tough workout

Very tough workout today...not sure why. I did 8 rds of 3 mins, on 1 min off with sword and shield, at a low intensity....working on material from my lesson yesterday with Devon of Acadamie Duello. I was focusing on neural ingraining, and fluidity.  Then i did my long cycle work out. I am focusing on 20 mins of long cycle, 20k, unlimited switches. I may compete at this, at a recreational level. However, from my triathlon experience, I have learned that I like to have some leeway, ie, the ability to go farther than the competition time or distance, so I increased from 20 mins, to 21.  By 7 mins in, my Inner Schweinhund was whining, by 11 mins, he was in full howl.  I had to switch from doing 5 reps per hand to 4.  My cadence was in line with previous efforts, but it was tough not to just put the weight down.  I finished the set, and wanted to just lie down and whine, but instead cooled off with 2 rds of arnis. Not sure what the problem was, the set should have been within my limits, and was, but what a struggle. Maybe i just used up all my focus on the sword.  I feel like it made me stronger to finish, to do the hard thing...but WTF, the human mindbody is a strange beast sometimes.

Do the hard thing

Has it been since November...I,m sorry (you, though, probably are not).  New Year, new sorrows : my dog Sammo had to be put down..it was necessay, but sorrowfull.  There is an old Basque saying :`Who must do the hard thing...the one who can. `  These words are true in life, and in training. Do the hard thing.  Lift the weights...go to practice, even you are soul weary.  Share what has been shared with you. Teaching is a privilege, and an obligation.  Go to new teachers and teachings....Acadamie Duello has deepened my appreciation and understanding of weapon arts, as has Hurstwic.  I next plan to incorporate the teachings of Luis Preto.  We are lucky to live in an age of open information, but the blessing can be a curse. Pick your teachers well, and your students. And remember, do the hard thing.

Todays workout

Finished my charity Long cycle challenge­. Was aiming for 10 rpm, or 600 reps, but the group energy carried me to 667 reps, or 11 rpm. However my Code 5 kbell workouts have indicated that in my quest for extreme kb endurance, I sacrificed some power. So I am now working with the 20kbell, or bells.  Todays workout was 15 min sets, with 2 minutes rest between. First I did sidesword and shield.  This warmed up for my power sets, and I like to do sidesword when I am fresh, otherwise my technique degenerates.  Then I did an EDT set of one arm snatches. My goal is to increase the number of reps that I get in 15 mins each week, thus EDT, or escalating denisty training.  This works my power, my endurance and my heart. Then I moved on to freeplay with push ups, two 15 lb clubbells, a 45lb club, and the TRX. I was emphasising circular movements, and also the frontal plane. For combatives, or self defense, your opponent is more likely to be in front of you, rather than straight overhead.  From there, my next set took my fatiqued muscles into arnis, using various weapons, empty hand, tools (cellphone), standing, sitting, or on the ground.  I then finished with gladius, using a heavy kicking shield as my scutum, or Roman shield.  I only got in 3 mins before my technique got too sloppy.  I will increase this to 15 mins. Ancient warfare must have been intensely draining, and this lets me get a small feel for that.  Notice that each sement of the workout sets up the next. This is either because the workout is very rational, or because I very good at rationalizing doing what I want to do...or a combination of both.  Your work, whether it be martial, or just pure exercise, should be progressively more challenging, and it should be enjoyable, maybe not always, but enough to keep you going.

today`s workout is inspired by Rossboxing.com`s burpee sprints. He alternates burpees with shadowboxing, 30 secs burpees, 30 shadow box, for 3 mins rest one minute. This equals one round. Repeat as desired. This is a nice workout, but can`t do burpees with a fake hip, and arnis has lots of weapons not just hands. So today i did :

2 rounds alternating clubbell swipes with empty hand shadow boxing, or carrenza (FMA for shadow work)  instead of the swipes, you could do kettlebell, or dumbbell swings, or even burpees, something full body.  Whatever exercise you pick, count the reps first time through, and try to stay within 2 reps.  this is sprinting.

