Yesterday at the gym,  I tried to increase the weights, I have to get stronger.

I was just looking at the last sparring videos,  it is good for me to do that every now and then, I see more clearly what needs to be worked on.

Without any doubt,  I am too light and it seems I don´t have any strength at all ( especially when I sparr against Mikael,  it is like a bee fighting an elephant 🙂 ) . I also need more stability,  I am  bouncing too much, I  need to be more clean in my technique and get more power, the list is long so I will only concentrate on that for now.

These videos are old,  I have worked on this since then but I need more work and we will see if there is any improvement next time we get the sparring on film.

Mikael told me yesterday I have to work on determination, he will show me how next time,  I look forward to it.

We did not have a group session yesterday; I had a private training with Mikael instead.

First he asked me to show him my footwork, then we worked on mitts.

Special attention was made to the hook, I could feel the difference as Mikael corrected my position, and we worked on it quite a while.

Then we used the focus paddle for more hooks and we added side and hook kicks.

We did some rounds with the large kicking pad

Punches with full power / knee kicks / hook kicks

Then rounds with only punches

And rounds with only hook kicks

All this on both sides

Then I fell down on the floor to catch my breath 🙂

The session was very intense, I am happy to have improved my hook and also happy for the session, it was hard work as I was the only one working all the time, there were no breaks whatsoever.

These sessions are so good for the stamina, body and mind. During a private session I get all the attention and it allows me to progress even faster as I get to work very hard until Mikael is happy with the result.

There is no question about the fact that my personal training during the week is so important, I could not get better with only training on Sundays this is impossible, the work that I do alone is the base for me to absorb that private training with Mikael even better, and then the group training is application.

We talked yesterday about improvement, how crutial the personal work is and that it is the reason why so many people drop off.

It honestly takes years of dedication and hard work and this is first after a couple of years that some techniques can be understood better.

It is part of the reason why I love JKD so much, first because I have a great instructor who makes me want to succeed, then because JKD is my life style,  I would not have it any other way.

So even if my back and my arm hurt like hell today,  I will train by myself tonight according to my schedule and I look forward to next private session with Mikael and next group session !

I worked almost one hour on footwork and on guard position, trying to find my center, basically that is all I did yesterday. Let me tell you that sounds boring, but is is a lot of work, I felt it on both legs and this is really good news for me !

OH My … yesterday I asked Mikael for an additional sparring session because I think I really need it.

When he arrived I had dressed in the Bruce Lee yellow suit and it was difficult for Mikael to start the session as he was laughing at me all the time. I is actually impossible to train with the suit on because it is far too warm, I had to change after 10 minutes.

That was the funny part. Now, yesterday was NOT my day, I took many straight leads right in the face and punches in the arm and I just had not any feeling for it at all. I felt worthless and heavy as two elefants,  at least !

Mikael told me I had to accept days like this and that it will be better,  I can´t just have lost all I learnt, this is a set back. Of course difficult to accept when the body just refuses to do as I say ! But I think it is also a mental problem and considering all that happened lately,  it is not that strange.  

But  I am not too worried because I have felt like this before and it came back. So I ´ll just keep on working ! and have a POSITIVE attitude.

I had a footwork session yesterday, I practised shadow boxing and did some exercises on the heavy bag also, I used power for a while ut not long as it was not the point of the session.

 I tried to flow around the bag focusing on using the proper footwork at all times.

Then I decided I would bring the video camera and tape my feet while practising footwork, just to see how that looks like. This is very good because after that,  I was able to study it. I also wanted to know what Micke would think about it and  I showed it to him later on.

He was not really exited when he saw I used split step a couple of times 🙂 but he said it looked better, more flow and more speed.

I tried to vary the exercise to cover almost everything and to see how that looked like. I was quite happy with it, I could actually feel that  my flow and speed are better, of course I need more work… but who doesn´t ?! 

Then I did some pushups situps and stretching , I attached a rope at the top of the bag and pulled my foot up , I was looking at it in the mirror and told myself : if only I could hold that position without the rope !!!!

