Coaching and Competitions

I’ve been coaching the GTI Squad which has been a great experience, although I did underestimate the amount of work required sorting out the logistics for competitions.

Keen GTI sparrers travel up to three hours on a Sunday morning to train, which is greatly appreciated.  However, this is now becoming a barrier for some people, which is a shame and I’m not sure what the solution is…. I could rotate the squad sessions in different venues, but then if I go north, it makes it difficult for the people in the south and vice versa.  If anyone has any suggestions, it would be much appreciated!

We have our first “away” non-GTI squad tournament coming up, in Scotland.  I’m hoping this will be a good chance for people to bond and improve the team dynamics.  Things are looking good, although a long drive, it’ll be a nice little road trip and we can also enjoy the sites of Glasgow.

The following week is the PUMA World Championships, which I’m hoping a formal GTI Squad will be debuting.  I’ve made the next squad session compulsory for those who want to be considered to be in the team, we’ll see how that goes…

Two other points before I sign off: I’ve bought the squad a bunch of skipping ropes, which is turning out to be a great little investment – it provides an effective and “fun” warm up.  I do 3 minutes skipping, 3 minutes jogging and repeat this two times (will probably need to cut it down to two minutes and do three rounds – people were hanging last time)!  Final point, I used a round timer in the last squad session – big LED screen and loud beeps indicate rest period, round times and 10 seconds to go etc, and its programmable which means I can join in too :-)

Worthwhile kit investment

Update and Isometric training

It’s been a while, so I’m going to spoil you with a three post wammy!  I competed at the GTI English Open championships the Sunday before last where I lost second round in points sparring and narrowly won the continuous sparring category.  This (and the upcoming comps) has motivated to get my ass back to training.

I’m still working in London, so am trying to cram in as much training during the weekend as I can.  There is hope though – I may have two leads for good clubs in central London; one kickboxing club and one ITF club.  If anyone knows of any decent clubs in central London I’d be happy to hear them!

Before this surge in training I was hitting the gym, mixing it up with some isometric training; static resistance training.  For example one of the most common isomteric exercises is the plank.  

An isometric exercise : the plank

I used the same isometric principles during my weight sessions e.g. dumbbell chest press, pausing for the count of 20 at the bottom of the exercise and at the top.  Likewise for bicep curls, shoulder press, lateral raises and tricep kickbacks etc.

From this experience I found it somewhat frustrating, as you don’t work up a sweat and it’s a different kind of burn, which meant that I felt like I was barely working.  I used to think, if I’m not sweating and if it doesn’t hurt then I’m not working hard enough – with isometric training this is definitely not the case.

I’ve now moved onto plyometric/ballistic training for that explosive power which is much needed in sparring.  See next post for an update on my plyometric/ballistic training experience.

Punch bag training

I have a punch bag and would like some new training routines/workouts for it.

If you have any suggestions please let me know!

Thanks :)

M100

Another exercise for you, which is a lot shorter but more intense.  This should take between 2 - 5 minutes and works on a fairly new training principal I've been reading about called the "after burn effect".  


It's called the M100 (or Mandatory 100):
1. 10x Burpees
2. 30x Hill climbers (alternating leg squat thrust)
3. 10x Semi-squat jump
4. 10x Burpees
5. 30x Hill climbers
6. 10x Semi-squat jump
7. 10x Burpees
8. 30x Hill climbers
9. 10x Semi-squat jump
10. 10x BURPEES!


Important: there is no resting until you complete all ten sets!


Basically repeating three exercises for three sets and finishing on one final set of burpies!  


For example (skip to 1:45):

The Dirty Dozen

I spent a year working in Taunton, Somerset, where there's a Royal Marines base.  I trained there a few times and picked up an exercise routine called the Dirty Dozen!


It consists of 12 reps of each exercise. Each Round is cumulative (must include the previous set of rounds):


Round 1 = 12 Should Width Push ups
Round 2 = 12 Crunches
Round 3 = 12 Lunges
Round 4 = 12 Star Jumps
Round 5 = 12 Tricep Dips
Round 6 = 12 Shuttle Runs
Round 7 = 12 Leg Raises
Round 8 = 12 Diamond Push Ups
Round 9 = 12 Burpees
Round 10 = 12 V-Ups
Round 11 = 12 Squats
Round 12 = 50 quick sprint starts (25 on each leg)


I tried this out on my University Kickboxing club, who took ~40minutes to complete.  I showed people it when I was working in an American summer camp and I started a little competition to see which pair could get the fastest time.  From what I remember ~24minutes was the best.


I suggest people give it a go, record your time and try and beat it next time.


Enjoy :)