smashmouth fitness

they always wanna come back....

2010-08-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

ok, here we go....

just a quick rant for this blog post!

i am always amused at how fickle people are when it comes to training. recently i had a client return to train with me after seeing if the grass was greener on the other side! (i.e tried training with someone else) lucky for this person i am emplyed by someone else who fills my schedule AND i had an opening. so life is back to normal for this client right????.....well, not in my books! as an employed trainer at a facility my job is to train my client base the very best i can, each and everyday i am on the floor. so when a client who you feel you gave the very best to each and every time togeather decides to train with another fitness consultant i gotta be honest..it burns alittle and it burns a little bit more when said client trains with another trainer at the same facility! maybe i should just take it like i'm glad said client is back with me and we can continue on our successful path togeather, but if you know anything about me, this doesn't sit easy and again i am reminded that for all we do for people and their health sometimes we are made to feel like a part on an asembly line, waiting to be put to use until they don't need us or want something with a fancier paint job!

until next time...
hands up, chin down and keep on pushin

from ashes, rises new life

2010-07-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

ok, here we go.....

it has been a very long time since my last talking to my self entry. lots comes to mind but i won't bother writing it all down with this entry. what i wanted to mention is that i have, after 6 years decided to close down my own gym "the phoenix FC fightclub". after much discussions with my loved ones and close friends i decided to put up the gym and its contents for sale(quietly) after a few phone calls, one of my students Steve proctor has agreed to purchase it and move it to his new location in simcoe. i will continue to teach out of simcoe but the market in Hamilton is littered with wanna be trainers/fighters, false prophets and what i like to refere to as car sales man fight coaches.

i was going to partner with what some might consider a reputable martial arts coach but after seeing how this person conducts business and "fighter training" i pulled my interest, and what do you know...he talks shit about me to other coaches, not a surprise as this is the norm for martial artists that where never fight coaches or competitors themselves.

i don't ever talk shit about others on my blog but this is the reason for my closing of the fightclub. for 6 years I've trained people that have come to me and said they had what it takes to be champion. the truth is guys/girls, most of you don't have it. one trip into my gym in the summer when it is 45 degrees(96) in the other temp will show how bad they want it or think they want it. my gym has broken these wanna be fighters many, many times over. "can't you turn the air on?" or open a window is some of the requests i get! NO is the answer i gave. you tell me you want to fight and i train you for the worst case scenarios that might happen or be present in a match. guess what...most quit, run to an air conditioned mma gym with pretty girls trampin around looking for someone to turn them into a model or ring girl!

i have been busy training in simcoe at my student's gym and have recently been heading up the thai boxing program at the adrenaline training centre in London on. these guys/girls know how to train and this is the dedication, desire and commitment it takes to be a champion. weather they fight or just fight fat these people get it!

during my gyms existence we have produced 1 world shoot boxing champion, 3 national champions, one provincial champion, one north American champion. not too shabby eh? now it's time to move it on up the road. to bad....don't think this city was ready for that type of a gym!

until next time....
hands up, chin down, and keep on pushin!

return of the murph

2010-05-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

ok, here we go....

another week is half over and my blog is more than half late! a quick shout out to my newest fighter from the simcoe gym, dan "imal" coyne who ko'd his opponent in his debute fight via a 3rd round right hand. dan is a notorious party animal(hense the nickname) and was able to focus for six weeks on his diet, training and most importantley his opponent to earn a victory. see guys and girls focus and determination results in success!

on a diffrent note monday marked the return to our studio, one of the most focused and determined clients i've ever had the pleasure of training. mrs. sarah murphy! this excited me because when she first came to our studio she was already in great shape with an incredible work ethic. how am i supposed to train this machine was my though at first. after our first meeting we got done to business and just trained hard, fast and focused. skip ahead at least 2 years and now the machine has returned, married, has a new 8 month old baby girl(sorry ladies she came in to the gym looking like she never had a baby!) and full of the same focused energy to achieve her goals.

we as trainers see all types of people from all walks of life that come to us for guidense on their health and well being. some are easy to train, others more difficult. i enjoy working on and designing all my clients programes, but once in awhile i really really like fine tuning a fitness machine! welcome back mrs. murphy...this will be fun!

until next time...
hands up, chin down, and keep on fighting.

grab a nap!

2010-04-13T07:29:00.001-07:00

ok, here we go.....

well, another training week is upon us and after a few days off i feel refreshed and ready to rock! it's amazing what a few days of doing nothing but spending some down time does for you. i have always believed in cat-naps as a way to recharge my battery and i do these quite often. a cat nap is a short quick rest usually no longer than 20-30 mins and man if you get the chance to grab one when you've been going through a busy day, these are a life saver! i usually work anywhere from 12 to 15 yours a day training people at my job as a fitness professional at all canadian fitness and then later at my own gym the phoenix fightclub. to say that that is a taxing day would be an understatement! i have found that when i take a cat nap or power nap i feel really refreshed and re-focused at my tasks and seem to attack them with alittle more focus. so if your job can allow you to grab a quick couple of zzz's then you may find yourself in a more productive mood!

until next time....
hands up, chin down, and keep on fighting.

Heros, i still got some

2010-03-24T06:11:00.000-07:00

ok, here we go....

this weekend is gonna be big!(well for me) we got on saturday night UFC 111, my boy george "rush" st. peierre against dan "the outlaw" hardy. a good scrap if your watching the hype build up. st. peierre should smack this brit around as hardy is nowhere near the level that our canadian boy is at, but..........george has shown, in the past a relaxed attitude towards opponents that are considered HUGE underdogs and on one ocassion been the victum of what many consider the biggest upset in mma history when at UFC 67 an underdog named matt "the terra" serra whumped st. peierre's ass. serra was a huge long shot in that fight and drove the bookies and betters bonkers in vegas. i was one of the very and i mean very few that gave matt serra a shot at winning. if you are looking at the odds in vegas right now on the fight and have a few extra bucks that you might want to blow, bet it on hardy! the pay off will be HUGE!!!! if the brit can pull it off.

the second big of the weekend is WRESTLEMANIA 26. i know i know, wrestling? come on, what??? hey i've been a wrestling fan for as long as there has been a wrestlemania! i live for this shit! i can't tell you how much influence wrestling
has had on my fighting life. i dreamed of being a wrestler all my life but instead chose the "real" world of combat sports in the form of professional kickboxing and boxing. but i always thought of myself as a preformer going out there and giving the crowd what they wanted to see...an action packed match. hell even my barber is an ex wreslter, "terrible" terry morgan! me and him have some great conversations when i go visit him and he's always blown away by how much of a student of the history and backstage stories i am. but the BIG reason this weekend is so special for me is that on this particular westlemania there is a return to the ring from a very famous canadian and a hero of mine...Bret "Hitman" Hart. this guy is my absolute hero and i would probable gush like a little school girl if i ever got to meet him! he represents our great country everywhere he goes is an embassador of good will and an all around nice guy. i thought when he got into the hall of fame years ago, that that would be the last time anyone ever saw of the hitman.

so in ending this blog post, welcome back bret! in a world that has forgot what it was like to be a kid and have a hero. it is great that a retired professional kickboxer can sit back on a sunday evening with my son and watch a hero step into the ring one more time and remember why i ever wanted to step into a squared cicle in the first place!

until next time....
hands up, chin down, and keep on fighting!

