Solo Training In-Between Dojo Visits

[Hardball]

Bowing In:

How many of you M.A. on this site Solo train on a regular basis? I do. I belong to a Japanese Jujitsu Dojo but here is what I did today as a solo workout.

This is just an example of one of my many diverse solo workouts. I call this one "Kicking Drills" I do hundreds and hundreds of kicks both in the air and on a wave master. Of course I warm up and stretch and then I cool down and stretch. My workout lasted a total of 3 hours; with the kicking portion taking up 2 hours. I did your typical basic to mid level style kicks including: snap kick, chop kick, stomp kick, back snap kick, Front thrust kick, back kick, inside cresent kick, outside cresent kick, ax kick, hook kick, Front leg side kick, back leg side kick, front leg roundhouse, back leg roundhouse, thrusting knee and round knee. Did you notice I'm not listing any of those fancy advanced tkd style kicks.............I don't do them, thus, this thread is in the Japanese Forumn.

Can I hear some feedback/ideas about your creative solo training habits?

Thanks in Advance

Bowing Out.

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Solo training

I try to advoid solo training as much as possible. While there are things I do alone every day like tai chi and cardio, streaching drills, I try to focus on working techniques against a live, aggressive partner and avoid preset drills as much as possible. I train outside my school with friends pretty much every day. Someone who isn't a ma or is from a style you're unfamiliar with will be very benefitial as they will attack and react differently than what you're use to. I make it a point not to ask my training partners ( outside the school) what there backround is, as this tends to add a extra level of realism to the training. Then, if a training partner of mine has a particular interest in what I'm doing, I invite them to my school so they can learn directly from my instructor, instead of my interpretation of his art. This will also give me greater insite into my school, as they may be picking up on some aspect of what we covered that I missed.
Good luck and keep training hard!
Mahalo, Jeremy

[Tom Yum]

Hey hardball, sounds like a pretty good routine. I'd cut it down to maybe 6 different kicks and work on technique & speed, like what you are doing now so you can learn to throw them cold, hard and fast when you need them.

Are you also stretching? running? doing other conditioning stuff too. It all helps. I'd also watch some of the phenomenal karate kickers, like Bill Wallace or even Bruce Lee's movies.

[Hardball]

I'd cut it down to maybe 6 different kicks and work on technique & speed, like what you are doing now so you can learn to throw them cold, hard and fast when you need them.

Are you also stretching? running? doing other conditioning stuff too. I'd also watch some of the phenomenal karate kickers, like Bill Wallace or even Bruce Lee's movies.

Hey thanks Tom,

I'm sort of already doing that part about the 6 different kicks. What I mean is I only do 15-20 reps each leg except for the side kicks and roundhouse kicks. On those two kicks I do several hundred. I've stretched every single day for the last 12 years. {missing no more than one day if I'm fatigued or sick}. I don't run anymore because it aggravates my knees and lower back however I walk a lot of miles mostly for cardio to burn calories. I've read a lot of Bruce Lees training manuals and Bill Wallaces' "Dynamaic Kicking and Stretching" but no focus on the movies. Also, I have drills I do such as knee pitching, hold and retract and angle weight drills. The biggest asset for me is the warm up and cool down stretch on the day of the kicking practice. Because of my age and fear of burnout I only do this particular kicking drills 3 or 4 times a month. At other times I'm working the heavy bags for strikes, or the speed bag, or practicing ground work, or footwork for throws. Then other times I work my blocks on the wooden dummy.

[Cobra_nVidia]

Practicing between classes is essential. Otherwise, you won't be able to progress. Most of my class work is partner stuff, because that's when you have partners. You can have sharper techniques, more powerful techniques, etc, by praticing on your own, it's about building your body