Having a Knock Out Punch

admin | July 31, 2009

I have been in the position of knocking out my opponent and never been able to get in the position or land the right punch, any suggestions?

Well that is a very good question that requires another question in order to answer it. What is your training like? Maybe the technique is there, but the speed and power to actually have the knockout punch is quite not developed yet. Do you do bag work? How often? Do you target or pad work? How often?

Execution of the technique is very important especially when you want to have that knock out punch. Bag work will help you develop the power you need in order to deliver your whole body weight into your technique.

Target or Pad work will help you develop the speed and stamina that you will need to deliver the technique with the most speed and power that your body can muster.

Accuracy of target is also essential when you are looking for that knock out blow, whether it is a kick or a punch. That is also improved by working on the targets. Hitting the person right on the jaw, temple etc. will help you be successful with the knock out. Also something else to think about is having sharp technique. When you deliver a technique you want it to stick, not glance or slide off the desired target area. This is also something that both bag work and target work will help you achieve.

These two types of training are essential when you desire an improvement on deliverance of technique and power.

Have Fun - Train Hard - Train Smart - Fightwize

Sensei Malcolm Bale

www.jiu-jitsu-calgary.com

Overcoming Injuries

admin | July 30, 2009

In Martial Arts, like any other sport, there will be an injury at some point; the key is to know what to do about it. The recovery time for many injuries including strained muscles, sprained ligaments, injured joints, and broken bones can be significantly reduced if ice, compression, and elevation are applied at the time of injury.

Ice causes the injured blood vessels to contract, in turn reducing the blood flow from them. Applying ice is crucial in treating an injury since the more blood that collects in the wound, the longer it will take to heal.

As soon as the injury occurs, place ice on the injured area for at least 10 – 20 minutes. You can apply ice cubes, crushed ice or even a bag of frozen peas to the area. Depending on how serious the injury is, you might need to repeat this procedure every 4 hours for the first 72 hours after the injury occurred.

Compression is also something that will speed up the healing process of the injured area, while reducing swelling, pain, and inflammation. Using a tensor bandage, apply pressure directly over the injury so that circulation is not limited to other portions of the limb.

Elevation also goes hand in hand with icing and compression. You must elevate the injured area above the level of the heart to decrease swelling caused from excess blood in the injured area.

Rest is definitely something that will play an important role in the healing process as well, but note that prolonged rest and inactivity can often delay recovery as it may cause generalized muscle weakness around the injured site. Some kind of rehabilitation will be necessary to strengthen the injured body part.

Resume back to your normal activity when you are physically ready to do so. The use of protective aids, such as taping, or wraps may be helpful in the early stages of activity after injury.

Have Fun - Train Smart - Train Hard - Fightwize

Sensei Malcolm Bale

www.jiu-jitsu-calgary.com

Sparring Fundamentals

admin | July 29, 2009

Sparring for the first time can be intimidating, however, there are a few things you can do to make it a rewarding experience and improve your Martial Arts skills.

It is important to ensure you have the proper safety gear before you begin sparring. You should wear full pads, which include headgear, mouth guard, gloves, foot protectors, groin cups for men, and chest protector for women. Also, it is imperative to follow all sparring rules as they are designed to protect you and your partner.

You should train for approximately six months before you begin to spar so you feel comfortable with the various Martial Arts techniques. Sparring is much more complex than just fighting; it is about dealing with fear, learning control, improving your distance and execution of technique. This is why you should begin with controlled partner sparring, with a student at your belt level, where one partner does a combination and then the other partner does not hit back until the other person is finished his/her combination. This allows you to slowly get accustomed to blocking, moving, and coming up with combinations that work for you.

When sparring, keep your 3 main distances in mind: kicking distance, boxing or hand distance and neutral distance. The neutral distance is sometimes the most important one when you are just learning to spar since it gives you the opportunity to assess your partner without being in striking distance. Don’t always be in striking distance, sometimes you need to be in the neutral distance in order to plan your next combination. Like all other aspects of Martial Arts, practice is the essential key to success.

Have Fun - Train Hard - Train Smart - Fightwize

Sensei Malcolm Bale

www.jiu-jitsu-calgary.com

The Power of Breathing Well

admin | July 28, 2009

A recent cry in the fitness world sounded like this: To live, we have to eat, we have to breathe. Well, eating well and exercising have long been considered important parts of a healthy lifestyle, but breathing? Isn’t reminding someone to breathe like telling Bugs Bunny to eat his carrots?

Although the average pair of human lungs only take up 2/10ths of a cubic foot, if the inside surfaces were stretched out, they would cover 860 square feet-almost as big as a small dojo! It makes sense that effective breathing can improve the way our bodies function while they rest and work.

