Zyaga Writing about whatever the hell I want, cuz it's the Interwebz!

Archive Results for ' form'


3Dec/080

Mixed Martial Arts – Day Nine and Ten

Last Friday and Saturday we had practice, because a lot of times our schedules all change and so we don’t necessarily always have it on the same day. Plus, everyone had off both Friday and Saturday because it was the Holiday weekend.

On Friday, we all went over to my instructors house, which was the first time any of us had ever been there. He happens to have a decent size basement which he has setup mostly as a training room. He’s got a couple punching bags hanging from the ceiling, a couple of mats, and then a good amount of various work out and training equipment. From what he, and his wife, told us, he has been accumulating all of this equipment over a long period of time.

After everyone finally arrived(I got there a bit early accidentally :P ), we decided to get started. We worked on the bags quite a lot. Since we normally train out at a park with focus mitts and large pads, it was a bit different. We did rotations where he’d time us and we’d go “all out” on whatever task he gave each of us, for 30 seconds, before we’d stop and rest for just a short moment. Then we’d shift and trade positions with someone else, and do the same thing but with a different task this time. The tasks roughly included things like only using your legs and kicking as fast as you can with various kicks but not thinking about it just “doing”, working on only the speed of your hands by reaction(again, by just doing), and throwing as many various combinations in a row(with hands and legs) as fast as you can with as much power as you can.

On Saturday, one of my friends who can’t normally attend to the normal classes, because he has work, was able to come out and get a feel as to exactly how we work. Because we had just had a rough class the day before, we decided to take it light which allowed my friend to keep up with us a lot easier. Our instructor focused a bit on him to get his form and technique more in order, since he simply has to say “do this…” and we usually know how to do it already and can work on it alone. By the end of the session, my friends kicks on his right leg were starting to get some form to them, but his left still has a ways to go, but so does mine. :P

The technique of my kicks is getting better and it will only increase with more and more consistent practice. I generally know how my kicks should be, I just need to get them to that point. One step at a time, I suppose.. :)

24Nov/080

Mixed Martial Arts – Day Eight

Last Thursday we worked out a lot on the bleachers(The kind that are found around parks, or fields, that are only 6 or so rows high). Anyone who has been to a couple of my instructors training sessions quickly learns that the bleachers are one of his favorite work out tools. We do all sorts of push-ups up and down the bleachers, as well as along the sides of them.

This obviously isn't where we trained, but this is the kind of bleacher I mean. Image brought to you by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83737641@N00/

Image brought to you by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/83737641@N00/

We stood along the side of the bleachers, starting at the lowest bleacher, and placing our left hand against it and our right hand on the next highest bleacher. Doing this made us a bit off balanced and worked out the different areas of muscles as we did push-ups in this stance. After we completed one set at that angle, we’d move up one row, and then continue. We did this till we did the whole side, then went over and went down the other side. The bleachers are also great for leg stretches and sit-ups. We would sit on the lowest row of the bleachers, facing the higher rows and lock our legs in place and then lean back. Our upper bodies would be free and not limited so, if we were able to to, we could lean all the way back where our head would touch the ground and then sit back up. We’d do this at a slow pace which makes it a decent deal more difficult, all while usually pounding on the different sides and areas of our stomach and chest. There are so many great exercises you can do on the bleachers. I suppose this is why my instructor loves them so much. ;)

Eventually, after warming up and practicing combo’s, we did something a little bit different than we usually do. Since there was four of us out there, we made two circles in the sand with about enough for two people to circle around each other, but barely. We practiced in pairs, having to keep inside the circle and not step out. There was very little room to make mistakes, but the fact that we were told we had to do push-ups every time we stepped out of the circle, kept us trying a hell of a lot harder not to mess up. I only had to do one set of push-ups because I happened to be listening to the instructor explaining something and stepped a bit out of the circle. Apparently that counts as well, so I quickly did them and got back in the circle. :D

While in pairs inside the circle, we also worked on basic Wing Chun techniques/practice. The goal was simple, one person would attempt to block and the other would attempt to find a hole and get a fist through. We weren’t using speed nor strength, just sensitivity. In fact, we had to close our eyes and turn our heads to the side so that we got use to relying on working on sensitivity with our arms versus using our eye sight. One of the biggest problems I have that I’ve been really trying to work on is my tension. When doing forms of Wing Chun practice like that, when I start to attempt to focus, my arms suddenly tense up and I begin using muscle(which any Wing Chun practitioner knows is a horrible thing). If I don’t think and just let things flow, I can maintain my “looseness” for a while but I have a habit of getting tense at different points. Hopefully this won’t be a habit that takes long to break. This habit already really effects my arm muscles and energy noticeably.

I think the best thing for me right now is to continue practicing my Sil Nim Tao form, maybe even more frequently, when I’m not out at training.