Due to the pandemic many gyms are closed. How do you practice your martial art/contact sport while at home? Do you train with a partner? Also what are your options, if you need to be isolated completely alone. If you are not actually training in the art/sport, then what conditioning exercises will you do that develop you as a martial artist?
I know the training varies, it depends what martial art you are practicing, but I am interested in all the different experiences. For example, training in striking arts is quite easily imaginable, but what about grappling? Also looking for new interesting training ideas.
Gyms are open here so I could act like nothing is going on and train “as usual” if I wanted. However, I am not. Tried to do a small training pod of like minded folks, but access to mat space and logistics put that out of reach. Some of this planned pod have been vaccinated already and have secured mat space access, but I am not partaking as someone in my wife’s family is ailing and we may need to go for a short notice visit at any time.
Mostly at this point, I’m just trying to eat better and maintain general physical fitness. I have a small squat rack, plates, and a bar so I’m pretty well equipped for working out at home.
I have an unfair advantage of having a gym. Nothing says that I can’t go into my own gym and workout if I’m by myself. Additionally my daughter trains and since we’re in the same household I’m able to have a regular training partner. Our fight team trains exclusively with each other under the a mutual isolation agreement.
Most of my home training has been zoom Karate classes, using my brother’s garage to train Olympic lifting, practicing some of the Kalaripayattu kicking drills I got in India (more for the flexibility than anything) and going through the DVD’s, VCD’s, books and online courses I got free/cheap/on bid.
I’ve narrowed down the keepers, the ‘make notes from and leave’ and the ‘not so great but I got a flavour for something I didn’t know about’ sets of things.
The Panther Productions Judo set I got for 30 which was all of keith schwartz judo dvd’s in one set has been fantastic the Goju Ryu set I got for similar of Higaonna has been invaluable and the Vale Tudo set was good too for some ground work. I liked Buck Sam Kong’s Hung Gar videos on youtube ripped from the DVD’s (and it did make me wonder how a kung fu enthusiast I know could reasonably claim Karate and Southern Hung Gar are polar opposites when the basics of the style, the core, is so damn similar).
Didn’t reckon too much to a lot of the kung fu short courses I got reccomended free (but free is free) and I did find some cool sparring and application sets on Lama Pai, Shuai Jiao drills and some Doce Pares Escrima basics that were all free sample sets or cheap online.
At this point I think I’ve seen enough from a lot of styles I’ve been curious to know more about that I’m pretty satisfied overall with what I’ve learned about. There’s now so much overlap that I see it martial arts now as borderline same ingredients and slight change in seasoning and how you serve it. There’s a few conditioning drills I’m stealing here and there and a few movements and how they are taught I’m going to bare in mind as well.
Most of my training has been conditioning, strength work and fundamentals, so I can at least get back to sparring and not suck too hard when I return. I know a lot of my class mates just do zoom classes and have no access to gyms or equipment, so I should at least not go back with expectations of being crushed AND out of shape.
