SW Portland Martial Arts teaches Mo Duk Pai (a style that emphasizes ethics, practicality and teaching) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (a grappling and throwing art).
CrossFit Hillsdale teaches functional fitness with an emphasis on gradual progress and real world results.
Our mission is to provide students with quality instruction, love of learning, and open appreciation for all movement arts.
I am digging Joe’s Weightlifting class! I’ve been to seminars before but the once a week for 8 weeks format is helping me out so much more. I just don’t think I can absorb as much information in one 8 hour session as I can in 8 one hour sessions.
I think we should do a powerlifting series next! And for the martial arts side, a boxing series! And a Judo series!
We had a blast over at Robert Gray Middle School on Thursday, showing our stuff. Thanks to all the students who participated, the parents who helped bring their kids and to Rich for the photos!
Should you do the opens? The short answer is: probably. The more nuanced answer lies below, formatted as a series of questions.
Do you just want a workout or are you interested in learning how to move better? If you just want a workout, don’t do the open. If you want to move better, do the open. Competing in the open will inspire you to shore up your skill weaknesses. If you don’t have a double under, you will score frustratingly low in the opens every year. That tangible feedback of scoring low will (hopefully) inspire you to pick up a jump rope and practice.
Are you interested in knowing what you are capable of or are you just staving off decline? If you are curious about your capacity, do the opens. The open will give you a very accurate measure of where you stand in a field of thousands of people. You can see where you stack up in your age bracket, across a variety of workouts (and if you do multiple years) if you have improved or declined. If you are just after maintenance, don’t do the opens.
Do you want your training to be engaging mentally or do you want to just do the work and go home? If you want to just do the work and go home, don’t do the opens. If you want to be engaged and interested in your training, do the opens. The strategy, the competition and the intensity will keep you up some nights wondering how you will do. Sometimes you will feel awesome about your performance. Sometimes you’ll be bewildered by your failure. You will not be bored.
Have you been doing CrossFit for at least a year? If so, you should do the opens. If not, probably wait until next time.
To summarize, if you want to move better, want to understand your capacity better, want your training to be engaging and have trained for at least a year, you should do the opens. Spend $20 in 2017, sign up and commit to do all 5 workouts. I learn a ton each year I compete. If you haven’t heard me blab about the lessons I learned this year, ask me – I’m more than happy to share.
What a versatile and relatively simple strike the hammerfist is. You can hit from almost any angle. You can hit hard with a reasonably low chance of injury. You can make a really loud noise on the focus pads…
The strike, like all strikes, can still be improved with a bit of practice. The video above shows the students hitting the pads, hitting each other and then finally doing some full reps with an emphasis on finishing their partner with hammerfists.
One thing that did crop up for people is the risk of tweaking your wrist upon impact. This problem is best solved by spending some time with the heavy bag, slowly ramping up the contact level and making sure to clench your fist at the moment of impact.
Leglocks have a scary reputation among some martial artists but, like everything else, they are simply another tool to be examined, practiced and used. It is true that they can be dangerous but so too can a good hook or a good throw (or a sloppy angry partner).
As with most tools, making leg locks safe involves practicing good technique (learning some slow basics against a cooperating partner), slowly building up to live rolling, and practicing safety (tap early).
The video above shows a basic calf cutter/ankle lock set up. Practice it. Take some of the fear out of leg locks and turn them into just another (fun) tool in your martial toolbox.
6309 SW Capitol Highway, Portland OR, 97239
503 432 7450
info@southwestportlandmartialarts.com