Make it real

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we trained with Nicklas yesterday. first techniques on pads / mitts and then some sparring.

Nicklas had disappeared for a while and he was not feeling at the top but I have to say he´s got some good chances to be good at it, as for a beginner he has a really good form. this is the thing with JKD you don´t get away with only training once every 3 months or so…

I felt very low on energy and had problems with the flow. It happens sometimes. Micke says I need to accept it, no one can be at the top everyday all year round. I am better but I still have difficulties to accept this when it happens, I get depressed because I feel I kind of spoiled a training session for myself.

Anyway, we filmed the sparring with the headcam. Micke was carrying it on his helmet, he was keeping the distance more than usual and hiting also harder than usual. I did not feel good about this sparring at all.

I thought about it afterwards and actually the fact that Micke makes our sparring as real as possible, is for sure hard on us but on the other side, he is doing us a big favour: preparing us for what could happen in the streets. Of course we don´t only train that hard and for what ” could ” happen” but let´s get real about why we all train martial arts.

be ( in ) the water my friend !

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This was an interesting training today. We decided to go to the ski slope and down to the water. I requested a  techninque training on pads today.

It went well, after a couple of hook kicks on both sides I heard some comments that are for me the ultimate reward coming from my instructor. Micke said “it shows who your trainier is, it looks good,  you´ve been practising “. I use to hear ” that looks like crap “or something like that but I take it the right way because I know it does ! and it does  not only take one or two or even 5 years to be good at JKD, it takes a long time and those who will persevere after 5 years will eventually succeed, this is my opinion. So I keep telling myself I am getting better and even if I would like to be even better than I am , I enjoy the learning process everyday, and days like this are the reward I cherish the most.

After that, I got baptised !!!!

WELL !!!! we decided I would do some balance exercises while standing at the very edge of the bridge (or whatever this thing is called)…

Anyway I succeded on the right side and as I always work both sides I changed to the opposite corner but it did not take long untill I lost my balance, I tried to compensate by trying to jump back on the bridge but that is when my foot slided from the edge and the only thing I thought about was survival, I had to catch the edge in order not to be stuck in those thousand of plants growing in the water and drown right there. The whole thing was pretty quiet Micke did not see he just heard the sound of me falling into the water and this is when he started taking pictures. Fortunately I had thought it might happen and had a change of clothes with me.

This is only confirming one thing, I have to work on my balance because the left side, yeah … it looks like crap 🙂

the best feeling

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Training is the best feeling ever. Oh sure sometimes I feel too tired,  too weak or  too whatever… but anytime I start training I always feel better, there is no good reason to skip training either than illness or injury.

I worked on the bag , footwork , balance and  speed with the paper drill. I feel I get better control and stability, those adjustments at the kiropraktor must do some good on my strangely twisted back ! Anyway, I had some good punch power and did some static  exercises for the side kicks.

Then trying to hold the hook kick position in front of the bag , I noticed a nasty problem that I need to correct kind of RIGHT NOW ! The position of the arms, what on earth am I doing with my arms when kicking ????  No need to say I am  reminded by Micke all the time.

this is a new point on my list, I moved it to the top 5 because it is very important for all kind of reasons, alignement of the body , balance , stability, protection, control, awareness …

“black eye Girl”

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yeah ! ok first the back and now the eye, I wonder what´s next….

Oh Well, that´s the way it can go sometimes, this is martial arts. I take it because I have to, the day I get myself into a real life situation there will be no time for pain or fear.

Anyway this black eye hurts like hell today but I did not feel a thing yesterday at all, I discovered the “surprise” this morning when I got up.

It was nice to meet new people at the training yesterday, David I had met before, Adam is the giant man that I met for the first time yesterday. We hope we´ll see them on a regular basis as some of us disappeared without a trace.. again…

We only sparred yesterday, I started with some “teaching” David about the basis, I explained how footwork is the key and that you cannot do without. I gave him some advice on what to do at home and what to focus on , it was nice of Micke to let me do that , I really appreciated the opportunity.

