challenge however, in staying fit, staying healthy and most of all staying focused. Avoiding the current is probably the biggest challenge of all for teenagers. To all those young people out there who independently decide to live by their own guidelines, and not by some other punks, I admire you. You will ultimately be what you want to be, a world champion or even better.

Anyway, enough rambling, this is meant to be about MY grading.
Bloody teenagers!

Tá an lá go hainnis.
And so it was, the day was terrible. It's hard to motivate yourself for anything when you look out the window and see that it is well and truly 'weather for ducks'.

None the less, it was off out the door just before 7am for the gym ritual. Todays focus would be on shoulders. Again the workout was light, and it will be for the first and second week. It's always best to ease yourself back into the swing of things. Injury is always lurking around the corner, although I've been lucky injury wise the last while, where's that proverbial wood when you need it?!

A quick burn up on the shoulder region from dumbbell pressing at an easy pace with 20kg's in each hand and then some standing military press's. This was followed by lateral raises and rear shoulder shrugs. The cardio ensued as did the stretching.

I had a bit of space this morning to run over Yoo Sin quickly. It has 68 movements, but even still it is quite an easy pattern to remember, probably down to the easy symmetry of the diagram, or in other words, you do something on the left then you do it on the right. I have all three 3rd degree patterns learned. It's a matter of just perfecting them, if perfection is ever achievable.

In the news is the ICTU march on November 6th. Probably another pointless exercise. Who's in charge of that Congress? Oh yeh, it's the Grand Old Duke of York.

I bet those ducks are happy.

Early mornings

So the early mornings have begun.

I thought pushing my usual 7am start back an hour was going to be easy enough.

When the alarm burst into its early morning frenzy at 6am, the first thought to enter this drowsy mind was, 'not already'.

'Already' it was, and I dragged myself up to tackle the day with a visit to the gym.

There is now a separate more immediate reason to up the fitness levels, Tomaz Barada is returning to Ireland on November 7th and 8th for a series of sparring workshops. His sessions demand that you have a fairly decent level of fitness. Fitness for him comes as a given, the man walks around with a heart beat of 36 beats per minute. Similar to the folk who live on 'the roof of the world' in Tibet. He is probably the man I most admire in the field of Taekwon-Do and sport in general, he leads by example.

For training in the gym, it's easy to disregard cardio work. To say 'Ah sure I'll lift a few weights, that'll do me' is missing the point of training for a specific anaerobic sport like Taekwon-Do. Sure lifting weight is productive, lifting them functionally even more so, but skimping on cardio work will leave you gasping uncomfortably during a Taekwon-Do training session.

Fuelling me for the work out was 4 pineapple rings, 2 rice cakes and a mix of protein isolate. Nothing too heavy for that early in the morning, and that soon to a work out. As for energisers, Im a big fan of the amino acid citrulline malate and the natural stimulant caffeine. I did contemplate the Rocky approach to early morning workouts, a few raw eggs, a couple of chin ups and a dirty black hat, but I'm passed that stage already!

Caffeine is a really effective stimulant. However its over-use is non productive. The nervous system slowly gets used to the effect of caffeine, which in turn means the user has to up the dosage, of course addiction then ensues. The key is using it sensibly.

The workout itself was light. Some chest pressing with 25kg dumbbells, cable cross overs, dumbbell flys, and then into the triceps for a burn. Triceps are best hit with heavy compound lifts or pushes. Weighted dips are very effective.

As is good practice, the session was concluded with a good run. I'm not incorporating sprint work just yet, I'll wait until i'm a bit more at ease with the pace.

The session, just under an hour, finished up with some dynamic stretching. Those that suffer with stiff hips, dynamic stretching is a super way of loosening them out, here comes the caveat, you will have to stretch up to twice a day. It's worth it, or as the glamorous hair ladies might say...you're worth it!

The recovery meal is as important as the workout. No point in training your body to be a high performance sports car, then dousing it with green diesel. Only the best fuel should follow a session that is tiring. My recovery meal was as follows:

100g of raw oats, yup uncooked. Topped with blackberries and raspberries, soaked with rice milk.

4 Spirulina algae tablets and a sachet of a very powerful multi-vit and multi-mineral called Genesis by Universal.

That's me propped up for the day, and it's only 8.30am.

Putting the record straight

Anyone who has achieved the rank of 4th degree in the ITF knows that a thesis must also be submitted.

There are many subjects to consider for this thesis, and there are many I have considered. Nutrition for Taekwon-Do, Taekwon-Do and children, Ho Sin Sul (self defence). However there is one subject that has really inspired me over the last twelve months or so. The history of Taekwon-Do in Ireland. I spent some time with Aidan Walsh in Slovenia last year, during which I got a real chance to encounter living Taekwon-Do history. I wanted to know more.

It's probably a subject that's been done to death by many other 4th degrees gone before me. However, I want mine to be different. I want it to be comprehensive, complete so to speak. There is only one way to achieve that, and that's to go to the source of Taekwon-Do in Ireland. The originals, the pioneers.

