Posts Tagged ‘confidence’
An Ex-Marine, Coming Back From Severe Injuries, Follows an Intense Regime He Calls a ‘Livelihood’
By JAMES WAGNER, Wall Street Journal. Please visit WSJ for full accounting of the article.
In April 2003, corporal Hector Delgado lay in an induced coma on a Navy ship in the Persian Gulf. His pelvis had been crushed into six pieces and his legs and nerves were mangled after a fuel tank fell on him while he was with the Marines in Iraq.
The accident kept him in a hospital for a year. His right foot was paralyzed and his left foot was partially damaged. Mr. Delgado, who often has to use a wheelchair, fell into what he calls a three-year “funk.” His weight ballooned to 230 pounds, his cholesterol shot up, and he was smoking and going to bars every night.
“When I got out of the hospital, I could care less,” says Mr. Delgado, 30. The accident left him three inches shorter than what he was before deployment.
But in 2008, a friend mentioned a vigorous cross-training routine, CrossFit, often used by military special forces. Mr. Delgado was enticed by the workout’s intensity and variety, and liked the camaraderie of the exercisers.
He now works out five times a week and keeps a strict eating regime. His 5-foot-6 frame is down to 149 pounds, and he now has the strength to walk short distances unassisted.
At this point, [working out] is more of a livelihood than anything,” says Mr. Delgado, who lives in North Patchogue, N.Y.
Mr. Delgado is an outreach worker at the Queens Vet Center in New York, where he educates other veteran organizations and service members about military benefits and support programs. He is also earning his Bachelor’s degree in education and psychology at St. Joseph’s College.
Want to read the rest of the article? Go to the WSJ.
Write to James Wagner at james.wagner@wsj.com
In this segment, I will teach you how to drill the fighting frame and the combat application that I taught last post. I will also post this as a pod cast that will be up on the site later today.
There are two basic drills that you can easily use to functionalize this particular skill set. They are:
Give and Take. To describe this easier, I’ll give each partner a name. Trainer and Trainee. To start the drill, stand in front of your partner and get what we call the “fighting measure”. This means to reach out with your arms and touch their shoulder. If you can’t, you are too far away. Once you have the fighting measure, assume a fighting stance. Here we go.
- Trainer slowly steps forward and delivers a right jab to the trainee’s head and freezes. The trainee steps towards the trainer and assumes the fighting frame posture, striking the trainer with the frame. Once contact has been made, the trainee steps back and assume a new fighting stance. Okay. Now, the trainee becomes the trainer and the trainer becomes the trainee. Get it?
- To continue the drill, the trainer slowly steps forward and delivers a right jab to the trainee’s head and freezes. The trainee steps towards the trainer and assumes the fighting frame posture, striking the trainer with the frame. Once contact has been made, the trainee steps back and assume a new fighting stance. Now, the trainee becomes the trainer and the trainer becomes the trainee.
- Repeat this action until both partners are comfortable with the motions. Once you are good to go, you may slowly speed up the action until you are at combat speed!
Block and Strike. This drill is an adaptation of the Filipino combat arts training methodology “Abecedario”. It is a progressive skill development tool that is very effective and has endless possibilities. The set up is just like before. Trainer and Trainee. To start the drill, stand in front of your partner and get what we call the “fighting measure”. This means to reach out with your arms and touch their shoulder. If you can’t, you are too far away. Once you have the fighting measure, assume a fighting stance. Here we go.
- The trainer steps forward and punches to the trainee’s head. The trainee steps forward and executes the fighting frame. Once contact has been made with the trainer, the trainee will follow up the frame with a counter strike.
- For the purposes of this segment. I will prescribe a specific response for ease of use. The trainee unclasps his/her left hand from the right wrist and wraps it over the trainers attacking limb. With the right hand, (already on the head/neck) open your fist and grab the back of the trainer’s head. Next, the trainee will pull down sharply on the trainer’s neck while at the same time delivering a right knee spike to the trainer’s stomach. Lastly, the trainee will push the trainer backwards; step back and assume the fighting stance. Okay. Now, the trainee becomes the trainer and the trainer becomes the trainee. Get it?
- To continue the drill, the trainer slowly steps forward and delivers a right jab to the trainee’s head and freezes. The trainer steps forward and punches to the trainee’s head. The trainee steps forward and executes the fighting frame. Once contact has been made with the trainer, the trainee will follow up the frame with a counter strike.
- The trainee unclasps his/her left hand from the right wrist and wraps it over the trainers attacking limb. With the right hand, (already on the head/neck) open your fist and grab the back of the trainer’s head. Next, the trainee will pull down sharply on the trainer’s neck while at the same time delivering a right knee spike to the trainer’s stomach. Lastly, the trainee will push the trainer backwards; step back and assume the fighting stance.
Repeat this action until both partners are comfortable with the motions. Once you are good to go, you may slowly speed up the action until you are at combat speed!
