Value...

The relative value of something is directly proportional to what you paid to obtain it. Think about it -- the price of a black strip of cloth is, what, $2.00 at Michaels? Even if you happen to be really horizontally challenged, that strip won't cost you more than $3.00. Is that all your black belt is worth?

'course not. You're paying for it every day that you train. And you have been paying for it for the past several years as a yellow, orange, purple, green, blue, and brown belt. And your parents have been paying for it, not just financially, but in their time spent driving as well as in supporting your efforts.

Yep -- that strip of black cloth that you're all working towards is heavy with the price of sweat, sacrifice and self-discipline. Aren't you glad it isn't a cheap token that anyone can just buy off the internet? After all, what good is that?

streeeeettch

Given a choice between doing 300 pushups, running 10 miles, or stretching for 8 minutes, I would pick the former two in a heartbeat. The third option? Well, let's just say that even if the choice included stabbing one's self in the eye with a toothpick, I may not opt for the stretch.

That's not to say stretching is unimportant. It totally is. Not just in an offensive capability (better range of kicks, wider selection of techniques at your disposal) but defensive as well (injury prevention). The problem is in consistency. Unlike strength or endurance training, wherein you can go from zero to respectable in a matter of weeks or months, there's no cramming for flexibility. If you don't stretch for years (or many many years like me), it takes THAT much time to fix.

Younger folk tend to be more flexible. But if you don't keep it up, you lose flexibility. Day by day, hour by hour, inch by inch. Trust me, the easiest thing to do is to maintain your flexibility by stretching every day -- don't wait as long as I did or it shows and it HURTS!!!

Hard-earned truism

Recent personal events have really hammered home the notion of how precious every single day is... Train like you mean it. Because it's your time, your parents' time, your instructor's time, and your teammates' time. If you're going to do something, do it because it's important to you, and do it with gusto...or go do something else instead. That simple. And that complex.

LJ Alumni thoughts?

hey BB Training Alumni out there...yep, you guys, the current Black Belts! Leave us your comments?

You know, stuff like:

What was your experience like?

For the class of 2008, did you REALLY have to run the hills while wearing 10lb ankle weights?

Throw the current crop of challengers some words of advice, or share a story or two, por favor!

as the Pilgrims said: "どうもありがとう！"

Thanksgiving...another notch on our belts and the holiday season is underway!

While the Thanksgiving day is over, we should try and keep the concept of gratitude and appreciation in mind. A good friend of ours had this to say:

"We have many things to be thankful for! For our health, opportunities, life and our families. There are so many people that are their for us and we don't realize how important to us. We are all blessed with opportunities to show what talents and all the aspects of ourselves that God gave to us....whether it is fighting talent, a "drive and want" to be better, athletic talent, mental talent or even being there for the rest of their teammates. We should also be thankful for the parents we have that sacrifice so much for us. I am thankful for the parents that aren't even mine."

Well said.

Friday the 13th IT training AAR

AAR, by the way, stands for "After Action Report". Coincidentally, "AAR" is also the sound many of us made after Friday's session. But I digress. Here's a synopsis of what we did on 11/13/2009:

==Calisthenics:==
- calf work: Jumping Jacks x 100 x 4 (standard, front/back, cross, standard)
- ab work: situps x 100 x 3
- upper body: pushups x 25 x 4

==Basic Conditioning:==
- 20m sprint x 10 (10-ish. lost count, sorry)
- line drills x 2 x 3 (2 sets per person, 3 times)
- frog jump line drills (explosion strength for quads and glutes)

==Basic movements:==
- 20 minutes...slow and strong.

Thought it'd be an easier workout now that we're indoors, but guess I was wrong. 3 days later, as I write this entry, my quads are still sore... That may be because I'm like 87 in dog years, but you get the idea. Standard redbelt training on Thursday, also in the dojang. I wouldn't count on any cakewalk on that time either!

IT Training this Friday, Nov 13th, 5pm @ studio

Mark your calendars: IT training is Friday, November 13th, 5pm @ the dojang.