2010-03-02T04:01:00.000-08:00

ok, here we go....

what a weekend eh?! lets see...we dominated the ice rink...again and took our rightfull spot as kings/queens of the hockey mountain. served notice to all other nations and our government about our small dedicated athletes are for real and should be supported. i don't think there was a person in this country that didn't at some point over the last few weeks tune into the olympic games. we at the allcanadian fitness studio had the games on from the begin of it right up to the closing ceremonies. what an imense feeling of pride i had watching the opening/closing cerimonies and a select few events. not to mention a few of the athletes were pretty damn hot! i love spandex....on the ladies!

that was just the end of the weekend for me as i took one of my fighters to a match in london as well on the sunday afternoon. this particular time out i had my newer fighter tyler livingstone matched up with a tough young fighter from the "PURE BREED" gym in lampton on. this match was explosive from the start as both boys exploded out of the gates and proceeded to hurl shot and kick after shot and kick at each other. my boy tyler had me worried for a bout a second when his head was snapped back acouple of times during the first few seconds of the match. but as per usual my boys weather the early onslaught of attcks, and then proced to open up their own can of got somethin for ya! tyler waided in with some heavy low kicks to decimate his opponents legs and force his opponent to be tko'd at the begining of the second round.

what is amazing about this particular fight was that up until sundays match, tyler was on a 3 fight losing skid and had yet to win a thaiboxing match. now most of the time people that think they want to fight have a match, lose and then they are never seen from again. this drives us trainers nuts as we have put just as much time into training the athletes as they have themselves. but tyler was diffrent, he trained harder each time he lost a match, determined to better his results next time round. he never cried to me about his loss...something that seems to be the norm these days for fighters.(since when was it cool to cry after you lost a fight?) we just buckled down and put our work in that much harder the following day. i remember sitting by myself just before he was to head to the ring and one of our teammates asked if i was ok? i told him i was but i was nervous for tyler as i had seen how hard he was training and wanted this win for him so so bad.

nothing can explain the feeling of fullfillment a coach gets when all the hard work is done and the goal is reached. unless you've been there your self you don't know the feeling. seeing tylers face after the ref waived it off was a moment that will stay with me for a long, long time! it's not about the championships i win with my boys , it's the moments like sundays match that i live for! seeing someone lose and comeback stronger better and more deternimd than every is amazing!

a big congrates to my boy tyler, you did yourself, your gym and your coach so proud, enjoy the moment and feeling. there is nothing like it in the world.

love, respect, and believe.

until next time....
hands up, chin down, and keep on fighing!

the "angry" trainer and the cold weather!

2010-02-01T07:25:00.000-08:00

ok, here we go. another blog by the "angry trainer" thats what i should've named my blog. a place where i can go and rant about anything. so todays is on the weather!

i am canadian, proud of this, proud of my healthcare system but damn do i hate the cold!!!! i hate the cold so much that i think canada should stake a claim into cuba and makie that a province. after all we canadians are welcome to visit and enjoy cuba any time of the year(can't say the same about our american neighbours!)

anyways, i was recently down at westdale high school for a "fun" run to beifit the people of haiti. i droped off a little donation, shook some hands, kissed a few babies and just as it was time to commence our run/walk, made a quick exit stage left back to my warm car! those people are true troopers, man it was too cold for this boy. i am glad my running ladies that i see every tuesday/thursday mornings had brought this run to our attention and i was glad i made it down to the highschool to show some support for the people of haiti.

if you haven't made a donation or at least prayed for the people of haiti, please try to do so. any and all help is greatly appreciated.

until next time....

hands up, chin down, (stay warm) and keep on fighting!

The King of MMA

2009-11-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

ok here we go.....

well the last emporer is still alive and kicking! if you don't know what i'm talking about then you obviously wern't watching the free fightcard offered up on CBS saturday night. in the ever on going battle for your viewing rights CBS featured a free on cable fight card of mma action. so instead of shelling out the usual $40 bucks for a UFC event(which i usually do) this card was put on by a rival promotion that seems to be gaining some steam as the only other fight company out there that could give the UFC jugernaught a run for its viewership money.

how can this upstart company do such a thing? well one word...FEDOR. this one name has become somewhat of an enigma to the real hardcore fans of the mma community. this one name is the legindary russian mma fight that is basicaly the most sought after fighter on the planet. his refusal to sign with the UFC makes him even more egnimatic to the general mma world and made the upstart strikeforce company a real contender to the UFC's monopoly on the mma landscape.

people will argue what makes this Fedor so great and if he is so great than why is he refusing to sign with the biggest promotional company on the planet? why is he so great? well he hasn't lost in almost 9 years! think about that for a moment...9 years in the brutal world of mma fighting. he is the recognized world champion, not a champion of a company. sorry brock but you are awsome but you are also the UFC's champion not the world champion. Fedor has beating some of the UFC's formr champions and beaten them badly, and quickly.

what makes this Fedor so special is that to be a true superstar, like a wayne gretzky or a micheal jordan is having the ability to win, score or deliver when called upon to do so in the most trying circumstances. how many times has mma said they have the next champion or the next tyson? all of them to fail when a company needs them most. on saturday Fedor was in some real trouble, it would appear to most as he sustained a vicious cut to his nose and was appearing to get worked over by at the time an undefeated young fighter who out weighed him by almost 50lbs! but like a true superstar he delivered with one punch, the end of the fight, the end of another undefeated fighters record and answered his critics about how great he really is!

now with brock lesnar potential sidelined, possibly permanently who is the UFC gonna wave around now to say that their fighter is the true heavyweight champion? don't know? well, nether do they! long live the last empero, you are the TRUE heavy weight champion of the MMA scence.

until next time....hands up, chin down, and keep on fighting!

