Yesterday was all about lifting weights and stuff.  That was hard but needed, I try to lift heavier weights to gain back some muscle that I lost but I don´t overdo it, that would be stupid to injure myself again…

Mikael and I worked out for one hour only , we decided it was enough considering the hard work we put in it.

I so look forward to when the light is back! I want to ride my bike or go running, this year the winter has been the hardest since I live here, so I will enjoy every minute of the light as soon as it is back !

We worked on the bag and then on mitts, shadow boxing and finished with wrestling.

Mikael noticed I lack speed in my recovery and my hook also needs some work. We worked on this for a while but I have to do the work at home by myself during the week.

Wrestling is difficult, we are talking about 51kgs vs 110 kgs even if I fight like a mad mosquito I go down eventually and that´s it! There is no way I can get out of there without using some nasty stuff, but we play nice so I tried everything else…. No did not work! J

Good to work on this though, it makes me manage the stress and think about openings and solutions.

We hope for an outdoor training in the weekend, we have lots of snow so we will see if the slope is reachable.

I so look forward to the spring… there is nothing like training outside in the sun I really miss this.

Yesterday was surely the toughest shadow boxing session I have even done, Mikael made sure I worked until my arms dropped!

It was very intense for the body and for the mind as well,  I was not allowed to give up even when my arms gave up!

I really liked the mind game of the session. First I worked  in front of the mirror with intensity and speed, then in front of Mikael with movement and no touch, then light touch.

I worked on technique on the heavy bag after that.

This session was hard but it felt good, I felt relaxed. I thought about it afterwards and it is so amazing how the footwork comes naturally with the technique, even if I still have some work to do on the flow.

At some point Mikael said  not to use it, I felt so strange and unnatural which is a good sign. When I train alone I do it right and then wrong to feel the difference.

 Mikael decided to add shadow boxing to the end of each sessions from now on,  that will for sure finish me off!

Yesterday we worked with weights and wrestling. For me who is half Mikael´s weight ( ! ) it is very hard to get out when I am down, the only thing that would (maybe) work in this case is the ugly stuff, but this is training we are not here to hurt each other so I just tried my best  but let´s face it, it does NOT work! when you are 50kgs and down under a 100kgs guy who knows what to do , you´re dead! I managed quite well to stay on my feet at first but eventually I went down. This is a good exercise to mesure the level of stress and energy, the time when you are in such a position where you can´t breathe anymore, then you can say stop but in real life you can´t, that is why it is so good to train these techniques.

Weight lifting was well needed as well, we don´t do enough of that but  we have changed our training schedule now.

Yesterday´s session was not so good for me. I could not get the flow going, it is common every now and then to not feeling it. I accept it, this is the way it goes , I just have to pick myself up and keep going.

I have had low times before and felt pretty bad about it, I learnt that the negative energy does not help , keeping a positive attitude and keeping going no matter what,  helps greatly. The fact that I have such a good instructor has my confidence running on a more balanced level so I am not worried,  I get the best guidance I will pick it up !

On wednesday I was the only one training, we worked on pads , feeding and reaction , combinations and kicks .

I added some pushups situps and  weight lifting. I was happy I could do pretty clean pushups and was able to use my arm almost with no problem. Recovery for me is almost complete this is good news.

I regained almost all my muscles as well, this is thanks to the work I did at the gym these two last months.

During training especially sparring I am careful now because I cannot offer a third injury , I am now out of the tunnel and so glad I can train as usual.

I won´t be able to train on sunday because tomorrow I am going home to France, I will only be there a few days and back just in time for next group session:-)

I missed a couple of posts in between but they will come soon.

I asked Mikael for a private session this Wednesday, it was more than needed!

We went through basics, on the heavy bag, then punches on mitts, kicks and footwork.

Mikael filmed and did not say anything to me, I had to take look at the footage by myself at home and make an analysis.

I could see immediately what was wrong and what looked OK. More wrong than right unfortunately but in my “self “critique,  I also could tell my overall form and technique have improved. Now there are a lot of small mistakes that I still do, bad habits such as the weight is too much on the rear foot, the body is not enough aligned in kicks, too much leaning forward and the arm is dropping. Surprisingly the position of the body is good when I kick on the left side, my kick is horrible but the position is better.

