When it comes to lack of respect in the mixed martial arts, I'm a broken record. I have been harping for years that MMA needs a huge injection of respect, honor, humanity. I have gone on endlessly about MMA being a sport mostly made up of thugs, trash talkers, punks, immature kids. I know, I've become a bore; an old man pining for the old days. Oh well. But I ran across an interview with Erik Paulson recently. It was refreshing to see I'm not alone in my concerns. Below is an excerpt of the interview.
Kaplowitz: Do you think that having a traditional martial arts background helps you in mma?
Paulson: I think it’s good if you’re going to promote martial arts; if you’re going to promote the fighting. A lot of guys go, "I’m just a fighter." Well what’s your history? What’s the Bushido code? The Bushido code has been lost a lot in fighting because guys just talk smack, get tattoos, and simply train hard. That’s great for publicity, for TV, for show, but in the end what are you passing on? What are you passing on to the youth? What are you passing on to all the other people out there? What’s the message that you’re bringing? You have to pass it on. You have to have information, not just be tough. You have to have an art behind you that you’re teaching and passing on, otherwise it just gets completely lost. The respect factor, the discipline, is about showing up on time and being at the gym when you say you will be. It's about being accountable for what you say. The moral code is also about how you conduct yourself outside of the gym, and I think all of that needs to be emphasized. You know, don’t talk, be the one talked about. That’s the biggest goal — don’t talk, be the one talked about.
Kaplowitz: So do you think that the moral code is what’s missing from some fighters today?
Paulson: Absolutely. 100%. And who is to blame? The coaches! Their coaches are to blame. Hey, so you're a good fighter, you’re tough. But these guys are getting on the Internet and blabbing; just talking, talking, talking. But to their coaches it's like "No problem. It's okay." They don’t respect their elders at all. They don’t respect guys that were in the game before, and "Oh I can beat them up so therefore I don’t have to learn from them." Hey, could Mike Tyson beat up his boxing coach? Of course! But guess what? That guy made him a great boxer and he taught him a lot about life. You know, who’s your idol? "I want to be like this guy." Yeah, well, you’re a role model, and if you’re a role model you better act like a role model. Don’t flip off the crowd, don’t swear in front of everybody, don’t do bad things, don’t get in trouble and then laugh about it. Be ashamed of it! If you get in trouble be ashamed and show the public that you’re ashamed. "I’m sorry, I apologize.”
Wow. Nicely said.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
An Often Asked Question
I get a lot of questions from prospective clients. Some of them are the result of not thoroughly checking out the website, others are because I didn't explain things well enough. Whatever the reason, I get one question a lot: Do I have to be a fighter or have aspirations of fighting if I want to join your gym? Good question.
You do not have to be a fighter. Nor do you have to have plans of one day becoming a fighter. But ... and here is the big but ... you are going to train with fighters. You are going to train with aspiring fighters. In other words, you're going to train like a fighter.
When I say that, I get a lot of wide-eyed expressions. Let me be clear. I'm not going to throw you in with Yosmany. I'm not going to toss you in against someone who is going to hand you your ass. I would be an irresponsible instructor if I did that; liable for malpractice even. In other words, I know the beginners from the intermediates from the advanced. This doesn't mean you won't be pushed beyond your comfort zone, but that we'll do it progressively, intelligently, safely.
The one thing that separates us from other gyms, I think, is the way we train. We don't sink money and extras into the facility. If we did, we would have to charge more. Instead, we concentrate on the training. We get to know everybody very well ... their weaknesses, strengths, personalities. We're not a big gym, so we can tailor our training to your particular proclivities. And we're able to be as safe as a full-contact sport can be.
You're going to train like a professional fighter, with professional fighters. But it will be more than worth it.
You do not have to be a fighter. Nor do you have to have plans of one day becoming a fighter. But ... and here is the big but ... you are going to train with fighters. You are going to train with aspiring fighters. In other words, you're going to train like a fighter.
When I say that, I get a lot of wide-eyed expressions. Let me be clear. I'm not going to throw you in with Yosmany. I'm not going to toss you in against someone who is going to hand you your ass. I would be an irresponsible instructor if I did that; liable for malpractice even. In other words, I know the beginners from the intermediates from the advanced. This doesn't mean you won't be pushed beyond your comfort zone, but that we'll do it progressively, intelligently, safely.
The one thing that separates us from other gyms, I think, is the way we train. We don't sink money and extras into the facility. If we did, we would have to charge more. Instead, we concentrate on the training. We get to know everybody very well ... their weaknesses, strengths, personalities. We're not a big gym, so we can tailor our training to your particular proclivities. And we're able to be as safe as a full-contact sport can be.
