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.
Last week, the ground was covered in slushy ice. Nobody showed to the new Tuesday night beginner class.
This week was a different story. So great to see some new faces in the gym, being led carefully through the core movements of CrossFit. Excellent team coaching by Geoff and Clay!
Cost is $80 for eight-week section, and $90 for the 9-week section.
Register online at www.westsideakf.com/events/
You don’t want your sparring partner knowing that you’re going to attack, do you? Probably not. In which case, one method you can use to disguise your attacks is to try and make them move weapon first.
Weapon first means: if you are punching, move the fist first. If you are kicking, move the foot first. Sounds simple enough. It is simple. It isn’t easy but it is simple. One of the best ways to achieve this weapon first idea is to have a partner watch you strike. Standing across from you, they simply name the piece of your body that they see move first when you attack. If they say “hand” when you punch, you got it! If they say “head” or “hip” or anything except “hand” then something else moved first and that means you are giving your sparring partner information that they can use to spot your attack early.
Another name for weapon first is independent motion. The ultimate test of any fighting principle is, of course, does it do anything when you work against an actively resisting opponent?
Why power clean? Isn’t getting under the bar the correct way to clean? Shouldn’t you squat under the bar always?
I have come to see the power clean (and power snatch) as invaluable teaching tools for both myself and other students because they are less complex. Because they are simpler movements they are easier to learn and execute. This doesn’t necessarily mean you should perfect the power movements and then move on to the full movements. I’m sure people do that. That’s fine. For me, it simply means you can try to change something in the power movement and have an easier time. Once you get that to manifest in the simpler movement, you can try and transfer it to the more complex movement.
Don’t diss on the power clean. Instead, use it as a way to work on your clean.
Faking. It’s a simple enough concept. Pretend to do one thing and then do another instead. In sparring, you are best served faking with a technique that you have already landed on your partner. This is because when they see the fake (insert name of previously successful technique here) their brain will yell “defend! That hit us before so do something about it”.
With that in mind, tonight we focused on recognizing our most successful techniques in sparring and trying to use those technique as fakes in order to see what other options opened up.
6309 SW Capitol Highway, Portland OR, 97239
503 432 7450
info@southwestportlandmartialarts.com