A little while ago I became aware of The Juyukai (https://juyukai.com/) an in-person training group and the project of two guys Ryan and Alex. I was already aware of Ryan through his work at GMB Fitness (https://gmb.io/) and had noticed they seemed to have an awareness not just of fitness but how it applies to the martial arts... so I was pretty interested to get a look into Ryan's perspective on the martial arts on a deeper level. The Juyukai newsletter was the window into this and is well worth signing up for. Last week, Ryan started sharing a little of the wisdom and training he was personally working on in a mid-week email and mentioned he'd like it to be a two-way street so I shared a bit of what I was working on and then thought... "Gee, how could I get others to share with me what they're working on too?"
So I thought I'd share with you what I wrote to Ryan (with some slight edits) and maybe you'd like to share with me what you've been working on. Send me an email at: walkingwiththetengu@gmail.com
So here's what I'm working on this week...
For "training," I have a routine that incorporates a few things regularly and then I cycle things through based on what I'm focusing on.
The regular things are:
Sets of jiu-jitsu burpees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTZ6W7-mZZU
Sets of shiko: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sygtzOWjOQ
Shuai Jiao solo exercises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUjEtHFUCJ8
Pull-up bar hangs. Because I'm still not good at pull-ups.
Lastly, BJJ Move-Of-The-Week/Flow Drill both solo and with my family. This is sourced from the "Gracie Combatives" program. There were a couple teaching methods I got from their teaching system. Reflex development drills and what they call "Fight Simulation Drills." These are just sets of techniques from the curriculum chained together in a flow that makes sense in a self-defense situation. A "kata" for lack of a better term. I could train them with a partner and I could train them solo and that turned into "move of the week" with my family.
My wife, two kids, and I now have one technique from the curriculum that we focus on. For myself I do the complete Fight Sim Drill. Whereas for my wife and kids we do a couple moves around the technique to just place it in context. We regularly have other training too, but this is what we fit into the gaps our of daily lives along with play-wrestling for fun.
As an example, this week's move is a standing armlock from someone either grabbing our hair, pushing our chest, or grabbing the clothing material around our chest.
1) Standing Armlock – Standing (L34)
2) Standing Headlock Defense – Standing (L26)
3) Headlock Counters – Mount – Back Mount Finish (L16)
4) Rear Naked Choke – Back Mount – Strong Side Variation (L5)
5) Elevator Sweep – Guard – Headlock Variation (L11)
6) Take the Back – Mount (L4)
7) Rear Naked Choke – Back Mount – Weak Side Variation (L5)
This week my kids and wife are doing steps 1-4 with me, and I do 1-7 solo after they all go to bed. It keeps the techniques fresh in my mind, allows me to combine visualization with body movement. Can be done slowly or quickly depending on what I'm doing and just as one can do in classical Japanese martial arts... we can "break" the kata if it makes sense.
As an example my 9 year old daughter, after practicing a back take from guard a couple weeks ago, turned the same movement into a half guard entry that led to a triangle submission. She "broke" the kata and came up with a new application from the rest of her training. Pretty sure there's some shu-ha-ri action going on there. You're probably already familiar with that concept, but I wrote up a short summary about it on this page (https://walkingtengu.wixsite.com/tengu/post/classical-martial-arts-ideas).
For wisdom, I work on my podcast which focuses on how to take (mostly) classical works of literature and apply it to a modern martial arts mindset. I'm currently reading "Unravelling the Cords" (https://purplecloudinstitute.com/product/unravelling-the-cords/) to see if there's something a modern martial artist can glean from it. Spoiler, there is but it will take me a while to write the episode and I've got a few more in the queue I need to finish up first.
I'm not including this because I'm trying to surreptitiously get you to listen to an episode, but rather after years of reading and musing... It's just it's a training tool like the flow drills I mentioned above. I realized that if I had a focus like writing articles, essays, or... podcast episodes it forced me to organize my thoughts, run down references and generally just be more organized with how I was thinking about the wisdom I was "consuming." So even if no one ever listened to it, it was the "tool" by which I could focus that learning and wisdom into something far more refined than if I just flitted from book to book without clear focus.
So, yeah. If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read about what I'm working on. I look forward to more of your mid-week musings!
So there you have it! What do you do for your daily training? I'd love to hear from you at: walkingwiththetengu@gmail.com