JEET KUNE DO SWEDEN

I have to beat this ! it is not a deadly desease, it is not a permanent disability it is a small injury but it is ruining my training ! It is amazing to think the great deal of dedication it takes to go on training when you are limited and cannot use the right side at all. I got really frustrated yesterday. I trained other things of course like kicks and footwork, and I used my left side for the rest but not being able to train as normal is a pain. I don´t want to loose all the work I have done for the past 7 years, I asked the physiotherapist yesterday what kind of exercises I can do so I don´t loose all my muscles and the answer was not what I wanted to hear,  I can do one or two things and this is definetely not what is going to  preserve my muscles.

what I do is try to see the positive side and not let this negativity come to me, I can tell you it is very hard. On the other side I should put this into perspective, my injury is not either the end of my life, people with disabilities can be world champions! but sure when you battle for 7 years to get somewhere because you are a girl and because when I was young I was a fat kid not doing anything at all, I feel I have accomplished something and I am not prepared to have this taken away from me.

Training JKD is a battle everyday, it is a battle for the body and for the mind, this world is not easy at all and especially for girls, I have heard someday that JKD was not for girls at all,   made me want it even more !

One positive aspect is to realize how JKD is important in my life, how it makes me be balanced and feel good about myself even when I have bad days, this  is showing me I will not give this up.

Now I also have to say I feel I need my instructor around even more right now, he gives me that kick in the A… so I look forward to his return to get back on track again..

Mikael met Warren Graham in Charlotte, I will make a separate post about that once I have more details.

This weekend was good,  on saturday I decided I would go running  all the way to my old friend, The stairs. I thought I would just run there to see how it looks like but I actually had enough energy to run them up ! twice !! I stopped three time on the first go and only once on the second, which is kind of good considering it was the first time of the year. At the top I did some shadow boxing and footwork ,  it was very cold but it felt so good, the feeling of fresh air and freedom was incredible. I still have one challenge in my head , beat Michel´s time!

On the way back I heard a noise in the woods and stopped , it is after some time that I realized I was standing at 3 meters from a deer, he was just standing there looking at me, I felt really amazed and looked for my camera and by the time I had it all set to take a picture,  the deer was gone ! I remember thinking, why on earth don´t I enjoy the moment instead !!!! Something to think about for next time…

So the result is : inflamed shoulder and nothing wrong with the elbow. This is very interesting, I have pain in my elbow as soon as I do anything with my right arm and I don´t really feel the pain in my shoulder , it is more located in the neck and all the way down the back. I feel I don´t really know what I should do here, training hard as usual will be a bad idea says the doctor, for now there is no such damage that would require  surgery but it can easily be worse if I do something wrong.

The question is what is wrong ? I will start with rehabilitation next week and we will see what my options are. I certainly don´t want to destroy my chances for life, if I need to rest my arm in order to regain 100% of its fonction I will have to do it , even if it kills me to not be able to train straight leads and hooks !!!!!

If I look at the positive aspect,  I can say I will developp a hell of a good cross and will get used to train on my left side instead. That way when I am back on track, I will be able to use both sides equally and switch whenever I want to confuse the person sparring with me !

Seriously, I have been down and really upset about this but it is time to adapt to this new situation and make the best of it .

Yesterday at the gym,  I tried to increase the weights, I have to get stronger.

I was just looking at the last sparring videos,  it is good for me to do that every now and then, I see more clearly what needs to be worked on.

Without any doubt,  I am too light and it seems I don´t have any strength at all ( especially when I sparr against Mikael,  it is like a bee fighting an elephant ) . I also need more stability,  I am  bouncing too much, I  need to be more clean in my technique and get more power, the list is long so I will only concentrate on that for now.

These videos are old,  I have worked on this since then but I need more work and we will see if there is any improvement next time we get the sparring on film.

Mikael told me yesterday I have to work on determination, he will show me how next time,  I look forward to it.

We did not have a group session yesterday; I had a private training with Mikael instead.

First he asked me to show him my footwork, then we worked on mitts.

Special attention was made to the hook, I could feel the difference as Mikael corrected my position, and we worked on it quite a while.

