A journal of my martial arts training
Repeat 4 times:
one leg weighted hungarian squats (30 sec)
pullup and pushup burpees (10)
Repeat 3 times:
weighted squat pops (30 sec)
horizontal pull up (10)
wave rope (30 sec)
Repeat 3 times:
lat unstable medicine ball squats (10 each side)
Repeat 3 times:
slider crunch center/right/left
Class with Sal, Chris, Nate, Joe and Jesse. While in seiza, spoke about yielding vs not yielding. Stretch and 100 (+20) full circle cuts (boken), then requirements twice through for most of the students. I worked with Jesse, giving him The Illusion and reviewing his progress, as well as working with Nate on basic cuts and briefly with Chris.
After the break, we had Balance 1 and 2, and then we did elevated Cutting Pattern 1, followed by some elevated practiced moves of each students choice from among their repertoire.
Repeat 4 times;
Half-off one arm press (10)
One leg sits (10)
Decline push-ups, unstable (10)
Wave rope (30sec)
Plank sliders (30sec)
Repeat 4 times;
unstable medicine ball squats with toss and catch (30 sec)
Went to karate tonight, instructed by Brad. Long warm up stretch, then kihon, followed by Hadon Shodan, Hadon Sandon, Hadon Yodan and Hadon Godan. I was a little rusty on the first pass through some of the kata, and was sweating a lot in stance, but had no problems otherwise.
Class with Hiroko and Ivan. We went over our plan for the exhibition next week for the Redding School for the Arts II. We’ll start in seisa, triangle formation with Hiroko at point. She’ll doing kneeling iai 5, then Ivan and I will stand (with her) and Ivan will do standing iai 1, she’ll do standing 2, and I’ll do standing 7, after which Ivan and I will do one minute of 1-attack parry and one minute of 3-attack parry while Hiroko prepares for her Shotokan demonstration.
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie and Jesse. During seiza, I talked about judging appropriate contact levels for combat, when and where to use light, medium and full contact, and I quized them on target areas for different levels. We went through requirements once, then I re-paired them for once more through cutting pattern 1 and seven moves of their choice. After the break, we had 32 one-on-one matches, using a best-of-three format (two ai uchis).
Repeat four times:
medicine ball wall bounce squats (30 sec)
horizontal pullups (12)
slider pushups (3×5) with seal walk
jump rope (75)
workout ball crunches with medicine ball toss
Class with Sal, Chris, Nate, Charlie and Jesse. I paired the other students by rank and worked with Jesse, reviewing his basic cuts and blocks, and then instructing him on thrust and thrust block. I then paired Jesse with Charlie, Nate with Chris, and reviewed Sal’s White Rope requirements.
After a break, we had sparring with 33 one-on-one matches and three five-fighter melees, the last in semi-dark (one light).
Second day at Arata, with 7 steel fighters and 1 steel choreographer (Sal, green braid). Two sets of 15 rounds.Weather today included bouts of light right, making for light mud in the arena.
5 min warm up
four lengths of the room with rubber band thigh expander slide
30 second, 4 repeats:
hip popper squats
bi-level pushups
pull ups
rope waves
Class with Sal, Chris, Nate, Joe, and Jesse. Twice through on requirements for everyone else while I worked with Jesse on review of his cuts and blocks from last week, and adding decap and leg cuts and blocks. After the break, we had Blind Man’s Boffer, Balance 1 & 2, and a combination of Balance 1 & 2 with a gamut provided by the students not currently running the course, initially as stationary targets, then as quarter speed attackers.
5min warmup walk
30 seconds each, 30 second rest, repeat 4 times:
lateral lunge
decline pushups
assisted pullups
wheeled reverse crunch
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie and Jesse’s first night. Requirements twice through while I worked with Jesse on basic head and neck cuts and blocks. After the break, we had one on one matches with the addition that legs and arms were temporary wounds that healed in 3 – 5 seconds unless the opponent was killed with a good head, neck or torso cut.