It causes me to make a crumpled face sometimes when I see some instructors re-write the history of Taekwon-Do to suit their own agenda. The word 'Pioneer' is indeed a hackneyed word in Irish TKD circles.

Maybe the word is misunderstood? Let us see. Pioneer: To open up an area or prepare a way; initiate: take the lead or initiative in; participate in the development of - courtesy of dictionary.com.

There can be no dispute and no misunderstanding. Lately I came across some face crumpling information on the world wide web, apparently there are more Irish 'pioneers' than we original anticipated. My face is crumpling again. I must stop reading nonsense!

Anyone who knows me, knows I'm a student of history and someone who relies on fact over fiction. Armed with this sense of keeping the record straight I set about making contact with the real deal. The original ITF Taekwon-D0 pioneers.

I was delighted to receive an email in response to my request.

Senior Master Robert Howard 8th degree has agreed to an interview. President of the RITA since it's foundation in 1972 and a Taekwon-Do student since 1968. I was honoured to be accepted into this mans company.

My thesis will then, hopefully, get a special audience with Mr Aidan Walsh, also one of the original pioneers and then Master Liam Dandy, the man who made initial contact with GM Rhee Ki Ha. I've yet to contact Master Dandy, but I have a number there somewhere from yester -year

Who knows where I'll end up! I know for sure however, that this thesis will be the most comprehensive to date. I will make it so. It's not about cobbling together a few words and sending it to an office where it might not even get read, it's about putting the history down for all to see, putting the record straight if I may.

I'll keep you all posted as this intrepid journey from 1968 to 2009 unfolds.

Pic: Aidan Walsh, Brendan Roche, Robert Howard, Liam Dandy and Tony Phelan.

Sunday session

It's easy to pretend you're fit!

When you're an instructor and coach, it's easy to fall into a trap where you think that doing a bit during the class you're teaching that this is the same as training.

Today (Sunday 20th) I headed out to Loughshinny to train with the rest of the ETA lads. The class was conducted by Terry Donnelly with the help of Marto. Martin Lawless is great to have around every session, he breaks everything down to the minutia!

The class worked on drills and foot postioning. I was hoping it would remain at a nice pace. I was kidding myself! I felt grand during the drills, the legs were moving ok. The last few weeks of stretching my over tight hips had been paying off. High hook kicks weren't a problem.

We moved into sparring then. Jeez it's unbelievable how flat footed you can become when you haven't sparred for a few months. The initial drills were just about moving and dodging around your attacking opponent, five seconds in, yours truly takes a hook kick to the mouth, courtesy of Mr Donnelly!

That was frustrating, but it'll be a couple of classes before im back up on my toes properly.

We did a few rounds of moving and dodging, I was feeling it on the old lungs!

We moved into proper sparring then and after about 8 short rounds of sparring I was wearing down, slowly but surely. The sparring is always at a pace arond 70% of full on speed and power. There's no better way to train. It allows a high pace but at a comfortable enough level where you can use the techniques learned in the drills and you can put them to work. Laying into each other inhibits you from experimenting and finding out solutions to circumstances as you spar.

Here's a small sample, after the class Terry and Marto moved around. Plenty of action at 70% with an emphasis on constant movement, enjoy!



We moved through the rounds alternating between boxing rounds and Taekwon-Do rounds incorporating an emphasis on both the hands and the feet. At the end I was out of gas, well and truly. The lungs were on fire, this blog as no problem telling you that!

Not to worry, it won't be long before the fitness levels are back up a tad. I'll have to start hitting the road again for some 'morning runs' down by the canal if possible.

Anyway, to finish, one of the best things about training with these guys is the approach to scientific sparring. That's not to confuse the issue, it simply means drills, movement and body positions are put to the test and if they're usefull they're kept, if they're not working they're disposed of. Simple really.

Afterwards it was back to Terry's house for a cupán tae and a video of the master at work.. Tomaz Barada.

RIP Dazzler

Boxing is probably the only sport I'd be a keen fan of. I've followed the Irish boxing scene now for many's a year still having fond memories of that morning in 1992 in Ger's house watching McCollough and Carruth winning the silver and gold in Barcelona.

I had the same pride watching Darren Sutherland do what he does best in the ring in China at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Darren was found dead in London yesterday, aged 27.

Ireland has lost a sporting hero. There is nothing worse than hearing news like this.

RIP.

As part of some ongoing training, this blog attended a Master Class on September 6th 2009 in
Stevenedge, Reading, England.

Master Choi never fails to impress.

The son of General Choi Hong Hi, the founder of Taekwon-Do, Master Choi is now the president, leader and guardian of modern day ITF Taekwon-Do.
I use the word guardian intently.

His work over the last number of years has been to bring ITF Taekwon-Do into it’s rightful place in the world, as a martial art and a system of self defence.
When Taekwon-Do was initially developed by General Choi back in the late 1940’s and the early 1950’s. It’s purpose was to enable the practitioner to develop raw power from the training methods involved. It was, undoubtedly a full contact system.

