I just got a new training schedule from Micke.

He says I need to increase the level now and the main focus it to get stronger. I need to get some strenght in my legs and arms, apparently the technique is better now and  I need to stand longer and stronger in the fights.

– Footwork and shadow boxing everyday as usual,

– More intense exercises with the JKD pole and  the Heavy bag.

– Heavier Weight lifting, more stomach exercises and special attention to leg press and squats.

– Runing and  biking a couple of times a week as usual but with more intensity.

– Stretching everyday is also a must, this is my biggest weakness I just cannot understand why my body does not get more flexible, but I don´t say that too loud because the answer I get is   ” It is because you don´t stretch hard enough !!! ”  that must be true, even if it hurts like hell it is not enough , but I try anyway  and this will have to pay off someday  ..

– Plus the sunday training as usual where the main focus right now is on the technique.

What is better than training outside in the warm and sunny summer time..

It was only me this sunday,  training with Micke

We started with punches on focus mitts:

– jabs

– jab cross

– jab cross hook

– jab cross hook and hook kick

Micke says the technique looks good , good balance in the kicks as well

And more combinations:

– jab cross hook , duck – duck, uppercut left and right, elbow left and right

– same combination adding knees left and right, with jump.

Those knee kicks are not good at all, I need power !

Working more on the knees

– up towards thai pads and focus mitts

Elbow

– left and right on focus mitts. Good power on the right side.. not good on the left side….

light sparring

–  focus on the blocking of  punches to the head

Working on the fluidity of the movement to avoid the punches and blocking, I  need more speed !!!… another thing is to ALWAYS be prepared, one of Micke´s specialties is to surprise you with new things and either than his famous kick to the head that no one has the time to see, today ´s unexpected was  : The Hammer punch,  right on top of the head..  Yeah ALWAYS be prepared for that kind of stuff, after 5 years I should be better at that ..

Hook kicks

– on focus mitts , those look good today ..

More combinations:

– low kick on the  leg + jab cross

working and  the calculation of the distance for the punches and timing:

– jab cross,  straight after kick,  with movement back, with movement forth and with movement to the side. With the partner not moving and with the partner moving as a reaction to the low kick. Somehow I feel most comfortable with the last one, seems more natural to me to punch with the side movement right after the low kick. 

And the big finish….

Running up the stairs … I will do that in one go! I am very surprised and happy, I  had to catch my breath when I was done but  it feels great , now that I can do it in one go I can focus on the speed..

Yesterday at the gym was good, I feel I can increase the weights a little bit now.

I am not happy with my muscles though, I feel I lost some shape and definition and I have to get it back.

Well I am not too worried,  I use to look much better in the summer, maybe because of the variety of  exercises , I always do more things in the summer and it shows. It is quite interesting because I am french and even after 8 years I am still not used to it, it seems that in Sweden we have two lifes.

One in the winter and one in the summer. I still have lots of difficulties to adapt to the winter, really it feels like we live half our life in the dark and snow. Everything is in two, even the training but most of all the spirit and the soul.

It takes a lot for us from the south Europe to adapt to that life, not sure I will ever be able to though. The swedish summer on the other hand is quite magnificent but short  and I just wonder if it is worth living in the dark for over 6 month…

Well I am thinking about moving actually, the thing is I have to go to a JKD country and France is not one of them ( I mean Ted Wong JKD ), furthermore I come from France, I don´t think I will go back just because I want to move forward and not go back to old things. On the other hand Sweden is a bit special to me because it is where my JKD journey started, I honestly can say I could not hope for better instructors and training partners. But these days I wonder If the time has not come for me to move on, because there are things I simply cannot find here. Well as I am well aware of what this implies and I won´t do that over night but  I will have to check the possibilities that I have. One sure thing,  I will end up close to one of Ted Wong´s schools, wherever that is ..

Bicycle and running , yes everyday one of those is on the meny. Actually yesterday I starded with the heavy bag, training only techniques:  jab,  cross, hook, hook kick, side kick.

Then I left for a run, this was the first outdoor run of the year, it went quite well, but tough at the end, it took a little less than an hour because I stopped for a little while half way. It felt good to have done it.

Every year is the same the first time on the bike or running, or even running up the stairs is not much to talk about, after a while this is getting better. Outdoor activities are great for the soul, that is why we almost only train outside, but the swedish winter does not allow that very much sometimes and we draw the line at minus 10, this is when the snow is gone that we can start the ” normal ” life again..

Yeah !  sometimes you think you can´t but pushing anyway,  you see you can! …. until you really can´t anymore 🙂

It takes around 20 minutes up and down in the forest to bike from my place to the famous ski slope where the famous stairs from hell are.

Around 250 stairs up where the  last 100 ones are the worst because they are so steep. I tried once and  had to stop in the middle but ran the last part anyway after a few seconds break.

