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

[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.

[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!

[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...

[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.

[Ayahuasca]

Well done. It is a good feeling when it comes together.

I have been out of training for a couple of months with a rotator cuff sprain. Hope to get back to it soon.

[Ayahuasca]

I think the quality of the instruction and location of the school /dojo / dojang etc is more important than what discipline you study. They will all improve your flexibility, muscle tone, fitness, strength, etc.

I chose my local MA school as it is round the corner and my kids went to it. That it was a Hapkido dojang was not a factor.

Hapkido borrows stuff from traditional karate, judo and Muay Thai, and from modern stuff like krav and BJJ so it is all-round.

Join your local karate school and have fun!

[Ayahuasca]

First week back at training after shoulder injury. It is still a bit stiff and clicks, but what the hell.

An hour of spinning heel kicks, in sweltering heat (30 odd degrees C and 85% humidity i.e. a sauna). Suffering is good for the soul.

[Ayahuasca]

SVS said:

Ayahuasca said:

First week back at training after shoulder injury. It is still a bit stiff and clicks, but what the hell.

Clicking is sometimes a warning sign. What’s your physiotherapist said?

He said it was an injured rotator cuff, prescribed some therapy, did that, now much better, not as much pain but still clicks a bit. I think I overdid it a bit when I strapped on wrist weights, bought a punch bag for my office and tried to perfect my jab by doing hundreds of jabs...

[Ayahuasca]

Cheers! I think it is 90% recovered. Have not used the wrist weights since. Managed to do handstands no problem. Pull ups twinge a bit. This week was mostly high kicking which is not really my thing but easy on the upper body.

[Ayahuasca]

7 hours training this week. Pretty solid.

Strength, conditioning, balance, joint lock techniques, kicks and some punching. Insane amounts of squats and push-ups.

Today worked the heavy bag with jab-cross-left hook-right roundhouse-left roundhouse-spinning back fist combinations.

My forward rolls don't look as much a collapsing giraffe, and don't hurt anymore.

I can now place my hands almost flat on the floor whilst touching my toes, something I have never been able to do before.

I am still hopeless at cartwheels, and useless at throwing punches whilst balanced on my knees on a big squishy ball.