Sport chivalry vs show biz primitivism

I will not mention actual names. Everyone who is following MMA and UFC will know them. I am talking about 2 most famous Croatian mma fighters, of which one lives and train in the Croatia and other one in the USA, and a certain sport promoters of Bosnian and Herzegovinian origins.

This sport promoters was or are managers of the fighter who lives and train in the Croatia. That fighter was very successful in the Japan fighting in the K1 organisation and later in the Pride. Congratulations on the K1 success! But now when I compare Pride and UFC fighters and rules Pride looks so much inferior in both aspects. Proof for my thesis is that fighter performance in the octagon where he was heavily knocked out several times ultimately suffering from brain seizures which made him retire from both competing and training. Who was his manager(s) who, in the pursuit of the profit, naively pushed him into the octagon which was much more serious and by so participated into the development of the circumstances that led to the stroke(s) and retirement?

Now one of that particular managers deals advices to the second fighter which lives and trains in the USA. To the fighter who is truly modest and inspiring to such a rare extent in the UFC world and even beyond. To the fighter who in the ordinary life still works as a firefighter despite the fact that he has earned millions of dollars.

How noble is that!

What a great fellow he is!

He is one of the last chevaliers in the sport!

And that Herzegovinian sport manager comes in the media and starts talking how it would be better to exploit the fact of fighter also being firefighter and a family guy.

Listen, exploit yourself and leave the true role model in peace. He did what he did exactly because he was like he was. With promoters like you he would probably end up like the fighter from Croatia has. Maybe he even wouldn’t take and defend UFC belt. People like you only see profit in the sport. People like you destroy the sport for the sake of the profit not fighters or the audience. You teach audience to enjoj in the mutual insults and bloodshed instead teaching them dedication and nobility which are the core, the essence of every martial art.

Today he is what he is because he was what he was! And where is your fighter? In the wheelchair having seizures as the crown of his career.

Science of sleeping

I titled this article “science of sleeping” because indeed there is so much knowledge related to it.

Let`s start from the basics: skip eating heavy food late in the evening. Heavy meaning hard to digest. Do not drink a lot of fluid before going to sleep. If it is warm then wear light clothes and take off your socks. If it is cold dress warmly and leave socks on your feet. Turn off all light sources like bulb, tv or monitor. If street light is strong then pull the curtains on. Adjust the temperature if possible to the 20-25 Celsius. Air ionizer is good thing to have. Avoid looking at any source of light, for example tv or smartphone, 1-2 hours prior to sleep. Eye nerves must not be irritated in order to start sleeping because secretion of melatonin is directly connected to the presence of the light.

7-9 hours of sleeping per night, with all 4 REM phases completed, is a law without exception. Every deviation no matter how small will be felt next day. There is dangerous tendency among malicious politicians and employers who promote less than 7 hours of sleep. With years that lead to serious brain conditions like stroke and even diseases such as Alzheimer`s. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are negative examples. They both slept only 5 hours per night and developed Alzheimer`s.

Also, without enough sleep our entire body deteriorates. It is the sleep when our muscles grow, metabolism clenses, brain recombines and skin rejuvenates. Sleep helps regulate body weight: lack of sleep is tightly connected to obesity.

I admit that I am not perfect. I try to obey this rules every night but sometimes I fail either because I work late or because I have fun. But at least 70-80% of my nights are in good order. There is an actual anegdote. People often ask me why do I look so young. My skin gives away 20 years of age not 40. I answer: vices at minimum and plenty of sleep. People are astonished because many of them drink, smoke and sleep poorly.

Too less sleep undermines cognitive abilities.

Something very ugly is happening. People who sleep too less become accustomed to inferior cognitive abilities simply identifying them as natural. It is because they do not follow changes. My secret is having landmarks. I exactly know what and how much I can do when properly rested and always compare it to the states when I am tired and unslept. If I fall under my standard I seek first bed to take a good night sleep.

