Solo training at home

[Rabbitthekitten]

How do people split their training at home? Do they do a set amount of time doing patterns/kata a bit bit doing various kicks, punches blocks etc... Some on general fitness? Obviously it would vary depending on which particular art one studies, but it would be interesting to see what people do and the reasons behind it.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I do whatever I feel like I've been slacking on...or whatever I want to do when I get bored. Sometimes it's running, sometimes it's working out, a lot of the time, it's going through kali solo drills, less often than I should I go through my old kempo's and forms.

No real rhyme or reason, but that's probably because I have no need to 'max' the efficiency of my training time...I'm not competing anytime soon, and have a whole lifetime ahead of me to practice so I'm in no rush.

 

[now disabled]

How do people split their training at home? Do they do a set amount of time doing patterns/kata a bit bit doing various kicks, punches blocks etc... Some on general fitness? Obviously it would vary depending on which particular art one studies, but it would be interesting to see what people do and the reasons behind it.

When I was training I practiced my break falls and rolls ...did bokken suburi and jo suburi and worked on joint flexibility

 

[Martial D]

How do people split their training at home? Do they do a set amount of time doing patterns/kata a bit bit doing various kicks, punches blocks etc... Some on general fitness? Obviously it would vary depending on which particular art one studies, but it would be interesting to see what people do and the reasons behind it.

Mostly Shadowboxing and bagwork. When the wifes home She holds the shield and the mitts for me sometimes, and vice versa.

 

[spidersam]

I mix some weights into it. Some days legs, some days arms. Then also some days bag work, and some days tumbling. Always stretch. Vary exercises but be consistent with hard work

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I train 5 days weekly in the following 4 areas:

- endurance,
- strength,
- flexibility,
- MA skill.

M, W, F (2 and 1/2 hours each):

- 80 sit ups.
- 3 miles running.
- warm up.
- static stretching.
- dynamic stretching.
- 4 kick/punch combo drills 20 reps each (total 80 reps).
- 12 throwing combo drills 20 reps each (total 240 reps).
- pole hanging.

Tu, Th (2 hours each):

- 80 sit ups.
- striking dummy palm strike 40 reps.
- striking dummy arm strike (3 stars) 120 reps.
- heavy bag jab and cross 200 punches.
- heavy bag (or striking dummy) 40 front kicks, 40 roundhouse kicks, 40 side kicks.
- bench press 60 reps.
- weight pulling 180 reps.
- leg weight forward 60 reps, backward 60 reps.
- round bag throwing 60 reps.
- square bag throwing 60 reps.
- cane bundle twisting 60 reps.
- 8 different belt cracking of 20 reps each (total 160 reps).

 

[Rabbitthekitten]

Interesting inputs. I'm just trying to reset my training at the moment and am looking for ideas. I was ill last year and although I'm feeling better I've neglected my training, I could also do with getting my enthusiasm back a little bit.

I work a 4 on 4 off shift pattern and my working days are pretty much a write off apart from the 20km round trip cycling to work. The other 4 days I have classes I can go to, but they're only for 90 minutes generally and I feel I could do more. I do have one PT session at the gym once a week where I do HIIT training using free weights.

I was thinking about another day at the gym to do cardio. A day practicing patterns maybe for an hour or so and a day practising technique on the heavy bag again for an hour or so. I need to lose a few kilos anyway.

Also while I'm at it, what do people think about grappling dummies? I did a bit of BJJ last year and am thinking about doing it a bit more.

 

[now disabled]

Mostly Shadowboxing and bagwork. When the wifes home She holds the shield and the mitts for me sometimes, and vice versa.

You mean you let your wife strike at you .............hope you always put her in a good mood before hand lol...........(sorry mate just being funny)

 

[now disabled]

Interesting inputs. I'm just trying to reset my training at the moment and am looking for ideas. I was ill last year and although I'm feeling better I've neglected my training, I could also do with getting my enthusiasm back a little bit.

I work a 4 on 4 off shift pattern and my working days are pretty much a write off apart from the 20km round trip cycling to work. The other 4 days I have classes I can go to, but they're only for 90 minutes generally and I feel I could do more. I do have one PT session at the gym once a week where I do HIIT training using free weights.

I was thinking about another day at the gym to do cardio. A day practicing patterns maybe for an hour or so and a day practising technique on the heavy bag again for an hour or so. I need to lose a few kilos anyway.

Also while I'm at it, what do people think about grappling dummies? I did a bit of BJJ last year and am thinking about doing it a bit more.

