Training solo!

[the_hammer316]

I have been training solo for many years due to a lack of schools in our area and the ones we do have do not teach the styles that I am interested in. I do have some training in Goju-ryu, Hung Gar and self defense based techniques. I love reading about the Filipino martial arts and would love to learn more about them but the closest school is about two-three hours away. Does anyone have any suggestions for drills that I can add to my training to help in my development.

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!

[Freestylegawd]

well as a jeet kune do trainer or trainy It's very hard for me to learn to because i cant take any classes in louisiana. but lucky for me i go back to chicago in about 3 weeks and theres jkd classes right down the street. anywayz i dont really have any knowledge of the phillp. arts but sometimes when iv ran out of things to search on jkd on the internet i look for maybe other techniqes that would interest me. you could go to rhythmfists.com. now they dont really say where these techn. come from but when i saw them they looked pretty cool to learn. unfortunatley i have no partner over here in the boonies who would be interested in training with me but i got all the info. and im taking it back to chi wit me where my cousin awaits going to the classes with me and training. go to this site and find there magazines in the site click on a mag. and on the side will be the catagories like arm wraps,counterblocking exercises, sort of like a 1,2,3! excellent drills and looks really cool.

Good luck in your martial arts training!

[Guro Dave Gould]

Hammer 316,

Hello there, I hope that all is well with you. Although you seem to have limited options you indeed "do" have options available to you none-the-less.

You say that your closest training opportunity is 2 maybe 3 hours away. Don`t let the distance keep you from reaping what benefits that the Pilipino Warrior arts can provide you. If the distance is a factor than dedicate making the trip once every other week. If this is undoable than make the trip once a month. Any time invested is better than no time at all. Slow progress is still progress none-the-less.

Other options available to you are seminars, work-shops, or training camps. Try and attend 1 or possibly 2 events per year if possible. Keep good notes of material learned at all events and classes which you participate in and work the material often. In addition you can invest in some of the many video series available to us today from various featured instructors. However I must say that Videos are limited somewhat in terms of what they have to offer us. Although they should`nt be used in place of an instructor they can be great sources of information.

Try and get other people interested in the indigenous Pilipino Warrior arts in your area and go to events as a group this will help fray your expenses somewhat. If you get enough interest in your area than you can host events there in your city and bring in instructors of your choice to learn from. It`s really not that expensive when a few people pitch-in to help with the expenses.

Remember that in training It`s not so much what you do as it is how you do it which will reap the greatest benefits from your training. So train any and all material well and seek out realistic solutions for realistic situations from your training. I hope that this helps you out somewhat, good luck in your pursuit for knowledge. Ciao...

~ Guro Dave Gould.

[Guro Dave Gould]

Training Suggestions...

Hammer 316,

This will help you out as well. I give this to all of my new students as a training guide and have posted it on a few forums in the past. Train well....

Daily Training Suggestions

Try and workout on a daily basis if possible. One hour or more is strongly suggested but if time isn`t readily available to you then 15 minutes a day will do. It may not seem like much in terms of what may be accomplished, but it is better than no time invested at all. I feel it important to note that it’s the daily feeding which will allow the Kali man inside of you to grow and flourish. The Kali man within, just like your physical being, can’t survive on just one feeding a week. If you don`t get the daily feeding that you need to sustain yourself than you will whither and die, and so it is the same with the Kali man that dwells within you. Let me reiterate that you are your first line of defense and if you take note of nothing else which I speak of take note of this, train daily and train with intention, as your life may very well depend on it some day….

