Day 3 of Project Mayhem

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to open mat today.  I went to Taekwondo class taught by Mr. Labadie at Chung do kwan at 6 pm instead.  My legs were still sore from Wednesday but once we did a little warmup and some stretching, my legs felt better.  We did a pretty good kicking drill where we did 30 kicks in a row of one kick on one side.  After each set of 10 we would pick up the pace and kick faster.  We ended up doing this with round, side and snap kick for a total of 180 kicks.  We did some bag drills up and down the floor and then some isometric roundhouse kicks by the count.  Then Mr. Labadie asked me to show teach some jointlocks.  I demonstrated a figure four lock that I've been working on that is a combination of pushover takedown and wrist throw.  It can also be reversed into armbar #2.

After class was over, I changed and got into the car.  My body felt full of energy and still ready to go.  I guess an hour class wasn't enough.  Considering that in Jiu-Jitsu after an hour class we start open mat sparring, this makes a lot of sense.  I ended up mowing my lawn which needed it really bad when I got home.

While mowing I contemplated a lot about Jiu-Jitsu and how I should go about getting better.  What is the best mindset to have while training?  What is the best way to internalize the techniques we learn in class?  Since I've started there haven't been too many techniques repeated from one class to the next.  While it is cool that Jiu-Jitsu is so expansive I find it difficult to figure out what things are important for me to work on to get better.

Day 1 of Project Freedom

So the wife and kids took off for Alliance Nebraska yesterday morning and left me to fend for myself.  I'm trying to get in as much martial arts and relaxation time as I can.  Each day I'm going to take my gear with me to work and try to make it to a martial art's class or two.

Yesterday I worked out at Chung Do Kwan Taekwondo taught by Mike Catron.  It's been a while since I've done TKD and I wasn't disappointed.  We worked on some things that I haven't worked on in a while like twist kick and backfists.  Backfists were the theme of the night and it shows in my knuckles as we were hitting paddles repeatedly.  I also worked on a form with Shawn that was very difficult and interesting.  In the second class we worked on sparring drills and ended up doing some point sparring.  While I'm not a fan of point sparring I still get a rush when competing and Shawn has really good defense.  I haven't done kicking drills like that in a while; my legs felt fatigued afterwards but this morning I was okay.

Some of my possibilities for classes are:
Thursday: Jiu-Jitsu 4-5:30, Judo 6-7:30
Friday: Jiu-Jitsu 4-5:30 (If I can make it) if not TKD 6:30-7:30
Saturday: Hapkido 9-11:30 There is also a Judo class at 11:30-1 and a sparring class at Roseberry's from 1-2:30.  Or could do TKD from 11:30-1.  So many choices.
Sunday: No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu 11-1 and Daito-Ryu 1-2:30
Monday: Jiu-Jitsu 8-9:30
Tuesday: ???

I probably won't make it to all of these classes but I'll do as many as I can.