English Translation

Interview with Loren W. Christensen
Interviewer: Antonio Schiavon
Italian magazine: Arti D'oriente
Some of this might read a
little odd because it has been translated from Italian into English."

Antonio Schiavon:  Apparently your "solo training"journey started from an issue you had and your decision "to work on the problem at home". But to do your individual training you need a constant motivation. Can you speak about how can you refresh this emotional aspect?

Loren W. Christensen:  The idea to write the two books Solo Training, Solo Training 2 and film Solo Training the DVD came for a question a student asked me back in the 1980s. “Loren, you always tell the class to train at home, but I don’t know what to do.”
            I was surprised at the question because I just assumed, erroneously so, that everyone would know what to do at home. He was the only one to come forward to ask the question that a lot of the students were wondering about. I felt bad that I had made this assumption, so I immediately set out to do something about it.
            First I wrote an article on solo training for one of the martial arts magazines and then I set out to write The Way Alone, my first book on training by yourself. Sixteen years later, with much more experience under my belt, I wrote the two Solo Training books and made the DVD.
            I began training in 1965, and I started training by myself the second week. I did it simply to work on what I was learning in class. It just made sense to me very early in my training: if you spend extra time training alone on what you have learned in class, you will improve faster. Simple concept. I have always liked things in the fighting arts to be simple.
In the early years, the martial arts didn’t come easy to me. I wasn’t a fast learner. But I discovered that if I drilled on material on my own, I could keep up with the class.
            For example, the sidekick was a weird kick to me when I first learned it. So I decided to make it a home project. I worked it several times throughout the day and even at night. I’d get up to go to the bathroom at 2 am and I’d do 100 reps of the sidekick against my bedpost until my dad would yell at me from his bedroom to stop making all the noise and go back to sleep. But after two weeks of that, I had a great sidekick and I learned the value of focusing on a problem by myself and sticking with it until I figured it out.    

            In the books I talk a lot about how to find within yourself whatever it takes to get you motivated to train alone. Every person is different.

• Maybe you need inspirational music.
• Maybe you need to train while a kung fu movie plays on your television.
• Maybe all you need is a mirror to watch yourself improve each workout.
• Maybe you need to lose weight.
• Maybe it takes an incident, such as someone bullying you in some way.
• Maybe it’s a goal: a tournament, a belt test, or simply a desire to be the best you can be.

I’ve used all these methods and more over the years. Today, I don’t need any of them. When it’s time to train, I go train.

Antonio Schiavon:   Your books are packed with over a half thousand tips. Both "tip" and "full package" are quite American concepts. In the USA there was a remarkable magazine fully focused on "MA Training", as the title was. Here is different: but at the end of the day martial arts are made of constant training and "no secrets" but doing. What is your opinion about this "cultural gap" between a stereotyped American approach and a typical European mindset?
            Also because we are both referring to marts that didn't generate from our environment... Martial arts are related to an original environment: is there a risk of transforming martial arts into something like "tae bo" or "turbo jam" a sort of home-based training inspired by boxing or kick-boxing?" You do not think that in the Asian original approach a grain of bother is needed?

Loren W. Christensen:  I think all cultures have something to add to the martial arts. Yes, most of them originated in Asian countries, and Asian culture has influenced how people train there. Clearly, this has been a good thing because there are many Asian masters with superb skill.

            But the Europeans and American have done a good job with the Asian martial arts, too. We are not limited by certain cultural constraints as exists in Japan and China. For example, we are more free to study several fighting systems and blend them into a fighting art that works, standing, on the ground, and when using weapons. In some places in Asia, studying with two different teachers would be considered disrespectful.
            Additionally, European and American fighters have taken the Asian fighting arts and added proper nutrition, innovative exercises, and specialized training methods that have made today’s fighters arguably better than at any other time in history.
            While certain Asian cultures might find this disrespectful to their masters, we see it as complimenting what they have given us. This is progress. We are not sitting stagnant with old training methods, but we are constantly striving to make our training, our learning, and our skill better. 
             As for tae bo, again that’s just our ingenuity. A tae bo workout is a tough one and it burns fat and gets you into shape. The problem is when a non martial artist does it and thinks after a month that he can defend himself using tae bo. That isn’t true and it’s a dangerous belief.

