The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

10/23/2025

Aikido:  8:45 - 9:45 am.  Loosening, then panda rolls backward and forward.  They are starting to make more sense now.

Katatetori ikkyo/sankyo, ura and omote, with standing and kneeling pins.

 

Taekwondo:  5:45 - 6:30 pm.  Traditional Class.  I taught this class.  I worked a lot with the white belts throughout the class, mostly on coordination.  I did get some concentration kicking in before class started.

 

BJJ:  6:45 - 7:45 pm.  Three warm-up rounds.  I think I worked through some things pretty well during these rounds.  I tried to keep better pressure.  After warming up we drilled guard from the seated position, starting with just keeping heels connected to hips, moving around, following the top player and reconnecting.  We progressed to getting hooks in when the opportunity presented itself, then progressed to top player trying to pass (but not mount) and bottom player trying to destabilize.  We finished working hooks with the top player kneeling, bottom getting connected to the body and pulling them over onto the hooks or use the hooks to push their hips away, then worked to destablize.

[bushido_man96]

10/24/2025

Personal Defense Seminar:  8:30 - 11:30 am.  A friend of mine that I've been working with for years and who I came to know through several avenues (he set up the Defensive Tactics Club at our local college and he brought me in there, and he eventually promoted me to a black belt and teaching certification in the system he put together; he also had his kids in TKD for quite a while) invited me to assist him with this seminar at one of our local high schools for their senior class.  Also assisting was another deputy from our department and a state trooper and his wife.  The trooper worked for us before going to the highway patrol and he was also a collegiate wrestler here.  I've had the opportunity to help with these in the past and they are always productive.

He started off by talking about basic self-awareness and having a willingness to fight in case of an attack.  I stretched the students out a little bit while he continued to talk, and then we went over standing up in base.  The rule is from now in throughout the session, if someone doesn't stand up in base, then everyone does push-ups.  We did a few sets of push-ups.  After standing up in base, he covered the "three zones."  Zone one is the "red" zone, which is basically standing in front of each other, squared up like a fight or a spar.  This is not where we want to be, especially for women defending themselves against men.  Both parties have all their tools ready to bring to bear, and this is what we would call a "fair fight."  We don't want to fight fair.  Zone two is at the sides, which is a better place to be; he calls this the "yellow zone."  This is a much more advantageous position to counterattack from, and the attacker can be overwhelmed.  Zone three is behind the attacker, and he calls this the "green zone," because "green means go."  It's easy to disengage from here, and it's easy to put a hurting on the attacker from here if need be.  After this, we get into some partner drills.

Wrist grab abduction:  attacker grabs the wrist with a thumb-up grip to drag someone somewhere.  Defender drops into base (knee/hips/shoulders line up, looks like a back stance) to stop the dragging, then simply circle the elbow to their elbow, drawing a "smiley face" to break the grip on the thumb.  For a two-hand grab, its pretty much the same, but they grab their own hand, bring elbow to elbow and walk toward them.  When walking toward them, its important to step behind their feet, so as to be more to zone two, and can then push off and disengage.  Yelling at the attacker is important in order to draw attention to what's happening and to try to get them to change their mind about the attack.  For a thumb-down grip, the defender "hitchhikes" out, extending the thumb and rotating to break the weak link.

Choke defenses:  from front, side, and behind, all very much like our Krav defenses.  Then we covered a rear-naked choke defense, bringing the chin into the V of the elbow, getting the hooks in to create space to breath, pick your feet up to drop your weight, step outside a foot, walk the other foot to put yourself at 90 degrees with hips in front of their hips to create a block, and then bend forward to throw them down.

Bully choke:  (on the ground) frame their head away with both hands, and try to throw a leg around the head to scissor them away.  If the attacker starts to punch, hook the inside of their arm at the elbow, or hook around the outside of it if need be, hip out twice so more like 90 degrees with attacker, release the hand stopping the punch and windmill it around to frame on their face and and roll over until on all fours, arms securing the head in what a wrestler would see as a front headlock position, then deliver knee strikes straight into the top of the head.

This pretty much covers it.  At various points we work in getting into a decent fighting stance with a good base and hands up (fence position would be good, too), and also practiced elbow strikes on pads.  It was a good session, and I'm going to be putting together my outline for teaching one of these, as the DT instructor is going to be moving and he's willing to hand things off to me.  Perhaps I can get something going with some seminars here and there.

 

Strength Training

Leg Press:  245x10, 245x10, 245x10.

Hammer Iso Bench (seated):  55x5, 55x5, 55x5.

Lat Pull-downs:  130x10, 130x10.

[bushido_man96]

10/28/2025

Taekwondo:  5:45 - 6:30 pm.  Traditional Class.  I taught this class tonight.  Basics took a while, and we ended up cramming forms in.  Having the other black belts there to help with that was a bonus.  The lower ranks got their one-steps in.  I really wish we had the full hour for the class.

Sparring:  6:30 - 7:00 pm.  White belts did combinations, colored belts sparred.  After some rounds I had them do some upper quadrant blocking drills for controlled blocks and keeping hands up "in the window."  Finished with a mirror the instructor footwork drill.

[bushido_man96]

10/29/2025

Aikido:  6:15 - 7:45 pm.  Warmups and aikitaisos, more work on panda rolls.  Getting front panda roll figured out.  Most of class was black belt demo.  Next worked with yokomenuchi sokumen iriminage omote.  Flowed well.  Then yokomenuchi "five arts," slow with breathing timing.

[bushido_man96]

10/30/2025

Aikido:  8:45 - 9:45 am.  Yokomenuchi sokumen iriminage omote.  Worked on bringing the drawing hand back to the hips and close while doing a 'motorcycle throttle' twisting action on the secured arm to help kazushi and provide a better entrance for the irimi arm.  We also worked katatetori kaitennage.  I need to keep the raised hand in front of me when I step through and when I turn.  Finished with more panda roll practice.

[bushido_man96]

10/31/2025

Heavy Bag Training:  6 rounds on a heavy hanging bag, 1 min/1 min rest, working various bags and focuses.

Strength Training

Leg Press:  255x10, 255x10, 255x10.

Hammer Iso Bench (seated):  47.5x5, 47.5x5, 47.5x5.

Lat Pull-downs:  132.5x10, 132.5x10.

[bushido_man96]

11/5/2025

Heavy Bag Work:  9 rounds on the same standard heavy hanging bag.  1:15/~1 min rest.  3 rounds orthodox hands only, 3 rounds southpaw hands only, 3 rounds kicking and punching.  Nice stretch in The Rack afterwards, and went through Choi Yong twice, fixing a few things.