2009-10-26T06:19:00.000-07:00

ok here we go...

well, we are off to london this wekend for a few more fights. one of my boys, traz who many of you might recognize from our you tube video is fighting along side one of my other fighter, tyler. both recently had their first fights back on the 10th of october in kitchener. traz had a tough fight losing a split decision and tyler was in my opinion railroaded by an increasingly eveident corrupt way of scoring fights.

i have said to my fights on numerous occasions that if you let it go to the decision then you're putting all your hard work into the hands of three people to decide. most of the time these people have no ring experience and sit making judegment calls on a sport they are unable to compete in because of a lack of "balls". it is so disheartening to watch and see these boys/girls train their hearts out and finally have the chance to show off their hard work in front of a crowd only to be ripped off by a judge who is either blind, in favour of the opposing teams fighter of on the "take".

i am a fair judge of my fighters and their preformances. i will tell them if they won or lost or what they could improve on. i know they are not being paid for what they are doing but when shit like this happens it really soures the taste of this great sport not only in my mind as their coach but in their minds as athletes. alot of times a fighter might not want to compete again having seen their hard work wasted.

i was approached by a friend of mine who is heavily involved with this organization that we fought for. we meet quite regularly to discuss business and the sport. on this partical meeting he was trying to get me to become more involved with this said organization. he says i have alot to offer this group because of my extensive knowledge in the sport as well as my training methods. so i am left with a decision to be either the helper in a corrupt system or a "ronin" and continue to be an unsilenced voice for the little guy who continualy finds his or herself at the short end of the shady stick.

if you know me at all then you know which roll i'll be taking!

often out manned, but never out gunned!!!

until next time...hands up, chin down, and keep on fighting.

2009-10-21T08:36:00.000-07:00

OK here we go....

oh happy day! my newest piece of training equipment arrived from Australia yesterday and i am happy. why? so i can work it into my devious systems of ever changing fitness routines!

my newest piece of equipment is what is called a "powerbag". it basically looks like a small tubular gym bag standing about 2.5 feet high. the cool thing about this bag is that you can vary the weight load in it buy taking off the top and filling or emptying it with sand! cheap and effective! this bag is a combination of kettle bell, medicine ball, sand bag, barbell and dumbell all in one, not to mention it is made of a tough synthetic material that is made for wear and tear. basically you can toss, drag chuck and beat the shit out of it!

intensity can be controlled through the length of the set, weight of the bag and speed of movement. it can be carried in a various ways because of the various handle positions it has over its surface.

i will be adding this piece of equipment into my own tabata workouts. just wanted to give a thanks to the guys at jerseycrossfit cause they were the crew that gave me the idea to purchase this piece of equipment. after watching one of their videos on YouTube i was obsessed with getting my hands on this "powerbag". thanks guys, and keep up the good stuff!

until next time....hands up, chin down, and keep on fighting!

Fitness 4 anyones life

2009-10-09T06:12:00.001-07:00

OK here we go....

Happy thanksgiving weekend everyone! tune in for a YouTube video of me and Brian training 2 clients at the studio with two very different fitness goals and routines. you can see it here:

www.youtube.com/user/AllCanadianFitness#p/a/u/0/Flf1a8B01wg

no matter who you are and what your goals are, walk in the doors and we'll change your life!

until next time....
hands up, chin down and keep on fighting!

Adam
(I'm not a runway model, I'm a trainer)

2009-09-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

okay here we go....

a short post to start the week off. myself and rich have both purchased the "gymboss" timer and are finding it very helpful it running our clients through some tabata training regimes.

if your not familar with what tabata training is, it is set series of circuit work or workouts that are based on timed intervals. for example, 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest. you can basically cram in a full workout in , in about 20 minutes. this is great for the client or person who is short on time or wants some explosive training sessions.

there are some great methods of tabata training on youtube if your interested in approaching this type of training. all in all i think i'm gonna be hitting the tabata training now!

until next time....
hands up, chin down and keep on fighting!

business, training, changes and from east to west

2009-09-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

ok, here we go.....

well, i'm back from a short vacation away from the studio but not away from training! i spent the end of last week in my favorite province; alberta, in a a town that has been soooo good to me during my fighting carrier. of course i'm talking about calgary! man this city is great! the base of the mountains, the advanced fitness( it did host the olympics and houses the olympic training centre!) the women and the night life! what more could a guy want? anywho i wasn't there for personal business i was there on more of a professional basis this time out.

my fighter, adam hensen was competing for a chance to represent a second team canada for a spot on the world stage in thailand. adam is already a national champion in the cask organization and will be venturing to austria in october to compete in their world championships.

i don't need to tell you what kind of commitment it takes to try and acheive where adam has gotten to in this sport. adam trained hard for this contest and was looking in great shape but in the end you just can't put a price on experience. his opponent sean mckinnon is the nation champ for the ckmt-a organization and has some 25 fights to his name, adam has 10!

for the first 2 rounds adam was able to hang with sean but in the end he was dragged out to deeper water and unfortunatelty lost a decision and the chance to represent his country in thailand. this was a great learning experience for a young fighter and one i'm sure he will bounce back from stronger than before. after the fight we enjoyed some r,n,r out in the city and when i returned home, began my week off from the studio.

i guess a few things changed while i was away, we had our train the trainer which seemed to go off well. i think ernie was lurking around with a video camera and taping some of the trainer's workouts. i believe both shelia's and brian's is on his facebook page. if you want to see rich's you will have to search for it on youtube as i believe it is there.

a heavy heart goes out to my dear friend and confidant lucio barcaroli who's father had passed away while i was on vacation. i made it into the studio on thursday last week to call him and send my condolences. lucio, you are a good man and i feel for your loss.

and finally i guess we are down a trainer. word came out just as i was getting ready to depart for alberta that our beloved shelia was packing up and hittin the road for the west coast. shelia was an BIG part of the newer developments at the studio and is leaving some big shoes to fill! but as always, we will carry on and push forward. good luck out west and i'm sure we will see you again in the studio.

thats it for now.

until next post....hands up, chin down and never quit!

2009-09-08T10:31:00.001-07:00

OK, here we go....

a quick update on whats happening in Adam's world. a huge congrats to Shelly Thorsen! Shelly did it! she broke the 200lbs mark she set for herself. all i've got to say is wow!!! results get accomplished with hard work, the willingness to try and perseverance. though the journey is long and winding there is nothing like the self satisfaction of a goal reached. nothing is impossible if you try.
so to all those that don't want to try, don't waste my time as a trainer! i don't care if you fail in an attempt to reach a goal, i care that you tried in the first place to realise a goal and attempted to see it through!

until next time....

hands up, chin down and keep on fighting!

