Carving your own monument

Not long time ago in West London, I've been advertising some of our GMMA Academy classes, dedicated to ladies only.
Giving out the leaflets i would briefly describe: what I have to offer.

Having a bit of experience from college years, back in Poland, when I was selling newspapers or distributing leaflets to make some extra money, I would roughly understand psychology of my potential customers.
Knowing and respecting simple fact, that people don't usually go out on the streets with an idea of collecting all free paper they come across or talking to every stranger looking for attention.
Having that in mind I wouldn't over think the way people react or their lack of reaction to my offer.

Some ladies would politely take the flier, some would just pass by. Some would show they interest and appreciation some would have their minds busy or would simply walk they own way trying to avoid another scam. 

There was a  fit and confident looking young girl, in her early twenties which has handed the flier back to me and with proud expression on her face she said that she "doesn't need a workout ".
Then she walked away and smoked a cigarette.

Clearly aware and proud of outside look that mother nature has endowed her, she was fooling herself that it is going to be everlasting. Ignoring other, more important benefits of healthy lifestyle and exercises.

Thinking of that girl, one very accurate statement said by great fighter, women and athlete Ronda Rousey came to my mind.
Ronda has said in one of her interviews that "she doesn't train to look good and impress the man, but simply to get better and stronger".

Giving lots of attention to our outside look, using technology and shortcuts in every aspect of our modern lives, we tend to forget where real strength and beauty comes from.
We tend to bypass idea of our physical/mental health and our longevity.

My fighting experience has taught me another great lesson which can easily be translated to real life situation.
Inside "the ring" it was never the look of mine or my opponents that would define the outcome of the fight. It was always mental strength and stability which would drive the physical body to push further and harder.
Physical training is a great tool building up our monument, chipping up steadily gives us something more than just outside look.
Gives us the character.
Patience, persistence and desire makes us able to carve in the hardest stone we can get.
And that will always stay with us.

http://www.gmma.co.uk/
 

Krystian Ozog Fighter/Instructor, GMMA Academy 07928093841 | KrystianGuruMuayThai@gmail.com | http://www.gmma.co.uk/ | London/Great Britain

You can't open the door before you open the latch

World has been changing so much, so fast.
The way we communicate, travel, eat, work, socialize, learn, educate and so on...

It all has changed tremendously over those 30 great years I have experienced on this planet.

It is amazing, what we are able to achieve with use of constantly developing knowledge and technology.  

Benefits of all that improvement are countless and I believe that we are still learning how we can help ourselves and others by making it more efficient.

I suppose; directions we go with all that, depend on putting right tools in the right hands.

Having all necessary and unnecessary information at our fingertips with use of internet, we are able to achieve much more and much faster, than we used to, even 10 years ago. Personally I do love that ability and I am trying to make use of it every single day to improve my life, get closer to my goals and help society I am living in.

But at this same time I believe that; there are certain things that cannot get speed up. Or if they are, they are going to loose on their real value.

I presume that dependently on which part of the globe you are living at, your expectations regarding speed of life are varying. But generally talking out of what I've witnessed, I can tell that level of our patience amongst human beings hasn't been very high. We are all about the "Fast" this days. Fast food, fast transport, fast money, fast courses...

Our super fast electronic devices which we are carrying with us at all times, are full of names and addresses that will fulfill our "Fast" expectations.
All that can be done upon the fast payment transfer :-)

Don't get me wrong, I am not criticizing technology and improvement that comes to our hands.
I am amazed with new technology and I am very excited about the innovations that are constantly changing and becoming part of our lives.
Most of it is a great time saver and has been invented to bring some kind of help.
We only need to understand how and when to use it, to make most of it, instead of harming or wasting our precious time and creating bad habits for ourselves. 

Using all that fast track options, we need to remember that; just like "Genetically Modified Food" doesn't give us nutrition as it supposed to when grown natural way. A lot of fast courses and fast achievements are not going to give us foundation to build a great monument on top.

There is a simple saying which I believe which I believe brings an essence of great achievement.
You can't open the door before you open the latch. 

Sometimes we get people coming to our classes and ask: how long does it take to upgrade and get higher belt in Gukwoone or higher level at GuruMuayThai. Often question comes from children who haven't even really started yet or even from their parents who I suppose just want their children to proud and happy.
Recently I have answered that question to one of our new teenage student, who didn't hide his disappointment when I have replied that our next exams are going to happen in about next three to four months. When I think that is pretty "Fast", he has said that "it is so long".

I feel that those individuals are misunderstanding the idea and real value of martial arts as a great self development and character building tool.  

Obviously I think that it can only be blamed on our modern approach to life and fast achievements.
I feel that it is in our hands to change the way of thinking, those who we get in contact with,those who are lucky enough to join GMMA Academy and other dedicated and passionate people or teams.

I believe that it is in our hands to guide and teach new generations of what has a real value in the life and how to achieve it. Obviously it means that as a adults, coaches, teachers, parents, role models, we have to apply it in our every days life too.
Instead of constantly looking for shortcuts. We should get of our comfort zone and using our own effort and abilities with great believe and patience work towards of what we desire.
Isn't it true that we value the most all those achievements that we had to work for?
The more work we had to put into it and the harder the journey was: the deepest it stays in our memory and the more joy it brings at the end. 

