Resistance Bands

Going back to one of my recent blogs titled "Skipping rope", there is few simple, small and lightweight tools that I use and carry with me at most of the time. Running shoes, skipping rope, resistance bands, and Suspension ropes.
Each one of those, used in various ways, with a bit of imagination and will power can bring very complex workout in very simple environment.
You can use them almost everywhere.

There is many different types of resistance bands that can help you make your training more efficient, more interesting, and push the boundaries.

"Loop cross-fit bands" for example; can be used instead or in addition to weights. Simple moves like squats, sit ups, press ups, bench press, handicapped with loop bands can really bring a lot of good struggle and make your workout complete. I see ladies in the gym working on the pull up frames, supporting themselves with cross-fit bands while performing the pull ups.

"Heave duty resistance bands" with attachment bits at both ends and different types of hands/legs collars or belts that they can be attached to. What a fun! What a workout!
I have been introduced to this type of fine equipment years ago by one of our GMMA Academy team Mates; Jimmy, who is well known of his passion to training and and great collection of exercise gadgets.
We used to organize special training directed by Jimmy every now and then. When Jimmy would pull out his toys and in some funky East London locations, like; car parks, block of flats corridor, park etc,... Jimmy would make us work like never before.
We would:
Do some sprints and jumps with extra strong and long band connected at the back with use of belt.
Crawl, frog jump, lunges walk forward and back while also being pulled by the rope.
Lots of different types of pad work and sparring workouts with resistance bands connected at the back or directly to the limbs that we were working on.
Adding up some more simple equipment like: medicine balls, cones, hurdles,... Makes use of the bands limitless and fun.

"Yoga bands" are my personals best. They are not taking much room I do always keep one or two in my gym bag, right next to the skipping rope. They do not give as much resistance as "crossfit bands" but they still do. There is also different levels of resistance they can give and if you wish to make workout harder you can always double them up or simply shorten them.
Shadowboxing, punching pads or doing press ups with each end of the band wrapped up in either hand and stretched over the back. Shadow kicking or kicking the pads with band tied up leg to leg or post ( bench leg, etc ) to leg. That's just some of the regular activities that I would do on the days when I cannot make it to the gym and cannot hit the bags.
Trust me, your muscles work differently and both ways; in and out while hitting connected to the band. When you not used to them, after good workout, you will most likely discover muscles you never new you've got. Especially at your back, back of your arms and legs. That's why is worth to use them.

"Yoga Bands" (as its name says) as well as "loop cross-fit bands" can also be great stretching equipment. Giving a little pull back or gradually increasing the stretch.

To make our training and our body more efficient, we need to vary the way we exercise. Trigger our brains and muscles with new activities. Make it interesting and more fun.

www.GMMA.co.uk

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

Chinese bamboo tree

Looking for new and better ways to improve my skills and my life in general. I've been searching for tips and inspiration everywhere I go, everyday single day.

There is few simple and commonly accessible, for most of us, sources that I use daily to nourish my drive and development. Beside physical and mental training I do try to make daily use of great tools like books, magazines and Internet.

I do not spend much time watching the telly. But I do get all stuff I want to see and hear on You Tube which I do listen to instead of radio while travelling.

As I have mentioned in the past few posts; I do find my inspiration not only in sports related stories. But also in music performed by certain artists. I do get really positive feelings over life changing Talent shows like: X Factor, ... Got Talent, The voice, etc...

Reading and listening to life stories and biographies of some remarkable people with all sorts of backgrounds and professions. Listening to certain pod casts and concepts shared by organisations like Ted talks. All that along with working and being surrounded by Great people does give me constant boost and helps me to take another step forward in becoming better me.

On my way of searching new and fresh advises I have found and I am still finding many really worth listening stories and individuals which I do often go back to.
Naming only few, speeches of people like: Mike Tyson, Michael Jordan,Sadh Guru, Tony Robins, Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Jim Carrey,Will Smith, Keanu Reeves and Les Brown are kind of mantra i do often repeat.

Very recently I have gone back to speeches compilation by one of my favourite motivational speakers:Les Brown. Who has beautifully compared our path of improvement to journey of growing Chinese Bamboo Tree. Les Has mentioned that it takes an average five years of constant watering and caring over the seed of that tree, before it comes up through the ground. But once its through it takes it only about five weeks to reach their full size which can grow up to 27 metres ( 90 feet ).
Chines Bamboo Trees are well known of their strength, flexibility, nutritious and many other values what makes them find wide range of use in different kind of industries.

However, Les also mention that in five years of constant watering, nourishing and nurturing the plant, one day of neglect in caring can kill the wonderful wannabe super plant.
And he has asked one very important question "Was it five weeks or five years that it took the tree to reach to its full size?".

We would love to have everything and everything right now.
But the truth is that the real values and solid foundation can only be build over the years of persistent and honest working on our goals.

This apply to all aspects of our lives: professional, hobbies, passions, relationships, healthy living ...

"Sporting, Inspiring, Greatness"

www.GMMA.co.uk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo

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

 

Skipping rope

As a Fighter, Martial artist I've become great fan of my own body weight workouts of different type.

Press ups, squats, sit ups, pull ups and so on... In different variations along with running and shadowboxing would be my daily routine.  

