I’m noticing a hefty weakness in my skill during fights and it really hit home when we were doing basic warmup kicks yesterday. In southpaw stance I couldn’t mai geri (front kick) for shit. It was pathetic and so I’ve decided to start drilling from all sides, angles and positions every moment I get. Doing it just in the dojo isn’t enough.
To do that I’m going to make my conditioning routines more ‘muscle memory intensive’. By this I mean I’ll be using more technique and less primitive movements. What I don’t know is whether this can be done intensively enough to have a positive impact on general fitness.
So here’s my muscle memory drilling experiment. I’ll record my heart rate during the workout to see if it’ll have any positive benefit on my CV system.

Southpaw

  • Front kick (mai geri)
  • Round house kick (mai washi geri)
  • Side kick (yoko geri)
  • Punching combos

Orthodox

  • Front kick (mai geri)

  • Round house kick (mai washi geri)
  • Side kick (yoko geri)
  • Punching combos

Break Falls (ukemi)

  • Back & over shoulder
  • Back & low defence

Throw Movements

  • Morote Gari Left Side
  • Morote Gari Right Side

This was a great workout. My heart rate was higher doing these drills than it is during a Bas Rutten fighting rounds audio or a standard EIT/ICT workout. I averaged 168bpm with a max of 180bpm. I did this for just over 18 minutes without a break with my heart rate staying in the 70-90% region for a lot of it.

So it passes the test. In future workouts I’ll incorporate more throwing movements and breakfalls.