Gradings 8th and 9th June

Its hard to believe that its been just over a year since I started with Phoenix and a lot has happened in that time. I can still remember my first grading and feeling really nervous... there were so many people there! Did I remember the linework? the patterns? the theory?

I've already written up information on grading preparation so I wont rehash this again in this post but its there so please feel free to go over it.... again! You did read if first time round didn't you?? :)

Hopefully by now your instructor will have told you if you will be grading but if not then don't worry, there's maybe just one or two things in your technique that need work and the next grading is only 3 months away.

For those grading (for the first time or nth time) here are few points for the day itself:

• Get there before the 9am start so not to be late..... late = bad form!
• White official TAGB doboks only (no club doboks please)
• Listen to what the examiner is asking you to do e.g. "Start with right foot, right hand"
• If you're doing a pattern and make a mistake, stop, take a deep breath and start it again from the beginning
• PLEASE KEEP THE NOISE DOWN!! This goes for people watching the grading as well as those who have been and those waiting to be graded
• If you can, please stay until all the gradings have been completed

There are still a few training sessions between now and the 9th June to get through so if you have any questions on theory, linework, patterns etc then please speak to your instructors.

See you on 9th!..... I hope.... actually.... Mr Chahal? Am I grading this time?? err.... Mr Chahal???

Welsh Open Competition - On The Day (19th May 2013)

On the day of the Welsh open, all the people staying at the Cardiff North Premier Inn were treated to an early 6:30am alarm call in the shape of the fire alarm going off! This was initially put down to possible dirty tactics to make us all so tired our sparring competitors easily get hit and our patterns ones would fall asleep standing up. As it turns out it was really some person who had decided to have a fly ciggy in their room! We even found out the room number too... maybe we should all have got changed into our doboks and paid them a visit?? As it turned out, this didnt faze any of us!

As I mentioned in my previous post, this is my first entry into a TAGB competition. I've spectated at the 2012 Scottish Open and Closed but nothing really prepares you for when you are going to be competing for that first time. I'll freely admit to starting to shake and sweat as soon as I walked into the hall... and what a hall! IT WAS HUGE!! Took a few words of encouragement from Mr McMillan and Mr Chahal to calm me down a bit, I just kept thinking "What the hell am I doing??" I've since found out there were over 1000 people competing spread out over 22 areas, so yeah... a big comp! The screen system put in place was great and we were able to find out which areas we were going to be in well before being called. During the whole day everything worked very smoothly too, so a big thank you to the organisers.

Karen, Teagan and Ieuan were first into their areas while I was 2nd up in area 22. I sat with Ieuan and saw him do Do San along with what seemed like 100 peewee yellow belt boys. Very proud of him for entering his first competition. I'd also like to thank the lady official for her fabulous pep talk to the boys after this patterns competition had ended, her words have even encouraged me to work harded for next time :)

I then hopped over to the area Teagan was in just in time to get a few shots of her in her patterns competition.

And from my vantage point at Teagan's area, I was able to get a couple of shots of Karen doing her pattern (Gae Bek).

Just after this I heard the call for men's green belt patterns. No one managed to get any shots of me doing Won Hyo.. maybe a good thing this! There were perhaps about 8-10 green belts taking part, not 100% sure on this so maybe someone can clarify, I was starting to shake a bit more by this time. Two competitors going at a time with 3 officials judging each one. All I can remember is being called, being asked which tul (pattern) I was going to do and then.... SI JAK.... I was off... Nerves did get the better of me and I rushed it a bit but by the end I had a 9.6, 9.5, 9.5. Which I was pleased with, although not enough for a medal I though. After watching the last few green belt doing their patterns I was called over by one of the officials who asked "Which club are you with?"... "Ayr/Prestwick ma'am"... then I noticed she had written my name next to the 3rd place on her sheet! There was a tie for 1st so two other competitors went again and this decided the gold and silver medals. I got chatting to these guys afterwards and I hope to see them at the Scottish Open, and maybe catch up on Facebook.

After this I wandered back over, in a bit of a daze still, to see how everyone else was doing. Teagan had just finished her sparring... later on we found out she'd won a bronze. Fantastic stuff, another proud parent moment. The extra sparring sessions with Mr McMillan, and the continued encouragement from Mr Chahal, are certainly paying off. Thank you both!