Afternoon nap serves better than any cup of coffee. It refreshes and let you spend your evening almost like it is morning.

Always before sleep find best comfortable position.

If you can not sleep then try to relax your muscles, suppress unnecessary thoughts and concentrate on slow and deep breathing.

Never do anything if not properly slept and rested. You risk accidents and injuries.

Bear in mind that any stimulant, like coffee, just delays onset of fatigue and sleepness and even accumulates the two. Plus the side effects.

Brain needs to sleep! Lack of sleep and dreaming during the night brain will compensate during the day. Sleepy people suffer from delusions, disorientation and hallucinations. They fall in the mental state similar to the delirium tremens.

Do not suplement with melatonin unless you suffer from jet lag.

Source (in any order): 1/2 dr. Matthew Walker, 1/2 my own experience.

Causes of fatigue

Causes of fatigue are very important subject when talking about fitness training especially in the endurance sports.

Postponing the fatigue, as well as recovery from it, is the main factor determining the sport performance and prevention of injuries.

To counter the fatigue we must understand the mechanism of how it occurs.

Mechanism is multiple. First of all, there are two types of fatigue: central and peripheral. Central is related to the CNS while peripheral to the skeletal muscles and nerves.

Regarding the CNS fatigue it is the change in the ratio of neurotransmitters in synapses dopamine (fall) and serotonin (rise) that leads to inadequate generation of the motoric commands in the motoric cortex. Another reason of the CNS fatigue is the need for sleep which occurs due to the accumulation of the neuromodulator adenosine as a consequence of spending stores of glycogen in the brain (Heller and Benington 1995.). Adenosine is made as a metabolite of ATP decomposition. ATP is the molecule that contains high energy in the form of two phosphate bonds and it is essential for the muscle contraction. Adenosine receptors that trigger sleepiness can be tricked with usage of stimulants like caffeine with a delay of somnolency as a result. The problem is that all other fatigue mechanisms are untouched by it. So, the tiredness will continue to build up camouflaged and catch you amplified when the stimulant lose its effect (half-life). If you keep on tricking adenosine receptors, sooner or later your body will collapse or get injured. Imagine constantly filling car with gas and driving. Is it possible forever? Of course not. Each part has its shelf life. If nothing else tires shall wear down. Someone can say that it will take a very long time to happen so. Well yes, but human body is much more complex and, consequently, much more sensitive.

Regarding peripheral fatigue there are 4 reasons: energy depletion, muscles acidosis, disturbance in the concentration of the inorganic Phosphate (Pi) and Potassium (K+) and the reduced Calcium (Ca2+) release together with decreased sensitivity of contractile proteins.

Energy depletion: in human body there are 3 sources of energy – carbohydrates, proteins and fat. Proteins are primarily used as building materials for muscles not actually the energy source. Only when there is no CH and fat left body starts to eat itself meaning proteins will be used as fuel. Main source of energy are CH stored mostly in the muscles, small amount in liver and brain, in the form of glycogen. Next in line is fat. Even the skinny people have enough fat to run several marathons. Fat gives more energy than CH but it is harder and slower to transform it. The secret is in the adaptation of the body metabolism. Experienced runners use special diet: they eat less CH forcing body to switch to the fat and when training they run really long distances which activates fat consumption above normal level. Now when you think about this it becomes obvious that energy depletion as a cause of fatigue can be easily avoided. You just need to properly eat before, during and after the race. It is necessary to ingest 300g of complex CH 4 hours prior to the event because time of digestion is 3-6 hours which means you will use it exactly during the course. Simple CH are taken together with isotonic drinks during the event because they digest fast. Isotonic drinks contain similar concentration of salt (Sodium) and electrolytes (minerals) as found naturally in the human body. WARNING!: Water is not an isotonic drink! Runners who drink water during the sport event become and finish dehydrated. Sport events organisers who serve ordinary water as a refreshment, to selfishly reduce their expenses and put more money from entry fees into their purse, should be penalised in the court of law.

