I mainly use my foam roller for lower body, when I had a shoulder injury it helped but not as much as sports massage [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnEiYxbzM4Q"]Post-Workout Routine- Corrective Stretching and Self-Massage - YouTube[/ame]
karatesloth, Do you practice your tsuki (zuki), gaeri, and various other strikes on a bag/target or just as a shadow boxing sort of exercise? I find that working with a bag is more helpful in developing power and technique, but I'm open to new ideas.
Aye, I've heard of people using them to help remedy things like shin splints actually which is something that really interests me. I've been using a tennis ball and massaging my legs which has helped, but it'll be interesting to see how the foam roller works out. I started introducing some split squat type things about a week ago (Van Zandt suggested them too) consistently every time I stretch and I've found my inside hips have had almost no problems whatsoever and I'm even getting a little lower trying to do the side splits too. It's slow progress, but it's a start I do both actually. On a normal week I would normally aim for at least 3 times a week of solo air kihon to develop the form, speed, movement (etc) but at least twice a week I try and fit in pad/makiwara/bag work too. Personally I think they both have their advantages. Air kihon is great for developing form and analysing movement, weight distribution, timing, breathing, balance and speed without having the distractions of targets and such. It's also great for the art side of the martial art. I find it's one of those weird ironies that good application is better than visual aesthetics, but without the "pretty form" to begin with a lot of people won't give you the credibility you deserve. :dunno: Pad work is fantastic for developing power, studying transition of weight, checking the alignment of your anatomy, techniques, etc. You really can't practice a striking art without getting in some consistent practice of striking targets and such. Striking pads and bags is really just applying your kihon after all against a stationary target. Truth be told my pad/bag work would be much more consistent if it weren't for the fact that I have to lug my gear for a 20 minute round trip, tie everything up securely then untie it at the end of a session. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood to lug it all around. It is also slightly weather dependent as since I have to do it in the mud & grass if it rains too much it gets too slippery to use my kit properly. The one thing I have noticed though is that if in a week I spend more time doing pad/bag work rather than focusing on solo air kihon, I get slower and stiffer. Not massively, but the difference is there. So I tend to find the balance of the two is a must. Also, I really need a partner.
11/09/13: Not much again today, I'm reducing the training I'm doing for a few days, see what that does for me. As expected, my shin splints were pretty angry at me for trying to run yesterday, so I had to take more time stretching. Warm up: Stretches 1km interval sprinting @ every 50 metres. High knees x 40 Pads: Chudan zuki x 120 Hook punch x 120 Uraken uchi x 40 Ura zuki x 80 Mawashi Geri x 120 Stretches Nuki te uchi x 40 Total time - 55 minutes. 2 1/2 mile walk for shopping. Mis-timed it horribly, so I ended up going out training not long before the kids from school broke up and had to call it short (d'oh!). Trying to run after yesterday was silly, but I'm glad I did . I did go to the doc's anyway as I had some other things sorted to talk about the fact I'm just not sleeping properly. Explained my diet, training patterns, sleeping patterns, unchanged stress levels, etc. Also explained how it's affecting me. Only thing he could definitely rule out is that I haven't developed arthritis without knowing about it (lol) and it's not a circulation problem. I'm booked in for blood tests tomorrow morning so he can do general screening for early onset rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and a few others. Should know soon .
12/09/13: 1 1/2 mile shopping walk today. Scheduled rest night tonight, so nothing to report. A few stretches, some massaging my legs (my shin splints are bad), that's about it really. Also got me a new resistance band today, trying to figure out what types of exercises to do with it
Roll it up into a ball and use it as a pillow. You're getting testing for chronic fatigue and you're still training. It isn't cheap and I know money is tight, but I think you need someone who can assess your lifestyle, training, diet etc. I went to a Chek practitioner and had to do a full diary for two weeks. Everything was noted. It was a complete holistic lifestyle pack. Emotions, past injuries, medical history, skin condition, eyes, ears, toilet habits, times and stool condition, training and exercise routine and so on. I know you feel that you aren't overtraining, but that isn't to say that you are training and living to full effect. For the sake of a few weeks I would advise taking a rest.
