The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

9/11/2024

TKD Class:  Traditional Class:  5:30 - 6:30 pm.  I actually started about 15 minutes early, reviewing all one-steps (30 total) and three-steps 1-9.

Basics:  better; I adjusted my stepping motion in front stances by keeping my feet closer to the ground and kind of doing that half-moon step, but not sliding it along the floor the whole time.  When doing the punch, side kick, spin side kick combination, I did a sliding spin side kick as the last technique.  The main reason was to cover more distance so I didn't have to do as many reps down the floor...

Forms:  Choong Jang.  Felt solid.  I slowed down a few striking combinations by taking a slightly longer break between the techniques; it help clean them up a lot.

One-steps:  Reviewed white belt and orange belt one-steps with the low-orange belt there.  Orange belts can do funky timing with their stepping and punching, so I was focusing on trying to get blocks home at the right time.

Sparring:  Round-robins with the orange belt and the third dan that was teaching class.  I focused on using my footwork to maintain distances, and I threw a few crescent kicks as well.  I've been having issues with them in spots in one-steps, like my hips are "hanging up."  I figure a good way to break out of that is to use more in sparring.

The Rack:  140 degrees.

Got rather dinged up in sparring.  With the third dan, I took a couple of heels into my left hip, so it's pretty sore.  Not bruised yet, but I think that's coming.  I also dinged my left big toe pretty good.  Think it's just jammed though.

[bushido_man96]

9/12/2024

Strength Training

Leg Press:  45x10, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 285x3, 310x5, 310x5, 310x5.

Bench Press:  45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 130x5, 130x5, 130x5.

Lat Pull-downs:  145x10, 145x10, 145x10.

Bench felt pretty good on the right shoulder today.  The pull-downs are getting harder to complete the sets on.  That programming change may be coming sooner rather than later.

 

BJJ Class:  7:00 - 8:20 pm.  The focus of this class was "controlling the hips."

Kazushi/standing drills.  5 minutes each.

1.  One guy standing behind the other, hands locked around the waist.  Person behind's job was keep the hands locked and take their partner down, either hands to the ground or butt to the ground.  Person in front's job was to break the grip and escape.  An escape=switch roles.  In front, the thumb was still the weak link, even in a monkey grip, so that and trying to shift the hands to one of the hip "pointers" and then using forward pressure to break the grip.  Kendall is strong, and that was tough to do.

2.  Same drill, but guy with hands locked could unlock and work different ties, like a 2-on-1, or getting to a single-leg, or otherwise hooking up a leg and breaking balance.  Same parameters for escaping guy.  I had success with the Gracie sit-back takedown (learned it at the Gracie seminar years ago), but I needed to work on getting more forward-driving pressure with a 2-on-1 so they had one less limb to brace for a takedown.

3.  Same again.  Sometimes I'd get to a single-leg, but I wasn't lifting it up high enough to effective.  Kendall pointed that out to me, and lifting it higher helped a lot.  It was hard, because his legs are heavy and strong.  But it got better.

Top/bottom ground drills.  5 minutes each.

4.  Bottom guy in turtle position, top guy locked hands around waist like before.  Top guy's job was to break the hips down and retain control;  bottom guy's job was to break the grip and escape, reverse, or get to guard.  Bottom guy wins=switch roles.  Kendall is strong and hard to hold down.  But I moved around and scrambled better in trying to both maintain position and get to out.

5.  Same drill, but top guy could break hands and go to 2-on-1s, chop the arm, spiral ride, etc.  Top guy needed to stay behind the elbows.  Bottom guy still had the same win conditions.  Just made it harder with their hands doing so much more.  Kendall has a good base and at times I had trouble breaking him down.  But I did get it done a few times, just couldn't keep him locked up.

6.  Same drill, but goal for the top guy was a bit more involved.  He needed to break the hips down first, then move to isolate the head and arm, and get a hook in on the legs (these last two could be done in any order).  It was funny here, as there were several times I found myself talking to myself, telling me the same things I used to yell at the boys when I was coaching them in wrestling: "Head off the mat!"  "Build your base!"  I did ok here, but not great.