Muscle acidosis: accumulation of the Hydrogen (H+), resulting in the lower pH, and lactic acid (lactate) in the muscles and blood plasma. Latter not so because of mere existence or elevated level but because of the clogging of the metabolic buffering system. Actually, lactate can be used as energy source transforming into pyruvate or glucose.

Disturbance in the concentration of the inorganic Phosphate (Pi) and Potassium (K+): increase of Pi reduces force output, accumulation of K+ inside the t-tubules negatively affects action potential.

Reduced Calcium (Ca2+) release together with decreased sensitivity of contractile proteins: is the major cause of peripheral fatigue. Happens due to the oxidative stress.

Source: McKenna 2008.

Target: total 80kg in the bench press!

Today I did my regular strenght training and tried to bench press 45kg 30 times. I stayed at 25 reps. Since I can bench press total of 77kg I found that for me personally total of 77kg is equivalent to the 25 reps with 45kg. When I achieve either total of 80kg or 30 reps with 45kg I should be able to do second exercise as well.

I set my training target in the bench press to the total of 80kg. I give myself 2+1 weeks. I will continue taking Creatine Monohydrate 5g per day and 10g during training days and start doing isometric exercise push against the wall.

Strenght training theory lesson: there are two basic types of muscle exercise – isotonic and isometric. Isotonic uses dynamic action meaning contraction with movement while isometric uses static action meaning contraction without movement. What is the main difference? Amount of energy consumption is divergent for sure, but I think that the most important thing is the number of muscle fibers involved. I feel like isometric exercise utilizes them all. Isotonic utilizes exactly the number necessary to perform against particular resistance.

…

Today is 31.8. and I still didn’t bench pressed 80kg nor 30 reps with 45 kg. I will give it one more try following weekend. If I fail again then I will add maximal output exercise to my bench press routine as well as continuing with Creatine MH suplementation and isometric training.

Obviously 2+1 was pretentious. Maybe not if I had maximal output exercise already incorporated into my practise regime. This way I am behind schedule but every mistake can also be considered as a lesson. I remind you of another circumstance which I mentioned in earlier post about bench pressing 77kg. I have only 69 kg of bodyweight. Furthermore, I only do bench pressing once per week because rest of the days I have other things in my training repertoire such as cardio, flexibility and pull ups.

Certainly, if I concentrate(d) only or mostly on the bench pressing, for example every day or every other day, then I would succeed in the given deadline. Talking about this, I think about doing maximal output bench press every day since soon I intend to change my entire training routine in order to better serve desired functionality.

To be honest, I believe I can bench press 45kg 30x right now only if I properly rest. Last week I slept poorly which was huge obstacle. There are many reasons for that and I started to deal with it. First of all, I will thoroughly clean my room and arrange things. Then I will avoid exposing my eyes to the any form of light 1-2 hours before going to sleep. I will also bring in all other relevant matters which affect sleeping. This subject is very important so I will dedicate special post to it in the near future.

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Get out of my way!

I wanted to write this post for a long time. I already mentioned some issues in my open letter to the athletic club I belong(ed).

The story goes like this: some ten years ago I was invited to join certain athletic club. I did. I expected training advices and logistics. Didn’t get neither of that.

1) As years went by, I noticed that some members were relieved from paying dues without clear criteria. That is one thing I do not like. If someone wants to be relieved he or she should come in front of the assembly, show adequate document from social services and ask to be relieved.

2) The Club statute and financial reports must be published on club’s website so that management is transparent. Detailed financial reports must be available on demand.

3) During 20 years of running I learned a lot and I gathered precious experience about training overall. I visited many international races such as Berlin marathon, Amsterdam half-marathon, Jerusalem marathon, Lausanne 10km, etc. I was never invited to share my knowledge or to participate in club planning. I find that demeaning. At the same time I was called to open bag of chips and tested will I comply with the command. I waited to see is anyone really interested in eating that garbage after the race. No one showed interest but they asked me am I going to take that chips home with me? More humiliation. I opened the bag and offered chips to people present. So, I study and practice running for 20 years to open a bag of chips?

