Go and get it

We all want be successful and achieve something in our lives.

There is nothing wrong about it. We should all aim for better living.

We should all aim high and constantly look for the way to improve.

We do deserve the best, every one of  us.

But it is not going to be given to us.

We have to "go and get it".

If I wanted to become a doctor, I would most likely try to get myself on the course at medical university, would study the subject and try to graduate the best I can. Once completed the Uni I would look for the practise, understanding that only persistence in my work and education can make me qualified doctor.

If I wanted to become a carpenter, I would look for carpentry courses, buy myself a set of tools and look for the practise on the building sites. Knowing that it takes time, hard work and constant learning to become qualified carpenter.

If I wanted to become a professional boxer, I would start by signing up with amateur boxing club, buy myself boxing gloves and some running shoes. Would take any opportunity to improve my boxing skills, would work on my sparring, endurance, diet and everything it takes to become qualified boxer.

And so on... .

Simple method in whoever you choose you wanna become.

Just "go and get it"!

You wanna loose few kilos simply: change your diet and exercise.

You want to improve your flexibility: stretch daily.

You want to improve your stamina: increase your cardio workout.

You want to become a great fighter: train and compete.

Whatever you wanna achieve, whoever you wanna become: just "go and get it".

There is no short cuts.

You cannot open the door without unlocking it first.

www.GMMA.co.uk

   

Let the action talk.

Last Saturday afternoon instead of taking part in GuruMuayThai class as we usually do.

Me and my great friend and training partner Michael drove to Coventry, where represented our club at kickboxing show.

Going there we didn't know nothing about my opponent apart of that his weight should match my 75kg and that we were going to fight K1 rules.

We got in there with no expectations what so ever.

All we had in our strategy was to use all our strengths and experience the best we can possibly do.

This is one of the things we have learnt over the years of travelling and competing  around.

There is no point of wasting our precious energy on speculating and stressing over what my opponent brings with him.
Obviously I get some thoughts building up in my head going towards possible abilities and skills of my opponent but instead of concentrating  on what he has got in his sleeve, I am trying to turn it into planning how am I going to respond.
What we have always been taught by our coaches is that it doesn't matter what they can do if you don't give them chance to do it.
So the plan is simple: put the work rate very high, double up on each attack from the other side and make sure I do always respond. According to the plan, as long as my kicks and punches are solid, my distance and timing are right and I use the angles right way, I can't go wrong.
Michael has reminded me few facts about my strengths and advantages, what has pushed away any even minor self doubt.
In the ring anything can really happen, but I know for sure that negative thoughts are not going to make it any better. All they can do is; make me not perform to my best and make me regret things I haven't done after the fight. I've been there before.
I have walked into the ring as second, my rival and his team were already there.
Stepping in I could feel his eyes on me at all times. When I looked at him, he looked very angry and determined to hurt me. He definitely wanted to play the eye contact game ( must have watched a lot of UFC I suppose). I haven't fallowed the game, it isn't much of my style. Again I rather to save my energy and show my skills in the fight, not before.
That's how I have always wanted to be. Humble, respectful and calm fighter which talks with the actions at the appropriate time.
I suppose everyone reacts different to the stress and everyone has got different methods of breaking the opponent confidence.
I believe that my fighting experience makes me not only better fighter and instructor but also better human being in general. 
That's why I wanna be able to control my emotions and my life in the ring as well as outside.
I wanna be positive and confident and push the negativity away.
It is great if you have like minded people surrounding you, like my coaches and team Mates.
You can consider yourself a lucky.
I do.

P.S I have won that fight by unanimous decision. 
www.GMMA.co.uk     

Composure

Everybody can kick and punch.
But if you wanna become a skillful and successful fighter, there is many more skills you need to develop.
In this post I am going to concentrate on one of them. The one I am currently working on.
It is "composure".
Not that fancy stands and moves you could think of.
Composure in terms of staying alert and ready at all times.
It is kind of back to basics proces.
I am trying to sharpen up my tools, while keeping right position and balance after each strike. That will help me to read the game better and always beeing able to react at various occasions.
It takes a lot of time spend on the footwork,balance, extending the strikes, stepping in and out ( managing the distance ) as well as right twist of the feet and body.
The aim is to become more fluid in all my actions.
There is few bad habits I got to get rid off, to make things work right.
But I am very excited as while I am working on my development I can already see the benefits of it.
I can see that by improving my "composure", many other aspects will get better too.
All that also helps with saving energy during the fight as well as during the practice.
I can see that when I manage to loosen up and sharpen my reaction while executing right turn in and out of each combination. Everything works smoother and clearer.
No unnecessary swinging and throwing hands gets involved.
All that works and looks much better at all.
All needs to be done is practice.
Teach my body and brain to react the way I want it to.
www.GMMA.co.uk

Love will give you wisdom.

