Last Day of Training

  So Mehdi’s last day of training was yesterday and this time he trained boxing with Perry.  Mehdi worked through 12 rounds, 3 minutes in length with a 1 minute rest.  Great stuff!  Perry is one of those old school boxers with great stories.  To me he is “Uncle Perry”!  Back when he used to do boxing, you shadow boxed, to perfect your technique for 2 months before you hit anything.  Wow!  Imagine the patience you needed for that.  I attached some piks of old boxing posters around Mehdi’s school, because I thought they would be cool and motivational.

We finished off today’s training by feasting at Earl’s restaurant and finishing off the meal with Gingerbread cake!  Man I am going to have to train when I get back; I’ve gained 3 lbs from all this eating!

Josip and I than went back and finally after a marathon of XBOX, we finished Call of Duty 5!  Man, what a great game J .  I than got 2 hrs sleep, rushed to the airport to leave BC, 8.00 AM their time, got back at the gym to conduct a Thai boxing test, and now I am home.  I am thankful for Mehdi, Josip, Barb and the rest of the KB-1 family for being generous with their hospitality, and I am also glad to be home with my wife , friends and Kombat family! Jd

Day #4 of Mehdi’s Training

Day 4.  Man is my shoulders and elbows feeling it!  Got in today, later in the day and Mehdi decided to do a light day. Mehdi is close to his match (Dec 4) and is still trying to organize his flights to Thailand, due to their internal chaotic state.  So we settled on 5 rounds, 3 minutes in length with a 45 sec/1 minute rest of boxing and elbows on focus pads.  It was a nice easy workout (for both of us )  Mehdi looks more than ready, and we hope that he makes it for his Thai boxing match. Also tonight Mehdi was featured on CTV, locally for Vancouver.  So if anyone finds this clip, please let me know.   I will be leaving here Friday morning, so I hope to see some of you Friday afternoon/night-Jd

Day #3 of Mehdi’s Muay Thai Training

Ok we are moving along to day 3 of hanging with Mehdi and helping him with his training.  We rested all day and made our way to the club around 5 PM.  Mehdi was already there, with a good sweat on after working the wall bags for awhile.  He and I then proceeded into the ring for 5 rounds, 3 minutes with a 45 second/1 minute break of good Muay Thai pad work.

Than my buddy Josip jumped in to do 4 rounds, 3 minutes with a 45 second/1 minute break of sparring / crossfighting.

Mehdi looked really sharp and we finished off relaxing, stretching and discussing some clinch strategy.  It felt great to help out Mehdi.  He is definitely going to kick ass!  As the night proceeded we learned of some pretty disconcerting news.  Apparently Thailand is going through some dramatic political turmoil which in turn is making the whole country chaotic and unsafe.  This will affect whether Mehdi fights in Thailand.  Read here to get an idea of what is going on.  This truly sucks and we are hoping that things work out well so that Mehdi can claim his championship belt! Jd

Great Muay Thai Gear @ Kombat Arts Mississauga

      I got some new Muay Thai stuff from KB-1 for you guys.  First off we got some nice heavy skipping ropes.  Skipping is great to work conditioning, footwork and timing, and with these new heavy ropes you can now work your shoulders and forearms, conditioning them to tolerate more lactic acid.  We also got some nice anklets, for that extra ankle support and of course we got some nice “sexy” Thai shorts (the International K-1 style!)  They should be at Kombat by this Friday.  Please visit our proshop when you get a chance-Jd

Day #2 of Mehdi’s Thai Boxing Training

Ok, so we tried to kill Mehdi on Day #1, and somehow he survived.  So today for all of our sakes we had an easy day of light stretching and some basic conditioning stuff.  It was also PR day, with Shaw, a local TV station coming by to interview Mehdi for his upcoming Muay Thai championship match in Thailand.  A couple of hours later CTV dropped by to interview Mehdi and watch as I held pads for him.  He will be showcased on CTV, BC time zone (Google it) Wednesday night, 6 and 11 PM.  You may get to watch Mehdi kick me all over the gym.

