I am back

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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 !

Old Friend

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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…

Situation

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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 !!!

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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 !

OUT OF ORDER!

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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.

Don´t get down !

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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.

Interception

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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 🙂

Basics

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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.

Protection

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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!

BLOG BIRTHDAY :-)

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My blog is 2 years old today, 215 posts.

I have always written about everything since I was very young. I almost have a book of my life, now I also have a blog.

This is something that I do and enjoy doing. Not sure a lot of people are reading or even are interested but I mostly do it for myself . Writing about some events is for me a way to remember. In this case the purpose is to see the progress, the evolution, to remember things that happen and feelings that I have at that moment and have something written about the way that I train. JKD is such a part of me, I see nothing else I would want to write about.

I rarely go back and read what I have written at all,  but  sometimes I do and I often smile. I like to think that events are not just happenning , I write them down so I don´t  forget anything.

Some events like the trip to San Francisco in 2010,  celebrating Bruce Lee´s birthday and  meeting his family and friends. The second trip in 2011, spending time with Allen Joe and his wife Annie, Jeff and Julie Chinn taking us around town visiting Bruce Lee sites,  these were  days that I described in details, some of the best days of my life.

There are of course a lot of events prior to the Blog that mean a lot, these are described somewhere else because of the personal aspect but there is definetely one day to  mention, the day that changed my life is the day I met Mikael. I believe none of what I have experienced after that would have happenned if I had not met him. Of course I forced a couple of things on him, like facebook. I believe it helped us getting in contact and  meeting great people along the way and we have learned from the good and from the bad that came out of it. Where we are now is the result of our hard work as a team.

It has not always been easy, I have my opinions and I speak them. I have not always written about everything because when I have an issue with someone I take the matter directly. I don´t want my blog to be  political or controversial, some people have tried to use it that way through comments but I decide which comment I publish and these are going straight to the trash.

I am happy to have lasted so long and I look forward to write about more special days and experiences.

Thank you for reading and thanks to some of our JKD friends in the USA who have linked my blog to their website.