There was a time, when I first started teaching martial arts to children, when I was pretty nervous.
I knew what I was doing. I was quite convinced that I've got a lot to share with them and what I've got to offer can help them improve their lives.
Task was theoretically simple. Just bring to the table my own experience. Exactly  the way I used to do with the groups and individual adults I was already teaching for a while.
I was impressed how easy can children learn and how quick they can achieve things when they love what they are doing.
However there was few factors of helping children that have got me a bit stressed.
First of all;  children have much less patience than adults.
As a foreigner speaking to the bunch of adults and bunch of kids I could clearly  see the difference. Children wouldn't hide if they didn't understand and they wouldn't try to figure out the meanings.
They would simply express themselves while adults would usually carry on the way they think is right, waiting for eventual corrections.
I could also see the way they look at me, especially the youngest ones. I became a role model for many of them in terms of Martial arts.
That was another reason why I could feel under pressure. I knew that what I do and say is been taken deep into their little hearts and they will fallow my footsteps.
Parents watching me taking care of their loved ones and hoping to help them rise their child the best they can.
And finally; GMMA Academy standards. The highest standards brought by my coaches, developed in a lifetime experience of their very intense work as a martial artists,fighters and instructors.
I've got given great credit by my Coaches and at this same time, expectations are great.
All those aspects have gave me a bit of stress as I have always been  trying to perform the best I can or even better.
So many times I've been asking myself how can I improve as a instructor.
There is so much to go with it .
Everyone is different, everyone has got different abilities and needs.
How can I help one person without missing on the other?
This and many more important questions would come through my head.
It took me a while to figure out that: all of those questions have only got one answer: "love".
When you bring love and passion to something that you are good at,you can create amazing things.
We all need love,understanding, patience and right motivation.
So I have learnt that everything goes easier when I just fallow my heart and intuition. When I treat everyone with love and respect, I can't go wrong and they will pay back with this same.
This is a win - win situation where we all improving in positive environment.
www.GMMA.co.uk

Busy life vs training

There is so much more I wanna get from my life.
As a fighter, student, instructor.
As well as in my career outside the sports and as a husband, brother, son and simply a men.
I strongly believe that we were born as a community and we should also leave as a community too. I wanna be able to so much more for others.
I know that I am on the right path to achieve all this. I am with right, like minded people.
As most of us this days I can't always do things that I would like to  (even if they are right things to do ). Like my training.
My routine is at least two trainings day, six days a week. When I accomplish this schedule,  I do have a Sunday off with full peace of mind.
If I know that tomorrow I've got to start work earlier I will make sure that I wake up early enough to do my morning session and prepare myself for rest of the day.
My main trainings (Gukwoone, GuruMuayThai etc) are in the afternoon or evening. And they are my priorities.
I will literally do all my best to attend my main sessions.
As much as the morning ones are flexible, I can't change nothing when it comes to the main ones.
So in the busy schedule of my other work related duties. Sometimes it is physically impossible to make it on time.
Sometimes even beeing slightly late is not an option either.
Do I just finish what I've got to do and go home to have a peaceful night?
No way.
That wouldn't be possible.  I wouldn't sleep well at all.
The more I achieve the busier I get and the harder it is to fit in everything I wanna do. But if I can't cope with what is happening now, how will I perform having more responsibilities and more duties (which I am planning to ) on my head.
I am not even parent yet:-) !
So I will always make sure that I have this couple of things with me at all times.
My training kit and membership card to chain of the gyms at different locations around London, where I can do my routine if I miss my planned training.
If I skip it today, tomorrow will something else pop out. Day after day, week after week I will miss more and instead of getting closer I will move away from my goals.
So here we are.
Missed my evening session and just about to start my own training of a run on the treadmill...
Good luck with achieving your goals👍
www.GMMA.co.uk

