tournament coming up

[wolf30]

I have a tournament coming up in about a month from now. It will be a full contact wtf tournament. I will be competing in the green belt/blue stripe adult 17-29 category. I am wondering what are some good strategies or preparations I should take prior to competing at the tournament? I have been working really hard for the past few months on my training. My cardio/endurance has greatly improved. I find I have a lot more energy now and can last longer. I was not breathless or tired during my last sparring class whereas a few weeks ago I was grasping for air at the end of class. My training regime consisted of 200-250 roundhouses in sets of 10/20/30 switching constantly. I have now started to put a mouth guard when performing that in order to make it harder for me to breath and also to make my lungs work harder. Right now I am at 250 kicks and I am slowly trying to build it up by 50 roundhouses each week or two. My doubles/triples/quad roundhouse speed has improved greatly.I do 3 sets of 30 crunches at the end of every class. Taking punches to my stomach from my classmates to build up a stronger stomach so I can withstand kicks.

skipping rope to build up my footwork and strengthen my calf muscles as well as jogging. I was stretching at the end of every class but now I'm trying to stretch every night before I go to sleep. I have also been working on my counters and also strategies on how to attack. So far the counters I've been practicing include back kick, spinning hook kick, push kick for roundhouse counters in both open and close stance. triple roundhouse to attack when in open stance. I've also been working on my jumping back kick but my form isn't perfect which is probably due to me not being flexible enough. I'm keeping my hands clenched when I spar but my master said to not block but instead to avoid it unless I want my hand to break. I no longer have my fingers sticking out but instead always have a clenched fist because I learned my lesson from getting kicked in the fingers a while back. When I'm at school I also do a full body weightlifting routine which includes squats, bench press, preacher curls, etc. I think I've kind of overworking myself since I started experiencing back pain this week and my master said my back muscle was tight probably due to overworking. Now I have to take a few days off to let my back heal as I experience pain when kicking or stretching. I think physically at that green belt level I'm prepared for the guys I will face but the mental aspect is still bothering me. The last full contact tournament I went to was 3 years ago and I was a yellow belt with a green stripe and everyone at my dojang said I was going to win so I got a little over confident and wasn't prepared. At the tournament I ended up facing a guy who just busted another guys nose with spinning hooks and axes. I ended up getting really nervous and choked and lost as I was not used to sparring with all those people looking at me, the pressure and I also did not know how to defend against his spinning hook kicks. So after a 3 year lay off and finally taking tkd again for the past 7 mths, this will be my return debut full contact match. I'm trying to not make the same mistake again by taking it lightly, in fact I'm the only one who's actually taking it seriously at my dojang.Two of the guys at my dojang said I need to chill out but they are going to be in for a rude awakening at the day of the tournament.

Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

 

[Bumblebee]

Your training sounds good. I would also work on push and side-kicks as well as roundhouse kicks. During a tournament you're typically going to go up against two kinds of fighters. The first one will usually try to charge in and overpower you. This is when the push and side-kicks come into play. When the guy is coming at you throwing roundhouses he's typically open for a thrusting kick of some sort. The second type you'll encounter is the exact opposite where they will try to be more docile and look for counter attacks. With this type I tend to be more aggressive and throw a lot of kicks. Also don't limit yourself to one kick when sparring, but don't always throw multiple kicks. The more you mix things up, it'll only be natural that your actions will be harder to predict. Also your resting is just as important as your training. Remember, if you're tired during a tournament, it can really mess you up. Last thing I'd advise is to relax. You know what you can do, so do it.

 

[FearlessFreep]

Small world...I will be in a tournament coming up in mid April here in Colorado...

Yeah, training is stepping up... Practice in all hogus (even doing poomsae) more cardio.....

 

[terryl965]

Cardio Cardio and more Cardio

 

[wolf30]

Your training sounds good. I would also work on push and side-kicks as well as roundhouse kicks. During a tournament you're typically going to go up against two kinds of fighters. The first one will usually try to charge in and overpower you. This is when the push and side-kicks come into play. When the guy is coming at you throwing roundhouses he's typically open for a thrusting kick of some sort. The second type you'll encounter is the exact opposite where they will try to be more docile and look for counter attacks. With this type I tend to be more aggressive and throw a lot of kicks. Also don't limit yourself to one kick when sparring, but don't always throw multiple kicks. The more you mix things up, it'll only be natural that your actions will be harder to predict. Also your resting is just as important as your training. Remember, if you're tired during a tournament, it can really mess you up. Last thing I'd advise is to relax. You know what you can do, so do it.

Ya thats what I'm kind of doing now. The ones I tend to have most trouble with are the ones that love to rush into me, I use push kick for these type of fighters. As for the passive type I throw multiples so that its harder for them to counter me, as I'd already be throwing my second kick at them when they are launching there counter for my first kick. I only really use multiples if I want to fake or take guys who are waiting to counter me. I usually only throw one kick as a counter. As for my resting, I'm really working on upping my cardio so I don't get tired. I'd most likely have 3 rounds of 2minutes in total for my 3 opponents assuming I'd advance to the final round. So I plan on having enough energy to last all three rounds. I was thinking about wearing a mask when I do cardio to make it harder for me to breath and to work my lungs harder.