News: ISR Matrix Seminar This Weekend

This weekend the 21st and 22nd of November 2009 Elements Fitness is hosting Canberra's first ISR Matrix course.



Please remember that because of this BJJ classes and Suffer on Saturday have been canceled for this weekend only. Classes will resume as normal on Monday.

Suffer on Saturday Nov 14 2009

Warm Up
Farmers carry around the gym
Rack carry round the gym
4 forward rolls, backward rolls, cartwheels & handstands
Rack carry round gym
Farmers carry around the gym

Workout
Sotts Press - 1,1,1,1,1

then

Tag Team Workout
4 rounds for time
Pull up ladder 1 to 5 split with
Push Press ladder 1 to 5 @ 2x 20kg DB for guys, 2 x 10kg DB for girls.

OR

Weak point training
Swiss ball bench press - 4 sets of 5
Calf Raises with DBs in rack position - 3 sets of 12
Straight leg deadlifts - 3 sets of 10
1 min rest between sets

Cool Down
Planche Progression - Accumulate 1 minute.

Notes
Sotts - Ben 30kg, Andspleen 25kg, Dave 25kg, Toby 30kg, Emily 20kg, Daniel 30kg, Chris 25kg, Miles 20kg, Kirstin 20kgs, Justin 30kgs, Jane 15kgs
Tag Team - Ben & Toby 18.15mins, Kirstin & Emily 19.10mins, Miles & Andspleen 20.30mins

Coaches Corner: Asimov and Coaching

Isaac Asimov was a highly acclaimed science fiction writer more notable for the brilliance of his ideas than the quality of his writing. His books variously explored the rise and fall of human societies, the role of artificial lifeforms within them and the consequences of space travel. Many of his ideas have been debated by parliaments and some – such as the Three Laws of Robotics – have actually been passed into law by a few forward looking countries.

The Three Laws of Robotics are among his most famous ideas and, in his books, are the governing rules that apply to the function of all robots regardless of type. These laws are:

A robot must
1. Not allow a human to come to harm.
2. Not allow itself to come to harm.
3. Obey all commands given to it by a human.

Each law is outranked by the previous one and are designed to protect humans from robots and allow robotic assimilation into existing human society.

So what the hell does this have to do with coaching?

Well a robot can be extremely useful and incredibly beneficial to have around but without the Three Laws a robot could be directionless, cause a great deal of damage and be more trouble than it’s worth. Comparatively, in the absence of any Laws of Coaching, the majority of coaches are directionless in their approach, cause a great deal of damage to the development of their athletes and are more trouble than they’re worth. A good coach however is an unfortunately rare but extremely useful and incredibly beneficial person to have around.

So with this in mind I have formulated the Three Laws of Coaching to try and make good coaching the norm rather than the exception. As with the robotic laws each law is outranked by the previous and should act as the governing rules to the function of all coaches regardless of type.

The Three Laws of Coaching

A coach must
1. Know their purpose
2. Do no harm
3. Develop the athlete

Know their purpose

A coach should do what they have been hired to do. It sounds simple but hardly anyone does it.
If you’re supposed to be teaching Jiu Jitsu then teach Jiu Jitsu and not boxing; if you’ve been hired to improve someone’s max strength levels then focus on improving their max strength and not their 5km run time; in short do what you’re supposed to be doing and not something else. A good coach knows what they’re supposed to be doing and then does precisely that. A bad coach doesn’t know what they’re supposed to be doing and does as much of it as they can.

Do no harm

Stolen outright from the Hippocratic oath this law applies to both the physical well being and the technical development of your athletes. Nothing will get you fired faster than injuring a team’s star player except possibly making them a bad player first. Some of you are probably thinking that this particular law is oddly placed at second but knowing what your purpose is as a coach comes first because if you’ve been hired to greatly improve a specific quality of an experienced athlete other qualities will probably suffer as a result – a powerlifting coach’s athletes’ marathon times will probably worsen as their lifts improve.

If someone comes to you and they get worse at what they’ve hired you to improve then you are a bad coach.

If someone comes to you and they are injured because of what you’ve instructed them to do then you are a bad coach.

I rarely have anyone disagree with me on any of the above statements so why is it that in the majority of martial arts schools the first few classes will leave you worse at fighting than when you first came in? Why is it that the majority of boot camps and fitness classes are more likely to get you injured than get you fit? We agree that it’s bad coaching so stop coaching badly.

And while I’m ranting...

If nine of your ten athletes are out injured and the one survivor is a world champion you’re still a bad coach.

If nine of your ten athletes are terrible and your tenth is a world champion you’re still a bad coach.

Develop the Athlete

Usually considered the primary roll of a coach developing the athlete is the third law of coaching because following the first two laws results in a safer more effective training environment. A coach who knows what they’re supposed to be doing and knows how to do it without hurting the athlete will bring more of their athletes to a higher level faster than a coach who doesn’t. Developing an athlete is different to just training an athlete. Coaches who develop their athletes have plans with short, middle and long term objectives specific to the goals of the athlete and constantly evaluate the effectiveness of their approach making modifications as neccessary. Coaches who simply train their athletes are stuck in the short term, have no specific goals, no evaluation process and typically react to the day to day ups and downs of the training process.

So there you have it - the Three Laws of Coaching, designed to protect from the actions of maliginant or ignorant coaches. It’s also possible to view these three laws as being levels of coaching expertise a coach who follows the first two laws is more expert than one who only follows the first and both of them are far more usefull than a coach who doesn’t follow them at all.