Copycatting skills of children

While enjoying beautiful English spring I have recently been increasing outdoor training of my own, as well as with my students. It would be a criminal not to use this warm and sunny days.
At the beginning of this week, at one of the West London parks I was training one of my regular students, a five years old boy. His mum and little sister, two years old were enjoying the weather watching us from time to time.
Little girl was as most of the little children would be really interested in all surroundings,flowers,trees, dogs passing by. But every time her brother had a break for a drink she would come to me,bow the way we do at Gukwoone and kick the pads with big smile on her face.
We spent some time on developing back kick of my young student and added it up to nice short combination at the end.
When we finally finished the training little girl had run back to me again and begun kicking the pads the best she could.
I gave her short instructions and taught her how to punch too.
Over sudden she has turned around and performed back kick which has briefly seen us practicing with her brother.
We were all amazed.
After all we went to playground in the park to let children have some fun.
Girl has continued fallowing the footstepsof her older brother.
She would fearlessly repeat every action taken by him.
One thing I know for sure and there is no doubt about it,is that children have great ability of copycatting others.
There is no boundaries in their abilities as they not over thinking it. They have no doubt, all they wanna do is accomplish their mission.
That's why as a teachers,parents,older siblings,any other kind of mentors or role models, we have very responsible task. We have to choose wisely what kind of people we are, what kind of attitude we have and what do we say to our upper coming hero's.
Words are not enough to inspire them and make them become confident and successful.
They need to see great perspective in our actions.
Will I teach my students how to perform correct back kick without showing them example?
Will I teach them respect while laughing at their problems and difficulties?
Will I teach them how to improve if I am staying still satisfied with what I've got ?
Whatever is your role; teacher, parent,brother,sister.
Remember that kids simply observing and copycatting.
Don't matter how much you explain, they will most likely fallow your actions rather than words.
www.GMMA.co.uk

Stressing food

I have experienced how stress can affect our nerve system and our health at numbers of situations.
I have had serious problem with my lower back ( when I have thought that my fighting career was finished ).
At very unexpected moment, when I was actually feeling pretty strong.
I have seen my wife beeing incorrectly diagnosed with asthma few months after our wedding. When she finally settled down after all the preparation and stressing about the ceremony and party.
So many times I've got ill straight after the fight as my nerve system would be overloaded in the preparation and during the competition. When it was all done my body and brain would completely relax and being tired after all the tension I would catch any virus hanging around.
Having the back problem I have mentioned before I was regularly visiting chiropractic for months.
At that time I would always have pack or two of peppermint chewing gums in my pocket.
Emptying pockets before each session my Chiropractic has noticed that and proposed me a test.
Test was simple: I had to lie down  on my back and lift my legs and arms,keeping them straight and try to resist while he was pulling pushing or to the side and pushing down.
It wouldn't look too bad.
Then he would ask me to put one of the chewing gum in my mouth, without even chewing just let the taste come out.
It was no longer than two minutes before we repeated the test.
I couldn'tbelieve of the outcome and I have accused the doctor of pushing and pulling harder than before.
He would smile and explain to me what was he trying to prove.
Doctor has explained to me that what I have experienced was result of my nerve system being weaken up while protecting my body against poisoning chemical of the chewing gum called aspartame.
While he was explaining I was waiting for the taste to go away and we had the test for the third time.
Everything was more or less back to normal after about five minutes chat.
Aspartame is one of many chemical ingredients of today's processed food.
Along with many other sweeteners, regulators, preservatives and countless enhancements used by food producers.
All of those have similar effect on our health to mental stress.
It all affects our nerve system then amune.
You can run and train everyday, but if you are not having good rest, peaceful life, plenty of love and healthy diet.
You might still suffer health wise.
So make right choices at your next meal.
www.GMMA.co.uk