We'll likely be indoors, as the night-vision goggles won't arrive on time for the outdoor run. Dang backorders!

Postponed!

Sparta event is postponed....but we'll do the Stanford juniors' scrimmage instead. Details here!

This is an all-you-can-eat buffet style event where you sign your name on a board, and get matched up as many times as you want through the day. Whereas you may get 2 fights on average at a regular tourney (with a $75 price tag no less), this Stanford scrimmage lets you get 6 or 7 fights for only $25. Someone get a calculator and check my numbers, but that's a pretty good deal I think...

Here're some shots from last year's Stanford event:


Rei asking for lunch money donations.


Nothing in this hand...oh look, someone put a quarter in your ear! Whoa how'd he do that?!


....bad hair day for Audrey.

This is madness! No. This is...

...Spartaaaaaa!! (kicks poor sod off a ledge). Love that scene.

Speaking of Sparta, they're coming for a scrimmage on Sat the 14th @ high noon. Sparta has a great group of juniors -- you may also have seen their senior fighters like Mr. Martinez and Mr. Uy workout at the dojang.

You'll probably be pretty tired from IT training (same day, in the morning), but if you spar in tourneys, you should come participate. It's one thing to practice with your teammates, but after a while, you start specializing in fighting that one person... Always good to see new folks and see how they move.

Ok, back to the movie. Kids, go beg your parents for a PS3 -- the Bluray player rocks. And no Rei, you may not touch the PS3. This is mine.

Got Pics?

If you have any pics or videos you'd like added to this blog, send them to me in an email!

Thanks to the Agcaoili's for sending me some from the first IT training -- I added those to the Oct 10th entry below.

Silicon Valley Tourney 10/24

Phew. That was a looooong day -- 8:00am to 6:00pm. Tournaments are always draining (not just for players, but for coaches, volunteers, and parents!); it's 5 hours of inaction and stewing in one's own juices, followed by 10 minutes of intensity.

We had almost all of BB candidates yesterday competing or supporting; really cool to see everyone out there : Alan, Austin, Jose, Yana, Allison, Audrey, Bridgitte, and Rei. Also great to see alumnus like Celina helping out.

While performance isn't everything, some personal observations...

- Holy cow, Jose was on FIRE. Motions, check, patience, counter...accurate and effective execution of training. Watch out, this boy is a head hunter! Wish I had some photos. Since I don't, here's the next best thing (sister Stephani was also crisp -- fun to watch and cheer for!).


- ok, not really a BB candidate topic, but that was one of the most chaotic tournaments I've see in the past 4 years. For example, after staging K1-5, tourey organizers gave up all pretense of sequence and called up everyone from K6-25 at the same time. So we had black belts starting, followed by yellow, then black, then red, then green...confused parents and coaches started to flood staging....yep in other words, pandemonium.

- On a real positive note, good to mix up the warmups between PowerTeam and GST. Thanks to GST Juniors Team Captain Tiffany Lopez for not only taking the initiative to round up both teams' sparring competitors and warm 'em up, but also in providing coaching for Nicole to help out our besieged coaching staff (Evan, Kevin and Master Garr covered about 17 kids...)!




- aaaand don't forget -- whether in a tourney or in training, you are able to do what you do because you have people who care for you and support your efforts! Thanks to Master Frank A, Master Garr, Evan, Kevin, Eric, Dominique, Celina, Whitney, volunteer parents...and of course, Brian's Personal Fan Club.

Say Hello to my Leeetle Friend

10 Oct 2009, IT Training #1

So...what does "IT" in IT Training stand for anyway?




Before we get in to that, let's reflect back on what we did:

- Warm up with 4 laps around the track (1 mile). Range was from 8 min/mi pace to about 11min/mi.
- Stairs part 1: sprint up, across, down x 10
- Stairs part 2: hop up, two feet together; jump down x 10
- 100m sprints x 5
- 50m hop back and forth on the line x 10
- 50m run backwards x 5
- stretch



Key point to all of the drills is -- don't give up! Speed matters less than persistence. Running workouts are SUPPOSED to hurt. Grind it out. If you make excuses in your head and drop out when you're tired, it'll become a habit... On the flip side, if you gut it out, your body and brain will get used to the experience; in fact, if we did the exact same workout next week, I bet it would feel easier for everyone!



