Month: February 2010

28-2

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Today´s training at my place with Remy, Michel and Micke.

-Focus mitts drills:

. Jab cross hook hook. I am still hurt from last week training so I have to put on  gloves for this one. Later on I will have to get som tape for Remy´s bleeding fist…

. Jab cross hook hook – hook kick , hook kick. Good energy, I feel I have more power and stability.

. High kicks. Seems my daily stretching is starting to pay off as I can reach higher kicks.

-Footwork :

. Try to kick the partner who backs up rapidly. The guys are doing pretty well, we all lack some speed and me more than the others as I train with Micke who is so fast , it is crazy 🙂

. Partner walks quickly forward,  the other one backs up quickly and reaching the wall, changes direction while punching on the pad. Same problem here, need to gain some speed… footwork !!!!

– Heavy bag:

. Rounds 3×30 seconds, full power and speed. First one: punches only, second: kicks only, third: all combinations. I feel really good about this one as I feel I have much more power than before.

. One round 60 seconds, we give all we can,  all techniques and combinations, full power. This one seems very long, good energy for all of us though.

– Lying face down on the floor:

 up directly to on-guard position and hook kick on pad, 15 each. I do 14 and then I feel I am gonna through up! But I am getting over it pretty quickly  and  I am back on the floor !

– Pushups and abdominal exercises :

Micke pushes us a lot today, hard training , no time to rest  and no complaining please!

– Hardening:

. Punches and kicks in stomach: I feel I can take more of this, which is good, I am not sure Michel was punching that hard …

. Kicks on legs,   inside and outside:  This is always a “noisy” exercise , I wonder why 🙂

. Hit one another forearm: I am better at this one but when it starts hurting it is hard to keep going on…

 – Split:

the partner is helping with the support while going down, it hurts as usual, it will take some time before we see any improvement for this one I guess..

– Bridge:

 Michel is mastering this one! I can go up now but I need to go higher, Remy´s back is still hurting.

-“Sit” against the wall.

ok… Michel is down after 44 seconds, Remy after 2 minutes 30 seconds and I complete 5 minutes  …

My legs are hurting a lot and I am exhausted  but I beat the guys at something,  I am happy 🙂

 

 

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

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After today´s pain I feel I have to get some serious information about that. Here is what I found: 

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) describes a phenomenon of muscle pain, muscle soreness or muscle stiffness that is felt 12 to 48 hours after exercise, particularly at the beginning of a new an exercise program, after a change in sports activities, or after a dramatic increase in the duration or intensity of exercise.

This muscle pain is a normal response to unusual exercising and is part of an adaptation process that leads to greater stamina and strength as the muscles recover and build hypertrophy.

There is no proven effective method to reduce or avoid the pain, but gentle stretching or even anti -inflamatory medication such as aspirin, can be helpfull for me together with  a warm bath , but it helps just for a little while.  I did not find anything on the internet that is proven effective, some tricks help some people and not others,  it is more how the individual react to different and own methods.

What I really want to know is why do I have to go through this every single week? This is a normal reaction after unusual exercise or change of activity. Well after 4 years what is unusual about what I do ?  In this case this is related to the fact that I give much more during those sessions than before , increasing intensity must be  why I get this.

I found myself some light about this today and even if I feel I have been hit by a truck , it feels good to know why  🙂

21-2

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Today was supposed to be group training but because of sickness I trained on my own instead.

. Start with stretching and Stetch- Kicks

. Move on to the heavy bag:

– One inch punch : 100.  Nice to train this one,  after 50 I begin to see some strange colour on the heavy bag but not  feeling so much pain so going on to 100.. No need to guess how my hand looks like , but hello , I train martial arts, not complaining..

– jabs : 100 … I like this one, probably because Ted told me it looked good 🙂 but it feels good and I feel I am getting more power in it. Now I feel the hand hurts pretty bad, I won´t be using this hand anymore today

– Cross: 100 … no problem there , working on the technique, fotwork feels pretty good, I would need more power though

– Hook kick:  50 right and 50 left. The right side feels good, the left is weaker , but I feel the technique is better than it was before. Training is paying off.