Four men tournament

Saturday 28th of March.
After few fights cancelled, for different reasons, past couple of months.
Finally I was going to the Fightmax 12 show pretty confident that I will have chance to test my improvement.
Confidence was due to the fact that I was taking a part in four men tournament which I originally wasn't really scheduled for. I have been asked by the promoters if I wanted to cover that as one of the guys pulled out. As I have mentioned quite few of my recent fights were cancelled so obviously after confirming with my coaches I have agreed to be one of four competitors.
I knew all three of my opponents pretty well.
One of them was my really good friend, my training and sparring partner few years back.
I fought the second one couple of years ago, when I have lost on points.
Third one was very tough and experienced fighter from local gym, which I had chance to see at number of occasions.
Anybody could win that competition.
I don't think there was any kind of favourite.
However I don't really think people would expect me to win. For many different reasons.  First one and the biggest would be that they don't really know me.
They don't know how much I work for it everyday. All of this guys were longer in the game, heavier and two of them much taller.
At the beginning of the show we would come up to the ring where we got introduced to the spectators, the winners prizes got presented  ( Title and 1000£ cash). Then we also had a lottery to decide who is going to fight who.
Out of all the guys I was really hoping not to meet with the first one who was my good friend. I purely found it bit emotional fighting against him. But it couldn't be any different as the other two guys names were pulled out of the first two envelopes. I was facing number 1.
Here we go.
No hard bit of emotions took over at the beginning of the fight and I have started a bit stiff.  I haven't worked my distance and I believe I made my opponent look better.
Last 30 seconds of the first round I have started catching  the rhythm.
My coach and corner man would give me couple of tips which would make my observations complete.
And I have came back for the second round with a plan. I have improved a lot and at the end of second round I believed that I am in control.
Third round surprisingly has finished pretty early as in a process of executing my plan I have managed to stop my opponent.
So I was through to the final where I was facing very fit, tall and experienced opponent which I have lost with in past.
My plan was simple.
Don't start it from the first round, make it as a fourth. As I have been progressing round after round, all I had to do was continue it and move forward.
Which happened to work great as I have managed to win the final in the first round.
So glad that I could have make my friends, which came to watch me feel proud. So glad that I made proud my team members who also got busy lifes and gave it all to be there with me.
So glad that my hard work and preparation for previous cancelled fights pays off.
I have earned more respect, Fightmax champion title and 1000£ which 25% of it I am going to share with "Good life foundation".
Foundation dedicated to help children all over the world to get they everydays basics and better life.
There is no better feeling than improving in my life, improving in my passion, making my team,friends and family proud.
At this same time Beeing able to help others those less fortunate.
If I could only carry on for the rest of my life doing this while Beeing able to support my family I would be the happiest man in the world.
Great thank you to my mentors and coaches from GMMA Academy.

Train your subconsciousness mind

Everyday we hear and read inspiring quotes that can bring some spark to the moment we are in.
Especially when it comes to social media.
We are flooded with images and videos that meant to change our lives.
I do love them myself and I have personally subscribed to quite few interesting pages and websites that I do always share with my friends.
I believe they are good and they can help us by educating and giving new ideas.
Or simply reminding us who we really are and where we are going to.
But we all need to realise one very important thing; it doesn't matter how much you work in order to get something by your conscious mind if your unconscious mind goes opposite direction. 
As Bruce Lipton, great biologists and book  writer says; only 5% of our everyday activities and decisions are made by our conscious mind.
95% is what we have programmed in our unconscious brain.
Even though we constantly thinking,planning and making decisions.
It is still mainly dictated by what we have programmed ourselves for.
Breathing, walking, driving, speaking, observing, eating, drinking, sleeping and many others actions we take through the day are taken without over thinking.
We can train our innerself in everyday life just like in the Martial arts and fighting sports. That's the reason why we are endless practicing techniques which can be used at the event of danger or in the ring during the competition.
In the fight there is no time to think.
On the street, split second can decide of a outcome. Your body need to react spontaneously. Your muscles stimulated by the brain ( part responsible for sight ) are going to use their memory.
They are going to react the way you prepared them to. In the ring rules are this same. The only difference is that in the sport fight mostly it goes over longer period of time. But then again you are still going to react the way you train yourself.
Especially when you are tired or under pressure, bad habits you were hiding while you were fresh are going to come out.
Apart your physical reactions, this form of actions are also great test for our mental attitude. Are you programmed as a winner? Are just survivor?  Are you giving up when the hard times hit you?
I work on my subconscious mind everyday, at work, in the training, at home, in my relationship as well as in the fighting experience.
I believe this is the only way for me to become better and help others.