Below are a few suggestions which if adhered to will allow you to best maximize your efforts in reaching your truest potential. As you pursue your training odyssey be first true to yourself, and second to that seek out truth in training. The most that you can hope to achieve in training is to become the creature of opportunity which you were born to realize, and not some mechanical duplicate of some one else. Train as to recognize opportunities when they present themselves to you and work at a fevers pitch in developing the necessary attributes and abilities by which to best take advantage of those fleeting opportunities, while they exist to you in real time. An effective creature of opportunity knows when to hang back and assess from neutral territory and when to go in for the kill. By default a creature of opportunity is a predator with an enhanced ability to realize which fights to take and which fights to avoid. It’s very rare indeed to see a Lion try and take a healthy Bull Elephant down. But let it detect or create the slightest weakness in that Elephant in its favor and all of a sudden there exists an opportunity that the Lion will be more than willing to take in order to gain the kill. An effective creature of opportunity recognizes no logical boundaries and will not place any limitations around itself in accomplishing its objective. It allows itself to do what it was designed to do best, and that is to fight for life and limb at what ever the cost, while taking advantage of opportunities left in the trail of its victim’s panic stricken (over) reactions.

Footwork is the cornerstone of your combative capabilities, for if you can’t get where you need to be when you need to be there than your most destructive intent and efforts are for not. Which is why it is necessary to always start each workout with 15 - 30 minutes of hard aggressive footwork done with focus and intention. While doing footwork concentrate on transitioning as soon as possible without hesitation. Train with a partner or go solo but emphasize the ability to move as quickly as you are physically capable of, ensuring that you take long swift steps, all the while maintaining proper balance. Keep your body weight centered and going up, as opposed to placing it over the knee or too far to the rear. Just going through the motions while doing footwork is unacceptable as it accomplishes nothing productive. You must train your footwork the way that you would expect to use it in combat defending your life one-day. Not slow and easy at a comfortable pace but rather by getting in and out of fighting range quickly as necessity dictates. A Rooster may look ever so graceful in its almost hypnotic rhythm while strutting around in the barnyard attempting to impress the chickens. But put a hungry dog in its presence and all of those graceful movements will be for not, as that Rooster will quickly become lunch for an instinct driven aggressive animal whose only intent isn’t so much to dance but rather to eat.

As well attribute training should be done as often as possible. This includes training all categories that will develop and enhance ones power, speed, timing, position, recovery, perception, reaction, awareness, and ability to separate under cover while in a defensive position. For each workout pick one attribute, and work to develop only that one for the session from both the right and left sides. After awhile you won’t have a left or right side anymore just two sides equally capable, always leaving the closest side available by which to inherit the immediate task at hand. Attribute training is key in developing effective abilities and the louder that you allow your abilities to speak for you the less there will be need for words. As I’ve said a thousand times, ones abilities will either confirm or contradict that which is spoken out of the mouth of man. A man can spout lie after lie out of his mouth whereas his abilities are what they are. No more and no less and to that end we are simply effective or we are not. There’s no deception found in ones abilities, as only truth is spoken through this language of movement.

When training static or predictable drills feel free to introduce various free radicals at random as to enhance your counter capability. In addition to developing your ability to adapt and adjust toward unexpected elements which are almost guaranteed to present themselves in reality based combatives. Proper awareness, and the ability to react with positive effect in a timely manner are key to surviving violent, random exchanges of unpredictable aggression on the street. A free radical is anything that doesn’t belong in the drill or that which is not expected. By introducing free radicals as often as possible, it will ensure your ability to respond to that which is not expected, leaving you much more prepared to deal with the ever unpredictable nature of some street tough hell-bent on delivering you pain and misery. It`s not those things that you expect, but rather those things which you don’t that will end up taking you out in a fight. In training introduce random unexpected punches, charging in, pulling a second weapon, butting, and blinding your training partners line of sight, among other things as you sneak a killing blow in under his defenses when he least expects it. As you familiarize yourself with this concept you will notice that within time you will have weaned yourself off of numerous static drills in exchange for perception and reaction in its truest essence.

