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 Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:56 am
In an attempt to give myself some sort of motivation, I've decided to make this topic, documenting my training experiences.
after taking some time off, I've finally gotten to the point where I'm back in uniform, scrapping with the best my school has to offer. unfortunately, I'm sort of notorious about losing motivation and slacking off after a certain period of time. I believe it has to do with plateauing cause when I percieve I'm actually progressing, I stay focused, but when it feels like I haven't gotten any better, I slack..
so anyhow, there's the introduction.
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Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 8:18 am
Captain's log. date: 11/08/04. (hey, I'm the guild captain, dammit xp )
Monday's training went surprisingly well. at the end of class, my coach actually complimented me on a good job for the night.
let's see, we started with slip and weave drills up and down the floor to warm up. nothing too fancy.
then we got to some focus mitt work. mainly, punching combos, but they progressed to punch/kick/knee combos... man, those things are killer if you do them for long enough. unfortunately, coach was busy with another student and he missed the round bell on my long round. sheesh. four minute round of constant kick/punching. sweatdrop
as a side note, I've been amazed at how much power I can put into my overhand right punch. I've been told before that I can put some serious hurt into this punch, but I've never really succeeded incorporating it into my normal technique. I'm going to try to make a conscious effort to do so.
then came the fun part. biggrin low kick sparring. personally, the low roundhouse kick is one of my all time favorite kicks. not just because I can put quite a bit of stink on it, but because it's so easy. it's quick, very low recovery time, and done propperly, can be as damaging as a kick to the ribs. we did round robin style sparring. two minute rounds with one person, then circle around for your next round with someone else..
I was into my 4th round when I got matched up with James. now, here's a mental picture of James. he's about 6'5" tall, 180lbs. "tall and lanky" is what most people would describe him as. but he's also fast as greased freaking lightning. he's only 18 years old and he's got some of the best footwork I've ever seen. he jabs faster than most people can blink and his technique has gotten to the point where when he jabs, it hurts..no matter how trained you are..
anyhow, so we went at it. usually, he owns me. he beats me like a redheaded stepchild. he's just too damned fast. not this time, however. I just kept coming at him. he tried to sidestep, I'd cut off the ring.. and every time he low kicked me, I returned..with interest. mrgreen
I think I finally found a way to beat him. I just have to keep hunting him down and countering him when the opportunity comes..
anyhow, that was monday's class. next class is on wednesday. biggrin
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Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2004 9:17 am
Are we allowed to post in this forum too?
I know exactly what you mean about the plateau thing. All through my life I've started and chucked so many things because at first I picked it up really quickly and then started to feel like I wasn't making any progress.
In my taekwondo I feel like I have been getting better and better for the full four years I've been doing it, its one of the reasons I love it. In last nights training sesh I pulled off a move thats been illuding me for ever and it gave me such a buzz, and there are loads of other things that I cant quite manage yet but if I keep practising and training I know I will be able to, which makes me wanna train and practise even harder. I presume there is a plateau but as a measly first degree I know its gona a while yet before I hit it, and then I have loads of other martial arts to explore xd
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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:17 pm
yeah, man. feel free to post and critique or whatever you want....
ok, so here's today's journal entry.. I'll be posting twice a week as that's what my current class schedule is..
11/10/04
So, we've had a small influx of new students over the past couple of weeks. some of them have trained in other arts before, some are fresh off the street.. this has it's advantages and disadvantages.. I like seeing new faces, as that means our school is flourishing. the downside being that we have to get them up to speed. how to hold bags, how to throw punches and kicks, all that jazz. but hey, new good..but I'll get into that in a little bit.
tonight's class consisted of more of what we worked on on monday. usually, that's the routine. we do a week of a set of specific drills and then we go on to something else the next week. We started off with bob/weave work. duck under a rope, do a jab, duck under to the other side, do a jab. it's a basic drill you'll see boxers use alot, but it works. helps you tighten your bob/weaving and let's you work on throwing moves after you come up from them.
as a quick side note, I got new pants today. they're a little long in the leg so I'm gonna have to get them hemmed, but hey, now I look like all the other students in my class. I usually wear Muay Thai shorts, but it's getting cold out. sweatdrop
anyhow, so today, I was partnered with a new kid, Jason. it was his first class, but he's had some training in Kyokushin karate. I guess that's one of the downsides of being an "upper" belt... you have to break in the new guys. we started with simple punch combinations, then moved on to kick/punch combinations. Jason did pretty well. he picked up relatively quickly. unfortunately for me, I had to tone down my speed/strength alot tonight so he could keep up. the upside to this was, I tried to focus on technique and execution. sweat the basics ya know? turns out I drop my right hand when I do a body hook with my left.. worked that out tonight. another day of practicing and I shouldn't be making that mistake again. stressed
we didn't do any kick sparring tonight. class ran a little late. instead, we just did some abs work.... which I needed and still need for that matter. leg raises, slow crunches, regular crunches, then iron bridges. for those not familiar with what an iron bridge is, you rest on your forearms and the balls of your feet and you keep your body parallel to the floor... and hold that position. it might look like it's not very hard, but trust me, hold it for a good minute and you'll understand how hard it can be.
coach took me to the side after class and he said I'm ready to come back. he told me that I need to start working on my next belt tip. I told him give me two weeks and I'll be ready. to that effect, I'm going to be doing some work on it on Friday outside of class with one of the upper students. she's agreed to come in and help me work on the stuff i need for my test. I'm not sure if this is going to turn into a weekly event, but we'll see.
anyhow, that's all I got for tonight. peace.