At the top I had to catch my breath for a while . I put some music on as I came down and  I thought I was done for today, then  it started to play “eye of the tiger”  oh  really ????

I can´t go away now !  I felt I just had to run again, come on !  show what you got! are you a fighter or what? 

and I did it again , It felt harder than the first time, I thought I would pass out or puke on the top but no I was fine.

As I came down I thought , yes good, I did it!  and then I saw the bike waiting , oh my god, I am not done yet …

when I came home I felt quite good, I thought : well that was not so bad after all, I get off the bike and my legs are shaking, YES GOOD !

and  tomorrow , I hit the gym  🙂

Here it is , on top of the regular JKD training, a new season has started , meaning the weather is now in favour of running, biking and all sorts of cool outdoor stuff.

I have this week off, I can now add more training during the day and I walked for  2 hours  today, the  sun was  shining, this was great to start with that again, I started smooth though, the regular extra activity is running and biking.

So, I have checked my bike  and it is ready for tomorrow!

This feels great …  

… and the “Stairs from  hell ” are the final destination… then I will have to ride my bike  back, should be intresting, the first time is always very tough… I am gonna feel it the day after but this is just good!

Yes , I just had to try that again yesterday evening, the weather is so nice I had to go out. The stairs are on the back side of a ski slope by the lake nearby my place.

 I will have to count again but I guess there are around 250 steps up  and when you arrive at the middle it is getting very steep, which makes the last part even harder to climb / run . I did not run in one go yesterday either… but it felt better than the day before. 

 I will give it a rest today and try again on thursday – friday..

After the gym yesterday evening I decided to run  and take the famous “stairs”.

First run of the year! went not too bad but I could not run all the way up in one go.

The first time of the year is always very difficult, but as the weather is getting much better I will try to squeeze the stairs a couple of times in my weekly shcedule.

After a while I use to be able to run it two times in a row, but a lot of training is needed before I can achieve that.

No training partners this sunday, I trained by myself.

I did not have so much energy but as usual as I start I get some.

Mostly heavy bag and fotwork

Combinations Punches

jab cros hook

Hook hook Hook

Jab Cross Uppercut

Uppercut uppercut Hook

jab cross elbow elbow

kicks:

1 low hook

2 hook

3 high hook

combination 1-2-3 both sides

Side kicks both sides

spining back kick both sides

front kick

footwork: ( with Ted´s footwork  video on )

Step and slide, burst, quick retreat shuffle, side step

That was it for the sunday ” group” training … Hopefully I will be able to have a private lesson some time this week.

Today Monday,  I will go to the gym

As I wrote in the previous post, this was a harder session, 45 minutes, no breaks.

I started with warm up 20 minutes before Micke arrived:  stretch kicks , footwork and stretching.

Lunge leg exercise:

Stand with the feet shoulder-width apart, Take a step forward. The knee at 90 degrees and directly above the toes, The motion is continued until the back knee is nearly touching the ground. Starts well , 40 reps..

Step exercise:

Up on the “step” ( home made with pads),  up with the other knee as  high  as possible and down again, 40 of those…

Frog jumps:

From the “frog” position jumping high and landing light… 20reps(I need to work on that, I weigh 50kgs when I land it sounds more like 100!)

Punches with resistance:

Micke is holding my fists and pressing towards me while I am punching / presssing towards him..20reps

Horse stance position:

Stay relatively low with straight back while shadow punching.

Weights:

Stand with the upper body  slightly forward,  train biceps with the weights, tempo,  40 reps.

With straight back,  up with the weights over the shoulders,  20 rep ( because I cannot do more ) and hold the position with extended arms to the sides.

Focus mitts:

One Inch punch, 30 reps, give it some more power !

Jab Cross Hook, working on speed and power. 30reps

Jab Cross Hook Hook.30reps

Jab Cross Hook Hook Dive…. SPEED !!! 30reps

Squat Steps:

Squats steps  forward,  back and forth on a 6 meters distance,  4 times

Push ups:

With feet on a chair, regular 10 + on fists 10

Leg Press:

Lying on the floor, try to lift Micke with my legs

Leg Lift:

Straight legs lifting , Micke stands behind my head and push them back towards the floor as they come up again, around 10 straight and 10 to the sides.

Lying Leg Curl:

Lying face down, the medicine ball between the feet  bring the feet up bending the knees toward the body, 20reps

Step exercise on a chair :

This one is higher and much harder ! especially after all this.. 20reps

Lunges:

again !  30 reps

Focus mitts:

Hook  Hook  Hook ( left, right, left ) , work on footwork and proper body rotation, add some real power to each of them ..30reps

Frog jumps:

Yes well , thank God we were not filming this one, I was so tired my body felt like … I don´t know what,  but not good . 3 (ridiculous ) reps 🙂

And we have a Happy trainer today again ( Monday ),  my whole body is just a  big muscle pain,  I can barely walk. But I really think this was a great training ! NO PAIN NO GAME 🙂