A bit more Aussie Magic and the value of variety.

The last few weeks have been even more demanding from a work perspective.  I haven't trained as often as I would like, but when I have there have been some interesting sessions.  Perhaps the strangest was at 01:00 hours on a Saturday morning over Zoom with Sensei Tuari Dawson and the Cairns Dojo, at the invite of Sensei PJ Broomy. 😀

2408 - Compass point work

The lesson was in kobudo, and I needed to do it outdoors due to the lack of space inside, when wielding a bo or nunchaku.  I did a bit of a warm up on my own, but then the lesson started.  It was to cover a lot more than I expect as it turned out to be an introduction to bo, tonfa, nunchaku and sai. 😀

2908  - Before the Lesson

We learn bo and nunchaku in my doji, but not tonfa and sai. Not at my level anyway, so learning something new is always a fun challenge.  Tonfa I just had to watch, as I don't have any, but was able to borrow my son's sai (onlysmaller ones) to have a go it that.  It started to rain part way through, so trying to learn in the rain whilst keeping my tablet dry was a challenge on it's own 😀

2908 - Bo, tonfa, nunchaku and sai

Fortunately I was able to move back inside for the sai part of the lesson, which is just as well, as handling sai proved to be tricky enough as it was, without adding to it by trying to handle slippery weapons in the rain!  All in all though, was a fun lesson, with an excellent Sensei. 😀😀 Plus I still managed it fit in my regular Saturday  training in both karate and bo.

2908 - Working the compass again

Even on days where I miss training due to work, I still try to fit something in later on, and one of the predominant themes at the moment are the 10 kihon gata.  I can finally remember all 10, though not in random order as yet 😀  However, that spinning hook kick in gata number 9 just isn't there yet.

3108 - An Evening workout

I think from my own dojo, the best lesson for me was one where they taught combinations of knee strikes, and elbow strikes.  My limited abilities make the use of knees very attractive, as well as being effective.  What was the clincher for me though was the realisation that the whole range of kicking techniques we use include knee strikes.  😀😀

0509

At close range, a mawashi geri is of no use, but if you do a roundhouse knee and they move away, it turns immediately into a mawashi geri.  Similary a straight knee can be turmed into a mai geri, and I guess something like a ushiro geri could be a knee to the side followed by a kick behind.  Similar extensions can also be applied to elbow strikes, a downward elbow can be extended into a hammer fist, a crashing elbow can be extended into a back fist, and so on.

0809

The brain also needs to be fed, and after the lesson in knees and elbows, I had the privilege of attending a zoom lecture by Patrick McCarthy, but more of that in another blog. The important thing is the variety and mental stimulus it brings.  In times of uncertainy, an anchor point for anybody can be something such as karate.  The routine of training being maintained is a conforting one, however if all it contains is endless repetition of the same things trhen the end result cam be couner productive.

1009

For me, the lockdown has given many challenges, but the constant of having more opportunities to train, and the regular nature of the framework, has been a constant about which I have been able to build a routine to cope with both my physical and mental health issues  However, having done this for over five months now, if there wan't any variety the value would have been greatly reduced.

1209

As well as doing the routine training, it has been necessary for me to go outside the box as well as rely on the lesson, but I think anyone who wants to progress in any direction has to do this anyway.  I have been lucky in that my Sensei, Ben and Alison Slack, always try to work something in over a period of time that we haven't done in the same way before, or expand on what we have done before.

Also, if people wanted to (and I did), they have offered the opportunity to work with different instructors as well, via Zoom.  I have had the incredible luck to be able to train with Brian Bates, PJ Broomy, Les Bubka, Don Came, Jamie Clubb, Chris Hanson and Sensei Nohara, and though PJ train with Senei Tuari Dawson.  I have taken part of a "lockdown" pub quiz with my dojo, hosted by Iain Abernethy and attended lectures by Andreas Quast and Patrick McCarthy, so what can I say?

To cope with massive uncertainty, a strong routine is a massive plus in being able to be able to cope.  But to to be of any value, the routine has to have a degree of variety built in, and preferably with the opportunity to develop things further for the students if they wish.  I am glad to say that my Sensei offer all of that, and on a personal level have been so supportive I can never thank them enough 

2408

Kata, all 10 kihon gata

2908

Sensei Tuari Dawson

Kobudo - Bo, Tonfa, Nunchaku and Sai - introduction and drills

Regular lesson

Teisho and escape practice
Step back Zenkutsu dachi with hooking receives (FH) - upper tudan uke, tudan uke, gidan uke, to receive same sided stirke and open up the back.  Working in the after.
Kata, pad work. - Face slap (to ear cup). head to chest clasp, shoulder barge, head but, elbow. Then wall trap drill. Slide to side, groin slaps, head control, turn into Zebkutsu dachi to drive head into wall, then hammerfirst or downard elbow strikes to finish.

