Back to some standup work

Back after a long holiday weekend, time to work off the feast. We had another mid-day workout on Monday. More focus on some the groundwork basics. We had to leave out some of the drills that we did last week due to Tony’s new tattoo, he got it on his shoulder and upper arm which prevented us from any work that might involve friction or grabbing those areas.

Roll Call: Tony

Warm-up:
3 rounds – 10 pull-ups, 10 ring push-ups, hip stretch, 10 GHD sit-ups, 10 back (hip) extensions

Matt work (2min/1min each)

• Knee running (forward, back then side to side)
• Sit-out (from quarter position – alternating legs)
• From knees to butterfly guard and back to knees – alternating sides

Defense Circuit 2min/30sec (2 circuits – 1 circuit each lead)

• Maize ball
• Rope line

Circuit 3min/1min (2 circuits – 1 circuit each lead)

• Top and Bottom Bag
• Speed bag

Heavy Bag 3min/1min

• Left lead distance work (jabs, crosses and longer hooks)
• Right lead distance work (jabs, crosses and longer hooks)
• Inside work (hooks, uppercuts, crosses, etc)

Finisher (3 circuits)

• 75lb barbell clean 45sec
• 30 sec rest
• Punch out on Heavy bag 35 sec
• 20 sec rest

Again we had to work around some limitations, Tony's shoulder and my foot, but we still got a great workout and some good quality work done. It was a relief to me to be able to do some actual work on the bags again even though I still have to watch how hard I'm pushing off my right foot (jumprope and some footwork drills are still out). Standup work definitely felt a bit awkward after so much time off.
Keep moving and stay healthy.

Grappling

Intro
I haven’t posted here in awhile since the past 4 weeks have been a bit tough. About 6 weeks ago I developed severe Plantar Fasciitis in my right foot, pushing off from my right foot was very painful making footwork, punching the bag or mitts and even walking out of the question for a while.
After an injection in my heel about 4 weeks ago and now taking a course of prednisone it is finally calming down to where I’m not so limited in my training. But, I’m still trying to limit any push off with my right foot so it can heal and I can train the way I want to. It has been a challenge to keep training but I’ve kept up with the things I can do and focused on them.
Due to my foot problems I changed the usual focus of our workouts today to concentrate on some wrestling fundamentals. We pulled out the matt’s and below is what we did. Hope you like it.
Roll Call:
Tony and Mike
Warm-up:
3 rounds – 10 pull-ups, 3 ring dips, hip stretch, 10 GHD sit-ups, 10 back (hip) extensions
Matt work (2min/1min each)

• Knee running (forward, back then side to side)
• Sit-out (from quarter position – alternating legs)
• From knees to butterfly guard and back to knees – alternating sides
• Mount escape across matt (hip slide out) – 2 rounds

Basic Pummeling (2 minute rounds - over and under hook – rest round on speed bag)

• 2 Round Robin circuits

Defense Circuit 2min/30sec (2 circuits – 1 circuit each lead)

• Maize ball
• Rope line
• Shadow Boxing hands

Finisher (3 circuits of 45sec rounds no rest)

• 20lb squat clean (with medicine ball)
• Pushup crawl across gym
• Push out with rings (like ab wheel but with rings)
• Rope climb (from sitting, feet out, to standing)

Closing thoughts
Injuries can happen any time and frequently they happen when you are most motivated. When they happen it’s not a time to stop training but to change your training. Injuries can prevent you from training how you like to but we all need to strive to adapt when they happen. Frequently injuries allow us to focus on our weak areas, right now for me that means ground work. In the past I’ve had other injuries that have forced me to change my training.
One injury in particular was breaking my right hand in practice on the punching bag (I wish I could dress it up and say it was in the ring but it wasn’t). After getting the bone set and a cast put on I kept up training one handed – heavy bag, speed bag, mitt work, and even limited sparing. The same thing happened a number of years later except instead of a fracture I blew out a disc in my neck and couldn’t use my right arm for about 6 months. Again I did what I could, that time focusing on my left arm and kicking skills.
The lesson is to keep working, sure you can’t do the things the same when you are injured but if you think and work at it you can find things you can do a be more rounded when you have recovered from you injury.Keep moving and stay healthy – and if you have an injury find a way to move and to help yourself to get healthy.

Mixed training

Great training Saturday with Rick. We mixed it up a bit with boxing, kickboxing a bit of stick fighting work. Also had a visit from Brad, who we hope will come train within the next few weeks (he's got a good background in ground work - we'll finally be pulling out the matts).

Warmup: 3 min jumprope
Defense Circuit: 2min/30sec rounds

• Maize bag - 1 round each lead
• Slip line - 1 round each lead

Shadow Boxing: 3min/1min

• 1 round each lead

Mitt work: 3min/1min. We switched each round and cycled through to work each lead.

