Wednesday, 23 April 4 mins kata 16 mins shadowboxing. Working through the drills (mentioned in the last post) that I will need to do for my grading. My head is just not in it tonight. I may try to do a bit more, but I can't really get focused.
Well, I never did that extra training yesterday. There's always tomorrow, I guess. Tonight (Thursday) went to goshin jutsu. Did punching and footwork kihon, then some padwork. Finished with kata. My punches are able to be satisfactory without much correction, which I'm quite pleased with. Well, straight punches must make up 30% of my practice, so I'd be kind of annoyed if I wasn't getting anywhere with them.
Thursday, 24 April Isometric splits. Friday, 25 April 20 mins kata. A couple of things I need to brush up on. Apparently the grading will happen in normal class time rather than on the weekend as I thought. Gives me a bit more time, although I confess that's not the reason why I've not been doing too much training. Also, did my core workout. Side planks at 1:45 now. I didn't think I would hold out with the front plank, but I managed somehow. Saturday, 26 April 20 mins shadowboxing. A special emphasis on footwork. My footwork tends to be a bit sluggish. If I get properly fired up I can be quite nimble, but that doesn't happen often. End of week 16. Total time: 1:00 + 31:49 = 32:49
Sunday, 27 April Warmed up with some skipping. Tried wearing shoes, and it makes it much easier for some reason :dunno:. Still not very good, mind. 30 mins bagwork. Roundhouse kick. That's about all that needs saying. I should have a pretty awesome roundhouse kick if I keep going like this. "Cool down" was 500m breast-stroke. Since the last time I tried this (which I seem to have forgotten to have put on here, it was last Wednesday) I only made it 300m, I'm quite pleased with this. I didn't feel too bad at the end either, so I might put it up to 600m some time soon. 10 mins shadowboxing. I may try and do some more tonight just so I can check my form in the mirror.
Monday, 28 April 20 mins bagwork. Tried something that Simon posted on another thread today. Didn't go great, so I guess I need to do more of that sort of thing. My weight shifts back when I move forward, which messes up my distance. On the other hand my punching form is improving, so I don't hurt my hands on the bag as much. I still want a lighter one for hands though.
Last night (Tuesday) had goshin jutsu class. Did a bit of kata then "self-defence" applications; these are the same as the drills I have referred to recently as per: I discovered that my distance is bad and my footwork is worse . I tend to sort of forget what my feet are doing when I'm using my hands. I also have a bit of a problem with my use of force; my brother will have a few sore spots today :evil:. Or maybe he has the problem with his force, since I wasn't even getting touched :dunno:. Wednesday, 30 April 20 mins bagwork. Worked on my distancing. Making sure I reset myself to the appropriate distance when I changed weapons: moving in to punch, moving out to kick, switching etc. One of my problems is getting rooted to the ground when I start throwing punches and trying and shoehorn my techniques into the position I'm standing in, rather than shifting to get better range, targets, weapons etc. As a side note, I feel that I grossly under-utilize my bag most of the time. Finished up with 500m breast-stroke.
Had goshin jutsu class tonight. Same stuff as tuesday night basically, but I got a couple of knocks in the face which immensely increased my enjoyment . It got my blood up a bit, which improved my reactions but made my control even worse. I had to take a minute to calm down. But at least it's nice to know that when it comes down to it I can still... go a bit berserk :evil:. We finished off with a little light instruction on how to smash people's faces into bars.
Saturday, 3 May Warmed up with 10 mins skipping. I'm getting better; since I started again I've gone from max 40 or so before I stepped on the rope, to 110 today. Wearing shoes really does help. 10 mins shadowboxing and kata. Prep for my grading, which should be on Tuesday. This will put my yellow shame (I have a history of accumulated yellow belts) well behind me, as I was only white when I stopped doing SPM kung fu and I will be a blue belt if I pass this grading (although there isn't actually a yellow belt in this system) . Anyhow, there are a couple of niggling points in my kata that need attending. I have trouble balancing when I kick with my right leg (being a southpaw) and I have a tendency to leave my arm out after a punch sometimes - the accursed legacy of my TKD and SPM training! So these things will need work. Although there's not much I can do about my balance. 30 mins bagwork. Divided between working on distance and roundhouse kicks. So I started working distance, adjusting my position as I switched between techniques. I mainly did: jab+cross+lead roundhouse to ribs; jab+cross+power roundhouse to ribs; jab+cross+lead hook. I tried doing front kicks, but I adjust my form when I'm using the bag so I stopped. I did a couple of knees, but doing a rising knee into a punching bag is a bit awkward. I also thew in some head kicks, but I have trouble fitting it into combos. Moving on to my roundhouse kick; I think that I've gotten to the point where I need some instruction. I can do a roundhouse two different ways. One keeps my torso upright and relatively still and is faster and lighter. The other has my torso pulling back and around, powering the leg. It's heavier and slower, at least as I do either technique. The problem is, I don't know which of these is closer to what I'm meant to be learning :dunno:. I made the mistake of starting with gloves on, then taking them off at the end of the session. It's fine if I go bare-handed from the start, but taking them off in the middle is a bad idea and will hurt my hands .