7.  Coach went over the rear naked choke, with both players now seated, the "top" guy behind the "bottom" guy, chest to back, hooks in, seat belt hold.  Top guy was to use the hands to start at the ear and blade into the chin/neck area to work open the choke, alternating hands.  Then once you got a good lock, it was "hollow the chest" and push the elbow of the choking arm down into their sternum while turning towards the choking arm.  Bottom guy's job was to try to fight off the hands and somehow get away, and attacking the feet was an option.  Top guy should try to keep the hands busy defending the choke so they couldn't risk reaching for feet.  This one was a tough one.  I wouldn't say it went poorly, but it was tough.

Free Roll:  one round, 5 minutes, with Kendall.  I got exhausted.  At one point my arms felt like they were filled with lead, and I felt like I was just getting crushed by his weight and couldn't breathe.  At one point he got to side control, but he didn't really know what to do from there, and started to transition to mount.  I was able to move to a guard position from there, but I didn't get much else.  He just needs more experience with submissions from side control.  Kendall rolled one more round after that with the coach.  He got tapped, but learned some things.  We had a good time again.

I really liked the focus of this class, and the progressions we were going through while maintaining that focus.

[DarthPenguin]

5 hours ago, bushido_man96 said:

9/7/2024

Women's Self-Defense Seminar:  9:30 - 11:30 am.  The focus of this session was to cover striking.  We covered palm heel strikes, hammer fist strikes (both horizontal and vertical/downward), an eye gouge with the thumb, and a "tiger mouth" strike to the throat, then elbow strikes (horizontal and vertical).  We had lots of bags available for the ladies to strike.  We also covered "A-frame" kicks (front kick to groin), round kicks to the legs (against my better judgement, but not my choice), and knee strikes from a clinch.  We did some stomping kicks from the ground in a seated position (front stomp out) or from a side-on position laying on one-side (side kick).  We also covered standing up in base from the very beginning, to keep their eyes on the bad guy and not turn and give up their back.  We also opened with some preliminaries on what predators are looking for, how they are thinking, and things like that.  We provided information about reporting to law enforcement or speaking with advocates, information on seeking SANE/SART exams, etc.

Overall, a good session, but I felt like the pacing could have been a little better.  As the assistant, I didn't really have much input into that.

We had about 16 ladies show up, so it was a good turnout.  I hope the bulk of them make it back to session 2 this weekend.

Am curious about this: how did you find it / how useful do you think it is? Not being confrontational, am just curious! I have always been very sceptical of self defence courses for women as i think they can be more harm than they are worth (people stopping for 2sec to think can i fight out of this and getting caught rather than just running) with the limited amount of training reps possible not being enough.

 

Curious to hear your take though as you are very experienced, sensible and also in the police so will have a much more informed perspective on their validity!

[DarthPenguin]

4 hours ago, bushido_man96 said:

BJJ Class:  7:00 - 8:20 pm.  The focus of this class was "controlling the hips."

Free Roll:  one round, 5 minutes, with Kendall.  I got exhausted.  At one point my arms felt like they were filled with lead, and I felt like I was just getting crushed by his weight and couldn't breathe.  At one point he got to side control, but he didn't really know what to do from there, and started to transition to mount.  I was able to move to a guard position from there, but I didn't get much else.  He just needs more experience with submissions from side control.  Kendall rolled one more round after that with the coach.  He got tapped, but learned some things.  We had a good time again.

I really liked the focus of this class, and the progressions we were going through while maintaining that focus.

Sounds like a good session. Also personally i have always found side control submissions harder as you have to balance keeping control of the person with getting a sub locked up. Is a good test of control, how you are putting pressure / weight on etc. since you are freeing your arms up a little and can't succeed unless you do both bits well! Plus if Kendall is a good wrestler he will naturally have good top control so no wonder there is a tonne of pressure!

[bushido_man96]

On 9/13/2024 at 5:21 AM, DarthPenguin said:

Am curious about this: how did you find it / how useful do you think it is? Not being confrontational, am just curious! I have always been very sceptical of self defence courses for women as i think they can be more harm than they are worth (people stopping for 2sec to think can i fight out of this and getting caught rather than just running) with the limited amount of training reps possible not being enough.