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Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2004 11:46 pm
Wow! You're training is awesome and it seems like the new kids are doing good. Let's hope it stays that way. Good luck on your test!
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 3:31 am
ouch, have you done the iron bridge sideways? resting on one elbow? absolutely kills the sides....
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:31 am
DarklingGlory ouch, have you done the iron bridge sideways? resting on one elbow? absolutely kills the sides.... yes, I have..and yes, I agree. xd jup: thanks for the compliment and the luck. ^_^
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Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 3:08 pm
You're welcome! I have never tried the iron bridge thing. I gotta get back into shape soon. I'm turning into sludge lol. Kinda hard to find a martial arts club around here.
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Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 6:56 pm
11/15/04
just got back from an extended class today. my left elbow is all kinds of puffy. confused we did a back to basics class today. for the entirety of the class, we concentrated on just one move at a time. I ended up getting teamed with this guy named chris. chris used to come to the school before it moved into it's current building. from what I gather, he's been out of the loop for the past two years. he just recently came back a couple of weeks ago. thing is, I don't think he realizes how much the class has evolved since he last came. he still wears his traditional Gi, whereas us kickboxers are in muay thai shorts and a t-shirt.
however, uniform aside, his style is definitely different from what we're taught now. he puts so much power into each attack, and each block, which I understand is a good thing, but he loses alot of control when he does...and that is definitely a bad thing. especially considering today we were supposed to work on the basics. every punch and kick he throws he puts knockout power into. the problem is, it's sloppy as hell. I saw so many openings that I had to literally restrain myself mentally from counter attacking. this is in and of itself difficult as we're trained to take advantage of any openings we see. and chris leaves so goddamned many!
as I'm typing this, I'm resting my elbow on a bag of frozen veggies...stupid swelling..so I'm not going to be writing much more this entry. grr. something's gotta be done about this guy soon. he's gonna hurt someone if he doesn't calm the hell down. coach made a point to mention the "there's people in the school willing to go as hard as you want" thing. a subtle warning to chris and a few others who think that it's all about power... so we'll see how it goes next class.
also, I'd like to write down for the record, that I missed my supplemental class on friday. I ended up having to pack up my desk that night cause my job "relocated" me to another company. it's not really as bad as it sounds. I'm working for a very large company now, even though I'm still technically an employee of my old company. plus, better pay and I don't have to drive all over new york state anymore.
anyhow, I'll make up for it tomorrow..assuming I can move my goddamned elbow. I still need to put in some extra time and work on the stuff I need for my tip test, which I've decided will be a week from this wednesday. yeah, my coach allows us to tip test when we think we're ready...but if we wait too long, he'll drop us a couple of hints ya know?
belt tests are on a fixed schedule. I just hope I'll be in good enough shape to do decently on my belt test. it'll probably be in about a month or two. we'll see.
anyhow, that's it for tonight. I'm gonna go ice down my elbow some more.
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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:06 pm
11/17/04 - nothing to report. I'm sick as a dog at the moment. skipped class. sweatdrop
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Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:25 am
11/23/04
at work. can't update right now, will undate when I get home about last night's class.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 7:25 pm
11/29/04 - back in action!
ok, so I took some time off from kickboxing to do the whole turkey day festivities and what not. tonights' my first class back since the 23rd, which I can't remember much of so that post is gonna remain the lame duck of this thread. confused
anyhow, so tonight's class mainly consisted of more punch sparring. again, I was stuck with Chris. I'm really beginning not to like the guy...he's just kinda off. half the time, he goes really light like he might hurt me, and the other half, he's trying to rip my arms off when he blocks. I just wish he'd make up his damned mind.
as a quick side note, Chris leaves big gaping holes in his defenses cause he has a tendency to overblock. Feinting is his enemy as I've found tonight. I lost count of how many times I faked a jab and caught him full on the side of the head with a lead hook. serves him right for freaking brusing my arm. confused
anyhow, so we did punch sparring mainly..different scenarios, different combinations. at one point, all we were allowed to do was slip and weave. hands down. that was interesting....as another side note, Chris isn't very good at slipping and weaving. mrgreen
after the boxing, we did conditioning drills. this consisted of all of us getting into two lines and one by one, running the gauntlet. first it was slaps to the stomach, second round was slaps to the upper leg. third round was a straight gut punch...and I'll take a moment here to relay something. Coach was in the line with us as well so we got to hit him..but his usual saying comes into play. "You get what you give." if you wailed on Coach, he wailed on you. so anyhow, at the beginning of round 3, Coach announces, "Aim for the gut. try not to hit the Solar Plexis. That's reserved for me...and only if I like you." Guess what? Coach likes me, much to my chagrin. he almost doubled me over when he hit me right at the bottom of my Solar Plexis. I shoulda hit him harder since I had the chance. oh well.
