a few short jabs!!

okay here we go!!!

my good friend Mitch skomose(spelling) takes silver medal in the world sport jujitsu tournament in England.(more to come on this awesome feat)

Richard "the Asian sensation" Parker wins 3 round decision at "fall fury" Thai-boxing event on sat Oct 6 in Mississauga, congrats bro you did me proud!

the return of my best lady to recreational fitness body building...Lyndsay dejager will be returning to her passion of building one of the most awesome bodies i have witnessed as a trainer. whats sic about her is she doesn't even compete!!! wow let me tell you guys she makes most hard core fighters look mortal when she's in the gym and it will be great to see her back in the gym soon, welcome back babes.

finally watch out for all Canadian fitness to be starting up our 8 week "women's only" kickboxing program. that's right folks we will be staring a class for women only very soon and will focus on fun, focus and of course kick butt routines to blast away the Christmas shopping blues.....stay tuned!

perceive, believe, achieve

a dutch treat

first off to start this blog i got to apologize for that blog i started about treadmills. i thought i erased it before i posted my other log, opps!! having said that lets get on with this shall we.

its been awhile since my last entry and september has been crazy busy both at the studio and my own gym the phoenix fightclub. to start i took some of my students to a very special seminar in mississauga at the kombat arts academy where we were treated to a 6hr sreminar on thai boxing techniques by the one and only 9 time thaiboxing champion my personel hero ROB KAMAN. this guy is an absolutely awsome indevidule and for us to be able to learn from him was a treat. i had gone all the way to calgary about 3 years ago to take part in a 2 day seminar with rob and the experience had changed me and the way i train my people.
rob has won just about everything there is to win in my sport as well as being one of the first people to compete and defeat the thai's at their own sport of muaythai! he has fought all over the world and is one of the few to have won kickboxing titles in all 3 forms of the sport( full contact-above the waist, low kick and thai rules) a very rare feat! so when we heard he was coming i quickly alerted my students to this potentially great opportunity that was in front of them. there are in this world of martial arts many people who make a living touring around sharing there knoweledge and expersise on various topics some are good, some are awfull. i always found that the one's that could explain the stuff they were teaching in simple terms were usually the best. rob is that man. this guy is a phenominal instructor, he has a nake for getting people to really understand his concepts as well as injecting a grat sense of humor along the way. rob makes you feel completly at ease and comfortable while teaching his fighting concepts. this to me is the true sign of a great teacher!

all in all a fantastic opportunity and awsome seminar from a truely unique individual.

i love the dutch!

love, respect believe

i like challenges!!

okay here we go....
its been awhile eh. i need to get more on top of this with summer winding down and everyone else going back to school i should have the time to get this blog thing going on a more consistent basis. i always consider labour day the official end of summer as everyone sends their kids back to school or starts school themselves. i my self just get ready for September as it seems to be our busy time at all Canadian fitness. new clients, old client , same clients. September is for me the beginning of the fitness year and this month looks to be already jammin! lets start off with the return of my good client Lorraine somerfeld to the studio. most of you know Lorraine from her "mother load" column in the Hamilton spectator and her columns in the star. we trained her last year for a boxing promo in Toronto with another writer that was publicizing his new book "the fighter" (a good read by the way) and so it was no surprise to see Lorraine return to us with yet another challenge. this time to whip her into shape to drive a 3000lbs SUV around an unforgiving terrain in Argentina. so of course we accepted the challenge. Lorraine has since had some choice words for her trainer and i will be posting pictures of her working out at the studio as well as a detailed account of her training regime in the next week.

until next blog...
love, respect, believe

reasons i love the treadmill!

king kong beats down godzilla!

all right here we go....

its been Little while eh, since the last post. so without further adue here's the lowdown on our local blue collar hero's triumph in the land of the rising sun!

