Tag: YonexCanadaOpen

Keeping Things Simple

Keeping Things Simple

Building on the last few blog posts about training. I would like to move forward to the next topic – keeping training simple. This goes hand in hand with my past posts about focus and intentionality. It is another piece of the puzzle that I have been working on recently.

Keeping training simple has a few different aspects, and a lot of benefits. It is easy to waste a lot of time on the non essentials. I have found that in trying to fix everything at once I inevitably fix nothing. This means that the first step towards simplifying training is creating tangible and focused improvement goals. Let me give you an example.

Let’s say I need to fix my backhand side defense. Working with my coach I realize I have two major issues that are hindering all the rest. The first is a lack of strength in my left leg when I get low. The second is a technical issue of my contact with the shuttlecock. There could be lots of other things in my game that need fixed. Maybe I need a harder a smash, and need to come to the net faster. Those are things that will be addressed in “general training” all that time you spend on court doing various drills. But looking at my matches, perhaps I am rarely able to get into a position to smash and follow to the net quickly  because I end up making errors on my backhand defense. To balance my game out I will spend a significant amount of time on my backhand defense.

Following the example above I would need to keep practices focused on one of two things, my leg strength, or my technical issues with my BH defense. I could separate these into two separate training sessions. Perhaps at home I could do pause lateral lunges and RLE split squats to build some leg strength. On the court I would break my practice into a very few drills to work on my BH defense.

I kept one goal at a time – BH defense. Then I broke that goal into two main parts, and separated them into different practices. I would follow that up and keep the number of exercises to a minimum as well. Pick the most efficient ways to improve and stick to those. Make sure the quality is really high and you are staying mentally focused. Time and energy are both limited. Make the best use of both and stay focused on the goal you set for yourself.

How do you keep your practices focused on specific goals? Let me know in the comments!

Onward and upward!

Kevin

 

Training As a Lifestyle

Training As a Lifestyle

Training As a Lifestyle – the basics of living and training well

Last week we talked about training during tough times. Today we will follow that up and talk about training as a lifestyle. If training is part of your lifestyle it will be much easier to continue during tough times. I will also go over some key things that help me in my training lifestyle.

 

ATTITUDE / PERSPECTIVE

Every day is a chance to make progress. A little progress. A little step forward. This perspective and attitude is key to being positive and taking the opportunities that come your way. If you are daily seeking out ways to make small improvements you are well on your way to making training a lifestyle.

GET ENOUGH REST

No amount of training is can help you improve if you are constantly tired. For a couple reasons. First your training intensity and quality will go down due to physical and mental fatigue. Secondly, your body needs rest in order to recover and rebuild stronger. Getting enough rest is often a hard discipline to master. It may mean leaving places early to make sure you get to bed on time, or it may mean skipping on that last game of call of duty. But in the long run getting enough rest is important for improving and also for injury prevention. I have found this to be a struggle, but a worthwhile effort in making those small daily improvements.

EAT HEALTHY

I have found that I can make big gains in performance with some daily discipline. I started small. Skipped the soda, drink water. Skip the chips at dinner. These easy steps will help keep your body healthy. You can increase performance during training by being careful how close to training you eat and what you eat. Don’t eat within two hours of training, and drink enough water. Of course you can get far more detailed and be more and more careful. But the three big things are:

  1. Skip the sugar and junk food – soda, chips cookies ect.
  2. Drink lots of water. More than you think you need too!
  3. Eat enough protein and enough veggies.

 

TAKE TIME TO PROCESS

Training takes a lot of physical effort, but also a lot of emotional effort. Often times I have found myself in a rut with training and life. Taking time to process what is happening is really important. Processing includes tracking whats happening in training and life. Keep a calendar or training journal and write down when you train and what you do. I am very visual so I find a calendar is really helpful. At times I noticed that my strength training was lacking despite feeling like I was at the gym all the time. Other times I looked at the calendar and noticed I hadn’t had a rest day in over a month. Those trends take time and energy to notice but are key to continuing improvement.

The other side of processing is going through training and life thoughts. Perhaps you feel discouraged because of lack of progress in a certain area, but after taking time to process you realize that you are spending too much time in a certain area of training or life. I have often found when I take a step back to look over things that my discouragement is unfounded. Other times I have looked at things and realized that changing a small part of my training such as my warm up would effect my whole session in a positive way. Take time to track and process your training! Don’t walk blindly forward, take the steps to be intentional!

 

Thanks for reading, I hope you found it helpful!

 

Check me out at Youtube  and GoFundMe !

 

Spokane Shuttlefreaks Badminton Camp!

HI Everyone! 

Quick Update before the Yonex Canada Open starts tomorrow. I am currently 4th in qualifying and will play Tuesday morning. Later today I will have my first practice in the venue! Here is a link to my match last year at Canada Open against Heo Kwang Hee of South Korea. I have come a long ways since then, and I will keep moving ahead!  

The past week I had the privilege of helping coach a badminton camp in Spokane WA for Shuttlefreaks. Four days of helping kids improve and working with great people! This year Shuttlefreaks ran the camp apart from the Spokane Parks and Rec as we had done in previous years. This meant less advertising, and less revenue. However we had 21 kids which was more than enough for the number of courts we had rented. The kids improved a lot. The focus of the camp was on the foundations of badminton, as well as being self disciplined and being respectful to ourselves and our teammates through the way we focused, worked, and treated others. 

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Thank you to all of you making this badminton journey possible! 

Onward and Upward! 

Kevin  

GoFundMe

Brazil and Provincials

Hi Everyone!

I am writing to say thanks for investing in my badminton journey and success. The past 6 weeks have been a time of good forward motion and growing returns. Thanks for investing– here’s what I’ve been doing!