If you wanna grapple I'd go to classes first before you invest in a dummy so you get the right techs to practice etc

You sound like you are pretty motivated just keep going

Questions you come up with etc there are guys on here with a wealth of info and experience and insight to advise

 

[Martial D]

You mean you let your wife strike at you .............hope you always put her in a good mood before hand lol...........(sorry mate just being funny)

You must be married.

 

[now disabled]

You must be married.

Widower bro

 

[marques]

I like kicking hard targets. Sometimes punching. It is relaxing. It is sort of meditation, since I need to focus on, and feel, my body (for good technique) without overthinking.

No minimum time, no plan. Just a bit of this and a bit of that until I feel it is enough (or my shins/wrists hurts). Never longer than 1 hr.

PS: When you say MA training, I forget some of you include fitness. I also do some stretching, sometimes. Should do more running and jumping rope.

 

[_Simon_]

Some really good answers here and it's given me ideas.

I train 5 days weekly in the following 4 areas:

- endurance,
- strength,
- flexibility,
- MA skill.

M, W, F (2 and 1/2 hours each):

- 80 sit ups.
- 3 miles running.
- warm up.
- static stretching.
- dynamic stretching.
- 4 kick/punch combo drills 20 reps each (total 80 reps).
- 12 throwing combo drills 20 reps each (total 240 reps).
- pole hanging.

Tu, Th (2 hours each):

- 80 sit ups.
- striking dummy palm strike 40 reps.
- striking dummy arm strike (3 stars) 120 reps.
- heavy bag jab and cross 200 punches.
- heavy bag (or striking dummy) 40 front kicks, 40 roundhouse kicks, 40 side kicks.
- bench press 60 reps.
- weight pulling 180 reps.
- leg weight forward 60 reps, backward 60 reps.
- round bag throwing 60 reps.
- square bag throwing 60 reps.
- cane bundle twisting 60 reps.
- 8 different belt cracking of 20 reps each (total 160 reps).

I love how you've split it up into those 4 categories John, really cool. And wowza that's quite a routine, but I like it!

I like kicking hard targets. Sometimes punching. It is relaxing. It is sort of meditation, since I need to focus on, and feel, my body (for good technique) without overthinking.

No minimum time, no plan. Just a bit of this and a bit of that until I feel it is enough (or my shins/wrists hurts). Never longer than 1 hr.

PS: When you say MA training, I forget some of you include fitness. I also do some stretching, sometimes. Should do more running and jumping rope.

I love the different approaches that have been said, and this is also a nice one. Just until you feel you've done enough can really tune you into yourself.


For myself, it depends. At the moment I like to get in one or two sessions at home. I weight train 3 times a week, but my martial arts session usually contains some basics, kata, kumite stuff, but I used to have a dedicated 20-30mins of a specialised area or theme I'd work on, like stances and transitions, keiryoku whip-like techniques, footwork drills, combinations, advanced techniques, bagwork. (Although I used to have a dedicated bagwork section in there too). This took about 1-1.5 hours. Nowadays I'm much more relaxed and it's not necessarily planned, I just really train what I'm feeling at the time. I highly highly recommend this, it's great to be led by what you're really keen to work on, and it's awesome for the motivation and enjoyment factor!

I found that relieving the pressure I put on myself allowed me to really enjoy what I train, and not do it because I felt like I 'had to' or 'should'.

Unless I'm prepping for a tournament, then I tend to split up sessions (cardio stuff, sparring-related like shadowsparring, footwork drills; kata practice, breaking it down working on different sections etc)

 

[JR 137]

For a MAist, the heavy bag is the most versatile training tool IMO. There’s a ton of ways you can utilize it. You can focus on power, cardio, technique, combos, footwork, hands, feet, hands and feet, etc. Some people think all you do on the bag is hit it as fast and hard as you can for as long as you can. There’s nothing wrong with that every now and then, but if that’s all you’re doing with it you’re going to get bored with it. And you’re not using it effectively.

When I train outside the dojo, I’m pretty much always hitting the bag, in one way or another. I should do more kata and other standardized solo stuff though.

 

[now disabled]

For a MAist, the heavy bag is the most versatile training tool IMO. There’s a ton of ways you can utilize it. You can focus on power, cardio, technique, combos, footwork, hands, feet, hands and feet, etc. Some people think all you do on the bag is hit it as fast and hard as you can for as long as you can. There’s nothing wrong with that every now and then, but if that’s all you’re doing with it you’re going to get bored with it. And you’re not using it effectively.

When I train outside the dojo, I’m pretty much always hitting the bag, in one way or another. I should do more kata and other standardized solo stuff though.

