Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Resilience- a week of defense



Just a shot of the lunch hour class on a hot summer day from this week...playing an end of class game/drill to help reinforce the skills learned.

We worked on defending against straight punches and launching a strong counter. It was all about having the confidence to stand your ground, not fearing the attack, for in your heart you know you have the answer.

We want to train, both physically and mentally, a culture of resilience. Every push up, punch, squat, knee etc etc should be done with the intention of going further than you have ever gone before.


No Regrets



Friday, July 22, 2016

"Following Your Path in the Male Dominated Sport, Muay Thai"



An interesting, well written and powerful read. Roxy Richardson, the head trainer of Function 5 Fitness Muay Thai in Los Angeles and friend of our own Kru Jenypher Lanthier, writes about the struggle to become who she was meant to be.

There are more obstacles to being a female Muay Thai trainer than meets the eye, and anyone who is struggling to pursue their passion should definitely read about Roxy's journey.

Full article here: http://www.muay-thai-guy.com/choosing-to-follow-your-path-in-the-male-dominated-sport-muay-thai.html


Sunday, July 17, 2016

Conquer



Victory is won before the battle is even fought -Sun Tzu

Before game day, a fighter must overcome their own demons. They must become practiced at soldiering on in training, day in and day out, rather than finding reasons to quit. When the day of battle finally arrives, they cannot be broken. Their will has been sharpened into a force that is programmed to overcome any obstacle.

Conquer yourself. Conquer the ring. Conquer everything beyond it.


YMT at Elora Gorge




Homecoming Fight Night Results



YMT went 1-1 on Friday July 19th at Back Forward Kick Productions "Homecoming" Fight Night.


Melissa stepped up to fight the toughest girl in the 112 lbs C class bracket, and fought valiantly. After 3 rounds of action she walked away with a decision loss, but a valuable experience. You can't hit this girl with anything that'll break her will!







PC Jack fought a close 3 round war in his first A class sanctioned fight. We believe his ring generalship and "never take one for free" attitude edged the tight battle in his favour. However, credit must be given to his opponent, who showed a ton of skill and grit, making the bout a very tense and exciting one.





What impressed us about both of our fighters was how they handled themselves as the fights progressed. Rather than fading or showing weakness, they carried themselves stronger towards the end. It's a testament to their heart and dedication, especially when facing opponents who were such strong matches for them.

We would also like to say how proud we are of PC Mike "Science Guy" Reid, who promoted the show. He showed true professionalism and care toward the athletes, and did his best to provide a safe and fair environment for all teams.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Student of the Month (June 2016): Laura





PCP's Movie Pick of the Month for July: Bloodsport (1988)

 A genuine martial arts classic with a valuable lesson for you this month. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out on some brilliant story-telling and performances.

Bloodsport (1988)

 "I aint your pal, Dickface." - Ray Jackson.





 For those of you who aren't already familiar, Bloodsport, directed by Newt Arnold, tells the apparently true story of an underground martial arts competition called the Kumite that apparently happened in Japan in the 1980s. The competition was so underground that no actual video of it exists, despite it occurring in a time when video recorders were readily available. It was that secret. Thus, Bloodsport remains the definitive portrayal of the Kumite and our only record of the remarkable events that occurred over the course of a week in the 80s.

True martial focus.
 The hero of our story is Paco, portrayed by Paulo Tocha, a Muay Thai fighter from South Africa. Paco is a very skilled, technical fighter with a ring IQ and skill far greater than many of the other competitors at the Kumite. He takes a pragmatic, brutal approach to his matches, utilizing all 8 weapons of Muay Thai, viciously attacking the legs and body, systematically wearing his opponents down before inevitably winning his matches by knockout. However, like all great heroes, Paco suffers from one serious character flaw, which eventually leads to his own undoing. That flaw is his pride.


 It's an interesting directorial choice on Arnold Newt's part to spend so much of the movie developing its secondary characters. It speaks to his maturity as a filmmaker that he would spend an inordinate amount of time developing the character of Frank Dux, the villain of this story portrayed by relatively unknown martial artist named Claude Valjean, so that the viewer knows what is on the line for both characters when they inevitably face off in the film's climax. Dux, although clearly not as skilled as Paco, possessed a significant size advantage, made possible by the fact that the Kumite clearly lacked weight classes. Paco, who had enjoyed the power advantage over his previous opponents in the tournament, allowed his pride to co-opt his strategy. Rather than evaluating the situation and taking a more pragmatic, elusive approach, he instead opted to stand and trade with a much larger opponent. Unwilling to give an inch, and displaying great heart, Paco put up a strong performance but alas was unable to deal with the size difference. Dux was able to barely eek out the win, leaving Paco with the Bronze medal, a quite respectable accomplishment in an open-weight, open-skill tournament bracket with nearly 40 fighters from around the world. From there, Dux is shown going on to win the finals of the tournament against returning champion Chong Li, neither of whom display a level of skill on par with Paco, indicating that he could potentially win in the next tournament as long as he rededicated himself to his training and reflected on his humility.

There's a reason weight classes exist.

The main lesson to be drawn from Paco's story in Bloodsport and applied to Muay Thai is this: the result of a fight is not always the best indication of the quality of the fight and the effort that went in to getting that far. You can lose a fight and still be more impressive that the winner. The result of a given fight doesn't change the path that you took to get there. It doesn't change the earlier fights in the tournament, or how hard you went in your training camp. You can do the bare minimum requirements to fight in the gym, doing just enough to get by and then go on to win your fight. Likewise you can give 150% in the gym every day and still come up short. There's no karma in combat sports. You win some and you lose some, this is true of many things. That being said, at the end of the day, I will be more impressed with the latter fighter.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Jack and Melissa fighting on "Homecoming": July 15th!






Don't miss July 15th!  PC Jack vs Warrior Muay Thai's Usman Sadar heads up the card, and Melissa steps up for a battle in the undercard!

Both of our fighters have tough match ups, and have been preparing hard.....So we're expecting some fireworks! Let's get the team out to cheer our fighters on!

#noeasyfights #noexcuses  #riseup

Get your tickets at Backforwardkick.com !!

Info: click here


Friday, July 1, 2016

Canada Long Weekend Hours:



Writing on the Wall... Train like there's no tomorrow!








Aggression without accuracy wastes energy, both in the ring and in life. Read your situation, find the openings and make your move!