Class with Hiroko. Kneeling Iai 1 – 8. Free fighting techniques 1 and 2.
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie, Nate. Jesse observed a second time. Requirements twice through. After the break, we had round robin Refined Strikes and Dodging 1.
Class with Sal, Chris, Charlie and Joe. Nate called out and Jesse observed class. Requirements twice through, then a focus session on The Tradition. After the break we had 30 “best of 3” one on ones and 5 melees.
Class with Sal, Chris and Charlie. Nate called out. I discussed the upcoming October events and highly recommended trying to make it to at least one day or weekend. We then did requirements twice through, with me reviewing Sal and Chris for their White Rope requirements. After a break, we did an awareness and reaction drill, placing partners approximately twice-ma apart, and then either one could initiate an attack motion and the other tried to beat them to completion using a different cut or thrust. We faced each other student in turn, the final time incorporating a side step in the responder’s movement. We finished with Balance 1 and 2.
Class with Ivan. Kihon practice focused on blocks. We did three retreating blocks and an advancing counter strike back and forth across the room, then did a partner focus session on kote blocks.
I hosted a Day of Combat in Redding today. We have eight fighters on the field and a few guests. The event site had a variety of terrain available to us, so we started with 10 melees in a hollow/grove, then moved to a gravelly location for another 2 melees, followed by 2 melees in a rocky dry creek bed, and finished with one scenario melee of President in a slightly less rocky section of the creek bed where there was a lot of young willow growth. The temperature ranged from low 90s and up, possibly over 100 in the creek bed, however everyone stayed hydrated and there were no injuries besides the normal bruising.
Afterward, we reconvened at the Redding Dojo for food, a review of the video, and a little bit of Bushido Blade on the PS1.
Class with Sal, Chris, Nate, Joe and Charlie. Discussed the upcoming event, quick stretch, then requirements twice through (I focused on Joe and Charlie). I then reviewed the I Move (new move for Joe) and we took a break. After the break, I did a multi directional machine gun drill, having two lines at about a 120 degree angle. alternating attackers from each line and rotating through each line. We started with just head cuts, then moved to any upper cut (head,neck, decap).
Class with Sal, Chris, Nate, and Charlie. Joe called out, Sabrina has returned to Humboldt for school. During seiza I discussed the upcoming Labor Day Weekend event. We then had a short stretch and a drill practicing moving in good stance, using the thigh muscles rather than spring with toes/calves. Then we went through requirements twice, switching partners. During the break, I instructed Sal on Double Chop for his 12th move. After the break we had 35 matches total.
Class with Sabrina, Sal, Chris, Nate and Charlie. Joe called out, no sign of Jeffery. Stretch and requirements twice through. I worked specifically with Charlie and Sabrina. After a break, we did machine gun drill with head or neck attacks, then rotated twice through several drill stations; cutting pattern 1 with partner on a grounded beam, two thrust hay bales, and two thrust rings (large and small).
Class with Sal, Chris and Charlie (Sabrina, Nate and Joe called out). Stretch and requirements. I worked with Chris and Charlie individually on their requirements for White Rope and Green Braid, respectively, and instructed Charlie on Jumping Tiger 1. After a break, during which I reviewed rank requirements with Chris and Sal, we did Refined Strikes with each possible partner, 100 full circle cuts (mine with steel), and then Balance 1 & 2.
Class with Sal, Sabrina, Nate, Joe and Charlie. Tonight was a dagger training night. I started with a discussion on how virtually anything can be a weapon, and on intelligent life and death choices, when to fight, and when to walk away. We then examined different styles and knives and daggers and discussed the differences, and then took some time practicing throwing boken daggers into hay bales, getting a sense of how length and heft change the rotation of a weapon. After a break, we put on helmet, gloves and gorgets and had one-on-one dagger matches, using best of three to cycle opponents. I concluded with a single four-way free for all match.