My fight blog also looks into different things for health. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)  can be a complimentary means or an alternative approach to improving ones overall health. After an initial interview with a TCM health practitioner, a prescription is prepared. While some know that TCM can comes in the form of pills and other packaging, the original style is a prescription of an herbal mixture, with a large quantity of ingredients, with leaves, seeds, parts of plants, flowers, beans, and in my case, insect shells. The mixture is boiled twice and the water extract is then consumed. I am to prepare and drink this mixture for four days, then I go back and get something else.

I decided to enter the Tiger Balm International martial arts tournament this year, but to get ready was no easy feat. I had to make big changes in my fitness level and diet in order to be ready for March 28^th.

Tiger Balm 2010

The Tiger Balm International Tournament is one of the largest martial arts events of the year in greater Vancouver, held annually in the spring at Capilano University in North Vancouver. The event is a two day martial arts tournament with a wide range of ages and disciplines, for both men and women. There are Karate and Kung Fu forms, Grappling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, weapons, Pankration and more. Its a tournament for all the regular people who train at martial arts gyms around town or the region, who are there to see how they do.

A Fitness Goal achieved by diet, exercise, and coaching.

This year I have entered in the WKC division. I decided this quietly last year and after I got over a lengthy cold, I started my training in earnest. I made it my fitness goal to enter the tournament. To succeed, I had to lose a considerable amount of weight to make it into the heavyweight category, with 200.6 lbs at the upper limit. And I had to really increase my state of fitness above and beyond what I get out of a martial arts class two times a week. I’m 42 years old, and I’ll be fighting guys half my age in some cases, so I really have to be on top of my game.

Sparring at Versus21

Cutting that weight

Something I have come to realize after training for about two years and not losing much weight, if any at all, is that without changes in diet, a fitness regime wont bring any results. Weighing in at about 220 lbs, I had about 2 ½ months to lose 20 lbs. In December I was over 230 lbs, but the fabulous H1N1 & Flu diet took care of close to 10 lbs all on its own. So why not keep going in that direction? I started on a diet plan that I would be comfortable with. I’m an old foodie from way back and I make beautiful salads, and I worked to cut out the sugars, starches, beer, pastries, and things that I like to eat. Instead I worked toward a plan consisting of reasonable portions of complex carbohydrates, such as those found in leaf vegetables, as well as protein powder supplements, green tea, and lean meat choices. I didnt really count calories, but as a guide I know that I should have a diet under 2500 Calories per day. What I did do for this program was log everything I ate since the beginning of February in a Google spreadsheet. I shared the spreadsheet with my Sensei, Ali Taghinejad and lead trainer of the Fighterbody conditioning program, Ben Kerswill. Logging everything I ate on a spreadsheet and sharing it with trainers over the web was a great thing to do, being that we are all busy people. I also logged my weight before and after training, my training plan, and other things I was doing in my program. To date they have approved of my diet plan, and the first month I managed to cut 10 lbs, getting my weight down to 210. Now in the second month, the 22^nd of March, I am at 205 and I’ll shave my head to get my weight down if I have to! The plan now involves a drastic increase in water and no bad things can enter the mouth, simple as that. Fortunately, while my event is Sunday I can weigh in on Saturday. I really hope I can make it into that weight class, because the unlimited class has some big guys. I would be faster than them, but its always better to be at the top of your weight class, not the bottom.

Training to fight

Kickboxing class, Sparring

At Versus21, the program I train in is kickboxing based, with lots of techniques borrowed from Muay Thai and standup MMA, and lots of conditioning. The gym offers an open mat for sparring on Fridays and I have made an effort to attend regularly. Sparring has been so important because all those drills and combinations become a total mess when you first get into the chaos of sparring. Eventually you focus and things come together, but it is a constant challenge.

Sparring at Versus21

You have to be in the gym more than anybody else, you got to work harder than anyone, and you’ve got to be willing to sacrifice more than anybody else…

I have had to face some super tough guys sparring, guys with real fight experience, and it has been the toughest thing. I have had to take plenty of full force wallops and I have had to learn to block the strikes or die. Its to my interest though to do that, because I want to be conditioned against guys who are tougher than who I will face on the mat at Tiger Balm. But over the course of sparring, I have had beaten up legs, an eye injury that will probably never heal, not to mention black eyes on more than one occaision, sprained ankles and wrists, bloody noses, and of course various lumps, scrapes and bruises. Now after training I finish my shower with an ice cold blast to help with muscle recovery and to speed the metabolism. It seems to help.

Fighterbody Training

I supplemented my training plan by joining Ben Kerswill’s Fighterbody class. Fighterbody is not a martial arts class, it is a conditioning class that top level athletes use to get in shape for their sport. It is a circuit program of vigorous exercises designed to build speed and power. Typically we train hard for a timed interval, and then brief timed break, we repeat or go to the next exercise. The program uses everything from truck tires and sledgehammers, to kettleballs, dumbells, bosu and swiss balls, elastic cords, and some things that must be exclusively the invention of the program designer. It always impresses me how some seemingly simple little exercises that look so easy to do can be so effective and exhausting. There are some damn fit people in that class.

