powerDOJO

Category: Random

  • 5 Random Friday Tips (from Barcelona)

    I’m writing this to you from my hotel in Barcelona, Spain…

    I’m here on a 1 year anniversary trip with my wifey. Wow time flies!

    So I don’t have this week’s “Ask EricWongMMA”, but I thought I’d just touch base and share 5 random things I’ve found or created…

    #1 – Eat Raisins For a Workout Boost

    I’ve often snacked on raisins and nuts before workouts if I felt a little too depleted.

    Now, a study shows raisins are as good as sport chews for performance:

    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/248419.php

    IMO, better, because sport chews are probably not good for your health, with all the chemicals and processing.

    Easy and cheap – do it!

    #2 – Partner Exercises With Your Wife (or g/f or friend)

    Here are some exercises I’ve done with my wife since there’s no gym here at the hotel (and we haven’t found any good parks nearby):

    – Bulgarian Split Squats with Wife on Back
    – Squats Holding Wife in Front like a Baby
    – Wife Bench Presses (tough if she’s ticklish, which mine is)
    – Wife Shoulder Presses Holding in Armpits

    If you have problems with any of these, you either need to get stronger or tell your wife to lose weight.

    I suggest getting stronger if you want to stay married. 😛

    #3 – Bruce Lee Style Wisdom

    I brought the Tao of Jeet Kune Do with me. I like to bring it when I travel. I’ve probably read it 4 or 5 times by now. I’ll probably continue reading it for the rest of my life.

    After I read it, my thoughts often take the form of Bruce’s with short little bursts of knowledge.

    Here’s one:

    “Once you learn to love exercise for itself as opposed to what it will give you, it will give you more than you ever dreamed.”

    Another:

    “You can find science to backup anything. Do your research, apply logic and common sense, then go for it. You’ll soon know without a doubt if it works.”

    Fun stuff.

    #4 – Read “THE WAR OF ART” by Steven Pressfield

    This book is AWESOME if you’ve ever had a great idea or wanted to achieve something but never got out of the starting blocks.

    I’ve got hundreds of “great ideas” scattered in random books in my office, on scrap paper, napkins and in notepad documents on my computer. I’m sure you’ve got a bunch of great ones too.

    I’ve also got some really powerful ideas that I know would be great that I’ve never gotten off the ground.

    The reason? The War of Art will tell you, and it will inspire you to stop procrastinating and start taking action.

    #5 – My MISSION

    As you may know from my last blog post, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to bring into this world and what impact I want to have…

    Well, I’ve gotten some really deep insights recently, since my cottage trip and since being here in Barcelona…

    New environments often stimulate new ways of thinking and that’s one of the big reasons I love to travel.

    I’m still putting my ideas together, but I’ll be sharing what I’m going to be dedicating myself to very soon.

    A hint: for anyone who’s ever wanted:

    • Clear goals to elevate every aspect of your fitness (think the BIOMOTOR abilities)…
    • To master the skill of attaining their desired physique…
    • To know exactly how to keep the gains they’ve worked so hard for…
    • Clear blueprints to achieve it all…

    … well, let’s say I’m going to be busting my ass to help you have it ALL.

    Well, that’s all for now. I’m cooking up some spinach, onions and pork for dinner. We try to get a hotel or apartment with cooking facilities wherever we go – we much prefer it to having to eat out all the time. Save money and your waistline!

    Eric

    P.S. The cottage trip right before this anniversary trip was intentional. I feel that before (and after) spending an extended period of time with only my wife, without taking a bit of time for myself can lead to some tension as I’m a guy who really needs my alone time. If you’ve ever found that, try it – it really helps.

  • Leisel Jones Controversy at the London 2012 Olympics

    You may have heard about the controversy in the news with respect to Australian swimmer Leisel Jones and her being, shall we say, not in possession of what we think of we picture an elite swimmer.

    Oh I’m being a good boy today, with all of my political correct-ness.

    Anyway, there’s no debating whether or not she carries more bodyfat than  her peers, since swimming requires that participants participate in a bathing suit. Just take a look at her physique compared to American Swimmer Dara Torres, who’s physique (especially after having a child) made headlines last Olympics.

    Australian Swimmer Leisel Jones
    Australian Swimmer Leisel Jones
    American Swimmer Dara Torres
    American Swimmer Dara Torres

    Well I’m not here to talk about whether or not she is hot or ugly or embarrassing or whatever. I don’t care.