Unnecessary stress

Recently I've been watching some interesting channels on the YouTube about psychology, emotions, nutrition, self improvement.
All of them had something in common.
They were describing destructive power of the stress.
We do stress everyday and a lot of us do it excessively.
Bit of stress can sometimes help us think and react sharper.
Make some sudden decisions which normally we would take us ages.
We can't forget that like any other animals on the planet earth we got developed  survival instinct. At the event of danger adrenaline kicks in, all our muscles and brain works extremely intense to take us to position of safety.
Our problem as a human is that we overuse this ability and stress over small things. As well as we stress long before (thinking what if) and long after (again, thinking what if and why).
I've heard one very clever comparison watching one of the interviews. Gentlemen was saying that we should look at the gazelle,  chased by the lion she runs for her life. When she feels safe after around 10, 15 minutes she is back in the field eating grass and enjoying sunshine.
When we as humans will think about for the rest of the day.
I do really believe that we are over thinking things and create a lot of problems ourselves.
Our brains are activating our nerve system to protect our selves.
Over stressing causes a lot of damage and create diseases on our brains and body.
As a fighter I have experienced destructive power of stress on myself.
Even after quite few years of experience in the ring I still go through different emotions when it comes to the fight.
In general I can tell that I have improved.
At the early stages of my career I have been making different scenarios in my head weeks before the fight.  Then it decreased to days. Now I usually become nervous in the changing room.
My recent experience has given me another lesson and example of how stress can affect your performance.
I was in the competition where I had to face one of my old colleague and training partner. I suppose it was a bit emotional experience for both of us.
Only when I turned off the thinking I begun to put things together and started feeling comfortable. Begun to do what I was train to.
I still have to remind myself every now and then that this is something I love, this is something that makes me improve.
Whatever the outcome it helps me and I can help others with my experience.
So why should I stress over that.
I believe that as long as I train and work hard. Being honest to myself and others.
I shouldn't stress at all.
Should you my energy on getting better.
Obviously I do try to bring all that knowledge and experience to my everydays life too.

www.GMMA.co.uk 

After winter must come spring

8When I first came to UK, I could barely make an conversation in English.
I was able to put few words together,  but had real problem with understanding as I found so many different accents so different to those I have studied back in Poland.
So whatever I was going to do for leaving in here I had to improve my English.
Evening classes, reading books and newspapers, talking with others. All that was my way of development.
There was one thing I have always loved and it helped me a lot in catching up the phrases. It was listening to the music.
Translating the songs, understanding the meanings and remembering whole sentences. I would memorise the lyrics and make use of them. Especially those bits which I would find interesting, motivational or rich in contest.
One ofthe examples that stayed in my head was lyrics from Lauren Hill song "Everything is everything "where she sings that "after winter must come spring".
I would remember these words when things wouldn't work right for me.
As with our form, we cannot be at the peak at all times.
So with other parts of our lives, we cannot have it alway the way we would like to.
There is always ups and downs.
It depends on us how we go through those 'winter days'.
Believe me.
It is much easier when you remember those simple lyrics sang by Lauren Hill.
Be positive, focused,always do your best and you going to enjoy those sunny days in your life.
Just like we do past few day in UK.