to start the fight almost didn't happen due to the small oversight of my inability to travel or set foot on U.S soil(the promoters of the event didn't seem to register that fact!). so a very good friend of mine and one of my supporters quickly called his travel agent and booked me on a flight out of Toronto straight to Tokyo. unfortunately i had to travel alone which is never fun. after many movies and many hours of walking up a very short aisle i arrived in Tokyo. my doctor had told me to try and stay up as long as possible and try to fall asleep on there time, it was hard but the team managed it. we were whisked from the airport in a limousine so already we were being treated well. we arrived at our hotel on a busy street in downtown Tokyo and we quickly settled in and headed to the shoot boxing gym for a media and interview shoot. during this time they interviewed each fighter and we did a short pad session for the cameras ,this was cool! all those years of watching we were paying of. finally we returned to our hotels and were down for the count.

the next morning SAM stout and i made our way over to what would become our main hang out... a Starbucks coffee shop which we nicknamed "the Canadian embassy" here we could joke around and plan our fight strategies. later in the day we were again summoned to the shoot boxing gym for the official weight-ins. this is always sooo cool as you get to size up your opponent and try to mind f&#K with them. anyone that knows me knows i love bugging and ribbing people so this was right up my ally! my opponent looked bigger than me but they always look bigger than me. i knew i was taller and had a significant reach advantage so this would be the basis of my fight plan. we were shown videos of our opponents and i saw that mine had tasted the canvas before so i was intent on sending him there again!

Saturday- fight day

fight days are always laid back for me as i get my mind ready for the night ahead. i usually make my phone calls, read and take a few naps. so after one more trip to the "embassy" we were taken to the event at the kurokun hall which is very famous for K-1 events, boxing, mma and wrestling. the event set up was neat and well designed, i was going to have fun in that ring! we were escorted to our change rooms and found they had t.v monitors in each room so we could watch the fights before ours. seeing as i was fighting kenichi ogata i was the main event so i had all the time in the world to stew in my dressing room. finally the time came for the "road warrior" to step up one more time in front of an audience i wanted to fight in front of for more than ten years!

i made my way down the ramp and into the ring to await ogata never once taking my eyes off of his corner. ogata made his way down to a thunderous ovation from the crowd but this has never affected me, i like being in enemy territory. i may be out maned but I'm never out gunned as this became apparent right off the bat. from the opening bell my boxing was superior to his and as i had planned, my reach advantage played into the match well! my ability to change from south paw to orthodox fighting stances gave ogata fits as he found himself getting hit from all angels. during the closing minute of the 1st round i landed a slicing left uppercut and then a left cross that had ogata crumbling at my feet. i ran to the neutral corner and watched as the referee began to count. the crowd was dead silent. as ogata rose on shaky legs i moved in to finish him but just as i was to pounce the bell rand and a very shocking up kenichi ogata went back to his corner to contemplate what the hell had just happened to him.

the second started off like the first with me pumping my jabs in his face and ogata bombing in with hard low leg kicks. by this time i had found my ranges with my favorite weapon of choice... my push kick. this keep him off me as i hit him in the chest with it and finally hitting him square in the jaw with it! the crowd by now had realized ogata was in a battle and started to turn up the heat heading into the third round.

the third started with a crushing push kick to ogata's face and jaw which when landed made a sickening sound letting me and the crowd know that his jaw had been broken. this was when he really started to push a quick passe as he surely new he was way behind in the scoring. as the round wore on we waded into one another throwing bomb after bomb at each other, neither wanting to take a backwards step. the crowd were on their feet and were so load i couldn't hear my corner. so with my back against the ropes i dug me heels in and finished the round swinging at ogata's face with every "bad Irish" intention i had left. i love fights like this as i think it brings out the "dog" in you and your opponent. there is no other sport in the world that tests a mans courage and reserve quite like fighting.

as the bell rang to end the fight we were greeted with a standing ovation from the Japanese crowd. we embarrassed each other warmly after and nodded respectfully to each other good fight. the announcer made his decision and awarded me a unanimous decision and ogata respectfully accepted his defeat. after the fight we were whisked in to a corridor to do an interview with sky television and Fuji television and were asked what was next. i said i would love to fight in the K-1 max but shoot boxing was the promotion that brought me to japan and i would love to fight for them again and they had first dibs on me if they wanted.

after the interview it was time to kick back, eat and party our asses off for a job well done. the partying lasted well into the next two days but that is a story for a different time!

until next blog
love, respect and believe

All Canadian Fitness trainer doing the hard yards in London!