Brazil!

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I spent three weeks in Calgary training and coaching at Gao Badminton in April. They have graciously sponsored all my training which has been a huge blessing. To prepare for Brazil International Challenge  I trained both with the group and many private lessons from Grace Gao, a former Olympian. From Calgary I flew to Sao Paulo, Brazil and got a ride to Campinas where the Brazil International Challenge was held.

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I got there on Tuesday morning, checked into the hotel and went to practice. I stayed with Kari Gunnarsson from Iceland as well as B.R. Sankeerth from Canada. We practiced together Tuesday and Wednesday morning before I played my first match Wednesday evening at 5:30. I lost the first set but won the next two, progressing to the next round. I played the second round half an hour later and ended up losing in a hard-fought, two set game. I battled some calf cramps but other than that played well. That Friday I flew back to Calgary, picked up my car and drove to Manitoba!

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Manitoba Provincial Championships

At the Manitoba Provincial Championships I played all three events. Mens singles, Mens doubles with Ryan Giesbrecht, and Mixed doubles with Mélanie Curé. I made the Mens singles final, but lost to Thien Vo in the final. I won my doubles final with Ryan Giesbrecht, also against Thien and his partner Chris White. In mixed, we lost in the quarter finals to the eventual finalists.

The Mens singles final was a great match, and one where I felt I played to my full current potential.

I am improving my game at a great rate, for which I am very thankful. Coming back from the injury has been hard, but it has also helped me refocus and I believe I will be stronger than before.

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two weeks I also finished my fitness testing and body composition with Sweaty Training. I have made good progress since the injury. We are looking at increasing the rate of progress now that my ankle is healing up more. I also got a new off court program with this in mind, which I am very excited about.

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Thank you all for your support!

Gratefully,

Kevin Barkman

If you would like to donate you can do so through GoFundMe

Sweaty Training

Sweaty Training

Hi Everyone!

I have some exciting news! This week I joined the Sweaty Training team thanks to a generous sponsorship by Sweaty Training. I will be training under Jeff Eides, the founder of Sweaty Training. Coach Jeff is a renowned strength and conditioning coach who graduated from University of Winnipeg. Coach Jeff has worked with everyone from enthusiastic  youth athletes to professional athletes. I am very privileged to work under him as I recover from my ankle injury and move ahead to the next competitions, nationally and internationally. This is a huge step for me as an athlete. Proper strength and conditioning is a key part in any athletes development. It is a foundation I need in order to improve my performance, as well as to continue training without injury.

I will be proudly representing the Sweaty Training team as I compete nationally and internationally, as well as when I coach.

I want to thank Jeff and Sweaty Training for the opportunity! I am excited for what comes next.

In other news, rehab for my ankle is coming along well. I am able to hit the gym a lot these days, and I am on court a fair bit working on skills, and very controlled footwork.

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Thank you everyone for your support!

Kevin

 

Canada Open

Canada Open

The Yonex Canada Open, MS loss in first round against Howard shu, MD loss in the Quarter Final against Toby Ng and Adrian Liu. 

Tournaments are a learning experience. They say fire refines, and it exposes weaknesses. I love competing. I love the tension in the air, and the crowd cheering. I love the challenge and putting my will against someone else’s. But when it’s all said and done and you walk away, winner or loser you have to take something away from the experience. The pressure hopefully revealed something. All the training and time and effort gets tested during tournaments, and while somethings prove their worth there are always weaknesses that get exposed. Places where technically you made a mistake, or tactically were not prepared. Maybe conditioning was an issue. 

In singles a lot of things became quite clear, through practice and competition. I haven’t had much sparing lately. My preparation consisted of lots of time in the gym and two and three against one practice on court along with the drills. I had very little to no game practice, or sparing. This showed through hesitant tactical decions and sometimes poor positioning. 

Weaknesses, mistakes, losses – they are all part of the road forward and reaching the next step always means growing through adversity and even mistakes. What comes next? How do I go about fixing or adapting to the things I have learned? How will I find more sparing and games? Get more competition? I don’t know yet, but those questions will be answered, one step at a time. 

I appreciate the help and support of those people helping me on this journey. I hope I can keep learning and growing, improving, getting stronger. Thanks all.

Prepared? 

Prepared? 

For a lot of people preparation means training all day and chilling at home, eating healthy, getting mentally ready, Ect. But for me prepping for the Yonex Canada Open, and the Yonext USA Open has meant a lot more than just training, though there has been plenty of that as well. Preparing well has also meant things like getting into a routine, looking for work, finding places to train, and even convincing my little brother to come feed me drills. It meant find a physical therapist, and a strength and conditioning coach, and even touring universities. 

Being prepared for a tourmanent means I spent a lot of early morning and late nights at the gym, and a lot of days either at work or in the office getting other things done. 

Am I fully prepared? Am I at my peak to play to the best of my potential? Yes and no, I don’t think I have fully reached my potential, I have a long ways to go yet, a lot to learn, and a lot more hard work to put in, but for where I am at I am as prepared as I can be. 

Sometimes being ready doesn’t mean you are actually ready, as much as it means you are courageous enough to dare, and to be confident that you put in the hours of effort before hand, so whatever the outcome you have no regrets. Being ready means being prepared to try fully, and be okay with the result you get. 

Of course, my going to these tournaments isn’t just about me, but about all the people who support me and help me out as coaches, PT’s, sponsors, freinds, employers,  and everything else.  Every game I play is a huge shout out to all these folks who also believe that dreams are worth chasing. 

Peace out folks, keep chasing your goals and putting your hours in – Kevin