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

What will they say ? How will they react ?
What if they disagree ? Can I really do it ?
Maybe I am not fit for it ?!
Am I not to old ?
What if this and what if that ?!?
So many questions and doubts  comes to our heads every day.
Conversation with our innerself is never ending.
In sports, career, everydays life. If we allow our innerself, nerves, emotions take control of our reactions and decisions we might miss great opportunities and and go through our lives to cautious.
Not achieving our best, not allowing ourselves to live our lives.
Of course, we can't jump of the boat in the middle of the ocean without the life vest and not being able to swim.
But at this same time not doing things because they might go wrong is a bit like; not getting of the bed because at night we are going to go to sleep again anyway.
Physical  exercise has always been great motor to my life, even before I gave started with fighting and martial arts.
It has always been great tool to work on my mental strength and confidence.
Of course I do still ask myself  ( obvious ) questions like; "can I really?" and "what if?".
I ask those questions in my sport career, professional career as well as in my private life.
And trust me I do fear and I do do doubt.
When emotions begin to take over I simply try to turn of and try to think "what would I do if I weren't afraid? ".
I try to think what has brought me this path, what am I hoping to achieve and where am I going to.
I do train hard and devote my life to become better  fighter, martial artist and instructor. I do work hard to become successful in every aspect of my life and being able to share with others.
Even I do feel tired I've got great believe in myself and my abilities and my plans.
But like in the fighting career.
In a sparring and preparation I feel sharp,strong and able to move mountain.
I do look for the way and plan how to get titles and be a winner, how to develop for myself and for our team.
Then when it comes to the fight day;
I I still question myself if I have done enough and "what if this?"or "what if that?". I suppose it is natural.
It is related to our survival instinct which should help us make the decision at the moment of danger.
But do we not become to cautious at some point?
We do wanna get better job, but we are afraid of changes.
We do wanna travel, have lots of adventure and achieve big things but we are not willing to risk.
If I weren't afraid would become a world champion in kick boxing, I would educate myself in psychology I would become successful in all aspects of my life to be able to take care of my family as well as  help others. Still getting more out of my life, achieving my goals and passions.
What would you do if you weren't afraid?

www.GMMA.co.uk

How to handle the Bullies

Yesterday, I had chat with some young man, telling me that he gets bullied.
He seems to be intelligent, and very open minded person with very low self confidence.
He has asked me, as a fighter for some advice of; how can he handle out when gets bullied?
I've told him straight away; if he thinks that knowing how to fight and challenging everyone at the moment of disagreement is the way to solve the problem.
He is not thinking right.
You can't fight everyone and everywhere.
Your friends at school, your boss at work, your relatives or your work mates.
You will always get some trouble with people, because we are all different and seeing things differently.
Bullies are usually trying to hide their weaknesses behind their acts.
What I have experienced many times; kindness can often be taken by weaknesses. Then you will become a target of those weak people who wants to lift themselves up by putting you down.
Fighting them,( unless they putting physical force on you ),would only bring you down to their level.
Training Martial arts, if it's  done right way should bring you well above that.
In my case it gives me more confidence, focus, self control,  better judgement and finding the solution under the pressure.
As a young Polish lad,with very basic English, working in construction, around London, in the past. I have been in many different situations when I was put in a test.
The better I become in my training and fighting career the better I began handle those people and situations.
I would always explain to myself that this people know nothing about me and I know what I am made of because I test myself every time I step to the gym or into the ring.

	Krystian Ozog Instructor/Trainer/Fighter, GMMA Academy Mobile: 07928093841 Email: KrystianGuruMuayThai@gmail.com Website: www.GMMA.co.uk

Different aspects of fighting training

Everybody has its own reasons and own goals to achieve by training combat sports.
As long as your motives are clean and you stay within sports ship values.
As long as you doing it to help others rather than harm them. That's great.
Apart of your personal reasons why you choose fighting training there will be much more you gonna gain and earn in a process.
Everyday I learn more about it.
Even if I don't learn something new I do improve what I already know.
For example when I have first started I just wanted to learn a bit of self defence and improve my cardio.
Self confidence, speed, stamina, flexibility, reaction, self control and much more just came along in a package while I kept improving.
As a fighter, it is very important that even when you feel weaker and your energy level goes down,you still "dig it in".
You work till bell rings or referee stops you. You go beyond the average, beyond the tiredness, laziness and all weaknesses.
All that cannot be just said and done.
You got to learn that like "A,B,C", like foreign languages, like kicking and punching combos.
You got to drill it. You got to teach your brain to become your natural instinct.
At the moment of pressure is no time to motivate yourself.  You got to have it in you and fight to the end.
This kind of attitude will make your life easier and better not only as a sportsman.
Also as a professional in your everydays work, as a parent and simply human being.
At GMMA Academy we strongly believe that we do much more than just " kicking and punching ".
GMMA Academy "Sporting, Inspiring, Greatness ".
www.GMMA.co.uk

