xo-karate

1/18 recovering from shoulder injury - no BJJ today. I will work on my own kata and stretch. Haevy bag kicking drill 30 minutes (tabata).

I've been thinking about kata's and for me the first big question is: what do I want to drill with the set of moves? Often the formula is compination of 2 - 5 moves and both sides. One could drill the compination by it's own - just one set of 2 - 5 moves and drill it say 20 times. This is not the same as doing it once and coming back to it later. In sparring you have just one opporturnity to do your technique. It's the first time that counts. As a development of exercises: 1) Basic technique - kihon kumite 2) Compination of attacks - drill with out partner - with partner (Formal or sparring like). Here is ohyo kumite 3) Kata - formal or unformal. (Unformal for me would be shadow boxing). 4) Sparring - rolling

1/17 some cold treatment to shoulder and whole body massage for recovery. (I was too slow in escaping an arm bar.)

I think we need to study kata's more. I have a wado ryu background and wado ryu was started as a fighting + grappling style. Kata is a way to practise your techniques. For me this means that I should practise my techniques to improve my fighting. With out understanding how a kata improves your skills, it's difficult and with out understanding what is your fighting - skills you do want to improve - it's useless. So I am saying that everyone should study a kata and work out what are the learning goals of that kata and make the moves so that you can use it in your "game". Game might be traditional impact karate, competition karate, selfdefence or MMA sparring. I don't like ballet as a form of martial arts, but it can be very good for physical exercises for martial arts. I used to do kata's as a form of ballet - stylish moves with tweaking a wrist or a finger position. Maybe compined with some kihon techniques. To make make kata more interesting I will make my own kata's:-)

1/15 BJJ class 90 minutes. - warm up slow roll - 45 minute full mount start to a point roll - free roll (Late on tapping so need to be careful with my shoulder for few days.) 1/16 early: stretching legs late: Squat parallel. 60kgx10, 70kgx6, 80kgx4, 70kgx6, 60kgx8. Single leg squat 50kgx10, 60kgx6, 60kgx4, 60kgx6, 60kgx8 (sledge Last three sets: Hip abductors 80x10x3 Hamstrings 50x10x3 Leg extention70x10x3 Three sets are done rotating with out breaks

1/14 60 minutes free roll - low intensity (BJJ)

1/13 early: 45 minute heavy bag punch - kick routine ( low intensity) late: 90 minute BJJ class - 30 minute warm up ( slow - light rolling, monkey rolling= don't do anything you would normally.) - 30 minute technical session on escaping full mount + defending against armbar - 30 minute roll ( 4 minute round - 2 minute break) groups of three players.

I am in a technical face too. Getting smached while thinking of how to do a technique, but I'm not giving up. I trust that doing techniques half speed will help me to learn them. (For now I'm just learning how to start a technique and how it is countered.) 1/12 early: 60 minute upper body stretching.

1/11 early: ideomotoric training via youtube mid: 45 minutes heavy bag workout (same as previously) - punching techniques - frontkick/ roundhouse late: 90 minute BBJ class - 30 minute warm up "calisthenics" - 40 minute technical roll starting from full mount until some one scores - 4 min rolls 2 rounds free roll

I guess your body does not know from what the physical stress comes from. If the intensity is over 80% it grows muscle and If it's 50 - 70% it's strength and stamina. Long time low intensity is aerobic endurance. Something like that... 4 + hours is stamina and endurance for sure...

1/10 (recovery day) early: 60 minute stretching (p90x video) mid: massage + 60 minutes very slow intensity rolling (Free mat) (I know it's not ideal to roll after massage, but don't like to say no to an invitation:-)

1/9 At 12:00 I did my heavy bag routine. (Change leading leg for each new 20 second round.) jab (4 minute tabata) cross (4 minute tabata) 1 - 2 - 2 - 1 (4 minute tabata) 1 - 2- U - O - O - U - O - O (4 minute tabata) 2 - 1 - O - O (4 minute tabata) 1 <- 2 ( 4 minute tabata) 1 - O - 2 ( 4 minute tabata) front leg "push kick"( 4 minute tabata) front leg roundhouse( 4 minute tabata) ( O = a hook and U = Bob and Weave) So it will be a light 45 minute workout (1 minute break between tabatas). To be done: At 19:00 Workout A (Legs) Starting with 5 minute warm up rowing. Started with deep front squats (45kgx10x4) Wide Box squats upperbody uprigth (20kgx8 x3) Alternating lunges (20x10, 25x6,30x4,25x6,20x8) Claves single leg exentric (60kgx6x3)

After first 9 days overtraining has not been the problem. Problem has been keeping up with the schedule. First a small knee injury slowed down for few days and then a mandatory visit to relatives cut down two days. Many recovery days:-)

I just watched Matt D'Aquino - Judo tipshttp://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=E9wD_&m=Kc4TotLwchamRM&b=f9780e34C1TF0WSTFj.jdw Tip was that you should always look for a reaction and counter from it. (To but it short.) The tip has from internet and for Judo. I will take it and apply it to BJJ. I don't know how, but after this message I'll start planning an attack from open guard with "action - reaction" strategy. This is not a new idea for me - so did I learn this from internet? Maybe not, but I was reminded and this might lead to so new learning. See something new or old, take it and apply it to something different... Just one example of what learning might be - and application of the technique might even be enhanced by an instructor - Maybe I can't get it working, but with help of a small instruction - let's say on timing... ..................... BUT it's totally ok if someone does not like to learn from internet, books, did's or training partners. (I also been instructed not to listen to training partners for instruction.) Most important thing is that you feel confident and motivated by the way you learn. I like to think about things and test my theories by sparring. For me it's mostly about the workout anyway. No real need for self defense, competitions or graduations.

