Discipline of Strength by Mike Moran
Oct 22, 2014 18:46:14 GMT -5
GJEC, curlbroscience, and 1 more like this
Post by MMX on Oct 22, 2014 18:46:14 GMT -5
This was asked of me by Pavel after a post on the SF forums. To this date it has not been published and it has almost been a year.
I am posting it here for you guys. This was written November of 2013.
Learning the discipline of Karate and Kettlebell by Mike Moran
Over this journey of the past 6 years I have realized many things.
I got real fortunate that in October 2007 my brother invited me to start training Kyokushin Karate under his Father in Law. This would be the door that would open a new path in my life.I was 30 years old and in terrible shape. The first few weeks I was just sore and bruised everywhere but I relished it. It gave me something that is hard to put into words. At this time I was 289 lbs standing at 6’ and had a 42-44 waist. Needless to say I got winded tying my shoelaces in the morning. The karate training made me want to be stronger,faster,more precise. Not just in karate either. I found a new level of self respect. I dusted off the old weight bench I had in the back yard. I fell into my old weight routines I learned in high school. Soon I was losing lots of weight and able to kick at least waist high! The addiction had set in. My class was only one day a week for 2 hours. I needed more. I found an online Kyokushin forum to talk with others. I found another dojo that was of a similar style. Enshin Karate which was founded by 1978 All Japan Champion Joko Ninomiya.
April 2008 I called the number for the Tucson Enshin dojo. I spoke with Sensei Ralph Rhoads who was very welcoming and told me to come check the class out. I walked into a nondescript community room at the local YMCA at the nearby park. I remembered this place as I had spent summers in their swimming pool with my family as a kid. There was a black belt student of Japanese origin stretching and the room was empty. I went to the restrooms to change into my plain dogi. I came out and did my warm ups and did some Taikyoku kata. I only knew Enshin was similar to Kyokushin but I was about to be educated. Sensei Rhoads came in and I introduced myself. He told me of his Karate background and how he use to teach Kyokushin(I would find out much later how much he really knows and how many great teachers he has trained with!). There was one other student that evening but it was a small class which is okay with me. We lined up and did the basic stretching and then the kihon. Not too different from what we did in Kyokushin so far. Then we did some line drills and again very similar. Then we had a break for water. After the water break Sensei explained the 4 positions of Enshin and the concept of Sabaki with how the kata works. This was a huge change from Kyokushin for me. I started training both Enshin on Tues and Thurs and then Kyokushin on Saturdays. After a while the Kyokushin class was getting cancelled or people would not show up and I decided I enjoyed Sensei Rhoads teaching more and quit Kyokushin. I went to Enshin 3 days a week and soon my brother and a cadre of my friends would try the class. A few are still here!
The first grading in Enshin was something I will never forget. I had been told by Sensei that I would be tested that August. He wanted to move me up since I had previous experience and had been at training pretty much every open class. I also had been working on my fitness at home using ideas from the Rosstraining.com site. It proved to be a great thing because this type of Karate you have to earn your grades with full contact sparring. We do full contact but the caveat is that you can't punch to the face or do a groin shot. Other than that it is fair game. If you can kick their head then its ok. Now if you have never done it you may think that makes it a bit easy but it is not trust me. So that day we did the regular class but the students grading had their forms checked and critiqued. After the water break it was sparring time. My adrenaline was pumping big time.
I was nervous as I had sparred before but during a grading I wanted to prove myself. I think I had to do 5 rounds. Back to back with the higher belts. I held together pretty well. I did take a ton of damage but I gave out a lot too. After the sparring we had a cool down session with ShinKyoku breathing techniques. I was soaked with sweat and I felt the bruises and muscle pain as I cooled down. I was awarded a Yellow belt with the rank of 5th Kyu! I was so happy and tired but a group of us went out to eat and I had a giant beer. The next day I was sore all over and had trouble walking but I had a huge grin on my face. The only grin bigger is when I would pass my Shodan or 1st degree Black Belt grading in November of 2010.
Strength has always intrigued me. I thought I ‘knew’ about strength from what I learned in my high school weight class. No haha. Not even close. I was training as most average joes that go to a gym. Lift weights,get sore,rest, try to lift more next time. Random acts of variety that never led to any serious gains. I tried to do the 5x5 program but I did not follow it correctly. Sure I got some strength out of this but not what I wanted. I was looking for explosive power. I tried a few routines I got from Rosstraining.com and I loved his conditioning and jump rope training I was still missing something to make me explode when I needed it.
