Coming from a martial arts family, Kenneth's journey began at quite a young age. He has experience and success competing at the highest level in multiple martial arts. Such as ITF Taekwon-Do, WT Taekwon-Do and WKF Karate. In ITF Kenneth is a 2x World Cup Champion, in WT he represented Jamaica at the London Olympics in 2012 and in Karate he is hopeful of qualifying for the Olympics in Tokyo through the Paris qualifier. Today I chat the Kenneth about his journey through multiple sports, the Olympic experience, his thoughts on ranking/seedings in ITF and more! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/  TKDWear Website: www.TKDWear.com Promo Code: BLACKBELTER Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tkdwear/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkdwear

Ryan has been training in martial arts since he was 4 years old. He has represented Canada in both taekwon-do and karate. In taekwon-do he is a 3x World Champion winning gold in 2015, 2017 & 2019. As a karate competitor Ryan is hopeful of qualifying for the Olympics in Tokyo later this year. Today I chat to Ryan about how he got started in martial arts. the highs & lows of top level competition, the similarities/differences between taekwon-do and karate styles, the different scoring systems in patterns and more.  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/ TKDWear Website: www.TKDWear.com Promo Code: BLACKBELTER Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tkdwear/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkdwear

Andy is the Owner & Head Coach of Team Ryano. He is a black belt in Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Andy is also widely recognised as a pioneer of MMA & BJJ in Ireland. As a competitor Andy was a highly successful Judo player and fell just short of qualifying for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. In Jiu-Jitsu Andy has been a European Champion, a Pan-American Champion and a World bronze medalist. As a coach he has trained some of the top MMA fighters in Ireland like Paul Redmond, Neill Seery and Myles Price. Also, Andy is a coach of the Irish amateur squad that competes at IMMAF events and he speaks very passionately about these events in the show. Today I chat to Andy about his own journey, where he see amateur MMA going forward, the buzz of coaching at big UFC shows and the improvement in MMA coaching in recent years.    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/

Nathan is a Cage Warriors bantamweight prospect. He trains out of Next Generation MMA in Liverpool which is home to UFC fighters like Molly McCann, Chris Fishgold and Paddy Pimblett. Nathan is undefeated as a pro with a record of 5-0 with all wins coming by stoppage. As already mentioned, Nathan is one of the top prospect in Cage Warriors right now and has big goals of being a UFC Champion. Today I chat to Nathan about how got started in MMA, we discuss some of his fights and some of the behind the scenes adversity that went with them, we talk about his weight cut and more.    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/  

Phil is a 7th degree black belt in ITF Taekwon-Do. As a competitor he was 3x World Cup Champion, 2x World Team Champion and a European Team Champion. He has been the head coach of the England national team and an International level umpire at many major championships. He is current board of director for the ITF. Phil also organised what was the time the biggest ITF event with the World Cup in Brighton in 2012. Today I chat to Phil about what got him started in Taekwon-Do, his competitve experience, his thoughts on some of the rules and styles in todays competition, the ITF concussion protocol and more.  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/ TKDWear  Website: www.TKDWear.com  Promo Code: BLACKBELTER Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tkdwear/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkdwear

This week I'm chatting with Bellator heavyweight Ryan Spillane. Ryan's sporting background is in rugby but since trying MMA as a teenager has been training under Liam-Og Griffin at SBG Cork ever since. Ryan has a rocky start to his amateur career however, plenty of success came in the final few years, winning an IMMAF World title, a European title and an Oceania title. Ryan is scheduled to make his pro debut in July and given his extensive experience in amateurs he is well positioned to achieve big things in the pro game. Today I chat to Ryan about the ups & downs of his amateur career, his current training during covid-19, his pro debut and more.  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/  

Nicholas has been competing in martial arts for over 20 years. the majority of that time has in ITF Taekwon-Do, however, he has competed in WT, kickboxing and karate. Nicholas has been a World Cup Champion, a Pan-American Champion and a World bronze medalist in ITF. In WT he fell just short of qualifying for the London Olympics in 2012. In kickboxing he is a 3x ISKA World Champion and a World bronze medalist in WAKO. These are just some the highlights from Nicholas' decorated career. Today I chat to Nicholas about how he started Taekwon-Do, his competitive journey, Taekwon-Do in Jamaica and more.  Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/ TKDWear  Website: www.TKDWear.com  Promo Code: BLACKBELTER Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tkdwear/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkdwear Nicholas Social Media Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DusardTaeFit Instagram :https://www.instagram.com/nicholas_dusard/

Carl has a background in WT Taekwon-Do competing with Team GB for a number of years and even had some time competing for Ireland. Since retiring Carl has been part of high performance coaching teams for a number of Taekwon-Do countries, qualifying athletes for Olympic Games. Carl is an Applied Sports Physiologist/Nutritionist and spends most of his time as a researcher at John Moore's University in Liverpool, as part of their Science in Sport/ PHD Nutrition Performance Science and Innovation Team. Carl also works with some of Britain's top fighters in MMA and Boxing, such as Molly McCann and Jazza Dickens. Today I chat to Carl about how to make weight effectively, the difference between chronic & acute weigh loss, the importance of carbs for fueling performance, supplementation and more.  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/   Carl's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clesposci/

Master Willy Van De Mortel has over 40 years of experience in Taekwon-Do. He was a 16x Dutch National Champion as a competitor. However, he is most famous for being the coach of Tomaz Barada and Julia Cross, two of the most successful fighters in ITF Taekwon-Do. Willy has also coached in and been a national team coach for a number of countries, like the Netherlands, Slovenia, New Zealand and currently Norway. Today I chat to Willy about how his journey began, his experiences coaching Tomaz Barada and Julia Cross, The Open Dutch ( the tournament he organises) and more.  Social Media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/ TKDWear  Website: www.TKDWear.com  Promo Code: BLACKBELTER Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tkdwear/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tkdwear      

Some people might remember Jon from back in Episode 3, and if you want to hear Jon's story of how he got into martial arts you should check that out. As the reason I asked Jon to come back on was to talk about energy systems. Jon has a Masters in Coaching Science in Sport, he is the Coaching Director for Kickboxing Ireland and is the Performance Director for Canoeing Ireland. Also, Jon done his dissertation on energy systems in cycling, so given Jon's personal sporting background and his area of study I thought he would be a great person to talk to around this area. Today I chat to Jon about what are the energy systems and how they relate to combat sports, how to train them, how test & retest an athletes conditioning, how strength training and conditioning are interlinked and more. Social Media Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblackbelter_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblackbelter/   The Combat Institute Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combat_sports_institute/  Website: http://www.combatsport.ie/