So..what does IT stand for?

...IT hurts!
....IT's harder than I thought!
.....IT's going to be a long nap afterwards!

Proper Attire

What to wear for the Oct 10th IT training, you ask?

It's the same as red belt training -- in other words, full uniform.

Just make sure you wear running sneakers!!!

Don't show up in flip-flops, unless you're really hard-core and are confident that you can outrun everyone regardless. If you fit that description, you'll also be required to wear a 30lb knapsack filled with sand.

If you're one of those people that fall down a lot, wear a helmet. Otherwise, just show up in full uniform+sneakers...

Don't forget!

IT training is on the 10th of October @ Gunderson high school, home of the Fightin' Grizzlies and Martin the Metal Detector.

This is the 1st one of these IT sessions, so come prepared to work hard! Pack a water bottle, sneakers, and whatever else KJM tells you to bring (so make sure you attend class on Wed prior!).

I'm not sure why, but KJM asked me to post these helpful hints on vomitting one's lunch:

1. Place hands on knees
2. Distribute weight evenly between legs
3. Take deep breath
4. Aim at a point 10-12 inches away from your feet
5. Hurl

Apparently, this is crucial information for IT participants. Don't ask me. I'm just relayin' info here.

Don't feel like training today?

Yeah you know that voice. Then one that says, "Hey I've got too much homework to train today." Or the really convincing one that goes, "Boy I'm a little beat today, maybe I'll just sit on that couch..."

Kinda feel hypocritical writing this, as I succumbed to those voices last night and ended up bailing from training...but here goes. IGNORE that voice! You'll not only feel better for having moved one step further in your training, but you'll have done what 90% of your peers have not -- namely to get off your butts and DO something. Through the course of a month, a year, or a decade, those little actions make a ton of difference.

Personal experience? Well, I can tell you that I feel more tired today when I didn't train as compared to the days after I had a really great workout...

OODA loop?

Hey quick question. Which one of you knows what OODA loop means? You heard Master Ortez mention it a bunch of times; and I know Master Garr talks about it in both his basics and fighting training. C'mon, you can tell me, I won't tell.

All right. OODA loop is a concept that Colonel Boyd of the USAF came up with, and it stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act, and Loop (as in start from the beginning again). Here's how it works:

Observe:
Oh how nice, I spy a foot flying toward my noggin.
Orient:
Let me reflect on what happened last time I had a foot come a-flying.
Decide:
Mayhaps I will get out of the way.
Act:
Duck
then...Observe again. As in, here comes the followup kick....

Problem is, if we don't get to the Decide part in OODA, you get stuck in the Observe-Orient part (i.e. by the time you're ready to act, your opponent has changed the situ and you have to reset and take in the changes, which chews up even more reaction time). Flip side is, if you can enforce you OODA loop on someone else, you can get THEM stuck in the O-O and gain the advantage.

Easier said than done, but that's what it means.

Key point of all this is, if you don't know what somethin' means, do ask! Caveat of course is, ask someone who knows (not me. I had to ask too.).

2010 Candidate List

Audery Agcaoili
Bridgette Agcaoili

Josiah Alvira
Allison Anderson
Rei Esaka
Jose Mejia
Austin Nguyen
Alan Park
Yana Roumeliotis
Ryan Salazar

September 10th, 2009: BB candidate Pre-test

And so it begins...

Just stay focused for the next 211 days. No problem!

Runners!

This is a shot from the BB candidate pre-test run. These five finished with sub 5min times. Me? I'm the figure you see on the horizon, re-experiencing his In-n-Out lunch. Delish.

Training Calendar

Pay close attention to the IT Training and Red Belt training days!
(see Useful Links section on the right)