LOL Aye, I'm an odd-ball. That's kinda why I'm slowly letting up on the training though. I know it's not as good as just walking away, but I don't think I'm ready to do that just yet. I'm getting the results back from the blood tests after the weekend, so we can work from there. But then I've always held the attitude that sickness, injury and the like doesn't stop you training, it just gives you a damn good reason to slack off. Probably not something particularly advisable. Chek practitioner? That's a fair comment. I really don't think I am over-training though. I'm not beginning to sweat with my revised sessions and I'm not even breathing hard or anything like that, which does lead me to think I'm not over-training as I'm not pushing my usual limits. But at the same time, you might be right about not living to full effect. I've started making adjustments to my daily life because of everything, it'll be interesting to see if anything changes. ======= 13/09/13: Sonoba kihon waza in naihanchi dachi (keeping it light still, usual medium//fast mix): Jodan zuki x 60 // Chudan zuki x 60 Jodan uke x 50 // Jodan uke x 50 Naiwan uke jodan x 50 // Naiwan uke chudan x 50 Mae geri chudan x 20 // Mae geri chudan x 40 Gaiwan uke jodan x 50 // Gaiwan uke chudan x 50 Gedan barai x 50 // Gedan barai x 50 Shuto uchi x 50 // Shuto uchi x 50 Mawashi geri chudan x 20 // Mawashi geri jodan x 20 (fast) // Mawashi geri chudan x 20 (fast) Nuki te uchi x 50 // Nuki te uchi x 50 Uraken uchi x 50 // Uraken uchi x 50 Naname zuki jodan x 50 // Naname zuki chudan x 50 Total time - 45 minutes Day 1 of the 100 push ups in 6 weeks challenge thingey. My push ups haven't been great lately so I figured I would go back to basics. 10 minutes playing around with the resistance band, trying to get a feel for it, slowly practising mae geri, ushiro geri and jodan zuki Gentle yoga stretches. 1 1/2 mile walk for shopping. Got the dojo in the morning so keeping it easy. It was nice to feel like I could have pushed for more though . I have to go as I need to update my sensei about my current state of affairs and let him know I haven't stopped wanting to come though.
I was going to suggest this for hip mobility if you have big resistance bands like these. Depending on where it is you said that generally hurts bands could help with prehab, but I still suggest dropping the punches with KBs and any other wrist/ankle weighted resistance [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVcQuaM-OSo"]New hip flossing tweaks for anterior chain muscle stiffness - YouTube[/ame]
^^ My hips have actually been pretty good on the whole (fatigue excepted) lately, would you believe. I tried that stretch in the vid yesterday. It's not quite in the right place for my usual grumbliness, but it's a good one to help with the stretching anyway (EDIT: I tried it again, my body positioning was a tad off the first time - it does stretch the right area). My resistance band is a big loopey one, so now I have one I am going to drop the slow punch/kick exercises with the KB's. Resistance bands are much nicer to use anyway. Been a bit lazy with updating I admit. I have still been training but I have kept the intensity down. The fatigue is still there along with the stiffness of the joints, but I think I might have found what most of the problem is. So fingers crossed ------------ 14/09/13: Was in the dojo today. 'Twas a grading the next day (I couldn't attend, but I'm thinking of just training and not grading at all anyway) so the dojo was more quiet than usual. First 45 minutes was spent focusing on sonoba kihon waza (standing fundamental techniques) and kihon kata. Next 45 minutes was spent on moving kihon, weight distribution (I had very stiff knees that day) and focusing a lot on nagasu (the principle of shifting one's weight to allow an attack to pass by without giving ground). Last minute or two was focused on sparring and I got to play with a BB! Apparently I have surprisingly good gyaku zuki and mae geri and I even manage to catch his legs with a low sweep twice . But I also have pretty bad distancing issues (poor eyesight) and I'm nowhere near as fluid as the BB's are. Also I can still get my butt whooped . Loved it! Total time - 1hr 30 mins 2 mile walk for shopping. No training that night, kept up the rest. 15/09/13 Went down to the park with the makiwara and a new resistance band: Resistance bands: 3 x 5 chin ups (assisted) 1 x 4 pull ups (assisted) 10 minutes of primal movements (lunging, stretching, etc) Makiwara: 70 x Chudan zuki 70 x Furiken (swing punch) 60 x Ura zuki 40 x Uraken Uchi 60 x Shuto uchi 60 x Empi uchi 60 x Gedan uchi uke 60 x Kote uchi 60 x Shotei uchi Total time - 50 minutes. Again, no training that night, trying to keep the rest up. Local gym was closed, so no swimming either. 