 

Curious to hear your take though as you are very experienced, sensible and also in the police so will have a much more informed perspective on their validity!

I'm not sure what you mean by "how did you find it."  If you mean how I found the material?  It was material that a DT instructor I met in college was teaching as his curriculum for women's self-defense seminars.  He'd been doing them for some time.  However, what the CI at the school is teaching at this seminar is a bit changed up, which I don't think is a good thing.

As far as women's self-defense courses in general, I believe that getting exposure to some good tools is better than nothing at all.  I also try to make sure to drop some real life knowledge and facts on them about attacks against women, so they understand the severity of it.  My hope is that it convinces some of them to look into actively training somewhere themselves, in order to get more than just what that day or session offers.  It's not something we are trying to make money on, it's a free service we are offering, so there's no monetary motivation there.

The CI has also stated that he plans to open up our Wednesday open-mat time to the women who would be interested in coming in and continuing to train on the self-defense material.  I'll be surprised if we have anyone show up on the regular, though.

 

9/14/2024

Women's Self-Defense Seminar:  9:30 - 11:30 am.  In this session, we covered standing situations.  Escapes from bear hugs (front, side, rear, both arms in, one arm, both arms out, etc), defenses against standing chokes (front, side, rear, pushing from the front, pushing from the back; not rear-naked style chokes, but a two-handed aggressive choke).  Striking elements done in the first session came into play here as part of the defenses.  We had about the same number of attendees as the previous week, which was good.  But some of them were newcomers, and some from the previous week didn't make it back.  We'll see what the turnout for this weekend is for the ground focused material.

[DarthPenguin]

18 hours ago, bushido_man96 said:

 

As far as women's self-defense courses in general, I believe that getting exposure to some good tools is better than nothing at all.  I also try to make sure to drop some real life knowledge and facts on them about attacks against women, so they understand the severity of it.  My hope is that it convinces some of them to look into actively training somewhere themselves, in order to get more than just what that day or session offers.  It's not something we are trying to make money on, it's a free service we are offering, so there's no monetary motivation there.

The CI has also stated that he plans to open up our Wednesday open-mat time to the women who would be interested in coming in and continuing to train on the self-defense material.  I'll be surprised if we have anyone show up on the regular, though.

 

 

That makes sense - if you can get some people to look into actively training then it's definitely a win

[bushido_man96]

9/16/2024

Aikido Class:  Weapons Class:  5:00 - 6:00 pm.  Different instructor today, as the sensei is awaiting their next child to enter the world!  We did a lot of warm-up, with hi-4, low-4, and hi-8.  We even toyed with low-8, hi-10 and low-10.  Then we went through jo kata 1 several times, which was good review, and needed.  After that, it was some bokken work, doing shomen cuts, 5 at a time, as each person counted out the 5 strikes.  During the cutting and during the jo kata, I focused on getting power into the strikes/cuts.

Edited September 19 by bushido_man96

[bushido_man96]

9/17/2024

Strength Training

Leg Press:  45x10, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 295x3, 315x5, 315x5, 315x5.

Press:  45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 127.5x5, 127.5x5, 127.5x5.

Lat Pull-downs:  147.5x10, 147.5x10, 147.5x10.

I think I've got a mild hernia or something.  I've been feeling a pull on the right side of my very lower abdomen area, to right of my groin.  I really noticed it pressing today.  It hasn't hampered me yet.  It's a real nuisance, though.

Edited September 19 by bushido_man96

[bushido_man96]

9/18/2024

TKD Class:  Traditional Class:  5:30 - 6:30 pm.  Basics:  focused on my stepping footwork to protect my knees again.  I also focused on my kihap.  With the discussions we've had in this thread, it's made me think more about something I've been doing for years.  I'm trying to make sure it's coming from the gut, and that it's tightening things up when I do it.

