SW Portland Martial Arts Blog

What do you do after you kick? Punch! What do you do after you punch? Kick! It’s never ending. I mean, not really, but it is fun to think about all the ways that you can connect your punches and kicks. Check out the striking video with Dug… I mean, it’s a striking video, about striking…

What do you after you kick? Punch. In kid’s class, we keep it simple today. Kick, then punch. Why? Because, those sparring partners are out to get you! Make it harder for them by throwing a punch in their way.

Special guest? Special guest! The 9 year old ventured up to the gym and helped me film CrossFit class today. She even did the workout with me. Wow.

Thinking about kata? Well think and look and think and look some more with this video on Mo Yut Do. (It’s about thinking about where you should look during the form. Whew, that’s a lot of thinking about looking.)

Today’s CrossFit skill work featured the headstand. On a whim, I switched between two different versions of the headstand today – one on the hands and one on the forearms. Why? Because skill work is playtime. If you’re not giving into whim at least a little bit, you’re probably taking your workouts too seriously.

In today’s striking class, Dug works jabs after kicks… because if you kick and just hang out… the bad guy is gonna get you! No seriously, punch after you kick. Or move. But don’t just hang out after you kick.

For Kid’s class, we worked on constantly moving our feet. Moving feet are happy feet. Also, it’s harder to hit a moving target than a stationary one. We also played a game where Lara threw puppets at us again. Very cool.

And for kata work, I’m still plugging away on Mo Yut Do. Today I poked at footwork a bit.

Turns out I’ve made like 800 YouTube videos over the last decade. Wow. But, I’ve never made a playlist. So here’s a playlist of 5 videos about Mo Yut Do. If you’re into learning forms, it is a very short form and none of the moves are particularly complex. Even so, you can spend a lifetime squeezing interesting things out of it.

For kid’s class today, we worked wrist grab counters and a single leg takedown. Fun, fun, and more fun!

For CrossFit class, the skill work was Turkish get ups, pirouettes, and forward rolls. I hope everyone else is enjoying the skill work as much as I am.

And… check this out, our friend Mike from the Northeast school has started doing a livestream class for kids! Super awesome. Now your kids can do MORE MARTIAL ARTS!