What kind of training do you do outside of the dojo/dojang/gym/etc?

[SPX]

So I appreciate the training I get at my dojo and dojang, but I feel like it's just not enough for me to progress rapidly. So I was wondering what kind of outside-of-class training everyone does to bring their skills along.

Of course there's the obvious stuff like working katas/forms and doing 50 side kicks or whatever. But what else?

So what kind of solo exercises do you guys do? And, for those of you who work with a partner, what kind of partner drills do you do?

I'm personally trying to find someone to work with outside of class, but that's proving difficult. There are a lot of distance and timing drills, pad drills, and sparring that I just feel like I get a taste of in class that I would love to be able to practice more of on my own. But I can't seem to find anyone else who is interested in that.

 

[Sanke]

Honestly, I just do the stuff we do in class, but at home. Simple as that. Be it bag work, going over kata solo, practicing striking, etc, just over and over. That really is the best way to be good at this stuff, do it, and then do it again, and again and again...

If you're having trouble finding other people from your class, you could ask your instructor for advice on what to work on at home, maybe he has a home training program you could use, or some drills he didn't have time to show, etc.
It sucks when you can't find people out of class who are interested in training, but that shouldn't stop you from getting better yourself


Sanke on the move.

 

[Cyriacus]

I do Striking Drills.
Over. And over. And over.

Only Three.

EDIT: And a Blocking Drill.

So I guess thats Four.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Well since you forgot to add guan (kwoon) I can only assume you don't are what CMA people do so I won't tell yo uthat I do forms, drills, stance training, qigong, etc. :uhyeah:

 

[SahBumNimRush]

Class time should be spent concentrating on the top of the performance pyramid, practicing the skill of martial arts. Outside of class, while you should continue to work on skill, it is vitally important concentrate on functional movement and performance (i.e. mobility/stability training, endurance/stamina, strength, speed, etc.. .) if you want to maximize your athletic ability.

Otherwise, you may develop a mis-shapen pyramid that will either set you up for injury or prevent you from reaching your peak performance. For instance, some body builders have a pyramid that looks like this:

Lack of flexibility training and functional strength training and massive amounts of hypertrophic strength training leads to a pyramid shaped like this. You are huge, but wouldn't be able to do what a "strong man" half your size could perform. Incidentally, you also can't scratch your back, because of your lack of flexibility.. .

To put this in a perspective of martial arts training, you may develop great skill at a lunging punch, but if you don't have the flexibility in your ankle to get into a perfect front stance, it will hinder your power. If you never strength train, you may never reach your peak power.. .

I am in no way saying that you shouldn't do drills like you do in class outside of the training hall, but I recommend you do "cross-training" as well.

 

[dancingalone]

I do hojo undo and so-called modern bodyweight exercises to build/maintain my physical strength. Yoga to stay supple. Sprints too since they are unlike the other exercises I regularly perform to shake up my body, and because I hate them and eating bitter is occasionally good for one's soul.

As for partner exercises outside of class, most of it time I practice the various aikido techniques with my wife. We use the time not only to improve our craft but also as quality time spent with each other.

 

[SPX]

I do Striking Drills.
Over. And over. And over.

Only Three.

EDIT: And a Blocking Drill.

So I guess thats Four.

What drills do you do?

 

[SPX]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I think I have a good idea about a lot of the solo stuff I need to be doing.

I really think the key for me is going to be finding someone to train with. I really need to get used to evading and blocking attacks, finding and creating openings, etc. It would also be nice to have someone hold some pads for me.

 

[dancingalone]

I really think the key for me is going to be finding someone to train with. I really need to get used to evading and blocking attacks, finding and creating openings, etc. It would also be nice to have someone hold some pads for me.

Absolutely. Like many, this is why I got into teaching in the first place - to create training partners for myself since I could not find anyone at a suitable level of experience and specific knowledge to train with me the way I wanted to train. It's a lament you hear time and time again from guys who study something off the beaten path like Chinese arts and such.

Don't you live in Salt Lake City? It's big enough. I'd be shocked if you couldn't find a fellow TKD guy there to spar and kick pads with you.

 

[SPX]

Don't you live in Salt Lake City? It's big enough. I'd be shocked if you couldn't find a fellow TKD guy there to spar and kick pads with you.

Yeah, there's gotta be someone somewhere, right?

I've made some overtures to some guys in both my TKD and karate classes. A couple of guys kind of gave a "oh yeah, maybe at some point" kind of noncommittal reply but for the most part there hasn't been a great deal of interest.

I've been trying to recruit some people from outside of my own schools. I contacted a local Shotokan instructor to see if he might have some students that would want to get together, so we'll see how that goes. I also created a forum (slcma.freeforums.org) that I'm hoping I can build into a sort of communication hub for SLC-based martial artists. I blasted about twenty different schools with the URL, but so far only 3 people have registered other than myself and those who have registered aren't really responding to any of my threads or creating any of their own.

 

[SahBumNimRush]

For example, my workout tonight (off class night) consisted of: Barbell Deadlifts 5 sets of 5 reps, pushups (5 sets of 10), pullups (5 sets of 5), chin ups ( 5 sets of 5), heavy bag work, mobility training, and Kong sang kun/kusanku,kanku (preparing for competition, so did this form 10 times), took about 50 minutes.

 

[Em MacIntosh]

I stand at work all day so I do a lot of lunges, splits and low stances while at the computer. My legs are already warmed up by the time I'm off work so I run or ride my bike home. I like to fatigue myself with an hour or two on the heavy bag then I start my chin-ups, crunches, push-ups etc. (as many as I can do before I get jelly-muscles), then I take a ten minute stretch brake and go for a nice easy run finished with a "sprint" (I'm usually pretty wobbly by then). After that I do a cool-down walk, more stretching and a five or ten minute meditation. I slack on my weekends with a run and some stretching. I usually sleep well if nothing else.

