Itsepuolustusta. Oikeasti.

Archive for syyskuu, 2016

20 minute magic.

Your brain gets easily bored.
Especially during this time and age, when our cellphones, tablets and other devices provide distractions from our everyday lives. If we don’t have something to do for a minute or less, most of us will immediately pick up our phones and dive into Facebook or similar.

Cure for that is simple: check your phone for messages only couple of times a day. Morning, after work and maybe in the evening. Live a little, use less social media.

But of course this is understandable. Our brains are able to concentrate fully on something for only a short period of time before our minds start to wonder to something else. It’s natural, not necessarily ADHD. 

This is also something we can take advantage of as well. 

I personally do find times during the day (not everyday of course) when I have ten to twenty minutes for… something. Something I can accomplish? Maybe train a little?

So instead of worrying about getting a 90 minute training session a day I watch out for opportunities when I can train a little bit. The training session doesn’t need to be challenging either. Just some knife tricking is good. Or maybe some squat, pushups, pull-ups and burbees. Or perhaps some shadow boxing or fighting.

Those little training sessions that you make happen every now and then will have a bigger impact if you just keep doing them.

What, when, how many?

What you can do, every time you find yourself bored (for example) and as many you feel like.

Work it.

Ukkopaini… something for everyone.


I started teaching Ukkopaini at Helsinki Martial Arts Center (HMAC). It’s a hybrid of all grappling arts, all techniques and styles are welcome. We do stuff from Jiu-Jitsu, Catch Wrestling, Greco Roman, NHB you name it. There is no set curriculum. Like Bruce Lee said,

“Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own”.

There is no heavy sparring as most of our practicioners are total beginners, none of them competing. The training is mostly for ground fighting with self defense hanging in the background. Eventhou the name Ukko might sound like it’s only for men it is for anyone, women and men alike.

As for the name, check out Ukko on Wikipedia: (english) (finnish)

Eat breakfast like a king

Eat breakfast like a king… we’ve prabably all heard the saying. But how many of us actually adhere to the advice. I myself haven’t even tried to do that. But what does it even mean? Most of your daily energy needs consumed in the morning? Because when you put it like that, it means more than just a bread, fruit and coffee. Or if that sounds a lot you are a pretty small person. Maybe a child. Nothing wrong with that of course.

The point is if you really do live up to that principle you would really need to eat like a king. Real food, like you are having a dinner or lunch.

I ate this for breakfast today. Even this isn’t enough if you should be eating a ”dinner for breakfast”. But then again, is ornng was an exception for me anyway…

So before you open your mouth telling people to eat the breakfast like a king, do it yourself first. Don’t nibble away, eat like a King (or Queen, I don’t care).

Thoughts on Alan Watts.

I have been experimenting with this spiritual shit for the couple past years. I read the Peaceful Warrior and it kinda opened up all these religious practices, mainly Zen buddhism. I still see that life has only three rules:

  • Paradox: life is mystery. No need to figure it out.
  • Humour: don’t take anything seriously.
  • Change: nothing is permanent.

Now, I have also listened to Alan Watts. Here was a man that told the world that you should stop trying to improve yourself. Criticism on Watts is of course valid: the man did drink himself to death. But there is still truth what he said, wrote and asked. We can’t find a higher self through our own actions. When faced with situations hard enough we fall back to the ways we used to handle hardships.

The human self takes over.

So basically you should forget all the religious or spiritual practices because when the hardships come you fall back to your previous self. And unless you do not, it’s not because you have attained a higher version yourself. You either grew up as a person or it simply wasn’t that hard to begin with. 

And what about improving yourself? I’m off to do some pull-ups, push-ups, squats and situps 😊 Because I enjoy it.

Getting colder…

I’m pushing myself to do the Wim Hof Method breathing exercises everyday. If I can avoid the flu season it will be worth it. I also try to work with the cold exposure as well.

The first day with the cold exposure was monday (today is friday) and it felt bad. And I was only standing still in the water so the aurrounding water didn’t feel too bad. But it got boring standing there for ten minutes. So the next day I started swimming. And I’ve been doing that ever since. It beats boredom.

It is actually expected to get flu-like symptons in the beginning but it should lessen in two weeks.