HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

May all your dreams and efforts come true for 2010.

Train hard and stay safe!

"Concentrate upon and consecrate yourself wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging in your hair!" Anonymous Samurai

STRONG!

“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. Strength Coach Mark Rippletoe

CAVEMAN VS MODERN MAN

Thanks to CROSSFIT Football for this interesting link:

Caveman vs Modern Man - Who Would Win Olympic Gold?

Just finished reading a great book called 'Born To Run' by Christopher McDougall.

It's a good read that includes real life adventure but also an in-depth look into the lost art of running.

If you run as part of your fitness programme then recommend that you do an internet search for 'Vibram Fivefingers', Barefoot Running' and 'Pose Running'.

It will enable you to run with far less injuries and develop a more efficient technique. Get rid of the trainers!!

Enjoy!

RANGE ROVER

Another good Personal Defence Readiness training session at last

night's class. Well done guys!

We warmed up with some reps of the 'Close Quarter Form' (used for developing close quarter tools) solo and with a Bad Guy. Then basic SPEAR Strengthening Drills to develop the conversion of the Startle-Flinch response when ambushed. We then focused on a brilliant drill called 'Range Rover' which helps create useful Mental Blueprints for selecting effective tactics in various ranges of combat. The twist in this drill is that the Bad Guy controls the range, not the Good Guy!! Finished off with a BMF (Ballistic MicroFight), replicating the Big Bang moment of an ambush, surprise attack. The Scenario chosen was to approach, make contact and deal with a seated person who needed to be removed from the chair. The Bad Guy ambushed at whatever point in time he chose. The Good Guy had to weather the ambush and counter to enable disengagement. Some wore High Gear and some without.

Everyone is progressing well. Keep up the good work!

L.A.R.D. DRILLS

Welcome to the new guys at the PDR Class last night. Good work, keep it going!

Last night we did some L.A.R.D. Drills (Live Action Response Drill), where we used a 'Primary Initiation Attack' and inserted it into different scenarios. This was to address decision-making and use-of-force options, therefore training not just the attack-specific but also the scenario specific aspect. The Scenario dictates the response!

Good to see Miles Key from CrossFit Hove get stuck in too (pictured driving a knee into Max)!

S.P.E.A.R. COURSE AT CROSSFIT HOVE

Well done to everyone that attended the PDR/S.P.E.A.R. Course last weekend! Fantastic!

It was very enjoyable working with such a motivated and fun group of people. Your level of functional fitness certainly showed and allowed you to pick up the drills and skills very quickly.

S.P.E.A.R. founder Tony Blauer often talks about the relationship between CrossFit and S.P.E.A.R. and was caught on camera in a fairly recent video posted on the CrossFit website. It has always been very obvious for me personally (Tony got me hooked on CrossFit in 2006) but to see a whole group of mostly 'crossfitters' in the same room doing the SPEAR drills, it was very cool! Seeing how functional fitness transfers and supports functional fighting!

As Coach Glassman says, we train in the gym to support the demands of life. In life to thrive and survive we need a level of functional fitness, the ability to swim and of course the ability to protect ourselves and loved ones! Fundamental life enhancers!

What Coach Greg Glassman is to the fitness industry Coach Tony Blauer is to the Self Defence community. Both amazing pioneers!

A big thank you to Miles Key for hosting the course and also to Masa for the photos and to my assistant instructors Karl and Max.

Be Safe, Feel Safe.

CROSSFIT INTRO COURSE

It was great to work alongside Miles Key at his 'box' - CrossFit Hove last weekend. The 'CrossFit Intro Course' is designed to share the basic concept and rationale behind the CrossFit.com workouts but more importantly coach people through the basic functional movements used in those workouts, such as the deadlift, squat, press, kipping pull up, etc.

Everybody that attended did a fantastic job, worked hard and made vast improvements in their skill sets.

If you have an interest in functional fitness then check out www.crossfit.com, it's certainly the way forward for fitness that transfers to everyday life whether you are an elite soldier or a grandparent. Seek out a certified CrossFit coach, so that you are learning the correct mechanics of movement, get consistent at them and then you are able to safely add the intensity that CrossFit is so well known for.

Miles Key has a fabulous set up in Hove with all the equipment and coaching that you'll need... thoroughly recommended! CrossFit Hove

Watch this space for more CrossFit Intro Courses coming soon!