Kung fu fighting, Stojko style

Kung fu fighting, Stojko style

The Canadian figure-skating great has his sights set on a championship in a different kind of arena -- the martial arts

By BEVERLEY SMITH

Globe and Mail, Tuesday, April 5, 2005 Page A17

More than three years after he retired from competitive figure skating, three-time world champion Elvis Stojko is fitter than ever.

But fitter in a different way. The 33-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., is stockier, especially in the upper body, arms and legs. He weighs a little more, but it's all muscle mass. And the skating star is eating differently, shunning soda pop, and opting for organic food, soy milk, and a lot of water.

The ultimate competitor, Mr. Stojko is in training for another world championship, but with a different set of blades: double daggers instead of skates. He's aiming for the world martial arts championships in Niagara Falls, Ont., in November, an event that will attract 3,000 competitors from 52 countries.

Just last month, he qualified for the Canadian championships, by finishing in the top eight in two classes. He won a hand-form class, and finished second with double daggers in a weapons class that usually favours the Japanese bow. In double daggers, Mr. Stojko uses short, quick, explosive movements with real daggers that have six-inch blades.

Mr. Stojko earned a black belt in karate when he was 16, but now he's engaged in the Chinese martial art of kung fu, which has more fluid movement. While karate is a form of self-defence, using stiff movements, kung fu is a more aggressive martial art, built on combat, he said.

"He's a competitor, heart and soul," said his sifu [teacher], Glen Doyle , who is now also his business partner. They share ownership in a martial arts club called Céad Bua Fighting Arts Centre, which opened in Milton, Ont., in early March. In Irish Gaelic, Céad Bua means "100 victories" and is a reference to Mr. Doyle's ancestor from Galway who scored 100 battle victories without a defeat while using the family's Irish stick-fighting style. Mr. Doyle finally persuaded his father to let him teach the skill that has been handed down to only family members for about 12 generations. "Now, he's the only person on the planet who teaches it," Mr. Stojko said.

Mr. Stojko now lives in the United States, but when he returns, he serves as senior instructor in the club. For now, Mr. Doyle teaches him as he prepares for the world martial arts championships. It's an exhausting regimen, perhaps even more so than figure skating.

Unlike figure skating, Mr. Stojko can train in martial arts anywhere. He managed to squeeze in training sessions while on the Celebration on Ice skating tour across Canada in March, as well as the Champions on Ice tour in the United States. He would plant himself in a horse stance for 15 minutes, with his knees slightly bent, as if he were riding. "After that, my legs are cooked," Mr. Stojko said. "It's pretty gruelling."

These exercises prepare Mr. Stojko for the lateral movement necessary for martial arts; in figure skating, it is more vertical. And the exercises work his cardiovascular system differently. Although he is quite accustomed to the high cardio demands of a skating long program that lasts 4½ minutes, skaters don't always skate full tilt, with rest spots and slow sections. "In kung fu, you just go, go, go," Mr. Doyle said.

Mr. Stojko was completely spent after his martial arts qualifying competition, Mr. Doyle said. "None of his muscles get to rest now," he said. Mr. Stojko trains with heavier weapons than what he uses for competitions; with double broadswords that are heavy and quite long so that the daggers feel weightless in his hands during competition.

Mr. Doyle also teaches Mr. Stojko Chinese breathing exercises, which are engineered to move energy throughout the body and cleanse the system. "He really took to that," Mr. Doyle said.

He starts out by teaching students to do the exercises for only two or three minutes at a time, because "if you don't know what you're doing, you can really hurt yourself," he said. "You can get lightheaded and pass out."

Mr. Stojko takes the process seriously, and can do it for 15 minutes.

He takes his nutrition seriously, too. Since he retired from competitive figure skating, Mr. Doyle said Mr. Stojko has done a lot of research into the power of good nutrition, focusing on organic food and protein and staying away from processed food.

"I go by how I feel," said Mr. Stojko, who has always said he is aware of his body. "I just make sure I eat good food. It's whatever I feel like eating. If it's just fruit in morning, I make sure there is protein in my diet, but I don't overdo it. I listen to my body, what it needs and wants. I'm not like a vegetarian."

Occasionally, he'll eat a granola bar, but it's full of sugar. He'd prefer a protein shake.

It works for Mr. Stojko. During a skating tour in the United States this winter, many of the skaters fell ill. Because they may spend as many as 12 hours on a bus together, viruses often spread like sparks in a dry forest. Mr. Stojko, however, never got sick.

"The skating world is very small," Mr. Stojko said. "There is a much bigger world out there."

And he's finally found it.

Elvis Stojko

Age: 33

Currently: Co-owner of a martial arts club, martial arts instructor, kung fu; pro figure skater

Previously: World figure skating titles in 1994, 1995 and 1997; Olympic silver medals in 1994 and 1998; black belt in karate

Goal: World martial arts

championships, Niagara Falls, Ont., in November

The skating world is very small. There is a much bigger world out there.