2 rounds alternating williams pushups with stick work. A williams pushup is a push up where on the up portion, you pull the knees into the gut (like the bottom half of a burpee), on the down, they shoot out again.  You do this like i do, with my feet on furniture sliders so that there is no impact, except on the cardio system. Again full body.

2 rounds alternating self row with knife, or small tools work (ie, cell phone, i pad, etc, usually in pikal)

1 round resisted squats, or jump squats. I use resistance bands with a bar, and do a zercher squat where the bar rests in my elbow crooks, and i keep my hands in a high guard, this makes me concentrate on staying upright. I like the resistance band because at the bottom, where my hip is most vulnerable there is low to no resistance. I alternate this with ground work that may include tools.

Notice there is no sidesword and shield work here.  Two reasons, one, takes too long to get the shield on and off, and two, and most important, my technique is not wired in enough yet.... it would quite possibly degenerate as i went.  Only do this work out using techniques that you have thoroughly wired in.

Big shout out to my Cut Above students....you inspire me to keep training and researching.

Inner Schweinhund

To paraphrase Baron Von Richthofen, first you must overcome your inner Schweinhund. To me that is fear, and that little, or sometimes big, part of you that says....i'm hurt, or i'll be stronger tomorrow, or sundry other things.  Little bastard is cunning, sometimes he brings up medical issues, or lack of sleep, or sometimes he just grabs the controls, and you discover that you just put down the kettlebell half way through the set. He got me today, but I helped him.  A little background. I am getting ready for a one hour long cycle for charity.  That means you take  a kettlebell, 12k in my case, and you clean it to your shoulder, pause and then jerk it overhead (think sophisticated cheat press).  Repeat. Switch hands as often as you want ( i switch every 10 reps). My plan was to increase my time from 45 to 50 mins. Dumb. Way too big an increase for me at this time.  Then I got up and sat around (normally i start my workout asap in the morning) while it got hotter and hotter. Then i failed... not surprising considering i set myself up for failure.  Got 30 mins.  funny thing is 3 weeks ago i would have been happy with that.  Right now, as close as i am to my envelope, i should have been going for a one or two min. increase, not 5.  In training, it is important, no, crucial, to increase in small increments.  Set yourself up for sucess, and send the Inner Schweinhund to the dog park, not the workout area.

On a recent trip to Rome, I had the pleasure of doing a gladiator workshop, with a Roman Reenactment group called   .  It was very interesting to experience their training methods.  They used shaped a shaped wooden gladius called a rudus.  There were 5 strikes delivered weapon side forward, and five parries, performed weapon side back.  4 of the parries were strong, the 5^th, which was against the center thrust, was designed to get the defender towards the back of the attacker.   The texture was similar to Balintiwak Escrima, however  the emphasis was on angles that would avoid gladiator helmets and armour.   The instruction was 1^st class. Marcus had 5 tiros (untrained gladiators) of varying ages from 8 to 58 (me), and varying degrees of experience and athleticism.  He managed in an hour and a half, to teach every one something about how to use a short sword without a shield.  I was honored to be his demonstration partner, as he saw immediately that I had weapon training.   We practiced the strikes, and then the parries in sequence, first solo, and then with a partner.  Then Marcus began calling random numbers.  This was very interesting to see that even in a beginner`s class they did not want tiros to become pattern fixated.  This is something that I will carry into my own classes.   At the end of the class Marcus brought out iron demonstration gladius (blunt), and he ran through the attacks with me parrying.  He allowed me to experience success, but made me work for it. 

All in all, it was a wonderful  experience.  I learned enough to practice at home, and got a few new teaching ideas. I also train with a group called Acadamie Duello in Vancouver. Here I study Medieval sidesword (one hander) and shield. Maestro Devon Boorman and his instructors have given me new insights into edged weapon use, and are wonderful people to talk with and hangout with. I highly recommend sampling arts from other cultures.  It gives a different view of technique, and training,  and is a chance to meet new friends, and ideas.

Long time no post....

