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S&S+, Judo, Kendo, Historical & Modern Fencing, Walking.

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Once my shoulder heals up nice I'm going to set out a daily routine with the other SFG1 moves to complement my S&S: the clean & press and snatch. Maybe the overhead press doesn't create the showy muscles that a bench press or hard core pushups do, but it's a terribly effective and important pressing exercise all the same and a wee bit more "real world" practical(?) perhaps than forward pushing. A craftsman should not biasedly leave out any tools he needs for his work, and I can't see any reason to leave out the rest of the SF system any longer now that I'll say that I am "good at S&S" at the 40kg weight. Pavel Macek pointed out to me recently the importance of using weights rather than overly relying on bodyweight exercises, and his wisdom on this point is very crucial I think to my future/continued successes in judo and similar. I am definitely going to be pursuing Al Kavadlo's "Get Strong" challenge, and I'm looking forward to having to train with only his moves when I go camping out in the Canadian wilderness this summer without my kettlebell collection - I'll get to do the moves in a similar setting to what he has in his pictures! His stuff is done only every third(!) day, so this leaves lots of space for kettlebelling!!! I'm still very tempted to go for a barbell, but thinking it over thoroughly, I'd only use it for clean, press and squat, and frankly speaking I can do all that stuff with either one or two 32kg kettlebells, which I already own. Gee I like SF and kettlebells!!!
 
When I first started lifting weights it was sometimes hard to get motivated to do the workouts. Now that I'm experienced it's hard to stop working out! I have to lay off the weight training for a while due to a sore and compromised-mobility right shoulder.

Anyhow, something I've learned is that lifting weights really is not "hard" to do. Once you've discovered what it feels like to put the effort into it and how much rest you need before you go for the next set, it's lots of fun. Not "hard" to do at all!

My shoulder is constantly improving, and I've had a similar bad soreness there a few times in the past, so I'm confident it'll heal up FAST.
 
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Kendo footwork is difficult to train at home. Also, it's unbalanced, since the right foot always stays in front, which can get unhealthy for the body if overdone. I think for kendo when it comes to footwork training at home, things like running, skipping and jumping are most important; the traditional exercises all athletes do. For training with the foil (shinai), which is the other big problem in kendo besides footwork, using a much heavier foil than you use in club training is key, and is part of traditional kendo solo training. You can sit on the ground for this even, if there is no space overhead in your house. Even the Romans trained their soldiers with foils that were twice as heavy as real swords. About the only purpose I see in training at home with the actual kendo foil is for accuracy, which is hard to do by oneself without a target to hit. Training for dynamic strength with a much heavier foil (or staff) makes more sense to me. This resembles some of the mace/club exercises I've seen posted on these forums and on Youtube.
 
Yes, I definitely want to program in the full SFG programme of 6 movements into my daily training. The core will remain the S&S workout, but Clean, Press and Snatch will all start to happen too. I'm so excited about this but also so upset that my sore shoulder is keeping me away from my beloved training! Argh! I can feel it improving rapidly, but I'm so impatient! I'm sure it will heal up much stronger than it was.
 
Can't wait for my right shoulder to get back to normal - won't be much longer. It's already almost back to normal. I did some swings and presses today with the 24 and 32 with my left hand and swings with my right hand.
 
I'm looking forward to my 25lbs steel mace showing up in a few days! I'll get a lot of use out of it!
 
Fighting arts are HARD! Kendo is so difficult! You have to be precise, fast, powerful, and timely! Yikes! Not only this but you have to hit before being hit, and to trick your opponent into opening up for you. Kendo is terribly difficult which is why I have to keep pushing myself!
 
I'm still waiting on my right shoulder to fully heal so I can get back into S&S. The three to four days a week of 2 or more hours of martial arts practice is definitely keeping me in fantastic condition though! I'm going to test for "brown belt" in kendo in november and "black belt" in the spring or summer next year. I'm already a black belt in judo so I'll be testing for my BJJ blue belt 9 months later. BJJ emphasizes playing from a weaker position a bit more than judo does and there are certainly aspects of this that I have to improve on in order to pass the test, even though it's mostly the same sport.
 
I'm still waiting on my right shoulder to fully heal so I can get back into S&S. The three to four days a week of 2 or more hours of martial arts practice is definitely keeping me in fantastic condition though! I'm going to test for "brown belt" in kendo in november and "black belt" in the spring or summer next year. I'm already a black belt in judo so I'll be testing for my BJJ blue belt 9 months later. BJJ emphasizes playing from a weaker position a bit more than judo does and there are certainly aspects of this that I have to improve on in order to pass the test, even though it's mostly the same sport.
Awesome! Sounds like you have some really exciting goals! - looking forward to your progress reports
 
Awesome! Sounds like you have some really exciting goals! - looking forward to your progress reports
I kind of never realized this before but after about 6 weeks of 3-4 times a week heavy martial arts sessions, I don't think it's easy with solo training to achieve the kind of fitness levels possible doing real interactive sports. The interactive social atmosphere keeps you focussed on the sport and makes you react in ways that keep you out of your comfort zone. This ups the ante and gives you an amazing workout.
 
I've still been training hard at judo and BJJ and kendo, but I'm going to need my S&S strength back if I want to really be competitive. I restarted the goblet squats and swings yesterday, and this portion of S&S alone has made me feel a lot more comfortable and mobile. I replaced the getups, which I can't do right now because of my torn shoulder, with some pushups, legs raised pushups, and archer pushups, according to Al Kavadlo's methods.
 
I actually did S&S again last night in spite of my torn right shoulder. I did the swings with the 32 which is no problem, but I actually did the getups, with the 24. I was quite surprised I could do them!
 
I actually did S&S again last night in spite of my torn right shoulder. I did the swings with the 32 which is no problem, but I actually did the getups, with the 24. I was quite surprised I could do them!
And your shoulder felt OK??
 
I was able to press and also to do the TGU with 16kg bell using my right arm today, so the end of my soreness is in sight. I have lost so much strength these past months not doing S&S it is ridiculous. BJJ can be done with little strength, but judo needs strength, and BJJ with strength is of course better BJJ. I expect my judo partners to be shocked when I get my strength back. I'll start maybe today back with S&S doing the TGUs with a reduced weight.
 
My new routine of:
1X5 bodyweight squats (mini warmup)
10X10 2h 40kg kettlebell swings
2X10 1h 32kg kettlebell swings

Is making my judo 100 times better!

It takes half the time of S&S, so it's fast and easy in a way, explosive, and develops the muscles that actually don't get developed in judo - they get USED (and strained if weak) in judo but not developed. The pushing muscles of the kind the TGU develops are part and parcel of judo training - squats in all kinds of ways, plank positions, crawling, leaning, pushing.

I think the heavier, harder, more equally balanced 2h swings are better. Judo already has so much single side loading that it's nice to work the body symmetrically to counterbalance this and to learn to move the body all together for double the power in moves!
 
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