Competition Behavior Expectations

Foundation Chicago affiliation team members have been busy the past two weeks competing across two states. They’ve displayed great technique, heart, and support for their training partners.

Prof. Elias and other coaches have also noticed areas where we can improve our representation of ourselves, our art, and our teams. In the below video Elias discusses some finer but important points of how members of our affiliation should know we expect them to behave at competitions.

In short, we need to think beyond the moment and ourselves and show empathy and awareness for others’ experiences. Our world-facing politics that we’re so proud of don’t mean much if we’re rude to others, and if we’re kind and supportive of others as well as our own training partners we can show people that the martial arts world can be kind and safe, and create more friends along the way!

Women's Self-Defense Seminar, June 15!

On June 15th Coaches Elias and Karina will be conducting a women’s self-defense seminar with our friends in Lincoln Park at Studio Fit Chicago! We’re doing it for donations to support our non-profit organization, Pilsen Defense & Access, which supports our kids scholarship program. If you’re a woman and interested in taking part in the seminar, Register Here, and come join us June 15th at 11:30am at Studio Fit Chicago, located at 1011 W. Armitage.

We’ll post more details on what we’ll be covering, soon, so stay tuned and spread the word to help women empower themselves and support our kids program scholarship fund!

Standing Striking Basics - Snap Back to Your Guard

When we’re throwing punches it’s important and useful to use offensive and defensive principles in concert with one another. In many ways the principles that help us with our striking offense also help our striking defense at the same time.

For example, you may know that you should snap your punches out nice and fast when you throw them in order to have a better chance at catching your opponent with your sharp offense. As it turns out, you want to snap your hands and arms back to your own guard (covering your face and body) after throwing your offense just as rapidly as you snapped your punches out.

If we drop our hands low or retract them back to our guard too slowly, we can be timed and countered too easily. Watch the above short instructional and work this during your shadowboxing rounds as well as on the pads, bag, and in sparring!

Standing Striking Basics - Avoid Crossing your Feet

In today’s short instructional video Professor Elias demonstrates and discusses the way we want to move our feet when fighting in order to avoid crossing our legs in ways that will compromise our balance, mobility, and ability to absorb impact. Watch, study, share, and then put it into practice with your shadowboxing and pad work!