IN THIS ISSUE
1 - How To be Confident
2 - Brazilian Jujitsu Master, Marcello Monteiro, in Dublin for the BJJ seminar of the year! – Still time to register
3 - No Equipment, No Excuses
4- 1st Irish Eskrima (Padded Stick) Open
5- Here come the girls
6- On the Blog
7- Recommended Products (genuinely recommended, cos we think they’re great)

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1 – HOW TO BE CONFIDENT

Confidence is an integral part of not just your self defence, but day to day life. When I ask new students why they are taking up martial arts, I am often taken aback by the amount that cite confidence as one of their reasons.
I suppose this could be due the sensationalist media reporting of any violent encounter, plus the current obsession with celebrity, and more to the point celebrity waistlines. If you believe everything you see on the TV and in the papers, you simply wouldn’t step out of your front door unless you were stick thin, dressed in designer labels and accompanied by an armed escort.

But I digress.

Confidence plays a vital role in life. Without confidence we will find ourselves shying away from challenges and situations in which we will grow. We will become part of the background, unnoticed and unappreciated by all except those who prey on our type.
In an article I read may years ago from a highly accomplished self defence coach, he showed his class several video clips of people on the street and asked them to say wether or not they would select this person as a victim if they were a mugger.
Several clips were shown of various individuals, from slight females to large males, each received a mix of answers. However one clip received a resounding no. Strangely the clip showed an older gent walking with a pronounced limp and the assistance of a cane.
It was then revealed that this gent was a former special forces operative, he was then brought in to teach the course.

What the class had picked up on was this man’s (I wish I still had the article, I forget his name) aura of confidence. With confidence comes the assumption of competence.

Hopefully this illustrates a need to develop self confidence. Even if you are not looking for self defence, maybe your job or gym performance needs a boost. Unconfident people tend to get left behind, passed over in promotions. Maybe they shy away from moving up the to heavier bar in the gym, stalling their own progress.

So how do we build it?
Like everything else, it takes practice and discipline. It’s not an easy path to walk, which is why so few ever do.
To start you must first pretend. That’s right, act confident, even when you are not.
It is best to do this within an environment where you are comfortable. I will take the martial arts class for my example.

All beginners are nervous when they first step into the class. Half the battle an instructor has is to make them feel comfortable. But I want you to first acknowledge the fact that you turned up to class, that was the hardest step, now for the remainder of the class, you know that you are in an environment that is controlled and safe (unless that is, the instructor is a sham, but that’s a whole other article), you can now pretend that you are in fact a confident individual. By confidently listening to instructions, following them to the best of your ability and when asked questions, offering answers, or better yet having the self belief that you can say “I don’t know”. After all the purpose of attending a class is to learn.
After you’ve done this for one class, or even for just half the class, the next time will be a little easier. After a few classes you will find that you are no longer “acting” confident, it is no longer a pretence, it is natural. Within this controlled environment, you are confident.

The next stage is to take it out of the controlled environment and into real life.
The difference with real life is, you are now in an uncontrolled environment with very real consequences. It is these consequences that frighten people and rob them of their ability to perform.
You have already practiced acting confident in your self defence class, where there is constant supervision and everybody is in more or less the same boat as you. Outside, there is no supervision, just you, and the repercussions of your actions have meaning.
What you must do is look at the positives and negatives of your actions, and you must do this dispassionately. By detaching the emotion from a scenario you can look at it in a manner that no longer contains fear. This will help you decide on which course of action to take, whereas before you may have dithered, now you can see that the positives outweigh the negatives and you may then act confidently and decisively.

I’m not saying you must become an emotionless android, instead you must look at situations for what they are. Again, this takes practice and a lot of pretending, but over time you will become the person you are pretending to be. Eventually this whole process will become so natural that you will wonder what it was that was holding you back in the first place. You will have no need to hide behind designer labels, make up or over pumped biceps. You may find that you no longer need your iPod to block out your surroundings. Instead you will relish going out and about, seeing and hearing whatever your environment throws at you.
When people become more self confident they notice things, they see more, hear more, although not necessarily speak more. Confident people hold their heads up when they walk, they take in their surroundings, nervous people look at the ground. Confident people say what they mean, nervous people babble and ramble. Confident people stand out from the crowd if they choose, nervous people are always in the background. Confident people get mugged and attacked with far less frequency than their nervous counterparts.
Who would you rather be?

Just a final note, and a warning. Confidence is not the same as arrogance and brashness. Arrogance and brashness are as dangerous as lack of confidence. If a person doesn’t know their limits and act with honesty and humility, they have not reached a level of self confidence, they are still in the acting stage, pretending to be something they are not. These are the people that bully and cajole, the people who run others down to make themselves feel better, usually they are selfish and self serving. This is not who you want to be, by developing your confidence you develop the ability to help others build theirs, you also develop the confidence to walk away from those people and situations that will bring you down.

I often quote Georges Herbert “Be strong to be useful” which is very close to the Taoist belief of improving oneself to help those around you. Never forget this in you goals. Don’t just improve yourself for your own benefit.