Adam

a sample of the "basement sessions"

2009-08-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

okay, here we go....

ok i usually keep my training ideas reserved for just myself and my clients but i thought i would share one workout with anyone that reads these blogs that me and my amigo rich menna do.
if your attempting this workout and want to do it exactly like me and rich then u better be in shape and like to sweat! you may need to purchase various equipment but this wasn't a problem for us as i already have said equipment available to me. we also did this with a set of stairs available to us as well. i suggest chedoke golf coarse!

with that said, here we go:

start out with tractor tire flips jumping into and out of the tire with your partner following right behind you(make sure you clear out before your partner flips the tire on you!)

next, 1 minute of sledge hammer slams on the tire switching sides every 5 hits(the heavier the sledge the tougher the workout!

next 3 level stair sprints up and down as fast as you can 5 times.

finally we finish the set with a round each of fast paced pad work, who ever is the tiredest goes first! if your by yourself grab a set of 1 lb. dumbells and shadow box.

we do this 3 times through, its fast, tough and one hell of a stress reliever!

keep an eye out for a youtube video of this comming soon!

until next time,

hands up, chin down and keep on fighting!

adam

CONGRATS AND GOALS

2009-08-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

ok, here we go....

a quick little congrates to my client shelley thorsen. shelley has been working with me for quite some time and is seeing magnificent results. this woman is making a REAL lifestyle change! you will be hard pressed to see someone work as hard as this woman does. watching her do her workloads is almost like watching someone that is posessed. her goal as of right now is to be under a specific weight. she is soooooo close she can taste it!

i feel that with alittle proper food management she can be at her goal weight by this time next week, it is up to her! i do feel that this will be a huge hurdle for her to get through. a monumental mental block will be finaly put to rest and i feel this will be her passage to the promissed land.

onward and upward shelley! no stoping now!

until next time guys....

hands up, chin down and keep on fighting!

You want results?

2009-08-04T04:39:00.000-07:00

okay, here we go.....

"hard work never killed anyone, but it sure has scared alot" fack that, bottom line.....DO WORK!

you want results? do work, no pills, no special machines that take 5 minutes, no miracle diet, in the end it is you and only you that can change yourself. put in the effort and you get results, PERIOD.

until next time.....DO WORK

helping sort out the verbal mess!

2009-07-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

ok, here we go....again!

i told you i'd try and write two this week for those of you that take the time to read these blog posts!

here are a few discriptions of words used in training for recovery and to promote muscle growth. in case any are lost on some of the big words that us trainers use, enjoy.

anabolic- a biological state when the body is in the building phase, this is when your body builds and repairs muscle tissues and converts cards to glycogen in the muscles.

catabolic- a biological state when the body is in breakdown mode. this is when you oxidize fat for energy or burn through blood sugar, glycogen and stored protein in the muscle for fuel.

insulin- hormone produced by your pancreas in response to the presence of ingested carbohydrates. insulin is responsible for sending the body into an anabolic state.

amino acids- these small compounds string together into various shapes to form protiens.

enzyme- special type of protien that speeds up numerous biological reactions in the body.

protien synthesis- process of creating new protiens from individual amino acids.

antioxidents- beneficial compound that stops the cell damaging process of oxidation caised by lone electrons.

glycogen- a form of carbs that the body stores in the liver and within the muscle tissues themselves.

creatine- is made natually in the body and is moatly stored in muscle tissue. it is involved in energy prodution to fuel muscle fibers.

whey- a dairy-based protien that is sold as either concentrates or isolates.

ala(alfa lipoic acid)- natually made within the cells and is involved in energy prodution and also works as an antioxident.

electrolytes- particles like sodium and potassium that are electrically charged and play a role in fluid balance.

reprinted from an article entitled "Road to Recovery" by P.R Cole/MS, RD Candidate Columbia University, Fight magazine august 2009

busy, burnt and a little sad

2009-07-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

ok here we go.....

well, i missed my blog post for last week so i will try to post two for this week....maybe! last week was a right off as my brain was fried and i was feelin burnt out. some might look a my schedule at all canadian and think shit!, he's not that busy. your right, not here at the studio as of right now but my other commitments have kept this motor running at an incredible pace!

the gym out in simcoe has a new training floor and it's sweet! so the boys are happy. the fight club is humming along with the boys getting ready for calgary in september. my clients at the studio here at all canadian fitness are gaining knowledge and losing inches!

this morning i opened up my fightclub e-mail and found a video one of my fighters had made, kinda like a highlite video. this was cool as this is what we are trying to develope for the studio to showcase our clients acheivements and results. i myself am trying to build a system like this to show some of my workouts that i put clients through.

in sad news july has been a cruel month for boxing and it's fans as we have lost three great champions. alexis aguerio, arturo gatti, and now vernon forrest. the last two being taken from us by murder. it goes to show that even superstars are mortal and can be lost. i was a huge fan of arturo gatti and the fact that he was a canadian boy further sadens me. he was a true warrior, would bleed to death in the ring and was never, ever in a boring fight! i hope all three of these warriors are at peace now and standing side by side with the rest of the fallen gladiators, generals and leaders of the past!

god speed great ones, you will be missed and remembered always.

adam

the next big thing!

2009-07-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

OK, here we go....

well UFC 100 has come and gone. not much diff rent than UFC 99, but i did watch it as i usually do. i get a lot of training ideas that i modify for my clients at all Canadian fitness and my own gym the phoenix FC. these guys are not fighters as much as say a Mike Tyson(in his prime) or a Bernard Hopkins, but what these guys are are athletes to the highest degree!

having said that my boxing brothers may lay me out cold but, i don't think that there is a more cross trained athlete than these mma athletes. these guys have to master and balance all aspects of combat. from conditioning, boxing, Thai boxing, wrestling, jujitsu and last but not least a proper food diet intake and proper supplementation to assist that diet.

alot has been said and written about Brock's antics and post fight comments. mostly harsh. i for one loved every single minute of watching Frank Mir get his head almost separated from his body. it never stops amazing me when an idiot like this Mir guy talks so much trash before hand and does absolutely nothing in the octagon while this monster manhandles him. it was like watching a violent mugging of a high school jock that finally got set straight by a monster with immense skills and strength.

in closing this little blog post, weather you like Brock lesnar or not u better learn to live with it because the "next big thing" is here and you best enjoy it love him or hate him because i don't see anyone knocking him off the mountain top anytime soon!

until next time.... hands up. chin down(in frank Mir's case, run for cover!) and keep on fighting.