I was happy with my hook kicks and straight leads, more extension would have been even better in this last one.

The session on the heavy bag was OK first but Mikael said to relax and when I tried, the whole technique just fell apart. The difference between the two footages was just unbelievable I was so horrified I deleted it ! Don´t want to see that one again! 👿

We worked on reaction with mitts first and boxing gloves with focus. I had to try punching one and avoid being hit by the other. I just hate boxing gloves this is why Mikael did this one. At some points I ended up in a corner and found myself hit in the head and almost everywhere, I had to block and try to hit, the exercise was to stay there,  to stand, try to protect myself and hit . At the end the reaction starts to kick in and it not that scary anymore, I really want to do that again.

I have no doubt that the more you get used to be hit the more you can handle it, training martial arts is kind of the point !

The footwork is also better, I travelled in the room for a while and added punches and kicks and I guaranty footwork is NOT boring, this is a real workout when done the right way.

Private Sessions are something else, the focus is totally different and the intensity is 100%.

It was only me this sunday, which was kind of awesome regarding what I was in for!

Botttom line of this session was switch! switch side , switch step switch switch and switch to the point I switched even if I was not told to ! 🙂

I worked only on the heavy bag and on the kicking pad. I started the first exercise with my left side : hook kick and straight lead immediately after before the foot lands, it was not that good so i tried it on the right just to get the feeling then i switched to the left and it started to get better. Then I had to kick  left and right switching lead very fast in between, Mikael told me to stop because that was not good, he tried something else to have me get the switch feeling better and this is what we did on the pad, he increased the tempo gradually until I just switched on my own and before he said anything!

My favourite was on the bag , low front -low hook and  high hook kick, alternate and switching lead and  side. I felt good about this one, I managed to feel more stable more in control and stronger. I repeated lots of times. This is only after that mikael told me waht he thought and that was good to hear it also showed that I got this one Ok  .-)

One on one session are always very intense as there is no time to rest and hold pads for someone else, which is good because intensity like this makes the body and mind concentrate and work much harder.

I have always been told I should work on both sides and I did but not as much as the right. Now I have no choice but train the left  and all that  injury stuff makes me realize I should have done that all along. I start to feel I am more flexible in a way I can change lead more easily and use it, still not perfect but I am getting better at it and as I cannot use the right side, I feel good I am not totally worthless and still can train making the weak side stronger and usable.

I have to beat this ! it is not a deadly desease, it is not a permanent disability it is a small injury but it is ruining my training ! It is amazing to think the great deal of dedication it takes to go on training when you are limited and cannot use the right side at all. I got really frustrated yesterday. I trained other things of course like kicks and footwork, and I used my left side for the rest but not being able to train as normal is a pain. I don´t want to loose all the work I have done for the past 7 years, I asked the physiotherapist yesterday what kind of exercises I can do so I don´t loose all my muscles and the answer was not what I wanted to hear,  I can do one or two things and this is definetely not what is going to  preserve my muscles.

what I do is try to see the positive side and not let this negativity come to me, I can tell you it is very hard. On the other side I should put this into perspective, my injury is not either the end of my life, people with disabilities can be world champions! but sure when you battle for 7 years to get somewhere because you are a girl and because when I was young I was a fat kid not doing anything at all, I feel I have accomplished something and I am not prepared to have this taken away from me.

Training JKD is a battle everyday, it is a battle for the body and for the mind, this world is not easy at all and especially for girls, I have heard someday that JKD was not for girls at all,   made me want it even more !

One positive aspect is to realize how JKD is important in my life, how it makes me be balanced and feel good about myself even when I have bad days, this  is showing me I will not give this up.

Now I also have to say I feel I need my instructor around even more right now, he gives me that kick in the A… so I look forward to his return to get back on track again..

Mikael met Warren Graham in Charlotte, I will make a separate post about that once I have more details.

Ok then, I have a couple of exercises to do everyday for the shoulder and the arm. It will take some weeks to recover from this apparently and during the first times I am not supposed to train.

I will only use the left side in this case, I want my strong side to fully recover so I can go on with my regular training but there is no reason why I should not train the rest of my body.

I don´t feel too good about the situation but I have to see the positive aspect, there is no other way.