    But it does raise a couple of interesting debates – with her training volumes and intensities, why is it that her body carries more fat than any of the other competitors?

    How is she eating? 

    That’s always the first thing I’d look at.

    Some people might say, “Leave her alone you prick!”

    But I’m not attacking or judging, I’m just curious.

    Because I’ve always thought that good nutrition that would fuel an elite athlete would result in a lean body. But in this case, she’s either eating well and it’s giving her enough fuel to be an Olympic level athlete but not creating a lean body composition, or she’s eating poorly and performing that well IN SPITE of poor nutrition.

    Or maybe it’s something else that’s contributing to her current body composition that’s completely unrelated to her level of fitness.

    Who knows? 

    We could speculate all day on what it could be.

    Mercury-fillings. EMF. Parasites. Thyroid problem due to certain xenoestrogens in her environment.

    Who the heck knows?

    All I know is that she is not what we’d expect and I’m just curious why.

  • Cinder Block Workout

    I got back from the cottage last night for the Canada Day long weekend.

    The weather was SICK and I had a great time. Swimming, fishing, canoeing, kayaking and playing cards with my family makes for a great weekend.

    Unfortunately, I didn’t end up filettting a fish on video like I’d hoped; it’s not because I didn’t catch any, in fact, I caught a few nice ones. No I’m not just telling a fisherman’s tale, I’ll share some pics that are on my Dad’s camera later.

    But I didn’t cook one up because they were either a bit too big or a bit too small. I don’t like killing the big ones because they’re fun to catch and the small ones just aren’t worth killing for the little meat they provide. So back they went. Next time I’ll get one for you.

    And it’s not like there was a want for food – check out this shot of the camp fire BBQ burgers I had going:

    Hot damn – look at all that smoke! Best burgers I’ve had in a while – a lot of the wood that I’d used to make the coals was maple, so the flavour was unreal.

    In terms of working out, I find it really tough to push myself at the cottage. The environment totally promotes relaxation and chilling out and I do those things quite well.

    But my wifey is pretty diligent with her workout schedule, so she often motivates me to get something done too.

    There were a pile of cinder blocks laying about near the dock, so I decided to grab one and start playing around with it. One thing led to another and soon I found myself in bed with my hand up… Oh wait that was something else – no I meant one thing led to another and I was soon lifting, pressing and swinging a cinder block around.

    Here’s a little video I shot of me doing just that:

     

    Sometimes, it feels good just to grab a cinder block and throw it around.

    With this video, I wanted to make two points:

    1) It’s easy to keep moving no matter where you are and no matter what you’ve got available to you, whether it be a fully outfitted gym with barbells, dumbbells, balls, racks and what not or you’re at the cottage and all you’ve got is some cinder blocks, maybe some rocks, and a lake.

    2) Don’t take training too seriously all the time. Loosen up. Play. Move your body. Enjoy it.

    I bet I got more anabolic benefit from this fun workout than I would’ve spent 5 hours researching the best set and rep scheme for muscle building simply due to the impact on my cortisol levels. But that’s another story.

    When it comes to zeroing in on and achieving results, have a plan, and stick to it. But don’t be so rigid with your plan that you’re afraid of moving your body. That type of fear will go more to thwarting your results than any fun workout like this will.

    Have you ever done any random, spontaneous workouts like this that you totally enjoyed doing? Let me know below!

  • How to Continue Adaptations? [QUIZ]

    Got a short quiz for you this weekend, so it’s not all about ruining brain cells and vegging out.

    Gotta keep the ol’ noggin’ working!

    Plus, it’s your chance to synthesize and integrate some of the knowledge you’ve picked up from reading the articles and studying what I’ve been posting for you here on the blog.

    Watch the short 87 second video for the little quiz of your training knowledge:

    [jwplayer config=”512×384 (4:3) ” mediaid=”4156″]

    LEAVE YOUR ANSWERS BELOW >>>

    [sharebox5_no_text]Insert Your Text Here[/sharebox5_no_text]

  • On Cutting Weight

    Before waxing all poetic on you, let me say it point blank:

    CUTTING WEIGHT IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS CONCEPT IN ALL OF SPORT

    Now, let’s begin…

    Although the sauna is generally viewed as a tool for ultimate relaxation, conjuring images of a good sweat and feeling loose…

    This is what cutting weight is like. Except instead of the naked European woman, you’re surrounded by a bunch of MMA fighters. Some of whom probably have active ringworm and/or cellulitis.

