Wim Demeere's Blog

Martial Arts, Self Defense and a Whole Lot More.

Video update: It’s a wrap!

by 1 Comment

A few hours ago, the Paladin Press video director spoke the magic words: “It’s a wrap!” Only a few minutes earlier, I was hitting my demo partner full power in the face with punches and palm strikes fter I rammed him into a dumpster. He was wearing Mr. Bill Kipp’s latest Gladiator suit, so he was just fine. But still, quite a contrast going from full-bore fighting to the next minute saying thanks to everybody for doing such an outstanding job over the last four days of shooting.

Pretty much everything went the way it should. Here are some highlights of my trip so far:

  • Once again, my flight to Denver was delayed. Thunderstorms this time. As a result, I’d been up for 24h before arriving at the hotel. Not really a great way to start but at least I had the next day to recover.
  • We got in all the information that I wanted to include for the Conditioning for Power video. There’s a chance we might have to cut some parts because we ran over the maximum length for one DVD. I tried to keep it under that limit but it didn’t turn out that way.
  • I had less trouble with my back than I had feared. Just before leaving for the US, I was forced to do three sessions at the chiropractor just so I could walk without pain, let alone do any exercise. Considering that, it went well enough.
  • For the Combat Sanshou: Tiger and Snake video, things worked out well too. My demo partner, Brian, went above and beyond the call of duty as he had to take some hard shots from me. So props to him for sticking with it for the whole four days.
  • Meeting Mr. Kipp was awesome. He has a wealth of experience and offers a unique product with his Gladiator suit. He wore it for and I launched full power elbow shots at his head; he just shrugged them off. then I put on the suit and he launched a bunch of shots; same result. I could feel some sort of shock wave but other than that, I was fine. Awesome training tool!
  • He was kind enough to lend it to me for the last day of the shoot. I had planned to do some scenarios for the Combat Sanshou video so the suit was perfect for that. Originally, we were going to use a chest guard and some headgear. It’s better than nothing but it isn’t great because you can still injure your partner if you crank up the intensity. With the Gladiator suit, I didn’t have to hold back. At one point, I was pounding my Brian’s head into the floor with punches, as hard as I could. Afterwards, he was just fine, told me he hadn’t felt a thing. I looked at the footage and it does indeed look pretty spectacular.
  • After the shoot, I got to shoot some guns, which is always fun. I really like the .45 but the most impressive firearm was the elephant gun: a slug as big as my finger and quite a bit of kickback. It’s probably luck but I did hit center mass, which was exactly what I had aimed for.

I’m now off the clock and am enjoying three days of fun with a bunch of friends at the annual Animal List BBQ. It’s going to be a load of fun training with people like Peyton Quinn, Iain Abernathy, Kris Wilder and many, many more. Good times ahead…

Video update: Combat Sanshou

by 7 Comments

Next month, I’ll shoot the next part of my Combat Sanshou series. It’ll focus on the two main strategies and tactics I teach for the system. One of the things I will add to this new video is a couple scenarios. I have several in mind but wanted to ask you guys first:

Which type of attack would you like to see me cover in the new video? What kind of scenario do you find most interesting for an instructional video?

Just leave a comment here on this post and I’ll consider it. Of course, “Fight 27 ninjas!” type scenarios will be ignored. :-)

 

Thanks.

Combat Sanshou, striking

Video update: Conditioning for more power in your techniques

by 2 Comments

This Summer, I’ll be shooting two new videos with Paladin Press. One of these is about conditioning training for more power in your techniques.

I’m approaching the topic form a slightly different angle than most conditioning videos that teach you how to hit harder. My main premise is this:

Hitting harder by developing stronger, more explosive muscles isn’t all that difficult. Controlling that increased power is where most people fail.

 

I’ve written extensively about training and developing your muscles in The Fighter’s Body so I won’t go into detail here. But there was always something that nagged in the back of my mind. Another catalyst is how I received numerous emails with the question: what kind of conditioning do you do? These two points inspired me to work out this video project and I’m now in training to prepare for it. Some thoughts:

In my pretty biased opinion, almost anybody can get stronger. You just need to do the work and stick with it.

When I competed, I did conditioning five times a week. I kept that up for about 15 years and only slowed down about five years ago. Nowadays, my conditioning consists of 3-4 sessions a week and they’re never longer than 20-30 min. That’s because of a variety of reasons:

  • I’m not looking to get bigger muscles, I’m already a heavyweight and don’t need more muscle mass.
  • I don’t have the same amount of time to train than before. Time is precious now so I have to cram in more activities in the same 24 hours. So I train more intensively but less long.
  • I’m less interested in becoming stronger than I am in being more efficient with the power I do have. Which is the main thing I’ll be demonstrating in my upcoming video.

The last bullet is what I think is missing too often in the conditioning programs I see for martial artists and competitive fighters. The basic premise they seem to follow is:

Power in technique = explosive strength =>Train to become stronger and more explosive => Use that new found strength and explosiveness in your techniques => Your techniques are now better than before.

Sounds reasonable and for the most part it is. But the last part of this logic doesn’t always apply.

There seems to be an inherent assumption that all that hardcore training automatically translates into more effective techniques. I disagree. I think it translates into a greater potential for more effective techniques. But it remains to be seen if that potential is used correctly or not. I don’t think this happens automatically.  I believe you have to train specifically on how to control this increase in power at the same time you’re developing it.

Here’s an analogy to illustrate this point, use your imagination a bit to follow it: [Read more…]

Plans for the new year

by 5 Comments

After I reviewed the previous year in this post, I guess it’s time to look forward and make some plans. Here we go…

Stay in shape/get in better shape.

As you know, the last few years have treated me to a long list of injuries. 2010 was no different in that regard. In some ways, it was pretty bad: Rushing to the ER in the middle of the night because of my stomach, my back telling me every day it hated me, my arthritis was worse than ever.

In other ways, it was better: my back didn’t get worse, I’m working on dealing with the arthritis and my digestive system has improved a lot.

All in all, I’m in better shape now than I was last year. But I’m not where I want to be. I lost about 7 pounds compared to last January, even though I had lost a lot more throughout the year when I was able to train past the injuries for a while. But some of it came back when I couldn’t, which sucks.

So this year, my goal is to work on getting these things back on track: [Read more…]

Popular posts

Recent Posts

Search this blog

Custom Search
Google