It is all in your head

A lot of sports and athletes having some time in a year called "off season".
Time to recover,time to rest.
So do boxers.
At the beginning of boxing season I could feel that I was well above the other boys who took time off.
It took them while to get back in shape.
As I was constantly training Thaiboxing, Taekwondo,running and conditioning.
I always believed that my passion and state of my mind is going to take me well above the tiredness and I will move forward with natural way of ups and downs.
Didn't really learn much from my past experience. For example,  when I have worked nights on the building sites  for almost three years and sacrificing sleep time to get some extra training.
It all developed my mental strength, on some point.
But my performance was going down.
My speed,stamina and drive to push harder would go low .
I begun to feel similar few weeks back.
First few weeks after training camp and fight in Thailand I have felt very energetic and motivated.
I have felt like I wanna fight everyone and everywhere.
I still feel like this but I can tell that my energy level is gone down.
My mind wanna push it to the next level but my body doesn't really follow.
I've been trying to get some extra sleep,change my diet a bit,change my training routine...
Nothing would work as it is not just fatigue from single training.
It is chain of things going on together for a bit longer time.
Tonight's session wasn't easy either.
I have started sharp and went through few rounds of good sparring.
But then again fatigue would catch up.
When we were finishing with some tough groundwork  ( series of bodyweight exercises ) I didn't really feel like I wanna to kill it.
I felt more like I just wanna get it done.
But then in the process my attitude has changed to what I have been always practicing,"never give up attitude ".
I have pushed it harder than I planned it at first.
Which made me feel better, made me feel happy and made me feel that I am moving forward and my time isn't waisted.
We all get tired, we all get down.
But training our mental strength and positive attitude as well as our body can keep us going and get closer to our goals.

Commitments

I was slightly heavier than usual at the beginning of this week.
Still having very busy schedule of work and training I have managed to make it for Fridays bout.
Dropped down even more than I supposed to.
I shouldn't leave it to the last minute,it might affect my performance and I suppose is not healthy too. I should have remain my weight around the boxing weight to get less stress for my body and mind.
This is something that I am still learning about and improving.

But one thing I know for sure is that if I have agreed to take a challenge, if  I have said I will.

I do really mean it.

With all the respect to myself,my hard work,my family and friends, my coaches (who share with me their knowledge,time and great heart) as well as to my opponents who put some effort in preparation for fight.

Seeing effort and hard work of my team Mates I can tell that we all have very similar  attitude when it comes to the training and fighting.

We are exchanging our experience, encouraging  and supporting each other at the hard times.

And what's very important we all understand our commitments as a fighters.

One of our boys caught some bad flu at the beginning of last week,one got some wrist injury.

The other boy just recovered from over trained shins problem...

Everyone has been leaving their lives and having some obstacles.

Very rarely everything works as we wish.

But we got to remember what we are doing it for and respect ourselves and others.

We can't just come up with excuses for our faults, it is not going to explain nothing and is not going help us in our lives.

As I have  said before, fighting is not only "kick and punch game",it is much more.

To be a good fighter you need to be a man of a word. To others as well as to your own self.

You need to understand your commitments and being able to sacrifice certain things to make it work.

I have trained to the last minute, and reduced food and liquid intake couple days before the fight,even thought that I was working long hours on top of that.

So I have made it. 

Am I special?!  

Not at all. Most of my team mates would do exactly this same.

Unfortunately my opponent and couple of other fighters from rivals camps wouldn't.

So few of our fights got cancelled.

Am I upset?

Surely I am not happy as I do wanna fight to improve and test myself. 

But there is plenty of other fights for me coming up.

And as long as I have done everything to make it,I do have peace of mind and can move on with preparation for next bout.

Which is in two weeks time.

	Krystian Ozog Instructor/Trainer/Fighter, GMMA Academy Mobile: 07928093841 Email: KrystianGuruMuayThai@gmail.com Website: www.GMMA.co.uk

Overweight

Two days to my boxing match, scale before the training shows almost 3kg overweight. Tonight's session was intense but much shorter and I haven't lost as much weight as I usually do over the class. After training my weight was still a bit over my boxing weight.
When usually I am dropping at least couple of kilos below.
I've been running,even on Sunday,my usual rest day. (I did 5k charity race)
I've been training as usual and eating pretty much clean too.
Can I drop it?
Of course I can. That's not a big deal I can easily drop 2 or 3 kg on the day.
I have done it before. However I don't think that this is healthy and right way of preparation for the fight.
Especially as my fighting weight has been around 75kg for a long time.
My plan after training camp in Thailand was to drop down to 72kg walking weight and remain it. So my fighting weight would be under 70.
And I am still working on it but it looks like I need a bit more time and possibly some professional help from nutritionist.
Why would my weight suddenly jump up?
I can only presume.
There might be many different  reasons like lacking of rest and sleep, over training, working long hours...
I am not really looking for a reason as I believe that what I am doing at my work and training is still not my maximum.
I am still looking for the way to do more and better.
I think my next step is going to be visit at some professional nutritionist cabinet.