Our belts, titles, certificates do not make us who we are. It is us who give the value to our belts and titles.
Good Martial artist ( good professional ) is not someone who wear Black belt, have milion likes on social media and bedroom wall covered with certificates and trophies.

Good Martial artist is someone who never stops his improvement and applies Martial arts values in his every day life.

www.GMMA.co.uk

Krystian Ozog Fighter/Instructor, GMMA Academy 07928093841 | KrystianGuruMuayThai@gmail.com | http://www.gmma.co.uk/ | London/Great Britain

Testing your skills

Last Saturday the 30th of April, nine of our GMMA Academy students from Gukwoone Martial arts classes as well as GuruMuayThai fighters have took part in great kickboxing show which took place in Tottenham / North London.
Event that had been organised by great and passionate instructors and promoters from "Martial Way" and "Scorpion Kickboxing " gyms also from London.

"A night of kickboxing" competition was dedicated to complete beginners and junior Martial artists mainly. It was a great, friendly and safe place to test the skills and to get the feeling of stepping into the ring for our young athletes.

We had some wins, we had some losses and we did get one draw.
It was great lesson for our fighters as well as for all the team and myself as a coach.

At the end of yesterdays GuruMuayThai class we have asked those who were fighting at the show to present their trophies and share their experience with rest of the class.

All three of them have agreed that stepping into the ring is much different to what we are used to while training in the class.

It is much different even to intense sparring that we practise every now and then.

Bilal, one of the adult performers has said "My mind went completely blank".

And I think that was a very honest and accurate explanation to what happens when you step into the ring for the first few times in most of the cases. 

Fighting with another skilled and hungry of glory individual in front of the crowd of people, possibly some of our friends and relatives, brings a lot of mind chatter and takes our nervous system to a whole new level.

It takes us while to learn how to control our emotions and to realise that our main opponent or saying more correctly obstacle is not the one standing in opposite corner. It is the one within our own selves in our minds.

That's why I would recommend to everyone who is practising martial arts to test themselves on a competition level. 

I believe that; we can only achieve the full use of our physical skills when we learn how to control our mind. Only then, countless  hours of training our technique is going to bring the best possible effect. 

It is a big circle of abilities that comes with experience like the one we had last Saturday.

We slowly learn how to focus on our performance, on our opponents strengths and weaknesses, while looking for his mistakes that we can use to bring the outcome on our side. The communication and cooperation with our team and coaches and coaches becomes clearer. We begin to concentrate on our own strengths and abilities rather than what we are lacking of. 

Our confidence and self esteem also grows. What is going to help us in every day's life situations. Especially when under the pressure, when being bullied or attacked. 

It gives us supremacy of  self control over those without that experience. What is going to help us make better decisions and stay calmer.

 “Everybody thinks this is a tough man’s sport. This is not a tough man’s sport. This is a thinking man’s sport. A tough man is gonna get hurt real bad in this sport.”

Mike Tyson

www.GMMA.co.uk

Krystian Ozog Fighter/Instructor, GMMA Academy 07928093841 | KrystianGuruMuayThai@gmail.com | http://www.gmma.co.uk/ | London/Great Britain

There is always someone better than you

There is a lot of rumour regarding last Sundays UFC event, especially two world title fights between Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz and Holly Holm vs Miesha Tate.
I see people sharing their thoughts towards the losses of both Champions.
There is a lot of support but a lot of critics too.

In my opinion both defeated fighters are going to come back much stronger and wiser after that experience. Both fighters are great warriors and athletes who have just proved their quality by the way they talk about their losses.

In today's world run by media and money we are being fed with believe that the real Champion should never loose and if one happen to loose a lot of people think that his prime has departed.
We tent to forget about the actual idea of sports rivalry.
A lot of people think that looses on fighters record showing his weakness.

From my experience it doesn't matter how many looses you've got on your record.
What really matters is the way you are facing your failure and the way you come back after.
Someone wise has said that it doesn't matter how good you are. there will always be someone better than you. Those who have been winning only I suppose haven't really faced real challenge yet.
Sports. martial arts is something that don't matter how long you train and how good you are, there will always be room to improve.

Another very important factor is that when you are on top, you become everyone aim.
All pretenders to the tron are working hard to get your crown.

All we need to remember is the idea of the sportsmanship at the first place.
Idea of improvement our, mental, physical and emotional skills to the highest possible level.

www.GMMA.co.uk

Krystian Ozog Fighter/Instructor, GMMA Academy 07928093841 | KrystianGuruMuayThai@gmail.com | http://www.gmma.co.uk/ | London/Great Britain

Back to the drawing board

Winter Time brings me back a lot of positive memories from my childhood back in Poland.
Snowy and icy conditions, which would never be much of a disruptions of our every days activities.It would rather be more of a diversity. We would really enjoy playing football, ride bicycle or playing other games on the snow. We would take it as a challenge and addition to our routine.