16/09/13 Sonoba kihon waza: Jodan zuki x 80 // Chudan zuki x 70 Jodan uke x 80 // Jodan uke x 60 Gaiwan uke jodan x 60 // Gaiwan uke chudan x 60 Mae geri chudan x 60 // Mae geri chudan x 40 Naiwan uke jodan x 60 // Naiwan uke chudan x 60 Gedan barai x 50 // Gedan barai x 60 Shuto uchi jodan x 60 // Shuto uchi jodan x 60 Mawashi geri chudan x 40 // Mawashi geri chudan x 40 Uraken uchi jodan x 50 // Uraken uchi jodan x 60 Naname zuki jodan x 50 // Naname zuki chudan x 60 Nuki te uchi jodan x 50 // Nuki te uchi jodan x 50 Gentle isometric stretching. Shoulder dislocations x 12 (considering my joints are tight I am damned impressed with that! Total time - 45 minutes. The fatigue is a pain in the backside, but I'm doing better today. Called it quits after that as it was getting too close to bed time to be comfortable. Nice to feel like I could have done more though
For shoulders I use several of these band positions in my gym warmups [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eveYJP1indI"]Episode 211/365: The Simple Five Way Shoulder - YouTube[/ame]
17/09/13: Very little tonight. Got hit by a massive fatigue & depression wave today so I didn't really do very much and very nearly did anything. Managed to muster up the will to use the resistance band in the end, so at least I can relax about having done something. The band I use is a big loopey green one if that gives you any idea of what I'm using. This one here: [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/RESISTANCE-BAND-FOR-POWER-LIFTING/dp/B00CHJAZ6G/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1379457305&sr=8-24&keywords=resistance+bands"]RESISTANCE BAND FOR POWER LIFTING - CROSSFIT - PULL UP - MEDIUM STRONG: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors[/ame] Day 2 of the 100 press ups in 6 weeks challenge. Already getting easier again . 10 minutes of whole body stretching but a lot of focus on the shoulders and hips, pretty much all stuff from the above vids. 10 x OHP. 10 x Squats. 10 x Curls 10 x leg extensions (as in lying on your back, crunched into a ball, arms up pulling the band by your shoulders, fully extend the legs, slowly retract). 40 x chudan zuki 40 x hiki te. 40 x high knees 40 x primal movement style twists. Not sure what you would call them. Start by facing the band & pole, grip it with both hands, take a full pace away. Twist 180 degrees, stretch up to the sky, straighten both arms, slowly return. 12 x Shoulder dislocations, gripping a bamboo bundle. Total time - :dunno:
18/09/13: 3 mile walk today. That's it. Broke out the kettlebells, but after less than 10 minutes of movement I felt ill and decided it was a sign that I needed to stop and not do any more. 19/09/13: 2 mile walk today. Scheduled rest night tonight, so no training has been done. Given the previous night, I think it's fair to say this was a good thing. On the plus side, the foam roller finally arrived and I've been playing with it for about 20 minutes. Now I can put my back in while adventuring! I think I'm in love ======= General health update: No news on the blood tests. I was told they'd contact me if there was any problems and since they haven't contacted me, I'm assuming it's a good sign. I will chase them up anyway just to make sure. I've been suggested to take some generic brand sleeping supplements to help me sleep short term which I've been taking (generic stuff you can buy from the chemist - he was reticent about prescribing anything stronger straight away, which was sensible). I still hurt, feel stiff and have the fatigue problem but mentally I'm feeling much better than I have in a while. Still not able to sleep all the way through the night, but at least the sleep is of a better quality and I can function when I wake up again. Going to back to training properly again starting next week, the lack of training is starting to make me a little stir crazy. Reducing the training doesn't seem to be helping on the fatigue front, but I am feeling a bit down about not doing so much. So there you go. Next couple of days are probably going to be a bit quiet, but then after that fingers crossed it's back to my usual antics.