The confusion comes from lack of clarification on my part. I mean the intensity that a body feels and not the actual level of the workout. Any new work out I start is a build up. I've seen to many people hurt themselves by diving into a new regimen without making sure that they are prepared physically for it. I usually start the build up to the next one as I am petering out with the current. BUT I think my misunderstanding might work. Kind of taking small pieces from a new workout and trying them out little by little - but full speed - like you wrote "I usually start the build up to the next one as I am petering out with the current". Like today I'm starting my "heavy bag" boxing routine, but I'll start it with technical training. Just working on good form and good weight shift on punches. Other way might be to just start with high intensity but short rounds. (I might if my technique was solid enough, but it is not:-)

I like your slogan: "Martial arts training is 30% classroom training, 70% solo training." Also I agree with "It's all about what your body can handle." The second part is an interesting idea for me. I've allways started a new program kind of feeling it out - more like low intensity - not doing fast or with heavy weights. Idea of managing the workload by shorter time is great. It's like tabata with short work times and maybe not so many intervals. http://www.intervaltraining.net/tabata.html.

What is a good intensity of a training session? Often in weight training it's said that the last rep is the one that counts - it's the one that will build up muscles. Soreness of muscles is a sign for a good training session - or is it? (Well if you a looking for speed, then it's totally wrong, but otherwise, what is your oppinion?) Should you allways try to exceed go further, push as much as you can? Or should high intensity be just for some periods or maybe once a week thing? Or is it too dangerous as it might injure you... (Lifting weights is relative safe, but martial arts done full speed has a lot of hazards.) How hard should you practise?

Solid post!!! Dobbersku, does this comment mean that you agree that internet is not a good media for learning martial arts? Or does it mean that you cannot find good videos about techniques or history of martial arts? If we agree that learning martial arts is not possible thru internet, what are we doing on this forum? Are you not learning anything? Do you not find any new idea or argument to think about? What is so solid about that post? Fact that there are bad videos? Fact that video is only one way - no feedback? Well, if you want to videotape your techniques to youtube, you will get tones of feedback. (I would do it, but just for an example. I'd get my feedback from my training partner or heavy bag.) What about bad teacher? How many students have bad knees or hips after traditional karate training? It's not black and white - but I'm letting go of this subject. I will stay with my argument that you can learn from internet - good and bad and you can learn from teachers - right and wrong techniques. Just compare roundhouse kick from different karate styles, Taekwondo and Muay Thai. All correct techniques, but very much different from each other... how is this possible, if there is a correct one? Just one teacher tends to find their own technique the right one...

Tallgeese and Justice, next message is not to say that you are wrong, but just to throw in one more example. I have not learnd my self a whole skill from internet for martial arts, but I did teach myself golf. I've never taken a class for my golf. I am sure that I would have learnd to score faster with a help of a teacher and with help of a good teacher it would be a totally different game - but I wanted to figure it out "by my self" - well using all the information I can get from internet. I play with handicap 11 which is good for a late starter. (I'd like it to be under 10, but ...) I won our national teachers scratch championship this year - so it's not bad for person that learnd it with out help? I think my strong point in golf is that I understand my swing and can modify it if something is going wrong. I don't have to go to pro to ask what to do - I can fix it in my next shot. (Which I don't do because same mistakes do not repeat, but we make new ones:-) So you can learn from internet. In golf you need to swing at a real ball and most important skill is to learn to read your ball flight and divot to get feedback. In Gracie I'd say the most important thing would be some partner to roll with. You cannot learn sparring with out realistic feedback. (Realistic feedback is one of the most important reasons why I practise BJJ. It's real but let's you practise next day too.)

Depth is in your own understanding - it's never in the instruction, but the interpretation of the instruction. BUT now we are going forward - you are saying that for a beginner internet might be a dangerous source of information, because they don't have enough basic knowledge to judge it? (Have you checked Gracie University - it's for starting BJJ?)

One more comment. Discussion seems to get in which is better - internet or instructor. This IS NOT THE point here! Question was "Can you learn from internet?" and What would you try to learn? It's a little weard for me to think that it has to be one or the other? Why would anyone think like that? Maybe a student that finds out things on their own is some what difficult? Asks wrong questions? Or even questions the answer teacher gives? What is going on here? Do what I say - this is the hole truth! I am happy that I practise in a doyo where you are allowed to think!

Maybe there is more to martial arts than just instructions of a technique? Maybe there is more to learning than accepting instruction from an instructor or from an instruction video? But we all have different styles of learning and learning from an instructor has been proven to be a good way. Ofcourse most successful students start to develop their skills and study more. They end up in developing a new style or finding something that works for them. Something that might not work for their sensei. I will stay on my argument that internet, books and videos are a hugh access of information and I will use it to my best ability. I got a book about martial arts for Christmas and once again suprised about how mony styles there are. It's good to know something about other styles, too. (I will use multible instructors to learn new skills and act as an instructor my self. - I wish I'd had internet, when I started to learn about martial arts!!! But 40 years ago it was only very few senseis and some basic books about technique.)

I would all so write that "I have a teacher, I don't need anything else" as a recipe for disaster. Only way to save your self would be to have multible teachers.

So what did I get? Two rashguards and a book about different Martial arts styles. Very good

Do you get people entering the field who have, until they are called to deal with their first patient, never laid hands on a human being outside of Grey's Anatomy or had any guidance from other doctors other than taped lectures? That's not the time to first discover the subtleties that need a teacher to be patiently looking over your shoulder to notice. This would be silly, woundn't it? Silly like thinking that you have to learn everything from internet, woundn't it?