Working Out from Home

As the lockdown continues, one thing that COVID-19 has brought out in athletes the world over is creativity.  When you can't get to the gym and don't own the equipment you might usually depend on, you learn to improvise.  Therefore, I was inspired to see The Guardian's gallery of athletes from around the world working out at home in a variety of ways.  One of the more striking images in the bunch is that of a fencer who is clearly yearning for some interaction with others. 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2020/apr/18/working-out-from-home-athletes-find-creative-ways-to-train-in-pictures

Interestingly, The Guardian's gallery is full of pictures of martial artists, although there are some footballers and other types of athletes as well.   One of my favorites shows a judoka from Jordan using her couch to do leg presses.  Our challenge, as athletes and martial artists is to find ways to preserve our skill or even improve despite this lack of resources.  Even as someone who has been doing martial arts for nearly 40 years, I find these pictures motivational - both because of the tenaciousness it takes to train like this, and the creativity in using everyday objects as training aids.


When I was first doing martial arts as a teenager, my parents didn't go out and buy me gear.  In fact, few of my kungfu classmates had the money to throw around on such luxuries.  For example, if we wanted striking pads, we had to build them ourselves.   At some point we all learned how to build our own pads using materials that we could easily find around our houses.  I'm not sure if we learned from my first Sifu (Ahn Nguyen), or from reading some article in Blackbelt Magazine, but somehow we learned. 

The video below shows how to build your own striking pad.  If you are interested in more hardening of the body, then use sand as a filler.  If you just need something to hit, but want it to be more forgiving, use old t-shirts or fabric to fill.   All you need is a ziplock bag of some sort, some filler, and 2-3 yards of duct tape.  It takes about 10 minutes to build, and if you do it right, your striking pad will last a good long time.

When I get a chance, I'll put up another video showing how to train with this for solo use, or with partners.

All the best,
Sifu Tim