But I believe that with practise it will happen, there is a quote that I like :

“If you think a thing is impossible, you’ll make it impossible.” Bruce Lee.

So let´s go back to work !

AH ! well doing only footwork is really demanding , some people may think it is boring, I think not, if you really get into it vary the exercises,  add some shadow boxing , it is fun and a real workout.

I repeated it numerous times today , the doctor says I should not do some hard training because of my arm injury so I will focus on footwork and shadow boxing for as long as It is needed.

I worked on footwork by itself,  then with all  punches and kicks, in front of the mirror, in front of the bag with light touch and freely around the room and guess what ? I am really tired , it was a great session.

Still feel like an elephant but I know this will get better. I can see  and feel an improvement  in my techniques, the more I  work on them the better I´gonna get.  I am actually quite happy and very positive about it, as the arm is getting better… so will the rest .

Yesterday I worked mostly on footwork , jumping rope first. I worked on footwork only , then added punches, kicks and shadow boxing .

After a while I went to the heavy bag to do some work on the straight lead, I used the technique Mikael showed me to get this “hand before foot” right !

I repeated more than a 100 times slowly at first and then made it look like a punch and tried it all together at the end, I have to say it will require more time, doing the technique slowly first was OK,  I filmed while I was doing it and it worked, every single time I had the hand before foot but when I do the straight lead then, it is not that obvious.

I went on with the heavy bag and trained kicks,  here too I filmed and when I looked at it,  I could see the arm was dropping so I did it again .

The hook kick felt good, the side as well but on film it was not, so I worked on this one a little bit more.

Then I did some statical training for the legs holding the side kick position up as long as possible on each side and tried to have the cleanest position possible and also trying to get it higher and higher.

Obviously there is a stretching problem here so I finished with stretching.

I was pleased with the session yesterday mostly because the filming is a really good idea, sometime you think you do it right and on film it does not look that way,  or one detail is forgotten,

this is the best way to self criticize and see the mistakes in order to fix them.

oh WOW!!! how ridiculous can become even more ridiculous ? now it is getting almost funny,  there are some really dum heads out there, better leave them where they are , my god !

By trying to create some kind of structure , it has created total chaos BUT what is really important here ? well me and my training partners, my real friends and number one MY training, so I took two minutes of my time reading a creepy forum, that is about all the time I will allow myself to loose on that .

Now, let´s focus on what´s important again.

I was quite happy with the fact I could train almost normally at the seminar but  I knew I would pay for that. It is worse now and the health care system in Sweden being a total joke,  I won´t get any doctor appointment for that. I guess I have to suck up the pain that I have all day long everyday and night,  it has now been 3 weeks.

I have learnt a lesson again,  same as in my private life, I will not let anyone hurt me again , not in that way. I will train harder on footwork to avoid people taking me down, this is a real motivation right here.

I have been suffering physically for three weeks and don´t even know how long it is gonna take, this can´t happen to me again.

Next week Micke and I will leave for San Francisco where we´ll meet Jeff Chinn and I hope, Allen Joe . Great times to come !

That is for sure, being injured is no funny stuff, whenever and however it happens. The real fighter spirit is getting on your feet again and not giving up. I have been really mad and sad and cannot really get over it but  this shows only one thing, how important training is to me.

I cannot let this destroy me, I will have to start dealing with it in another way, finding how I can make it better and train anyway.

Sure I have trained anyway but I cannot train like normal with my arm and after that the pain is worse, but as we know,  no one  is more stubborn than the french frog!

I have not been able to train at all this week, my arm is still not good and there is no improvement there, my leg and neck on the other side are getting much better.

I am really upset to have been reduced to do nothing for a whole week. I have to start training my arm in a way or another now, with light weights and see how it goes, I will be extremely upset if I cannot participate to Mike´s seminar with all I got , if I have to hold back and pass on certain exercises because of my injury I will be really disappointed.

This is very unfortunate and should not have happenned. 

I cannot handle being forced to not train for a whole week and I really hope this won´t take any longer.