Larry Keith on KPIC Spotlight

Dynamic MMA tips on Self Defense during the holidays. The show aired a little late for the holidays, but it the tips are still useful.

Holidays

Dynamic MMA will be closed on December 24th and 25th. We will also be closed on December 31st and January 1st. Olga and I will not be at the dojo at all on the week of December 28th through January 1st. The Dynamic MMA staff will be teaching classes and will make sure everyone gets in great workouts.

Remember, the Referral contest deadline is December 30th. If your friend enrolls using the "white belt in a bag" promotion, your referral points will be double.

See you at the dojo.

Sensei Larry Keith

promotions

We did some rank promotions in our Judo classes tonight. Daniel Johnson, Don Meduna, Justin Johnson, and Tony Dobis we all promoted to Gokyu (orange belt). Allysa Johnson was promoted to Rokyu (yellow belt). There were more promotions due, but the would be recipients were not in class tonight. That means they have to wait another month for their promotions (just kidding). Anyway, congratulations to the upgraded students.

Also, tonight was Tommy Anderson's 23rd birthday, so we all took a turn throwing him. Happy Birthday Tommy!!

referral contest...

The referral contest is going pretty well so far.  Jessee Filan and Josh Parnell are our current leaders in the contest. 

"Buddy week" is over, so now the points are no longer double. Just as a reminder, here is how the points work:

1 point for showing up to class, 10 points for bringing someone in to watch, 25 points for bringing in a friend to try out a class, 100 points if your friend enrolls. The member with the most points on December 31, 2009 will win. The prize for the adults is an iPod touch and the prize for the kids is a Nintendo Wii Sports package. Good luck and if you have any questions, talk to myself or Olga. 

Advanced only class...

We did our first advanced only randori night tonight. It turned out very well. The class is intended for our brown and black belts only. I think we had about 10 people in attendance. Toby Presnell and Bryan Phippen were in town and attended the class as well. Toby is an Obukan black belt and an instructor at 5 rings Jiu-jitsu in Portland. Bryan is also a member of 5 Rings and is a "holiday member" of our dojo. 

We grappled and did randori for about 1.5 hours. Everyone (including myself) seemed to have fun and looked pretty tired by the end of the night.  It also gave a chance for our morning people to work with our evening people because we chose to do it on a weekend.

We may end up doing this type of practice once or twice per month. Great stuff!

November 25

Classes were good today. Attendance was down due to the impending holiday, but we got to work some fun stuff in the Jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai classes. We will be closed on Thursday and Friday this week. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I am personally thankful for having such a great group of students that I can call my second family. See you at the dojo!

Being prepared...putting in the work

On November 7, 2009, two of our fighters competed at the FCFF Rumble at the Roseland 47 in Portland, Oregon. Both of these fighters are veterans of MMA, Judo, and submission grappling. Both of them are skilled athletes with a boatload of talent.

Matt LaRocque lost via unanimous decision. Jessee Filan lost via split decision.

While watching the fights, I could see that they definitely had the tactics and strategy to win their fights. Their minds were sharp and they understood their opponent's strengths and weaknesses. Mentally, they were prepared....physically, they were not. After the fights I had a lengthy conversation with them as to why they lost their fights but it all boiled down to one reason...they didn't train.

I have seen this happen many times. The fighter has better skill than the opponent, yet they still lose. Why?

Combat sports such as MMA, Judo, Jiu-jitsu, Boxing, etc. are all based on capitalizing on your opponent's mistakes. The biggest mistake any athlete can make is not being prepared. You have to be able to look across the ring or tatami at your opponent and be able to say to yourself, "I know I trained harder than my opponent and that I am the most prepared I can be." If you can't do this, in some way you have already lost the battle.

In martial arts, it is the loss that helps us to be humble(a martial artist should be humble), and it is from our losses that we learn the most. We can also learn from the losses of others. Pay attention to the work ethic of those around you. Are they just going through the motions or are they putting in the extra effort that makes a champion? Now ask yourself which side of that scenario are you on?

We are all guilty of being lazy sometimes (I know I am), but when you set a goal for yourself, you reach it with effort, not by sitting and waiting for it to come to you. They say that if you want to be a champion, you have to train like a champion. Kimura would have likely said that if you want to be a champion, you have to train twice as hard as the current champion.

Remember, you get out of it what you put into it. The formula to martial arts success is fairly simple. It is very similar in all sports...Proper nutrition, do the work, and rest. If you want to be a top competitor, this has to become a lifestyle, not something you try to do a few days before an event.

As an instructor, it is my job to teach my students the skills they need to accomplish their martial arts goals. However, I cannot do the work for them.

I am very proud of both Matt and Jessee. They did well in their fights. They displayed heart and left an impression with their opponents and fans. They never gave up and fought to the end. I have known them both for years and know their potential.

See you at the dojo,

Sensei Larry Keith

Cold and Flu??

Many dojo members, including myself are ill with the crud. Cold and Flu season is upon us, along with the cooler, damp weather. Take your vitamins, drink your fluids, practice proper nutrition, and keep warm and dry. Bring warm, dry clothes to the dojo with you that you can change into after practice. If you are sick (infectious), stay home and heal up. Your consideration will be greatly appreciated.