End of week 17. Total time: 2:00 + 32:49 = 34:49 Also got a bonus lesson in awareness; while heading out so that I could get enough room to film myself I nearly stepped on a snake. Went slithering off the bridge and launched itself into the creek beneath. I shall try and keep an eye out in future.
Sunday, 4 May 10 mins kihon. Just punches, over and over in the mirror. I used to call this shadowboxing, but I don't think that the intent is the same :dunno:. Whatever. At any rate, it's been a while since I've done this, and I want to make sure that I don't start losing ground. Plus I couldn't be bothered doing anything else right now. Edit: I am fairly happy with my form overall. I think I have managed to stop shifting my weight around as much ... so basically there is a tendency to shift my weight off the leg that's pivoting as I punch. I go back with the jab, forward with the cross, etc. Watching from the side, I didn't see much movement, which is good . Monday, 5 May 5 mins kihon. As before, although when my knees started getting sore I switched from punches to parries.
Wednesday, 7 May 24 mins bagwork. Distance and timing, which continue to elude me. Clearly I need better timing; maybe then I could pin them down . 10 mins shadowboxing. See, I record all of this on my phone but I only put in a lot of description when it goes up on MAP. Which is to say, I've forgotten what I did . Tonight (Thursday) and Tuesday went to goshin jutstu. Working through the grading stuff: kata and self-defence applications. I've been getting some more corrections on my basic stuff as well. Which is nice, in a way, but not so much when I'm tired and grumpy (that was Tuesday). We also did some "wall-work"; that is, fighting against a wall. It's interesting, especially as it doesn't seem like we're just doing it a "here's something cool at the end of the lesson" thing but actually properly training it.
Sat, 10 May End of week 18. Total time: 0:49 + 34:49 = 35:38 Thursday, 15 May 10 mins kihon. Yea, I don't remember what I did. I'll try to do a bit more tonight, then I have a bit more to show this week. In case you couldn't guess, I've been a bit bogged down for a while . Edit: Saturday, 17 May 26 mins kihon. Mostly working on my punches, but with a bit of parrying, duck & weaving and footwork mixed in. I went to goshin jutsu on Tuesday, it was as it has been recently. I didn't go on Thursday, and I regret it. Apparently we finally started working on sparring . End of week 19. Total time: 0:36 + 35:38 = 36:14
Monday, 19 May Did my 10 mins skipping. I tried to do some advanced thingies, but it didn't really go well. We'll keep going, I guess. 40 mins bagwork + shadowboxing. Worked on distance with the bag and my punching and kicking a bit. In shadowboxing, worked on some combinations and defensive movement. Used the bag a bit for reference. As an aside, I find head movement difficult to practice in the mirror, because I can't tell how much my head is moving! But I suppose I'll get there.
Tuesday had goshin jutsu. Started off doing padwork. My back kick is not fantastic, but apparently my roundhouse has come on quite a bit (well, it is one of the only techniques I practice on the bag at home). My punching is neither here nor there, seemingly. Then we did a bit of... I guess sparring preparation(?). Getting introduced to distance, movement, etc. Then worked through some block/counter drills with pads. Pretty good overall.
Thursday, 22 May 20 mins form and bagwork. In tuesdays lesson I was told to lift my knees higher when I do front kicks. I have found this makes them a lot easier to do on the bag, so there's another example of me thinking that something couldn't be done just because I was too bad to do it properly. Working ranges and movement on the bag. Had goshin jutsu tonight. Started off with my grading, although I was not told as much until afterwards. I passed, but my reactions were appalling, as usual. The rest of the lesson (it wasn't a very long grading) we did kukri work. Learning how to use a kukri is fun; learning how to defend from one is painful (although also fun).
looks like youve got a good rythym of training going on. I'm a bit jealous. I havent read your whole log, but sounds good. Keep it up!
Cheers . Although it's getting slower and slower - I was doing 2-3 hours a week when I started :cry:. Actually, I find that just keeping a log gives you a lot of motivation to train regularly. Good luck... or perhaps I should say, do you best with your own training .
Friday, 23 May 25 mins shadowboxing and kihon. Went down to the beach with my parents for a bonfire (well, more like a campfire, but it does the trick). Working on distance and angles with my invisible opponent. It kind of amazes me that I never thought to really work this stuff in before; like not relaxing or resetting while I'm still in range of my "opponent", or starting from punching range (obviously more relevant with the bag, since it's a bit more fixed). I then finished off with the basic cuts and defences from the kukri stuff I did on Thursday with an appropriately sized and shaped bit of driftwood.
Saturday, 24 May Didn't train, just doing my sums. End of week 19. Total time: 1:25 + 35:38 = 37:03 Sunday, 25 May Did my 10 min skipping warmup. I tried doing some tricky stuff, but on reflection I should probably keep to girly jumps in order to build up my endurance for now. 21 mins bagwork. Yeah, it's a bit of a cop-out for a session on the bag. Mostly I worked on my right-leg roundhouse kick, which is a lot worse than my left. It's getting there. It's kind of interesting having to break down my form on my left in order to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Did a bit of work on my front kick, then tried to do some distance/timing/movement stuff, but my head wasn't in it and I had other stuff to do. So yeah, a bit of a cop out. :dunno:
