Inside 90 days

From june the 18^th I am inside the 90 days before the Karate EMG, the European Master Game of Karate that will be held in Lignano, close to Udine, Italy September 18^th and 19^th. From the times I was member of the Italian National Karate team, for the great international competitions, the last 90 days meant a period of very great harshness in training. My personal training on the beach and inside the gym started to become much more heavy and brutal. Those special periods of training with the Italian National team could be held in any part of the Country, and we were called just one or two days before, at those times advised with a telegram. In these special meetings the training became terrific, especially under the athletic and physical point of view. It could became a real hell. Very famous karatekas, down of preparation were harassed, humiliated. I saw people chased away from the training camp, others just leave exasperated. Nowadays, at the age of almost 48, I remember with a smile the years of youth. And surely, I do not torment myself of hard work ahead of the european competition in September . But I just wanted to propose again to myself the importance of the last 90 days. Now I am facing very specific workouts every day, once a day. In August I will take workouts to twice a day, provide that the daily schedule will allow me. As a matter of fact, at the age of twenty my inexperienced and young mind was worried just about two things: sex and karate. Now, the mature age, should have brought me , in theory, wisdom and foresights, obliged me to take care of much more things. Becoming a professional Martial artist has been chasing a dream for the most of my life and that I realized with great satisfaction, but now it takes many hours of the day. I am not married, but the duties and the pleasures of a great girlfriend like my beloved Francesca are very demanding …. Especially from her point of view, with her great patience. When I was 20, relationships with a girl was not really a matter of problems, jumping from party to party. I have two beautiful dogs that me and my girlfriend have saved from horrible kennel, one in Rome and one in Spain. With the year goes by I also discovered others passions and hobbies like reading and writings, now part of my daily schedule. Where can I find the energy to do all these things? Well, really I don’t know! What I really know, and I am pretty sure about that is the stimulation of the competition still really electrifies me. Put again myself into the ring, try again after so many years, literary lights my spirit. To train, basically, I never lacked motivation, since I made my passion my work, and it was never a matter of money that push me more, Never! In the past I refused big economical proposals simply because the people with whom I was supposed to work did not reflect the principles of karate to which I have standardized for all my life.

Is it easy follow and respect the daily training timetable? No way! At 6 o’clock in the morning when I have to start my routine I feel like something horrible had happened to me. But then, in one way or gasping in another I can get dressed as best I could and in-ear ear or dog on a leash, I am going to my hour of toil. Work out, jogging, specific technical training, stretching, tai chi, chi kung, in studied and calculated dose, is part of my daily routine. Will I be able to win the tournament in September? Who knows it? But this the salt of the competition! Do I train so hard to win? Well, surely not for losing, but the score, this time is not so important. So, why I joined the competition and I train, in spite of everything, so intensely? Because I enjoy it and above all, I am free to lose.Bye my friends Christian Gonzales