Today’s topic is footwork…footwork and bodyshifting are crucial to FMA.  We all know the standard patterns, male triangle, female triangle, linear entry. The * is a very good conceptual tool.  However, all too often we train just one part of it…we’ve all seen it, we’ve all been it : the player doing male triangle for a minute, then female, then????.  This is allright for learning the steps, but it is not sufficient for usage.  Think about it, number one strike comes in, you step forward right  in the female triangle / …do you then step back to parallel feet,  and then step forward left ot continue this pattern  V for a minute?. Perhaps not.  In my misspent youth, I had the privilege and misfortune of hanging with a very good member of the Canadian fencing team. The privilege was to see another way of working footwork,  the misfortune was in the social, or anti-social activities in pubs, etc..  Fencing footwork, due to the piste, or narrow strip used in competition is primarily forwards and backwards, with various degrees of commitment, and some pivoting.  What intrigued me was that once footwork was learned, patterns went out the window.  The instructor would call out movements, very rapidly, and seemingly in no pattern, although I later realized that he was visualizing an opponent’s response (retreat, counter  into the attack, etc.).  I then got my fencing friend, Cliff, who loved to order people around, to lead the drill for me, but using FMA footwork,  so he would call ie, angle right, pivot, backstep (some of these are terms we developed for clarity and speed of command).  What I found is that I was a happy little robot, as long as I was in the patterns, but less facile, when he called sequences I wasn’t used to….Ungood.   However, a few sessions, and I got to the point where I could blend different footwork very nicely.  I was able to flow through different steps on the * in no set pattern.  My sparring improved expotentially, as did my ability to flow, to blend with someone else’s footwork in novel ways.   So here’s an idea…develop your own terms for each step on the *, i.e., or better yet,  number each angle. Then find someone who wants to order you around…spouses are good.  Have them just call out numbers randomly, so 1 would be directly forward with right foot, 2 could be forward right, 3 side step right, 4 angle back right, 5 straight back right, 6 angle back left, 7 seven side step left, 8 angle forward left. 9 forward with left foot.  Other commands could include pivot back = 90 degree pivot towards your back, pivot front = 90 degree pivot to your front, or leading with your chest, duck, or sprawl, for you guys who grapple.  They don’t even need to be paying much attention, just calling random numbers 1-9.  Do this for three minutes…the faster the numbers the tougher the workout…repeat as needed. ..break those restrictive patterns, and rediscover your flow.

challenges

Challenges, no not the kind where GG (gnarly guy) comes in and asks to try you out...although i have had those.  I mean the ones you set for yourself. These can be a great tool, and a great motivator. I just finished one...I did 10,000 kettlebell swings this month...well, 10375 to be exact. It was a challenge that my kettlebell instructor Trish Dong found on line. It gave me a focus, a theme, for this month`s physical training. Next month, I will be doing less reps, more power and explosion. I also have an ongoing challenge. I am preparing to do 1 hour of clean and jerk, in October 2012. I have made a committment to Jason Dolby, and to myself, to be able to do this.  That will be my organizing theme for 2012.  You can make the challenge a martial arts one.  I used to do 1000 kick workouts, once a week, I did this for a year. I had great kicks, I now have a fake hip. These events may, or may not, be related. That is one of the hazards of challenges. They can lead us from the realm of improvement to the land of overtraining, overuse, and in some cases, self abuse.  Some guide lines are : select exercises that are minimally hazardous. Swings do not have an extreme range of motion, you can vary the load, and the range. I never take mine above horizontal, as a safety check.  I would not do an extreme high rep challenge with snatches, because you are firing a weight into a locked, extended range. If you fatigue, and let the weight carry too far back, your shoulder will suffer. If you rotate your hand non optimally, the back ward stress falls on the elbow. For me, with my technique issues, and age, this is ungood. I find that clean and jerk are a safer range, and swings are safest, FOR ME.  Another guideline is to build up slowly.  Don`t jump from 100 reps max to 300, just to get the numbers. Build up. In my swing challenge, i realized that i could not immediately do the required amount of daily reps. So I put together a progression that started below the average, and built up to above it, in order to hit the monthly total. I built in enough leeway to allow for missed days (didn`t have any, so finished early. Another guideline, have easy days. I used 12k, 16k, 20 k and 24k bells for my swings. Obviously the 12 were easier.  Have recovery modalities, for me these are Tai Chi, Yoga, hot baths, whirlpools. Have days off of any hard exercise.   Plan the work, work the plan, monitor the body. Adjust as needed. Repeat. Have great year.