4) No one in the club taught me how to diagnose my feet anatomy in order to buy adequate running shoes and prevent injuries. Years went by and so did my health. Troubles originating in my feet translated onto knees and lower back. I started research and corrected the problem with special insoles and even special running shoes for pronation. Athletic coaches and runners in Croatia do not care about science. They just force running until desired result is achieved or person collapses. If person collapses then it is mocked and cast away. It is common issue in Croatia: the approach is raw and suitable only for those who are genetically predisposed to sustain hard effort. Others are discarded and mocked. If you are small and weak – you are mocked. If in the runners community you do anything but running, for example sport managing and marketing like I do, you are mocked. I couldn’t learn anything in the school either. Not in the elementary not afterwards in the middle. Teachers were silent either because they didn’t know anything or because they were lazy to teach us. Even decorated teachers were silent or lazy to teach us which cast shadow on entire profession who decorated them. Everything I know about sport, running, training and martial arts: I learned all by myself. Nothing in the school gym class or from athletic society. That is such a paradox! I know that we have great faculty of kinesiology and many experts, but where are they? Not in the public schools and not in the amateur athletic clubs for sure.

5) Once I was running a race which was organised by Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb. After the race there was a short reception in the hall. I met secretary of athletic club to which I belong(ed) and, suddenly, dean of F. of M. appeared beside us. I know rules of decent behaviour. In that particular situation I had no right to introduce myself to the dean. Secretary was older than me and had certain college degree. The proper thing to do was for secretary to introduce himself to the dean and then to introduce myself to the dean. Both of them were waiting for my action. After a while I turned and walked away. They interpreted it as my weakness or lack of culture. How stupid is to think that! Two highly educated people, of which one is dean, do not know rules of etiquette and consider me, the only one who is acting accordingly, to be rude.

6) When President of athletic club met me in the court, where I worked, President of the court joined us briefly since they knew each other from before. Instead of saying something in my favour, he said something silly and made my eyes turn around due to the discomfort. He said look at the image of the horse on his t-shirt and asked is it appropriate to have a t-shirt with image of the horse in the court of law.

7) I usually note my personal amateur sport achievements on social media to praise a bit. I am not saying look I am an Olympic winner, but rather look I accomplished something nice which is modest but it shows my efforts, life interest and I am proud of it. I have 3 hours and 13 minutes personal best time in marathon. The president of athletic club, in half serious manner, in joking like fashion, said to me why do I brag about my result when he has much better personal best being 2 hours and 48 minutes. What do you care about my result and my social media posts? I have the right to say and write what I want! Every runner is an individual. I know how much time, effort and money I have invested in my results. Under the club flag which gave me nothing in return. That stingy club didn’t help me with 1 Euro to buy new running shoes. They did nothing for me! They havent’t taught me anything useful. They didn’t help me with single bit. I spent my own time, my own energy and my own money just to get disrespect from them. However, at club’s annual gathering I did saw 4 pieces of pizza folded and swallowed at once.

8) Last weekend I met President of the athletic club during my regular run. We started talking and when I asked him why is he underrating my running results he answered that I am too sensitive about it. I am too sensitive? But it was you who inappropriately started the subject giving utterly no credit to my personal efforts. It was you who reacted at my post. My 03:13 marathon result is bad? 99% of the people does not even run marathon. I estimate that 50% of those who do run have worse result than me. The most important thing is that no one invested any money into my result except me personally, so no one has moral right to speak about my sport results either.

Well, to be honest, my personal marathon best 3 hours and 13 minutes is a result I would like to improve. 3 hours and 10 minutes sounds good. 2 hours and 59 minutes sounds even better. 2 hours and 45 minutes smells delicious.

Regarding all the annoying people this world is full off:

GET OUT OF MY WAY!