Then we used the focus paddle for more hooks and we added side and hook kicks.

We did some rounds with the large kicking pad

Punches with full power / knee kicks / hook kicks

Then rounds with only punches

And rounds with only hook kicks

All this on both sides

Then I fell down on the floor to catch my breath

The session was very intense, I am happy to have improved my hook and also happy for the session, it was hard work as I was the only one working all the time, there were no breaks whatsoever.

These sessions are so good for the stamina, body and mind. During a private session I get all the attention and it allows me to progress even faster as I get to work very hard until Mikael is happy with the result.

There is no question about the fact that my personal training during the week is so important, I could not get better with only training on Sundays this is impossible, the work that I do alone is the base for me to absorb that private training with Mikael even better, and then the group training is application.

We talked yesterday about improvement, how crutial the personal work is and that it is the reason why so many people drop off.

It honestly takes years of dedication and hard work and this is first after a couple of years that some techniques can be understood better.

It is part of the reason why I love JKD so much, first because I have a great instructor who makes me want to succeed, then because JKD is my life style,  I would not have it any other way.

So even if my back and my arm hurt like hell today,  I will train by myself tonight according to my schedule and I look forward to next private session with Mikael and next group session !

I worked almost one hour on footwork and on guard position, trying to find my center, basically that is all I did yesterday. Let me tell you that sounds boring, but is is a lot of work, I felt it on both legs and this is really good news for me !

OH My … yesterday I asked Mikael for an additional sparring session because I think I really need it.

When he arrived I had dressed in the Bruce Lee yellow suit and it was difficult for Mikael to start the session as he was laughing at me all the time. I is actually impossible to train with the suit on because it is far too warm, I had to change after 10 minutes.

That was the funny part. Now, yesterday was NOT my day, I took many straight leads right in the face and punches in the arm and I just had not any feeling for it at all. I felt worthless and heavy as two elefants,  at least !

Mikael told me I had to accept days like this and that it will be better,  I can´t just have lost all I learnt, this is a set back. Of course difficult to accept when the body just refuses to do as I say ! But I think it is also a mental problem and considering all that happened lately,  it is not that strange.  

But  I am not too worried because I have felt like this before and it came back. So I ´ll just keep on working ! and have a POSITIVE attitude.

I had a footwork session yesterday, I practised shadow boxing and did some exercises on the heavy bag also, I used power for a while ut not long as it was not the point of the session.

 I tried to flow around the bag focusing on using the proper footwork at all times.

Then I decided I would bring the video camera and tape my feet while practising footwork, just to see how that looks like. This is very good because after that,  I was able to study it. I also wanted to know what Micke would think about it and  I showed it to him later on.

He was not really exited when he saw I used split step a couple of times but he said it looked better, more flow and more speed.

I tried to vary the exercise to cover almost everything and to see how that looked like. I was quite happy with it, I could actually feel that  my flow and speed are better, of course I need more work… but who doesn´t ?! 

Then I did some pushups situps and stretching , I attached a rope at the top of the bag and pulled my foot up , I was looking at it in the mirror and told myself : if only I could hold that position without the rope !!!!

But I believe that with practise it will happen, there is a quote that I like :

“If you think a thing is impossible, you’ll make it impossible.” Bruce Lee.

So let´s go back to work !

AH ! well doing only footwork is really demanding , some people may think it is boring, I think not, if you really get into it vary the exercises,  add some shadow boxing , it is fun and a real workout.

I repeated it numerous times today , the doctor says I should not do some hard training because of my arm injury so I will focus on footwork and shadow boxing for as long as It is needed.

I worked on footwork by itself,  then with all  punches and kicks, in front of the mirror, in front of the bag with light touch and freely around the room and guess what ? I am really tired , it was a great session.

Still feel like an elephant but I know this will get better. I can see  and feel an improvement  in my techniques, the more I  work on them the better I´gonna get.  I am actually quite happy and very positive about it, as the arm is getting better… so will the rest .

Yesterday I worked mostly on footwork , jumping rope first. I worked on footwork only , then added punches, kicks and shadow boxing .