 

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2 – Brazilian Jujitsu Master, Marcello Monteiro, in Dublin for the BJJ seminar of the year!

It gives me great pleasure to be able to announce the very first visit to Ireland of Brazilian Jujitsu master, Marcello C Monteiro.
Attached to this newsletter is a flyer detailing the event, please print it out for your friends or your club.

Marcello will be offering two days of training, one open and one for instructors only.
Marcello is unique in his teaching style, having simplified and systemised his teaching methods in order to accelerate the learning process for all levels, beginner through to advanced. This has seen him become one of the most in demand instructors in the world today, and awarded the rank of professor from Conselho Regional de Educacao Fisica/Brazil.
By attending the seminar you will learn effective attacking and defensive positions, counters and counters to counters, escapes, submissions, sweeps and set ups that can be used against even the most advanced opponents.

Day 1 (open day) – Leixlip Amenities Group (Community Centre), Collinstown, Leixlip.
Saturday 6 June, 1500-1800. Price €45 prebook, or €55 on door.

Day 2 (instructor only) – Wild Geese Martial Arts, Pearse st, Dublin 2.
Sunday 7 June, prebook €55 or €65 on door.

Places will be limited, so I recommend you book in advance, we will be turning people away.
Contact Mariusz on 085 710 3646, or email bookings@wildgeesema.com for further info.

Places are limited and filling up fast, contact us asap to guarantee a place

 

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3- No Equipment, No Excuses – Bodyweight exercises for home, office and anywhere else

Q: What is the most versatile and portable piece of workout equipment?

A: Your own body
I’ve seen my share of late night TV and once or twice I was almost tempted to phone up with my credit card details to buy whatever wonder gizmo they were pedalling that was guaranteed to burn fat and have you looking like the models in the background (I repeat, ALMOST).
There was always a theme to the adverts (infomercials?!). It folds away or has a compact design so it takes up very little space in the home, it will burn fat and tone muscle in zero minutes per day, and it’s all for 10 easy payments of X hundred dollars/pounds/euro’s, regardless of the machine.

Well listen to this for a sales pitch(Read aloud in a really annoying, over excited American accent) :
“Welcome to the most Advanced and Versatile training tool since the dawn of time, it’s so efficient it even burns calories when you’re sat on the sofa watching TV.
It takes up no extra space in you’re house and there’s no need for storage, it has no sharp edges so the kids can even use it. Maintenance is minimal, and on the rare occurrence of a problem, it usually fixes itself, given a few days rest. It’s also extremely portable so can be used anywhere, any time. And best of all, it’s completely free.
Yes, that’s right people I said free. No I’m not crazy, I’m not giving away old stock, the truth is, you already have one.
It’s your own body.”

Too good to be true eh? Not really, and here’s why….

For years I struggled to find a decent text detailing the ins and outs of proper bodyweight training. I couldn’t find one, so I sat down and wrote one.
I have spent most of my life working long hours, living in cramped accommodation or away travelling (sometimes a combination of all of them), this basically meant that gym memberships were an impossibility, bodyweight was simply the only way I could train.

“No Equipment, No Excuses” is the culmination of the last 15 years knowledge. From quick mini workouts on breaks at work to strength sessions without weights on contract abroad to outdoor conditioning sessions while backpacking across the globe, this book will give you the tools to train wherever and whenever you like, without the need for fancy gyms or heavy equipment.

The book contains descriptions for performing exercises for upper body pushing and pulling, core strength, leg strength, with over 200 pictures to accompanies the detailed descriptions. There’s a bonus chapter offering suggestions on how to put together the perfect workout for whatever your goals may be.

I’ve spent hours reading and researching training methods used from the modern sports science perspective all the way back to the Spartan and Persian warriors of history, I’ve spent even longer trying and testing these methods on myself, introducing them to my classes to see how other respond. I made the mistakes so you don’t have to.
You will be able to open the book and find ways of training and keeping yourself fit, strong and flexible whatever life throws at you. My own wife uses the techniques shown to get in workouts while our 7 month old son has a nap and all her gym going friends are always commenting on how lucky she is to regain her figure. Little do they know, it’s not luck, it’s efficient use of the number one fat loss machine in the world, the human body.

“No Equipment, No Excuses” will be going live as soon as our web guy has the wild geese shop page gets sorted out. However, between now and then I am prepared to offer the eBook to readers of this newsletter at a discount.
When the book goes live it will be sold at €15 or $19.99. Untill then it will be available via paypal , just pay half the listed price (€7.50) to dave@wildgeesema.com and I’ll email you a copy as soon as I receive the confirmation. If you take advantage of this offer, I’ve couple of surprises I’ll throw in along with the book.

Since I mentioned the Wild Geese shop, we intend to be able to supply the following other items to our subscribers:
Kettlebells, Training T shirts, Rash Guards, MMA & Boxing Gloves, Wraps, MMA Shorts, Protein and other supplements and more..
Keep your eyes on the website, or ask next time you’re in the club.

