Hot Heat, Hot Fights and Hot Food

Today was HOT!  It was hot enough to respect the heat, but pleasant enough to appreciate the other options: cold rain back in BC where I am building an Ark.  Today I got up late.  Needed the rest and I was ONE big sore muscle.  I started off the day with some quick meditation, breakfast and then I was off to the Channel 7 Studios.  Every Sunday the channel 7 studio shows fights.  Thanks Pak for getting us in!  There were 6 fights and all of them were good.  I have recorded a couple of rounds here and there.  Please be patient as the internet connection here sucks and it takes me awhile to upload.  Please watch them.  I risked life and limb to get them to you; if I don’t make it out, please tell my story.

There were some rounds were all they did was elbow and knee each other.  And when a kick landed it was clearly audible to the whole crowd.  The crowd itself was a spectacle, with betting and cheering going on, it was like a scene from Bloodsport.

After the fights, we went off to eat and hit some weights.  After all of that we hooked up with Cartoon, a good friend of Mehdi’s.  Cartoon produces some pretty awesome Thai shorts.  Her second specialty is finding us the best places to eat.  When I met Cartoon 2 years ago we had the BEST sea food ever.  Tonight we were not disappointed.  She just kept feeding me!  This is one of those rare times were I had to say “no more.”  I was so stuffed.  But in all sincerity it was really good sea food.

After that awesome meal I dragged myself back home.  It was approximately 10.30 PM; time for a traditional Thai massage.  I spent 300 baht for an hour and a half massage.  This is approximately $10 Canadian.  A Thai massage is like MMA, Thai boxing and a massage mixed together!!  No seriously, these little Thai women use their whole body (elbows, knees etc) to find every trigger point in your body.  I came so close to tapping out.  I wish I brought my mouthpiece with me.  It was mind boggling how strong they can be.  I forgot how much I love / hate Thai massages.  So now I sit here back in my apartment at 1.00 AM, Monday morning, drinking Singha, typing this blog, while the rest of my team watches soccer on my TV.  Have a great day Kombat Arts!!! Jd

I Want to Be a Ninja

Today was a day to get used to everything again in Thailand.  I was totally lethargic today.  The day started off with some miscellaneous errands here and there.  The highlight of the day was the night time training.  There is something really cool about training outside in the night.  This set the mood for our movie: Ninja Assassin!

Ok off to Center World to watch Ninja Assassin.  Man it was good to see a movie on traditional martial arts.  The Thai’s have it right when it comes to their movies.  First of all you have to select your seating; you can’t just sit anywhere.  And in our case, we got a couple of reclining coaches.  Luxury!

Afterwards we went back to Patpong for the guys to do more shopping.  I found myself really dozing off and I can tell you I was SO HAPPY to find my bed at the end of the night.  Tomorrow we go watch some fights! Jd

In Thailand!

Ok, I’ve finally made it here!  It took us awhile, but when we landed we found Pak (he coordinates Mehdi’s training in Thailand) and we were whisked away to our accommodations.  Before we got there though, we had to stop off at another hotel and grab Fred, one of Mehdi’s students on the way.  We are staying at the President Park Ebony Wing.  I attached a video showing my room:

After getting situated in our rooms we HAD to eat.  Mehdi wanted a chicken sandwich.  So we have travelled all this distance to eat chicken sandwiches!  That’s ok, we will have traditional Thai food tonight.  After we ate we went to check out the new site of Pak’s new training camp which was next door.  It’s pretty exciting to see the camp start from bare bones.

We wanted to work out tonight, but we needed pads, so we decided to go to Lumpini stadium to do some shopping for gear.  In order to beat the traffic Mehdi suggested that we hire motorcycle drivers.  I was a little skeptical of the safety factor, but it was an awesome drive!  There is nothing more exhilarating than speeding along the highway precariously between vehicles.  There were times when my legs almost scrapped against the sides of idling vehicles!  Shopping for gear was a blast and we eventually made our way back to camp.

Back at the camp we started Mehdi’s training.  We are the 1^st guys to work out at the camp.  Mehdi did 10 rounds of 3 minutes, with 1 min rest.  Pak was on hand to guide the training.  That was pretty cool.   I learned a lot from Pak in the few hours we were there.  Check it out here:

While we were training we drew a large crowd.  It felt neat to train outside with spectators.  Eventually some other fighters showed up, and soon we had good energy as the athletes banged away on pads and on each other.

A quick shower after the training and then we took the train to Center World for an actual Thai dinner.  From there we jumped into a cab and made our way to the Patpong Bazaar.  Here we continued with more shopping and browsing.  We are going to finish our day by going back to the airport to pick up Ramin, one of my students and a good friend of Mehdi’s.  Tomorrow we have to do more training, shop, watch movies and get an adapter for Mehdi’s XBOX.  He actually packed his XBOX in his carry on!  Mehdi and I have got about 6 to 8 hours sleep in the last 40 hours!  It is time to sleep-Jd

Oops

Ok I made a little mistake.  I will elaborate on this later on.  My day started off with my 3^rd private lesson in Power Yoga with Lori.  It was AWESOME!  Not only did I do the usual Sun Salutations, I also got introduced to some really cool standing poses and some hand stand poses.  Handstand stuff, neato!  Again thanks Lori for the great experience.  I am definitely going to check out this Power Yoga stuff when I get back home.  Namasta Lori.  Again good luck to you, your husband and your baby!

