Sunday, November 30, 2008

Dragonball Workout- Run, Climb, Swim

RUN, CLIMB, SWIM (AKA: Travel the World with Goku)
(Progress as workout becomes easier to complete)

LEVEL ONE
Run 1 Mile
Climb 1 lap on 50ft Rock Wall or 3 laps on 12ft rope
Swim 8 laps (¼ mile)

LEVEL TWO
Run 2 Miles
Climb 2 laps on 50ft Rock Wall or 6 laps on 12ft rope
Swim 16 laps (½ mile)

LEVEL THREE
Run 3.5 Miles
Climb 3 laps on 50ft Rock Wall or 9 laps on 12ft rope
Swim 24 laps (¾ mile)

MASTER LEVEL
Run 5 Miles
Climb 5 laps on 50ft Rock Wall or 15 laps on 12ft rope
Swim 32 laps (1 mile)


Notes:
  • This is rough, guys. If you are going to do this regularly, maybe only do it once a week. This is a serious endurance workout and is not for the feint of heart. You should time yourself over the course of the workout to see if you are improving.
  • You can run outside or on a treadmill. You can swim in a pool or a lake (although it's harder to tell how far you've gone in a lake).
  • 12ft climbing rope means that there is 12ft of climbing room available. This may mean that your rope is actually 16ft long and your starting position is marked 4ft up with a piece of colored tape or that it's only 12 ft long and hanging at chest or neck height, forcing you to start your climb from a hang.

GRAPPLER BAKI- PART II

WHEN WE LAST LEFT BAKI

After his run in with the gang of street thugs, Baki is a little down on himself, but there's nothing a little training won't fix, right?  Baki has the luxury of being the son of an extremly wealthy woman, who has, at the behest of Baki's father, supplied him with a myriad of trainers and a state-of-the-art training facility (why can't we all be this lucky?).
These guys are one of the main reasons Baki has achieved his current level.  He's got expert advice from sports scientists and professional trainers... there's just one problem.  Baki is convinced that this training, while difficult, has made him soft.  He's been pampered with his treadmills and glorious inside training accommodations and it's just now hit him:  If he continues training like this, there's no way he'll become as strong as his dad.     So, Baki does what any sensible 13-year old would do-- he throws a temper tantrum.  However, in the wake of his outburst, he leaves the entire gym in shambles and declares that he's going to do things his way from now on.
It seems Baki forgot to think of a next step, for, when we find him next, he's laying on a park bench wondering what he's going to do to get stronger.  Lo, and behold, a mysterious figure runs by, throwing punches, and immediately catches Baki's attention.  

Yuri Chakovski, Middleweight Boxing Champ vs. Thailand's Muay Thai Champ

Baki ends up going to the gym where the current world middleweight boxing champion is training.  He is treated to quite the spectacle, as Yuri has set up a sparring match with a Muay Thai champion.  It's obvious that the Muay Thai fighter should have the advantage, with increased range, due to kicks and multiplied number of weapons, but that doesn't exactly play out during the match, as Yuri dismantles his kicking counterpart with a combination of both technical boxing and knockout power.   This, of course, riles Baki up, and he attempts to get Yuri's attention by pounding away at the heavy bag.

Yuri Chakovski, Middleweight Boxing Champ vs. Hanma Baki

Yuri decides he wants to spar with Baki, given that he's at a loss for decent sparring partners, and they throw him a pair of gloves.  A furious fight ensues, with Baki leaping from one side of the ring to the other and periodically latching onto Yuri, pummeling him in the face.  Yuri, however, waits for an opportune moment, drawing on a past experience, and proceeds to knock Baki the hell out.

The Moral of Today's Story

There are a few things we can take from this portion of Grappler Baki.  First of all, only abandon high-level fitness and martial arts trainers if they cease to show you any benefit.  If they can't help you achieve greater heights with their methods or teachings, either find someone else or, if you are well-educated, make your own way.  Other than that, try to stick with the professionals... there's a reason it's their job.
Secondly, we can take something very important from Yuri's sparring match.  Yuri is a boxer, meaning his style is limited to using just his two fists as weapons and only attacking the front portion of his opponent's upper body.  In order to push his style to a higher level, he is putting himself purposefully against opponents who have a greater number of weapons at their disposal and targets at which to aim.  In doing so, he's able to push his boxing skill to a much higher level than before, because he will have to be quicker, stronger, more accurate, and generally much tougher than his opponent in order to be victorious.  
In that spirit, sometimes when you are training, limit yourself strictly to punching, strictly to kicking, or grappling, or just dodging even!  In doing so, you will be able to work a skill that you may sometimes neglect or even further perfect a skill in which you thought was already pretty good.  Here's the kicker-- your sparring partner doesn't have that limitation.  (Insert Evil Laugh here)
Finally, we can take something from Baki's sparring match with Yuri:  Continuing to do the same thing over and over again in a fight, especially against a skilled and/or experienced opponent, will get you in serious trouble.  That means repeating a technique, a combination, a series of combinations, or even keeping your rhythm the same could be potentially dangerous in combat.  The less predictable you are, the better off you will be.  Also, don't get knocked out-- it sucks.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

New Posts

I've just got the internet back and will be working on a few things to put up here. First of all, I'll keep working on the Grappler Baki manual and I'm going to try to interview some martial artists.