– Side kicks: 50 on each side, this one is actually my favourite, I also feel I have more power than before in this one, the technique need some work though, I am also working on my stability, as the heavy bag ( 70kgs ) is coming back after each kicks that is when I kick again .

. Moving on to the punching ball, this one helps me with the reaction, I am working on blockings and speed.

. Footwork, working on the fluidity in the movements.

. As my abdominal muscles need some work let´s drop the medicine ball a 100 times on it…  I am lying on the yoga ball and droping the ball from the top of my arms, this one is tough but I feel good to do it, now If I can do a 100 that means  I need a heavier ball!

. sit ups 200

. push ups: regular, on the fists, on two fingers, and using the pushup handles

. and I will finish myself with some stretching, I am using the stretcher for the  final exercise and measuring time while stretching to my very limit until it hurts.

I would now wait for my trainer´s comments but I guess I did pretty well as I was alone.

17-2

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Good energy tonight with the weight lifting,  I have not been working enough with the weights lately, but this will definetly come back as one session a week as usual on wednesdays.

After that I did some pushups and  sit ups, I have done this for a while now and  this is good to feel the improvement , I can do more of them and I feel stronger. Sit ups have never been a problem but still I have to build some more abdonminal muscles.

Then I went over to stretching,  you won´t believe it , I could lift to the bridge ! allright it is not getting high enough but as we know I could not lift at all yesterday. I could hold 5 seconds ! I did it over and over again until I could hold 10, I am very pleased, I give myself a month to accomplish this without any problem. The split is getting better as well, even if there is a long road to get to it .  I was sceptical yesterday but now I feel that maybe I will reach the goal before the summer…I was just thinking, I have been training JKD for 5 years soon, well that´s about time!

Remy said he is stretching 35 minutes everynight I do that too , we´ll see who can do the split first 🙂

Stretching

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Just done with today´s training.

Stretching is the  main focus today, I feel that it goes well,

The Bridge position does not look any better today  but like everything else, I have to give it some time. ( I am a bit sceptical for this one really, I don´t know how I will be able to get more flexibility in my back, I look forward to receive the book I ordered and see if anything can help me in there).

Either than that,  I did some pushups and Situps. Increase the level of those would also be nice.

I feel quite tired today, hopefully I will be in better shape tomorrow as weight lifting is waiting for me when I get home:-)

ok,  now I will add some fotwork and I will be done for today…

Flexibility !

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Tonight I tried to find good exercices on the web , not much to find so first I ordered a book about flexibility for martial artists then I stretched .

I believe that I will get there, the split I mean, how long this will take I don´t know,  but I assume that  if I go on with good exercises everyday I will be much more flexible anyway.

But what´s up with my back ? no really, I tried to do the bridge today in front of the mirror to see how it looks like and really I am a bit concerned , my back is just not flexible at all.  I tried with the medicine ball under the lower back and get started from there, then with the big yoga ball, works as long as I have something maintaining my back but what can I  do to get there with no help?

This one will be a real challenge, because right now it just looks ridiculous.

14-02 Happy Valentine´s Day … It´s crushing time!

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Today you are going to suffer !  Yeah, Some truth about that day …

Intensity was the theme of today´s training, participants Remy, Gina, Micke.

Michel is nowhere to be found, may be having a romantic Valentine´s  day instead? we others are training  ! 🙂

– Drills on focus mitts and heavy bag , punches with full  power and speed

– Start from lying down on the floor ( face down ) get  up  directly to on guard position and direct hook on mitt, about twenty of those…

– 4 punches on mitts and lift the mitts holder …. Remy is so nice,  I feel he jumps a bit to help me lift, or ? 🙂  then it is Remy´s turn to lift Micke, I feel this one is a bit more difficult ( let´s say this again : Micke is 103 kgs ! )

–  Punches:   Jab Cross Hook, Around 50 of each, full power on the heavy bag… our hands are hurting and start to bleed but none of us is complaining!

– Rounds of 30 seconds on the heavy bag. All techniques and full power and speed, alternate with Remy and going around 5 times each, no break …  High level of energy for both of us ..