variable speed training

This is an idea that i stole from Chuck Norris back in the day, when he still did push ups, not planet pushaways. It works for empty hand, or weapons. Right now, I am using it on my sidesword technique. I do a set number of reps, usually 5, at each speed. Start out super slow, as slow as you can move, so slow Tai Chi players are screaming speed up dude. Then move to slow speed, then to medium speed, then to as fast as you can go with perfect form,, then go fast enough that form slips just a bit (hint, if you have just sliced your leg off, slow down just a tad). Go back to super slow, repeat until ....hell, I don`t know, just do enough, whatever that is for you, on this day.

Varied speed practice

This is an idea that i stole from Chuck Norris back in the day, when he still did push ups, not planet pushaways. It works for empty hand, or weapons. Right now, I am using it on my sidesword technique. I do a set number of reps, usually 5, at each speed. Start out super slow, as slow as you can move, so slow Tai Chi players are screaming speed up dude. Then move to slow speed, then to medium speed, then to as fast as you can go with perfect form,, then go fast enough that form slips just a bit (hint, if you have just sliced your leg off, slow down just a tad). Go back to super slow, repeat until ....hell, I don`t know, just do enough, whatever that is for you, on this day.

Hills for leg power...rewrite.

Just finished a short,  nasty uphill hike, including a section called cardiac.  If you want stronger stances, more explosive footwork, hills are your friend, your training buddy.  If you are young, you can run them, but for older folks, like me, a steep uphill hike is best. They are also best for  anyone who wants more extended endurance/power, the ability to sustain .  You can also do lunges up the hill...., oh, you're tired, sure stop, lay down, put your face on the ground, and then push yourself up. ...repeat until you don't notice if your legs are tired, then stand up and hike.....carry some tubing and do rows the next time you're tired., or look,   a tree branch, lets hang at arms length and stretch out, and then pull up, put your chin on the branch, rest, there isn't that nice, now repeat until you're legs quit complaining, then hike, or lunge some more....and when you need a real rest, lie down,with your head down hill, to let the blood drain out of your poor tired legs, then situp, now lie down, repeat...you do this Tony Blauer style, twisting and throwing elbows, hook punches... legs stopped complaining, get up and hike. Say is that a piece of dead tree, lets get it off the trail, say howabout a little over head lift, just to get the kinks out the arms and shoulders, or maybe just put it  on a shoulder, and lunge for lungs.....  Get out there and enjoy the colours of fall...before you are condemmed to the gym for winter.  Got to go...did I mention that at the University, we have a pub just moments from the end of cardiac ?

workout

Todays workout was to target the anearobic system, specific to weapon use. Used the classic 30 secs on 30 off interval.  Warmed up with 10 mins of sword, then into the workout.  Started out with 10 sets of  2 hand swings with the 45 lb clubell 21 reps per set up to chest high.  Working the whole body, learning to swing an implement from the ground up, using the whole body. Hands, legs, lungs back were fried. One minute rest, then on to atomic pushups. This is a push up whereI have my feet in the TRX stirrups. When I raise into the pushup,I tuck my knees to my chest, when I  lower, I extend the legs.  With no TRX, you can put your feet on a towel on the floor, and slide them in as you go up, or you can do an explosive push up, and bring the feet in quickly, almost like the bottom of a burpee.  5 sets. This one really hurts.  Then 5 sets of barbarian squats with a light clubbell (15 lbs). At the top of the squat, the club is straight over head, as i come down explosively, i drive the butt of the club down almost to arms length (leave some give in the elbows) On the way up, i thrust the tip of the bell towards the ceiling. Again, you are learning to drive an implement with the whole body..  Done. 30 mins workout, 20 mins huff and puff.  Then I did some Tai Chi and yoga to finish.  Short and nasty....just like me.

Meditation....