You're going to train like a professional fighter, with professional fighters. But it will be more than worth it.
Activating Good Nutrition
When I began teaching at the gym, I was over 200 pounds. A lot of my clients can't seem to remember that, because it was only a few weeks later (maybe just over a month) that I was down to 170 pounds. But it's true. I wasn't 200 pounds of muscle, either. I was out of shape. So when I talk about this with others, how I lost over 30 pounds in just a handful of weeks, people want to know what I did. They tend to assume I radically changed my diet. Wrong.
What I did was quite simple, but it seems to escape a lot of people. Instead of going on some radical diet, cutting out carbs, eating soy bean soup, or whatever, I simply increased my activity. "Output must equal input." It's really that simple. If I'm eating 10 lbs of food a day, I need to burn 10 lbs of food a day. It really is that simple.
Now don't get me wrong. Eating right is VITAL. But I think a lot of people put the cart before the horse. Or at least they try to do too many things at once. A friend of mine, who seems to lose weight at will, but puts it right back on, is one of those types. She will cut out carbs, watch EVERYTHING that goes into her stomach, throws herself into a rigorous gym routine, looks great for a month, and then balloons back out a month later. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is simply: too much too soon.
Here's my point. Get up and start doing things. In the beginning, forget all about your nutrition. (I know that many of you personal trainers will disagree with this. But you're wrong). Anyhow ... eat whatever you want. McDonalds? Arby's? Wendy's? Sure. At least in the beginning. The reason I say this is because activity has a way of putting things in perspective and giving rise to better habits. If you walk everyday, or do some other form of activity, more than you used to, you will see improvements in endurance and weight loss very quickly. Why? Because your output is getting closer to your input.
I don't recommend that you keep eating crap. But let's begin small. Eat what you want, but get outside and do something. After you do something long enough, you'll begin to become inspired to make additional modifications. But little ones. And slowly. For instance ... I began jogging. And then, slowly, I started to cut out the crap food little by little. But it was almost effortless. That's why I recommend starting with some form of activity ... and THEN eating right comes almost naturally.
But before you go out and say I know nothing about training because I recommend that you eat fast-food, let's be clear on something. Proper nutrition is extremely important. If you continue to eat poorly, you're going to continue performing poorly. And feeling poorly. I don't recommend bad eating habits. At some point you're going to have to cut out the crap. However, I feel that proper nutrition has a way of working its way into your life simply by getting up and doing things. Jogging? Walking? CrossFit? CageFit? (Of course I recommend THIS one). Sure. Just get up and get going. Better nutrition choices will come to you a lot more easily. But if I'm wrong, at least you got off your duff and actually did something. Right?
What I did was quite simple, but it seems to escape a lot of people. Instead of going on some radical diet, cutting out carbs, eating soy bean soup, or whatever, I simply increased my activity. "Output must equal input." It's really that simple. If I'm eating 10 lbs of food a day, I need to burn 10 lbs of food a day. It really is that simple.
Now don't get me wrong. Eating right is VITAL. But I think a lot of people put the cart before the horse. Or at least they try to do too many things at once. A friend of mine, who seems to lose weight at will, but puts it right back on, is one of those types. She will cut out carbs, watch EVERYTHING that goes into her stomach, throws herself into a rigorous gym routine, looks great for a month, and then balloons back out a month later. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is simply: too much too soon.
Here's my point. Get up and start doing things. In the beginning, forget all about your nutrition. (I know that many of you personal trainers will disagree with this. But you're wrong). Anyhow ... eat whatever you want. McDonalds? Arby's? Wendy's? Sure. At least in the beginning. The reason I say this is because activity has a way of putting things in perspective and giving rise to better habits. If you walk everyday, or do some other form of activity, more than you used to, you will see improvements in endurance and weight loss very quickly. Why? Because your output is getting closer to your input.
I don't recommend that you keep eating crap. But let's begin small. Eat what you want, but get outside and do something. After you do something long enough, you'll begin to become inspired to make additional modifications. But little ones. And slowly. For instance ... I began jogging. And then, slowly, I started to cut out the crap food little by little. But it was almost effortless. That's why I recommend starting with some form of activity ... and THEN eating right comes almost naturally.
