A fistful of lessons

Where would I be without the three lessons a week? Not in a great place, but I'm trying to get my own efforts up as well as the lessons.  I managed three 15 minute sessions this week as well as kata practice so over four hours of training a week, up from maybe two hours a week prior to the lockdown.  

Working from home is a boon in terms of my job security, but it is challenging to say the least to maintain the work / life balance when all four of are home all the time for up to 90 days (as it seems at the moment).  My karate lessons form a framework around which to separate work from life, along with providing both the exercise that I need for my health conditions and a channel for stress relief when tensions start to surface.

Pad work is especially good for stress relief, it's really good to be able to hit something.  We even found a use for my son's shinai today, doing a bit of conditioning work without direct contact.  I think very often people focus on  the physical benefits of karate, but in melting pot times like we face today, I think the mental health benefits of this kind of exercise become abundantly clear too. ☺☺☺

For my own personal workouts, I first of all looked online, but what is immediately apparent is that karate has taken off on the internet in a massive way.  It can be somewhat bewildering if you try to pick the best out of what is there, so I decided that the best way was to base whatever I do around the kata that I practice, and then reprising what we have been shown in the lessons if at all possible. 

I have always tried to jot down what we do after the lessons as a part of my blog, but now it's taken on an importance of it's own.  I make notes shortly after the lessons if possible., and where I can't remember parts, I check with our Sensei.   This hopefully then gives me the meat of my next workout  If not, there are always fallbacks such as the quadrant drill, kihon kata or shadow sparring (which I haven't really incorporated yet).   Gives me plenty to work on ☺☺☺

Below are the dojo diaries, workout videos and sample kata videos to give you an idea of what I mean.

13-04

Warm up
Naihanchi Shodan
Translation of kata into fighting actions
Crash, pull head down, double knee strike,
control head up, forearm ./ elbow strike
Drag across, push down, punch across
Still holding opponents arm, step through to arm bar
Smash down onto opponents grab, same arm uses outside block as strike, switch arms into uppercut then backfist
Inside leg kick, hammer first, inside leg kick, arm bar into takedown using double punch......
Sweep across to take down
Kata based shadow sparring to call
Kata to close.

Revision video and workout baed on Monday's lesson

16-04

Warm up
Mokosu and formal opening
Naihanchi Shodan
Pad work - heel of hand, hammer fist, elbow, knee, r / l then combination
Kihon kata variants
Jab, cross, step up side kick
Jab, cross, spinning back kick
Naihanchi Shodan
Mokosu
Formal ending

Workout based on Thursday's Lesson

18-04

Warm up
Mokosu and formal opening
Kata
Fundamentals
Punches, receiving, kicks, ridge hand, ashe uke, hisa geri
Kata
Shadow sparring to call

Workout based on Saturday's lesson

Kata practice