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Team Fulinkazan – Announcement 17 May 2010 11:59AMTeam Fulinkazan is coming up to its 6th birthday and it is with great pleasure that I can announce that we have finally a gym of our own!!

Starting from 1st June 2010 all Bradford Fulinkazan classes will take place here (the same building as the old Kings Gym):-

Team Fulinkazan
2nd Floor
114 Sunbridge Road
Bradford
BD1 2NE

We will be working in partnership with Joseph Thai Boxing but we now can offer a full schedule of training, classes will include MMA, Kickboxing, Brazilian Jui Jitsu, conditioning, wrestling and kids classes. Full Schedule can be found on the website:-

www.teamfulinkazan.co.uk

For more information contact us at info@teamfulinkazan.co.uk

We will be running an open mat on the 12th June 2010 10am to 2pm every one is welcome!! Add/View comments (0)

The A1 is never the best of roads 08 Feb 2010 1:41PM

On Saturday we made the long trip up to Sunderland for Total Combat for Qas and James Doyle fights.

The A1 is never the best of roads to travel on and even with whole bunch of “average speed checks” we still manage to get there an hour early.

Both Qas and James have had to work hard on there weight to get down to 77kg, the night before Pete told me James opponent was over weight by 2kg so there was some interesting activities at the weigh in but both of our guys made weight fine.

Qas won his bout with a series of takedowns and cage control, he secured a Kimura at the end of each round which looked to get the tap. It ended up going to the Judges and Qas got the nod.

James lost by judge’s decision, first round James landed more solid shorts and work for 2 darc chokes which I though would give him the edge, Second round was a bit closer but the judges gave it to the local boy.

Typical total combat event, both guys worked there b*tts off for the fight’s we fully understand when fighting that we need to finish, they will be both back in the gym shortly …. Well after eating there body weight in chocolate J

Next lot of fights for Fulinkazan will be at MAX in Pudsey on the 20^th Feb.

www.mma-max.com

Thanks to every one who came down to nandos on Sunday, it is always great to see the lads get together away from training and every one looked to have a great time.

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Pressure not power18 Jan 2010 3:15PM

One thing I see a lot of people struggling with is the difference between pressure and power/strength when grappling, it is usually more evident in newbie's.

Power and strength does have its place in grappling but it is usually miss guided through the lack of experience of newbie's, head squeezing is usually the best example of this. The Newbie is not sure what he has got but he is going to squeeze the living cr@p out of it.

So what is pressure?? ..... my interpretation of pressure is as follows :-

"the application of strength and leverage to pressure your opponent to react. The reaction of your opponent should be as you expected and you should have control at all times."

So if I am in side mount, I may put my forearm over my opponents throat and press in to create pressure on the treat. I probably won't finish my opponent, but he will react in 2 ways usually:-

1. he will push off with his far arm and give me the chance to attack for a head and arm choke or

2. he will extend his arm to push my arm off and give an arm bar/Kimura.

So I have put pressure on my opponent using strength and leverage (my arm across the throat) to create a reaction (example 1 and 2).

Hope this makes sense, if not post feel free to come down for a session, first one is free :)

Cool Stuff

1. I have lost 8kg in a month
2. Conditioning is going really well we have a team session on a Saturday and doing 1 on a Thursday, really feeling the benefits.
3. Cheat meals are excellent :-)
4. Learn Thai boxing ... started to work on it again and really enjoying it.
5. Looking forward to a Bjj session with Steve @ Manc BJJ
6. www.mma-max.com the card is coming together really well.
7. MMA Sparring on Friday's has turned in to a get session, we seem to have a new coach too ;-)
8. The Snow going
9. My Girl been brilliant and helping keeping me motivated and finding some really tasty healthy meals http://fulinkazan.myfreeforum.org/about2459.html
10. http://www.starmindcoaching.co.uk/ ... probably the reason why I am feeling so positive and motivated ... that my excellent girl and brilliant team.
11. www.flacksfitness.co.uk ... gym is coming on really well and Thanks to Martin for the offer of training there :-)

Rubbish stuff

1. Nate sp@zing me ... why do you hate me so?
2. ESPN ... your scheduling is rubbish
3. errr that's it I think ... weird oh 3 3G broadband ... it is rubbish.