After a while I went to the heavy bag to do some work on the straight lead, I used the technique Mikael showed me to get this “hand before foot” right !

I repeated more than a 100 times slowly at first and then made it look like a punch and tried it all together at the end, I have to say it will require more time, doing the technique slowly first was OK,  I filmed while I was doing it and it worked, every single time I had the hand before foot but when I do the straight lead then, it is not that obvious.

I went on with the heavy bag and trained kicks,  here too I filmed and when I looked at it,  I could see the arm was dropping so I did it again .

The hook kick felt good, the side as well but on film it was not, so I worked on this one a little bit more.

Then I did some statical training for the legs holding the side kick position up as long as possible on each side and tried to have the cleanest position possible and also trying to get it higher and higher.

Obviously there is a stretching problem here so I finished with stretching.

I was pleased with the session yesterday mostly because the filming is a really good idea, sometime you think you do it right and on film it does not look that way,  or one detail is forgotten,

this is the best way to self criticize and see the mistakes in order to fix them.

Ah this year is not an easy one when it comes to the economy situation, you always get surprise costs and it makes me really angry and sad sometimes… yesterday was one of these days, I was so upset that when I came down to the gym I did not feel like training at all and as Micke had been there for a while already,  we just left.

We went to my place and decided to train on kicks instead.  I felt better immediately, focusing on the training and I was quite happy with the feeling of my kicks. Micke is just scary sometimes,  I trust him of course but he trained fast kicks just in front of my face and I could feel the movement of the air on my nose , I kept thinking, GOD don´t miss ! otherwise I am gonna sleep for a while !!! Well… when my kicks look like that I will be done with feeling like a student ! I will upgrade myself in my mind

Micke told me my kicks were good, I was and still am very happy he said that, it means the work I do by myself is paying off and it makes me want to work even more because there are a lot of things that can be improved.

I am exhausted these days, lots of work and stress and maybe the warmth is also playing a role in this condition of mine, who knows…

Anyway, I am working on the bag today, beside being heavier than an elefant , I feel my kicks are not so good when it comes to power, maybe time to increase the level  a little. I work at the gym as much on the lower body than the rest, but lately I increased the weights but not for the legs, now it is time.

I feel I have come to a better shape than before and I am definetely stronger but still in fights I lack power, not easy for a small girl, my size and weight are not in my advantage but… yeah I know what you think, Ted was not a bodybuilder and his strength was enormous so … I have to train more and better.

I don´t know if I will ever get strong enough but I am sure I can turn my size in an advantage by having a good footwork, this is what is going to give me the advantage, if I combine this with good timing and technique I will succeed more in fights.

I never do a training session without footwork, I am better now. On the bag today I tried to keep a good technique and add more power, somehow the technique suffers from it, I can feel it immediately so I will focus on this for the next days , another thing to work on, is getting back in on guard !  oh really ? yeah footwork footwork footwork!!!  how many times do I have to repeat this to  myself ???

Micke is telling me again and again but I guaranty this does not come out of my mind. Now I have come to a level where I feel what is missing and I know what to do to  get better, Micke gave me all the tools, it is not a lack of knowledge really, it is a question of training and giving it time as well as believing in myself.

JKD brought me so much already, I know I have so much more to learn but now I feel I know a lot and it makes me happy, like I have achieved something in my life. Someone asked me what are my hobbies, what do I do , what do I like, the answer was short and simple. I train JKD,  this is what I do, this is what I am .

easy to say… when working on the bag I try to get a good technique thinking about the whole package,  speed, power, precision, position, timing, balance, retreat…. somehow something is always missing. The thing is to train until you don´t have to think anymore, until it becomes natural.

This will come with time, I always remember the comments I get from Micke and that helps me correcting some details. Somehow comments never stop to come ! new ones all the time, God will I get this right one day ?

Well, it is a never ending learning process, I see people who have trained for a year or so and think they know it all. Sure some people will get this faster than others but still , if it was that easy wouldn´t we all be certified… Let´s leave the subject where it is, I feel I would have a lot to say about certain behaviours , but as once Ted told us, don´t waiste time on negative energy, it is not worth it. I follow that advice most of the time, it actually has helped me in quite some situations.