It was early spring 2011 that I was on rosstraining.com and noticed a thread on Kettlebells. I remember that they were these cannon ball like weights with a handle that seemed expensive to me at the time. The comments there were controversial as sometimes people are closed off to new ideas. Ross himself never bad mouths any strength tool and I will always respect him for that. So that thread led me to Dragondoor and Pavel Tsatsouline. Another online friend of mine sent me some copies of Pavels early books. I was in awe of this stuff. It was new but yet familiar to me at the same time. The idea of tension and relaxed states were not new. That is basically like karate strikes but I needed to learn how to apply it to the lifts. I really liked the idea of the kettlebell as I could tell the lifts were based on the olympic lifts but easier to do. I bought a 16kg kettlebell from the local sport store and tried to learn the lifts.
Soon I got Enter the Kettlebell. I was obsessed and would mimic the lifts with just my arms and legs. Reading up all I could on the first few basic lifts. The Getup and the Swing. I would work on the Program Minimum from Pavel’s Enter the Kettlebell to start with the 16kg.
I set out my plan to do the PM on Tues&Thurs(5-10 minutes of Get Ups and then 10-12 min of Swings) leaving Mon-Wed-Fri for Karate based training that would start with some dynamic stretches,jump rope(1-8 rounds @1min) and then Heavy Bag rounds (1-10 rounds from 1-2 minutes each round) and then Kata for a cool down.Saturday would be a heavy training/sparring day at the Dojo and Sunday I just rest.
I felt my swing was ok but I knew that I could use some help. Then I turned to the local RKC now SFG instructor Danny Sawaya. He was able to dial me in pretty quick and I even took an extensive 4 hour class with him and that refined the technique. Now I was getting that explosive strength! I went onto the Rite of Passage with the 16kg Kettlebell and finished the 5x 1,2,3,4,5 Press ladders. This time since it was 3x a week program I did
Mon ROP Light day
Wed ROP Heavy Day
Fri ROP Medium Day
Leaving Tues & Thurs for my dynamic stretches,jump rope(1-8 rounds @1min) and then Heavy Bag rounds (1-10 rounds from 1-2 minutes each round) and then Kata for a cool down.
Then I bought a 24kg bell. Started on the PM with that. I did the PM again for 6 weeks and after making sure I could press the 24kg I then went onto the Rite of Passage with the 24kg. This was a challenge from the 16kg for sure. I used the same template as I did before. I did finish the full 5x 1,2,3,4,5 ladders again though! Between Danny and Pavel they added to my strength and my Second Degree black belt test was much more manageable than I thought it was going to be!
I was interested in double KB work at this time.I found a thread on strongfirst.com about Master SFG Geoff Neupert’s Kettlebell Strong program. I emailed Geoff to ask if it was a good beginner Double KB program that would not be too much to mix in with my Karate training. He told me it would be a great fit for what I did. Unfortunately it was not available at the time so I got on the waiting list. A month went by and I got an email from Geoff that I could purchase it. I also went out and got a second 16kg and 24kg bell. I dove into the material and was so happy to have the video to go along with the manual. I “practiced” the double lifts for a few weeks before I set into doing the Strong/One hybrid plan. The single 24kg snatch use to feel heavy but not so much after that 12 weeks! That was a very tight schedule where I did
Mon-Strong C&P
Tues-One DBL SWG am / Karate Dojo pm
Wed-Karate training
Thurs-Strong C&P
Fri-One DBL SWG
Sat-Heavy Karate Dojo day
Sun-Rest
I plan to get SFG certified at a point in the near future and pass on what I learned.
Currently I am a Nidan or 2nd Degree Black belt in Enshin. Also I now weigh 208lbs* with a 34” waist at 6’ tall and still burning fat and gaining muscle. The karate got me to look inside and the strength training I learned has refined the outside and given me even more inner strength. It has enhanced my life in more ways that I can count. I would not be the husband or father that I am without Strength. Strength of character and the strength to know when to ignore the stupid things and work on what matters in my own life. Strong First.
