well basically it sucks and you hit a brick wall with no way of jumping it!
i can not do alot of things due to all . example would be weather at the moment . is anyone else a lone trainer if so post and tell me how you do it !
I feel for you. I train alone all the time. I create different things to use to train with. Such as using friends to spar with and I make my own wooden dummies and punching bags. It's not good to train alone, if you do you never will get the real feel of fighting and defending yourself. So create different things and be creative. Use what resources are out there. Mostly real people is the best way to train. Get your friends or co martial arts buddies and spar spar spar... later dude and may the force be with you
harder said then done buddy
im 14 so cant make anything and the only equipment i have is a couple paddles and a punching bag ..
the weather lately is not good to hang up my bag and no one will hold the paddles with me
i have however been riding 10 km in the rain at a time lol
it is ok but i have to balance school with training its hard with heaps of homework!!!
I have the same problem too. I find it very difficult to find a training partner. I know that there was this brick wall in my back garden which i use to practice my side kicks on. I don't think i can recommend it though. Perhaps try joining a gym that has a punch bag
Okay the first problem I see in this whole post is you are making excuses why you can't do something. The first rule of thumb in anything you do in life is if you make excuses why you "can't" do something then you wont put your full effort into it. Granted live is not easy and nothing in life that is worth something is easy to grasp. If you want to train bad enough you'll figure things out on your own. Your not the only person who's ever had to train alone. Sometimes I enoy training alone it makes me for a stronger MA. At 14 here are things you can do to enhance training.
Weight train
Excersise Run,Bike, Ride (like you say you do)
join your schools wrestling team ( It's not JKD but its a good way to learn and you may meet someone in that group who you can train w/.)
get your cousin or a close relative.
Hell ask your dad (If you have one)
Get off your butt and figure it out.
"If you want something you've never had! You've got to do something you've never done!"
Where there's a will, there's a way.
People don't say that for no reason, ya know!
I recently had that same brick wall feeling, and in the end there are two ways to go:
'Half-assed' or 'half-a-mind-to-kick-my-own-ass!'
Motivation is sometimes hard to come by, and I personally reccommend some insperational reading,(look at self help books, read some Zen, get an interesing MA book or two, just like Bruce did).
If you can't afford that, go to a Library.
If you are a little bogged down, just work out more, structure your days a little more, and try to ride the wave of self-motivation.
There are ALWAYS oppertunities to improve yourself, no matter what anyone says, and sometimes, it's yourself who is hardest to convince.
If oppertunities do not arise, CREATE THEM, and when they do, SEIZE THEM, and then BATTER THE HELL OUT OF THEM with a waffle iron!!!
look i dont want to sound like i am the one willing to make the complaints but never offering any solutions !!
my dad is a shift worker and i hardly see him my step mom hates jkd and anything to do with it my sis works...
we have no real money at the moment due to a nasty devorce and cant buy anythng!..
i ride alot like everyday when i can but it is begginning to bore me hey and i just need like i dunno some drills i can do by myself yeah ..
Learn Footwork: Step n' Slide, Slide n' Step, Shuffle, Push Shuffle, Side Shuffle, pendelum shuffle.
Jab, cross, Hook, Uppercuts, finger jabs.
Shadow-box,
work speed drills: Hang paper on string/clothesline etc.. work on hitting the paper as fast as you can w/out tearing it.
Get a shell or empty "military duffle bag" fill it w/ clothes, sheets, anything soft and use it for a punching bag.
Use a large pillow case full of soft items hang it and use if for a punching bag...
USE YOUR HEAD! Its all right there. Your going to have to break down and find books etc.. If your wanting JKD break out and spend a few bucks and look at getting
TAO OF JKD
Bruce Lee's Collection of Fighting, Advance fighting,etc... theres like 5 of them.