Anyway, I get disappointed in myself sometimes because it does not go fast enough, I feel I should be better than this after 6 years. Really  I train everyday, somehow this is not enough or not the right way.

I have a big poster and a painting of Bruce in my training room, I wonder what he would think of me, sometimes I even feel the poster is looking at me and when I am done with training,  I get a bad feeling. One of my favourite scenes in Enter the Dragon is at the begining with his student, I always think , God I would get so much slap on the head !

Somehow Micke is reminding me of this, he has got that same style when teaching,  he has that seriousness and that ability to see it all, in the smallest detail and just say what he thinks. I don´t get slapped on the head ( I hope he doesn´t  get any idea now ! )  but what he says hurt me a lot at the beginning, when I hear it now I feel I can take it and use it to get better instead, it helped me mentally, I got tougher because of this. Micke´s teaching technique makes me want to get it right even more, this is what an instructor is all about, giving you the motivation and the will to go on , no matter what and  even if I do this first for myself.

JKD changed my life, and no matter what may happen, it will never be the same again.

This was an interesting training today. We decided to go to the ski slope and down to the water. I requested a  techninque training on pads today.

It went well, after a couple of hook kicks on both sides I heard some comments that are for me the ultimate reward coming from my instructor. Micke said “it shows who your trainier is, it looks good,  you´ve been practising “. I use to hear ” that looks like crap “or something like that but I take it the right way because I know it does ! and it does  not only take one or two or even 5 years to be good at JKD, it takes a long time and those who will persevere after 5 years will eventually succeed, this is my opinion. So I keep telling myself I am getting better and even if I would like to be even better than I am , I enjoy the learning process everyday, and days like this are the reward I cherish the most.

After that, I got baptised !!!!

WELL !!!! we decided I would do some balance exercises while standing at the very edge of the bridge (or whatever this thing is called)…

Anyway I succeded on the right side and as I always work both sides I changed to the opposite corner but it did not take long untill I lost my balance, I tried to compensate by trying to jump back on the bridge but that is when my foot slided from the edge and the only thing I thought about was survival, I had to catch the edge in order not to be stuck in those thousand of plants growing in the water and drown right there. The whole thing was pretty quiet Micke did not see he just heard the sound of me falling into the water and this is when he started taking pictures. Fortunately I had thought it might happen and had a change of clothes with me.

This is only confirming one thing, I have to work on my balance because the left side, yeah … it looks like crap

Training is the best feeling ever. Oh sure sometimes I feel too tired,  too weak or  too whatever… but anytime I start training I always feel better, there is no good reason to skip training either than illness or injury.

I worked on the bag , footwork , balance and  speed with the paper drill. I feel I get better control and stability, those adjustments at the kiropraktor must do some good on my strangely twisted back ! Anyway, I had some good punch power and did some static  exercises for the side kicks.

Then trying to hold the hook kick position in front of the bag , I noticed a nasty problem that I need to correct kind of RIGHT NOW ! The position of the arms, what on earth am I doing with my arms when kicking ????  No need to say I am  reminded by Micke all the time.

this is a new point on my list, I moved it to the top 5 because it is very important for all kind of reasons, alignement of the body , balance , stability, protection, control, awareness …

I have trained according to the new program this week, I added some stretching for the back and the hips. I can feel it, I have some work to do. This is quite boring to stretch, especially when it takes a long time but anytime I think I want to move on to something else I remember : you will never be good at something else if you´re not flexible! and this is true,  my movements are limited because of that and ENOUGH with the excuses ! I know what I need to do if I ever what to reach the level I want!

I worked on the papper drill , it is such a good exercise, I train all punches following the movement of the papper after impact. I train hook kicks as well , I tried side kicks but they are a bit tricky on the papper

I also add some hardenning on the heavy bag, this thing is so hard it works just fine! I punch with both hands and controlled impact 100 times and I also kick 100 times with both legs,   I need to harden the shin area because it is just too sensible. As I said,  I do it with controlled impact, I will not go hit a banana tree 1000 times a day as I have seen in some Jean Claude Van Damme movies ! ( go find a banana tree in Sweden anyway! )  

Ted used to hit daily on a piece of steel, he said this is not a question of damaging nerves,  it is gradually building strong knuckles .