The Martial Arts are already helping your body to take in more oxygen-when you are training hard, practicing your forms or sparring, you breathe harder. Follow these guidelines to make the most of those 860 square feet every day!

-Be aware of your breathing. When you find that you are breathing lightly and shallowly, take not of it, and make an effort to breathe more fully.

-Watch your posture. There’s a broad muscle about three inches above your navel called a diaphragm. It controls how much air actually gets into your lungs. It does its job best when you are sitting or standing with your back straight.

-Know the difference between mouth and nose breathing. When you are resting, breathing through your nose is usually fine. When you are exercising, a combination of nose and mouth breathing is best. Although mouth breathing brings in more air, it also sends more out, and can actually end up depriving you of oxygen. However you do it, be sure to breathe in all the way to your stomach, not just to your chest.

-Take the time to breathe. It’s amazing how often you may hold your breath during the day, especially while exerting yourself. No matter how focused you are, remember to breathe!

-Take a few moments each day to do some deep breathing.

Try the “Recharge Breath” from the International Breath Institute (www.transformbreathing.com):

First, inhale (through your nose or mouth) until you have filled your belly like a balloon, allowing it to stretch fully. Once your lungs are full, lift your shoulders to stretch your ribs, and push the air out by pulling your stomach in toward your spine. Massage your hands while you breathe. Relax and enjoy!

Sensei Malcolm Bale

www.jiu-jitsu-calgary.com

Target Training Tips

admin | July 27, 2009

Target training is an essential part of your martial arts training; it helps you with speed, accuracy and correcting technique. In order to get the full benefit of target training use your regular gloves and protective kicks are optional; stick to all techniques that you use in your class and use them in sets of combinations. For optimal results, set up each round with a minute count, for example a 2 min round with a 30 second rest period, this way you can start at a certain number and then work your way up, a good way to monitor progress.

When hitting the target, aim to hit the center of the target and strive to snap back all of your techniques in combinations so that you can deliver them with lots of speed. Do short spurts of super fast, basic techniques, for example, jab/punch as fast as you can for 30 seconds

If you are correcting technique or working on accuracy of aiming, make sure to keep combos very simple, single techniques are often better. Watch for correct striking area of hand or kick landing in center of target. Remember, by practicing on targets and incorporating it as a regular part of your martial arts training, you will become a more controlled and powerful Martial Artist.

Sensei Malcolm Bale

www.jiu-jitsu-calgary.com

Training Your Mind for Success

admin | July 25, 2009

When the best Martial Arts students are training their hardest, they need flexibility, strength and endurance. Not only in the use of their bodies, but also in the use of their minds. They need mind fitness.

Webster’s dictionary defines the mind as “the part of a person that feels, perceives, thinks, wills and reasons.” In other words, the mind has a lot of important work to do! Some people describe it as the “steering wheel” of the body. Because it has such a vital job, you must prepare your mind as energetically as you prepare your body.

The words flexibility, strength and endurance can also describe the way we use our minds. These qualities can mean the difference between feeling tense and nervous and feeling confident and relaxed. Martial Artists need to be calm and sure of themselves to be successful in their sport.

Once again, the steps are similar to those that help with physical Martial Arts training: you need lots of practice.

Here is a guide to some of the basics:

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Understanding yourself and the way you think is a big part of mind fitness. Every few days, find a quiet time to be alone with your thoughts. First, empty your head of thoughts: close your eyes, or just look at the sky or a soothing picture. Once you feel relaxed, meditation should help you try to see your own life as a journey and an adventure. Where are you going? What are you seeking? Where are you now? The “journey” belongs to you alone; you are in charge of the direction it takes, so think about what makes you happy. Visualize your successes. Dream. Exercising or practicing your forms are excellent ways to get ready to meditate.

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2. Challenge yourself with new experiences:Make a point of finding someone or something new to learn about or experience. It can be as an unfamiliar food, or as exciting as a new language. Pay attention to the feelings you have as you do new things. How do you feel? How do you behave? What do you learn about yourself?

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3. Read:

the great Martial Artist Bruce Lee had an extensive library and a deep desire to know things, and he used what he learned in his readings to help him grow into a better man and a better Martial Artist. Find out more about things your teachers share in Martial Arts classes and school; use the library, the bookstore, the internet; ask questions.

As the beginning of the school year approaches, and you begin to prepare for tip and belt exams, school projects, and tests, make developing your mind fitness a part of your everyday life. It is a great way to help improve your grades, your friendships, and your Martial Arts performance!