Forms:  Chon Ji, Dan Gun x2, and Choong Jang.  On the low rank forms, the orange belt student takes quite a bit of time to get through his forms, so I got to spend time at the end of the form holding position, breathing, and staying focused on the completed strike and stance.

One-Steps:  White belt 1-7 and orange belt 1-4 (the low orange belt requirements).  This low rank really thinks too much and gets himself all in a tizzy.  I dealt with that later on.  For this class, we just slogged through the one-steps.

Sparring:  We didn't spar, but instead grabbed a kicking shield and worked some drills.  First, we worked front leg kicks, like front pushing kicks and side kicks, for judging and maintaining distance.  Then we did kicking drills from being crammed in.  First it was trying to kick as we moved away from the bag holder, then we did a step away and then kick approach.  It was fun to do, and it was a nice change up.  Our school has quite a bit of equipment, but we don't tend to use much of it.

T-Shirt Class:  6:30 - 7:00 pm.  I spent the first 20 minutes running the low orange belt through drills.  I had him start with Chon Ji hyung, made him do it, and once he finished it, made him start it again right away.  Low and behold, reps resulted in retention.  I had him do this with both Chon Ji and then next with uncle Dan Gun hyung.  On the last performance of each hyung, I made him go at my count, and he had to do the move right away on my count.  My count was much quicker pace than his own, and he still got through it.  I told him that was more of a pace he should be seeking.  Like I said, he thinks too much, so in these drills, I didn't give him a chance to think.

Next, he reviewed white belt one-steps.  I made him do #1 several times in a row, over and over.  Once he had it down, I made him do #2, over and over.  Once I felt he had it, I made him go back to 1, do it once, then do 2 once, then do #3 over and over.  Once he got 3 down, I made him start back at 1 and go up to 3, then moved to #4.  Rince and repeat until he got to 7.  Low and behold, reps resulted in retention once again.  He had started off the class by asking me and the 3rd dan teaching the class how many hours he should spend practicing outside of class.  I told him after this that it only took him 20 minutes.  It's not the quantity of time, but the quality of the time spent practicing.  We also encouraged him to make as many practices a week as he could, and then maybe practice about 20 minutes like that on Saturday.

While I was drilling the orange belt, I did some floor stretching to get loose.  Then I did some floor drills.  I did some BL round kick chamber (feinting) followed by a back leg round kick down the floor and back.  Then I did it with advancing footwork added in first.  Next, I did the drill by starting with the chamber-fake, then the hop forward, followed by a BL round kick.  After these, I did some generic kicking combinations up and down the floor:  BL front kick/BL round kick; BL front kick/BL side kick.  Stretched in The Rack up to 140 degrees, chair back at 2.

 

[bushido_man96]

9/19/2024

Strength Training

Leg Press:  45x10, 135x10, 185x5, 225x5, 295x3, 320x5, 320x5, 320x5.

Bench Press:  45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5.

Lat Pull-downs:  150x10, 150x10, 150x10.

Squats:  45x5, 95x5, 135x5.

One plate bench.  Felt good on my shoulder, and the weight moved easily.  I could probably go bigger jumps, but I want to bring my shoulder along slowly.  I went out on a limb and did just a few squats at the end of the workout.  It felt good to do them, even if they were really light.  I'm going to see how much I can get away with here.

 

BJJ Class:  7:00 - 8:00 pm.  Sub teacher today, so the class was a little less intense.  Other than the instructor, it was just me and Kendall.

1.  We started with just trying to get a single leg wrapped up, or a double leg, just working against each other.  Kendall got several single legs on me.  I couldn't get to one on him.

3 min.

2.  We moved to one partner starting with a single leg hooked up.  His goal was to prevent escape.  Other's job was to escape.  I was able to complete some escapes, and Kendall did a good job of using a whizzer basically to help his escapes.  It was good feedback.

3 min.

3.  Not a "game" this time, but we worked on a guard pass to get to side mount.  It was different than I'd seen before, posting up and getting to one side to squeeze a leg between my legs, in a squatting position and deep enough and balanced enough so they couldn't just kick you away.  Then pinning that trapped side knee to the ground and working to pass.  We also worked Americana and Kimura from side control.