Here’s a fun one: Kris Wilder asked me to join up for this new site he started. The concept is pretty simple: different people get to write 25 things; questions, statements, it doesn’t matter. If you like that sort of thing, here’s my list.
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Martial Arts, Self Defense and a Whole Lot More.
Here’s a fun one: Kris Wilder asked me to join up for this new site he started. The concept is pretty simple: different people get to write 25 things; questions, statements, it doesn’t matter. If you like that sort of thing, here’s my list.
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by Wim 14 Comments
Update:
I published my book “The Leg Kick: Your Ultimate Guide to Using The Leg Kick for Mixed Martial Arts” and it is available here. It covers both how to block the leg kick and much more.
I watched the Matt Hughes vs Renzo Gracie fight and was probably just as surprised as the rest of the world: A wrestler and BJJ specialist in the cage but the fight is decided on leg kicks? How on earth could that happen?
I don’t really have a clue. It’s hard to believe the Gracie’s wouldn’t train to defend against leg kicks. I’m pretty sure they know about this technique and practice how to get past it. But still, Renzo never blocked Matt’s leg kicks, he just took them all in. If you look closely, you can actually tell when the pain starts setting in and it becomes difficult for him to use his leg much. After a few more kicks, he can hardly walk, let alone fight.
If it can happen to one of the greats like Renzo, it can happen to anybody: underestimating the power of leg kicks until it’s too late.
The weird thing is this: you can actually feel like you can handle it when you don’t block a couple of leg kicks and then suddenly, another one lands and it feels like your leg just got amputated. That’s the real power of leg kicks, the cumulative damage can suddenly cripple you when you thought you were still going strong.
After talking so much about how to do a leg kick, I figured it’s time I talked about how to block a leg kick. Here are some ideas you can use: [Read more…]
by Wim 22 Comments
In part one of “How to avoid shoulder injuries in the martial arts“, I talked a bit about my personal experience with those and how I deal with them today. In this part we’ll look at how to prevent shoulder injuries. But before we do that, please allow me to make a simple yet important point:
Prevention only works if you make a long term commitment to it.
I’ve been a personal trainer for 16 years and have taught all sorts of clients: young and old, men and women, out of shape and in peak condition, healthy and recovering form their second heart attack at age 27. Regardless of these factors, there is only one that really matters in my experience: commitment. The clients who committed to their goals reached them. Those who started training and were in it for the long term are still working out today. Some of the clients I’ve had from day one are still training with me after 16 years. That’s the kind of commitment I’m talking about.
So if you want to prevent shoulder problems, you have to view training for that goal as a long term plan and integrate it into your training schedule. If you only do it sporadically, you’ll get mediocre results at best.
The biggest psychological mistake people make is this: They think they’ll always have to work as hard as they do when they start such an injury prevention program. That’s simply not true. When you start on a prevention program, you do have to take out some time for it, that’s true. But it won’t stay like that forever. In most cases, you can get good results with only 10-15min. of work every other day. Once you get the desired results, you go into maintenance mode and reduce the sessions to twice a week. Or you could incorporate them into your regular training (especially the stretching part). Then a month or perhaps two later, you increase the sessions again, back to three times a week if you feel your shoulders need it. Experiment and see what works best for you but just make it a part of your overall training.
To have healthy shoulders, you need two things: strength training and stretching. Your shoulders have to become both strong and flexible at the same time. Just one or the other doesn’t cut it. You need both in the martial arts and combat sports and here’s why: [Read more…]
by Wim 23 Comments
Shoulder injuries are one of the most common injuries in martial arts, regardless if you practice MMA or traditional arts. If you’ve been training for a while, chances are high you’ve faced them before. Unfortuntely, so have I. Case in point:
One of the wrestling drills I do in my Sanshou class is “King of the hill”. The concept is very simple and many teachers use it:
We do this drill regularly at the end of class as it’s always fun and it really wipes you out if you manage to become “king”. Even if you don’t, it’s good training as you get enough rest to really go at it when it’s your turn again. So everybody gets something out of it.
Last week, we did the drill again, everything went fine and we had a blast. I went home after class, watched some TV to wind down and when I got up, my shoulder ached. I figured, no big deal, been there before. But the next morning, I ached a lot more and I’d lost some mobility and gained some pain whenever I lifted my arm. At that point I went “Damn, again..” and started assessing the damage before beginning on a rehab program. My shoulder’s better now but I’m keeping up the exercises to make sure there’s no lasting damage and I can train at 100% again as soon as possible.
The list of potential causes is long but here are the usual suspects: [Read more…]
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