After Grappler Baki, I think I'm going to work on Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi.

Until then.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Technical Difficulties

So, it looks like, due to circumstances beyond my control, that I do not have regular access to the internet and will not until sometime in May. Don't expect much till then.

Not that you guys expect much out of my lazy butt anyway! :D

Thursday, January 31, 2008

"Roshi's Training" Workout

This should be fun! Just don't die.

ROSHI’S TRAINING

(Note: Do NOT attempt the next level without first completing the previous level in its entirety three times. If you fail on a set, continue your workout, but do not count the workout as going towards the three needed successes.)
LEVEL ONE
Front Carry w/50 lbs 5x25 yards
Sledgehammer Swings- 25 each side
Wheelbarrow Push w/100 lbs 5x25 yards
Overhead Carry w/50 lbs 5x25 yards
Farmer’s Walk 50 lbs/hand 5x25 yards
Sprints 2x50 yards
Swim 1/4 Mile

LEVEL TWO
Front Carry w/100 lbs 5x25 yards
Sledgehammer Swings- 50 each side
Wheelbarrow Push w/200 lbs 5x25 yards
Overhead Carry w/100 lbs 5x25 yards
Farmer’s Walk 100 lbs/hand 5x25 yards
Sprints 4x50 yards
Swim 1/4 Mile

LEVEL THREE
Front Carry w/150 lbs 5x50 yards
Sledgehammer Swings- 100 each side
Wheelbarrow Push w/250 lbs 5x50 yards
Overhead Carry w/100 lbs 5x50 yards
Farmer’s Walk 100 lbs/hand 5x50 yards
Sprints 6x50 yards
Swim 1/4 Mile

MASTER LEVEL
Front Carry w/200 lbs 5x50 yards
Sledgehammer Swings- 200 each side
Wheelbarrow Push w/250 lbs 5x100 yds
Overhead Carry w/100 lbs 5x100 yards
Farmer’s Walk 150 lbs/hand 5x50 yards
Sprints 8x50 yards
Swim 1/4 Mile

A note on the exercises:
  • The poundages listed are not set in stone. It would probably be best if you could find some big rock to carry for each of these, seeing as how rocks are awkward and training with them will make you really strong. If you can't get big rocks, a flat on which sodas are delivered on with some weights piled on it will do nicely.
  • For the Front Carry: The weight or rock can be carried arms extended downward, with just your fingers holding on or by hugging the implement or tucking it into the crux of your elbows.
  • When swinging the sledgehammer, always swing at something. This can be a tire or a big piece of wood.
  • The Wheelbarrow Push can be done uphill or on flat ground.
  • Be very careful when lifting heavy weights overhead. If you think you are going to drop it mid-stride, let it fall behind you and keep moving forward quickly.
  • For the Farmer's Walk, 5 Gallon buckets or dumbbell may be used. Also, strongman style farmer's walk apparatus is acceptable and probably better for the heavier weights.
  • Rest for as long as you need to in between sets and exercises, but ideally you should be working up to having just 1 Minute of rest in between sets.
  • For the swim, make sure to go as hard as you can, although you'll probably be pretty tired from the rest of the workout.
Good luck and train hard!

Friday, January 25, 2008

Multi-tasking

I am currently attempting to work on both the Grappler Baki Training Manual and some workout plans based on it and the Dragonball series. These workouts will be specific to characters or sagas, and will, in general, have some sort of theme attached to them. I'll try to get one up as soon as possible. I hope they will help in organizing your training.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Grappler Baki- Part I

GRAPPLER BAKI TRAINING MANUAL

Grappler Baki is quite possibly the most brutal martial arts anime ever and that is awesome. The story follows Hanma Baki, son of Hanma Yujiro (the Most Powerful Creature in the World), as he quests to become even more powerful than his father. Along the way, he encounters some of the most skilled martial arts practitioners this world has to offer and pushes himself to every extreme imaginable to become stronger. There is a treasure trove of training ideas within Grappler Baki and a vast measure of combat arts to analyze. So, let’s begin.