Mike Moran (Nov 2013)
Co-Admin of www.knockdownfighters.com
*as of Oct 2014 I am now 184lbs & 32” waist.
In less than a year and with some injuries I have still dropped another 24lbs!!
I am posting it here for you guys. This was written November of 2013.
Learning the discipline of Karate and Kettlebell by Mike Moran
Over this journey of the past 6 years I have realized many things.
I got real fortunate that in October 2007 my brother invited me to start training Kyokushin Karate under his Father in Law. This would be the door that would open a new path in my life.I was 30 years old and in terrible shape. The first few weeks I was just sore and bruised everywhere but I relished it. It gave me something that is hard to put into words. At this time I was 289 lbs standing at 6’ and had a 42-44 waist. Needless to say I got winded tying my shoelaces in the morning. The karate training made me want to be stronger,faster,more precise. Not just in karate either. I found a new level of self respect. I dusted off the old weight bench I had in the back yard. I fell into my old weight routines I learned in high school. Soon I was losing lots of weight and able to kick at least waist high! The addiction had set in. My class was only one day a week for 2 hours. I needed more. I found an online Kyokushin forum to talk with others. I found another dojo that was of a similar style. Enshin Karate which was founded by 1978 All Japan Champion Joko Ninomiya.
April 2008 I called the number for the Tucson Enshin dojo. I spoke with Sensei Ralph Rhoads who was very welcoming and told me to come check the class out. I walked into a nondescript community room at the local YMCA at the nearby park. I remembered this place as I had spent summers in their swimming pool with my family as a kid. There was a black belt student of Japanese origin stretching and the room was empty. I went to the restrooms to change into my plain dogi. I came out and did my warm ups and did some Taikyoku kata. I only knew Enshin was similar to Kyokushin but I was about to be educated. Sensei Rhoads came in and I introduced myself. He told me of his Karate background and how he use to teach Kyokushin(I would find out much later how much he really knows and how many great teachers he has trained with!). There was one other student that evening but it was a small class which is okay with me. We lined up and did the basic stretching and then the kihon. Not too different from what we did in Kyokushin so far. Then we did some line drills and again very similar. Then we had a break for water. After the water break Sensei explained the 4 positions of Enshin and the concept of Sabaki with how the kata works. This was a huge change from Kyokushin for me. I started training both Enshin on Tues and Thurs and then Kyokushin on Saturdays. After a while the Kyokushin class was getting cancelled or people would not show up and I decided I enjoyed Sensei Rhoads teaching more and quit Kyokushin. I went to Enshin 3 days a week and soon my brother and a cadre of my friends would try the class. A few are still here!
The first grading in Enshin was something I will never forget. I had been told by Sensei that I would be tested that August. He wanted to move me up since I had previous experience and had been at training pretty much every open class. I also had been working on my fitness at home using ideas from the Rosstraining.com site. It proved to be a great thing because this type of Karate you have to earn your grades with full contact sparring. We do full contact but the caveat is that you can't punch to the face or do a groin shot. Other than that it is fair game. If you can kick their head then its ok. Now if you have never done it you may think that makes it a bit easy but it is not trust me. So that day we did the regular class but the students grading had their forms checked and critiqued. After the water break it was sparring time. My adrenaline was pumping big time.
I was nervous as I had sparred before but during a grading I wanted to prove myself. I think I had to do 5 rounds. Back to back with the higher belts. I held together pretty well. I did take a ton of damage but I gave out a lot too. After the sparring we had a cool down session with ShinKyoku breathing techniques. I was soaked with sweat and I felt the bruises and muscle pain as I cooled down. I was awarded a Yellow belt with the rank of 5th Kyu! I was so happy and tired but a group of us went out to eat and I had a giant beer. The next day I was sore all over and had trouble walking but I had a huge grin on my face. The only grin bigger is when I would pass my Shodan or 1st degree Black Belt grading in November of 2010.
Strength has always intrigued me. I thought I ‘knew’ about strength from what I learned in my high school weight class. No haha. Not even close. I was training as most average joes that go to a gym. Lift weights,get sore,rest, try to lift more next time. Random acts of variety that never led to any serious gains. I tried to do the 5x5 program but I did not follow it correctly. Sure I got some strength out of this but not what I wanted. I was looking for explosive power. I tried a few routines I got from Rosstraining.com and I loved his conditioning and jump rope training I was still missing something to make me explode when I needed it.
