I will call this a Summer break, 3 guys are leaving / taking a break from our group at the same time

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Boris Kiprich

Boris started training with us last month, unfortunately he injured his shoulder and needs surgery. He  is a really dedicated student and we all agreed on his fantastic spirit and potential. We are so sad he won´t be able to train for a while but we have a spot for him and we are waiting for his return!  

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Michel Curpurdija

Michel is one of us ” old”  students, he will be moving to San Francisco for work for a few months but he will be back in September / october .

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André Faraó

André is leaving tomorrow for Brazil his home country . André is going back to his children, he says he will be there at least one year and will be back later.

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The summer will definetly be different but we know our guys will  come back at some point. Good luck to you all and see you later !

Last Sunday we had such a fantastic weather we decided to go to the slope and have a BBQ after training.

Boris and I were first in place so we started running up and down.  By the time the other guys arrived Boris had already run twice. When the other ones started I went for my second time. That is the thing, this slope is a real pain! You have to have good stamina and real good legs otherwise it is impossible. Boris is running it up like it is nothing!!! I stopped a couple of times to catch my breath and have my legs recover. It felt good to be able to do it two times anyway,  I even run all the way down.

Some sparring after that and two injured people, André has probably a broken rib and Michel twisted his ankle.

After a while we decided it was time for reward, the BBQ was awesome, Mikael and I had portable ones from the company where I work ( Primus ) and Mikael even had another type of stove which he used to make a “ratatouille “, it was a pretty advanced BBQ style but it was so GOOD!!!!

We had an amazing time, as usual.

Yesterday in the afternoon I started to feel pretty tired , my legs felt strange, as the afternoon went it became worse and on the way home when I walked up the stairs that lead to my appartment,  I felt the pain ! OMG today is even worse can´t walk down stairs at all !

Yeah  this is how you realize that slope is doing the work ! We need to do that again 🙂

When Boris and André arrived yesterday we got a request, as Boris has a shoulder injury ( yes him too ! ) he asked if we could adjust the training.

This is not too difficult since both Mikael and I are suffering from inflamed muscles.

We worked only on kicks and leg strength yesterday and I almost puked at some point.

That was an awesome training, it took a lot of energy and strength of mind to go through it.

Talking about injuries my shoulder and arm are back to worse, I knew I would pay for last Sunday.

This is actually really getting on my nerves, it´s been 3 months!

now that was a day like I love them ! OUTDOOR training, first of this year = AWESOME!

and even better when everybody was there, the whole group together, it was such a great day.

When the guys arrived we thought it would be too tight and warm inside so we decided to get the cars and drive to the slope instead. The sun was shining it was a great opportunity.

We introduced the slope to our newest members and started runing it as a warm up.

after that we worked on pads up hill first hook kicks and front leads, both sides

A light sparring   : the pad holder is attacking and making it difficult for the other person to advance

then we started with sparring.

I sparred with Michel , we decided to take it easy because we both have the same shoulder injury but as usual the “easy” part is forgotten quite fast . I also  got a straight lead right in the nose again, this makes me say only one thing, FOOTWORK God damn it ! I ´ve  got to get better at this someday! Rotation to the right side still sucks … Well there is no better way than sparring to notice what you need to work on.

This session  felt good and everyone was happy,  as usual we train in a very good atmosphere.

We are a great team and a day like this is always one of the best. I look forward to next sunday.

It was Boris and I yesterday, statement of the night : “I had no idea training could be that tough in that so nice little room “. You bet Boris ! Mikael  don´t only look scary to some people, he is really tough when it comes to make us work our A.. off. But I have to say one thing, you haven´t seen anything yet ! 🙂  Yeah this can get worse … and I have a feeling we are going to have a taste of that on Sunday. if the weather is allowing it , this sunday will be the first outdoor training of the year and I don´t need to tell what´s going to be on the menu !

We worked on footwork, basics on pads : hook, hook kicks , basic reactions, stop kicks  and  interception.

Then we added some basic leg strength training, deep and low on guard position holding a medicine ball with straight arms.

and the famous invisible chair against a wall  ( there was some kind of unusual shaking going on in Boris´s legs… 🙂 )

Mikael said I was showing off too much during this exercise, so he thought he would finish us with something else.

On the kicking pad 45 sec punching full speed and power- 30 sec pushups- 45 sec punching- 30 sec situps- 45 sec punching – 30 sec pushups.

we finished with stretching .

I am happy to add I could punch and do some pushups , I did not do it too properly because I did not know how the arm and shoulder would react.Unfortunately today I  feel some  pain in my shoulder , it is not too bad but we´ll see what the physiotherapist says about that tomorrow.

I take the opportunity to welcome Boris Kiprich to the team, first impression is that he is very dedicated and serious about  training JKD.

It was only André and I last wednesday, as I still cannot use my right side I trained only the left . I feel it difficult to adjust but I think it is a good thing to train this weak side, I will definetely notice the advantages when I have fully recovered and can train as usual.

We did some killer drills, it was an intense session as always !

We worked on balance, in wide and low  on guard position  holding the medecine ball in front of us with straight arms, holding the position as long as possible.