After this we started looking in on other Phoenix teamates to see how they were doing. Karina Chahal had just formed a tag team with two young girls from south of the border... team name... "Rose and Thistle".. and they came back with a gold for black belt girls lightweight tag. Brilliant stuff girls, a great result.

Another Phoenix team mate, Connor Mugrew, was just about to start in the boy lightweight individual sparring so we all got round that area to watch him. Connor fought every round brilliantly. He moves so fast and his sidekick is so quick, this young man is definitely one to watch. Couple of injuries during this competition, one in which Conner managed to knock out his opponent. Kudos to the young man though as he got back up and finished the fight. And in his always good sportsman's like way, Connor went over to make sure he was OK after the fight had ended. In the last round Connor excelled and with some more quick fired side kicks and even quicker hands, he got the gold. This wasn't his last medal though... two of the young men he had competed against in the individual also became his tagteam mates and they got gold in that. Great result! Bryan is going to have to buy a bigger trophy cabinet soon me thinks :)

One other medal winner on the day was young Mikey McDowall who got a bronze medal in the peewee tagteam. I tried to catch up with Darrin and Mikey but events we were all in seemed to clash quite a bit... well done Mikey :)

Throughout the day, we'd bumped into loads of other Phoenix team mates who were bubbling with excitement over medal wins. Well done all and I'll get the results from your instructors so they can go on here. I know some of these have gone up on Facebook already, but once the winners photos in the club are done they can also go on blog for the world to see!

At about 1:30pm or so (just as black belt destruction was starting... damn! I wanted to see that too!) we left sunny Cardiff Uni. They day had left me with a total adrenaline high which I still had into the following day. Certainly winning a medal helped with that but mostly it was the atmosphere in the arena, everyone I spoke to (most people I had never met before) was so full of enthusiasm. People would walk past, see a medal winner, smile and nod to them in a silent "well done". One official stopped me on the way out to congratulate me, I've never met him but think I've seen him on the TAGB Facebook page, thank you for you kinds words sir. Even though we were all competing against each other it felt like one big team, or more a family, full of encouragement for everyone else. Its very hard to describe that feeling if you've never competed, I think the only way I can is of belonging to something very very special.

The burning question for me is... will I compete again?? Oh hell yeah! Won't make the World Championships but I'm already planning to be at the Scottish Open on September 7th. Will it matter if I don't win? No I don't think it will. Winning is great don't get me wrong, but that feeling I described above, being part of something, is a huge rush and I'd encourage anyone to give it a go just for that feeling... and on that note I'll part from this post with a final photo of some of my Phoenix Ayr/Prestwick "Family" (and 3 are my real famly!) something I am very proud to be a part of!

Pre-Welsh Open Competition

Its only a few days away to the Welsh Open in Cardiff and I'm starting to feel a mix of excitement and nervousness setting in. Why? Well I've entered this and it will be my first ever competition with the TAGB. Due to what my wife thinks is me being "injury prone" I'm haven't entered the sparring ,although if there are any executive coloured belts out there, I'll maybe think about this for the Scottish. No, I'm going to try and impress the judges with my interpretation of Won Hyo which I've been fretting and beating myself up about for the past 4 weeks.... circular block not right, bending ready stance as vertical as the famous tower in Pizza. All I can do is my best I guess.

I'm not the only one from Team Harley that has entered either, my daughter is particularly excited about going down to Wales and here's a wee entry she wrote in her log book about it:

"TAGB

Going to Wales for competition, its on the 19th of May. We're going down to see some family as well and on 18th we are also sleeping in a Premier Inn with friends from Tae Kwon Do, Connor and his dad and Karina and her dad. I am doing a pattern and sparring and my brother is doing a pattern so are my mum and dad. I am a red belt my brother is a yellow with a green stripe. My dad is green belt and my mum is a black first dan. We are going down to Wales in a car."

Looking forward to seeing what she writes about it afterwards. If this keeps up maybe she can take over the blog from me.... or maybe not :)

I'll try and get a full report post done when I get back so if club instructors can get me student results with photos, I can get something typed up asap :) Meantime, good luck to everyone taking part, looking forward to see you all on Saturday night and in the arena on Sunday!

The Importance of Hydration During Training

Hydration Needs For Training

It's very important to ensure that during training sessions you take in enough water to maintain proper hydration levels.Water is one of the most important elements for life and it helps to regulate body temperature, lubricate joints and transport nutrients throughout the body. Keeping hydration levels up is essential for performance, comfort and safety during training.