Bo,

First 6 kihon gata, followed by short run through of what each person remembers  from Shushi no kon

3008

Jamie Clubb

Discipline - including cued padwork, with one and two attackers

0509

Kata
Quadrant drill
Pad work - gross motor skills, hammerfist, teisho, elbow, knee, turning takedown

Nunchaku

Kihon gata, including one legged stance

1009

Fundamentals

Kihon gata

Pad work

Teisho, hammer fist, elbow, knee, step through, turning throw (back leg move across, front leg pull back)

Groin strikes x 3, knee, turning throw (as above)

Kata - asked to perform

Groin strikes x 3

1209

Kata

knee strikes, straight knee, roundhouse knee, Inside knee

Four in combination

Elbow strikes, Cutting elbow, rising elbow, dropping elbow, spinning elbow, 

four in combination

Bo

Kihon gata., going forward and backwards

Lecture 

Patrick McCarthy Standing of the shoulders of giants

Australia calling

This last week or so has been extremely hectic from a work point of view, and unfortunately Monday lessons seem to have been mostly lost as a result.  However, there have been a few plusses.  Getting to practice some Motobu Choki drills was one, but the biggest was definitely getting to train with my friend PJ Broomy from Australia online twice in a week ☺☺☺☺

Relaxation kata - June 29

On Wednesday last we had a one on one session in the morning UK time and covered some interesting stuff (lesson details and video here also).  Not only was the practical material, but some interesting discussion too, for me at least ☺☺☺☺☺☺  The different mechanism for punching that his style uses is interesting, along with the simple and direct methods of takedown. These are a lot easier to remember for me than those of Funokoshi Gishin, however those techniques also include transitions afterwards that add to the direct techniques shown by PJ.  

Fundamentals plus kata - June 30

So in my thing of these techniques as two parts, the direct part that should work and then the transition you can do if it doesn't.  Sandwiched in between the two lessons with PJ (he was one of two guest Sensei at our Saturday lesson), was our regular Thursday lesson where we went back to basics with kihon gata, and punches and responses.  Fundamental techniques always need working on ☺☺☺

Australia calling - 1st July

The Saturday lesson was extra special, Sensei Ben featured getting up from the ground with cover, and the first of the Motobu Choki drills I had missed in a previous lesson.  This drill was so direct, it was easy to remember and see how it could be effective.  Love it. ☺ 

After the lesson - 2nd July

For PJ's part of the lesson, we went through the ukes I had practiced earlier in the week with him, plus the sequence of five ukes and the three take downs featuring palm strike,chudan uke and gidan barai respectively.  All simple techniques, but that is what should make the combination work more effective, as they are also easier to remember than more complex combinations. ☺☺☺☺

5 blocks in sequence - 3rd July

Brian Bates' section of the lesson focused on four ditrctional elbow strikes, with and without pads.  Brian's emthusiasm and encouragement is superb and communicates well, even online.  We also did 30 minutes of bo basics.  All in all, a brilliant lesson ☺.  Thank you all 🙏

Lesson - 4th July

I missed the Monday lesson again due to work, but tried to make up a little bit by practicing a four directional mawashi empi drill and having a go at the first three of Motobu Choki's Kumite drills over the next couple of days.  Hopefully, we will get back to some kind of normal soon.

Kata after the lesson - 4th July

Kata - 5th July

Press ups, Mawashi Empi, Naihanchi - 6th July

Motobu Choki drills, Naihanchi - 7th July

0107

PJ Broomy session

Punches + retracted punch (short retraction after delivery of punch). Discussed atifa, technique for transferring power into opponents body (result of retracted punch) Receiving techniques + different gidan ukes Combining sequence of the 5 ukes Comparison of gidan uke (as opposed to gidan barai) to Pinan Shiko dachi step through with elbows on hips Comparison of transitioning for example in Naihanchi on double block. PJ style hand going upwards goes on inside so that descending hand can pull. Practical application of yoi - discussed muchini, stickiness Three throws Pull with front hand to hip, step forward and strike to chin / throat with advancing hand Pull with front hat to hip, step forward with chudan uke as hammerfirst Strong front arm gidan barai (uke) as sweep to block strike and spin them to expose the back Comparison with Techniques illustrated in one of Funokoshi Gichin's books, and demonstrated by my Sensei, which require rotation after the technique

0207

Kata
Kihon kata
Jab and response
Back hand and response
Front hand hook and response
Response sequence
1) jab - sway to back hand side, back hand block, front hand simultanious strike to just behind the elbow
2) backhand punch, small step to side with front leg.  Head moves to front foot side, front hand pushes across, back hand straight punch to solar plexus
3) front hand hook, step forward, front hand blocks with jodan uke, backhand upper cut.