There is few very simple but at this same time very complex tools that I personally use a lot in my training and would recommend to everyone to equip yourself with those too.
They are simple, not taking much space and do not weight much either, so you can fit them in your hand luggage when you travel or even for use at your work lunch break. They are fun and depends on the way you use them they can really help you to get amazing full body workout with other benefits like; balance, coordination, flexibility and much more.

Apart of running shoes which are complementary tool that also goes along with the rest.

Skipping rope, resistance band ( simple yoga rubber band is great ), suspension ropes with adjusted length ( TRX ) are some of my favorite toys, that will always find the room in my car or hand luggage. 

To use those great tools we do not need much space and they trigger our brains to creative thinking.

First tool I have mentioned is the skipping rope. Use of which along with running I do practice almost every day. 

Skipping rope is one of greatest cardio workouts where while varying with methods and speed we use it, we can really push our whole bodies to the limit while having fun and improving our coordination skills and footwork. 

The "Magic of jumping rope" in use of Martial arts/fighting training is that we should remember to keep our fighting stands and tempos as real as possible. What do i mean by that?

The way we skip is the way we fight and the way we fight is the way we skip.

Our chin should be resting on our chest, tucked right in between shoulders which are rolling steadily and along with rotation of the wrists making the rope spin the way we want to. Just like in the fighting stands.

This basic rules are the foundation of skipping, off course when increasing speed and changing styles, creating all fancy moves like double jumps, arm crossing etc, we will be forced to use power of the muscles and composure will change slightly. But it is important to recheck and get back to basics as soon as often as we can.  

When skipping we do improve our footwork and foot-hand coordination which are very important in fighting. We need to remember on changing the tempo too as fight is never one steady pace. We should add up some sprints and double jumps. When sprinting I would suggest to bring knees up to your chest as high as possible. When doing double jumps instead of bending your legs back and bringing your feet under your bum, like some people do. I would suggest to bounce of your toes keeping your feet together and bringing both legs up straight forward, bending your body in half and using some of your stomach muscles.

To spice up your workout you can try single leg, double leg and squat jumps. As well as you can put some weights on your wrists, ankles or even weighted vest to make it more intense.

You can put some press ups, sit ups and squats in between as I do.

Or you could simply get heavy duty rope.

It all depends on your imagination and determination.

GMMA Academy "Sporting, Inspiring,Greatness"

www.GMMA.co.uk

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

Thai Boxing Fighters Academy annual conference

Last Monday I had a great honor to represent GMMA Academy at annual conference of Thai boxing Fighters Academy.

TBFA is an organisation dedicated to help and inspire local community of Tower Hamlets borough of London through training art of Muay Thai.

Conference was organised by Mr Gohar Ghouse who is founder and chief instructor of TBFA as well as honorable member and supporter of GMMA Academy Team.

Mr Gohar Has been making a difference by blending very well, two great passions of his life. Passion to art of Muay Thai and passion of helping others. He has been working as a community worker for over 25 years. 

I have received special invitation and I have been asked to share my experience of Martial arts in order to stand up to the Title of the event, which was: " Inspire to be the best ".

Local authorities along with community members would share their past, future visions and ideas to make TBFAcademy  movement more efficient and bring most out of it to " Inspire " as many people as possible.

While listening to what these wise people had to share, my own inspiration level has definitely rised.

I've been reminded of how much good can sport and passion bring to our lives and lives of the others.

When it comes to " power of sports ", I am a "great believer" and no one need to convince me of how much it can help us in every days life. But still listening and talking to people that i have met on Monday night gave me a little boost upon my own motivation.

Listening to stories like the one shared by Dave, Mr Gohars student, have been really inspiring.

Dave in his middle thirty's has joined TBFA few months before. Through his very own life circumstances. Dave has grew up having very little self confidence and self esteem, he would not be immune to upcoming problems in his life. That would lead him to different types of addictions and all sorts of troubles. He Said that Training at TBFA has been giving him something better than any other substances that he used to forget about the trouble, without hang over feeling afterwards.

He said that there is no better feeling than the one after session at which he has pushed himself to the limits and even thought his muscles are sore and his body is exhausted. His brain feels fresh and energized like a newborn. 

Well. 

How many stories and examples of ones like Dave's have we heard and witnessed through the media.

Sportsman, actors, singers and many others, who have changed their lives for better falling into they passions. Stories of people like Mike Tyson, Anthony Joshua and Jay Z have been changing peoples lives around the world every day.

Moving around different gyms, clubs and sport centers I meet people like this everyday. I meet many talented youngsters who are claiming that they can't imagine where would they be and what would they do without the sport. I meet people who are well situated in their lives who are also holding tight to their passion. Knowing that the life is like one long F1 competition, everyday new race: full of curves,full of other F1 bolids with constantly changing weather and with countless technical problems. We all need some kind of a "Pit stop" where with help of our trusted Team we can take short refreshment and readjust our bodies and brains.

GMMA Academy " Sporting, Inspiring, Greatness " 

www.GMMA.co.uk

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

GuruMuayThai classes / Shepherd's Bush

Live healthy, exercise

https://youtu.be/dw_4hTK1_ek

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