You can blame me for the caveman

A few weeks ago, the day after the MA blogger roundtable hosted by TDA Training, I hopped on over to Rick's Kicks Boxes for a viewing of a blog that I haven't really spent much time reading. What I discovered was Caveman training. That same day I mentioned this new discovery to Ray, a san kyu in my dojo, who I train with in-between class days. We tried out some of the aspects of this type of workout: do something fast, lift something heavy, hit something hard, hold something and explode. Needless to say we were both breathing very heavy by the time one round was finished (and he's one to run up a mountain for fun). There was also a white belt there, and she, too, was breathing hard. I discovered I felt great after the punishment. Even though it was one of the hardest training experiences for me it really felt good to do it.

I've written before about trying to find new ways to eat and train for martial arts. I really love to push myself, often beyond what a "normal" person would take. For some reason my body really does well with that type of training. I do not, however, do it more than twice a week since I do have to work and still go home and have some of "me" left over for hubby and cute little boy. The trouble is, I rarely do this on my own. I usually do the tough stuff with other people or in the dojo. I find it hard to kick my own butt, and that's something that will need to change once I move.

In the beginning I will have to train mostly by myself. There will not be time at first to find a new dojo to train in, and I'm thinking that I may lay off on that for a while. I have a friend who used to train in our dojo who has moved to Burlington as well, and she's very excited to have me in the area. So, I will also train with her, plus I have a big yard and the snow won't be here for at least another month (Hee, hee. That actually starts around the beginning of November). There is also the possibility of travelling an hour and a half south to the Rutland dojo, too, at least once a week. I will need to come up with my own Caveman regimen to follow, and stick to. Perhaps said friend will be into that as well.

The absolute worst thing for me is to have my training schedule broken apart. Therefore it will be of utmost importance to get one going as soon as I get to Winooski. I admit it, I get lazy. I can picture karate in my head until I go blurry, but that doesn't get me very far in the training world. I have this plan to go to a Wing Chun class once a week, but that's not enough. If I set the goal to do the Caveman-like training at least twice a week, Wing Chun once a week, Rutland once a week and maybe another day with my friend in Koro Ken, perhaps I will escape the I-don't-have-the-time excuse.

So, I blame me for the Caveman training we went through in class today. Sensei had found one, too, separate from the one I discovered. Now he's all fired up about it, and it's a good thing. We hopped over punching bags, ran from side-to-side, did sit-ups on an incline while punching at the top of the move, held a medicine ball and swung it down over each leg, jumped rope, and lifted heavy bags as you would a tractor tire. Each station was performed for one minute with a 30 second break in-between them. This went on for at least 45 minutes. Kata was next. Then we all took turns being attacked by the rest of class one at a time. At one point Sensei came up behind me and grabbed me, completely taking me by surprise. I fared just fine. It's amazing how much faster your body reacts when it's wiped out.