    I’ve been involved in a few weight cuts in my years as a strength and conditioning coach and can tell you that the mere thought of one can make some of the toughest guys start sweating.

    If you’ve ever been through a tough cut in the sauna, you’re probably sweating right now!

    But there have definitely been some funny ones in there, though.

    The funniest stories involve guys who are cutting weight for the first time.

    I remember flying out to Vancouver with a fighter I was training named Joe Khamou. He was cutting to 170 lbs. It was his first MMA fight.

    He was following my weight cutting  guidelines and he was close, but it’d been about 24 hours since he last weighed in.

    When we landed in Vancouver, we went for a walk to find supplies for the re-hydration phase. And hopefully a scale to check where he was at.

    The whole time we were walking around, he was trying to spit, but nothing was coming out.

    He kept doing it and I was like, “What the fuck man, stop already.”

    “Sorry. It’s just so weird spitting and having no spit.”

    Hahaha Khamou.

    It was like walking around with a dog that you just fed a box of crackers to.

    “I drink Bud Light cuz Coors Light won’t pay me nothin’!”

    We did end up finding a scale. Joe weighed in at 168.7 lbs, so I had him start drinking again to maintain as close to 170 lbs as possible until the weigh-in a few hours later. The good thing for him was that he didn’t need the sauna.

    There was another cut I was a part of  in Vancouver. I was with Claude at UFC 115 for his UFC debut. Him, myself and Kru Alin were all hanging out in the sauna. Well Kru and I were hanging out, Claude was doing his best to shed every last bit of H2O out of his body.

    I like saunas, but like I said, I don’t like cutting weight.

    So I was sitting near the bottom. Heat rises, so it was a heck of a lot cooler down there.

    Claude started making fun of me.

    He snickered to Kru Alin, “Notice where E’s sitting??”

    I didn’t care. What I did care about was keeping my organs as far from failure as possible.

    And that’s just one reason why cutting weight is such a ridiculous concept. The risk of organ failure.

    But because of what it brings in, it may never go away… However, I think I may have a solution.

    Now, some argue that cutting is a skill and show of toughness.

    I don’t argue about the skill or mental toughness involved at all.

    To be able to lose 15-30 lbs in a short period of time and put it all back on within 24 hours…

    … THEN have to go out and fight some beast like Junior Dos Santos or Cain Velasquez is undoubtedly one of the most impressive skills known to mankind. I kneel before you.

    But wouldn’t it be more impressive if a fighter knew he had to be at a certain weight. And, he knew he didn’t have the ability to cut more than 5 lbs because he had to be that weight 6 hours before his fight?

    I think so.

    I think once everyone got used to the idea, we’d all realize the madness of doing it any other way.

    There’s just this resistance to change. And it’s this resistance and insistence on traditionalism that blocks true progress.

    And one of the driving forces behind this resistance is obviously the almighty dollar.

    Have you ever been to a UFC weigh-in before?

    It’s insane. Thousands of people packed in a loud stadium. Drinking beer. Snapping pictures. Soaking it all up.

    It’s a huge spectacle and I’ll admit, gets you hyped up.

    But my argument is to leave all of an athlete’s skill…

    All of an athlete’s mental toughness…

    And all of an athlete’s abundant amounts of energy, energy that he’s worked so damn hard for…

    To leave it for him to use in his fight.

    It’s a shame for this energy to be wasted on making weight. A real shame. That’s why I say that cutting weight is the most ridiculous concept in sport.

    Yes, out of concern for the health risks to athletes, fighters and friends.

    And because of the waste of energy that could be used to give us fight of the night after fight of the night.

    Instead of a week dedicated to a low-calorie, low-carb diet, he could be nourishing his body properly, with delicious, nutritious food. He would stay well hydrated on pure and clean water. The good food and water would give him clarity of thought to mentally prepare for the task at hand. His body would have the building blocks to heal from the beating it took during a grueling training camp.

    And because of these things, he would generate a store of energy that could accomplish amazing things inside the Octagon. Things that would make people accuse him of taking drugs.

    Things that would make everyone watching <gasp> and SCREAM  in excitement!

    The UFC could still hold the weigh-in event… They’d still make their few hundred thousand or million doing so. People would still attend and enjoy Joe Rogan screaming at them.