0407

Ben

Going down and getting up with cover
Motobu drill, open hand fighting stance, step forward R leg, hand trap (L Hand) and cover (R Arm), drop right elbow into ribs and push away

PJ

Ukes individual and combining sequence of the 5 ukes (Jodan uke, Chudan uke, Soto uke, Gidan barai, Gidan uke)
Three throws Pull with front hand to hip, step forward and strike to chin / throat with advancing hand Pull with front hat to hip, step forward with chudan uke as hammerfirst Strong front arm gidan barai (uke) as sweep to block strike and spin them to expose the back

Brian

Mawashi Empi style drill
Left leg forward, set forward right leg rising elbow (R) (12h), turn to 6h Mawashi Empi (L), 3h dropping elbow (R), 9h hammer down elbow (L). Then with pads - need to remember footwork.
Free striking to pads with elbows, several strikes them get away.
Defensive, cover, crash, technique then get away.

Bo lesson

Kihon gata

Killing Time

Things are obviously staring to move on with regard to the current situation.   With my work, we are preparing for offices across Europe to re-open, but for me I'm in a state of Limbo.  It'd fairly certain my son won't be going back to School until September at the earliest.  For me, I don't really know what will be happening for the next few months or even until the end of the year.

Warm down kata 0806

What is required for work the next few months is already mapped out and 95% percent of the facets of my work can be done from home, until the main London office becomes re-occupied.  That isn'yt expected to be until maybe mid-August at the earliest.  However, as I am on the list of people who are expected to shield, they have only given an indication of what is expected until the end of the month.  That gives me a kind of limbo that means just now I am killing time until the point that I do know something more definite.  I many ways I am lucky, but I don't think anyone finds the limbo easy to deal with.

Kihons and kata

Karate is my touchstone for both physical and mental health, and overcoming the self-doubts caused the comments of others was an important thing.  Now I can carry on focusing on something I really enjoy doing, Due to the lack of room both inside and outside, for two people to train without close contact, I now take it in turns with my son, when we can, to make use of the outside, that seems to be working better too for both of us. 

After the rain

Towards the end of last week, I got a mail about something I had to check that I had been worrying about, and to be honest I was a bit nervous about looking to see how bad something was (not health or jobwise fortunately).  Missing out on Karate on the Saturday morning didn't help, but at least I made up for it with a training session based upon some ideas from my Sensei in the afternoon, and then on Sunday we had the Karate for Mental Health webinar to foucus on.  Some really excellent teachers there, and some good material to work on.

After the lesson (1106)

So today I took a look at what it was that was worrying me, as I have come to appreciate, sticking your head in the sand when decisions have to be made just doesn't work,  Things were as bad as I thought they might be, maybe a bit worse.  However, it was something I had anticipated and now I just have to get on with dealing with it, and it should be manageable.  There is actually a big release when you face up to something you have to deal with. So felt a lot less stressed going into today;s lesson which was a really good workout with a lot of sweat......

1306 Practice

So now to get on with things, work, karate, and those aspects of life that can be worked on, and for the rest it remains one day at a time.

Karate for Mental Health 14 06 20

Kata to coll down after today's lesson (1506)

Lessons and sessions

0806

Fundamentals
punches, ukes, kicks, including tobi mai geri,
kihon gata to Nanadan (7th), both sides
Naihanchi Shodan

1106

Kata
Pad work - punch. elbow, knee, hammerfist, palm strike, head butt


1306

Missed lesson - did short session based on instruction from my Sensei

3x1 minute shadow work rounds

1st round simple combos

2nd round clinch range strikes

3rd round ground techniques

1406

Seminar on Karate for Mental Health

Pad work - Brian Bates
Kata - Chris Hanson
Deep breathing - Don Came
Discussion - Les Bubka

1506

Zenkutsu dachi steps and steps with punches
Shiko dachi steps 
Naihanchi Dachi steps
Kata
The three Naihanchis, performance on Shodan and Nidan
Pad work - punch, palm, hammer fist, then puch, palm, palm, hammerfist combinatiom
Pad work, elbow strikes

Basic bo and the value of variety.