20/09/13: Skiddly whiffers! That's my word for the day Warm up: 8 minutes of stretching. Knuckle push ups (with good form) 4/5/4/4/8 Crunches 3/4/3/3/10 Hindu squats 3/4/3/3/8 Burpees 3/4/3/3/5 Plank 15s/30s/15s/15s/45s Assisted Hand stand 5s/10s/5s/5s/15s 1m 30s between each set. As of monday going to start incorporating body weight warm ups before each training session. I used to be pretty awesome at them, now I suck at them. Starting ridiculously easy again, then each week see if I can increase it. Hopefully I can get it up to a respectable level again Sonoba kihon waza (N.D - Naihanchi Dachi, S.D - Shiko Dachi, J - jigotai): Jodan zuki x 50 // Chudan zuki x 50 (N.D) Jodan uke x 50 // Jodan uke x 50 (N.D) Uraken uchi jodan x 50 // Uraken uchi jodan x 50 (S.D) Mae geri chudan x 20 // Mae geri chudan x 40 (J) 30 seconds of gentle stretches Naiwan uke jodan x 50 // Naiwan uke chudan x 50 (N.D) Gaiwan uke jodan x 50 // Gaiwan uke chudan x 50 (N.D) Shuto uchi jodan x 50 // Shuto uchi jodan x 50 (S.D) Mawashi geri chudan x 20 // Mawashi geri chudan x 40 (J) 30 seconds of gentle stretches Naname zuki jodan x 50 // Naname zuki chudan x 50 (N.D) Gedan barai x 50 // Gedan barai x 50 (N.D) Nuki te uchi jodan x 50 // Nuki te uchi jodan x 50 (S.D) Sokuto geri kekomi x 20 (J) Kata: Kihon kata x 5 (full intensity/speed) Hojo undo: Makiage kigu (6.8kg) - 7 reps Foam roller. Like a beast. Total - 1hr 15mins (ignoring stretches and foam rollering) Dojo tomorrow morning, should be fun
21/09/13: Dojo day! First 45 minutes was spent on kihon waza, renraku waza and kihon kata. Spent quite a bit of time drilling sokuto geri kekomi gedan, chudan and jodan. The flexibility of my hips sucks going sideways. Forwards it's surprisingly good but it's not quite there yet the other way. The next 45 minutes was spent working on yet more sokuto geri kekomi, more renraku waza (sokuto geri kekomi chudan, uraken uchi, mae geri, junzuki jodan, gyaku zuki chudan, junzuki jodan), sparring applications and core muscle strength as well as flexibility. Loved it, but owwww.... Decided to take the night off to watch trashy tv with the missus tonight. Simple pleasures an' all that
Good stuff! Some of these terms I'm not familiar with yet (above my belt level), but I'll look them up. How many kihons do you train? I have 4. I'm eager to learn the more advanced kata and applications. With your geri and tsuki(zuki) do you use a bag/target? I've found that's it a more useful exercise with a heavy bag (unless I'm learning a new way to do something).
Cheers. Hopefully as of monday it'll start getting more interesting again, especially if I take up kickboxing on the side Cool beans. If they don't come up properly I haven't spelled them properly, so ask away if needs be I'm having a duuuuuuuh moment so you'll have to help me out here. When you say kihons, are you asking about times a week I train kihon waza (the techniques), different forms of katas...? Sometimes yes but most of the time no. At the end of the day karate is largely a striking art so sometimes you have to practice actually hitting stuff. I prefer kick shields and makiwaras just because they're easier to set up and pack away but occasionally I break out my heavy bag as well. Past couple of weeks I have been a bit lazy with it The problem I have with bag work is that if I start to hit pads/bags too much, my technique can become terrible and my speed and form can drop in favour of getting those big, flashy hits in. Don't get me wrong, throwing a chudan mawashi geri with your shin bone against a heavy bag, watching it fold in half and fly about is awesome. But it's one thing to do that against a static, heavy target, it's another to try and catch an opponent with one of those shots or even just to keep your balance while doing it when your target isn't there or has moved. That aside, I spent the first couple of years training with a guy who encouraged lots of movements where you tensed prematurely to "demonstrate kime" and encouraged some very bad training methods. I've spent pretty much the last year trying to learn to relax with my movements and make them more natural/fluid and undo most of the stuff I did with him. If I do too much bag work, I find sometimes I fall back into old habits, so I'm still trying to find a happy balance between the two.
