What martial arts stuff have you done today?

[Ayahuasca]

I went from Yellow Belt (which is the first one after White) to Yellow Belt-with-a-Stripe in Hapkido. Had to perform 100 different self-defence techniques and punch through some wooden boards. It has taken me 14 months to get this far, training 7 hours a week. As a 52 year old with zero MA experience before, I am quite pleased. Still a very long way to go, which is kind of what I like about it.

What have you done today?



I pity the fool who tries to grab me by the back of the neck...or the elbow.. or anywhere else... they are doing to get hurt!

Edited by Ayahuasca on Sunday 17th December 13:03

[Liokault]

Just punch bag today.

[sidicks]

Ayahuasca said:

I went from Yellow Belt (which is the first one after White) to Yellow Belt-with-a-Stripe in Hapkido. Had to perform 100 different self-defence techniques and punch through some wooden boards. It has taken me 14 months to get this far, training 7 hours a week. As a 52 year old with zero MA experience before, I am quite pleased. Still a very long way to go, which is kind of what I like about it.

What have you done today?

Congratulations!

I need to get back into Karate - I got to 1st Kyu (Brown & 2 white stripes) a few years ago, but injury, work, family and laziness have stopped me training for some time. I do want to get my black belt before I'm 50, which gives me a few years yet!

[Pete102]

For those that have seen on my other thread, I usually train BJJ 2 or 3 times a week, have been doing for 20 months now. Last month I was awarded my first belt, long slog (3 years) to the next one!

[BRR]

Ayahuasca, I'm not very knowledgeable on Hapkido, do you spar live in it to pressure test the self defence techniques or is it more Kata based like Karate? congratulations on the belt progression

[Ayahuasca]

BRR said:

Ayahuasca, I'm not very knowledgeable on Hapkido, do you spar live in it to pressure test the self defence techniques or is it more Kata based like Karate? congratulations on the belt progression

Cheers! There are lots of forms of Hapkido but essentially it is a Korean blend of TKD, JJ, Karate, etc, etc. The one I do is called 'combat hapkido' and has a self-defence focus. There is no kata. We wear karate type gear and bow to the sabomin (teacher) and so on, but there is no ritual movements. There is also no sparring as some of the techniques are designed to maim. Stamp kicks designed to take out the knee. Throws and locks designed to break joints. In testing the yuke will tap out to prevent injury, but if you ignore the tap and keep going, something will snap. You could spar the high kicking and punching stuff, but we don't tend to - opponents tend to hold pads which we kick or punch. You cannot really spar the self defence stuff as it goes something like - assailant grabs your neck /arm/ hand / elbow / throat/ collar etc, you instantly deploy technique XYZ which results in the assailant hitting the ground with a broken arm. We avoid going to ground BJJ style as on the street your assailant's mate will kick your head in if you are on the ground, but we do have a ground defence. We also do knife and gun defences. Since starting I have noticed huge gains in core strength, coordination, balance, kicking and punching technique. And whilst I will never deploy my jumping spinning wheel kick in anger it feels good when I get it right, even just hitting a pad.

[Ayahuasca]

First day back training.

700am session - one hour - stretches, hundreds of squats, collar grab / elbow break / roundhouse kick combos, then spin kicks, then cardio work (back crawling up and down the dojang). Was on the point of vomiting and felt very unfit after the Christmas break.

700pm session - one hour- stretches, roundhouse kicks to padded partner, then padded-up sparring kickboxing. Very hot (35 degrees C and 100% humidity). Sweat pouring off like a tap. Felt fitter than in the morning.

[Taaaaang]

I haven't trained for nearly 3 weeks due to the most awful chesty cold.

Think I'm finally out of the woods now.

2 weeks of MT every day next week then off to Thailand again for 3 months at camp.

I've spent 10/24 months there and weirdly not really that excited this time.

[Taaaaang]

8 rounds on the Thai Pads today. No sign of illness.

Fitness horrendous. Tomorrow is a new day!

[Ayahuasca]

Been doing 7 hours a week ..

classes vary. Friday did around 300 press-ups of various sorts, then nasty squatting exercises.
Monday mostly spinning kicks
Today was all about punching, taking it in turns to punch each other in the stomach as hard as possible, thankfully with gloves.

[Ayahuasca]

Still putting the hours in. A fair bit of kick-boxing lately, just sparring. Unless you are a big white belt who has not grasped the concept of 'sparring' and treats it like a world title fight and tries to take my head off with every punch.