Dehydration leads to a reduction in blood volume which in turn causes the heart to work harder. This drop in blood volume may also lead to muscle cramps, dizziness and fatigue. In more serious cases it may lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke. The most common causes of dehydration are excessive sweating, not drinking enough fluids and also failing to replace fluid being lost during and after exercise. There is no hard and fast rules for fluid intake but the length and intensity of the training should be taken into account when weighing up how much water you take on-board.

Losing Water While Training

The two main causes of  the body losing water are the temperature you are training in and excessive sweating. As the warmer summer days are coming in, a lot of the halls where we train will be very warm/hot which means we'll all sweat more. Also the duration of the session and intensity all have bearing on water loss. In these cases you'll need to ensure you have adequate water with you and please drink it, don't leave it in your bag.

You can create a personalised hydration program for yourself by weighing yourself before and after a class. Any weight loss is most likely from fluid loss so drink enough to replenish. Any weight gain could mean you are drinking too much.

What Kind of Drinks?

In most cases water is fine to keep your hydration levels up, if however you are doing high intensity training (for 60 minutes of more) then sports drinks with electrolytes can be taken. I'm one of these excessive sweating people, recently on a long cycle ride (about 2 hours or so) I only took a 500ml bottle of water with me. About 45 minutes into the run I had to stop because of bad cramping in my calves. Did get started again, but I was in serious pain for a few days afterwards. After a bit of research I found some tablets I could add to the water which had these added electrolytes. After that, no more cramps... I now use these same tablets when doing TaeKwonDo training and so far they are going a good job for me.

Some Guidelines During Training

Due to the variations on each persons specific fluid requirements its hard to give recommendations but here's some tips I picked up while researching this:

• Drink about 500 - 600 millilitres about 2 or 3 hours before training
• Drink about 250 millilitres every 15 minutes or so during training
• Weigh yourself before and after training and replace any lost fluids. Roughly drink 500ml for even 1lb lost
• If you suffer from cramps during training, consider a sports drinks of some kind as these will help to replace lost electrolytes
• Don't drink too much water either - this is rare but too much water can cause hyponatremai (water intoxication) which is when salt in the blood falls to a low level

This is quite a bit of information on basically a way of saying "drink more water as its getting warmer" but the devil is in the detail, and I like my details. With regards to sports drinks, I'm not recommending any one in particular here. From speaking to a few people in Ayr/Prestwick clubs who use these, everyone has a personal preference which works for them. If you are going down this route, try a few and see which works best for you.

Sunday Sparring Class

Oh no.. not me doing this class, this is one that my daughter takes part in. I'm way too old... these young kids would run ring round me if I tried this... and kick my butt into the bargain.

As for all classes warm up is essential. So the students are instructed to run up and down the hall then stop, do 10 sit ups then back running then 9 sit ups, 8 etc... then some stretching. How can some of these kids can get a stretch down so low??

Mr McMillan's first lesson has the students working on multiple kicks. Two side kicks off the same leg, second kick is on a hop in to chase your opponent down. It's not easy to master this as if you lean back on the first kick you don't have the momentum or balance to execute the second kick. Next technique is side kick, pull the leg back and execute a turning kick, again this is difficult to master but most of the students can pull this off with ease, some have minor difficulties but Mr McMillan quickly points out how they can improve.

Hands work, and an exercise I'm familiar with, back fist and reverse punch going forward with momentum. With this technique you need to ensure you are indeed going forward and closing the distance between you and your opponent on the reverse punch. As Mr McMillan reiterates at every sparring training session - you control the distance, you control the spar.

After running through these exercises its all sparring gear on and more drills. One person on attack and one on defence. From this Mr McMillan pointed out that most of the students on defence were moving back in a straight line rather than moving to the side at an angle on order to open up the attacker for counter attack. This is something that is again hard to master as natural instinct is to move back. Mr McMillan wasn't happy with the students movement so had them doing a additional drills round their sparring mitts, every two steps change direction in order to teach how not to become predictable and hence an easy target. This helped to re-enforce the point to the students on the importance of movement when sparring.