There was a time when I found myself training alone quite a bit. Instead of getting mad and frustrated with myself and others, I decided to focus on the things that I COULD do myself. Shadowboxing, footwork, running, biking, speed drills etc... People will eventually notice that you're busting your a$$ doing something that you really believe in, they'll eventually ask questions and possibly start training with you! Just don't give up hope, money is tight for everyone nowadays, but there are things you can do that are TOTALLY free believe it or not. Just remember that when you hit a plateau or wall, you shouldn't stay there as Sijo Lee says.
The old phrase I spoke of earlier in my first post:
" If you want something you never had, you have to do something you've never done!" Means more than just working out. Look at it like this: If you want to study and learn JKD and don't have the money for resources. This means you may want to find a job to get some money to purchase training aids, videos, teacher, books etc... Mow a few yards, pick up and collect cans, bail hay, deliver papers something..
It amazes me the kids of today are afraid of work and want everything handed to them. When I was a kid if we wanted something we had to work for it. Not every one is born w/ a silver spoon in our mouths. Im 33yrs old and I still have to work for what I want. I have to miss seminars, I have to read a book to figure things out occassionally hell, I couldn't afford to break down and spend $120 for these padded sticks I want, so I figured a cheaper way and made my own and they work just as good. they hurt a little bit but hey it works.
My friend nothing worth anything in life comes easy or free. If it does it wont mean much to you. The old saying " easy come, easy go" means alot and it stands for alot. JKD instructors are far and few inbetween and GOOD JKD instructors that actually know what they are doing is even further and harder to find. For every 4 so claimed JKD teachers their may be 1 of them that has a clue most of them probably learnt from a book themselves. But they did at least take the initiative to go after what they wanted although it may not be the best, they made the best out of a bad situation. Many of these teachers charge an arm and a leg for studies and arent' worth an hours wages. They will lead you in the wrong direction and go to their death beds that they are giving you the holy grail.
Take it from me, go and find a good boxing studio or BJJ club, or MMA studio. They are more prevelnt and are easier to find and most of them have legit backgrounds w/ more so training.
as I said before i am not one to just put a complaint out with out even thinking of a solution so if any of those optins were open to me i would be jumping at them yeah!
i am 14 and in my town you cant get any job till you 15 and 9 months !!! i have tried for the paper delivery and stuff but it is already taken their are not alot of options in my small town yeah!!!!
so its not like i am sitting on my a$$ doing nothing about the problem and i am affraid that i feel thats what you are implying!!!!
LOL. You know Dani, Tac has just given you some fantastic advise.
Do not look at it like an attack on your will to do something. It is not. Let me put it another way, what things do you do in order to improve your training? What have you created to develop yourself?
People here can give you advice and suggestions, but you have to go out there and do it.
Have you gone round to your neighbours and offered to do chores for a couple of bucks? You do not need an official job and salary. Hell the girl next door (who is nine) set up a stand in front of her house and sold lemonade for 10pence (thats English money). You say you have tried to get a job, have you tried to make money?
You say you have hit a brick wall, well you better learn to climb cause otherwise you will always be in front of that brick wall.
it does not cost money to do press ups, sit ups, leg raises, crunches, squats, jumping squats, run, cycle, chin ups, ankle raises, shadow boxing, shadow kicks, skipping, stretching, finger press ups, shadow knees, elbows, palms, footwork training etc, shadow combo training etc. Work all your techniques at different angles. Do it untill you drop.
Yes there is always more you can do, but untill you can do all these things at a high level then there is no excuse for you to say you aint got nothing to do. Evryone goes through what you are going throungh. I got some good training partners but now I want more, where as before I had none. Why because I need more variety so that people can suprise me with something different, but then I got to go out there and find them.
In fact today I am going to a MMA event, where I shall be mingling with loads of martial artists, I will use this opportunity to network and hopefully get some more sparring partners.
Anyway hope that gives you something to think about. Just coming back and asking for more suggestions when people already done so, only suggests you have not listened. Which indicates you wanting something easy.