Adam

A quote for the day

2009-07-09T07:24:00.000-07:00

DREAM AND YOU SHALL ACHIEVE

"Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal prophecy of what you shall at last unveil"

reprinted out of Ultimate MMA september 2009

Youtube hunting!

2009-07-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

OK, here we go....

was just watching YouTube and found some really great training ideas. I've been playing around with the agility ladders as of late and wanted to find out a routine that i could incorporate for both my fighters and my clients here at all Canadian fitness. well thanks to YouTube i found some great, good and not so good ideas for my clients. sometimes watching is a better way to put things together for my clients.

so clients watch out cause some intense agility ladder drills are coming!!!

until next time...

hands up, chin down and keep on fighting!

hard fought but lost

2009-06-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

ok here we go...

well as i had posted earlier last week i had been training a new fighter that had come to me for some help for an up comming match. we trained hard for this but we feel short as my boy was stopped on the account of recieving too many standing 8 counts. now if you don't know what a standing 8 count is, it is a safety precaution used in boxing/kickboxing matches when the referee feels that a fighter has absorbed too many blows to the head in succession and deams a mandatory standing count of 8 to let the fighter know that he has recieved too many contacted blows and needs to fix it or have the match possible stopped.

this is what happened to us this weekend. it was his first loss and he was disappointed quite alot. i was too but hey, this is fighting and there is always a winner and a loser. we know what went wrong and we are going to fix it! this kid has an incredible future in this sport and this loss may have been the fire of motivation he will need to take it to the next level.

fighters are born in the fire of battle and reborn after a loss, lets see where this fighter goes once the ashes have cooled off!

until next time.....
hands up, chin down and keep on fighting!

long weekend, great weekend!

2009-06-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

and away we go....

another fitness week has flown by and a new one right around the corner. i was checking my weeks workload from home this evening (thanks shapenet!) and noticed that i was quite busy so i thought i'd write a blog tonight in case i get side tracked, which happens alot these days!

i spent all weekend and the thursday and friday nights as well at the david braley centre which is located in mcmaster university's massive fitness complex. i got to tell you if you've not been to this place it is off the hook amazing!!! this building has every possible thing jammed into it. everything from a university sized gymnazim and athletics centre write down to physo and athletic preformance departments which spend most of their time researching on the latest fitness ideas. but enough about this beauty i was here for a diffrent reason, to re-certify my self as one of your favorite rep counters!

this weekend offered me the chance to get my can-fit pro pts certification renewed and updated with new ideas. it had been almost 7 years since i first entered into the business of personal training and i needed to refresh my self as i had heard that the coarse had changed abite since the last time i'd taken it. i could have just re-written the exam and preformed a pratical examination to re-cert myself but i thought i would take the entire class again and see what i could learn and relearn. this was a great experience for me as the group i had this time was so much better than the last one. everyone helped each other like a real team and there was no ego's. everyone was there to learn, there was also afew cuties in the class aswell which helped make the boaring parts go by alittle faster!!! my instructor was young, energetic and full of knowledge, always willing to answer questions no matter how simple they were.

i found myself during this whole experience going wow! i really did find the right company to invest my self with as i have learned so much from my boss in the time i've been with him. i was being asked question throughout this course from my peers all weekend long and i even stayed later after the sunday session had ended helping some of my class mates understand how to properly put togeather fitness programs. this was a humbling experience for me as i never thought i would be smart enough to help others with what i myself had struggled with during my first go round.

the true measure of an educator is being able to teach what was taught to you and make people understand it. i was honored to be part of this group this weekend and i would love to thank my teacher miss alana harris and my class for this amazing time. every day i feel like i get closer and closer to the truest meaning of being a martial artist!

until next time.....
hands up, chin down, and keep on fighting!

fight science takes shape!

2009-06-08T03:19:00.000-07:00

a new week and that means a new blog entry.

okay, here we go.....

this weekend i got to teach my very first "fight science" seminar on thai boxing fundamentals at my good friend matt perrin's Family Martial Arts centre. this was a great opportunity for me to reach out to the other end of the martial arts community and demonstrate my approach to teaching and coaching.

my friend matt perrins has owned and opperated a karate school for many years and has been a regular on the canadian national semi, point and karate teams. this has taken him all over the world to compete. matt was also an accomplished boxer, so to say the expectations i put on myself to make this a great seminar where "everests" to say the least!

matt had contacted me awhile ago to come down and teach a seminar at his school. so after a few meetings and talks we decided on a 2 hour seminar to just scratch the surface of what i teach and how i apply it in a competition setting.

i had been toying with this seminar idea for a while and thought since my fight carrier was winding down and my coaching duties had been picking up, i wanted to reach out to the masses. i wanted to teach people all aspects of the fight game. all the way from the beginings of how to block a punch and set up counters to fight management, sponsorship attaining, how to properly match your fighters fairly. there where and are so many avenues i want to take this concept!

with matt's group we started with a light 5 min warm up and then i had them shadow box for a few rounds so i could get a feel for the diffrent levels that were attending. after that i had all participants partner up and we begain working the basics of punch evasion and countering. after an hour of building on the fundementals we moved into alittle what the dutch call "catch and return drills" this is where we start with a set combo that a partner executes on another and then that partner returns the same combo. this helps to judge distance, timing, flow and accuracy.

what i was most impressed with was the level of matt's students cardio conditioning. they raerly took a break and were eager to just keep going. at the end we shared in some of my experiences in the ring and joined a few of them for some wings and beer at the gym's local pub when all was said and done.

this was the first and hopefully a great start to my next step in my coaching evolution!

untill next time...

hands up, chin down, and keep on fighting!