It's been an interesting week.  Workwise challenging, karate wise, a few unexpected variations thrown in.  At least one new technique to me (jumping front kick), and an extra lesson (in bo).  What was good was that something I had been struggling with in bo clicked into place, always a good feeling ☺☺☺☺

5th and 6th of May

On a personal level, karate is one of the things that keeps me motivated, and definitely the one that most helps me stay calmer in challenging circumstances.  There are a good few of those when there are four of you all under the same roof for what is now the eighth week, I would imagine even people without issues would struggle. Deep breathing, being able to let things go for the most part, doing kata and working on the pads ll play their, part.  Lessons and practice give something to effectively plan the week on, work allowing, and so we get by.

Just as the Sun goes down

This week the lessons concentrated on fundamentals, kata, a different interpretation of some of Naihanchi, kicks, the quadrant drill and pad work.  The different interpretation of Naihanchi involves a pull back into Shiko dachi, coupled with a palm strike, covering pulling hand, step back into Zenkutsu dachi to extend arm then arm bar.   We also did a few less often practised kicks in the jumping front kick (I actually got off the ground! ☺☺☺), spinning back and hook kicks.  The spinning back kick I can just about do now, but the spinning hook kick is a little ways off.  

Then there was an unexpected extra, a bo lesson, before my tablet ovrheated (hot day on Saturday!!).  It was just going through the kihon kata (outlined below).  I finally worked out what I was doing wrong on the up strikes of the first four (sometimes drawing back to the wrong side), so now I can practice them correctly ☺☺☺☺

Another good week in the virtual dojo! ☺☺☺☺

Bo kihon and improv.

Contents of the lessons

0405

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal opening
Receiving techniques - slow and fast both sides
Punches - slow and fast both sides
Kicks  - slow and fast both sides
Other techniques, hisa geri, ashai uke, shuto,
Kata

0705

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal opening
Kata
Naihanchi Shodan, Nidan
Fighting stance,
Step back into Shiko dachi
Rh pull back, Lh pslm strike
Lh cover on Rh
L leg step back into Zenkutsu dachi
Lh, Rh drag back to left hip
R leg step through into arm bar
Quadrant drill, through to Ashai uke

Sunday working

0905

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal opening
Working on kicks - with and without chair
Yoko geri, Ushiro geri. Mawashi geri, Mai geii
Then
Jumping front kick. Fighting stance, swap guard, raise leg as if going to do Mai geri, hop and do front leg Mai geri.
Spinning back kick. Fighting stance, front leg across then continue rotation 270 degrees  until side on.  Deliver back kick, rotate same direction back to fighting stance.
Spinning hookkick. Fighting stance, front leg across then continue rotation ??? degrees until ??????.
Extend back leg out straight and continue spin with leg out back to fighting stance
Pad work, hook RH, LH, hammer fist RH, LH, palm strike RH, LH,cutting elbow, RH, LH,
Combinations, RH LH, hook, hammer fist, palm strike, elbow.  RH LH, 4 each hook, hammerfist, palm strike, elbow.
Naihanchi Shodan

Bo

Lost video for warm up

Kihon kata

Shodan - Fighting stance - Cat stance strike up, step forward into Shiko dachi, strike down, back into Cat stance, strike up.
Nidan- Step out into left fighting stance, transfer bo - Cat stance strike up, step forward into Shiko dachi, strike down, back into Cat stance, strike up.
Sandan - Fighting stance - Cat stance strike up, step back into Shiko dachi, strike down, forward into Cat stance, strike up.
Yondan - Step out into left fighting stance, transfer bo - Cat stance strike up, step back into Shiko dachi, strike down, back into Cat stance, strike up.
Godan - bo in front horizontally hands at 1/3 point either side,.Put bo out from body and look at left tip, rotate to right swapping over hands, eyes track tip, pull bo into body look to centre. Put bo out from body and look at right tip, rotate to left swapping over hands, eyes track tip, pull bo into body look to centre.
Rokudan- bo in front horizontally hands at 1/3 point either side,.Put bo out from body and look at left tip, rotate to right swapping over hands, eyes track tip. Step out right into Shiko dachi, leaving bo in postion, strike out at rotate bo, right arm full length with bo under left armpit. Pull back from Shik dachi and bring bo back to centre, pull bo into body look to centre. Put bo out from body and look at right tip, rotate to left swapping over hands, eyes track tip. Step out left into Shiko dachi, leaving bo in postion, strike out at rotate bo, left arm full length with bo under right armpit. Pull back from Shiko dachi and bring bo back to centre, pull bo into body look to centre.