Now, free spar! This is a great way for the students to show off what they've been working on in the drills. Mr McMillan can then see which additional areas of their technique they need to improve on. It's good to see how everyone is progressing. In the short time I've been bringing Teagan along to this class I can see the improvement in her and the other students which is a testament to the instruction being given to them.

It was pretty warm in the hall today and while most people had water with them, more was possibly needed. Its already been suggested (thanks Mr McM) that a blog post on hydration/nutrition might be an good idea.... filed and noted for the near future sir! :)

During the free spar Mr McMillan pointed out is how important movement is. This is especially important if you are sparring with someone who is taller than you. I've seen smaller people out manoeuvre taller opponents, tire them out and win the points... so those of small stature don't despair!

After the final spar, it back onto drills. Up and down the hall then 20 punches on partners mitts..... 5 times. Finished? No way! Same up and down the hall with turning kicks 10 each leg. Last drills a run, sit down stand up and axe kick.... up to 20 kicks. After all the energy these guys have thrown into this session I'm surprised they have anything left but these are super fit Phoenix students who are used to going the extra mile.

As always a great session guys, big improvements all round. Cant wait to see you back at it next Sunday!

Post Friday Beasting

I'm feeling that usual Saturday "day after the night before" feeling. No I've not been drinking, those that know me will know I haven't touched a drop of alcohol since November 2012. I'm talking about the aches and stiffness that comes from possibly over doing it a wee bit but it'll go in a day or so. Friday night, as always, was a great session from warm up to the final exercise...

I never know what Mr Chahal is going to get us to to do for the warm up. It always something different which is good as it keeps it interesting for the younger members of the senior class, and this older member :) Turning kicks on a pad, fast as possible 1 up to 10 and back down 10 to 1 (both legs)... and then the same with side kicks. I did my best to keep up with my 9 year old daughter, who was kicking away next to me, but shes way to fast or maybe it's her shorter legs?? Then some stretching... and into pattern work. I'm working on Won Hyo at the moment, most of it is starting to come but occasionally with my twin forearm block, the rising arm isn't high enough or angled right and circular block was all over the place. But all I have to do is ask Mr Chahal (SIR!) and he quickly points out the faults and how to improve the technique. I need to have this pattern as perfect as possible for the Welsh in couple of weeks.

Now I was seriously thinking before training last night about taking my sparring kit. When I mentioned it to my other half, she scowled at me and said "No...." (those that know Karen know she can be scary at times). She's worried about me causing myself injury.... like I'm really going to punch myself in the face!!??!! But with her being a 1st Dan, I supposed I better not argue... at the moment anyway. So while everyone else was sparring away quite merrily, new start Ryan and I did "see the pad hit the pad". Everyone worked hard as was evident by the sweat streamed faces at the end....

... the end??? No it was Mr Chahal's favourite torture.... I mean exercise (sorry sir!).. THE PLANK! If I can last 15, maybe 20 seconds on this if I'm going well... and what's this "happy place" I'm meant to be going to?? At least one person found this happy place as a certain young man (yes Connor your mum told us!) was smiling while doing this!

As usual a fab Friday night session and roll for the next!

WOOHOO! Its Friday!!

Best day of the week this... and not because its the start of the weekend, its because its training in Prestwick tonight!

Quite a few of us in Prestwick (adults section at least) have affectionately nicknamed this session "Kuli's Friday Beasting"... which sort of explains itself doesn't it :) But you know what?... we don't mind as its considered the best way to end the week. Going to this session is really a no brainer... it just HAS to be done... don't ask me why, although I suspect brainwashing in some form.


Hardest choice I have tonight is do I take my sparring gear or not?? With my track record of tearing muscles its 50/50, and with the Welsh Open Competition coming up on 19th May do I really want to risk it. I've entered in men's Patterns and this will be my first competition with the TAGB... I'll make the decision later unless anyone out there wants to try and influence me??

So if anyone fancies ending their week on a perfect note... pop along to South Church Hall in Prestwick tonight. Kids session is 6-7pm followed by "Kuli's Beasting" for the adults from 7-8pm... and if there is an ambulance outside don't worry... that's for me.. just in case :)



NOTE: At any training session, only push yourself as hard as you feel you can safely go... never EVER overdo things.. voice of experience here.

6th May - Ayr & Auchinleck Training

Ayr and Auchinleck students please note that there will be no training on Monday 6th May 2013 due to that annoying thing called a "Bank Holiday" :(