Monday Night Fights - Sparring Training 12/12/2016

I took my almost healed broken toe and my camera gear down to the Dojo for our Monday Night Fight (Sparring Practice).

I will be coming back to post an update on where all the best action is in case you want to fast-forward to all the exciting stuff.  Personally I think it is all exciting.

Video

Less than 7 Degrees of Separation between Me and Bruce Lee

So I've got the day off and I'm sitting in my home office, broken toe elevated, watching old interviews with Martial Arts greats from my past.

I love to think of my connection to martial arts in these terms.  There are only 1-2 degrees of separation between me and Bruce Lee in my training.

I have two connections to Bruce Lee:

1. My Arnis Master was Grand Master Norlito Soriano Sr. who came to the U.S. in the 60's with Dan Inosanto. Dan is the only Jeet Kune Do instructor certified by Bruce Lee himself.  Of course they were close friends.

2. Ed Parker (Kenpo) - I trained under Bill Miller who was a direct deciple of Ed Parker. I had the opportunity to meet Ed Parker a couple of time and attend Kenpo clinics with them. Ed Parker was good friends and room mates with Bruce Lee back in the 60's in SoCal when Bruce first came to the US.

Here are two good interview with Dan Inosanto about Bruce Lee

Keep Your Eye on Your Opponent at All Times, Sometimes You're the Spectator and that Sucks!

It sucks when you're out with an injury.  I can still lift weights, punch and stretch but I just can't kick or walk very well.

So it was Monday night sparring night and I went to the Dojo because it is not always about you. My training partners still need help in the Dojo.  You always need that critical eyes sitting outside the ring to fine tune your technique or break bad habits.

I think my favorite piece of advice of the night was for beginner who was flinching when a strike was incoming.

Here is my advice to him:

When you take your eyes off your opponent, you are sabotaging your chance to survive the attack and ruin any chance of a successful counter strike.

Why?

Because the majority of our training is hand-eye or foot-eye coordination and muscle memory.

Your eyes are at least 50% of this equation so when you look away from your opponent for any reason you loose your ability to block and counter strike effectively.

He applied this in the next match and it was a huge difference immediately. This is not something I see often in advanced fighters but it is something to get rid of immediately when you see it.

With Broken Toe, I Have Time to Go Through Game Film from 11-7-2016

So here I am on Saturday night going through and editing game film for the other students at my Dojo.

I'm just 5 days out from breaking my right big toe in a couple or places and I'm pretty sure I've damaged the ligaments in there pretty good too.  Can't move it yet.

Fellow "Engineer Nerds" at work have named me "Tae Kwon Toe".  So I've got that going for me now. LOL

While I'm out with the broken toe, I'll still blog and get video for others in my Dojo.

Here is some game film from 11-7-2016 of various matches.  Enjoy!

Merafuentes Korean Karate Sparring Sessions 11-14-2016

I'm on day number two of "Broken Toe" time off from the ring [Frowny Face].

So now I have time to slow down and get caught up on video editing.

Here are some video from some of my classmates and training partners from our Monday night sparring sessions on 11-14-2016 before I broke my darn toe.

Sparring Session 1: The ladies are kicking butt!

Sparring Session 2: Dave vs Mr. Kumar

My Best Fight Yet and I Broke My Big Toe. F#$k!

So it was Monday night, sparring night, and I had one of the best fights of my life with someone I really respect but had not fought until tonight.

But I broke my big toe.... But I got it on video!!!

Mr. Kumar is good, really good. He travels and fights competitively at a very high level so getting a chance to spar with him has been on my to do list.

I was feeling great!  I had several good matches and in the Zen Zone.

I add this to one of my best lifetime fights because... Look at me, I'm at least 40 lbs overweight and 50 years old and I've still got some speed left. Look at my counters! I ain't dead yet and I'm always in the fight. Until I've broken my toe. LOL

I got a chance at the very end of the evening to go toe to toe Mr. Kumar. It was awesome!!! Thank god he was already tired at the end of the night.

Here we go let's break a toe!  Typing this with broken toe that has not been to the doc yet. Not moving it either.

SLOW-MO CAM

FULL SPEED

Karate Training for Old Farts. Yes, it is going to hurt and it is worse than you remembered.

I'm discovering that Karate training in your later years really takes a lot more time and patience than it did when I was in my teens and 20's.  That would be the 1980's and 90's if you're keeping track.

I'm talking in terms of being able to train hard and recover fast enough so you don't miss any training opportunities. Everything just takes longer and I'm learning to accept that. I'm not saying because your older now, that can't achieve your martial arts training goals but after 50, you just need to be patient and give yourself a little more time to get to each milestone.

Sadly, I just don't heal as fast as used to. Add to that, a lifetime of cumulative sports and military training injuries that nag me from time to time. Including one injury in Thailand from 1989 that unfortunately did not receive proper treatment while I was on a military deployment.

Unfortunately for me, the injury never healed right and I was always prone to re-injure it. That pretty much ended my fighting career way too soon.  I am praying that injury does come back and curse me again.