Dani, the only difference between a training partner, and an imaginary shadow boxer, is that the training partner gets tired, can't change style, is often away when u want to train, and doesn't hurt you when he punches you, try shadow boxing! you will realise your skill is bad when u shadow box, i thought i used to be good but i then realised i was really bad when i shadow boxed against bruce lee lol. (all in my head of course). u will see ur endurance needs more aswell.
relaxation is key.
Jowan
with shadow boxing i can not imagine you know i am not creative ..
its hard to do things that .. i dont know how to explain it it's just difficult!!!
with the going arouns to places i think my father would not agree withthat considering the people we get in our neibourhood!!!
but i dont know i could do like a garage sale or something!!
and with running and cycling
i dont heaps of riding (rain hail or shine) but with running i have problems with my feet and back ..
it hurts when i run!
i used to run though i dont do it anymore..
i stretch when i have nothing to do so a am quite flexible.
its just hard when i want to purchase things or find a partner and people in my town dont even know who bruce lee is!!!!
i try my best and sometimes i just want to scream with frustration!
i am new to jkd so when i want to practise footwork i dont know what to do and the only thing i can do in jkd confidently is the kicking as i used to do similar stuff in tkd!!
i dont even know the hand strikes for christ sake!! (hopeless)
so that just puts the iceing on the cake !!!!!!!
i a m not going to give up you know and i am taking all suggestions on board and working on it!
its just harder for me as i am only 14 and job wise is stupid and my dad has less money as my mother is a cow and wants (and gets) all of it
Well Dani its like this bro. Your giving yourself a limit and blocking yourself off. I can't feel sorry for you and I understand how these situations are. But making excuses for every cornerstone you turn is not the answer either. Being a good martial artist is tough and takes an extremely lot of training and time.
Heres a suggestion. Every town accross the globe has a boxing gym and most of them are "free" Tell your dad you want to learn self defense and instead of mentioning Bruce Leeroy go seek out boxing the footwork is much the same. Learn from a coach how to shadow box and how to move. They will spend the time w/ you if you spend the time going. WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY RIGHT?
Video Training is the 2nd option. Everyone has a library in their town. There is a thing called the "International Library Loan" this is where you can bring in different book, videos anyting from librarys across the Country and abroad. You can get boat loads of training videos this way. Just some FYI
The first thing you need to do is stop feeling sorry for your self that wonīt get you any where, training alone ainīt that bad but it can only take you up to a certain level I belive.
You said that sometimes you wanted to scream of frustration use it turn it into energy and train if you have a punching bag attack it with all your anger if you canīt do that then go outside run or cycle, atleast itwhat helps me, prevents me from attacking people and things because of my bad temper hehe
about that training partner you canīt find it while you seek it, heīll come along in time when you are ready, if you keep going now and train you will be rewarded.
For now you should do what you can do all I have in my garage is a punching bag and very limited space to attack it from, if you look youīll find things all around you that you can use I think your problem is that you donīt know what to do, like so many people befor me have said find a gym just train any sport to get to know the basics and advance, remember that ther isnīt any one right way or one sport better than other
when people get cocky thats when they fall
I appologize for my bad grammar, Iīm Icelandic and my English ainīt that good
What's a good idea to train is to place a chair against the wall, then grab a nice thick duvet, roll it up and tie it together with sturdy rope. place on chair against the wall, so it fits snuggly and fairly secured, and then practice throwing some punches! It's obviously not as good as a real punch bag, but at least you'll be making some kind of contact. As for shadow boxing, you shouldn't be too phased about how you look, as long as you're trying some nice combos and making some good force.
dani, you are a coward. circumstances aren't restraining your development; your mind is.
you may be lee's biggest fan, but you obviously don't know anything about him.
train with some friends; if you have any. all they need to do is hold two focus mitts. you can learn quite a bit with focus mits; offensively and defensively.
so your back hurts when you run. unless your back is injured and not merely sore, you should run. everybody who trains in martial arts suffers from some kind of pain.
Ease up, geezer!