One more thing. Ensure that both partners take all safety precautions. Wear the proper protective equipment especially eye protection. Because we all know its fun and games until you put an eye out!
These two drills should get you started on the road to functional defense. If you have comments or suggestions, please email me or comment in the form below.
Until next time, let’s get training!
Hey! I want to welcome another Boot Camp athlete to our family. Please welcome Molly White to our athletic family. When you see her next week, say Hello and introduce yourself.
I was training my son in Standing Grappling and Ground fighting just a few days ago and my youngest said, “It’s too hard, can you show me something else that is easier?” Of course, I gave him a hard time about it and continued to drill and drill. Later on, I sat him down and shared some of my life experiences where having a “Don’t give up” mental attitude literally saved my life. So, I thought that this thread might make a good blog post. Let me know what you think. I look forward to your comments and tweets.
Here it is:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle
How many times do we tell students “don’t give up”, but do we practice this mindset ourselves? When a challenge comes along and we don’t get it the first time, we should keep trying for at least one hundred times.
I have not failed 700 times, I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work
~ Thomas Edison
Think how successful we would be if we always did things one hundred times before we even thought about giving up. If this was put into our life at work, home and in martial arts, think of the things we could achieve. we might not even get there after one hundred times but think how much better we would be than just giving it one chance and then saying “l can’t do it”.
“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
Lewis Carroll
The human quality of perseverance is very important. Often people with physical talent fail because they lack perseverance and motivation, they should instead be like the proverbial boulder and just know we can achieve whatever we want, as long as we keep taking action and learning we can only go forwards and progress.
Repetition is the mother of all skills. To do a technique once and expect it to work for us is not true in the slightest. To really understand the technique and its concepts we have to do it until the line of familiarity and the root movement is in our subconscious. It can be done anytime anywhere without even thinking about it.
You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning Karate is not very different from learning a dance. you will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate-do – Gichin Funakoshi
Think how many times we do a jab in our training more than say a difficult kick, the jab is repeated far more times as the difficult kick will work in a real situation. It’s repeated time after time so that it will work for us in situations and we become very comfortable throwing it.
Given enough time, any man may master the physical. With enough knowledge, any man may become wise. It is the true warrior who can master both….and surpass the result.
~ Tien T’ai
When we have developed all of our combative skill sets ensuring that we adhere to the six attributes then our techniques will become technically sound and we will develop our tactical or strategic skills to become an excellent martial artist.
The obstacle is the path
~ Zen Proverb
Until next time, Let’s Get Training!
jim
There are certain body positions that nullify a opponent’s attacks. Their strikes, kicks, locks and chokes are no longer effective due to the attack options presented by your defensive position. Yet from these positions, the superior fighter can launch effective strikes and finishes or can move to an even more advantageous position. There is no reasonable way without a position such as this to hit another person that doesn’t leave you vulnerable to an attack in return. These positions are the frame from which we attempt to organize our training.
Natural Stance - Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, this basic ready stance is often used to disguise tactics or intent. The entire body should be relaxed. Allow your arms to hang at the sides, bring both arms slightly to the front and clasp the left hand over the right wrist in the “monkey’s paw” grip. This is done by aligning all five of your fingers together and curving them the meet the curvature of your right wrist. Grip with all the fingers on one side of the other wrist. This will allow a unconscious release of the other arm. If you use a normal “grip”, you will subconsciously have to tell yourself to let go and complete another motion. This grip removes that step. If used with a stick, stand with stick under left arm and left hand holding right forearm.
Fighting Stance – A general rule of stance is to keep both legs flexed for balance, and to be able to move rapidly. One heel is always lifted, usually the one with the least weight. This is a relatively general principle, which in particular facilitates turning. It may also help with explosive motions. The feet are 45 degrees to the major line of the body. There should be a feeling of being ready to take off like a sprinter. Hide the head behind the shoulder and the throat behind the chin. It is a good rule of thumb to keep the elbows low and close to the body and head. The guarding hand is used to block and check incoming attacks. When in an fighting position, hold the hand in accordance with your range to the opponent. If a weapon is being used, it is always in the lead hand.
Fighting Frame - In response to your opponent’s attack, you step slightly off the side of their body that the attack originated. You bring your arms up in the instinctive flinch response then link your wrists. Both arms are slightly bent at the elbow with your head tucked down and in-between and looking forward at the attacker. Form your hands into fists and grasp your right wrist with the left hand in the “monkey’s paw”. You are attempting to blast your way past the attack (normally a jab or a haymaker style punch) by striking your opponent’s forearm / bicep area with your left forearm and your right forearm striking the opponent’s shoulder / neck area with emphasis on hitting the Brachial Plexus Origin nerve cluster.
This combative application of instinctively protection our face will hopefully do several things.
- Protect our head and face from the incoming attack.
- Deliver a debilitating blow to the attacking limb by striking the bicep brachial nerve which should stun the limb and hopefully effect a “impact driven grip release” of any weapon.