Then my tablet overheated, bringing the lesson for me to an end.

Lockdown blues

The lock down is beginning to take it's toll mentally now, as we are in to the 7th week for me.  Karate is one of the main mechanisms for me to recharge my batteries and attempt to stay fresh, but it is a challenge to battle the lockdown blues

Short workout based on Monday's lesson

Being able to go outdoors (albeit only into the back garden) to practice and train helps, but with the rain over the last week, that wasn't always possible.  Still we have to keep going.  Thursday was the hardest lesson to make, as some work needed finishing off before I would start, so I missed the first part of the lesson that day.

Still, some training is better than no training and I wasn't going to miss out.  During the week we worked on the usual mix of kata, drills and fundamentals, with some simple pad work, but mixed up so that we do the same things but in different ways and different combinations. This emphasises that outside of kata, it's the substance of what you do that's important.  

Naihanchi hands

Found out the results of the online kata competition I took part in, which was that I came last in my group.  However, my Naihanchi Shodan does look like it's improving so I can't complain.  I have been working on a hands only version of the kata over the last week, to try and improve that side of the kata and hopefully it's having an effect.

Did what I thought was going to be a Synchronised kata event after the Saturday lesson, but looks like I may have been one of the few people who gave it a go.   There was no live stream with it, so didn't know until afterwards, but doing 45 minutes of kata isn't a bad thing anyway ☺☺☺☺☺

Short workout on Sunday based on lessons, etc

The weeks lesson content:

27-04

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal start to lesson
Kata, practice all through to Pinan Shodan, performance of highest kata known properly
Doing blocks in yoi rather than shiko dachi
Jodan uke - reverse punch
Chudan uke - reverse punch
Gidan uke - reverse punch, remember to make both arms work together on Gidan uke

30-04

Missed first part of lesson (warm-up) due to work
Mokosu
Formal start to lesson
After Palm strike (escape)
Multiple palm strikes (escape)
Palm strike, crash (escape)
Palm stike, crash, knees (escape)
Talk through many interpretations of Naihanchi
Padwork - Palm strike, crash, knees, stamp, 

02-05

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal start to lesson
Kicks (Mai geri, Ushiro geri, Yoku geri, Mai geri)
Solo drills, jab cross, hammer fist, stamping kick, elbow. as individual techniques then combinations
Padwork, hooks, elbow and shoulder striking Combinations 3 in 1
Punching from a sit down to upright position and punching to a pad from our knees,
Kata

Competition kata

Karate, kata, forms and relaxation

A stressful week from a personal point of view, but an interesting one from a karate viewpoint.  Started off being a bit down, as I keep repeating the same mistakes in my Naihanchi Shodan, plus some other things non-karate related.  So I did what I usually do, look for something to throw myself into to stop myself  brooding on things, that was to look into a Quijong form Eight Brocades.  It's a good self contained form of exercise, that can be practiced as individual elements or as a whole, with as few or many repetitions as you want, or have time for.

Of course from a karate stand point, we had the regular three online lessons, which are summarized at the end.   The Monday lesson was something different, then the Thursday and Saturday lessons were polishing up kihon gata and the Quadrant drill. Typically, when not feeling too hot about my kata, in the middle of the week our Sensei told us about an online competition being organised by another club to which we were invited.  I toyed with the idea of not competing, but then the "don't give up" part of me kicked in and I have given it a go.  Still had a twist in the tale though, I recorded it in a black gi, then had a thought... Our dojo wears white for representative combinations, so asked our Sensei and sure enough, needed to re-record.  Home dojo has a lot to answer for lol.

There are still mistakes in my Naihanchi Shodan, but have realised they are mostly in one direction.  My left hand side actions are not too bad but on the other side, not so hot.  After talking to my Sensei am going to start specifically doing the hand movements on their own, in order to check my observations and work on improving my techniques.

The end of the week Karate wise was quite fun though, we entered in to Iain Abernethy's  Karate pub quiz, with our team having face time on Zoom (same as we use for training).  So nice to interact socially again, a few drinks were had, and I even got a couple of questions right ☺☺☺ An absolutely brilliant way to end the week, and a big thank you to my team mates: Alison, Ben (both our Sensei), Elisha, Chloe, Sam, Marian, Koen and Anita, tor making it such a fun occasion!!!! 🙏🙏🙏.