My biggest fear at the starting line is getting injured bad enough that your training is adversely affected by a prolonged absence from training.

This week I rolled my left ankle sparring and limped all week on a sore left knee. But it wasn't enough to keep me out of the Dojo.

Here is a short video of me practicing kicks before our formal Kang Duk Won class.

Be Like Water, Ebb and Flow. Translating Martial Arts Philosophy to Action in the Ring

I think one of the hardest concepts to grasp and to teach in martial arts is this...

How to allow yourself to be present in the moment but not thinking. Mind open and body waiting for anything, just allowing your subconscious to take over and trust in your ability to react on muscle memory.

Just typing that out was therapeutic in some respect.

Can you teach it?  Yes, sort of.  A good instructor leads your there but for me this is the self discovery part of martial arts that gives it the deeper meaning that martial artists seek. This is the part that transcends the physical aspects of martial arts.

It takes time, a lot of time, training and fighting to get to this pinnacle of martial arts training. I feel like I'm there or almost there in my head but obviously I've a ways to go.  My problem right now is my breathing.  I'm too tense during the match and breathing is off. I am present but need to relax more in the ring. I'm sure that will come as I improve and learn to trust my skills again.

Here is the last fight of tonight's training matches.  Pay attention to my footwork, that is one of the things I'm focusing on right now.

Video

Point Fighting Training 11/03/2016

Tonight we had a point fighting class tonight with Mr. Kumar!

Rather than just straight sparring, we did kicking drills before doing workout sparring then some lightning round sparring.  It was a great workout.

In terms of my comeback, my cardio felt really good despite coming off a week with really bad cold. My biggest gains have been in cardio and endurance.

Also, I've been stretching like crazy, almost to the point of over-stretching. My left knee seems to have some ligaments on the inside of the knee that are resistant to my stretching routine and giving me some pain.

My training goals from a big picture perspective are to get some really good kicks back in the catalog. You will probably notice in some of my sparring videos that my fights are hand heavy.  That is because I'm old and don't have kicks in my sparring catalog just yet.

When you're fighting (sparring) and your opponent knows you won't or can't throw a technique then they don't need to guard against it. I want my opponents to be just as worried about my feet as I do my hands.

Martial Arts Sparring Video



Spinning Jump Kick Practice 11-02-2016

Learning to Fly Again, Dropping Weight to Get my Jump Kick Back

    Once upon a time I was 21 and skinny, about 155 lbs.  I was in such amazing shape that I could jump kick the hoop and a little higher of a standard height basketball backboard.  At one huge tournament in San Francisco, I placed in the top 10 of jump kickers from among some pretty amazing martial artists.

    I always took pride in my inherent talent and ability to convert forward movement and spinning motion in to height and power for my kicks.  And once you've got a lot of height you've got some time to try and make it look good.

    Now I'm 50 and of as this writing, about 218 lbs. Two weeks ago I was 227 lbs and taking creatine for bodybuilding.  Now that I'm focusing more on tournament fighting, I've cycled of the creatine and quite a bit of water weight came off.

    I feel so much better not carrying that extra weight in the ring.  Every pound I can shed, will give me increase endurance and less drag when I'm trying to get air born.

    Here is a short 15 second clip from tonight's warm up before class. I tried to get a couple of jump spin kicks in and I think they didn't look half bad.  

Progress!

Training Video

Setbacks in Training, Stopped by the Common Cold

As I'm a write this it is a rainy Sunday afternoon in Modesto, California.  I'm coming off of a down week where a bad cold this week that pretty much killed any and all martial arts training except for light weigh training and some light stretching.

Tomorrow night's our sparring night so I'm looking forward to getting back in the ring.  I've got a new pair of sparring pants call "Combat Pants" that I'll be trying for the first time and will be bringing more camera equipment.

Look for an update after tomorrow night sparring session.

Aloha my friends!

A New Blue Stripe on the Old White Belt

Today was a milestone in my comeback training. Today is 10/21/2016, was the first day I was physically able to participate at 100% for 3 full classes. This was my 3rd week of training.

To understand why this is a milestone for me you have to go back to my very first class. It was a Monday night sparring class. My adrenaline was pumping and I was a little nervous. I sparred for the first time in 30 years, completing 6 full 2 minute matches and I narrowly averted throwing up.

The following Wednesday in my first formal class I pushed myself so hard I did puke on the very last kick that got me my very first stripe on my white belt. 

Feels good to be back and getting in shape to where I can begin to keep up with the class.

Tonight I demonstrated my two forms, Kibon 1 and Kibon 2.  I was taught Kibon 1 yesterday and Kibon 2 tonight. I feel pretty confident that I have those down. Just have to work on my promise fighting.

VIDEO: Forms / Kibon 1

At the end of tonight's training I was awarded a blue stripe on my white belt. Hopefully I'm a yellow belt in about a month.

The Master also said there is a small inter-school tournament coming up in  November.  I'm pretty sure I'll be ready. :-)

Stay tuned.