Sensei Malcolm Bale

The Science of Stretching

admin | July 24, 2009

From our earliest experiences in gym class, we’ve all been told to warm up and stretch before we exercise or train. True, warming up and stretching are important parts of any exercise session; the key is knowing when to perform them, and in what order. Stretching before workouts has been standard advice from fitness experts for decades. The theory has been that stretching loosened muscles and “prepared” them for the strenuous activity ahead. In recent years, research has begun to suggest that although muscles do need preparation, stretching is not the way to make it happen. A warm-up helps your body prepare itself for exercise and reduces the chance of injury. Performing a rhythmic, low-intensity version of the same exercise you plan to engage in later is also a great idea. This activity raises the heart rate, increases circulation, and raises muscle temperature gradually. If you have friends who like to practice forms before class, for example, you might want to join them; done slowly, the practice not only mentally focuses you, but it is a logical way to “teach” the muscles what they will be doing next.

Stretching is best done once the muscles are already warm. The stretch helps to relax tight muscle fibers, which have shortened with the repeated contractions of exercise. The static stretch, or a stretch that you hold without bouncing, is necessary because the muscles resist your attempt to lengthen them initially. As you hold the stretch, the muscles become accustomed to the new length and begin to relax. Some experts note that such stretching can be done after your warm-up activity, while others strongly recommend that stretches only be done after the cool-down at the end of the exercise session. The cool-down is similar activity to the warm-up; it helps to slow the heart rate and bring down the activity of the muscles.

Sensei Malcolm Bale

www.jiu-jitsu-calgary.com

Visualization: An insight to Excellence

admin | July 23, 2009

When you close your eyes, what do you see? What are the pictures that come to mind? Here’s a quick experiment: Think of an image you want to see, and then close your eyes. Maybe you picture yourself accepting the trophy for a major martial arts competition. Maybe you visualized meeting your favourite Martial Artist. No matter what image you held in your mind, you just practiced an exercise called visualization. Visualization is about building positive actions out of the positive images you create in your mind.

Learning to create positive visualization is an important part of a Black Belt program. Champions in any sport or endeavor have mastered the art of visualization. It’s a way to program the mind for success every step of the way.

Visualization is really just a from of concentration. It’s a technique used long before you face your opponent (or any crucial situation). Because visualization is meant to cultivate positive mental images, it is similar to daydreaming, with one important difference. When we daydream, our minds wander from image to image. With visualization, the “dream” is under our control. We shape images in order to make those images become reality. By creating images of success and repeating them, we harness the power of the mind and bring greater power to the body. It’s simple: if you picture yourself enjoying victory, you’re more likely to live that experience when you compete.

Visualization doesn’t come without effort. Like every aspect of training, it is a skill that improves with practice. Applying yourself to positive visualization can add a valuable dimension to your overall improvement as a martial artist.

Anyone who sets goals will come up against obstacles that may slow progress. Visualization can help you overcome these obstacles. Whenever you feel frustrated or disappointed, visualize the moments of triumph that attaining Black Belt will bring. You can be sure that every time you visualize victory, you will be bringing yourself one step closer to achieving it.

Sensei Malcolm Bale

www.jiu-jitsu-calgary.com

Sparring Tips

admin | July 23, 2009

Sparring is probably the most difficult part of your Martial Arts training. The reason being is that it’s a much more emotional experience than people think. Realistically, sparring is 80% mental and only 20% physical. To improve your sparring you must feel comfortable about the process of hitting someone and someone hitting you back..

In order to get to the stage where you feel comfortable you need to spar on a regular basis. The following things will help you reach that level of not being overwhelmed every time you are about to spar:

1. Have a plan of what you want to accomplish in your sparring session, for example breathing while you spar, or adding more kicks to your combos.

2. Have combos that you are good at ready to use and fully complete them.

3. Think out every step of your sparring session beforehand. For example what are you going to do the first 30 seconds.

4. Use the first 30 seconds of the match to find out what kind of opponent you have, for example is he/she a kicker, boxer, counter attacker, or attacker. This will determine how you will spar.

5. Be a thinker not a fighter – plan you attacks depending on who you are sparring – don’t think you can win a fight with power, use your head. The analytical fighter will always beat the more powerful fighter.

6. Be in good aerobic shape. Sparring deals with nerves and this alone will drain your energy. Being in good physical shape makes you able to perform even when you get exhausted.

7. Never underestimate or overestimate your opponents size or look. This is very misleading; just remember your confidence will come with how much time and effort you have put into your training.

8. When you are sparring, you are playing a mind game. The person who shows no fear, no pain, no emotion is the one that is in control of the sparring session. Remember you must fake it until you make it.

Sensei Malcolm Bale

www.jiu-jitsu-calgary.com

July 2009 - Jiu Jitsu Calgary Newsletter

admin | July 19, 2009

Welcome to the latest Jiu Jitsu Calgary Newsletter.

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly with any questions or concerns.

Best Regards
Sensei Malcolm Bale

Full Article ==> Adult Jiu Jitsu Classes in Calgary <==

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Have Fun - Train Hard - Train Smart - Fightwize

Sensei Malcolm
Head Instructor