OK here we go.... another post. this is getting fun! for those of you that have been around the studio or received one of Ernie's e-mail updates then you'll know that i am currently in my final stages of preparation for what could possibly be "the road warriors" last ride. all my life as a fighter i have wanted no, dreamed of being invited to compete in japan. japan is the mecca that all fighters want to be invited to. it is where the money is, the fame is and the recognition. you will not find a more appreciative audience for combat sports than the Japanese. they eat this stuff up man! so i find my self on the verge of a dream, made possible by my good friend IFL anacondas(mma) head coach Shawn Tompkins. it is through Shawn that i have been given this great opportunity. shawn and myself go back a few years as i have made the trip down to his gym in London on many occasions to help get his fighters ready for up coming matches in both mma and kickboxing. through this friendship i have had the pleasure of training with and becoming friends with his stable of talented fighters. Shawn's fighters have competed all over the world in some of the biggest organizations on the planet, such as the UFC, Pride, Ring of Fire... the list goes on. he is now a very sought after coach and after we are done in japan he will be headed to Oregon to begin training "the natural" randy couture the UFC heavyweight champ Wow what an honour!!!
as of last week i be gain my journey down to London to get some much needed sparring for my fight. the kilometers are killing my lease but hey its worth it in the end right? any ways i wanted to share this little bit of info with you and i will keep you posted right up to my final days leading up to japan.

until next time
love, respect, believe

Parker rocks and Wright rolls!

okay here we go....its been a week since i last posted so before the boss gets on me i thought i'd write a post to let everyone out there know whats going on.

first off the week flew by as we had monday off from the gym due to the canada day long weekend so that left the schedule pretty full for us at the studio. but hey your fitness heros pulled through.
i had the pleasure of working with patricia wright for the first time in a long time this friday and let me tell you folks this girl trains HARD!!!! she is currently in the final preperation stages for her black belt testing and she is focused. we trained for 1.5 hours in the studio and this girl does everything i can come up with and she still has energy to spare! i feel she will crush her black belt test when the time comes.

secondly the phoenix fight club was again well represented this week with its newest fighter richard "the asian sensation" parker making very short work of his opponent at a small club show in strathroy ontario.
richard did me proud by going out there and fighting a smart fight. about a minute into the first round richard uncorked a beautiful overhand right which crashed right into his opponents head sending him straight down and out for the count! i think richard was surprised and being that it was his first fight wasn't quite sure what exactly happened. so having said that, well done pal and a special thanks to the phoenix crew that made the trip with us. you guys are showing what it means to be a team with the support and encouragement you show to one another. keep up the good work!

well that's it for this post folks. so until next time, hands up, chin down and train hard!
love, respect, believe

Running....just do it!

okay here we go....this topic is gonna cover something we all love.....running, yeah!! i personally love running and feel that besides proper eating habits this is the best way to lose weight and maintain cardio greatness. i feel that the main reason people don't run that can run is quite simply motivation. so in this blog entry i'm gonna share a few ides on how to get into that motivational mind frame. for me if i'm driving somewhere and i see some one running i immediately wonder if i can run faster or longer then them , so i guess my competitive fires gets going and that makes me want to run as soon as i can. also music selection.... come on tell me you don't get the itch to workout when you hear that theme from rocky. i personally remember a guy that would always show up to the boxing gym when a rocky movie was on t.v the night before! me i need a good hard beat or something with kickin rhythm to get me movin! yeah i bump and grind when no ones looking!! music is soooo important for running because music in my opinion moves the world. i cant stand it when i don't have music, who wants to hear their own breath when their jogging? or you have a stupid tune stuck in your noodle. so having said that get some tunes , something to play them on and also check out ernie's blog to see his top ten workout songs and get movin. because "someone thinking about doing something is usually passed by some doing something"

until next time
love, respect, believe