SW Portland Martial Arts Blog

That’s right. Our online kids class has a slogan. Two actually, but I’m only going to talk about one today. ABT. Always Be Training. The idea isn’t that you’re constantly doing exercise – the idea is that no matter what you’re doing, do it with the same thoughtful attitude that you train with. In that spirit, today’s kid’s class features wrestling with stuffed penguins, playing soccer with toy cars, and kicking a balloon.

For striking class, Dug went backfist crazy. Also sidekick crazy. Which, when you put them together, is an immeasurable craziness of cool combos.

CrossFit class seems to be full of Tabata goodness these days. Is it possible to overdo Tabata? Probably, but I liked this one. 6 rounds of 4 movements, mashup style.

Thursday’s mean baby sign class! Want to learn about Easter/Passover signs? Look no further.

Looking to keep your kata fresh, crisp, and delicious? Do it every day. Also, add variety by checking out my weekday tips on forms. Today we try putting in falls during the form, in an attempt to stay mentally engaged.

Didn’t get enough of me choking out stuffies in the kid’s video? Well in this at home grappling video, I choke out a tiny stuffed doll. It’s amazing and you should totally follow along.

What’s in a good combo? Quality ingredients. The skill combo in CrossFit today was Turkish get ups, back rolls, and airplane balances. There’s lots more in there too, don’t worry.

Dug’s striking class had 4 combos. They may all look similar, but that, my friends, is by design! When you’ve got lots of combos that are hard for your sparring partner to tell apart… they’re that much easier to trick. Also, he titled his video “Muggle dueling”, which is amazing.

For kid’s class, we’ve got the simplest but most fun kind of combos – DOUBLES. Punch once? Why not throw the same punch twice. Kick once? Why bother when you can throw the same kick twice.

For kata work, I copied the kids class. Double every move. That’s right – it’s simple, but not easy. Do the form normally, then do the form again but repeat each move twice. Fun, fun!

And finally for the at home grappling work, I show the partnerless scissor sweep and then combine it with… shadow grappling. It’s like shadow boxing, where you punch at an imaginary opponent but in shadow grappling… you wrestle with them.