BAKI DEMONSTRATES CROWD CONTROL

The first few moments of the Grappler Baki anime feature 100 thugs waiting for someone to show up so they can kick the crap out of him. (Seems a little unfair, no?) A few minutes later, they get their wish.

“I Only See Four”

Baki wastes no time in dispatching as many thugs as he can. He doesn’t worry about beating one guy into a pulp (although the first guy he gets to is pretty well thrashed), but splits his attention in four directions: Front, back, and to his sides. Using this tactic, Baki shows that, due to the nature of crowd combat, the most people that will be able to fight against him at close range will be four. He continues to move throughout the entire fight, never staying in one place too long, never focusing on one opponent longer than just one or two shots. Eventually, Baki’s back is against a fence, limiting both his movement and the space his opponent’s have to attack him. However, being a really, really good fighter only takes you so far against 100 men. Another aspect of crowd combat is that a single combatant has to constantly divide his attention among a variety of opponents whose sole purpose is to beat him senseless. Eventually, the thugs get the better of our 13-year old fighter and pound him into the concrete until the police interrupt. So, what can we take away from this?

1. If you can avoid it, don’t fight a group alone.
2. If you must fight a group alone, keep moving and deal with enemies as they get to you.
3. Try to drop or disable your opponents in as few moves as possible: Break knees, poke eyes, go for the throat, groin, whatever!
4. At your earliest convenience, RUN LIKE HELL!

Now here’s the other question. How can we train for a scenario like this? Here’s some methods I like:

1. Multiple opponent technique drilling: At first, it may be best to do pre-arranged drills with two or three attackers in order to just generally work on reaction time. What this means is that you know beforehand what your training partners are throwing. Jack’s throwing a roundhouse kick, John’s throwing a punch, and Andy’s going for a Double Leg Takedown. How we make it a little more difficult is you don’t know which order they’ll be doing these things in. Andy might go for the Double Leg first, then John punches, and Jack kicks. Also, it would help for your reaction that any strikes thrown have no pre-determined target. They may be aimed at the head, legs, mid-section or whatever. You know what the attacks are and who is doing them, but you don’t know when they’ll be thrown or where they’re aimed at. So, even though they are pre-arranged, there’s an element of surprise to it. Not to mention, your attackers should really be trying to hit you. You can either dodge the attacks, block, block and counter, or intercept. It’s up to you. Eventually, you stop predetermining which person throws which technique (although you know which techniques are going to be used). Even further beyond that, you stop predetermining the techniques at all, but still just have the attackers throw one attack. Lastly, you can add extra opponents. In terms of numbers, I’d say start with just two opponents. This is what I would call the first stage of multiple opponent training.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED: Gloves and Mouthpiece, at least, for all participants.

2. Multiple opponent sparring: This is the second stage of multiple opponent training and it is much, much tougher, especially if you’re training with guys who are anywhere near your skill level or above. Be very careful, because this can get out of hand faster than you can blink. At first, some people might want to try light or no contact just to help build some reflexes and then work their way up to harder and harder sparring. The key here is to start with two opponents. You’ll notice that the dynamics of fighting two instead of one are much different. The attackers can attack one after another or both at the same time. They can both come from the same direction or from different directions. Take a lesson from Baki and don’t stay in one place or on one opponent for too long. You might flick a jab out to one opponent with your left hand and follow up with a backfist at the other with your right hand immediately after. Most fighters have a dominant side that they fight on, but you’ll quickly discover that this leaves you at a horrible disadvantage is multi-opponent combat. The ability to switch in the swing of things will be very helpful in defending against your opponents’ attacks. Ease into this. For the love of God, ease into it.
At some point you may want to add one or two more opponents, in order to better understand crowd combat, but rest assured, if you are training with skilled people, especially the ones you always train group combat with, this will probably never get easy, but it might just become manageable. And let’s face it: it’s the only way you’ll ever be able to prepare for group combat short picking a fight with a gang or street thugs (which, if you do, you will probably die). Be safe, and enjoy!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Ok, so I'm a slacker.

Yeah, I know I haven't been posting. I'm a slacker. I wasn't sure if anyone was actually reading, so I wasn't really all that jazzed about putting the time in with school and training and home life to actually make workouts and things. However, now that I see that at least one person has an interest in the blog, I'll be happy to be regular with it again. Heck, I'll even start back with that person's request: Grappler Baki.

Here's what I'm planning:
1. Workouts based on several of the main characters training (or implied training).
2. An analysis of the styles and techniques presented in Grappler Baki and their real-world applications.

Let's see how often we can get something up here, shall we?

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