Joey Beltran discusses with Fighters Only’s Gary Alexander ( @imgaryalexander ) the changes made in his life and camp for his bout with Lavar Johnson. Joey also mentions this bout could be a “Loser leaves town” type of bout. Watch this fight live on Fuel TV.

This is one of my favorite fighters – The Turbine from Hell

Whether you’re studying karate, kung fu, tae kwan do, or even tai chi, sooner or later you’ll find yourself wondering How A Martial Artist Can Increase Their Punching Power. This is as vital a question to the fighting arts as “How can I beef up?” is to lifting weights. Luckily, there are ways.

So there are a few things you can do to get to where you want to be as a fighter…

Be Omnivorous

Some artists only study this style or that style. This is okay for a beginner, but if you’re a seasoned martial artist, it may be time to start branching out. Very few great martial artists study only one style. In fact, very few martial arts are pure, in terms of lineage. Most already combine several fighting arts to create a more potent, versatile fighting system. If you’re just starting out, your sensei may have issue with you jumping to another style already, but if all you want to do is hit hard, there are two forms to look into above all others: Okinawan traditional style karate, and western boxing. But remember, every style has something to offer an eager student.

Slim it Down

Size is everything in many sports… But not in the martial arts. If you think of the great football players, you think of massive mountain men. If you think of the most well known martial artist, you think Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee was skinny, small. He was able to hit incredibly hard because he didn’t have any extra weight slowing him down. Muscle training in the martial arts is all about stamina, and toning, rather than size, as in many other sports. Not all great martial artists are that thin, but when you look at true masters, if they have any thick muscle mass at all, it’s usually in the mid section, where the majority of your striking power comes from.

Stretch Longer

The more you stretch, the more you warm up before practice, the stronger you’ll be. If you look at the older martial artists, you’ll see that they always spend much more time than the younger ones when it comes to getting ready. This is, of course, partly because they need it more at their age, but it’s also because they have the wisdom of age. They know that the more you stretch, the farther you’ll go, the stronger your punches, and the less likely you are to injure yourself when you put everything you’ve got into a strike.

Kata is Everything

It’s all in the kata. Many martial artists, particularly in franchise schools, will want to skip kata and get right into the “cool” part of karate. In truth, kata is everything. Kata is zen, it will lend you everything you’ll ever need. You need to study your kata until it becomes second nature, as it contains everything you need to know, every punch, every strike, everything. The more you practice your kata, the smoother your movements will be, the faster you’ll move and the harder you’ll punch.

Brought to you by Martial Arts Equipment Direct your Taekwondo supplies headquarters. Come by and check out our excellent selection of fighting shoes such as the White ProForce Thunder Double Layered Sparring Shoes for the incredibly low price of eightteen dollars and seventy seven cents. Thanks for reading.

Most martial artists are in excellent health and wonderful shape. Yet to find out how a martial artist can increase their kicking speed one must look to the simple facts of conditioning. It is pushing yourself to get to the next level in your kicking and that means pushing your body as well.

One way to create a faster kick is actually to slow things down. Stretching is a powerful tool to create longer, stronger muscles but it is often the aspect of practice that gets either shorthanded or overlooked entirely. How you stretch is just as important as stretching itself. If you do not approach it with the safety of your body in mind you can cause an injury. So go slow and take your time. Continue Reading

Whenever a person starts to investigate the training required to participate in Mixed Martial Arts competitions, they will quickly find that diversity, flexibility, adaptability, and skill will be the answer to competing and winning these kinds of matches. To go over the very best martial arts styles suitable for MMA, it is important you get a summary of what will be necessary whenever you compete.

Mma requires the use of a mixture of combative disciplines. A person is needed to have extremely fast footwork and the ability to fight using all of their limbs. When working out for this sort of competition, an individual must practice various kinds of martial arts that they can easily use interchangeably in the ring.

An essential style that you’ll use is Muay Thai. This kind of fighting style teaches the art of using all of your limbs to kick and use your hands, shins, elbows, and knees in striking. Recently, the person with the ability to effectively strike in competition is often at an advantage.

Nevertheless, the sub-sets of the competitions require different martial arts styles. For example, in addition to Muay Thai, a person will have to master Sambo, and Judo to fight efficiently in Clinch fighting. For sprawl and brawl fighting, you will have to master full contact Karate and Thai boxing. Submission grappling will require you also include Brazilian Jiu Jitsu inside your repertoire.

Many Mixed martial arts opponents have begun their careers knowing 1 or 2 styles intimately. Therefore, the person that has a well-rounded training that encompasses Muay Thai, full contact Karate, Thai Boxing, Judo, Sambo, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will have the edge in these competitions.

Training and competition require discipline and the ability to adapt styles to meet the requirements of the competition taking place. You have to be able to adapt and overcome the style that is being used and successfully take your opponent down with the least effort. Locating the school that will provide the kind of dynamic training environment you need under the tutelage of an skilled competitor can be really helpful when you are first entering this kind of training.

Since the 90s’ the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts is continuing to grow and there are now many schools that teach the multiple styles which are required for a person to compete successfully. By concentrating on the styles and learning how to use them properly as a combatant, you are able to successfully win when competing against a rival who does not have complete control over all of the fighting techinques styles required.

By contacting a expert that has knowledge and expertise within the styles which are required, and also the advantages and benefits of each style you will need, you’ll be able to build up the Mma style that will be best when you start to enter competitions. Generally, a person who is entering Mixed martial arts training will spend several years in school learning each one of the arts before they begin mixing them for competition. There isn’t any quick method to learn mma, you will need to be persistent, disciplined and committed so that you can achieve your goal.

When practicing MMA besure to have the proper equipment such as MMA Fight Shorts and MMA Gloves it’s important to get the right gear to practice with. When buying your MMA Gear be sure to check out Clinch Gear for good quality products.

Knowing the right places to get your fight gear is important.  To help some of you out, I am listing some of the places that I have had positive experiences.

- combatsports.com : Great prices and if you need help they are easy to deal with.
- titlemma.com : Owned by Everlast.  Not a huge selection but good prices and customer service.
- ringside.com : I have only ordered from them once but they are good.  Pretty similar to CombatSports.com

If you are looking for other Muay Thai specific stuff, I suggest going to muaythaistuff.com.  They videos, apparel and lots of other cool stuff.

This is my first blog post.
For the last year I have been training at Extreme Power Muay Thai Kickboxing Gym in Oceanside, CA.  Anyone out there currently fight training at Extreme Power or another fighting gym out there?  Feel free to post some of your own experiences and I might post your story here.