Getting Lazy has its Benefits

After a period where I'd done some hardcore work on my abs, I got a little lazy. I'd been neglecting my crunches, my sit-ups, my gutbusters (aka "the plank") my leg raises and other exercises.

I knew that I had to get back to working them. I recalled an exercise from my judo days, where I tied an obi (judo belt) around a tree. Holding onto the ends, I would practice my entries over and over. Usually I'd do 100 reps on each side.

This homemade video shows how to practice judo throws solo by tying your obi around a tree. The demonstration starts at about 1:50, so you may want to skip the earlier stuff.

It's a great cardio workout and you will really feel it in your hips, glutes and core.

Trouble was, I'm still not finished cleaning up the Carport Kwoon. I still had a pile of scrap wood around the grapefruit tree I previously used for that purpose.

No problem. Since I laid out some mats around my heavy bag, I decided to simply tie the obi around the bag and do my entries that way. Why waste valuable time and energy that could go into my workout cleaning up around the grapefruit tree?

Turns out, I got more of a workout than I planned. Since the bag swings and hangs from a chain, I can actually pull the bag partly onto my back. It's actually more like loading some guy up before slamming him onto the mat than if I just pulled on a tree.

Eighty reps on each side was all these old muscles could stand. Following a short break, I started work on a new drill, Ly Jik Bo, that Don taught me from Yau Kung Mun Kung Fu. It's a short, aggressive combination that uses a bui sao (shooting hand) to the face, a low cross and an armbreak. Going back and forth on the mats, I only managed about eight trips of four.

As tired and sore as I was from those two exercises, I was still having too much fun to stop. I closed with some drills on the wooden dummy. The first two drills, which I did 20 times each on each side, used a pak sao da (palm block hit) combination ending with a leg takedown.

The final combination, drawing from Preying Mantis Kung Fu, involved a huen sao (circling hand) move ending with a takedown based on the famous Seven Star stance.



I may not know much Preying Mantis, but I know what I like and I know what works.

A demonstration of a Preying Mantis form on the wooden dummy. If you look closely, you'll see some applications of the Seven Star Stance as a takedown.