The program is available on days alternating with my martial arts, as well as weekends, and Friday at 7 PM after sparring. This has meant I have been at the gym almost every day training one way or another, and Friday is a double shot with sparring and Fighterbody. And sometimes I have had to limp through Friday’s class with sprains or a charlie horse. But now after two months of it I feel it has paid off, because instead of being burnt and gassed after an hour of martial arts, I feel strong, like I could go for another hour.

Coaching is important

Its always necessary to do as much as possible to get ready for a tournament. I know there are some damn fit guys out there I’ll be going up against. There is no substitute for the hard work and sacrifices that must be made in order to be ready for a fight. Coaches are there to help, to remind you of what you probably already know you should be doing, and now and then they can give you a tip to maximize your effort. But sometimes you need to be pushed, and they are there for that as well.

When interviewing Sifu Tom Laroche, a former world kickboxing champion, in Kamloops in the fall of last year, he said something toward the end that states in plainly.

…if you want to do well…you have to pay the bigger price than anybody else. You have to be in the gym more than anybody else, you’ve got to work harder than anyone, and you’ve got to be willing to sacrifice more than anybody else… You’ve got to be willing to work harder than anybody else, you’ve got to be willing to come into the gym more than anybody else, and you got to be willing to sacrifice. And it is a sacrifice. Your friends are out doing something else and you cant go do it. They want you to go out to the bar, sorry, I got to go train. If you want to do good.

Here’s to a great tournament, see you down there. And there will be lots of pictures. Osu!

Lactic Acid Is Not Muscles’ Foe, It’s Fuel

New York Times health and fitness section reports that this the idea we have come to know as ‘Lactic Acid Intolerance’ is wrong. Lactic Acid is really a form of energy for the body. Sound like heresy? All the more reason why you should read the article.

I have been working on a better diet to compliment my fitness regime. As I am striving to get away from refined sugars and grains, one of the things I have as breakfast is Quinoa, a grain from Peru with a delicious taste. Its rich and healthy with a high protein content, and a full set of amino-acids to provide a full protein source. Wikipeida has the lowdown on this foodstuff. Add it to your breakfast plan.

Prepare: 100 grams per serving. Use a rice-like ratio of 2 parts water to 1 part Quinoa. Bring to a boil and cook for another 15 minutes on low heat. Stir in chopped walnuts, banana, raisins, cinnamon. Serve into a bowl and top with Yogurt. Eat.

You can also do a savory version of Quinoa for later in the day, as in a pilaf or Yang Chow rice. I should try that one.

Why oh why….? Here we have a black belt breaking stuff demo…. and he chooses to break coconuts. Coconuts would be hard to break being round, because they would have a tendency to veer laterally when some kind of force is applied, especially, as in the demo, when they are placed loosely on a steel beam. Um, now I don’t know as much about martial arts as this 5th level black belt guy (notice the number of gold bands on his black belt towards the end of the clip), but you might want to practice your thing breaking performance in private before you demonstrate it to a television crew so it goes off without a hitch and you look really cool. But what do I know. He could probably kick my ass.

Also referred to on the intertuubz as UBER FAIL!!!!!!

kung fu girl and a duck

The Martial Arts Nomad just had to try a bottle of Kung Fu Girl Riesling 2007 at a recent stop at the local wine boutique. Its a wine made for Charles Smith Wines’ ‘Modernist Project’. Columbia Valley is already well known for making fine wines, and I was sure it was going to be worth trying out, despite the fact that Kung Fu Girl is sold with a simple and wrinkled paper label and twist top cap.

A visit to the Charles Smith website leaves no doubt that he is a maverick among winemakers. But the break from tradition is in truth a return to its roots. Drop the pretence. Everything in the wine is in the bottle. Never mind about silly labels and corks, show your spirit and enjoy the wine. Wine, as it should be made. Open it and drink it.

kung fu girl back label, beside a plate of scrambled eggs with onions and fried dace paste

This Reisling already has some very favourable reviews on the web as well as tasting notes from wine black belts.

While we’ll agree with Ku Fu Girl winemaker Charles Smith that both riesling and girls kick ass, the reason we love this wine actually has much more to do with another aspect of Kung Fu: balance. This comes from a single vineyard comprised of fragmented basalt and caliche soils. Great acidity, minerality and girl-next-door kiss of sweetness. Plus, at this price, you won’t feel like you’re being thrown to the mat. Source: http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1040843

kung fu girl with roast duck stuffed with rice and fruits, and a side dish of sauteed portobello mushrooms

So why the Kung Fu Girl, Charles? “Single vineyard, fragmented basalt, and caliche…classic Riesling, sublime minerality. WHY? BECAUSE, RIESLING AND GIRLS KICK ASS!”

We washed down our Kung Fu Girl with roast duck stuffed with brown rice, plums, figs, raisins, cranberries, and walnuts, and a side dish of Portobello mushrooms sautéed in duck broth.

Tasting notes and links
http://charlessmithwines.com/tasting_notes/07_Kung_Fu_Girl.pdf

http://charlessmithwines.com

wine reviews (links)
2006
http://corkd.com/wine/view/37822-Charles_Smith_Kung_Fu_Girl_Riesling_2006

2007
http://corkd.com/wine/view/58442-Kung_Fu_Girl
http://manoavino.typepad.com/mano_a_vino_montclair/2008/10/kung-fu-girl-riesling.html
http://www.klwines.com/detail.asp?sku=1040843