Yesterday I paid a visit to Hidetaka Monma’s MMA gym, Brightness in Adachi Ward, Tokyo.
I joined the grappling class from 8 to 9pm and then sparring from 9 to 10pm. His teaching style is very clear and he spent time going round the students individually helping them with the techniques. We worked on a sweep and then to submissions from mount and side positions.
His gym, opened in October 2009 is new, clean and bright: very conducive to learning!
Monma’s blog has already been updated with a post-training photo with myself and young American, Joe LaChance, who tells me he found out about Monma’s dojo through MMA-in-Japan.com!
Monma-san, thank you for the great training! I’ll be back!
And look out for a video and interview of Hidetaka Monma coming soon here.
Today I used a running track to work on explosive speed.
The warm up leg work looked like this:
- 5X50-metre thrust jumps, focus on pumping the knee up for height on each jump
- 5X50-metre bounds, focus on length/distance on each bound
- 4X50-metre scissor steps (2X facing into the field, 2X facing out of the track)
- 4X 50-metre side steps (2 one way, and 3 the other as above)
- 4X 50-metre backward sprints
The main speed work was 4 sets of alternating 5X50-metre sprints followed by 50-metre jogs, no rest. 1 minute break between each set.
This workout was finished off in the gym with 5 sets of 10 pullups on a barbell with legs together, out straight and on a Swiss ball. The focus on each pull up is exploding up, the chest towards the bar, and letting the body down very slowly.
On the Swiss ball this also works some core muscles, so I followed this up with some more core work to finish (video to come).
At some point later in the evening, instead of stretching, I worked on the foam roller, focussing on the main leg muscle groups.
Todays boxing menu shaped up like this.
- 2X3-minute rounds shadow boxing with some knees and elbows
- 2X5minute sounds of focus pads, concentrating on speed and footwork, light
- 2X5minute sparring (50~75%, without headgear)
- 2X5-minute focus pads, concentrating on out-fighting and in-fighting at grappling range + takedown defence
- 2X10 reps from the gaurd to stand position followed by a knee + jab cross
- 2X10 reps of jab cross then burpee jump
- 2.5 mins of gound+pound from standing in the guard and passed guard (knee on the belly + hammerfist)
Normally, to finish we do some core, pushups/hindu pushups, and plyometrics but there was no time today.
A very big thanks to Kanpei Endo of Watanabe Boxing Gym in Gotanda for his excellent advice, training and pad holding!
This weeks visit to Weerasakreck gym looked like this, with all rounds 3 minutes.
- 3 rounds of rope
- 2 rounds shadow kickboxing
- 1 round sandbag
- into the ring for 5 rounds of thaipads
- 8 rounds of heavybag
- strength and & conditioning; core work, pushups/hindu pushups in the same set as 35kg arm-curls (EZ bar)
- 1 round of shadow
Of course there was some stretching in there but I’d rather have used a foam roller.
Also, the lack of heavyweights, or even light heavyweights there (one arrived as I was leaving) makes sparring impossible.
Having recently been invited to train at the RJW (Real Japan Wrestling) branch of Wajutsu Keishukai (WK) where there are some notable fighters, including Yushin Okami who has been fighting in the UFC, it was too good an offer to miss. I had trained at the Wajutsu Keishukai main gym in Ochanomizu back in 2002 but
I caught up with Roxanne Modafferi, American MMA fighter currently living and fighting out of Tokyo, Japan. Under the Unified Women’s MMA Rankings, Roxanne is currently number 3 in the world at bantamweight. A lively and positive demeanor, it was a pleasure to do this interview. Please also check our exclusive video of Roxanne demonstrating a very useful MMA drill, hit & return.
When did you first become interested in martial arts and what got you into MMA?
I first got interested in Karate in middle school,
Since May 2009 I’ve been training and improving my Muay Thai skills at the Weerasakreck Muay Thai gym in Nishi-Kawaguchi. The gym itself, the newest of a number of Fairtex gyms spread across the Greater Tokyo area, opened earlier this year.
I have been training in Muay Thai for over 10 years now and