 

[SahBumNimRush]

I stand at work all day so I do a lot of lunges, splits and low stances while at the computer. My legs are already warmed up by the time I'm off work so I run or ride my bike home. I like to fatigue myself with an hour or two on the heavy bag then I start my chin-ups, crunches, push-ups etc. (as many as I can do before I get jelly-muscles), then I take a ten minute stretch brake and go for a nice easy run finished with a "sprint" (I'm usually pretty wobbly by then). After that I do a cool-down walk, more stretching and a five or ten minute meditation. I slack on my weekends with a run and some stretching. I usually sleep well if nothing else.

Is this 3+ hour workout a 5 day a week regimen for you? That is both impressive in your level of endurance and time commitment to your training!

 

[Em MacIntosh]

Is this 3+ hour workout a 5 day a week regimen for you? That is both impressive in your level of endurance and time commitment to your training!

True, it's five days per week but you give me too much credit. I don't always do two hours on the canvas bag and only about a quarter of that time is full blast. The intention is to fatigue myself for my bodyweight exercises so as you can imagine my chin-ups etc. tend to be few, wobbly and unimpressive. My workout seldom takes more than 2 hours unless I have extra energy (or right after my weekend). Keep in mind I've been doing this stuff for a long time so my body's used to it. I feel like I've been on a plateau for a long time but I'm also satisfied with maintaining it.

 

[Cyriacus]

What drills do you do?

It probably would have made sense to just detail them to begin with

0; Preceded by enough Stretching to reduce chances of injury, but without especially spending much time on it.

0.5; I tend to use Patterns as a Warmup as well.

1; Using a makeshift Punching Bag (As I have nowere to hang a proper one), I practice movement in a circular manner with Defensive Striking, followed by lunging with Aggressive linear Striking at the earliest convenience. The practice is in Defensively moving to the sides, then Attacking forward. But more importantly, for ranging and continuity.

1.5; Ill often slide some Shadow Sparring in between, because why not.

2; Continual Striking against the same bag. Similar to the first one, but the focus is on continual Strikes, regardless of Aggression or Defense. This is a blend of Endurance, and bridging the gap between Aggressive and Defensive a bit.

2.5; And since I wont be going back to it, Ill usually just do some Fore Fist, Reverse, and Hooking Punches on it, and some Side Kicks in between.

3; Line Drills. Wholly comprised of Fore Fist, Reverse, Hooking, and Upset Punches, Front and Side Kicks, and Spinning Backfists. This is entirely for Technique. While being Technically Accurate isnt considered to be particularly important, Body Mechanics are.

4; This is profoundly simple. Block 1-3 times, counter with as many hits as possible in a couple of seconds. The practice is in having Blocking at least significantly reflexive. I tend to spend about as much time on this one, as on 1 and 2. And given that I dont spend as long on 3, thats saying a bit.

 

[Carol]

So I appreciate the training I get at my dojo and dojang, but I feel like it's just not enough for me to progress rapidly. So I was wondering what kind of outside-of-class training everyone does to bring their skills along.

Of course there's the obvious stuff like working katas/forms and doing 50 side kicks or whatever. But what else?

So what kind of solo exercises do you guys do? And, for those of you who work with a partner, what kind of partner drills do you do?

I'm personally trying to find someone to work with outside of class, but that's proving difficult. There are a lot of distance and timing drills, pad drills, and sparring that I just feel like I get a taste of in class that I would love to be able to practice more of on my own. But I can't seem to find anyone else who is interested in that.

Keep trying. It can be difficult to find people to train with, but they are out there. I ended up putting together a group of people consisting of a part-time police officer, convenience store worker, pizza shop owner, auto mechanic, and computer geek (me). About the only thing we had in common is that we all worked weird hours, we all had interest in martial arts (all of us had trained at some point but only one person had a black belt), and were all trying to keep active despite our messed up schedules.

Some folks say you should keep your skills a secret, and never mention your MA training. There is a lot to be said for that. However, if I never approached people who I thought were non-MA'ists with my ideas, I never would have put the group together. It can help if you talk to people that are in to being active in some sort of way -- whether in the gym or out hiking. Use your best judgment in terms of assessing another person's character.

Good luck!

 

[ralphmcpherson]

Outside of class I road run about 40+ klms a week and stretch every night. I have a training partner who I get together with and train on weekends (although we've been slack lately). We tend to leave the 'technique' side of things to class time with an instructor and just go for sheer repetition in our own time. We kick and punch the bag until we can no longer stand up.

 

[chinto]

I do do some bag work and makawara work and kata, but I also do some mental work to... nothing that hard. practice evaluating a room as I walk in. look at the people and see what I see. Is there tension in the room? Is some one in the room a possible major threat? practice being aware of exits, obstacles, any other egress routs. sometimes I look for what might be a good weapon that is just laying around in a room, or what places risk of an ambush might be higher in a rout I normally walk or a new rout to the dojo or some where.

Again, not so much a physical exercise but mental. If something were to go very wrong, fastest way out of the store in a fire, cover if gunfire were to happen, who might be a person who would be difficult to deal with in an altercation in that room. I do not really expect to need that information, but try to make it more of a habit to be aware of what is there.

 

[tshadowchaser]

I spend time running in the woods. avoiding branches, running over rocks and uneven ground.
In good weather I spend time in the water ( ocean and rivers) practicing my stances.