Follow your dreams.

What is your dream?
What is your ambition?
How would you like to see yourself in few years time?
Those few questions keep on coming back to my head every now and then.
Answer isn't always this same,everything changes. I am changing, my family and my needs are changing.
My surroundings and abilities are changing.
And the most of all my hunger increases.
All my little achievements keep the fire burning inside me.
Keeps me inspired and believe that I am on the right path.
All my failures makes me understand how much work there is still in front of me.
Sharing my knowledge and experience by writing this blog and coaching others gives an additional value to my journey of becoming better.
Gives me hope that my way of improvement and what I have learnt can help others believe in their goals and save some time by not making this same mistakes.
Having weakness, fears or making mistakes is natural.
But don't let all these slow you down or stop you in achieving your goals.
Don't look for excuses.
Fallow people you believe are right and helping you to improve.
Follow your dreams!

I've missed my training!

It happens.
Busy life,busy city,busy roads.
Even though I've  carried with me all day long, my gym bag with equipment and food ready for the training and after.
I was mentally ready for it and would honestly do all my best to get to the gym on time. My coach has promised us some nice sparring session for tonight,one of the last one before next Friday show.
I was really looking forward to it.
On some point I have realised that there is no chance that I am going to make it on time. But  I  still haven't gave up, still tried to get to the gym even if I was going to be late. Nothing worked right.
I was still around half an hour away and training was already 40 minutes in a progress. I would have missed more than half of it. I have no time to waste especially week before the fight. So I have done some quick shopping and went straight home planning my own training while still driving.
What is it I need the most now and what have I been lacking of in my training recently?
I've decided that working on the speed will be what I need right now.
So I have planned some long sprints, skipping,  shadow boxing with dumbells and fast circuit workout.
I am pretty sure that apart of the sparring, boys have been doing very similar routine.
So ambitious plan was in place and I have made myself ready.
Then here we go; other priorities,cold outside,late evening, tiredness, laziness and many other symptoms of human nature, tries to take over initiative.
I've been in this kind of situation many times and I am pretty good at dealing with that.
But then again,doing it and doing it right are two different options which depends on your determination,will power and honesty to yourself.
It is easy to go light on yourself when no one is watching and pushing.
For some strange reason in my case I feel like this is when I really put some good work.
Over the years of training Martial arts, fighting craft but even doing the weights or running I have learnt one thing.
If you don't have enough discipline to train on your own, you are not going to get far.

"I wish"

"I wish I was little bit taller
I wish I was a baller
I wish I had a girl who looked good
I would call her
I wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat
And a six four Impala..."
This is a chorus of a song, sang by artist called Skee-Lo.
We all got many wishes and would love to achieve and complete many various tasks. Some of our wishes, like the height in Skee-Lo's song cannot be really changed. But most of our wanna be and wanna do wishes can be done.
All it takes is a bit of strong will power,dedication and perseverance.
I get many new ideas every day.
I also get many old ideas coming back to me. So many of them make me think that if I have continued since I have first thought off them I would be so much better of.
Of course we can only do so much in a day and we are just humans which also need to re charge our batteries.
I personally think that it all comes to ability of setting up the priorities and planning ahead.
My aim is to become a top fighter,martial artist,coach and instructor.
All that, I do strongly believe is going to build up my private,family life too.
Sliding in some new training routine into my schedule; like more and different types of stretching,techniques, speed , stamina and resistance work. Is one thing. Also it need a bit of understanding of my own body and respecting it.
Apart of physical side of my future plans there is also mental annd spiritual aspect, which I strongly believe is the most important. As my coach often says "That invisible work is what really matters and  is going to make you better".
That's why I do practice meditation and work on my listening,observing and understannding skills.