Then we let them sparr against each other and we sparred ( Micke  and I) , on the concrete plattform with no gear and we toughed it up a little. I fell good and in control even when he tried to strangle me, I got lose and fought back.

The we sparred one on one against a wall, Micke had decided he would go for the arm that I injured a week before…

Well, once more I have to learn to protect my weaknesses!

We were talking with David about the awareness and how to not make our disadvantages worse , David and I have almost the same height, I told him to keep a straight body because he has a tendency to bend and look down, this makes a too  easy target for the other who has a double advantage. The disadvantage of smaller people has to be compensated by an outstanding footwork, this is what will make us at the same level or better.

At last,  Adam asked Micke to sparr and we got some pretty good filming on this one 🙂 you can check this on our group page .

Injury

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In case someone wonders why I´haven´t written for a while .

I injured my back, it is not a serious injury just a muscle thing, but it hurts when I stand, when I sit, when I sleep,  well all the time. I am taking painkillers and stuff and even met with a chiropractor who found some other problems with my back !

One leg is longer than the other , the right hip is forward which make my back and neck compensating on the other direction and this makes my left side and hip weaker and even painful…  and I went there for a pain from my neck down under the right shoulder and in the arm to the fingers….

The good news is that it can be easily fixed with a couple of sessions, and it will even help me with balance so I am taking the pain for now and waiting for the problems to be fixed in the very near future I hope!

The Hill …

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Ah this is so nice to be able to train outside .

This sunday we were pleased to see Will and David, our two newest members,  join the party !

We went on the backside of the slope and started with running it up and down.

Then footwork up hill

Mitt/ pad training, combinations jab cross hook -the pad holder hit the sides of the body- and finish with cross- cross

Then we worked on cross for a while

and hook kicks combinations:  low- high- low,  without landing the foot.

we did some sparring with the pads: the pad holder is  in movement and shows the pad in whatever position.

The exercise is to respond with correct punch or kick, adapting with correct distance and appropriate footwork.

We trained on kicks up hill, the pad holder has the higher position and goes up while the other one is kicking the pad  going up with right and left hook kick. Good exercise for high kicks balance and stability !

Then the guys carried each other running up , my partner was Micke and there is no way I could carry him ! so I pushed him up , while he was resisting and trying to push me down…

We raced each other up, I was not one of the first up , but I ran anyway.

Some protective gear on, it was sparring time. Again up hill,  the exercise was to sparr the opponent who has a higher position and this is easier for him to just push the other one down.

Last exercise, frog jumps … all the way up… only one person  did it, the frog eater : ME  ! 🙂

Ah this session was great , we worked all hard and had lots of fun !

Stairway to Hell !

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Well, when I say this was a killer session I am not joking, when while sleeping at night you want to turn around and only the upper body follows and the legs stay right where they are so you have to lift them with your hands to change position, no really !!!!!

I could barely walk yesterday and same today.

We started with exercises on pads

Footwork on a distance back and forth

Kicks and punches combinations on mitts and on Thai pads

Stretching kicks in front of each other, side, hook and spinning back kick

Drop step and punch … no comment on this one! I just can´t get it right, I can do the step but when combined with the punch I just cannot find the right timing

Hook kicks on a 10 meters distance back and forth without landing the foot once, as soon as one of us messed up we had to start over! Same thing on both sides that was the beginning of the leg murder!

We played with the tennis ball for a while, one person is throwing the ball the other one kicks or  punches it , this is a really good exercise for timing and precision, fun too..

After that we just went over to the famous stairway. 

First we had to run up to the top and finish the whole slope to the top of the hill.

As soon as we came back we had to run it again jumping on one leg, kicking the air with the other without dropping the leg… both sides.

Almost dead at the top but both Remy and I made it!

When we came back Micke told us to do the wheelbarrow all the way up as last exercise for the day.

It went quite well actually as it gave a break to my legs!

 We´ll go to the gym tonight and Micke asked me if it was ok for my legs, answer : NO !

I will train the upperbody tonight , there is no way my legs are good for anything right now.