The guy is only 14. I've heard it said a couple of times that certain people won't teach unless their students are at least 16, etc.
Yes, the kid has a long way to go in terms of motivating himself, but at 14, hey, I was a loser! At least he's looking into something that doesn't include getting wasted, causing trouble etc.
Dani, just stop bull $hitting yourself;
No matter how hard you think you have it, always remember that there are people out there wo have had worse, and STILL over come all of their obstacles.
It sounds like you have a raw deal at home, but hey, at least you have a home! Just be thankful for what you have, and be honest with yourself.
I could never get some of the things that I wanted as a kid, because of being poor etc, so while all my friends were out having fun, I was working as a 'Pin-Monkey' in a skittle alley!
How much is complaining helping you?
Not as much as doing something, I'll bet!
Take all te criticism you've recieved on these posts, and make something usefull.
Well, currently, I have to train alone... due to work and other responsibilities. So, the best time for me to work out is early in the mornings. I need a work out that is time effienct and productive. Last week, I started biking down to the park, and running laps. I do a couple of warm up laps, then at each corner of the field, I will perform push-ups, then sprint to the next corner and crank out some squats, then sprint to the next corner and perform a wrestlers style back bridge... then do the routine all over again. Weather is a bit of a problem, we don't get too much snow in the winter, we get freezing rain and wind. So I gotta dress warm, I'm thinking of getting a pair of long-johns this weekend. I will progress by adding more reps to my calisthetic exersises and more laps. Also, after a month or so, I will add in some chin-ups and hand stand push-ups. I figure, waking up at 5am and running laps in the freezing rain will build some character and disipline.
As for JKD training, I train the basics, on my own. I like to use lots of footwork, straight blast (Boxing Blast & Chain Punches), lead jab, straight lead punch, hook kicks and oblique kicks. I enjoy using my wall bag for my punches. I like to use my martial arts as a warm up for my park routine.
Conditioning is very important, you gotta be strong. You can have sloppy technique, but if you can really hammer that technique quicker then your opponent, then you have the upper hand.
Jake P suggested inspirational and self-help books. I truely believe that you can change your thinking habits with positive thinking.
When I'm running laps in the rain and pumping out push-ups in the mud, I say to myself, "I WILL SURVIVE, I WILL NEVER GIVE UP". It all paid off when I snap out jabs 3 times faster and harder then any person that Ive met.
When I was attending college and had no vehicle or no money for the bus to get there, I would walk 1 hour everyday at 6am and on those long walks, I made a close relationship with my thoughts. I noticed that I wanted to quit, I just wanted to sleep in on those cold rainy mornings. I would lay in bed and say (in my mind) "NEVER GIVE UP, YOU WILL SURVIVE", and I would jump out of bed and pissed off at myself for being so weak. It all paid off, when I see my diploma on the wall in the office.
When you perform an exercise, say somthing positive, in your head or out loud. Such as, "I CAN HANDLE IT". With every rep say "I WILL SURVIVE". When you feel pain, say, "I WILL NEVER GIVE UP". You gotta pump yourself up. Stay focused on your task and take it serious, like your life depended on it. At the end of the feild youre running across, your wife/girlfriend/best-friend/mother/child are being held by gun point, you better run as fast and hard as possible to save thier lives. "I WILL NEVER GIVE UP" is my anthem.
*"The law of worthy life is fundamentally the law of strife. It is only through labour and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things."* -- Theodore Roosevelt
thankyou everyone for their constructive critisism i have taken everything on board and latly have been training so hard and dedicated that i have not had time to regularly check this forum..
also to clear somethings up he is not a he i am a she LOL sorry if i lead some to believe that i was a male.
and someone called me a coward well you are entitled to your opinion but that doesnt say that it means much to me. You dont know me and have no idea what i have previously been through. Therefore have you opinion but please keep it to yourself in future.
(no disrespect meant)
thankyou all keep up the posts.
p.s
if you live in america where the hurricane has hit. Thinking of all stay safe