2009-06-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

all right, a new week and that means a new blog post!

so i was supposed to start up a monthly boxing and pad demo at the bay front park this weekend as part of a monthly out reach program with my good buddy rich menna but my partner in crime just had a new baby and the baby ain't taken care of her herself so...next week. we got to be early cause like my dad always says, "you can't expect to soar with the eagles in the mornin if your flirtin with the chickies at night"

this was not to say that the weekend wasn't busy, i attended my first team Canada training camp with my fighter adam hensen. this was all part of a weekend seminar called raising the bar 2. this was a cask offered coarse that focuses on team building, coaching lectures, strength conditioning for your athletes and motivational lectures. i didn't attend the seminars as i had prior commitments in simcoe teaching.

on Sunday adam hensen and my self attended the seminars lunch-in and annual awards banquet. this was especially great as my fighter won the award for "thai boxer of the year" this is an increadible accomplishment as he has only been fighting for 1.5 years and already he went the entire year undefeated and captured both the Ontario and national titles on his first attempts.

the best thing about teaching people about fitness and well being is seeing how much they improve in everything. the simplest thing for you or me is a mountain of accomplishment for them. for me the ultimate as a trainer is being able to transfer my knowledge as a championship fighter into a young fighter that takes it all the way to a championship! like they say a great athlete doesn't always make a great coach, I'm glad I'm not in that group!

until next time

hands up, shut up and fight.

another mountain to climb!

2009-05-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

ok here we go...

well, i guess word is getting out somewhere, somehow that i seem to have an idea on how to build champions. yesterday while relaxing at home(something i not really familiar with) my cell rang and i received a phone call from a young fighter that was interested in my help getting him ready for a match in late June. now i had seen this fighter fight before and saw he had some great talent but he needed a little work. so when he called me asking for my help with this next fight i was excited.

not only is his fight a rematch with the guy he already fought and beat, it will be for a title. i think that his opponent and his coach think that they have him figured out and will easly beat him this time, i had heard that his opponent had underestimated him the first time.

well this time they will have underestimated him again, as he has an "X" factor with him this time and i am going to enjoy plotting the path for his first title belt. last time it went the distance, this time it will end very badly for his opponent.

stay tuned as i update his fighting journey to the title.

until next time, stay fit and focused!

adam

quotes for me , you and them

2009-05-20T06:21:00.000-07:00

okay here we go....

it has been a few for one in awhile eh!

i thought i would write a few quotes that have helped me in either getting through a tough workout or in everyday life situations. take what you want from them....

"leave your excuses at the door, we're here to work"
"do what you have to, until you can do what you want to"
"very rarely hard work and loyalty are rewarded as much in return"
"it takes lifetimes to build citys and seconds to destroy them"
"hands up, shut up and fight"
"in the land of the blind, the man with one eye is king"

and my favorite one that seems to fit me in every situation is..."often outmaned, but never out gunned"

until next time,

hands up, chin down and keep on fighting!

seminars, a great learning tool

2009-04-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

ok here we go...

one of the best things about being a trainer is constantley trying to figure out new ways to motivate, invigorate and push my clients and fighters to new hights. besides reading up on the latest training trends i really like attending seminars on training for both my gym the phoenix fc thaiboxing gym and my everyday training spot all canadian fitness.

at all canadian fitness ernie is always geting us to try and learn new and interesting ways to make further progress with our clientel. this has helped me tremendously since i was a very "wet behind the ears" trainer when i started working with ernie almost 5 years ago! through ernie's involvement with fitness guru phil kaplan and j.c santana at the intitute of human preformance we have always felt like we were on the cutting edge of the fitness indusrty.

now in just 2 weeks we as a group will get the chance to spend a day with j.c santana at a fitness seminar in toronto learning more on body composition and sports preformance. this is an incredible way to experience fitness education at its best! i am very much looking forward to this rare opportunity to learn from one of the best.

in closing this blog entry, never stop learning, reading, researching in your quest to be the best for your clients and yourself.

hope j.c is ready for a lot of questions!

until next time, hands up chin down and keep pushin!

trimming up for spring/summer

2009-03-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

okay, here we go....

sring is here, st. patrick's day is over and that means the warm weather is fast approaching. this means more outdoor workouts, shorter clothes, which means more to show!

which brings us to a question my clients both fighters and fitness clients always ask. which type of excersise is the best for getting me in shape? i.e which excersises is going to get me the leanest as possible?!?

this is always a hard one as low intensity workouts like fast walking or moderate cardio is know as the best method of burning fat as fuel for excercise, however high intencity cadio will burn more calories overall in the same amount of time since weight loss is all about the calorie deficit. look at it this way, a 130 lbs woman can burn 100 calories from either walking or running 1 mile. if she runs the mile instead of walking it, she'll be able to burn those calories faster and in half the time!

remember guys, to lose 1 pound of fat from your body(not water loss through sweat) you will need to burn 3,500 calories! so over the course of your workout week you would need to burn roughly 500 calories each day. this is done best by decreasing food intake and increasing phisical excercise. so if you burn say aroung 250-300 calories through your chosen activity then you will need to cut out about 200-250 calories from your every day food consumption.

with alittle practise and some smart food label reading this becomes a fun little challenge and can open up a hole new area of fat loss when it seems you may be stuck. as it seems it always seems to come down to what we put in our tanks eh!

until next time, hands up, chin down and keep pushing forward!

note: most of the info for this blog was taken from a preveious article written in the magazine "FIGHT" and was researched by PR COLE// MS. RD candidate, columbia university

march break blues(or is it?)

2009-03-20T04:15:00.000-07:00

ok here we go....i think?

alright march break is here and that means if your a student you got some time off! if your a parent you got the house full of kids! some parents combine this with a family holiday. if you where me that meant dad was home for 2 weeks instead of 1(dad taught at a private school). and if your a trainer this means you proabably have a little unpaid time off!.

most of us work on a client by client basis which means the more clients we have the more income we generate. so when a holiday hit we trainers find a little lull in this department. this down time is a good time for us trainers to refuel, relax and recharge. this is the time when i start really putting my thoughts down as to whats the next steps for me to do with my programs and my clients.

so as a trainer in this industry don't look at this time as a negative, but look at it as a positive and roll, experiment and flow with some new ideas and protocals to be the best for your clients and your business.

until next time,

hard luck for my buddy's

2009-01-22T07:53:00.000-08:00

ok here we go....

as i write this i'm saddened because both of my great friends and mma fighters have had to pull out of their respected matches at the upcomming pay-per view event, AFFLICTION "BANNED".

for my friends mark "the machine" hominick and chris "the polish hammer" hordecki this is hard to take as both have prepared so very hard for this opportunity to shine on the world stage. i know all to well how hard fighters and athletes train and peak for events both big and small. this was undoutably a huge event to be a part of.

all i can say is, chins up boys. we'll get 'em next time.

love ,respect, and believe

adam

2008-12-08T06:04:00.000-08:00

OK here we go!

a quick one to get your week started. what to eat when you are going for a am workout.

try to eat something that is not to heavy and hard to digest, i.e try to avoid the pemeal beacon or steak and eggs before the workout. i like to have some instant oatmeal handy and some fresh fruit like blue berry's for the anti oxidants. if your in a hurry try blending a 1/2 cup skim milk, a hand full of berry's, some protein powder and a non fat yogurt cup and boom! you got a travelling breakfast. after the workout grab a banana to help in the recovery process.

remember: during the holiday season the average person can gain an average of around 11 lbs. so watch when and how much your eating avoid the office buffet parties!

until next time

train hard!

i'm too tired to work out!

