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.

Ok I don´t know yet what I can do with an inflamed shoulder but I am sick of not being able to use my right arm, at the training session yesterday I used it anyway but I take it easy and try not to do more damages.

I have an appointment with a  physiotherapist today and I look forward to it.

Remy and Michel were present yesterday , we worked mainly on the legs I think Mikael adapted the training to my disability ! which was nice so I could participate. We did some killer leg drills , lots of kicks and stability exercises.

it actually got the best of Remy at some point who felt really sick for a while, the picture says it all, great session !

This weekend was good,  on saturday I decided I would go running  all the way to my old friend, The stairs. I thought I would just run there to see how it looks like but I actually had enough energy to run them up ! twice !! I stopped three time on the first go and only once on the second, which is kind of good considering it was the first time of the year. At the top I did some shadow boxing and footwork ,  it was very cold but it felt so good, the feeling of fresh air and freedom was incredible. I still have one challenge in my head , beat Michel´s time!

On the way back I heard a noise in the woods and stopped , it is after some time that I realized I was standing at 3 meters from a deer, he was just standing there looking at me, I felt really amazed and looked for my camera and by the time I had it all set to take a picture,  the deer was gone ! I remember thinking, why on earth don´t I enjoy the moment instead !!!! Something to think about for next time…

So the result is : inflamed shoulder and nothing wrong with the elbow. This is very interesting, I have pain in my elbow as soon as I do anything with my right arm and I don´t really feel the pain in my shoulder , it is more located in the neck and all the way down the back. I feel I don´t really know what I should do here, training hard as usual will be a bad idea says the doctor, for now there is no such damage that would require  surgery but it can easily be worse if I do something wrong.

The question is what is wrong ? I will start with rehabilitation next week and we will see what my options are. I certainly don´t want to destroy my chances for life, if I need to rest my arm in order to regain 100% of its fonction I will have to do it , even if it kills me to not be able to train straight leads and hooks !!!!!

If I look at the positive aspect,  I can say I will developp a hell of a good cross and will get used to train on my left side instead. That way when I am back on track, I will be able to use both sides equally and switch whenever I want to confuse the person sparring with me !

Seriously, I have been down and really upset about this but it is time to adapt to this new situation and make the best of it .

that´s it, I am done with not being able to train, something will have to happen now. I am scheduled to the Xray tomorrow morning, I won´t get an answer right away but I decided I will start training anyway and already did.

I worked on footwork and shadow boxing yesterday, I take it easy of course because my back is limiting my movements and my right arm is not good enough , but it is better as the constant pain is gone, I only feel it when I move and if I take it easy I think it will be fine, I will try anyway because I am getting insane soon !

The sun is shining we have beautiful days in Sweden now,  this is the right time to start with outside training, biking and running, can´t wait to pay a visit to the stairs!

Scandinavia is the most depressive place to be in the winters, but the rest of the year is beautiful and the presence of the light can´t be wasted a single minut, so let´s go !

So I thought , well I will train the left side if the right is out of order for the time being, but that is not so easy. there is also something wrong with my back and the doctors say NO TRAINING !

Not only my arm is hurting 24 /7 , so does  my neck , upper and lower back , result : I can do nothing and after two weeks,  I start loosing my mind. I am tired of the pain and depressed.

I tell to myself : what was I whining about last year with my arm injury ? that was nothing, I could at least train other things, now I am totally useless because when the back is not working nothing works! I have difficulty working, walking, sleeping, you name it .

I am waiting for an X ray, it can take 10 days says the doctor, only after that can I get a treatment.

Nobody came to the training today so I had Mikael all for myself!

We worked  on my ” problems” and I have some homework to do.

That feels very good and I want more of that.

I hit the bag and worked on kicks and  footwork movement to the sides. I have a serious problem with my movement to the right, it feels more natural to me to the left but I really suck when it comes to the other side, so I worked on it with Mikael and repeated until it became better but  it did not ! I worked on it by myself on the bag and will do that at home as well until this looks and feels better.

Repeating the movement again and again is helping me, on the bag I stepped to the right side with a showel hook and right after that with a corkscrew, the footwork seems easier on the heavy bag but when Mikael throws a punch at me,  I can´t get it right , I am just too slow…!  I felt a bit frustrated but I know that the more I work on it the better it will get, it cannot come out right all of a sudden like magic! Mikael says my form is changing and it feels like it, I got a deeper understanding of what I am doing now, this is good but the thing is,  I have so much work ahead. I really get it, JKD requires so much work before anyone can be any good !  There is always something you suck at ! but well, accepting it and training on it until you get better is the spirit so … let´s do it .