Then we would rest, warm up our soaked, frozen and possibly bruised bodies, sitting at home with hot cup of honey and lemon tea while watching most likely some winter sports tournaments.
One of my favorite sport to fallow during the winter time would be ski jumping.

So when I have been at home last Christmas I couldn't miss it and when we had a chance we have watched ski jump tournament again.

Watching it and listening to the commentators I have been analyzing it and finding some useful tips and lessons from the fellows athletes and coaches.

Even thought that the ski jumping season has been quite short; for instance in 2015/2016 it begins 21st of November and finishes on 20th of March. And I would think that all the elite team jumpers would try to do their best at every single competition, unless they are seriously injuries.
One of the experts commentating the competition has mentioned that the main team of Polish national ski jumpers is going to take time off from from few big fallowing tournaments. There is few reasons from what I have understood. One of them would be giving the chance of experience at the great events to our upcoming athletes.
And as commentator has mention, the main reason would be: giving the elite athletes some time to rest their brain and bodies away from the big slides and big pressure.
Coaches would choose the right moment to make sure that they wouldn't miss out on the most prestigious events and on general classification as a individuals and as a team.
They would take time off to recover their bodies and minds. As well as they would have time to correct their mistakes and adjust the techniques on the small slides, in the back garden :-)
Commentator has called this procedure "Back to the drawing board Time".

It makes sense. Doesn't it?

In my experience, going from one fight to the other on a weekly basis for a long period, brings some advantages as well as disadvantages.
When the amateur boxing season kicks in, all kickboxing fights, work load and other duties mix up. My time schedule becomes very tight and my training becomes very essential.
It is more of a fighters training, with focus on speed, stamina, strength and conditioning.
When it comes to techniques; I would concentrate on my strengths mainly with little time  in between the fights to correct mistakes from the last one.
There would not be much time for a fancy stuff and some addition to my vocabulary.

Obviously there is a lot of good about it too. As that teaches me to stay focused, be consistent and never give up in any situation. It teaches me higher level of self discipline and time management.
It makes me go beyond my own limits and helps me understand myself.
It is great experience!
Which I believe I am coping with well.

But then, when I have heard "Back to the drawing board" saying, it made me think of how important it is to step back every now and then and forget about the "Bigger picture" we are creating.
Step back and remind ourselves techniques we were going to use, adjust and modify our product if necessary. Get out of the routine driven by the commitments.
Remind ourselves purpose of what we are doing as well as allow ourselves for a bit of fun in the process of limitless learning.

It isn't easy to decide ourselves to step back. Not in my case. I am determined and sett to improve.
My life experience as well as sports passion has taught me to work hard and never give up.
It is important to have a coaches who can read in between the sentences of help us out with their own experience.
It is important to listen to people from outside the gym,( our friends and family ) who don't necessary have to be an experts to see that we could change something for better and give us valuable feedback.
It is important to listen to our bodies and our gut feelings too.

Krystian Ozog
GMMA Academy 

www.GMMA.co.uk

Krystian Ozog Fighter/Instructor, GMMA Academy 07928093841 | KrystianGuruMuayThai@gmail.com | http://www.gmma.co.uk/ | London/Great Britain

"A new year is like a blank book.."

"A new year is like a blank book, and the pen is in our hands. It is our chance to write a beautiful story for ourselves."

I do find above quote, as a very inspiring and essential advice to fulfil our existence on this planet.
However I would like to add up my own line to it, line which would make it complete to me.
"...beautiful story for ourselves. The more people we help to write their stories along the way, the more beautiful our own becomes."

I do strongly believe in our existence as a one massive community on this planet, in this universe.
Every single being has been there for a reason. Sun, moon, seas, plants, bacteria, animals, humans and so on ...
We are all having purpose on this world. We should use our full potential and support the others the best we can to bring more meaning to our own lives.

Bearing all that in mind, next step we should take in writing our book could be making decision of what genre would our own book be.

Would I choose to picture my life in fantasy or comic model of book? With many non fiction characters, episodes and colourful pages which are very attractive to readers eyes, but not telling much about the true story of mine.

Would I choose to write a Tragedy? By not trying and not getting what I really want from my life.
By blaming everything and everyone for my own failures. By letting fears and insecurities to take over.

Would I chose to write my own life as comedy type? Comedy that brings smile to others people faces. Smile which helps them feel better knowing that it is not only them who are having the "Jackass" moments of their lives.

I believe that my very own story is going to have bits of every possible style or genre in it.
As we are all having ups and downs, heroic moments like from another part of avengers book, moments of weaknesses  and disbelieves which sounds like tragedy,...

However, I do really hope that my autobiography as well as process of creating it will inspire and help others along. So my life gets deeper meaning and I fulfil my existence the best I can.

Have a wonderful New Year Everyone.
Wishing you and all your loved ones lots of good health, joy and happiness.
Wishing you that "Year 2016" part of your great life story becomes the best and most successful part so far.

Krystian
GMMA Academy  

Krystian Ozog Fighter/Instructor, GMMA Academy 07928093841 | KrystianGuruMuayThai@gmail.com | http://www.gmma.co.uk/ | London/Great Britain