But I have to say I am not very happy with myself, this is ground work, basics, I should have put some time in this a long time ago. Now after 6 years I wonder why I am limited while I should be better than this, no wonder I am not …

last night session at the gym was quite interesting. I started with 30 minutes on the crosstrainer and I have to say I don´t feel this is tough enough anymore , I have it on highest level and try to push to high tempo but still…

Anyway I lifted some weight,  worked on biceps, shoulders and did some situps and pushups exercises on the TRX.

I worked on the legs for a while as well as I need to tighten up this aera a little (!) …

After one and a half  hour I thought I was done but when I went pass the treadmill I thought I would give it a try. I ran only 2 kms , it took me around 10 min, Ok not a record but I never run on that thing, it makes me dizzy when I get down, I prefer running outside,  it feels much more natural to me. 

Anyway the point here is that I felt I did more workout in 10 minutes on the treadmill than I did in 30 minutes on the crosstrainer , so I may do that again

when I came back home, after I got myself something to eat, I did a bit of footwork and shadow boxing.

Jkd training is at tonight´s program.

I see my upper body is getting some nice trained shape but the lower aera needs some work tough ! 

I need to get stronger legs this is important for my kicks and the stomach aera is under construction as well because it is NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

Bruce Lee Lee believed that the abdominal muscles were one of the most important muscle groups for a martial artist, since virtually every movement requires some degree of abdominal work. Bruce always felt that if your stomach was not developed, then you had no business doing any hard sparring.

After 6 years I apparently earned to know one JKD secret. Micke showed me today and I worked on it by myself tonight.

I tried with and without and repeated it again and again until I felt the difference, quite tricky at the beginning because I am simply not used to it but I think this will help me get better because this makes a huge difference.

and no I won´t write what it is,  in case you are waiting for it

…

I also worked by myself tonight, I am just finished with it.

I started with The TRX , God that thing is killing me ! I Like the army version, no girls in shorts in this one , and real exercises for tough guys … and girls  :-)  Anyway,  I did program number two and the problem with it,  is that after I was done I wanted to do more, so I started program number one but I actually stopped after the leg exercises.

I did some footwork for quite some time and trained on kicks on the papper drill.

The main focus tonight was to keep a straight line, a little earlier today Micke told me it was not good, so I worked on it tonight.

A bit of stretching and I am really done for today …

tonight I started warming up on the heavy bag .

then some footwork alone and integrating punches.

I trained on the straight lead for a short moment tonight as some more work needs to be done on the other punches .

I trained in front of the mirror for a while , only on cross and hook, trying to keep a good alignement , a proper footwork and seeing how that looks is actually very good, then I did the same without looking and tried to feel the movement.

Then I went to the heavy bag with gloves

I did rounds of cross and rounds of hooks

then back in front of the mirror

I also tried this with the papper drill, it is kind of tricky  on the papper but  a very good exercise!

I ended with a couple of rounds on the heavy bag, without gloves. ( this is when you feel even more when you hit wrong ! )

The more I trained the more I felt I was getting there, it felt better and  it looked better than before.

Finding the right  footwork/punch combination until it becomes ONE, takes time and requires hard work and a lot of training, no secret here…

I train more on footwork than ever before, here we have an answer to some questions anyway…

I got myself a TRX, I took the army version and tried the program from the DVD as soon as I received it. I am amazed by that product, I really like it. The exercises are really fun to do and very hard for some of them. What I like most is the way you feel the body is working really hard, and then you got the message even clearer the day after … the muscles in my legs just killed me for three days!

I could not do some exercises, this is good it gives me goals to achieve with it.

I will go to the gym tonight for some weight lifting and then  the usual crosstrainer or I may try to run instead, we´ll see.

I don´t think Micke will follow tonight because the Dragon is healing right now…