Different kata forms. For example, I'm working on kihon ichi no kata, kihon nino kata, kihon san no kata, and kihon yon no kata. I'll give you a drill I do to work on this, and maybe it'll help you. Get your interval timer and set it to 30 seconds. Start it-and for 30 seconds hit the bag with a geri just hard enough to get solid impact. (70-80% of your power capacity or so) Then get your foot back on the ground and hit again. Do this drill as fast as you can, with as little hesitation between kicks as possible. By the end of that 30 seconds, you should be breathing pretty heavy. Then switch to mae geri (or whatever you want) for the same drill, another 30 seconds. I like to repeat the mawashi for one more round, but that's personal preference. I base this loosely on Simon's 30-30-30 drills. It gives you a good kicking workout and cardio at the same time. Ugh, I know all too well the pain of having to un-learn bad training. :bang: I spent ~10 months at my last studio, and I've been using a considerable amount of the last 2-3 months fixing it. Fortunately, my current dojo is very detail oriented and don't let me just keep making mistakes. Happy training, and see you later! Domo arigato. ~bows~
Ah, I get you. I've only got...lemme think...8 katas I can remember off by heart enough to think about the application (Heian Shodan, Kihon Kata, Gekisai dai Ichi, Gekisai dai ni, Saifa, Seiyunchin, Pinan Sandan, Sanchin kata) and three or so I can't remember all the steps to (Sisochin, Pinan Nidan and Pinan Godan). Not a lot really and I don't practice them as much as I should anymore. I will have to fix that Actually, that looks pretty sweet, I'll have to try that next time I'm out and the ground is dry. Occasionally I do something similar with an empty squash bottle tied to a string in a tree and trying to make contact without it making sound. It's extremely hard to do properly, especially if you're like me and are horrifically short sighted Aye, I've been doing a lot better since I've found a much better dojo (I've never been told off for rolling up my sleeves in class when I'm boiling before) and I'm finally starting to relax properly with the movements after almost a full year and it's starting to feel good. But I still find every now and again I slip up. Care to share horror stories about the type of training you used to do? ================================ 22/09/13: 3 mile walk for shopping, that's it. My hips are still hurting from yesterday and I'm feeling under the weather. But truth be told, I want to enjoy being horrendously lazy for one more night
23/09/13: Folks, gather round. Let me tell you a little story. A story about a sloth who wanted to train, but was silly enough to wait for his wife to get back from her meeting before training. A silly sloth who, by the time he finished using the foam roller, stretched and flexed, realised it was 11pm just as he was about to start. He knew he was a silly sloth, but he tried anyway and soon realised that training while feeling very tired was sillier than he thought and meant that training hard was not clever. So the next time you see a silly sloth, meandering down the street, pat him on the shoulder, shake your head and buy him a sausage roll. 2 mile walk for shopping. Does carrying 10 kg and pushing 30kg for over a mile also count? Lots of stretches Foam rollery goodness. Press Ups - 4/5/4/4/5 Crunches - 4/5/4/4/10 Hindu Squats - 4/5/4/4/9 Burpees - 4/5/4/4/6 Plank - 15s/30s/15s/15s/45s Wall assisted hand stand - 5s/10s/5s/5s/15s 30 - 40 seconds between each set. Gonna switch the hand stands to Wall climbs to hand stands instead as I'm not fully comfortable with maintaining the hand stand position. Chudan zuki x 100 (full speed) Mae geri x 20 Makiage Kigu x 6 reps Total time - ? :dunno: *Excited squeal* with any luck, I should have my first kick-boxercise tomorrow!