Have really been enjoying having Datu Shishir in town. He is the man who started my journey in FMA, and is still guiding it. He is also my Spiritual Advisor. We have been working on flow, and on mediatation. They are connected. Flow in martial arts requires us to be in the moment, to be dealing with the attack that is really happening, not the attack that we want to be happening. Sometimes an attack and parry looks the same, but the texture, the energy is different, our parry is not strong enough, and we need to move around the attack, to ride it out and move in behind it, or maybe boom, we are strong, and early, we catch it early, and jam it before it can extend, then we are already inside, and different opportunities present themselves. Or maybe we neither win nor lose the crossing, so, now, we need to create an opportunity. What is true in FMA is true in sidesword and shield, just the names are different. I encourage all Martial Artists to explore some form of meditation, being in the moment will improve your art, and your life.

set and unset work

There are a lot of "set" drills in FMA....hubud, cadenas dos manos , sombrada, the modules of Bram Frank, etc. I do them with my students...a lot. Both sides have set roles and movements. We also do the kind of drilling we did last night, which is unset, or partially set.  I.e., working at 50 % pressure, one person opens with an attack, it is blocked, he traps, and continues until he lands a significant blow. The defender can parry as he pleases, but can not counter.  This lets the attacker focus on flowing until he lands a hit, but since the parries are not predetermined, this forces him to stay in the moment.  Now put an implement, knife, cell phone, travel wrench, cane, in the mix (use protective gear, and practice weapons).  Suddenly trapping makes more sense...why hit with the rear hand when the lead has a force multiplier.  We do the same with Tony Blauer material, ie flinch to spear to ?????with a cell phone sub in hand...I think that the set drills are a good way to acquire skills, and practice them, but you also need to step outside them, and unset drills are a good bridge to totally free work.

stay off the ground in a self-defense situation.

I just posted this in response to an Acadamie Duello video of a street fight. Literally. 2 guys rolling around on the freaking street.  Guy number one gets on top and is enjoying handing out a few recreational elbows from the mount.  Guy number 2 is not enjoying anything. Suddenly a woman bystander (G2's mother?) steps in, kicks G1 to the head. He goes from on top to out cold. No clue, no chance. This is my comment

stay off the ground, stay off the road (cars deliver a terrific knockout), stay alert. Here's a fun drill for 3 people. 1 person is the learner., get in the standard ground positions, mount, guard, 1/2 guard, side mount, sit out...work your techniques, Your partner (person number 2) resists. Person number 3 at some point calls out in, 1, 2, 3...you have 3 seconds to disengage, and be ready to engage person number 3. Person number 2 will hold on as much as possible. Good luck
Here's another variation, instead of calling in, person number 3 drops a practice knife, or a piece of foam that simulates a rock, or broken bottle near, or on the grapplers. Finally, just have person number 2 conceal a practice knife in a pocket, or in a boot, and try to access it while person number one is hitting, or trying to get a submission. Person number one...notice where the hands are going....if you are hitting someone, why would they take a hand away from the protective position....? Learn to feel the movements of someone accessing a weapon (other places of concealment that have i seen are kidney conceal ( clipped in the back, dominant hand side, roughly over the kidney), neck carry, front or back, hilt down up the sleeve of the non dominant arm.

back to swimming....whee

Back to swimming, 1800m, and water martial arts....there is something so reviving about the water, and doing martial arts in water allows you to work power without the jarring of bagwork....now that i am swimming and doing DMA (Drowning Man Arnis), i am also back to more focused strength work. Today I did 25 minutes of one arm long cycle, 12 kbell, switching every 4 reps. I got 250 reps, with a bit of a sprint at the end...so 10 rpm. I plan to work up to 1 hour in five minute increments. I would like to do one of  the long cycle charity events. That is the plan, subject, as my dad used to say, to change. You need to have a plan, but you also need to be able to reassess it...is it too challenging, not challenging enough, too time consuming (my time will change when i retire that is why one hour long cycle is possible)

power, technique, endurance.