October 10th

Our fight team did very well today at the Brass Nux fights.

Jessee Filan looked very good. He won in the first round via TKO and is now the contender for the 135 title. Many people came to me after the fight and told me how good they thought he did. He told me afterwards that he was very comfortable fighting in front of his home crowd. It showed.

Matt LaRocque was in a little trouble in the first round. He came back in the second round to win via TKO. Matt really needed this fight. He cut more weight that every before and also had to endure a little punishment before finding the victory in the end. He won his first fight at FCFF in only 57 seconds.

Tyler Moug won his fight in the first round and is simply an animal. He actually took a moment to ask the referee, "Do you really want me to hit him again?" at which point his opponent verbally tapped out.

Brandon Meacham was not 100% for this fight. He dealing with a training injury and like many people in our dojo, was suffering from this flu virus going around. He lost via triangle choke in the first round. This fight was a defense of Brandon's 170 title. Unfortunately, Brandon is no longer the 170 Brass Nux champion. He showed great sportsmanship by taking the time to put the belt around the waist of the new champion, Nathan Orchard. We will regroup, go back to the drawing board and Brandon will be back to his winning ways soon.

We also cornered for Anthony Bell. Anthony came to us last Friday to tell us that he had signed himself up to make his MMA debut at this show with no previous training. He only got to train with us for 4 days before fighting. I am not an advocate of fighting without training first. Tony lost to a RNC in the first round, but did not suffer any injuries. He will resume training with us next week. I will make sure he is better prepared before encouraging him fight again.

It proved to be a winning night for our team...not a perfect winning night, but winning still yet. We will get back to work next week preparing for the November 7th and December 12th FCFF shows.

See you at the dojo.

News Brief

Brandon dominated the fight until the 3rd round when he got caught with a toe hold submission. Still, Brandon looked really sharp and in great shape at the fight.

There will be a schedule change at Dynamic MMA beginning Monday, October 5th.

Jessee Filan, Tyler Moug, Matt LaRocque, and Brandon Meacham will be fighting at the Douglas County Fairgrounds on Saturday, October 10th. We have general admission tickets for sale at the dojo for $20. Get yours and come support your team at this local event.

See you at the dojo!

Rogue Warrior Cage Fights

Newest DFCC member Brandon Meacham will be fighting for the 170 title at Klammath County Fairgrounds on September 26th. He will be fighting David Robles. Some of you may know David from winning the Absolute Championship at our DSGC tournaments. We will be coming home with another title belt. I will post the results soon after the event.

Home again...

Home sweet home. It is good to be home with family again. See you at the dojo.

Leaving Oklahoma

We are at the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma awaiting to board our flight home. I think we are all ready for a nap. See you all at the dojo on Monday. We have some cool new things planned for the dojo.

We are sitting in our last day of seminars here in Oklahoma. Later today we will fly to Dallas and then to Portland. Although the convention is a great learning experience, I am looking forward to being home soon.

We are now at the Colcord Hotel in Oklahoma City. It's a nice old hotel that has been remodeled giving it an antique look from the outside and modern look on the inside. The resteraunt in the hotel was closed when we got here, so we walked to "Bricktown" looking for somewhere to eat. We ended up eating at IHOP. I think we get to all sleep in since we don't have anything scheduled until 2 pm.

Oklahoma

We are now sitting at the Denver International Airport. We have an hour wait for our next flight out to Oklahoma City. The flight from Portland to here was good. We are having a pretty good time. More updates to come...

Oklahoma

Ryan, Kris, and I are at PDX getting ready to board a flight to Denver and then to Oklahoma for the MAIA Elite Seminar. The dojo will be open for the rest of the week. Be sure to look up as you enter the dojo to see our newest addition to the dojo. See you all next week at the dojo.

Jessee Filan lost to RNC at 2:58 of the first round. He had a couple of outstanding takedowns before falling to the mount in a scramble on the ground. He turned his back and was forced to tap to the choke.

Matt LaRocque was the first fight of the night and submitted his opponent at :57 of round 1 with a RNC. Matt seemed to be in control thoughout the entire fight.

Good job by both of our fighters despite Jessee's loss. In martial arts, losing teaches us about being humble. Jessee will come back stronger and more skilled than ever.

FCFF tonight

This afternoon I will drive to Portland to corner for Jessee Filan and Matt LaRocque. This will be Jessee's 4th time fighting for the FCFF and Matt's MMA debut.

Jessee is fighting a tough fighter from Team Quest. Winning this fight will possibly put Jessee in a top contender position for the FCFF 135 title. On November 7th, he could be fighting for the title against Dave Kohn. Dave and Jessee were supposed to fight at 7 Feathers in June, but Dave pulled out of the fight on one day's notice.

Matt is fighting Ben Steele. It will be Ben's first fight as well. Ben has 10 years of Karate training. Needless to say, our strategy revolves around Matt getting the fight to the ground.

Hoping to come home with 2 wins tonight!

Introduction

I decided to do something a little different for those of you following our blogs. This is a blog designed to keep members and non-members updated on the things going on around the dojo. This will include events inside and outside the dojo that are directly connected to our dojo.