2008-12-01T03:54:00.000-08:00

oh here we go!

a nice quick one to start work(out) week.

in this day in age of a busy , fast paced society people always seem to have the excuse "i just don't have time to workout". what i tell my clients is that the best time to work out is in the early morning. this is because as the workday goes on and life things pop up the chance for a session in the gym lessens. so what starts as a great idea initially turns to a very real possibility of not happening at all.

lets face it, i want to workout right after work but by the time i get home from the office(highway traffic on the QEW!), have something to eat, play with my kids(if you got them) and pack my kit for the gym it's prabably well after 7pm and i've been up since before the rooster! then i get to the gym and every other person has decided to go the gym at the same time as well! now i'm starting to make excuses in my head. i go over to the traedmill and damnit...someone is on it, oh well guess i'll try and get to that later!

as these obsticals continue to rise up on me i get less and less motivated to workout. my solution?

get up earlier and hit the gym in the morning! good god you think! is he crazy?? i have a hard enough time getting out of bed for work in the morning let alone workout. well i used to hate working out in the am but as i forced myself to get up it got easier and i actually felt better throughout the day. it was like my workout gave me a "charge" for the day! i felt my moods where better and by the end of a long day in the office i knew all i had to to was get in my car and go home to my family. my workout was already done and i could get home to a nice meal and some quality time with the family.

so if your missing your workouts because of long days at work try setting the alarm alittle earlier and getting that "am" workout in before the excuse machine starts running in your brain!

next time: what to eat when working out in the morning!

fall hill training

2008-10-22T05:07:00.000-07:00

well, here we go again!

my favorite time of the year....fall. to me this is the beginning of a new year. so to start this new year off i went and ran a hill in ancaster. now this hill is no ordinary hill, this hill is an absolute pig! it is situated in the back of the rotary centre in ancaster.

if you've never been to ancaster i suggest you try it for a walk, hike or a run. there are soooo, so many great trails and conservation areas. the area is beautifully scenic and especially with the leaves turning it really is something to experience.

anyways back to the hill...so i needed an arse kicking as i had gone to a friends wedding the night before and we all know how that goes! open bar, good people and lots of food. not great when you're trying to drop weight for a fight that's roaring ever closer. i think to my self what better way to kick it into gear than a good hill run?

hills are great for short or long bursts of lung shredding endurance, not to mention the workout on the thighs! I've always found that like the stairs hills mimic the same feeling i get from a hard pad session which all fighters need. seeing as i didn't have a pad holder that day i did the hills. this hill in particular is not paved which means it's lose gravel which can or can't be easy to move fast on. also it is almost straight up! much like a ski hill is. the hill itself takes me only about 1 1/2 to 2 Min's to complete but by the time I'm at the top my lungs are on fire! so after my lungs caught a little burn i ended up doing it about 4 times for an incredible fast and short cardio workout.

so next time you wanna shake it up alittle try some hill running. you don't have to run the hill i did but if you want a nice visual surrounding(if you got the time to gaze between mouth fulls of much needed air!) check out the ancaster scene for some hill training.

until next time.

hands up, chin down and keep on pushin!

cheers!

if at first you don't succeed...

2008-09-03T06:58:00.000-07:00

okay so here we go....

it's been about a month since the last entry and i think i left off with our very own elissa rubino getting ready for her very first fight in the muaythai ring.

this took place aug 9th and was the first of three fights for members of my phoenix fightclub to participate in. elissa fought in mississauga at the kombat arts training academy on a rainy saturday night. believe me this bundle of dynamite did not disappoint! after a slow first round start(getting a feeling for the crowd and enviroment) elissa exploded on her opponent closing the 3rd and final round out in fightclub fasion! in the 3rd round of a fight a fighter is usually just happy to make it to the final bell. elissa was ready for more rounds, a testament to her hard and rigorus training regime. elissa was to lose the fight to her opponent on this night but after looking at both fighters u'd have thought elissa was the winner. never had i seen a fighter so happy in the enviroment she had chosen to be in! it was sheer happines, not from the test she had just completed but the simple fact that she trained, she fought and she more than survived.

elissa is now started training for her next fight that will be in october either in oakville in a tournament formated match up or in kitchener at elements nightclub! either way you can believe she will be more than ready as she has already been improving on mistakes she felt she made in her first trip to the ring. as gher trainer i am very proad to have and continue to train elissa for her ventures into the combat ring.

lots say they want to be fighters, some train to try to be fighters, but unless you've said it , trained it , and done it your not a fighter!

coming up....

my posts of both my fight in winnipeg and my assisant instructor's fight in south africa!!!

until next time
hands up, chin down, and keep on training!

a smart choice

2008-07-10T08:49:00.001-07:00

okay here we go!!! its been about a month since the last entry and we are counting down the days now until all Canadian fitness's own elissa rubino makes her much anticipated muaythai boxing debut.

for those who don't know elissa, she has been training diligently since October of 2007 at the studio and at my own gym the phoenix fight club. when she first came to all Canadian fitness she was not sure what direction she was going to take. elissa had said she either wanted to pursue fitness bodybuilding or try her hand at thaiboxing as she had already had some previous training at a local mountain gym for kickboxing.

after a few sessions of each she made up her mind to try the fight avenue. i have trained alot of fighters and elissa is well on her way to making a successful debut(scheduled for aug 9th) elissa's training sees her at the studio at 7am sharp as she usually arrives early with coffee in hand for her trainer($1.28 buys alot of love!) and proceeds with 1/2 hour of conditioning drills and 1/2 hour of technical drills focusing on getting her ready for the fight ahead. elissa is at the studio 2 days a week and spends 1 day per week in Mississauga sparring and the other 2 days at the fight club with the rest of her team.

this is not an easy training regime for anyone but it is necessary for a person wanting to enter the fighting sport of thaiboxing. if your free on aug 9 travel on over to kombat arts training academy and check out elissa's fight or get exposed to an entirely different way to channel those aggressive tendencies!

until next time...hands up, chin down, and keep on pushin!