today's morning workout was designed to combine power, technique, and endurance. I warmed up with 10 mins. of sword and gladius. Then I did 10 minutes of power, tech, endurance. I set my timer to go off every min. I would then do either 3 reps of resisted pushups (power pushup by lifeline, but you can use a backpack with wts), or 3 reps of weighted chins (8lbs), using the explode up, lower slower method.. These  were alternated for 10 mins. For the remainder of the minute I did 1/empty hand 2/ gladius and shield 3/ stick patterns / 4 /knife flow 5/ ground mobility. repeat. The short rest break, with movement, allows me to maintain heart rate, whilst getting some recovery, however by the last sets, I am struggling to maintain reps in the power, and technique and pace in the rest of the minute. This is what is intended.  Ideally I would have a heavy bag, and or pell, but I need my space open on other nights. However I do work in front of the mirror, so that I can check technique, and aim at myself (so far, I have missed). Next week, I will increase  reps to 4.  Before my hip operation I did this workout with dumbbell clean and jerk. It all works....some caveats...do not use new techniques for either the power exercise, or the martial arts exercise, you need well grooved movements, or the slop will be evil, and you will be practising poor technique.

changes...and a good workout.

I am retiring from my job, effective Nov. 07/11.  Which will cause changes in how/when/where I train.  More germane to my current life, the pool at the university is closed.  Since my pool workout incorporates martial arts movements as well as swimming, I need to replace those movements in my weekly routine.  My answer is too incorporate the arts back into my resistance training. My workout this morning was 1 min each (amap As Many As Possible), 1/ 20k kbell swings, 2/ gladius and shield,3/ kbell, 2 bell jerks, 16k bells, 4/empy hand work  5/bob and weave squats, 6/ foot work drills,  last set with sidesword,  7/ self row on trx 8/ stick.  9/ medicine ball abs  10/ knife, or cell phone flow (i teach people, if you are going to pack a damn cell phone, learn to use it for something other than annoying people on transit.) I went through that 3 times. 30 minutes I get some strength, endurance, and weapon specific training in a fatigued condition.  Now i need something to hit besides my students... took down my heavy bag after my hip operation, and now i need the room to teach....

Swimming and martial arts

just went for a swim at lunch, 1200m.  I feel stretched out, worked out, yet refreshed.  In my experience, swimming is very easy to recover from, relative of course, to intensity. It does not leave me as drained as an equivalent run. Swimming also requires a relaxed full body extertion, and of course, a focus on breathing.  This makes it an excellent adjunct to FMA and other martial arts, and it is joint friendly.  And swimming in the ocean can be so refreshing, yet so humbling...an infinitely larger, uncaring opponent, that you must work with, not against. I am not saying that swimming is the only, or the best crosstraining for FMA, just that it has, as every activity does, some distinct strengths...and weaknesses (doesn't work the legs as much as running, and it can soften your hands for a few hours, leading to some unexpected blisters if you pick up a stick, or sword, or knife.)

Jockin it

Well-rounded weekend...I am still, at heart, a jock. Someone who likes to do a lot of activities, and accepts that she/he will never be the best at anything. That said, my primary activity is FMA, and everything else feeds off, or into that. Saturday, I did KBells with Trish Dong at Code 5 fitness. Comraderie, challenge, strength. Did 5mins of snatch, 12k, one switch at 2:30. 53 reps left, 52 right. Then Turkish get-ups. I looked best in the silk belly dancer outfit, but preferred the Janassarie costume (just kidding TGU is a great exercise where you go from flat on your back to upright. Very good for core, legs, balance, body awareness....you name it.) I think the benefits to FMA are apparent, but GS kbeller's will be chortling at my numbers. Sunday, did a strong uphill hike with my wife, dogs, and friends. Uphill hiking challenges the legs and the will. Again, by the standard of a hard core hiker, slow, and not far enough...for them, plenty far for me. Then did 3 minutes, 30 seconds off, rounds of carrenza, or shadow workd, with empty hand, sword, sword and shield, sticks, knife, gladius, wrestling, anyos/jurus. 18 rounds total. Sunday, went down to Kits beach, and did 37 mins. of open water swimming (I hear the triathletes that i used to hang with saying "nice warm up, dude"). I will never be the best at any of these things, including my beloved FMA, but, frankly, even if i concentrated on one, I still wouldn't be the best. And I wouldn't be having as much fun.