Over the years, and as Taekwon-Do became a worth while business concept, training methods changed to become a more family orientated, and child centred martial art. The training methods of old would have slowed Taekwon-Do from developing as a uniquely popular family martial art. It would have been the staple diet of genuinely hard men and head cases, such was the training methods.

It can be said that over the many years, Taekwon-Do has become a some what watered down version of it’s original mould.
It has inevitably become a system of sport and an art based on aesthetics rather than any sense of realism.

This now seems to be the target of change of the ITF and in particular, Master Choi Jung Hwa, who wants to see Taekwon-Do become a more realistic system of fighting. He wants to see an end to the pretty and ‘dance’ based tul. An over emphasis on prettiness has over shadowed Taekwon-Do’s true nature.
This latest master class was all about power and the use of kicks and strikes to create the utmost damage to any opponent.

Prettiness in performance was not an issue, in fact master Choi, as he always does, insists that to perform any Taekwon-Do strike or block with full power will of course pull the practitioner off balance, and this is ok. It means that in the first instance, power is to the fore. Training over and over will bring balance, inevitably.

To quote master Choi’s own saying - “once you know one thing through and through, then you know it for everything” - this was the under current for the master class. There was repetitious training of single strikes and techniques until the concept was fully understood.

Taekwon-Do is going back to it’s roots. It’s true identity is being revealed once again.
When you look at the many pioneers of Taekwon-Do, to name a very few, GM Nam Tae Hi, GM Rhee Ki Ha, Master Han Cha Kyo, GM CK Choi, GM JC Kim, all of these in their hay day, and some even now are power houses. Their training was real, it was gruelling and it was all about blunt force trauma.

When you look at the instructors that came out of these pioneers, and from our own point of view here in Ireland, Mr Aidan Walsh and Master Robert Howard (two of five) who were original students who came under GM Rhee were all about impact development. Even when I was training as a kid, Master Trevor Nicholls was all about raw power, and the destruction of the opponent. His destruction of six Irish boards with a lead leg side kick in Aughrim street sports centre, circa1992 is etched in my memory.

Many things in life come full circle, and these days I find myself training with and under one of those Irish pioneers, Aidan Walsh, who was instrumental along with others, Robert Howard, Liam Dandy, Frank Mathews, Brendan Roche and Tony Phelan in spreading Taekwon-Do around the Island of Ireland.
I shouldn’t be surprised then to find that Mr Walsh’s primary concern in training is to learn how to hit hard, and be scientific it your delivery.

This master class was also a poignant one, after 30 odd years master Choi met with Mr Walsh for a trip down memory lane. In 1974, Mr Walsh was part of a demo team along with master Choi who performed a Taekwon-Do demonstration for General Choi on the back of a truck in Winnipeg, Canada. The two had a good old laugh as they recalled good times in Canada and at the residence of the General. The two Taekwon-Do stalwarts embraced each other. As someone who has only dipped his toe in the vast ocean of Taekwon-Do life, I found it was quite an historical moment.

I think all of us who travelled to England to train under master Choi share Mr Walsh’s opinion. Master Choi is genuine, and is not afraid to show the courage of his convictions.
During lunch with master Choi, he outlined his vision for Taekwon-Do in the near future. With South Korea now accepting him and the ITF with open arms, the ITF and Taekwon-Do in general is quit rightly slotting back into it’s rightful place, acknowledged and understood as being a complete martial art, now with all it’s priorities in the right place.

Power is key!

Thank you to all those involved in the UTA and England ITF for the kind invitation to the Master Class, Master Trevor Nicholls and Mr Glenn Horan - Thank you, this was a great help on the road to the big 4th.

A start has to be made.

If there's one thing I've learned from being around people like Aidan Walsh and Terry Donnelly is that standard is everything. For the first time in a long time, I witnessed the unfortunate circumstances of someone failing a dan test. Such is life.

There would be no easy route to the covetted dan levels of Taekwon-Do with these guys. If you weren't ready, you weren't passed. That's the way it should be.

I've been sussing out what level of standard I will have to achieve before I step onto the floor in front of this senior grading panel. So far, I've learned that they expect power. Taekwon-Do is not Tai Chi, Taekwon-Do is about blunt force trauma. It's about single shot knock downs. Power coupled with speed and agility will be the name of the game for me.

Let the training begin!

This blog will follow the ups and downs of the training needed to step onto the floor in front of an Irish Taekwon-Do pioneer and say - "sir, i'm ready for the next level" - no easy task that.

My instructor for the grading will be non other that Terry Donnelly VI. I'm confident his guidance will see me through. He prepared me for the ITF European championships in 2008. The only time in a long time I felt ready for a tournament.

On Saturday next, I'm off to train again with Grand Master Choi in England. That will officially kick off my training for the big 4.

Stay tuned!