Small Injuries

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Small Injuries

I did not write after last Sunday when Remy kicked me in the hand, well, how many times haven´t I heard to close my left hand when sparring,

… maybe I learn something after that.

I had blue and swollen fingers for a couple of days but it is good now.

This day we worked on pads for a while and moved to the stairs, we all ran up and finished to the very top of the hill.

I felt sick for a while and then I sparred with Remy  who finished me with this kick.

Hard Work, it is about time!

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I have trained according to the new program this week, I added some stretching for the back and the hips. I can feel it, I have some work to do. This is quite boring to stretch, especially when it takes a long time but anytime I think I want to move on to something else I remember : you will never be good at something else if you´re not flexible! and this is true,  my movements are limited because of that and ENOUGH with the excuses ! I know what I need to do if I ever what to reach the level I want!

I worked on the papper drill , it is such a good exercise, I train all punches following the movement of the papper after impact. I train hook kicks as well , I tried side kicks but they are a bit tricky on the papper 🙂

I also add some hardenning on the heavy bag, this thing is so hard it works just fine! I punch with both hands and controlled impact 100 times and I also kick 100 times with both legs,   I need to harden the shin area because it is just too sensible. As I said,  I do it with controlled impact, I will not go hit a banana tree 1000 times a day as I have seen in some Jean Claude Van Damme movies ! ( go find a banana tree in Sweden anyway! )  

Ted used to hit daily on a piece of steel, he said this is not a question of damaging nerves,  it is gradually building strong knuckles .

But I have to say I am not very happy with myself, this is ground work, basics, I should have put some time in this a long time ago. Now after 6 years I wonder why I am limited while I should be better than this, no wonder I am not …

OUTSIDE training!

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For the first time this year we trained outside, fantastic day !

I warmed up and stretched at home before meeting Micke outside and we took our bikes for the first ride of the year !

That was kind of tough, at the arrival at the slope we met Remy and decided to go check the front side. That is where we found lots of snow and instead of going around,  Micke decided we would go up instead. Riding the bike up this slope is mission impossible due to the steepness so we pushed/ carried our bikes while Remy ran up. YEAH good idea Micke, I thought I would never be able to train after that!

At the top we worked on the mitts:

Combination : Jab cross hook ,  without gloves focusing on power and speed , keeping a good stance and appropriate footwork.

We were told to do a 1000 but I don´t think we did them all !

Then we worked on the double hook kick: low and high without landing. Here too, focus on a good position,  stability and control as much as power.

I was quite happy with the feeling I had today on the mitts, I think I can notice the improvement because of  the work I do at home, both kicks and punches felt more controlled and stable today, I surely need some more work and especially with the balance, but stretching before the session felt like a good idea for me, and with that kind of warmup I think it all helped a little !

We went to the edge of the slope and did some light / controlled sparring with Remy. A couple of times I corrected myself with the position of my body, I am already small but I make myself smaller by looking down and bending my body, which makes me target the center of the opponent too much. I know about it and correct it by myself which is good, because I have to be better at this. I think this will help me be more centered and see openings in a better way, I also believe this will help me be more stable on my feet.

Everytime I write I feel like I find new things to work on, the learning process never ends. After 6 years I have so much more to learn. The positive aspect is that the things I am working on now are adjustements, details that will help me get better, I feel I have the basis and what I am doing now is taking them to the next level and this is such an awesome feeling. Nothing will make me more happy than the day I  feel I master some techniques, the day I feel stable and strong and in control of my movements, this day will be a great day, one of the best.

Finishing the session with Micke standing on the edge of the slope we were down and jumped up to a hook kick on the mitts, same exercise with the knees.

I was worthless with the knee exercise as I could not reach the mitt so I brought the mitt down instead but that was not the point !

anyway we were actually done with the session and started to go down the backside of the slope. then we rested for a minute and decided I would run up the slope.  I could do it as the backside is easier than the front side.

That was finished for the day… for Remy who drove back home, we on the other side,  had to ride our bikes home, and let me tell you something about Sweden, this is no flat country, up and down hills at all times!