Round four of the Gauntlet consisted of round kicks to the upper thigh. I told Michelle to let me have it. I could take a kick. She didn't hold back. I'm still limping, but I'll heal. heh. I guess I was just a glutton for punishment tonight. oh well.
anyhow, I've started looking into my next tip test. there's more than what I thought there'd be so I won't be ready be wednesday. at the moment, I'm shooting for next monday. assuming that I can get someone on wednesday to hold pads for me so I can practice my required combos.
stay tuned for more action-packed Mythic-beatings. biggrin
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Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:50 pm
12/1/04 - yay! real sparring!
I realized that I really have to come up with some sort of format for my postings. it's getting a little cluttered in here. sweatdrop
anyhow, about tonight's class. it went really well tonight... we started off with wall drills to work our defense. basically, this consists of you standing with your back leg touching the wall behind you and your partner throwing punches at you. you're only allowed to bob, slip, weave, and occassionally should tackle him if he gets too close. it's a really good drill to use because you're forced to stay defensive. for this drill, I was partnered with Andrew. now Andrew is the fancy guy in our class. he likes showy moves..flying stuff..that sort of thing. I was convinced that he's had training before because he's already semi-developed his own style. during one of our breaks, I asked him what he's trained in before..and I was right. he said he made it to blue belt in Washin Ryu Karate..taught by Hidy Ochai. now those who aren't familiar with Sensei Ochai, he's been inducted into the Black Belt hall of fame on more than one occassion. He's been awarded countless awards for his dedication to the spread of Karate as well as his work for charities...and on top of that, he's the only instructor in the Binghamton, NY area with any sort of world wide recognition.
anyhow, I digress. so yeah, Andrew's trained with Sensei Ochai and he's also read a bunch of different books on martial arts in general. now, I don't know how I feel about this. anyone who admits this, I tend to be weary of.
so, back to the training. three rounds of wall drills, were followed by boxing drills. opponent combos, you block and return an attack. that sort of thing. I noticed during this time , though that Andrew likes to pose after he attacks. I will surely use this to my advantage if I ever have to spar him. 3nodding
after the boxing drills, we actually did real sparring. we broke up into groups of three so the guys I went against were more or less my size. This put me in the same group with Chris, which I've come to find isn't a bad a sparrer as I thought...or maybe I'm not as good at sparring as I thought. sweatdrop he nailed me more times than I'm comfortable with, but, as always, I gave as good as I got. I even managed to land a spinning round kick to his head, right when the last round ended. mrgreen
also with me and Chris was a white belt named Chuck. he seems like a good guy. I really like his enthusiasm. one thing that makes him interesting is the fact that he's a Southpaw (left handed). he's the first southpaw I've ever sparred against. and boy, can I tell you, it's hella different. he nailed me a couple times good cause I've never sparred a southpaw before. it's weird having your leading leg be opposite of their leading leg... but interesting..and intersting is good. I feel bad, though. I hurt him a couple times pretty bad by accident.
1. I accidentally nailed him in the balls. sweatdrop I know how much that sucks. sad
2. he went for a low round kick with his right leg. I blocked with my left leg, but I accidentally blocked with my kneecap....right to the center of his shin... I really felt bad for this one... again, I've been there..I know how much it sucks. he was limping off the floor after the successive rounds. and on top of that, after class, when he took his shin pads off, I could see the bruise starting already.
3. I hook punched him square in the jaw..and I felt it, so I must have actually hurt him with that... he was shaking his head after I hit him. I didn't mean to hit him so hard.. I just threw the hook when I saw the opening, and he weaved the wrong way...right into my fist.. sweatdrop
Chuck was a trooper, though. he toughed it out and I've gotta give him props for that..
on top of that, Coach really took a notice to me tonight. he actually brought over one of the new red belts and told him that I've goten alot better. especially with my defense and had the red belt watch me a round and pointed out my defenses..
even more exciting, when we all got in line to bow out at the end of the night, coach said point blank, in front of the whole class. "tommy, you're getting your next tip soon right?"
now, I gotta really work on getting ready for monday. I've decided that I'll take my tip test monday. no, I'll earn my tip monday.
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Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2004 3:49 am
Nice one, good luck mate smile
I'm a lefty too and it tends to work to my advantage, I'm used to fighting righty's and they aren't so used to sparrin lefty's. But the people in my dojang are getting quite used to having my left foot in their face xd
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Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:44 am
DarklingGlory Nice one, good luck mate smile I'm a lefty too and it tends to work to my advantage, I'm used to fighting righty's and they aren't so used to sparrin lefty's. But the people in my dojang are getting quite used to having my left foot in their face xd damn you leftys! :shakes fist: no, seriously, it was a real eye opener going up against chuck. I'm actually looking forward to sparring with him again. it's wierd in that I was very confused..but it was exciting going against something different..
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