The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

5/28/2026

Aikido:  8:45 - 9:45 am.  Morning Class.  We did some loosening and aikitaisos and ukemi.  I worked on my panda rolling.  We then worked a partner drill of same side wrist grab and practiced the irimi entry.  When the wrist is grabbed, the irimi entry is an angled step to the side that is grabbed and drawing the arm out to cause kazushi on uke.  Then you "round" the arm like we would for taking a front roll on it, and turn to the center to affect the release.  This takes you to a step around with the other leg to end up behind uke, then pivot, uke pivots to follow and face you, and you can do the drill again.  There was some "play" in the drill in order to affect the release from the wrist grab.

I had an AHA! moment here, mostly after finishing this drill and beginning the technique work.

Ryotetori tenchinage direct (4th kyu technique, uke grabs both wrists, one with each hand).  It uses the irimi entry, and my AHA! moment was that the way the entry steps and draws the grabbing hand down for kazushi is very much like doing a downward knife hand block while stepping into a front stance!  A little bit of blading happens first, and this helps with staying connected to the center, then the hips do the work on the front stance step into the knife hand block.  Good deep step at an angle.  The subtle difference is that instead of the back foot staying back like a good front stance in a form, it slides up to closer to the lead foot.  Then that rear foot V-steps behind uke while the other hand goes palm up towards uke's neck.  The forearm goes to the neck for the sweep/throw.  As always, posture and center are important.

Here's the other AHA! moment.  As we start the technique, the other hand should go palm up just before the other hand starts the downward knife hand block.  This start motion, and how the technique finishes, makes me very much think of it like the palm pressing blocks that are found in Choong Jun and Kwang Gae hyungs.  It was really cool to make these connections, and these connections provided me a good base and structure to do the technique from.  Really cool.  Sensei thought it was cool, too.

Lastly, we did a version of tenchinage that started with a lapel grab and punch to the face (higher kyu requirement).  It used the same irimi entry, just without the hand grabbing the wrist.  Right after the step, what would have been the knife hand block hand instead comes to the elbow and "sinks" on it to break uke's balance.  Then it finishes pretty much the same way.  It was a little chunky for me.  After the entry, with the way my position was set up, I wanted to do violent TKD things.  The initial entry provided a good angle of attack for lots of juicy targets.  Sensei said, "That's martially valid."  I said, "Yeah, but it's not Aikido."  We had a good laugh over it, and I continued to try to make it less chunky.  But you can bet I'll keep that entry in mind for TKD stuff.

 

Strength Training

Leg Press:  245x10, 265x10, 285x10, 305x10, 325x10.

Bench Press:  45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x3, 155x5, 155x5, 155x5.

Lat Pull-downs:  125x10, 125x10, 125x10.

Leg press is going ok with the back, so I'll continue to use it for the time being.

 

Heavy Bag Work:  4 rounds, 1 min/45 sec rest.  Rounds 1 and 3 orthodox, rounds 2 and 4 southpaw.  Straight punches only.  Stretch in The Rack.

[bushido_man96]

5/30/2026

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu:  10:00 - 11:00 am.  Open mat.  I had three good takedowns today:  a hip throw that landed me in side control, a sit back and roll takedown after getting behind, and a standing variation of a wrestling "fat man roll" (opponent behind me with arms wrapped around, I hooked an elbow and rolled to the ground) that landed me in side control, and I worked some north/south positions from there.  Of course, none of this happened on the blue belt.

Positionally, things were kind of back and forth today.  In a match with a tall, spindly guy with some Judo and BJJ experience, I couldn't work a takedown at all.  He tried a takedown and I was able to defend it well enough to fall on top into his half-guard.  I used some forward pressure to break it and get to full mount.  He was posting on one of my hips and I felt like my weight was tilted as I had the other leg up above his hip, and the other was pushed back a bit.  I felt like he was going to get a sweep or start an elbow escape.  I knew I had to beat that, so I got his hand off my hip, but I don't recall if it was from using an underhook or what I did.  From there I started walking the mount up toward his shoulders, and kept working on his hands, and eventually I ended up with a head and arm isolation.  From there I worked my far elbow over to the other side of his head and set an Americana for the sub!  He straightened his arm first, and I thought I was going to lose control due to the sweat, but I was able to bring it back under control and set the Americana.  This was an AHA! moment for me.  I saw the progression from the games we had played in previous classes and it all came together.

There are times when I rolling and I get a bit of tunnel vision.  This happened against the blue belt when I was on bottom and trying to free my inside leg to attempt a sweep.  It was pinned somehow and I just couldn't get it cleared.  We talked about it, and when we went back to look at where we were, the best thing would have been to just slide my whole self back more and create a bit more space to manipulate my leg better and maybe just get a foot into his hip instead of the sweep.

[bushido_man96]

6/1/2026

Strength Training

Leg Press:  245x10, 285x10, 305x10, 305x10, 305x10.

Press:  45x5x2, 85x5, 105x5, 105x5, 105x5.

Lat Pull-downs:  127.5x10, 127.5x10, 127.5x10.

[bushido_man96]

6/2/2026

Heavy Bag Work:  7 rounds, 1 min/45 sec.  Switched to a different bag each round.

1.  Straight punches, orthodox.

2.  Low kicks/knees/elbows.

3.  Pushing/thrusting kicks.

4.  Straight punches, southpaw.

5.  Kickboxing.

6.  Round bag, uppercuts and hooks.

7.  TKD rules.

After the heavy bag rounds, I went into the TKD room and pulled out the Wavemaster standing bag.  I left it at the lowest setting and did a kick flow drill over it:

BL outer crescent kick (landing behind), BL spin round kick (land behind), BL spin outer crescent kick (land behind), switch feet and BL spin round kick, land behind (only off leg kick).  Switched and did the combination on the other side..

Stretch in The Rack.

[bushido_man96]

6/3/2026

Strength Training

Leg Press:  245x10, 285x10, 310x10, 310x10, 310x10.

Bench Press:  45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x3, 160x5, 160x5, 160x5.

Lat Pull-downs:  130x10, 130x10, 130x10.

[bushido_man96]

6/4/2026

Aikido:  8:45 - 9:45 am.  Morning Class.  Warming up with Ryotetori tenchinage, with tenkan (4th kyu).  The tenkan causes me to think, and I feel like I'm not hitting the knife hand down block draw.

Katatetori yonkyo (4th kyu):  this starts like 5th kyu katatetori sankyo, but stays low, and you try to find the pressure point with the bottom bone of the index finger, and "cut down" like with a sword (the cut affect still helps the technique to be finished even if you aren't hitting that nerve).  I struggled with the alignment of the grip.

Munetski kotegashi (5th kyu):  on the step and tenkan, I can still use the knife hand down block draw application.

Ushiro tekubitori kokyunage (4th kyu):  omote version, I think.  These are weird.  Uke runs in and cross-grabs the lead hand and then circles around the back to secure the other wrist from behind.  I have to do an initial side step while pulling or "drawing" the grabbed wrist to my center (the step is with the back leg to side they are circling to).  This step and draw helps to add momentum to swing them around.  Then the arms come up high with the wrists just above the head and in front (sensei called them "squirrel arms" and they are bent like T-rex arms).  Finish by stepping forward with the inside leg and bow while bringing the arms down.  We do an aikitaiso motion like this in warmups.

We finished class by getting to do whatever technique we wanted.  I did the two versions of tenchinage.

Stretch.