• combination: lead roundhouse low - cross-hook-cross - lead roundhouse
• offense defense: jab-cross - Feeder throws lead hook high - bob and weave under and return cross-hook-cross

Single Stick work: no formal rounds just worked the drills

• long range 1-4-2 angles
• mid range pattern
• bridge range between mid and close quarter
• work on breaking in and out of these 3 ranges

That was it, we did get a few stares from neighboors especially with the stick drills. Next Saturday we'll add some Greco Roman pummeling drills and some Silat leg sweep drills to the mix. During the week I'm going to start working some drills from Scott Sonnon's Grapplers Toolbox to prepare myself for adding ground work back in.

Update

Wow, has it really been over 2 weeks since I've posted? Just finished cleaning a straightening my workout area for some new people to train with Saturday morning and really looking forward to meeting some new people interested in training.

I made a club bell after my last post and currently it weighs about 9 lbs (thats without the insert in the video). I've been doing some basic drills with it and like it. In addition I've been training wall climbing for the UrbanAthlon at a nearby park (they have a wall built that I can put my rope over as well as tires to practice that section of the course).

For one workout I did:

• warmup run around 3 soccer fields
• 10 wall climbs
• 10 times through the tires

About a 25 minute workout but it left me sore and tired the next day (as well as busting up my shin getting over the 8-9 foot wall).

Homemade Clubbell

I'm going to put one of these together this week to try out some of the exercises that Scott Sonnon uses. Looks pretty easy to make so I'll update you on how it goes.

Back Again

It's been a busy summer but I'm still in action here, even though I haven’t posted in quite a while. First a little update on my 30 day challenge:

Below are my starting stats:

• Weight 165lbs
• Waist at belly button 36”
• Snatch test 55
• Pull-ups 9
• Push-ups 25

My ending stats were:

• Weight 163lbs
• Waist at belly buttom 34"
• Snatch test 65
• Pull-ups 12
• Push-ups 30

My next goal is the http://www.menshealthurbanathlon.com/

I have some new inspiration due to attending a seminar with the legendary Dan Inosanto last weekend, as usual it was a mental overload (in addition to it being a hard workouot, I'm still sore from it). He covered Indonesian Silat, Filipino stick and knife and JKD concepts. It's been probably 10 to 15 years since I've been to one of his seminars and I'm still amazed by how much knowledge one person can have. It's also amazing to see what a trained fighter/martial artist can do at 73 years of age - I also think of when I first met him and he was around my age now and his ability and conditioning then far surpasses mine now so now its time to knuckle down and get the work done.

More Maize Bag

There are many designs for maize bags, just like for heavy bags.

Most people opt for a Maize Bag similar to the following video on FightChannel since this is what Mike Tyson was seen using and we all know how good he was in his prime for dodging punches and nailing his opponents.

This is a popular form of the Maize Bag and has great advantages since it’s easy and cheap to make (I used one on vacation made from a sandwich bag, some string and sand I got from the beach).

Another, less commonly seen, Maize Bag is the Traditional Heavy Maize Bag https://www.otiumlifestyle.com/shop/new_catalogue.php?departmentID=21&categoryID=91&catID=595
This bag weighs 66 pounds and has an 18” diameter and is 22” high (or long). Pretty close in dimensions to Reyes Wrecking Ball bag and Title’s Body Snatcher Bag. This is much different than the maize bags most of us see, which are much smaller and lighter. The advantages of this bag are that you have to really move to get out of its way (it’s bigger) and you can really hit it (most heavy bags are 75 to 100 pounds so this is pretty close) most maize bags are light enough that hitting them just sends them bouncing off the ceiling. Video of the Heavy Maize bag:



In the US the most commonly available Maize bags are from Title Boxing http://store.titleboxing.com/everlast-slip-ball.html (5”x 8”) and Ringside Boxing (an Everlast Bag) http://www.ringside.com/prodinfo.asp?number=MBW
Both these bags are the size of an extra small speed bag and weigh only a pound or so.

Regardless of the bag you use (and all are good) there are a few other variables to consider: Bag position and Length of the Chain or Cord.

Bag Position: some, like me, prefer the bag at a low position about chin or shoulder height while others prefer a higher position at nose or forehead height. Neither is right or wrong as long as you learn to slip and evade punches. Most fighters aim at the bridge of the nose but I like the safety margin of placing the bag lower (just in case).

Length of the Chain or Cord: this determines how fast the bag swings, the longer the chain the slower the swing and the shorter the chain the faster the swing. In my training I like to vary the height that I hang my bag from (10 feet down to 8 feet and sometimes in a doorway – each gives a different feel and speed). Below you can see training off a speed bag mount


I think I’m going to try hanging my 20 pound medicine ball from my 10 foot ceiling for a change of pace and I’ll put up video soon on that.

Get or make a maize bag and have some fun maizing, it’ll make you a better fighter.

(Please post any comments, suggestions or questions to "Comments" below)