Suffer On Saturday November 7 2009

Warm Up
Bear Crawl around the gym
8 push ups, sit ups, squats
4 forward rolls, backward rolls, cartwheels and handstands
8 pull ups, supermans, lunges
Farmers walk around gym

Workout
Turkish Get Up - Heavy single in 4 reps. Complete reps on the left then do right.

then

"The Fast 55"
For time do
20-15-10-10 reps of
Squats
Push ups
Leg raises

OR

DB Bench on Swiss Ball - 3 sets of 5
BB Straight Leg Deadlift - 3 sets of 5
Plate pull 30kg X 3
Strict 1 minute rest between exercises.

Cool Down
Accumulate 1 minute in a Handstand

Notes
TGU - Ben 32.5kg, Andspleen 35kg, Jane 10kg, Emily 12.5kg, Justin 20kg, Katie 7.5kg
Fast 55 - Ben 3.24mins, Andspleen 4.02mins, Jane 5.56mins, Emily 9.39mins
Weakpoint training - Katie & Justin.

Suffer on Saturday October 2009

Warm Up
1 minute skipping
8 squats, push ups, sit ups
3 forward rolls, 3 backward rolls, 3 handstands
8 lunges, pull ups, supermans
1 minute skipping

Workout
3 rounds at steady pace
12 DB squats
8 straight leg deadlifts
8 lunges
12 calf raises
2 minutes rest

then

6 rounds for time
5 DB shoulder presses (left)
5 Db shoulder presses (right)
10 Burpees

OR

Tag Team: 4 rounds
30 meter 70kg plate drag
10 GHD Sit ups

Cool Down
Inverted Hang/Back Lever - Accumulate 1 minute.

Notes
Press & Burp - Kirstin 10:40mins @ 7.5kg, Daniel 12:29mins @ 12.5kg, Toby 11:30mins @ 17.5kg, Sam 13:31mins @ 15kg, Jane 16mins @ 7.5kg, Andspleen 26:33mins @ 20kg.
Drag & Sit up - Ben & Justin

Seminar: ISR Matrix PM 2 Day Course

Elements Fitness is proud to announce that we are hosting Canberra’s first ever ISR Matrix Physical Management course on the 21st and 22nd of November.

For those unfamiliar with the ISR Matrix ISR stands for Intercept, Stablise and Resolve and is a self defence and physical management system designed to enable the easy and rapid controll of a fully resisting opponent. Designed by BJJ black belt and founder of One Dragon Martial Arts, Luis Gutierrez, the ISR Matrix has been rapidly adopted by Police and security services across the world.

You can read what the Response Australia Magazine had to say about it here.

Having trained in the fundementals of the system for a number of years I can personally vouche for its effectiveness – in competition, self defence and security work – and easy integration into the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skill set.

The instructor, Dave Pauli, has been a qualified ISR Matrix Workplace Trainer and the official Australian Representative since 2008. In early 2009, after acting as an Assistant Instructor for several courses, he was certified as an ISR Matrix Field Instructor - one of only several in the world and the only one outside North America.

The course costs $299 for two days intensive training and will cover the foundational skills of the system in a way that will be sure to leave you confident not only of the effectiveness of the techniques but also also your ability to perform them. Elements Jiu Jitsu memebers should be sure to contact me before paying to find out how to take advantage of a special deal I’ve arranged on your behalf.

ISR Matrix Physical Management Foundations Course
When: 21 – 22 November 2009
Where: Elements Fitness 55 Heffernan St. Mitchell ACT
What Time: Course runs all day Saturday & Sunday. Starts 10.30am Saturday and ends 5pm Sunday.
How Much: $299 Click Here to Register Now!

Rant: Stop Arguing and Go Train.

Martial Arts people have to be some of the weirdest, most obsessive people on the planet. I know, I’m one of them. No other activity, with the exception of religion, seems to generate the level of fanaticism found in practitioners of the martial arts.

We argue about which style is the most practical, the most effective and which is the best for the ring, the cage and the street. We argue about which style that was the first to do something, the best at doing something and who did that thing most recently. Even within a style there are arguments about who has the better philosophy, which techniques are best, whose training clothes are better and whether you are ‘really’ doing that style at all.

These aren’t civil, reasonable, well thought out discussion style arguments either; these are full on hysterical, screaming hissy fits that best resemble a combination of two pre-schoolers fighting over a toy and a meeting of NATO after receiving a threat of nuclear terrorism. Threats, insults and unintelligible racial slurs are all par for the course during these increasingly bizarre debates.

What the hell is wrong with us – and by us I mean the martial arts community as a whole – that we feel the need to do this? Think about it and let me know if you can come up with a reasonable answer. Other activities don’t lead to this bullshit. Do you think badminton players argue like us? Do they get in raging flame wars on internet forums about whether indoor or outdoor badminton is ‘real’ badminton? Do chess players threaten to force pieces up each others noses over whether the Spanish Defence is better than the Opening Gambit? Have you ever seen two crochet enthusiasts throwdown and duel with their hooks on YouTube to avenge a slur on their teacher?

I’m not against reasonable discussion; as intelligent human beings we have a responsibility to question what we are told, test what we believe, hold each other accountable to our statements, call out frauds and prove assertions. What I am against is the bigoted, petulant, unthinking espousal of views delivered in the kind of language that would make a merchant sailor blush. The martial arts is supposed to be the ultimate vehicle for killing the ego and disciplining mind and body but these arguments are good evidence to the contrary.