Training Journal

A journal of my martial arts training

  • Class with Bryce. Stretch and his requirements. Did a couple lengths of the training space doing standing long jump / high jump to get our blood going (cold, sub-freezing night!). Spent some time doing a four rounds of Add-On, with me changing from two to one handed for the second half of the rounds. Put on helmets and gloves and did one-attack light armor parry, then moved onto the curb moulds for three-attack parry while doing Balance 1. Moved us to a barked area that still had light snow cover (inch at most) and did switch-parry. Returned to the regular training space for several rounds of advanced response training with boken (me always the agressor, him responding).

  • HiiT workout, back to being on my own. Just a quickie today, 3m warmup, 3×3 30/30 set, 3m cooldown.
     – Long jump / High jump
     – Pullups
     – Lat extender plank (20lbs) with pushups

  • Class with Bryce. Quick stretch and once through on his requirements, then we geared up and had a total of 30 one-on-one matches (for me, 15 one-handed, 15 two-handed).

  • Class with Bryce. First class of 2018, we did a stretch and went through all of our respective requirements (green braid for him, silver chain for myself). He was gifted a blunted steel sword which I examined. The quality and feel appears good, though I cautioned it is a bit early in his training to be thinking much about steel. For continous full circle cuts it may however prove useful though I also cautioned to be aware of wrist strain and not overdue it due to possible injury (that being much more common with one handers). We then did unarmored parry, starting with 1-attack, then 3-attack, then Switch. We finished up with a couple rounds of add-on, making it several techniques each in before reaching an impasse.

  • Workout with Chris.

    Warm-up, 4×3 set, cool-down

  • Workout with Chris

    Warmup, 4×3 set, cooldown

  • Workout with Chris. 5 minute elliptical and brief stretch.

    4×3 cycle:
    – lunge with twist (10lbs)
    – jump rope
    – yoga ball crunch
    – divider hops

    5 minute elliptical

  • Workout with Chris. Warmup on ellipticals, then a 3×3 30/30 set:
    – pop squat (25lbs)
    – unstable tricep dips
    – jump rope
    Comedown on ellipticals

  • Workout with Chris. Ellipticals were full so I hopped on a stationary bike for warm up. We did a 3×3 30/30 set:



    Comedown on the elliptical.

  • Workout with Chris. Warmup on elliptical followed by 4×2 30/30 set, ending with elliptical comedown.

  • Workout with Chris. Five minute elliptical warmup, stretch, and two 30/30 cycles of:
     – pop squats (25 lbs)
     – high knees in-place jog
     – pushup / lat extenders (10 lbs)
     – slider crunches
    Another five minutes on the elliptical to settle down.

  • Workout with Chris. Five-ish minutes on elliptical and short stretch, then two cycles of 30/30:
     – Medicine ball lunge and torque (15lbs)
     – Mountain climbers
     – Unstable one arm press (20lbs)
     – Divider hop
    Another five-ish minutes of elliptical for cool down.

  • Class with Bryce. After class opening, I had us get into our full protective gear immediately, then we went through Bryce's Green Braid requirements (myself doing them, too). Afterward, we did 30 one-on-one matches. First 10 I did one handed and we used the complete near-halfcourt basketball space. The second 10 I went two handed and narrowed it to the key plus one side. The final 10 I went back to one handed and we did just the one side (no key). Stepping out of the boundaries were death for all of this.
    This concludes the 2017 class year, we'll be in break until mid-January as holidays, vacations, etc proved last year that it wasn't worth trying to schedule a class here or there.

  • Class with Bryce. Stretch and once through his requirements. I forgot he didn't have torso protection, so we just donned helmet, shins and gloves and did a lot of armored parry (1 attack, 3 attack, switch, and ended with one round of open parry).

  • Class led by Brent. Stance tag, stance drills, ear game. Tonights focus was on using a push with the guard as the blade is inverted to deflect and guard and following with a counter cut.

  • Class led by Marsha (brent out on medical). Warmup with jog medley, ear game, binding game. Focus tonight was on thrust from vantaug, and a couple counter thrusts.

  • Class with Bryce. Stretch and our respective requirements in full. Advanced response training, Three-attack and four-attack light armor parry.

  • Class by Brent. Standard warmup exercises and drills. Second night on krampau.

  • Class led by Brent. Standard warm up games and drills. Tonight was first night working on Krampau.

  • Class with Bryce. Stretch and full through my requirements and his. A few extended rounds of Add-On. Break and then 100 full circle cuts with steel (me 2-handed). Finished up with a few rounds of unarmored parry (1, 2, and switch).

  • More stance game, distance game. Final night on the technique, applying it to high and low in various ways.

  • Brent had us do stance game and distance game some more. Tonight saw the same twisting technique applied horizontally as a primary upper attack.

  • Class with Bryce and Sarah. Stretch and requirements. With sarah, went over defensive stance and the head and neck basic cuts and blocks. Light armored parry with Bryce. Balance 1 & 2.

  • Attended Indes HEMA. Brent had us do stance game and distance game to warm up, and covered the first night on a technique using the blade in and inverted guard to deflect an incoming cut windshield wiper like and respond with a counter.

  • Second day of the faire event. More steel and boken melees.