I run by myself and for myself from now on.

I CARRY MY OWN FLAG FROM NOW ON!

GET OUT OF MY WAY BECAUSE PROGRESS WILL RUN YOU DOWN! FUTURE BELONGS TO THE BRAVE AND I HAVE PLEDGED ALLEGIANCE WITH HEAVENS ABOVE!!

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Streetworkout Kušlanova, 12/7/2020

Screenshot_20200712-215901_Video PlayerNakon testa maksimalne snage u bench press u kojemu sam uspio potisnuti od prsa 77kg, krenuo sam napraviti reportažu iz Kušlanove. Tamo se nalazi lijepi poligon sa raznim spravama.

Napravio sam široke zgibove 10x iza glave, 2x 10x uske zgibove i 20x običnu vježbu za tricepse jer je neka ekipa zauzela spravu za deepseve. Nisam se htio miješati s njima zbog aktualne korona krize a i palo mi je na um da deepseve odradim u Maksimiru. Otišao sam u Maksimir i napravio 10 ponavljanja. Još sam napravio 10x široke zgibove na prsa. To je prvi put da ih ubacujem u svoju trening rutinu i svidjelo mi se.

Slijede streetworkout reportaže sa Bundeka i Jaruna.

Netko će se možda zapitati kako to da nema drugih vježbača osim mene? Zato što biram takvo doba dana kada je najtoplije jer želim imati čiste slike streetworkout poligona. Upoznao sam neke vježbače ali sam pazio da ih ne hvatam u kadar svoje kamere. Nisam još poznat kao blogger pa da izbjegnem neka moguća pitanja na koja mi se ne da odgovarati s obzirom da čuvam snagu za izvođenje planiranih vježbi.Screenshot_20200712-220039_Video Player20200712_173840

77kg u bench press, 12/7/2020

Nedjelja, 12.7.2020.

Već tjedan dana jedva čekam današnji dan. Planirao sam test maksimalne snage u bench press vježbi – potisak s prsa. Htio sam prvi put u životu podići 80kg ali čim sam došao do 75 znao sam da to danas neće biti moguće. Radio sam po jedno dizanje sa 45, 55, 65, 70, 72.5 i 75kg za zagrijavanje i pripremu. 72.5 i 75 mi je išlo dosta teško ali sam uspio bez tzv. varanja. Pokreti su bili pravilni. Onda sam stavio 77kg iznad sebe. 70kg utega i šipka sa navojima 7kg.

Znači, 77kg je iznad mene. Vagao sam se prekjuče: 69kg imam (na 175cm visine). Razlika je 8kg. Svaki čovjek bi trebao moći potisnuti vlastitu težinu u benchu ali to je moguće jedino ako se redovito vježba. Prestaneš raditi neku vježbu par tjedana i već padaš za 20-30% u izvedbi, a nakon mjesec dana i preko 50%. Nemoj raditi par mjeseci i morati ćeš krenuti od 0.

Uspio sam dići 77kg u bench pressu bez problema. Ali nisam ni pokušao ići dalje. Trebaju mi još 2-3 tjedna treninga. Moram vas upozoriti da ja treniram snažnu izdržljivost sa 45 i 55kg a ne maksimalnu snagu. Ova vježba zapravo nije u mom repertoaru. Moj repertoar čine višestruka podizanja manjih težina. 45kg dižem 25x, a 55kg 15x. No čini mi se da ovakve periodične tranzicije između snažne izdržljivosti i maksimalne snage pozitivno utječu na obje izvedbe.

Slijedeći vikend ću pokušati dići 45kg 30x. A onda se prebacujem isključivo na maksimalnu snagu tako da kroz 2-3 tjedna dignem 80kg u bench press. Početi ću raditi statički potisak uz pomoć zida.Screenshot_20200712-204905_YouTubeScreenshot_20200712-205034_YouTubeScreenshot_20200712-205103_YouTubeScreenshot_20200712-205114_YouTube

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