After this I made my way to the academy to give Mehdi a hand with his training.  Mehdi had already completed 15 rounds of boxing with Perry when Josip and I got there.  I held Thai pads for Mehdi for 5 three minute rounds.  Again Mehdi was on the ball!  This is going to be a great fight.  Then I held some pads for Josip.  Josip man you look sharp!  We finished off with some bag work and some plyo ab work.

I was talking to Mehdi about our flight arrangements to Thailand and he made me realize my MISTAKE.  I thought I was leaving Thursday midnight; nope BIG mistake.  I was leaving Wed midnight; tonight.  LOL.

I rushed off to cram some Persian food down my throat, get home, do 2 loads of laundry, pack my gear in the suitcase (I did an AMAZING JOB!), packed my amazing Maxpedition sling bag, with the Jack Bauer patch, handled banking and credit card authorizations, bribed my cab driver to speed to the airport, and I MADE IT!  I did 24 hours worth of crap, in about 3 hours.  Not bad.

Mehdi just shook his head as we checked in.  This was my 1^st time flying with Eva Airlines.  This is a Taiwanese Airline (Hector and Ivano you have to come).  I actually felt pretty tall.  I was actually taller than quite a few of the passengers.  Sitting in the Deluxe section, I was treated to huge chairs, that reclined like Lazy Boy chairs, complete with foot rests, an actual glass for my wine, an actual cup for my coffee and a remote for my TV!  Heaven!  Got to kill 12 hours on this flight, so I am going to watch the Ugly Truth, Up! and Ghajini, a really awesome 3 hour love story with action (this will be the 2^nd time I have watched this good foreign film).

I did not get to say a proper “good bye” to my bro Josip.  I hope you read this guy.  Again thanks my friend for putting me up at your house, showing me a good time, eating and drinking with me (I know you gained a lot of weight because of me) and for helping me out in a lot of immeasurable intangible ways.  You’re a great friend and brother to me Josip, again thanks.

The second leg of my journey has begun.  I’m off to Thailand guys to help Mehdi as he prepares to defend his championship belt.  I’ll be back soon guys, have a good one for me-Jd

PS.  Quick update: I’ve stopped off in Taipai, Taiwan.  ALL IS GOOD

Congrats to Savate and JKD Graduates

About a weekend ago we had Professor Salem Assli come and do a 2 day seminar on silat, JKD, savate and kali.  I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the following for passing their tests in either JKD or savate.  Great work guys! Jd

Martin Duncan – JKD White and Green Ying Yang

Anthony Colli – White Glove

Andre Maitland – White Glove

Calvin Millar – White Glove

Barry Lee – Red Glove

Neal Hoyte – Red Glove

Matthew Mejias – Green Glove

Waldek Rak – Green Glove

Maja Zonjic – Green Glove

Roberto Mastromarini also successfully tested for first level instructorship (Savate)

Again great work guys!!! Jd

Union

The word “Yoga” is said to stem from Sanskrit and it can mean union or  discipline.  Some have interpreted the word to mean a union of the body, mind and soul.  I can tell you that I definitely did not have that union yesterday  morning.  I had my 1st private lesson with Lori in Yoga.  Lori owns her own studio called Yatra Yoga.  A couple of things:

First of all Lori is an awesome instructor and made me feel real comfortable.  Her instruction was clear, articulate and filled with passion.  The good stuff that I look for in my instructors.  I would recommend her for Yoga training if you’re in Burnaby, BC area.  She also teaches out of the Gold’s Gym in the area, but I found the studio more to my liking.  She was very “gentle” with me for my first time and I found myself really enjoying the postures and the breathing exercises.  Yoga definitely stretched me out and challenged my strength; I even got a fairly good sweat going on.  Another thing that I found astounding was her breathing.  We take breathing for granted, and quite frankly we do it wrong.  I was amazed how deeply she breathed in and out; like I mean the room vibrated with her energy.  I felt like I was wheezing in comparison to her.  She also moved very well into each posture, matching each inhale and exhale with a positional change.  One thing that she said that struck me was “let your breathe move you.”  I will definitely have to contemplate this.  All in all it was a good experience and I will be training with her for the rest of the week.  I can also say  that by the end of the session I was a little closer to this coveted union    Namaste Lori

Afterwards  I chilled out at this 20 year old cafe with these old Italian dudes as I made my way through Sakyong Mipham’s Ruling Your World, another great book.  I must say I was distracted by the old guys, so I left them to their own devices and made my way to KB1 for training camp.