- Place us into position for the Tactical phase of our Combative Application: The delivery of counter attack techniques.
This sample response simply shows a beginning option:
- Fighting Frame Position 1
-
- Left Knee Spike
-
- Right Elbow Strike
-
- Headtwist Takedown
-
- Knee Drop
-
- Hammerfist Finishing Technique
The fighting frame is a simple, yet effective strategic and tactical application tool. Practice, Practice, Practice until it is instinctive. Next post I’ll show you how to drill this with a willing partner.
Until then, Let’s Get Training!
jim
I am always trying to improve the gym and find ways to make your experience there more beneficial and life changing. How can I do more? I need your thoughts and recommendations! Either post a reply or tell me at the gym…
Until then, Let’s Get Training!
The word of the day is motivation. Everyone is motivated in some way to do something. If the motivation is not yielding an action that has a positive, healthy impact on your life it is time to shift some thoughts and actions. It sounds simple enough. If you read this blog regularly, it probably sounds a little familiar too. That is because goals need motivation. Here are a couple basic things to think about when evaluating motivation.
Motivation goes by two names. The first, and the one most people have, is called extrinsic. It represents all external motivations. Money, status, physical beauty, etc. are all examples of external motivators. The second, and most effective in the long term, is intrinsic. This includes all things internal. Thoughts, feelings, health, safety, etc. are all intrinsic. Sometimes, the same result can be achieved through either type of motivation. It is also possible to start off in one mindset and shift to the other during and still attain the same outcome.
For example, Sally wants to lose 50 lbs. She believes that weight loss will make her more attractive to the world. So, her initial motivation is extrinsic because she is anticipating her “reward” to be outside the actual completion of the task itself. Sally begins a regular exercise routine and adjusts her diet. Over the next couple of weeks Sally loses 5 lbs. She also begins to have more confidence in herself because she has learned that she is capable of doing more than she anticipated.
Now, Sally exercises because she wants to challenge herself. This is a shift in motivation. The intrinsic motivation here is Sally’s increased desire to complete a specific task. Therefore, her “reward” can only come from the task itself. Either way, she will reap the reward of the exercise. One reward of exercise and healthy diet can be weight loss. Since her motivation is now intrinsic she will, most likely, continue on with diet and exercise long after she reaches her initial 50 lb goal.
Take some time to look at what gets you going. What and how are you motivated? Compare your set goals with what motivated or motivates you to achieve them. Then get out there and make it happen!!
Hey! This is not my writing. I poached it off of CrossFit Generation’s (Barry and Jocelyn Weidner) website and I am attempting to give them proper credit. I read this today and it echoes what I always preach about hard training and mental toughness. If you like it, please go to their website and read more about them and their training. Anyway, here is the article.
Hard training definitely has a tremendous physical effect on your body. It makes you stronger, faster, balanced, agile, and builds a lean and strong physique. The physical aspects are obvious when you try on new clothes and you need a smaller size or when you look in the mirror and notice the changes yourself or to others when they ask you what are you doing to get into the shape you are in. All those things are great.
There is, however, another aspect of training that sometimes is not realized and maybe even overlooked. This aspect is about the mental side of training and what it does for your life. I firmly believe that hard training and what it does for you physically has a direct correlation with your mind and how you feel about yourself. Just take a moment and think about how great it feels when you get a new personal record in a max effort lift or you take over a minute off of your last benchmark workout. I bet it feels pretty darn good. You leave CFG feeling tough and confident in what you just accomplished. You get home and feel unstoppable. That feeling can carry over into the other areas of your life. The next day you head into work more confident, you are energized and pumped about how you perform in your workouts and what hard training is doing for your life. That is confidence.
Let’s take this from another perspective. Let’s say you do not get a PR or your time increases because of other factors that are going on in your life. Some things we just cannot control. You leave CFG defeated and a bit perturbed at yourself knowing that you can do better. Guess what? Sometimes you will lose. Coming back in the next day, forgetting about the day before and ready to tackle another challenge is all about character. Losing a battle (a workout) and winning the war (a lifetime of great health) is what builds character.
Mental toughness is what happens inside of CFG. It is built during the workout. When you feel like stopping and giving up, when you feel the words “I can’t” start to creep into your head, and when you feel like you will not win, that is when you dig deep into your soul, find that inner strength, the mental toughness that I know everyone has, and go harder. We all have more inside of us than we realize. When the body wants to stop, it is the mind that keeps us going. You always hear me say to you (especially during burpees) “Next Rep, Next Rep”. I do that for a reason, to motivate you to keep going no matter what. It will only make you better. Just keep battling through the workouts and find that mental toughness that is inside of you. Get that last pullup, explode through that last thruster, and sprint that last 200m like your life depended on it.
All of these 3 aspects, confidence, character, and mental toughness, go hand in hand and build off of each other. Be confident in your abilities and accomplishments, build character through the ups and downs of training, and always believe in yourself during the workouts and find the strength and mental toughness that is within you.