Then switch from on guard to  low and wide position, fast movements and multiple repetitions

kicks : 50 hook kicks on each side , with speed and control

On pads: 50 of all punches first, 50 kicks and finish with 100  straight leads on the sand bags.

We rotaded on drills with mitts using both kicks and punches , with very short  breaks in between.

I worked on the heavy bag while André worked on the technique  with Mikael.

Then we worked on the strength of the legs trying to push Mikael with only one leg in side kick position..

Push ups, only 10 for me as the shoulder could not bear my weight , I was very disappointed because I could do 50 clean ones and after so much time not training them I know I will loose it all  and have to start from the beginning all over again… but that´s the way it is .

Situps holding the medecine ball  to finish the session, no problem with this one .

Even if this is very frustrating I try not to let that negativity affect me, I  find ways around my limitation, I know it is not permanent and even if it was I could not let this destroy my 7 years of work.

there won´t be any group training until sunday of next week because someone is travelling for one week to the sunshine of Charlotte, USA. I am not very happy about that !!!! 🙂

Well I will stay here in the coldest country in the world and train by myself then …

It was only Will and I this sunday, we worked rounds on the heavy bag and then sparred with each other but with no contact, we had to control the distance and the movements and be very active with the footwork, we also used the hanging bags as obstacles to take into account.

Last week  after the wrestling sessions I injured my arm again, I must have squizzed it real bad when Mikael threw me all over the place :-),  I will not be able to wrestle for a while so I let Will take it all !

It was a really heavy lesson he got there. Mikael showed and explain how to and especially gave him the reasons why you should not go down. When you are down the only thing you should try to do is to get up again. Some guys only want the floor fighting and are so good at it you don´t want to end up there, JKD is about fighting on your feet , not on your back .

The techniques were  repeated in  lots of different situations to prove the point, this session even for me who was just looking, was very rich and interesting.

Yesterday was mostly about interception and speed , we also worked on blocking, with mitts and on the Redman.

I worked with Remy first and we did that footwork fun stuff, we have done this many times before, I really  like this exercise and it is tougher than it sounds ! We face each other trying to step on each other´s feet, the key is to keep a good form and footwork and not to look like  a couple of retards dancing around, we laughed  but  managed pretty good in my opinion.

Another thing I would like to talk about is holding pads or mitts. This is important to know how and not only for the other person. We worked on speed when one person is trying to punch or kick and the pad holder moves the pad away at the last second. Holding the pad correctly and moving it away correctly will avoid certain accidents !

Wrestling time ! Mikael had a lot of energy yesterday, Remy André and I went flying around a couple of times. Even André who is around 100 kgs, was picked up and thrown on the floor. I came last and wondered what´s the point ???  but I don´t think this is pointless, I would say it is the other way around, getting used to difficulty will make me better, even if trying to move Mikael is very hard,  he gives us some opportunities to try some stuff and this is our job to recognize the openings and act.

Pushups situps and stretching after that, it was very quiet in the room during stretching time 🙂

JKD Sweden has a strange habbit, they break things …Now Will killed our dummy with a kick in the heart !  Mikael repaired it  with silver tape so it is not totally dead yet  :-)’

Will requested some footwork drills for yesterday´s session, I really liked it and I think we need more of this.

Then we worked on basics , pad drills and appropriate footwork. The session was intense , we focused on footwork and techniques only .

I was happy to work with Will yesterday, he is very focused, we worked with good tempo. The only drill I had trouble with was when Will had to punch with high tempo and as hard as possible, for that I held two pads and positionned myself against the big bag, but I felt like a slice of bacon in beween and had trouble breathing.  Will hit pretty hard and it was the point. So good work !

As I just said Will and I worked with high tempo and the session was intense,  it felt really good. Adam and André worked together and we laughed at several occasions when Mikael told him to work less with his mouth and more with his body 🙂  Adam was very ” entertaining ” yesterday,  at one point I asked if he had taken any steroids before the session !

We are a great team I really like all these guys, it is really nice to train with all of them. Thank you for this last session and see you next time.

Yesterday´s session was hard for me, I have been sick earlier in the week , but even if it was hard I did it…

After some killer stretching exercises with Remy and Mikael ( who suddenly decided to join our stretching challenge,  not sure I like that ! 🙂 ) , we started with  drills on mitts and light sparring. the tempo was high and I fighted to the end to get this done !

Mikael put the Redman on and we had a harder sparring session.

I want to talk about protection today, it did not take too long for me to be stuck against the wall but I punched and kicked my way out a couple of times but then I lost my focus and bend my body too much so Mikael´s punch ended up in my breast.

Let me tell you, breast protection is as needed as groin protection in sparring, I lost my breath a couple of minutes and could not go on with the fight. This is something to think about because all you need is one good punch in the right place and that´s it. I use to look like a little crazy mosquito when I sparr and it felt like someone just slapped me flat !

Joke aside,  this is not a good feeling, I never wear protection  but I may start.

Now about the stretching challenge , Remy and I had decided to be able to do the splits on July 1st. Now Mikael has joined the party but he is ahead of us…….

We had a great session with  Remy and André yesterday, two really determined guys who work very hard and who have a great spirit and sense of humour. Mikael is always mixing seriousness and jokes , we always have such a great time!