Mehdi was busy, so I busied myself with 9 two minute rounds with 1 min breaks on various heavy bags.  Afterwards I did a fight simulation with Mehdi, holding for 5 three minute rounds.  The last round was murder!  I was feeling it, and at times I was going to call it quits!  Afterwards I went back to work a drill on the bag that Mehdi gave me; for 6 three minute rounds with 30 sec breaks   Mehdi continued to spar a bit.   Here is a short video clip of Mehdi finishing a 9 minute round with Semmy Schilt’s little brother!

I got an opportunity to hang around with Perry and watch a bit.  Perry is Mehdi’s boxing coach.  I love hanging around for “story” time with Perry.  He is one of those olde school coaches, with a lot of charisma and wisdom that I hope to attain as a coach one day.

I finished my workout with a Tabata protocol on a Concept 2 Rower, using my Gym Boss to help me through.

The evening was done with Josip and I going off to Brown’s for Kobe burgers and yam fries.  Need that weight!!!  Tomorrow is more hell at the camp.  Be good guys-Jd

Piks from St. Catherines Thai Boxing Show

Here are some piks of our athletes and team that recently competed in St. Catherines at an event hosted by Muay Thai Niagara.  Again congrats Team Kombat! Thxs Rohan for the piks.  Jd

Random Thai Boxing Matches

I’m going to post some random Thai boxing and K1 style matches that I filmed from Austria.  These matches have no real significance to me, I just filmed them to further my education and also my students’ education.  Observe the pace and footwork.  Pretty good stuff.  Enjoy!  Jd

The Day After

Boy the day after can be rough.  The boys really did a good job with their wins yesterday so as they were partying it up in TO, I decided to do the same in Vancouver.

Our evening consisted at dining at my friend’s restaurant Azia.  If you love Asian Fusion food, you gotta come here.  It’s got tapas, Thai, Chinese, Malaysian, Mongolian and Japanese theme dishes.  A lot of the staff are Asian, so Ivano and Hector, jump on a plane!

Afterwards we hit the theaters to see 2012.  Awesome effects in this movie.  However with all of the rain we’ve been getting in Vancouver, you would think 2012 is already upon us!

The night concluded with more eating at Moxies and at the fully licensed Cafe Crepe!

Next morning I woke up with a purpose to hit the gym in an effort to reverse the damage I had caused.  As my student Julian likes to state “if you do the crime, you must do the time.”  Man I know that statement very well!

Before I had a chance to hit the gym, I got a call from Rob Kaman!  You will be very glad to hear that Rob is his usual charismatic destructive self.  He says “hi” to all of the Kombat boys and girls.

I jumped on the SkyTrain and made my way to the Gold’s Gym.  Boy it’s been a long time since I’ve been in a gym.  We actually started off Kombat Arts in the aerobics studio (just 2500 sq ft!) of a Gold’s Gym.  Boy I miss those days, and at times a small part of me wishes to be back there.  The good news is that I weighed  in at 147 lbs this morning!  Must be the facial hair!

It was great to be totally anonymous and get in about 1 1/2 hours of hard work.  My workout consisted of: skipping rope, shadowboxing, chin ups, dips, snatches into a split squat, military push presses, 1 legged stiff legged deadlifts, japanese squats, plate twists, more core training, Ys and Ts for the mid back and finally neck training.  Whew, not bad eh?

I finished up and made my way to Extreme Pita were I chilled and read more of Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now.  It’s pretty interesting; if you’ve completed the whole book, please let me know your thoughts on it.

Back at home Josip’s brother entertained us for an hour or so by bringing over his German Shepherd puppies.  They are such little terrors!

After getting nipped everywhere, Josip and I escaped our residence and headed to Earls for dinner.  The night got capped off with the movie, The Blind Side.  The movie was really moving and inspirational.  If you get a chance please check it out.  Ok guys, off to chill out by watching Heroes on my net book.  Tomorrow will be a full day of Yoga (my 1st lesson!) and back to training camp-Jd

Congrats Mississauga Thai Boxing Athletes!!!

Congrats to my boys Lee and Jacques for winning their Thai boxing matches this weekend!  The event was hosted by Muay Thai Niagara and was attended by a lot of various Thai boxing schools.  Also congrats to our friends from Renegade Muay Thai.  Kru Eddie’s athlete did a very good job winning his match by split decision.

Jacques won his match by unanimous decision.  From what I was able to glean from all of the texts that I got, he kept getting better and better each round.  Lee gave his opponent 2 standing eight counts in the 1st round.  In the 2nd round Lee put a closure on it with a KO!  Awesome work guys!!!  You should have seen me jumping around the theater with joy!

Also thanks and congrats to all of the coaches that helped out.  Sly, Dave, Roberto, Sean and Ivano.   Like I stated before there is a lot of work that goes into the development of these athletes.  I would also like to give a heartfelt thanks to all of the Kombat students that went to support our athletes and school.

I am very proud of how all of you guys have been conducting yourselves lately.  I know that I have not really had my head screwed on right as I muddle through my life, but it is comforting to know that you guys can take care of business with or without me.  Again, the word PROUD, does not clearly define how I feel.  Thanks for win, it has made me feel a lot better.  Love you guys, be good!!! Jd