    All the UFC would have to do is have another weigh-in 5 or 6 hours before the fight. 

    Then, the fighters wouldn’t be able to cut much weight, because they’d have to enter the fight soon. It wouldn’t be worth it.

    Athletes would then have to choose what weight they wanted to fight at and optimize their bodies and keep it that way.

    There would be no more fights where it looked like a Grade 10 kid was beating up a Grade 4.

    That would be a real show of skill.

    Having the right amount of muscle mass for your frame and being able to scientifically manipulate it to such a precise degree and KEEP it long term is a greater show of skill than simply going on a no-carb, low-calorie, salt-free diet for a week.

    Being able to gain or lose muscle mass strategically and keep it that way is no simple task.

    What do you think?

    Am I way off base here?

    Or does this make sense to you too?

    Let’s have a discussion in the Comments section. I want to hear your thoughts on this controversial topic!

    [NOTE: This post is dedicated to Claude Patrick, who I hope one day will finally believe in the power of JC! And I’m not talking the man on the cross]

    [sharebox4]BTW – this is a new share thingie – thanks for using it! :)[/sharebox4]

  • Best Martial Arts Movies of All Time

    Eric’s Far-From Authoritative ‘Best
    Martial Arts Movies’ of All Time List

    [If you have something important to do, don’t waste your time with this post. But if you’re looking to kill some time or procrastinate, dig right in!]

    Let’s get one thing straight – I don’t claim to have good taste, be a movie critic, or even a movie buff. Hell I don’t even watch a lot of movies. But I knows what I likes so I’m going to share some of my favourite martial arts movies with you. Selfishly, I’m hoping you can share some of your fave flicks with me so I can better pass these rainy spring days.

    So feel free to get all bent outta shape and rip into my choices if you want, “How dare you even CONSIDER The Matrix? That isn’t a martial arts movie – less than 10% of the actors are Oriental!? You’re a disgrace to the Chinese people.”

    Or…

    “Eric, How come Karate Kid 2010 isn’t on your best martial arts movies list? I thought you knew your shit?!? You are so st00pid. I hate you.”

    Say whatever you want, I won’t take it personally. It’ll entertain me. Like I said, I knows what I likes.

    karate kid martial arts movies
    "In West Philadelphia, born and raised, in the DOJO is where I spent most of my days"

    So without further adieu, let’s get to my Best Martial Arts Movies of all time…

    Best Martial Arts Movies – #5 – Rumble in the Bronx

    Yes, Jackie Chan makes it on my list due to his combination of equal parts martial arts skills, creativity, humour and stunts. (I know I’ll get some flack for this one, but bring it on – Jackie is awesome). You can’t beat Jackie when he’s in a room full of furniture and he’s fighting 10+ enemies. His use of chairs, tables, belts, jackets, and whatever other object is in close proximity is unparalleled. But what really impresses me about him is his stunts. He directs all of his stunts and does many of them. In Rumble in the Bronx, he busted up his ankle and finished the film with a cast. Here are some outtakes of his stunts:

     

    Best Martial Arts Movies – #4 – The Matrix Trilogy

    I can’t remember which one of these is my favourite, but one of them stood out above the rest (maybe you can remind me?). Sure, Keanu Reeves isn’t a true martial artist, sure there are a lot of special effects, but that’s the whole point. If you want real martial arts, watch MMA. Movies are meant for fantasy and that’s where the Matrix shines.

     

    Best Martial Arts Movies – #3 – Bloodsport

    Of course Jean-Claude Van Damme made it on this list. I think this is what I watched at my first sleepover party at my best friend’s house in Grade 4. It blew me away. The splits, on CHAIRS?!? WTF? And Bolo – he inspired me to be able to learn to bounce my pecs.But I think my favourite character was the Monkey man. Oh how I wanted him to win. Alas, it was not meant to be:

     

    Best Martial Arts Movies – #2 – Ong Bak

    Tony Jaa is a bad motherf*&#*$. And the opening scene hyped me up like no other opening scene from a movie, except I kind of remember the opening scene from Apocalypto was pretty crazy, I’ll have to check it out again. Anyway Ong Bak was the first movie I saw showcasing Muay Thai and I loved the flying knees and elbows… although the Double Elbow from Kneeling Mount on a Standing Opponent (at 1:29) was a bit much.