But before you go out and say I know nothing about training because I recommend that you eat fast-food, let's be clear on something. Proper nutrition is extremely important. If you continue to eat poorly, you're going to continue performing poorly. And feeling poorly. I don't recommend bad eating habits. At some point you're going to have to cut out the crap. However, I feel that proper nutrition has a way of working its way into your life simply by getting up and doing things. Jogging? Walking? CrossFit? CageFit? (Of course I recommend THIS one). Sure. Just get up and get going. Better nutrition choices will come to you a lot more easily. But if I'm wrong, at least you got off your duff and actually did something. Right?
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Get Real
If you think you're going to be a professional fighter in only a couple of months, think again. It's very insultive when people come in here thinking that. Do they actually think what we have dedicated our lives to can be picked up by just anybody off the street? Ain't gonna happen. Would you go up to the coach of an NFL football team and say "Look, I've never even once thrown the pigskin before, and I've never even played flag football, but in three months I want you to make me a pro football player." Right. You would be laughed out of there, or maybe they'd call a psychiatrist for you. In other words, you would never do that. And you should never expect to be so foolish with MMA.
The problem is, every guy thinks he can already fight. Many of them come in here and think they just to need to brush up on a few things. They think their schoolyard exploits entitle them to some kind of fighter status. (Kimbo Slice anyone?) It's probably in every guy's makeup to think he is is a badass, but only a handful of us really are. That hurts, I guess, when it's realized. The moment you realize you aren't as badass as you thought, you get discouraged. I see it all the time in the gym. And then you start wondering "Will I EVER be as tough as MMA demands?" Probably not. Sad but true.
The sooner you realize what you are, and what you are not, and what you may never be, you can get on with your life. Make the best of it. But please, don't fall apart when you meet the harsh reality of training. It slows down class, and it keeps the rest of us from learning time. Work your ass off, but don't crumble when you discover you don't have much ass to actually work off.
The problem is, every guy thinks he can already fight. Many of them come in here and think they just to need to brush up on a few things. They think their schoolyard exploits entitle them to some kind of fighter status. (Kimbo Slice anyone?) It's probably in every guy's makeup to think he is is a badass, but only a handful of us really are. That hurts, I guess, when it's realized. The moment you realize you aren't as badass as you thought, you get discouraged. I see it all the time in the gym. And then you start wondering "Will I EVER be as tough as MMA demands?" Probably not. Sad but true.
The sooner you realize what you are, and what you are not, and what you may never be, you can get on with your life. Make the best of it. But please, don't fall apart when you meet the harsh reality of training. It slows down class, and it keeps the rest of us from learning time. Work your ass off, but don't crumble when you discover you don't have much ass to actually work off.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sleep On It
I was asked the other day how to become properly conditioned. Well, the simple answer is: train with us at the Spartan Gym. But I know what the inquirer was getting at. My answer may be helpful to others ...
Getting in shape requires three things: exercise, nutrition, and rest. A lot of people understand the exercise part, fewer seem to grasp the nutrition part, and almost no one seems to get the rest part. Getting into shape is not just about working your ass off to exhaustion. You have to have a smart conditioning program, you have to eat right, and you have to sleep! Working out consistently after only a few hours sleep each night is foolishness, but it seems to be a trend.
Working out does not build you up. It tears you down. After the body tears down, it goes "Holy shit! What was that? I better prepare myself to deal with that if it happens again." And then it craves rest. In other words, working out rips you down; rest builds you back up. Without rest, all you're doing is tearing yourself apart. Rest means recovery. And not only recovery, but recovery with a vengeance.
If you want to know what exercises you should be doing, come in and we'll set you along a strong path. And I really need to list a nutritional plan for my fighters. (You guys persistently ask me for it). I hope to have that up soon. But until then, workout, don't eat shit, get plenty of water and ... REST!
Getting in shape requires three things: exercise, nutrition, and rest. A lot of people understand the exercise part, fewer seem to grasp the nutrition part, and almost no one seems to get the rest part. Getting into shape is not just about working your ass off to exhaustion. You have to have a smart conditioning program, you have to eat right, and you have to sleep! Working out consistently after only a few hours sleep each night is foolishness, but it seems to be a trend.
Working out does not build you up. It tears you down. After the body tears down, it goes "Holy shit! What was that? I better prepare myself to deal with that if it happens again." And then it craves rest. In other words, working out rips you down; rest builds you back up. Without rest, all you're doing is tearing yourself apart. Rest means recovery. And not only recovery, but recovery with a vengeance.
If you want to know what exercises you should be doing, come in and we'll set you along a strong path. And I really need to list a nutritional plan for my fighters. (You guys persistently ask me for it). I hope to have that up soon. But until then, workout, don't eat shit, get plenty of water and ... REST!
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