Always protect yourself while training just as you would be forced to do in real situations. You should learn to see your training and fighting in the same light. Your training, for lack of a better definition, is the crutch that best supports your efforts in terms of your ability to fight with positive effect. For as you do one you are programmed to do the other in like manner. An example of cause and effect in its purest form, hence the way that you train will be the way that you will fight. Learn to see training and combat as they are, in the same likeness, treating them indifferent as to avoid creating bad habits that could more than likely cost you your life one-day. To that end try and remember that you are training as to limit the possibility of getting cut or stabbed during a knife encounter. So by sub-consciously allowing yourself to be cut or stabbed in your workout, only to benefit someone else’s training, creates an arena which instills bad habits that could all to easily be crossbred into your ability to perceive, react, adapt, and adjust in responding to realistic situations. Never allow your training partner to stab or cut you while training if possible. If he does stab or cut you in training it should be done in earnest, only because he took advantage of an opportunity which existed, and not because you allowed him to do so unchecked. As well by not allowing your training partner to stab or cut you unchecked this forces him to recognize and deal with his failures. Only when introduced to failure will you be able to learn how to overcome it. In light of this you should train as to never stop pushing your blade until you have slammed it through the head of your opponent with vigor and confidence, regardless of circumstance or obstruction. Which is precisely why I feel that learning to overcome failure is a huge advancement toward that end, as you will learn to see failure and obstructions for what they are, not as an end but rather a progressive detour to eventual victory.

Non-cooperation should always be presented in varying degrees as to keep the training as closely aligned with reality as possible. The rule of thumb here is to learn technique first and only then test it against a non-conformist mindset. Start out with slight non-cooperation on your training partner’s end and as the task becomes easier for you to achieve increase the non-cooperation in increments. Your over all goal in preparing for combat should be to master the situation and motion in general through perception and reaction, as opposed to anticipating what will happen or waiting for a certain strike from your opponent. Opportunities in combat are always fleeting so learn to recognize and seize them quickly, or your lack of awareness and hesitation could cost you dearly by losing your life one-day. Most knife fights end in death very quickly so you don`t have the luxury to pass up some opportunities while choosing to lie in wait for a more desirable one to come along. Take what you are given when you are given it and capitalize on it quickly. The fact is that in most cases your opponent doesn’t know himself what he will or will not do. So it would be ill advised of you to try and second guess what his actions may or may not be, whilst your life hangs in the balance of what you think he will do and what he actually ends up doing under duress in the face of danger. The situation is what it is and will become what it will become, you’re just along for the ride until you find or create a safe place to jump off and hit your escape route.

Again I feel the need to reiterate that the way by which you train will reflect heavily on the way that you will respond in dealing with life threatening situations. So always allow your training to brush up against reality as much as possible during your workout sessions and only then will you be prepared to deal with all of the unpredictable aggressive and radical behavior which is found in random violent street crime. Train as to allow the situation to dictate your most appropriate counter responses and allow your abilities to render the situation null and void quickly with positive effect, under duress against a non-conformist type of opponent. Survival is the only acceptable goal in combat…

~ Guro Dave Gould.
Forced Response Combatives International

[spiderchoke]

There is a four day seminar here in St. Louis every July with Dan Inosanto. If you are in chicago, it would not be hard to get here for it. There is something for the beginner as well as the seasoned martial artists. It is sponsored by apex martial arts or gateway martial arts. You can leave me a message if you need more info than that.

[dannyjian]

Training solo

HAMMER 316
Hi dan hear if you like i could send you a email with the out line of the arnis that i teach it is only a basic system .
if you can understand written teachings this may help .
anyway it' available if you would like a coppy
yours in budo................ dan

[ceasarx]

I can help

I trained in karate and other strikeing styles for years and alot of that was by myself. I used to go to different dojo's no matter what they taught and would try an recruit sparring partners. I also developed a work out routine that I used to keep my mind fresh and ready while drilling everything I knew. If you want I will e-mail the routine to you. I see you are from ontario so i can tell you that in oswego New york there is go ju classes and they do personal lessons. so It would be a hell of a drive but you could also train in a personal setting make videos and then try to practice what you learned

[J.K.]

just reread Guro Dave Gould post here - good stuff - worth the effort.