  Filming can be gruelling (I guess that’s why all the actors get paid a lot) so Josip and I went to eat.  We than came back to KB-1 because Josip had to teach the BJJ class.  Afterwards we grappled, which felt really good, considering my rotator cuff / popped rib / tennis elbow injury.  But I had to burn off the apple pie that I had the night before at my restaurant, Joey’s.  Just joking, I wish it was my restaurant, it had some good eats.  Tomorrow we train Mehdi for a hard session   Jd

Muay Thai Workshop Nov 29!

  Kru Salem Assli will be holding a workshop this Saturday November 29, 11.00 AM to 1.00 PM.  Kru Salem is an instructor under Ajarn Chai Sirisute.  The cost is only $20.00!  Please register at the front counter.  This is a great opportunity to gain a lot of knowledge, in a couple of hours for a great price!  This workshop is open to beginners and advanced students.  This video shows the kind of stuff you will learn (demonstrated by Scott Elliot, another instructor under Ajarn Chai)-Jd

 

Kru Mehdi Preparing for His 3rd Muay Thai Championship Belt!

Hey guys,

 I will be gone this week to help my Kru, Mehdi Pouroskoui at his club in Vancouver prepare for his upcoming championship bout.  Mehdi is the #1 contender for the World Professional Muay Thai Federation champion belt, and will be fighting mid-December in Thailand.  I flew in on Friday night, and hanged with my good buddy Josip Juros.  We prepped ourselves on Saturday for the hard upcoming week of pad holding, crossfighting and sparring by playing Call of Duty 5

After a grueling day of XBOX, Josip and I finalized the day with the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace

Ok we finally got to some good training on Sunday.  I held pads for Mehdi and he was on the ball!  He easily went through 5 rounds, 3 minutes each with a 45 second break.  Than after Mehdi sparred 5 rounds, 4 minutes each with a 45 second break, with fresh partners!  His Muay Thai still looked really good after all of those rounds.

  We finalzied the training session with some Persian food; you know me, I like to eat!  That’s it for today, I will let you guys know what Monday is like-Jd

Congrats Mississauga BJJ Athletes!

Congratulations to our BJJ Team who recently competed in the Joslin’s BJJ Tournament.  It was awesome to see beginners and seniors back on the mat, even though some of them were injured.  The team did very well, bringing home a couple of medals and war stories!  Thanks to Scott Lewis and Frank Marques for building a great team!  Jd

Improve Your Muay Thai Kicking Combos

  If you need help putting together some kicking combos for Muay Thai (Thai boxing), here are a few to help you out.  If you have any questions, please ask myself or any of the seniors-Jd

 

1. Right roundhouse kick
2. Left roundhouse kick from the rear
3. Left roundhouse kick off the lead leg
4. Right push kick
5. Left push kick from the rear
6. Left push kick off the lead leg
7. Left push kick, any kick (left or right)
8. Right push kick, any kick (left or right)
9. Left roundhouse kick, any kick (left or right)
10. Right roundhouse kick, any kick (left or right)
11. Left shield, any kick (left or right)
12. Right shield, any kick (left or right)
13. Left push kick, left shield, any kick (left or right)
14. Left push kick, right shield, any kick (left or right)
15. Right push kick, left shield, any kick (left or right)
16. Right push kick, right shield, any kick (left or right)
17. Left roundhouse kick, left shield, any kick (left or right)
18. Left roundhouse kick, right shield, any kick (left or right)
19. Right roundhouse kick, left shield, any kick (left or right)
20. Right roundhouse kick, right shield, any kick (left or right)

Professor Salem Assli

Professor Salem Assli will be back at the Kombat Arts to hold a 2 day seminar on Nov 29 and the 30 on Muay Thai (Thai boxing), Jeet Kune Do, Savate and Kali.  This is a great opportunity to train with an expert in so many different martial arts.  His bio is too long to get into but in short he is an instructor at the famous Inosanto Academy.  He is certified to teach Jeet Kune Do under Sifu Dan Inosanto, Savate and Kali. He is also certified in Muay Thai (Thai boxing) under Ajarn Sirisute Chai, founder of the Thai Boxing Association of the USA.  The early registration price has been extended to Nov 22 (because there was a delay in getting this poster edited).  I will post videos shortly of this great instructor and of his instructors-Jd