Stuff to check out

1. Brendan's blog - http://www.brendanchaplin.co.uk
2. Fulinkazan forum - http://fulinkazan.myfreeforum.org/
3. Fulinkazan Leeds Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/#/album.php?aid=13609&id=100000148907059&ref=mf

Stay Funky

Spenna Add/View comments (0)

Happy New Year!06 Jan 2010 6:18PMXmas has been an interesting time for me this year, Seeing and spending time with both the Spencer and Bamford Clan is always a really happy time for me, I really do enjoy spending time with my family but usually ends up with a few shandy's and mince pies.

That been said, I have had some quality training over xmas period. Some really good sparring session with Fulinkazan lads, Brendan put through a horrible work out at south Leeds Stadium and did some great work with Richard Cadden from www.starmindcoaching.co.uk

::Other Stuff::
Brilliant... just brilliant -

http://rosstraining.com/blog/2009/12/04/iron-and-the-soul-by-henry-rollins/

Some really interesting stuff by Fulinkazan's new conditioning coach -

http://www.brendanchaplin.co.uk/Brendan_Chaplin/Home/Home.html

::Things that are pretty cool this week::

Conditioning with Brendan
Slamming folk around the shop

::Things that s*ck ball::

Snow - it is messing my training up.
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Isolation training17 Nov 2009 3:31PM

::Isolation training (single mind)::

In this blog I am going to talk about (single mind) Isolation training, I am sure people know this as many other names but this is what I call it.

When you start training, learning all the different positions, submissions, transitions of grappling it is easy to get confused, your not sure how to use your body to move, attack and defend and end up sparring erratically.

I see it all the time with beginners they have been to a few classes and maybe picked up a couple of submissions so when they are sparring they are they try and grab and squeeze any thing they can get there hands on. It is like watching a kitten been teased by a torch, it frantically chases the beam of light but never really gets any were.

So .... Pick one thing in your sparring to work on. I often work on 1 technique a month for example this month I am working on my arm bar, I understand the positions I need to be in to effectively get an arm bar, if I start sparring and end up mounted I don't just start attacking for arm bars I go through the following:-

1. Escape Mount by pushing on the knee
2. Regain Guard
3. Control opponents posture
4. Attack arm
5. Get the arm bar.

Even though I am in a bad position to start with my goal does not change. What a lot of beginners do is in the same position is

Even though I am in a bad position to start with my goal does not change. What a lot of beginners do is in the same position is

1. Start Escape mount .... its not working so proceed to plan B
2. punch body .... not working ...
3. grab arms and start twisting stuff
4. he now has my back ... I'll grab his foot and twist it
5. argghh cr@p , I now have to defend the choke

Rickson Gracie student said in the film "Choke" that Rickson would say to the student before rolling, I am going to arm bar you on your left arm and then do it. I am not saying it is any easy thing to do, but if you work your way to be able to do this it shows great skill and understanding of position.

::Other Stuff::

I found a very interesting interview (on Cage warriors) by Ryan Hall, He is more famous for having lots of wins via Triangle .... but some very interesting points:-

http://lockflow.com/viewtopic.php?p=231054

I have also started a Blog and Twitter account for my team, not much on them at the moment but keep an eye out on them:-

http://teamfulinkazan.wordpress.com - Blog

http://twitter.com/teamfulinkazan - Twitter

::Things that are pretty cool this week::

Ghetto Running
New COD/ MW
24

::Things that s*ck ball::

IKEA

Cheers for reading ...
Spenna

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5 Years old08 Oct 2009 12:44PMIt is hard to believe that it is Team Fulinkazan 5th birthday this month, it seems strange that is that long ago and we have come so far.

We are a MMA team based in the Bradford and Leeds Area we hold classes in 3 different locations and also support the Bradford University Mixed Martial Arts Club.

We are members of the Combat Base Group, we are the UK representatives for AACC in Japan and work closely with a number of other clubs in the Yorkshire and Lancashire area.

In an effort to keep the momentum going and develop our team we currently looking for sponsorship and equipment donations. If any one is interested in sponsoring/donating equipment please email info@teamfulinkazan.co.uk

Any money/donations go directly into the club and non of the instructors take any cuts.

Thanks

Mark "Spenna" Spencer
Team Fulinkazan Add/View comments (0)

Back on the saddle18 Aug 2009 11:42AMSo for the last month I have been focusing on bulking up, I replaced salads, brown rice and lean meats with pizza's, curries and burgers. I really wanted to shake things so I also cut out protein drinks and training and replaced it with Ale and sitting down.