You make a good point with the bag

I never used a bag as such for really striking but I did at one time rig up something like a bag that I could swing and use it to practice my footwork as in tenkan,Kaiten etc etc and also many atemi in doing so (I don't as such count them as strikes like the TKD and Karate guys do) if I swung the rig and thought ok I am going to do Kokyu nage then I did the footwork etc and with the rig hitting my arms it did actually improve my "power so to speak (well not power as such more the feel of weight hitting if that makes sense)

I am sure that something similar could be employed for Karate or TKD

 

[JR 137]

You make a good point with the bag

I never used a bag as such for really striking but I did at one time rig up something like a bag that I could swing and use it to practice my footwork as in tenkan,Kaiten etc etc and also many atemi in doing so (I don't as such count them as strikes like the TKD and Karate guys do) if I swung the rig and thought ok I am going to do Kokyu nage then I did the footwork etc and with the rig hitting my arms it did actually improve my "power so to speak (well not power as such more the feel of weight hitting if that makes sense)

I am sure that something similar could be employed for Karate or TKD

There’s days where I get what I consider highly technical with the bag. I’ll throw a block that I commonly use in sparring, and analyze everything afterwards - how far I’m stepping in, where my feet are, where they’re pointing, how staggered my stance is. The I’ll get into what would be the quickest strike to follow up with, due to where my hands are, where that one’s going, what’s following it, etc. I’ll go very slowly and try to sharpen everything up. Once I’ve got a good feel for it, I’ll speed it up. Once it feels like muscle memory a bit, I’ll start adding power.

Same thing for closing in and starting a combo, working off of certain punches or kicks, etc.

Other days I’ll keep working certain combos. I’ll close in fast and throw a jab, concentrating on my timing of the movement and punch. I’ll repeat that 20-30 times, then add a cross; do that, then add a hook, etc. That’s all about analyzing how the movement feels and flows.

And I’ll video it. I’ve got a great app on my iPhone called Coach’s Eye. It’s got a wheel of sorts that I can go slow, fast, reverse, forward. I can draw on it too. Using that has given me a ton of valuable feedback. I can spot some tells, see if, when and where I’m dropping my hands, if my balance looks off, etc. Video tells a lot of things that get lost even in a mirror. Only problem is it’s at a fixed angle.

 

[_Simon_]

There’s days where I get what I consider highly technical with the bag. I’ll throw a block that I commonly use in sparring, and analyze everything afterwards - how far I’m stepping in, where my feet are, where they’re pointing, how staggered my stance is. The I’ll get into what would be the quickest strike to follow up with, due to where my hands are, where that one’s going, what’s following it, etc. I’ll go very slowly and try to sharpen everything up. Once I’ve got a good feel for it, I’ll speed it up. Once it feels like muscle memory a bit, I’ll start adding power.

Same thing for closing in and starting a combo, working off of certain punches or kicks, etc.

Other days I’ll keep working certain combos. I’ll close in fast and throw a jab, concentrating on my timing of the movement and punch. I’ll repeat that 20-30 times, then add a cross; do that, then add a hook, etc. That’s all about analyzing how the movement feels and flows.

And I’ll video it. I’ve got a great app on my iPhone called Coach’s Eye. It’s got a wheel of sorts that I can go slow, fast, reverse, forward. I can draw on it too. Using that has given me a ton of valuable feedback. I can spot some tells, see if, when and where I’m dropping my hands, if my balance looks off, etc. Video tells a lot of things that get lost even in a mirror. Only problem is it’s at a fixed angle.

Ah I haven't done that sort of in depth training in awhile, I must get back into it.

And just had a look at the Coach's Eye app, looks really neat!

 

[Headhunter]

I don't have a routine. I do what I want to do on the day. Like today I normally have a bjj class in the evening but instead I'm going to do 2 hours self training at home. Probably an hour of bag work mixed in with strength exercises then an hour run.

If I kept to a regime it'd end up being more like work. So I just do what I want. If i want to miss a class I will, if I want to do another class instead of my regular one I will

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I don't have a routine.

That may be a good idea. I have a fixed routine. Sometime I feel that I have lived 1 year of my life just like I live 1 day of my life. The problem is I don't know how to change my routine. Everything that I do today, I still want to do it 10 years from today. I can only add in. I don't know how to take it off. Anything that I take off, I may lose it forever.

 

[JR 137]

Ah I haven't done that sort of in depth training in awhile, I must get back into it.

And just had a look at the Coach's Eye app, looks really neat!

I haven’t done that in while either. Wife, kids, job, all that good stuff.