Regards
Dave Hedges

 

 

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4- 1st Irish Eskrima (Padded Stick) Open

The 18th April 2009 saw the very first Irish Eskrima (Padded Stick) Open tournament. Organised by Ray Chambers and supported by the Irish Council of Kali Eskrima Arnis Instructors (ICKEAI).
Eskrima in Ireland is a minority art that has never had the coverage and recognition it deserves. The ICKEAI aims to change this by uniting the instructor around the country under a single umbrella organisation with direct ties back to the Philippines. The format of the ICKEAI will not allow for politics, ego’s, profit or anything else, it soley aims to bring all instructors together to promote their art. Of course the council will be held accountable by the Philippine Council of Eskrima, Kali Arnis Masters (PCEKAM).

The event was held at Pat Whites Best of the Best tournament in Tallaght, a big thankyou to Pat for allowing us to use one of his fighting areas. Pat’s event is extremely well organised and very popular, having his support allowed us to stage an event in front of a ready audience of martial arts enthusiasts and also to keep costs to a minimum.
Fighters came in from two of the main FMA groups in Ireland, Warriors Eskrima and Chambers AMA, there was also a lone female competitor from NUIM Self Defence who gamely took part fighting the men.

Winners on the day were:
Heavyweight & Overall – Lionel, Warriors Eskrima
Lightweight – Fei, Warriors Eskrima.

A full write up with photo’s and results is being put together. There will also be a full report on the Irish Council detailing it’s aims and intentions as well as it’s homepage. We should have them to you in time for the next newsletter, if not sooner.
I wish to extend a big thankyou to all participants and especially to Ray for organising the event. Wild Geese were unable to provide fighters this time round, but we will definatley have a showing next time (Dave was roped in as a referee, not an easy job!)

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5- Here come the girls!!

Flora Women's Mini Marathon 2009 – From Kate Ryan, Rehab Group

Hi,
Preparations are well under way for the 2009 Flora Women's Mini Marathon which will take place on June 1st.
We at Rehab Group are looking for volunteers to run to help raise funds and be part of Team Rehab.

This year our focus for the Marathon will be to raise funds for our HeadsUp Suicide Prevention Programme aimed at young people between 15 and 24 years old.
The programme consists of a number of strands which include life-skills programmes for young people, a web and text based service that provides information on where to seek help as well as delivering courses aimed at those who interact with young people in their local communities.
As you know, sadly suicide is growing in Ireland with 460 registered deaths in 2007 up from 409 in 2006. Over a quarter of the deaths are in the 15-24 year age category with a significant proportion being young men.

If you would like to find out more about the programme please log on to www.headsup.iewhere there is more detail. The HeadsUp project provides valuable support in this area. This year alone we need to raise €200,000 for this service so you will see it is a very worthy cause that we hope you will support by participating in the marathon.
We'd love to have you on board as part of our team.

The 2009 Flora Women's Mini Marathon is a great fun day out providing an opportunity to get fit while raising money for this great cause and supporting those in need in your local area. If you would like to run or know of anyone else that would like to run, please register for Rehab on www.florawomensminimarathon.ie or pass this e-mail on to your friends.
If you would like to set up your own fundraising page so your friends can easily sponsor you it's easy to do. Just log on to www.mycharity.iewhere you can create your own fundraising page and keep your supporters up to date on your progress!

Let us know you're registering for Rehab and we'll send you on a pack, which contains an information sheet, t-shirt and a sponsorship card.
I look forward to hearing from you and having you as part of our team.
Many thanks,
Kate
Kate Ryan
Administration Assistant - Marketing & Fundraising
Rehab Group
Roslyn Park, Beach Road
Sandymount, Dublin 4
P. +353 (0)1 205 7231 M. +353 (0)87 980 5057 F. +353 (0)1 205 7219
E. kate.ryan@rehab.ie
www.rehab.ie

p.s. Wild Geese fitness coach, Dave Hedges, wrote an article for the athletes preparing for the mini marathon, click here to read it.

6 - On The Blogs

• Do Women have it all WRONG (Guest Post)
• Beware Your Instructor
• How do YOU rate Wild Geese Martial Arts?
• Kettlebell Instructor Certification
• No Rest for the Wicked
• Environmental Health
• 4th U.K. FMA Festival
• Open Workshop - Brazillian JuJitsu
• Brazilian Jujitsu Open Workshop
• Complex Simplicity
• Osteoperosis
• Here Come the Girls - Flora Mini Marathon 2009
• Now on Twitter and Facebook
• Mate, Gain some weight

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8 - RECOMMENDED LINKS & PRODUCTS                                                   

www.liftstrong.com

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A pretentious title but a truly fantastic book. Goes into great detail on how to perform the Deadlift safely and how to progress to massive amounts of strength without bulking up or wasting hours in the gym. I personally put 20kg’s onto my deadlift in only a few months of using the programme.

Check it out for your self Here: http://tinyurl.com/deadlift

All the best

The Wild Geese

Doce Pares Ireland / Kenpo Karate / Self Protection / Security Training

www.wildgeesema.com / wildgeesema.blogspot.com

info@wildgeesema.com

+353 87 672 6090