So after undoing the hard work I had put in before Vegas and my birthday, I am working on getting my fat @rse in shape.

So in typical start up fashion, I end up popping one of my ribs which now makes it hard to move .... d@nm my luck.

I had an interesting argument with a lad who trains with me, were he was not willing to train because I would not organise a fight for him. He said (although he said this was in jest) "what's the point training, If I don't have a fight", an interesting point because I always find it harder to do the extra stuff (weights, running and plyo's) if I don't have a fight, But ... It never stops me wanting to improve my technique. Might be time to get a fight booked in ;-)

Last couple of Weeks good stuff

# Bought TUF 5 box's set for £15

# Starting to tap people with Peruvian neckties

# Team Fulinkazan Leeds

# Sprints are cool

# The Film "The Express" excellent film

Last couple of Weeks Bad stuff

# Moving house and back in to mum and dads is sh!t

# Moving to my mum and dads and then having my brother rip out the bath room preventing me from shaving and showering is also sh!t

# popping my rib

# I have joined Xbox live and slowly getting drawing in to COD 4
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The Test04 Aug 2009 6:08PMMMA attracts different personalities to the gym, I have been coaching for about 5 years and coach many different people, but there is one event that make me chuckle every time ... the test!

MMA is a fantastic sport which give people the chance to develop them selves physically, mentally, years of training and dedication in the pursuit of self improvement helps mould a person. To help improve your training some times it is best to try new gyms, training systems or different paths to test yourself.

How do you gage your progression? Well for some people a visit back to the old club is the best way to do this. I have seen this a couple of times and the guys usually fit into the following category:-

Lifted weights but not train Martial arts guy
This guy has stopped doing MMA because he wants to get his fitness levels up ... by lifting lots of weight :-/ when you have a grapple with him, every thing is power and he squeeze the cr@p out of every body part he gets his hands on.

Best thing to do with this guy is get through the 30 seconds of hell, then tap his @rse out as much as possible, hopefully the guy will realise that lifting weights does not get you ready for fighting .... probably not though.

Sp@z guy
This guy is all elbows and bone. Usual sp@z guy floats from club to club every one hates sparring with him and every roll is a chance for him to prove to the world what a great fighter he is.

He is also the guy who injures every one, best way to deal with this guy is to tell him if he spars like a sp@z and if he cause any injures to you will stamp on his face and p!ss in his mouth... this calms the beast for a bit.

The I've trained with this guy so I must be better than you now guy.
This guy probably left your team because he felt he was not improving under your tutelage, then joined another team with guys who might not be as good him, he bashes them good and then comes back to his old teacher to show who's boss....

.... sounds like a Bruce Lee film right. This guy may have also had there first fight and comes back to find out .... could he beat you in a real fight?

Dealing with this person depends on there attitude, if the guy is cool and does not go at you like a bull then you usually get a pretty good spar out of them.

If the guy is there to prove a point he will probably try and put it on you straight away and try and server you in front of your class ... only one way to deal with this .... smash good!

Stay Funky
Spenna Add/View comments (0)

Vegas and Pirates24 Jul 2009 2:31PM

Sorry for not blogging for a little bit, had 2 weeks off for my 30th Birthday in which I went to Vegas for UFC 100 and got very drunk dressed as a pirate.

The trip to Vegas was awesome, it took 15 hours to get there but US Airways has tons of leg room, much better than most of the other flights I have been on to EU countries.

We stayed at Mandalay Bay which is where the UFC was been held, we though it would be pretty cool to stay at the same hotel as event. We thought it would be nice to not to walk so far to get back the room after the event ....... it only took us 50mins !! The hotel is massive.

Got to go train at Xtreme Couture, could not get into the fighters session so I just attend a couple of classes, Thai boxing and Jui jitsu. Both were interesting and I think I got some thing from both. It was interesting to see some of the fighters training, but is a shame I didn't get chance to train with them.

I was impressed with Shaun Tomkinson, he did a weights session and then straight into 4hrs of teaching privates, I think it is easy as a coach just to lay back and not develop yourself.

Wandy cancelled my Private !!!! I was absolute gutted, didn't find out until the Friday so didn't have chance to change my plans for the weekend.