     

    The #1 Movie on Eric’s “Best Martial
    Arts Movies of All Time” List

    FIST OF LEGNED starring JET LI

    Have you seen this one? By far my favourite on the list. Tons of quality fight scenes, the beginning of Matrix style flying around, the epic battle between Karate and Kung-Fu, Japan and China, and a Boss-General modeled after Street Fighter’s Bison that you loved seeing get beat up. If you haven’t seen it, you have to watch it ASAP. Just thinking about it has me pumped. I might have to watch it tonight. Here’s one of many, many good scenes that even showcases some Bruce Lee style fighting:

     

    So that’s my list. What do you think? Am I an idiot?

    Have I wasted your time? [If so – read this training post and feel better that you’ve educated yourself at least a bit today.]

    Got some recommendations for me?

    Let me have your best martial arts movies below:

  • Fat Loss Revolution?

    The fat loss market is filled…

    … with hype, exaggerated claims, and downright lies…

    It’s a big reason why over the past couple of years I’ve been shy to promote my fat loss programs.

    Fat Loss Hype
    Example of the hype.

    I never wanted to be grouped in with some of these shady characters because one bad apple spoils the bunch.

    But I can see that I may be seen in this light by some, and after thinking about it, I can understand why…

    At times, I’ve emailed about other people’s programs.

    When I make a recommendation, 98% of the time, I stand behind it 100%.

    Generally, when you purchase something through my recommendation, a nutrition product, fat loss program, whatever, I’ll make a commission.

    Now I don’t promote everything I come across, because I get asked WAY MORE to promote than I actually do. When you develop a big following, people try to get in on the action.

    It can actually get really annoying, for example, a guy emailed me a month ago to promote his new ‘fat loss workout for moms’ and I was like, “Are you serious? How many moms do you think I have on my MMA strength and conditioning newsletter list?”

    But here’s why I feel I’ve got to issue an apology to you…

    Over the past couple of years, there have been a few fat loss programs in particular that I’ve emailed about that I wasn’t fully, 100% behind.

    For example, one author in the spring of last year, whom I will not name, sent me a package with a small bribe gift in it.

    Even though I had no intention of promoting his fat loss program, I did, I think mainly because I felt I ‘owed him’.

    Right when I sent the email, I felt guilty about it…

    Thankfully nobody bought it because I’m guessing you saw right through my email recommendation, since it wasn’t genuine.

    There were some other odd times where I’ve emailed about programs that I wasn’t fully behind; sometimes because the authors are friends and I’m just helping spread the word, or sometimes for a favour, or sometimes just for the commissions.

    At times, I feel like I’ve acted like a shady used car salesman.

    It's true! It's only got 20,000km on it… Trust me!

    And for this, I offer you a sincere apology.

    An even BIGGER apology goes to those who have purchased a program on my recommendation and ended up not satisfied.

    I’m sorry for wasting your time and hard-earned money.

    I know you trust me to provide you with solid advice about MMA S&C and general health, fitness, fat loss and nutrition advice and with these types of actions, I deserve to lose that trust.

    But I’m not going to leave it at that, I’m going to leave you with a promise to gain your trust back.

    As I prepare for my wedding this summer, I’ve been talking a lot about expectations with my fiancée, and one of the conversations we’ve had about ‘keeping promises’ is what has fueled this email.

    It’s one of the most important things to her and isn’t just about big things, like being faithful, but also of not breaking little promises like finishing my day on time (I can be a bit of a workaholic, what can I say, I love this stuff).

    So here are some of my promises to you, my loyal blog/newsletter reader:

    • I promise to only recommend programs, products or anything else that I would recommend to my best friend or brother
    • I promise to give 100% honest reviews and opinions about products that I come across, pointing out both the good and bad points of it and letting you know who I think it’s for
    • I promise to disclose when I will make commissions on any of my recommendations

    And here’s the BIG ONE, the one I’m most excited about…

    I promise to institute a new era of marketing of my own products that is 100% transparent, honest and real giving you actual DATA and results from my programs, as much as possible.

    This, is the revolution in fat loss.

    Why do I call this a revolution?

    Because there will be zero hype, no lies, no stretched truths, only 100% verifiable data that you’ll be able to prove for yourself.

    You’ll know exactly what my programs are capable of, instead of just seeing the best, hand-picked results.

    I’ll explain more in my next update. Be sure you’re on my newsletter list for when that comes out.

    I just want to let this sink in and hopefully we can restart our relationship on the right foot.

    We cool?

    Let me know below.

    – Eric