News ?

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Earlier this week I met with a doctor and a personal trainer, both say no to training…

This is no good news but no surprise either. I will have to focus on everything else but the right side, this is tough and my strong side will suffer from it, my whole training will suffer from it, but I will have to suck it up ,  I can´t just sit and do nothing anymore because it is starting to get to me real bad both mentally and physically.

The personal trainer told me she thought it would be better to stop all together because it is not the first time I injure the same side and I could end up with permanent damage. I answered “I wonder what Bruce Lee would think about that!”. No really it is difficult to understand for people outside the JKD world so I did not try too hard to explain but there is always a way and I will find mine.

Oldies are back :-)

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I still can´t use my right arm so I have to rest a little longer but while I am at it, some “old” faces are just coming back with no warning !:-) Good to hear that Michel was back from San Francisco and trained together with Coshe who is back from LA for a month. Yesterday session was apparently very good and of course (as usual with those guys) very intense and enjoyable.

I am very sad to be out like this, it seems this time I will have to be very careful not to mess my arm up forever, the doc says it can become chronic if I am not careful, the problem is how careful can you be when you train martial arts? There is no way I give that up, I will just have to find my own way.

Here we go AGAIN!

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After last session a month ago I complained about muscle soreness which seemed to take longer than usual, today after 4 weeks I still can´t use my arm and it is because of a deeper problem, I actually have nerve damage and muscle inflamation. I feel pain constantly and cannot do anything with the right arm at all. The doctor says no training at least until I start to feel an improvement.I am going to work on my lower body instead for a while as soon as I don´t feel the tension in my back anymore.

It is very frustrating, this is always a major problem for me, I am going to loose my muscle mass again and my JKD is going to suffer from it, one more time! I have been there before and I know how this is affecting me. Even if I have trained JKD for 9 years now I don´t have the pretention to say I am good enough to take a break and get back just where I was, I know the work this is going to take afterwards and it feels like I am taking some steps back, that really bothers me.

I always try to stay positive but this is a part of a journey and the meaning of this blog, describe my feelings and experiences. I am in a pretty bad phase right now, my mission is to take myself back up again.

Back problem

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Yesterday after a mild hit on the head I felt a pain in my neck down to the middle of my back , nothing I haven´t felt before, I get this sometimes. Anoying and painful and I feel tired because of it but I know it will get better,  I am getting help with it it,  should be fine soon.

Micke on the other side got a real workout yesterday as Mikael tried to push him a little harder, he knows when people have more to give and have a tendency to give up to soon, this is why he pushed him a little more this time. Only good if you ask me, I know that by experience. So I felt sad I could not participate but I will next time.

Kids Training

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Kee NG is Mikael´s  tea supplier she imports the finest tea from China, she asked for basic training for her son and she also organized a training place and a few other students, 6 kids totally , one girl and 5 boys around 10 years of age.

 We only went through the basic warm up and a little kick and punch training on pads as well as some footwork and statical training.

We had a talking time after that, I asked who knew who Bruce Lee was and one answer was “ is he the one in kung Fu Panda ? “ that was funny but also interesting, these kids are 10 years old and never heard about Bruce Lee before, the fact that they immediately associate him with martial Arts , in this case Kung Fu is pretty amazing to me. Jeremy was the one with most knowledge , he said “he was an actor who made a lot of cool fight movies” but again, he learned about Bruce Lee in a video game , also pretty amazing, it seems to me no matter what you do, how old you are, Bruce Lee is coming up almost everywhere, pretty cool.

 We were also asked to talk about respect and discipline and how should or should not martial arts be used.

I will explore this in another post

Thank you Kee for arranging this and thank you all the kids for being there.

See you next time!

Speed and technique

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Last night session killed my arms… and legs!

We worked on speed combined with the right technique, it was not  just a matter of  fast punches and kicks,  but many repetitions with speed and correct technique,  we did different drills with focus mitts and without.

We also worked on a stress situation, the drill was to avoid strikes with only footwork, we  used blockage but no defense, the intensity of the strikes especially when being stuck in a corner makes the adrenaline flow! but this drill is good and necessary, it is like being hit in the head and different parts of the body ( NOT to hurt, to TRAIN ), it is necessary because if you have never experienced it , the day it happens for real you have no idea how to react, the mind can get confused the technique can be totally lost,  this is why we need to work on this.

Outdoor Training

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We decided to train outside yesterday, the weather was awesome ! Bike riding to the slope and after a while as it was too hot in the sun , we moved to the forest where we have an outdoor gym. Will joined us and we used the gym to warm up at first and then to train JKD, we did  balance drills and light sparring on the equipment,  punches and hardenning to finish. That was different and a lot of fun!

I will load pictures later as it does not work right now but some of them are already on my facebook page.

Coaching

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Yesterday we trained with much intensity on the heavy bag and on mitts

The four of us ( Will, Anton , Henning and I ) had an exhausting but really great time !

We are very pleased to see the determination and the dedication of our  new student Anton .

After the session I was given the opportunity to coach and show Henning the basics. I only went through the footwork and the on guard position showing how the technique is based on them. I added some talk about the state of mind and some thoughts about the journey and the differents phases a JKD student is going through.

I really appreciated this, thank you Mikael.

ALLEN

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The trip to San Francisco  is planned for november, we talked to Allen on the phone when he turned 90 (  July 31th ).

Allen and Annie were having a common birthday party to celebrate both their 90th birthdays! I was so happy to talk to both of them on the phone, we were not able to find a flying ticket for the occasion but we will make sure we can meet them in November.

Pictures below are from our friend Jeff Chinn ( world´s biggest Bruce Lee collector).

Allen with his wonderful wife Annie - July 2012

Allen Joe with Bruce Lee - 1966

I feel blessed to know Allen and Annie and I can´t wait to meet them again in November.

San Francisco is always a wonderful experience, it will be the 3rd time and everytime I wish the trip would not end.

RELAX!

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one of the most common problems is to be stiff and stressed, too concentrated or thinking to much, achieving relaxation and control without showing it too much is not an easy task. I noticed that I and even some other people like Will after a while became more relaxed and by that the technique looks better. Sometimes trying too much is not the way there are things we need to accept such as IT TAKES TIME ! Noone will be good at it in just a couple of years.

For my part I have trained with Mikael for 8 years now and I still have a long way to go but I don´t get depressed because I know what it takes and perseverence is for those who really want it so if after 8 years I am still here it must be because I want it  for real ! 🙂

Nobody showed at last training session so I had my instructor all for myself ! I went through the punches and kicks tehnique to finish with rounds on the heavy bag. I was  not feeling at my best because I have been sick, I did not have too much energy so I said I would not stress myself too much and I felt no pressure,  this is where I noticed I get better when I am relaxed !