The UFC was excellent, had a really good time at the show and the expo, got to have a quick chat with Greg Jackson which was cool and got a picture of Uno which was excellent!. While having our breakfast on the Sunday after the UFC, Jens Pulver sat the next table over from Marie and I which was a bit weird, I went over and had a quick chat with him, very nice guy.

Things I found weird about Vegas/UFC:-

1. While waiting for the reception lady at Xtreme Couture's to pull her finger out and order me a taxi (it only took here 40 minutes!) there were loads of people turning up, just to watch the fighters train, all these "fan boys" getting really excited about sitting watching fighters hit pads.

2. Again at Xtreme Couture's, Phil Baroni was running around and then randomly announced he need some thing to read while he went to the toilet. So he ran into the office at the side then came walking out with a protein tub and head to relieve himself :-/

3. The impact of ultimate fighter was evident at the UFC Expo, people would queue for ages to get pictures of ex ultimate fighter members, but fighters like Uno and Lutter would just walk around not getting pestered ... well apart from me.

4. When trying to put an accumulator on at the Sports book, it took me and Marie 20 minutes to work out what was going on. Also got told that in the US it is call a "parlay", I thought only pirates used that word, but as a soon to be Pirate I was excited. .... I didn't win, Bonnor and Mir let me down.

5. I also thought it was weird that every shop assistant became Marie's new best friend, one of them tried selling me a sparkling t-shirt .... I didn't buy it

6. Eating at the Stratosphere, was a little hard to get my head around because you are slowly moving around as you eat .... not a great combination.

7. Freemont Street ...... really not that great ..... video to follow ....

8. US Airways air stewardess are a little rude, if you don't like people asking for stuff you should find another job.

Things I liked about Vegas/UFC:-

1. All you can eat breakie buffet lots of interesting food, including breakfast pizza.

2. The Mix (http://www.mandalaybay.com/dining/mix.aspx) the best and most enjoyable meal Marie and I had in Las Vegas, excellent service, ExcellAdd/View comments (0)

MMA Jigsaw04 Jun 2009 12:03PM

Putting the pieces together is complicated; it is very confusing part of becoming a MMA fighter and all too often people miss part of puzzle.

This has been something of a fault of mine over the last 3 years and from the results I have had (all loses) it is evident that I don’t quite have it right. So what makes up an MMA fighter?

Well you could put a very simplistic list together by looking at the skills of some of the UFC fighters –

Jui jitsu

Wrestling

Striking

But is this it? Well no … even the most greenest of newbie’s know that you have got to have conditioning, cardio and power training … after all we have all seen Rich Franklin train on YouTube.

Ok, so here is the plan. I need to lift weights, hit pads, roll around with sweaty men and go for long runs like rocky … sound simple? … sound too simple?

Well as I have being finding out over the last few years it really is, so much more goes into a training and development plan. Yes lifting weights is important but there is no point lifting like a body builder when you want throw people about.

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Training around injuries12 May 2009 12:15PM

It will happen, no matter how you might try and reduce the risk any sport that lets you punch, kick, squeeze and crank another person... risk is always involved and you will pick up injuries.

I am currently another week away from been able to spar and reflecting on my time I have spent this last 2 weeks could have been used it much better than sulking and feeling sorry for my self.

It is always easier to look for ways out than ways around ... and sadly I took the way out.

So what could I have done.... well loads it was only my eye was cut, I could have Ran, lift weights, pad work any thing that didn't involve getting hit or wrestled. But even if it was my ankle I could have worked weights, stretch my top half ... any thing that did not put pressure on my legs.

So unlike me work around the problem areas.

Spenna

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Introduction20 Apr 2009 2:40PM

My name is Mark “Spenna” Spencer and fight (well sort of), Teach and train out of Team Fulinkazan which is based in Bradford, West Yorkshire at the Kings Gym.

I have been involved in Martial arts for 9 years and 8 of those in BJJ/MMA, I have fought professional for most of that time, I don’t have a great record but hopefully some better training will sort this.

As well as training and teaching at Fulinkazan, I try and get over to Manchester Predators and Caged Steel to get some sessions in. Team Fulinkazan are members of the Combat Base Group and the official representatives for AACC in Japan.

I am looking to get some more fights in but between work and injuries I am finding hard to get the training in…. You can tell I am getting old ;-)

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