– Kicks on pad and heavy bag at the same time ( Remy is on the bag), both sides 10 of each :  Hook kick, Whip kick, Side kick..  tirrrrrreeeeeddddd…………….

– 10 full power punches on pad and bag, alternate with pushups, up again and punches, down and pushups, up and punches,  down.. up .. down … and OH my God I am dead ..

Ok we are done for today,  let´s stretch :  start with the bridge , Ok …this is how this one went :

Gina: can´t do it at all, Micke helps lifting  but I cannot hold the position myself , that is very bad !

Remy: no problem … but a muscle pain had him down for a few minutes …

Result : hmmm !!!

– Static training, Hook Kick position:  the leg is too low, work on the leg muscles , how?  Kicks !

– DO THE SPLIT NOW !  Remy and I look at each other , hm…  how  will we be able to do this before the summer ?  And out with the spiders please ! Nice to be stuck  in this position (  half split ) and see a running spider under my legs!

Anyway .. good training today really intense and feels good afterwards, a lot of things to work on as usual but good energy!

Thank you guys and see you next time..

Thoughts about motivation

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When I started training JKD I had a tendency to want to be good already at the beginning, I was impatient and immature .

Together with JKD I had to learn to behave mentaly. This was another hard part but a part of the training is the  control of the behaviour and attidude . I have to say that this took quite a while .  This was leading to decreasing motivation for me. ” I can´t do anything, I am worthless”.. or even ” I don´t want to train anymore I don´t deserve it” … bla bla bla …

“well stop complaining and do something about it” ! .. this is what I have heard numerous times. The right attidude was needed for me to be better, to want to be better and accept that a lot of training  and time will be needed to get somewhere . If you want to be good at something you have to practice, that is all.

I left the bad childish thoughts behind me and  I have accepted that I am here to learn and that it will take time. I am training with a great instructor, it is up to me to take all the tools he gives me and use them.

Some days I don´t feel like it, I am tired or stressed but  as soon as I start, I feel better and the best of it is when I am finished , I feel good because I have achieved something, even if the session was hard or not so good , I have something to work on. That is how I get motivated those days.

In 2005 after the first day  Seminar with Ted , as we were sitting at the bar before diner and he told me something about motivation.  ” I train every day, some days if I don´t really feel like it, I just think about Bruce and then  I just  do it ”

And last year  Ted became emotional when he told us :  ” I am not doing that for myself, I am doing that for you, the next generation”.

How can we not be motivated. This is already a great priviledge to train Jun Fan JKD ,  Ted Wong JKD.

I am not talking for anyone else but me, I get the motivation from the fact that I truly think I have been given a great opportunity.

A lot of people do not get what JKD is all about and I don´t feel like I have to explain. My passion is personal and I only fully share it with my training partners and with myself.

Am I motivated to go on? of course,  because training JKD makes me feel good on so many levels and I don´t need to prove or explain it to anyone. This is all about my personal achievement and depending on my own goals and expectations. What I am looking for is to get better according to my own  goals.

I am the new generation, in a way I owe this to Bruce and to Ted.

2-02-2010

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2-2-2010

Training of the day, session at my place with Micke:

Speed reaction on pads, punches and kicks, found this quite difficult… I am too slow ..

Blocking drills with simultaneous attack.. this one goes  a bit better

Try to hit Micke with hook kick… well ….

Reaction on attack situations, self defense  drills , few exercices with arm grabbing, strangulation and usual attacks with bare hands.. Grappling, result of this is quite obvious, speed in the reaction is needed not to end up there at all .. because of my size there is no way I can pull myself out of Mickes body weight ( 103 kgs !!! )  if I get down it is too late, I can try to bite and reach some sensitives parts but either that , there is not much I can do.

stretching,  balance drills,  situps and to finish me, punches and heavy ball throwing in the stomach,   for the abdominal muscles to get stronger, because they are TOO WEAK !! says Micke..

the rest of the week is for me to work on my strengh and speed .. and stretch and.. and everything else.. 🙂

1-2-2010

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As I said Mondays are a bit tricky, tired after the sunday session and pain almost everywhere, at first I thought I would take this day off but I didn´t feel too good about it.

So I did some pushups anyway,  better than nothing but very bad .. I know !