Karate helping to deal with a heart condition:
Karate fighting, Cardiovascular workout, confidence, rebuilding stamina, fun, self defence, over 50s but not only, over 50, is it too late, exercise, nerd, okinawa karate, shorin ryu, full contact karate, heart, aging
The key kata of my style is Naihanchi Shodan, and in essence for us "all things are Naihanchi" in basic techniques. With all the time spent on online sessions, my Sensei have started to present a series of pad drills centred on the kata, for use in lessons and to be tested as a part of gradings.
This is my attempt to document them to refer back to, and where I can spot the relationship, pin them to the kata. The videos are of me trying to memorise the drills, so aren't the best for form or power. However they do I believe, show the core elements, and will give a basis for comparison as I progress.
The common features of all the drills, whether pro or reactive in nature, are to occupy the oppontent's space, unbalance the person, then disable them. This may take one step or many and we are told that sequence is not important, just the principles. The techniques that can be applied depend on the opportunities presented, rather than the sequence in which we practice them.
So to the drills themselves:
Naihanchi Drill 1:
#1Teisho, hammer fist, elbow, knee, step back drag down
The videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side:
#2 Teisho, crash, head clasp to shoulder, shoulder bump, head butt, back knee step through, front knee (now back knee) step through, head clasp, turning drag down
But this has developed into:
Teisho, crash, head clasp to shoulder, shoulder bump, head butt, back knee step through, front knee (now back knee) step through, head clasp, elbow, step back drag down
As with the videos for drill #1 the videos are taken from two separate sessions, 1 filmed from the from and the other from the side. The first video features the first version of the drill and the second features the second version of the drill.
I believe this refers to the opening section of the kata, from yoi to the pull in after the stike and elbow sequence. The step overs represent the knee strikes and this is shown in the third video.
This is very much a work in progress, but thought it worth documenting, for reference and to be able to check my progress. Thank you for reading, if you got this far :)
Due to work, I haven't been able to train as much as I did earlier in the Covid-19 outbreak, and that compounded by some stressful factors led to a flair up of my chest complaint. My doctor insisted I got a Covid test done, even though I have been working from home and not socialising, waiting for the results only added to the mix.
2010 Kata as Breathing Exercise
Since I already have my own issues, mentally this set of circumstances didn't help either. Medically I was told to take my crash pack of antibiotics and steroids, and as I had struggled on the previous Saturday lesson, I had to take it easy for a while. I had to find something to compensate and focus on, and as is typical with me it was Karate.
22100 Slow kata gentle breathing
I put my kata to good use, both as a series of breathing exercises and as relaxation. But then came the better news, I was Covid free: Thought it was time to start training again, even if only for a part of the lesson and not full speed: Form, rather than strength and speed. So on Saturday I did train again. some of it I got near to full power, but the best part of it was a penny dropping......
Kihons and knees 2410
This was my post in one of the Facebook forums:
"Muchimi, pad work and kihon: My dojo has concentrated on online training, plus outdoor training where possible, since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. I have possibly trained more as a result and attended more seminars, but reached a "lights turned on" moment today. Recently, we have started working on knee adaptations of our kihon gata in place of kicks and today our sensei added pad work.
The kihons are very clean, with punch/ kick combinations, so swapping to knees was a change anyway, more in keeping with Shorin Ryu roots. But the addition of padwork introduces the idea of muchimi, as I realised afterwards. For example, the first kihon in my dojo is "jab, reverse punch, mai geri". the knee interpretation without pad is "jab, reverse punch, back leg knee".
Add in the pad, and this becomes "Jab, reverse punch, knee" but because the jab isn't retracted to keep the pad as a target, and the the reverse punch hand isn't retracted to support the pad for the knee: It becomes "Jab grasp, reverse punch grasp, knee" Maintaining contact with the head. Suddenly practice drills developed real intent for me. Does that make sense?"
My Sensei are always telling us about keeping contact in close quarter situations, but finally the penny dropped with some of our basic drills. One of these is given below as an example:
Kihon gata Shodan - different forms
The following day was "Karate Day" and the 100 kata challenge. I signed up for it ages ago, but given the recent circumstances, I approached it with a certain amount of trepidation. We were mostly going to do Naihanchi, so that wasn't a problem, but how long I would last potentially was. I needn't have worried: The first 20 were a real struggle, but then managed to clear my chest. I managed the full 100, and though the other 80 weren't a walk in the park, they certainly felt more comfortable than the first 20 ☺☺☺
100 kata challenge
Much to my surprise, I even managed to make a midweek lesson on the following Thursday, and there was yet more new material introduced. We worked mainly on kata and an old favourite: The Quadrant drill. However towards the end of the lesson we were also introduced to some new pad drills, Naihanchi drills 4 and 5, so something more to work on ☺☺☺ The Saturday lesson was taken up by a Jamie Clubb webinar, featuring grappling and ant-grappling techniques, but for once I wasn't able to take an active part due to a few technical issues. My son did though and he seemed to enjoy it ☺☺☺
That's it for now, thank you for reading if you got this far ☺☺☺
2410
Kata
Kihon gata to 7, knees and elbows
2510
100 kata challenge 3 Naihanchis (for me)
2910
Kata
Quadrant drill
5 Naihanchi pad drills
The two new ones:
4: push down and uppercut, roll into backfist, clinch and knee into heel stomp, cm neck crank takedown.
5: Percussive clinch, knee, hammerfist into side of head/jaw, forearm strike into base of skull (forgot to do this in tonight's lesson), turn and throw into wall/person/ environment.