It was early spring 2011 that I was on rosstraining.com and noticed a thread on Kettlebells. I remember that they were these cannon ball like weights with a handle that seemed expensive to me at the time. The comments there were controversial as sometimes people are closed off to new ideas. Ross himself never bad mouths any strength tool and I will always respect him for that. So that thread led me to Dragondoor and Pavel Tsatsouline. Another online friend of mine sent me some copies of Pavels early books. I was in awe of this stuff. It was new but yet familiar to me at the same time. The idea of tension and relaxed states were not new. That is basically like karate strikes but I needed to learn how to apply it to the lifts. I really liked the idea of the kettlebell as I could tell the lifts were based on the olympic lifts but easier to do. I bought a 16kg kettlebell from the local sport store and tried to learn the lifts.
Soon I got Enter the Kettlebell. I was obsessed and would mimic the lifts with just my arms and legs. Reading up all I could on the first few basic lifts. The Getup and the Swing. I would work on the Program Minimum from Pavel’s Enter the Kettlebell to start with the 16kg.
I set out my plan to do the PM on Tues&Thurs(5-10 minutes of Get Ups and then 10-12 min of Swings) leaving Mon-Wed-Fri for Karate based training that would start with some dynamic stretches,jump rope(1-8 rounds @1min) and then Heavy Bag rounds (1-10 rounds from 1-2 minutes each round) and then Kata for a cool down.Saturday would be a heavy training/sparring day at the Dojo and Sunday I just rest.
I felt my swing was ok but I knew that I could use some help. Then I turned to the local RKC now SFG instructor Danny Sawaya. He was able to dial me in pretty quick and I even took an extensive 4 hour class with him and that refined the technique. Now I was getting that explosive strength! I went onto the Rite of Passage with the 16kg Kettlebell and finished the 5x 1,2,3,4,5 Press ladders. This time since it was 3x a week program I did
Mon ROP Light day
Wed ROP Heavy Day
Fri ROP Medium Day
Leaving Tues & Thurs for my dynamic stretches,jump rope(1-8 rounds @1min) and then Heavy Bag rounds (1-10 rounds from 1-2 minutes each round) and then Kata for a cool down.
Then I bought a 24kg bell. Started on the PM with that. I did the PM again for 6 weeks and after making sure I could press the 24kg I then went onto the Rite of Passage with the 24kg. This was a challenge from the 16kg for sure. I used the same template as I did before. I did finish the full 5x 1,2,3,4,5 ladders again though! Between Danny and Pavel they added to my strength and my Second Degree black belt test was much more manageable than I thought it was going to be!
I was interested in double KB work at this time.I found a thread on strongfirst.com about Master SFG Geoff Neupert’s Kettlebell Strong program. I emailed Geoff to ask if it was a good beginner Double KB program that would not be too much to mix in with my Karate training. He told me it would be a great fit for what I did. Unfortunately it was not available at the time so I got on the waiting list. A month went by and I got an email from Geoff that I could purchase it. I also went out and got a second 16kg and 24kg bell. I dove into the material and was so happy to have the video to go along with the manual. I “practiced” the double lifts for a few weeks before I set into doing the Strong/One hybrid plan. The single 24kg snatch use to feel heavy but not so much after that 12 weeks! That was a very tight schedule where I did
Mon-Strong C&P
Tues-One DBL SWG am / Karate Dojo pm
Wed-Karate training
Thurs-Strong C&P
Fri-One DBL SWG
Sat-Heavy Karate Dojo day
Sun-Rest
I plan to get SFG certified at a point in the near future and pass on what I learned.
Currently I am a Nidan or 2nd Degree Black belt in Enshin. Also I now weigh 208lbs* with a 34” waist at 6’ tall and still burning fat and gaining muscle. The karate got me to look inside and the strength training I learned has refined the outside and given me even more inner strength. It has enhanced my life in more ways that I can count. I would not be the husband or father that I am without Strength. Strength of character and the strength to know when to ignore the stupid things and work on what matters in my own life. Strong First.
Mike Moran (Nov 2013)
Co-Admin of www.knockdownfighters.com
*as of Oct 2014 I am now 184lbs & 32” waist.
In less than a year and with some injuries I have still dropped another 24lbs!!