Felt a bit guilty when paired with a black-belt who went gently on me, gave me a 10% right to the side of the head which I countered with a 20% right straight that somehow landed on his chin and left him hors de combat. Oops sorry!

[dfen5]

Teaching a small class in a village hall most Sundays. Problem is now most leisure centres are closed shops running stuff like ‘body combat’ and ‘body pump’. One 9 miles away knocked me back but have 40 spaces available in pretty much every body something class they run, day in, day out.

Used to be some great classes you could drop in and out of but now it’s real struggle to find anywhere to train without going to a full on school, which are not my cup of tea.

[Taaaaang]

dfen5 said:

Teaching a small class in a village hall most Sundays. Problem is now most leisure centres are closed shops running stuff like ‘body combat’ and ‘body pump’. One 9 miles away knocked me back but have 40 spaces available in pretty much every body something class they run, day in, day out.

Used to be some great classes you could drop in and out of but now it’s real struggle to find anywhere to train without going to a full on school, which are not my cup of tea.

I know of hundreds of classes across the UK using leisure centres...

What do you mean by a full on school?


Re the thread, just having a nice break in Bangkok having completed 6 weeks training at camp; breezed through 100 hours of Muay Thai. Back to it on Monday for another 6 weeks then home for the Summer.

[Ayahuasca]

100 hours of Muay Thai must have been fun.

Having sparred without shin pads this week, I can confirm that a shin-on-shin kick / defence is horrifically painful, cannot imagine doing 100 hours of it...

[Hoofy]

dfen5 said:

Used to be some great classes you could drop in and out of but now it’s real struggle to find anywhere to train without going to a full on school, which are not my cup of tea.

I think the drop-in nature of such classes meant they commited suicide (well, harakiri, I suppose) as without commitment from a direct debit, you'll get people doing more of the drop out than in and over time you lose students and end up paying for a hall/wasting time. There's only so long a teacher can put up with being dedicated enough to not make any money.

[Taaaaang]

Ayahuasca said:

100 hours of Muay Thai must have been fun.

Having sparred without shin pads this week, I can confirm that a shin-on-shin kick / defence is horrifically painful, cannot imagine doing 100 hours of it...

Most of the Thai fighters in their 30s spent the majority of their careers never having access to shin guards, let alone using them.

Other than 10s of 1000s of hours practice from a young age and hundreds of proper fights, I think this is a significant factor in their extra development and skill over foreign fighters.

Practicing with shin protectors on just hides the huge mistakes one makes that only gets highlighted when you try the same kick without protection.

You learn to be accurate and pick your shots bloody carefully when you don't have a giant sponge like device on the front of your shin!

[Taaaaang]

Hoofy said:

dfen5 said:

Used to be some great classes you could drop in and out of but now it’s real struggle to find anywhere to train without going to a full on school, which are not my cup of tea.

I think the drop-in nature of such classes meant they commited suicide (well, harakiri, I suppose) as without commitment from a direct debit, you'll get people doing more of the drop out than in and over time you lose students and end up paying for a hall/wasting time. There's only so long a teacher can put up with being dedicated enough to not make any money.

Indeed.

The only way pay per class ever works is for activities like Zumba where you're surfing the wave of a fad.

[Hoofy]

Taaaaang said:

Hoofy said:

dfen5 said:

Used to be some great classes you could drop in and out of but now it’s real struggle to find anywhere to train without going to a full on school, which are not my cup of tea.

I think the drop-in nature of such classes meant they commited suicide (well, harakiri, I suppose) as without commitment from a direct debit, you'll get people doing more of the drop out than in and over time you lose students and end up paying for a hall/wasting time. There's only so long a teacher can put up with being dedicated enough to not make any money.

Indeed.

The only way pay per class ever works is for activities like Zumba where you're surfing the wave of a fad.

Yes, very true!

[popeyewhite]

I'm grading a kickboxing class in Manchester tonight. Focus on power kicking drills, especially step through side kicks. I hope they turn up ready for hard work.

[Ayahuasca]

popeyewhite said:

I'm grading a kickboxing class in Manchester tonight. Focus on power kicking drills, especially step through side kicks. I hope they turn up ready for hard work.

My right leg step through side kick is pretty good, but when it is time to do a left leg one my brain cannot grasp right/left .. very annoying.