Our lessons:

20-04

Warm up,
Mokosu, formal opening
Stepping in combat stance, forwards, backwards, left and right.
Forward step, jab, back step
Forward step, jab, reverse punch, back step
Forward step, reverse punch, front leg sweep (Ashi Barai), back step
Forward step, reverse punch, Ashi Barai, reverse kneeling punch to grounded opponent, step back
Kata, up to Naihanchi Sandan, perfomance (Naihanchi Shodan)
Shadow sparring to called combinations
Warm down kata

Tuesday workout including Monday's lesson content and Eight Brocades

23-04

Warm up,
Mokosu, formal opening
Kihon gata:
Shodan - Jab, reverse punch, Mae Geri Nidan - Mae Geri, jab, reverse punch Sandan - Jab, reverse punch, Mawashi Geri off front leg Yondan - Mawashi Geri off front leg, 2 punch combination Godan - Right Mawashi Geri (land in front), left Mawashi geri (land in front), reverse punch, jab. Rokudan - Ashi uke, jab, cross, Mawashi Geri Nanadan - Mae Geri (land in front) right jab, back kick Hachidan - Mae Geri (land in front), back kick, reverse punch Kyudan - Shuffle, backhand forehand punch, shuffle, backhand forehand punch, right then left mawashi geri, ushiro mawashi geri Judan -Shuffle, backhand forehand punch, shuffle, backhand forehand punch, right then left mawashi geri, hisa geri

The competion Video that wasn't

25-04

Warm up,
Mokosu, formal opening
Kata
Then working on the first half om the Quadrant drill
Jab, cross. hook
Hammerfist, looping left, hook
Backhand slap, elbow, step back left knee, step back, right knee
Headbutt, break grasp, shoulder barge.

Kihon gata, Quadrant drill workout

A trinity of training

This has been more of a doing rather than a blogging week: for both my physical and mental health , I have thrown myself a little more into the practical side, trying to do my own workouts, incorporating refreshers of the previous lesson(s) where possible,  I think to start with I will leave Sunday as a day off and concentrate on actually doing two 20 to 25 minute sessions on the Tuesdays and Thursdays (as I did this week), gradually building them up to 30 minutes OR adding another session on the Sunday.  

This all depends on circumstances of course.  However, I think having some plan, any plan to focus on, is a major must have in trying to cope with the isolation and frustrations of been cooped up, that I am sure everyone is feeling right now.  I have been luck to find online mentors in Robey Jenkins, Noah Legel and Les Bubka, who have helped me develop my own cardio, breathing and relaxation routine to complement the wonderful work that Ben and Alison do with us and our families, so to all five a massive thank you 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙇🙇🙇🙇🙇✊✊✊✊✊

The dojo diary this week is as given below. All were enjoyable lessons, and although I struggle in places (out at midday today was one of them lol), in general I'm getting through them with only the odd hiccup:

0604

Warm up
Mokosu and formal opening
punches, kicks and receiving techniques
Solo pad work, building up jab, cross, elbow knee combinations
Drilling the combination worked out on the pads
Shadow sparring
Kata - Naihanchi Shodan only.

0904

Warm up
Mokosu and formal opening
Quadrant drill
Jab, cross. hook
Hammerfist, looping left, hook
Backhand slap, elbow, step back left knee, step back, right knee
Headbutt, break grasp, shoulder barge.
Right mawashi-geri, land behind, swap stance,, left mawashi geri, land behind, swap stance, right mawashi geri, hold on kick, land behind, right mawashi geri, spin through, land in fighting stance, ashe uke
Mai geri, ball of foot to solar plexus, mai geri, ball of foot to solar plexus, mai geri, top of foot to groin
Left back fist, cross, jab, cross, jab
Right lower punch to organs, left lower punch to organs, right lower punch, bob and weave, step back open hand
Kata - Naihanchi Shodan only

1104

Warm up 
Mokosu and formal opening
Kicks, slow to knee, hold, extend, hold.  5 slow, then 5 fast:
Mai geri, right then left.
Ushiro geri, right then left
Yoku geri, right then left
Mawashi geri, right then left
Reminded to use chair to practice for balance, as per one of last week's lessons
Pad work, both sides working up to three strike combination.
Cross, Elbow, Cross then elbow, Knee, Cross, Elbow, knee
Finally 10 times through combination each side