2008-07-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

better to do it early!

2008-06-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

all right here we go....

it's better to do it early. what am i talking about? well this morning i knew i needed to get my run in and i hate running but it's the best way i know how to drop weight at a safe pace.

so as i am driving in from the country i couldn't help notice how hot it was outside already. boy i thought this is going to be a hard one! now i got no problem running in any type of weather but i knew it would only get worse out and as the day wore on i would look for an excuse to not run. the hardest part about running is taking the first steps and once i get my heart rate up i'm off to the races. i kept in mind that if i do the run now it won't be as hot as it would be later and ....i would be done, finished and off for the day not worrying about when i can fit it in to my day later. now having said that i suited up and went out the door, braved the heat, did the stairs and gawked at some of hamilton's finest ladies running the stairs at the same time!

in closing i wanted to say: get up, get out and get moving early!!! because now...it's done and over with until the next one.

until next time
hands up, chin down, and keep on pushin!

a quick thankyou

2008-05-26T02:52:00.000-07:00

okay here we go....

i wanted to use this blog entry to quite simply thank all my clients that i work with or out with on a daily basis at ACF. you guys absolutely rock!! for alittle over 4 years i have been getting to the studio or your houses before the rooster is up and i got to tell you never once have i thought boy this is early! it's my clients that get me hear early, that start my week and keep me motivated to deliver you guys the results you need and deserve.

to be able to have the same clients for over 3 years says something about how you feel about me as a trainer. loyalty is something i hold very dear to me as i think in this day and age it is an almost dead trait. fasted pased society and the need for the "quick fix" all but rule our everyday lives.

in closing i want to say a very special thank you to some of my clients that have been with me for awhile. please if i didn't mention you in this don't take it personally i get hit in the head alot!

the runners group: what can i say about this group? you guys absolutely rock! i am blessed with 8 "mothers" that spoil me, worry about me, give me life advise and generally make me able to think on my toes for 2 hours out of the week every week. ladies i love you all!

lucio barcaroli: dude you are my confidant and i look foreword to every Thursday session with you. you share the same views of life i do and my sides hurt every time we finish a session together. keep up the great job buddy!

the boyd's, walter and christine: you guys truly epitomize hard work, the two of you have to be the best in shape couple here man! i put you two through workouts my fighters would cry at...and that's saying alot! i enjoy your support in everything that the two of you have done for me, my own gym and ACF.

well that's enough sucking up for now!

until next time....hands up, chin down, and keep on pushin!

coming up...the wild, wild west showdown in the cage!

something on the horizon....

2008-05-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

what is genesis....?
what is physical genesis....?
what will/can genesis do for you....?

wait and see.........the answer is coming soon!!!

hands up, chin down, and keep pushin!

hensen on a tear!!!

2008-05-14T05:16:00.000-07:00

okay here we go...again!

on Saturday may 10th adam hensen from the phoenix FC thaiboxing gym fought in his 3rd muaythai fight in oakville. hensen who is trained by yours truly exhibited technical brilliance through out the fight and owned his opponent from the opening bell. with powerfull kicks to the head, body and mostly the legs hensen backed up his opponent all night. hensen also showed how to have a good, long career in this sport as he showed throughout the fight his ability to not get hit as his defense was like trying to steal gold from fort knox!

many people say they want to be fighters but when it comes down to it fighters are created in the gyms where there is no cameras, people, friends or money. real fighters train for the "battle" for the sheer enjoyment of combat, thats it, if your in it for fame ,fortune, popularity, try another sport.

having said that people ask me what i train or what i do. quite simply put...i train fighters. how to fight,for fights. weather my fighters have 1 fight or 100 fights i treat everyone of them the same. some just show more and they are the ones that will go the furthest and the ones that are the funnest to train!

ahh! a warriors life there's nothing quite like it!

until next time, hands up, chin down and keep pushing forward!

why train.......?

2008-05-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

why do we train...? hmmm. quite simply because it is good for us!

changin it up

2008-04-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

ok here we go....and boy has it been awhile eh!! so do to both my nack for forgetting everything not written down and the constant asking for an entry by my boss man i finally remembered my account info.

so i decided to talk about something that actually came to me this morning while working out with one of my most dedicated clients. she had made mention that she had thought that during our last series or stage of workouts in which we were building more strength, she would have been more stronger during our new program which we started today. she couldn't understand why the workout was so difficult today when she had just finished her "strength phase". i had explained to hear that i had changed things up! meaning i sent her body through a totally different set of stimuli to shock and shake up her body.

as human beings we have an incredible ability to "adapt to change". our body's can be called upon to adapt to heat changes, life changes, workout changes. when we work out, our bodies will eventually stop seeing gains if we constantly go through the same routine so we at all canadian fitness belive that phase training is the key to our clients success.

so instead of seeing our clients get stale and bored we change it up! this guarantees that we get them the best results and the continued motivation that keps them wanting to better their lifestyle choices.

until next time....

boy its been awhile eh!!

2008-02-04T06:52:00.000-08:00

well just like my title says...it's been awhile and a lot has happened. i would have reported it sooner but stupid me forgot my password! thank god i never throw anything away and i found it just today.

so, okay here we go...

on december 23 i fought in japan again this time in osaka on a much smaller shootboxing card but no less exciting. my opponent was the new 154 lbs champ kokuchi kokichi(spelling) the fight went the distance which surprised us as i didn't think i would be able to last past three as i had to cut 28 lbs!!! i was more tired the last time i was in Tokyo. needless to say i lacked the usual pop in my punches but felt in my heart and most that have seen the fight since felt i should have won, but hey if you don't knock them out in their home country you always take the chance when it goes to the judges. my hat goes off to the shootboxing organization as they again treated me with the up most respect. shootboxing #1!!!!!

congrats to my brother kevin who has just won the brampton cup in amateur boxing and has moved himself to 10-0 now. way to go little brother!!! he fights again this weekend in hamilton at the hamilton place theater. i will be in toronto as one of my fighters adam hensen makes his thai boxing debut at the royal thai ambassadors cup. this is the second year in a row i am taking a fighter from my gym to compete in this event.

finally if you have time check out my gym's website www.phoenixfightclub.com

more to come.....

love, respect and believe

3

a few short jabs!!

2007-10-09T03:13:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-24T05:31:00.000-07:00

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!!

2007-09-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-08-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

king kong beats down godzilla!

2007-08-13T05:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

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