I

Kang Duk Won Yellow Belt Training 10/19/2016

I'm appreciative that the school recognizes my past experience and is helping to fast track me up to where I need to be as fast as my old body will let me.

This is my 3rd week of training and my 3rd formal Kang Duk Won beginners class.

I'm just a couple of check marks away from being ready testing from my Yellow belt. Hopefully I'm only about a month out from testing for Yellow.

My body is far less sore and I'm able to pace myself with an appropriate amount of intensity while still making the moves look good and not lazy.

Free Sparring 10-17-2016

Here are some videos from our sparring sessions on 10/17/2016.

Our free sparring sessions mainly focus on the sport of "Point Fighting".  I do a little bit of everything.

This is my 3rd sparring session since my return to training. I always feel confident in the ring, probably a little over confident right now but I'm OK with that.

I can feel me speed coming back and I'm far less winded.

I'm quickly getting to know the new older me and how hard and fast I can go. I'm getting better every week. So is my opponent. ;-)

More sparring videos to come.

Video

Rick vs Dave

Rick vs Jason #1 (All Out LOL)

Rick vs Jason #2

Rick vs Dwight

Free Sparring: Various Sessions

The Journey Back

    My name is Rick Cable, I'm a 50 year old, 16 year US Navy veteran, returning to martial arts training after a 30 year layoff.

    I began my training at the age of 5 in San Jose, California back in the mid 70's in a very brief intro to Kung Fu with some Chineese gentlemen who were new to the US and pretty hard core.  My parents put me in the class at the urging of my brother who had trained a bit and I was a big fan of the TV show Kung Fu with David Carradine at the time (Gee I'm old).   My parents quickly found out I was not ready for it.

    I did not pick it up again until the age of 12 or 13.  I trained in Arnis, Filipino stick and blade fighting, with Grand Master Norlito Soriano for about 7 months in his home studio. My nephew was good friends with his son who I'm still good friends with today.  In my 7th month, I had a back injury from bad throwing technique that had me out for 6 months.

    Post injury and still in Junior High I started training in Ed Parker Style Kenpo from Scott Miller who is the son of Bill Miller who was one of Ed Parker's initial Kenpo "Deciples" who went out and spread his style in the early days.  Ed Parker was Bruce Lee's roommate in SOCAL back in the 60s.

    While training Ed Parker Style Kenpo with the Miller's I attended a big Karate tournament in San Jose, California where Ernie Reyes's West Coast Demo Team did a fantastic demonstration that had me on my feet.

    A month later I was training at West Coast Taekwondo under Ken Barrett and Tony Thompson. I wanted nothing more in the world at the time than to be on the West Coast Demo Team. I ate, slept and drank Taekwondo to obsession. Six months in to training at West Coast I hounded and pestered Tony Thompson in to submission until he gave me an audition for the Junior Demo Team.

   I was honored and thankful for the opportunity to be part of the prestigious Demo Team. I can't thank Ken Barrett and Tony Thompson enough.  I competed under the West Coast flag and was an active member of the West Coast Junior Demo Team for about a year.  It took an amazing amount of persistence of which I will tell in much greater detail in my blog.


    In addition to my extracurricular training, my high school offered Judo which I took every semester for all four years of high school.  4 years of Judo training with John Sepulveda, who is not the same John Sepulveda of Kempo fame, and no belt. [Frownie Face]. My good friend Kyle actually took our high school training then continued all the way to Olympic tryouts.

    In 1985 I joined the US Navy and proudly served for 16 years. I'm honored to have had the opportunity to work, train and PT with Navy SEALs as an embedded support team member. In my last tour I received Aikido training used for pain and compliance in US Navy Corrections / Law Enforcement.

    Stories? I've got'em.  I've been fortunate to have had opportunities to kickbox in Thailand, backfist a dude in bar in Hong Kong (Good story I'll save for later that involves a Hong Kong martial arts actor from Blood Sport who was also a casting agent).

    During my time and travels in the Navy I managed somewhere along the line to start a family and my Sons, Matt Cable and Scott Cable, today are both studs in their specific sports and train very hard and set fitness goals as a way of life.  I would like to think they got it from me.


    In 2014, my oldest son, Matt, who is in the military and just 60 days from an overseas deployment was diagnosed with AML leukemia. After a hard fought battle, Matt has been in remission for 2 years.

    I was with Matt in his darkest hours in the ICU fighting for his life in a coma for 11 days.  He fought his way back and is bigger and better than ever today inspiring everyone he meets.  My son's fight with cancer inspired me to get back in shape and inspire others.

   This is the first of what I hope many blog posts that will help me document my journey back into Martial Arts training. I will be training in Kang Duk Won Korean Karate as well as Filipino stick and blade fighting, Arnis.

   In future blog posts I will share some of my related military stories and many past martial arts training experiences with various styles as well as my experiences on the Ernie Reyes's West Coast Taekwondo Demo Team and Tony Thompson on the West Coast Junior Demo Team.

Stay tuned for some exciting stuff.