These workouts are, umm, working out...
Sep. 7th, 2006 07:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellyssianI think the element that was missing in our last efforts was the intense energy in Jeet Kune Do training.
A few years ago, we had alternated the "full" workout with days of JKD, and last time we alternated between yoga and Pilates (the "full" workout has elements of both, along with a mix of other stretches and exercises derived from a variety of sources including a program by a physical therapist, tae kwon do and other martial arts warmups, dance therapy (which is, more or less, modified Pilates matwork,) qi gong, and two programs by the Royal Canadian Air Force; it's structured on the RCAF plans to grow in difficulty and intensity from laughably easy to levels that only professional athletes can achieve - when I was at my own personal peak fitness levels, I had only made it to the second chart out of five; due to all the stopping and starting Justin and I are still on the first chart.)
Today, I decided that we'd throw in the JKD stuff, so Justin and I beat each other up, and it feels great. We started off using the padded target, but, unfortunately, that makes a sound like a basketball hitting the backstop every time it's hit. Bad enough at 5am, but worse when Rachel is sick and Deb is sleeping with her downstairs, just a few doorless rooms away. We tried to muffle the pad with towels, but that didn't make enough of a difference, so finally, we just went with open-hand targets.
Now, once we've been doing this for a while, a natural progression is to toughen up the skin on the parts of the body that do the striking and blocking. First day of training, that skin hasn't even been prepped by hitting/getting hit by a vinyl-wrapped pillow (which is essentially what the target is) and it certainly hasn't developed to the point of being able to take the direct impact of, say, a broomstick thwack. I remember when I was training JKD back in MA, and I used to have my mom, dad, Deb, and brother thwack away. They generally had fun smacking me with a broomstick, and I could actually take direct hits without a problem. Today, there was a bit more of an ouchie factor, for both of us. Feels good now, three hours later, though!
More than any kind of defensive training, the benefit that we had today was in the aerobic side of things - getting blood flowing and air into and back out of the lungs. I know that the yoga and Pilates will have long term benefits for breathing, blood pressure, and overall health, but the JKD training adds an energy boost and more of an instant-gratification feeling that will help keep things going so we can achieve the deeper development of the other aspects of the workout.
We will probably continue to train on the Monday-Wednesday-Friday "full" schedule, alternate Tuesday between yoga and Pilates, and JKD on Thursday.
A few years ago, we had alternated the "full" workout with days of JKD, and last time we alternated between yoga and Pilates (the "full" workout has elements of both, along with a mix of other stretches and exercises derived from a variety of sources including a program by a physical therapist, tae kwon do and other martial arts warmups, dance therapy (which is, more or less, modified Pilates matwork,) qi gong, and two programs by the Royal Canadian Air Force; it's structured on the RCAF plans to grow in difficulty and intensity from laughably easy to levels that only professional athletes can achieve - when I was at my own personal peak fitness levels, I had only made it to the second chart out of five; due to all the stopping and starting Justin and I are still on the first chart.)
Today, I decided that we'd throw in the JKD stuff, so Justin and I beat each other up, and it feels great. We started off using the padded target, but, unfortunately, that makes a sound like a basketball hitting the backstop every time it's hit. Bad enough at 5am, but worse when Rachel is sick and Deb is sleeping with her downstairs, just a few doorless rooms away. We tried to muffle the pad with towels, but that didn't make enough of a difference, so finally, we just went with open-hand targets.
Now, once we've been doing this for a while, a natural progression is to toughen up the skin on the parts of the body that do the striking and blocking. First day of training, that skin hasn't even been prepped by hitting/getting hit by a vinyl-wrapped pillow (which is essentially what the target is) and it certainly hasn't developed to the point of being able to take the direct impact of, say, a broomstick thwack. I remember when I was training JKD back in MA, and I used to have my mom, dad, Deb, and brother thwack away. They generally had fun smacking me with a broomstick, and I could actually take direct hits without a problem. Today, there was a bit more of an ouchie factor, for both of us. Feels good now, three hours later, though!
More than any kind of defensive training, the benefit that we had today was in the aerobic side of things - getting blood flowing and air into and back out of the lungs. I know that the yoga and Pilates will have long term benefits for breathing, blood pressure, and overall health, but the JKD training adds an energy boost and more of an instant-gratification feeling that will help keep things going so we can achieve the deeper development of the other aspects of the workout.
We will probably continue to train on the Monday-Wednesday-Friday "full" schedule, alternate Tuesday between yoga and Pilates, and JKD on Thursday.
