What is better than training outside in the warm and sunny summer time..

It was only me this sunday,  training with Micke

We started with punches on focus mitts:

– jabs

– jab cross

– jab cross hook

– jab cross hook and hook kick

Micke says the technique looks good , good balance in the kicks as well

And more combinations:

– jab cross hook , duck – duck, uppercut left and right, elbow left and right

– same combination adding knees left and right, with jump.

Those knee kicks are not good at all, I need power !

Working more on the knees

– up towards thai pads and focus mitts

Elbow

– left and right on focus mitts. Good power on the right side.. not good on the left side….

light sparring

–  focus on the blocking of  punches to the head

Working on the fluidity of the movement to avoid the punches and blocking, I  need more speed !!!… another thing is to ALWAYS be prepared, one of Micke´s specialties is to surprise you with new things and either than his famous kick to the head that no one has the time to see, today ´s unexpected was  : The Hammer punch,  right on top of the head..  Yeah ALWAYS be prepared for that kind of stuff, after 5 years I should be better at that ..

Hook kicks

– on focus mitts , those look good today ..

More combinations:

– low kick on the  leg + jab cross

working and  the calculation of the distance for the punches and timing:

– jab cross,  straight after kick,  with movement back, with movement forth and with movement to the side. With the partner not moving and with the partner moving as a reaction to the low kick. Somehow I feel most comfortable with the last one, seems more natural to me to punch with the side movement right after the low kick. 

And the big finish….

Running up the stairs … I will do that in one go! I am very surprised and happy, I  had to catch my breath when I was done but  it feels great , now that I can do it in one go I can focus on the speed..

Yesterday at the gym was good, I feel I can increase the weights a little bit now.

I am not happy with my muscles though, I feel I lost some shape and definition and I have to get it back.

Well I am not too worried,  I use to look much better in the summer, maybe because of the variety of  exercises , I always do more things in the summer and it shows. It is quite interesting because I am french and even after 8 years I am still not used to it, it seems that in Sweden we have two lifes.

One in the winter and one in the summer. I still have lots of difficulties to adapt to the winter, really it feels like we live half our life in the dark and snow. Everything is in two, even the training but most of all the spirit and the soul.

It takes a lot for us from the south Europe to adapt to that life, not sure I will ever be able to though. The swedish summer on the other hand is quite magnificent but short  and I just wonder if it is worth living in the dark for over 6 month…

Well I am thinking about moving actually, the thing is I have to go to a JKD country and France is not one of them ( I mean Ted Wong JKD ), furthermore I come from France, I don´t think I will go back just because I want to move forward and not go back to old things. On the other hand Sweden is a bit special to me because it is where my JKD journey started, I honestly can say I could not hope for better instructors and training partners. But these days I wonder If the time has not come for me to move on, because there are things I simply cannot find here. Well as I am well aware of what this implies and I won´t do that over night but  I will have to check the possibilities that I have. One sure thing,  I will end up close to one of Ted Wong´s schools, wherever that is ..

Bicycle and running , yes everyday one of those is on the meny. Actually yesterday I starded with the heavy bag, training only techniques:  jab,  cross, hook, hook kick, side kick.

Then I left for a run, this was the first outdoor run of the year, it went quite well, but tough at the end, it took a little less than an hour because I stopped for a little while half way. It felt good to have done it.

Every year is the same the first time on the bike or running, or even running up the stairs is not much to talk about, after a while this is getting better. Outdoor activities are great for the soul, that is why we almost only train outside, but the swedish winter does not allow that very much sometimes and we draw the line at minus 10, this is when the snow is gone that we can start the ” normal ” life again..

Yeah !  sometimes you think you can´t but pushing anyway,  you see you can! …. until you really can´t anymore 🙂

It takes around 20 minutes up and down in the forest to bike from my place to the famous ski slope where the famous stairs from hell are.

Around 250 stairs up where the  last 100 ones are the worst because they are so steep. I tried once and  had to stop in the middle but ran the last part anyway after a few seconds break.

At the top I had to catch my breath for a while . I put some music on as I came down and  I thought I was done for today, then  it started to play “eye of the tiger”  oh  really ????

I can´t go away now !  I felt I just had to run again, come on !  show what you got! are you a fighter or what? 

and I did it again , It felt harder than the first time, I thought I would pass out or puke on the top but no I was fine.

As I came down I thought , yes good, I did it!  and then I saw the bike waiting , oh my god, I am not done yet …

when I came home I felt quite good, I thought : well that was not so bad after all, I get off the bike and my legs are shaking, YES GOOD !

and  tomorrow , I hit the gym  🙂

Here it is , on top of the regular JKD training, a new season has started , meaning the weather is now in favour of running, biking and all sorts of cool outdoor stuff.

I have this week off, I can now add more training during the day and I walked for  2 hours  today, the  sun was  shining, this was great to start with that again, I started smooth though, the regular extra activity is running and biking.

So, I have checked my bike  and it is ready for tomorrow!

This feels great …  

… and the “Stairs from  hell ” are the final destination… then I will have to ride my bike  back, should be intresting, the first time is always very tough… I am gonna feel it the day after but this is just good!