Antonio Schiavon:  In order to start an individual training you need to know yourself deeply. But the constant training is the ideal way to achieve a better understanding of your limits and yourself...How you get more familiar with your body while training individually?

Loren W. Christensen:  Training individually, or solo training, is the best time to get more familiar with yourself. When you go out to your yard, garage, basement, or your martial arts school during off hours, you have only yourself to contend with. You don’t have to follow the course the teacher has laid out, you don’t have to wait for other students in a class who might be slower learners than you, and you don’t have to catch up with students who are more advanced. When training solo, you’re by yourself so you get to decide what you want to work on. It’s all about you and your needs.
            If you’re in a style that’s focuses heavily on kicking, you can work on hand techniques by yourself. If you’re in a school that uses mostly hands, you can do hundreds of exercises to improve your kicks. There are some parts to the martial arts that people think they absolutely need a partner for, such as sparring and grappling. Not true. You can practice grappling and sparring alone, you just need to know how. I talk about these things in the books.

Antonio Schiavon: Do you suggest working on your good points or working to increase the weaker points?

Loren W. Christensen:  Again, it’s your workout so you can work on whatever you want. You can work on your good points to make them even better. For example, let’s say you have a fantastic backfist. When you apply it in sparring it’s fast, strong and always scores. But how good is it when you’re standing on stairs? Or when your back is against a wall. Or when you’re sitting behind the steering wheel of your car? Or when you’re lying on your back on the floor?
            All of these are places where you can practice your backfist alone to make it more versatile and applicable for self-defense. In the end, you will have a greater understanding of the technique, and all that work will make it even faster and stronger when you’re sparring in class.
            Of course you should always use the time to work on your weaker points. Maybe your back kick is weak, sloppy and inaccurate. It’s so awful that you never use it in class because it embarrasses you.
            Here is a guarantee. Make sure you understand exactly how to do the kick, and then begin working it at home, two to three times a week. Make a goal that you have to do 1,000 extra back kicks a week outside of class. Do this for six weeks. That’s 6,000 back kicks.
            Work on kicking fast, kicking accurately, setting up the kick in a combination, and recovering after the kick so you’re in a solid position to block a counter of follow with additional techniques. On the seventh week, show your teacher and your classmates. Not only will you have a killer back kick, but you will be a shining example of the value of solo training.

Loren W. Christensen:  There are lots of workouts in the books that you can do depending on your needs. But to answer your question in brief…first, analyze your needs. Do you want to more power? More speed? Better wind? Better form? Once you know what it is you need, you want to prioritize your training.
            This is a concept I used back in my bodybuilding days. Let’s say you want to improve the speed of your sidekick. Prioritize means you work on what you need first in your workout. So you’re going to hit those sidekicks hard when you’re fresh and full of energy. Here is an easy speed drill to do at the beginning of your session after you’ve warmed up.

• Stage 1:  Assume your fighting stance. Quickly move your rear foot up behind your lead foot. The instant your rear foot lands, pick up your lead foot a few inches from the floor. Think of the move as kicking your lead foot out of the way. Your lead foot is slightly off the floor, your guard is up, you’re upper body is leaning back slightly. Do 3 sets of 10 reps, pushing your speed faster and faster.
• Stage 2: Begin this next stage of the exercise where Stage 1 left off. Now, chamber your kicking leg by drawing your knee up and leaning your body back a little. This is the position you’re in just before you thrust your leg out into the sidekick. Do 3 sets of 10 reps of these as absolutely fast as you can.
• Stage 3: Begin this stage where Stage 2 left off. Now, thrust your sidekick out as fast as you can. It’s all leg at this stage because your body can’t help. Thrust your leg our, pull it back and set your foot back on the ground as quickly as you can. Do 3 sets of 10 reps, each rep pushing the speed faster and faster.
• Stage 4: Finish the drill with one or two sets of 10 reps doing the sidekick as you normally do. Step up, chamber, kick, and set down. You probably will be too tired to notice an increase in your speed but that’s okay. You will in about three weeks.

      Don’t tell your classmates that you’re working on your sidekick speed. Let them find out in class when you impale their midsections.

Antonio Schiavon: Thanks for your time Loren.