After a pile of drills and 7 rounds, last two against my senseis, both Kyokushin black belts, I was awarded my blue belt. I was sucking air hard and taking hits, but it sounds like I did ok. Ill post more photos later. Another step in my journey accomplished.

Blue Belt Award

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!

I managed after all to attend the Open house day at the new location for the North Burnaby Boxing Club. Operating since 2004, they have grown and have now expanded into new digs. The club’s new home is just beside Revs Bowling & Entertainment Center, at 5502 Lougheed Hwy., next to the Holdom Skytrain Station.

The club’s new location is due to its growth and maturation as a club. It was put together over several weeks by club members, who converted two raquetball courts over a period of several weeks, rebuilding the club, installing the heavy wood beam mezzanine by hand, and the club is complete with a large selection of heavy bags, speed bags, ring, spinner bikes, ropes, weight room adjacent, and years of boxing memorabilia transferred to the walls. The title club banner was cut out from the wall of their previous location. The coaching staff of Rob Bortolazzo, Alister Brodie, Rosalia Calla, Bill Kennedy, Andy Mavros, and Manny Sobral bring world class depth and experience in championship level professional and amateur boxing into the club.

The club coaches Manny Sobral and Alister Brodie are also operating West Coast Promotions, for promoting fights like the upcoming MMA fight night at River Rock Casino on January 23, 2010.

I also got to meet Robert Couzens, Canada’s top amateur fighter at 152 lbs and a likely member of Canada’s Olympic team at the Olympics in 2012. As well, Rosalia Calla was there training for an upcoming fight in Montreal. Gym fees are a super affordable 40 bucks a month.  That is a totally affordable price to train somewhere. The club is totally accessible being only a 1 minute walk away from Holdom skytrain station.

Website: http://www.bcboxers.com/

Here are the photos. Link to the whole set in my Flickr.com pool.

North Burnaby Boxing Club

Boxing Coach Rob Bortolazzo

Boxing Coaches Rob Bortolazzo and Manny Sobral

Fighter Robert Couzens and Boxing Coach Manny Sobral

North Burnaby Boxing Club

Fighter Rosalia Calla training with Manny Sobral

Fighter Rosalia Calla training with Manny Sobral

Boxing Coach Bill Kennedy

Website: http://www.bcboxers.com/

Link to the whole set in my Flickr.com pool.

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.