SW Portland Martial Arts Blog

Will be going upside down everyday in CrossFit? Yeah. Probably. By the end of this pandemic, we are all going to be acrobats.

Are you spending a whole week on one form? Yes. Mo Yut Do. It’s the form we show to the 3-5 year olds and one we give to the adults once they reach purple belt. Tells you something about what we think young children are capable of, right? Anyway, here is part 2 of 5.

Wondering what that form is Lara is always doing at the end of kids class? It’s the one in the video above – so if your kid is struggling with following along, click on that there Mo Yut Do video. And if not, well then proceed to a video full of jumping kicks!

Did someone say jumping kicks? Yes! In the striking class, in the kids class, everywhere! It’s almost like the person doing the programming for these classes is keeping it simple and running the same techniques through all these videos…

Wait. Wasn’t O Soto Gari in the kids class? And now there’s a whole grappling video on the same throw so if you or your kid are struggling with it you can watch a detailed explanation? WHAT!? That’s amazing. Again, I feel like maybe there is one person in charge of the programming here…

Kid’s cartwheels! Also included, the uppercut and an amazingly fun game where Lara throws things at me.

Adult’s cartwheels! Also included, an incredibly exhausting workout.

This week for kata work, I’m going to spend all 5 days working on Mo Yut Do! Yay! Probably I’ll spend the first three days just going through the moves in some detail and then days 4 and 5 talking about breathing and tension. Join me!

Smash your grappling dummy… or pillow, if you don’t have a dummy. Yeah. Check out the “top control flow” of moving from mount to cross body to Kesa.

Do you have a striking technique that when you land it you’re like… YES! Well, the retreating uppercut is one of those for me. Enjoy.

Is there anyone out there who wants to volunteer to do all the video workouts we’re making and come up with a difficulty rating for them? Because that’d be awesome. I’ll buy you a bag of bagels if you do it (cream cheese not provided.)

For kid’s class today, we worked head movement. What is that? Well, for us it meant throwing tiny puppets at one another with our eyes closed… but usually it means keeping your head moving so you are less likely to get hit in sparring. I think our version is more fun.

Partners? We don’t need no partners! Okay, maybe we do but in the meantime, you should do the internal martial arts video.

So I’ve been doing a few minutes of kicks every morning when I wake up and unsurprisingly, it has led me down some amusing roads. Check out this striking video on some simple ideas to play with while you work your front kick.

Concluding this week of triangle fun, for the at home grappling, today my new friend Jimmy and I go over the arm triangle from side mount.

Want more ways to connect kata to your practice? Try going through the form and naming all the techniques you’re doing. Are they basics? Are they variations on a basic?

I hope y’all are enjoying the skills in the CrossFit videos. I’ve picked a few to work on during this Covid excitement that I’m a total beginner at. And, of course, the nice part about being a beginner is that you make a lot of progress. The rough part is you’re really lousy at it.

Are you missing sparring? I’m missing sparring. I’m sure anyone who was going to sparring class is missing sparring. Well, whatever, even if you aren’t missing sparring, watch Dug’s class and keep your kicks and punches from getting rusty.

What skill did we work in kid’s class? A new one or and old one? Both. In the same technique! We worked a Judo throw called Tomoe Nage (which we like to call the Captain Kirk throw because… well, just go watch an old Star Trek episode where Kirk throws some poor alien) which has a skill we’ve touched on several times in our online classes – the back roll – but it adds the crazy twist of throwing someone over your head as you do so.

For the grappling video, I choke my new dummy (literally) of a partner with an arm triangle. Join me. It’s triangle week here.

And the kata video? I update you on my creative form progress. Why am I making up a form? Why wouldn’t I?