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

Breathing in Deeply (Tensho)

With my recent chest infection, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to work on my breathing.   I took a facebook mentorship under my friend Noah Legel, in order to work on breathing techniques.

Under his supervision, I am trying to work with the kata Tensho, in two separate ways. 

1) Deep breathing, taking deep breaths to and exhaling using the diaphragm, after 6 seconds.  
2) Breathing to match actions, as with the breathing pattern used in Tensho, again exhaling from the diaphragm.

I started out using a short step sequence, with the 6 second breathing, then went onto a longer step sequence, again with the six second pattern.   Currently I am working on the hand sequences, with breathing to match.

I have done some videos to demonstrate my progress to Noah, and these are shown below for anyone who is interested in what I am up to.  

Tensho Steps - First Attempt

Tensho Steps - 6 seconds

Tensho Hands

 Today for the first time in ages, I was able to train without wheezing ot coughing, but now I've got to work on my stamina again, as that has suffered somewhat over the last six or seven weeks, whilst I have had the infection.

So I will keep on keeping on...... ☺☺☺

Dojo blues

The cold and damp don't agree with my conditions and I'm still suffering from the cold / minor chest infection.  It kind of gives me the Dojo blues because I get frustrated with myself only being able to get to 70 to 80% of where I would expect to be 😕 From a health point of view however, the workouts do me good as I get to sweat out some of the cold, etc.

On Saturday our warm  up included some different core exercises on our backs.  Then it was on to Kata, and I now perform Naihanchi Nidan as my highest known Kata 😋.  After that we went through fundamentals, and with one of our other Sensei there, that was enough for one of our white belts to grade  to yellow belt 😋

Then it was on to drills:
Punching out of a situation - feet, knees, sitting, on our backs
Naihanchi drill in pyramid form. Do element one, then elements one and two, then elements one, two and three
Pull hands down; pull down, jab; pull down, jab, back hand punch
change partner and add three elements
head butt; head butt, knee; head butt, knee, opposite knee
change partner add final three elements
backhand slap; backhand slap, elbow; backhand slap, elbow, drag and neck take down
Full drill: Pull hands down, jab, backhand punch, headbutt, knee, opposite knee, backhand slap, elbow, arm drag and neck take down.

Finally it was on to Kumite, I only managed 1st out of three before I got winded, but session certainly helped health wise. 😋  Earlier in the week I had managed to attend another class with the same intent, that class was small so we worked on Kata and Bojutsu.

Earlier on the Saturday, in his class my son got to perform Pinan Shodan all the way through for the first time 😋 His practicing at home has paid off, and he was one happy boy, who got plenty of encouragement from his Sensei too 😋😋

Dojo basics

Saturday's Dojo session was back to basics,  The warm up exercises included stretches, cami rolls and break falls.  After that, it was on to Kata.

For Kata, we went through Naihanchi Shodan to Passai Sho.  Each one was done step by step and then performance, with people who don't know the Kata dropping out on the performance part.  I only did Naihanchi Shodan as performance, because although I know the basic flow of Nidan and Sandan, I don;t think it's good enough to do perform in the Dojo as yet.

From there on, it was pad work drills with different partners, following the Naihanchi Shodan Kata 
Naihanchi pad drills following the Kata sequence.  We went through:

Crashes, 
Head control to knee strikes, 
Elbow strikes, 
Re-directions, 
Punch and Stamping kick combinations  (knee, ankle, shin, inside leg)
Arm drag, head control and over-hip take-down with punch, 
Followed by final stamping kick and away

It was any enjoyable lesson, but what was more enjoyable was the realisation that I am noticing the difference in getting through lessons 😊😊😊  The combination of  exercise and a change in medication is definitely working just now for me 😊😊😊.   There were definitely pains the next day though lol, I nice Okinowan tattoo on the inside of my ankle and aches all over, the price for improvement 💖💓😈

Competition, good news and Dojo day after.

This is by way of a multiple blog because so much happened in two days:

Competition 06/10/19:

I had triple nerves, both as a competitor and a father, as both me and my son were competing.  But I didn't need to worry.  It was at Inter-Club level, so not as intense,  Results were:

Son - NSa 2nd out or 6
Me - NSh  3rd out of 4
Kumite Son - 1 - 1 points, lost on extra minute 1st point

My son thought he had done better in the Kumite, but accepted the result, proud of him,  it was a wonderful day 😁😁.  Our Dojo won 13 medals in total, but more importantly was fun competing with friends.  Than you to my Sensei and all from the Matsuri Dojos.  A special thank you to Sensei Darren Hollis of the Stevenage Dojo for his encouraging words 😊😊.

Good News

First test results had been inconclusive, but lung age suggested 30 years older
Nurse appointment - new breath test, but said my description of what I did (karate, walking etc) and effects of steroid inhaler said differently
Doctor appointment - results from new breath test not fully uploaded, but showed oxygen levels improved to 97% and continued use of steroid inhaler may give some more improvement

Dojo day after

Lots of aches from the last two days.  We did Some different stretches and core exercises in warm up, then on to Kata: Naihanchi Shodan, followed by Kata and other drills with different partners:

Naihanchi crash - plus add ons
Pinan Crash, punch, arm control - plus add ons
Tegumi style, arm block, finger strike, hammer fist to arm, arm control - plus add ons

Then on to Kobudo, where we did Bo Kihon Katas.  What made it more fun was that my son, who was watching, was invited to take part by Sensei Alison.  He's been wanting to do Kobudo for ages, so all in all a really good few days 😁😁😁

Life after Grading

So, the first session as an orange belt.  Kind of strange, because most of the class had graded the week before and so we should have all known where to line up for Seiretsu, but we  were all looking at belts to get where to go, though in truth it was no different to normal, other than we also had a visiting Sensei (Graham), from one of our other dojos, there as well.

After the warm up (rolls, break falls, shrimping, stretches) and formal opening, we were in to toughening exercises, first kicks then "Kote kitae" (arm work).  At this moment in time, it seems my training partners are somewhat more proficient than me with Mawashi Geri kicks, it's the second week in a row that my Vegas nerve seems to have a big "kick me" sign on it.  I think I caught three or four on the trot on one leg, sheesh, I think I need to work on that one 😞  

Then it was on to a two person drill with different partners.  We were doing the quadrant drill featured in an earlier blog, with its combinations of hay maker, hammer fist, back fist and elbow receiving techniques, including counter strikes; followed by ridge hand strikes, gable grip pull down, knee strikes and head butt.  Working with different partners gives experience of adjusting techniques to accommodate different shapes and sizes of opponent.

Then it was on to Kata.  For me, I was concentrating on Naihanchi Shodan as ever, but was also allowed to do my  first performance version of Naihanchi Nidan in class, so I think I'm improving 😊  Got some good one-on-one time with Sensei Ben in doing Shodan, and apparently the intent emphasis of my Kata is coming on well.  So happy there too😊.

We finished off with pad work based on the Kihon katas, so a good varied lesson.  We have an inter-dojo competition coming up, so I get to test my performance of Naihachi Shodan competitively again.  Am looking forward to that, also my son wants to go to do full contact Kumite and Kata, so will be a dose of double nerves again, both as a dad and a competitor 😊 😊

Monday Night dojo life

On a few days leave at the moment, so went to the Dojo for the Monday night session.  Quite a varied lesson, which I find a good thing 😊.  We started off with core drills, including sprints, crawling, forward rolls, and the shrimp followed by some stretches.

This was followed by transition practise, step through in Zenkutzu Dachi and various uke / tsuki combinations with proper mawatte techniques.  This was followed by Kata practice: For me Naihanchi Shodan with a run through of Nidan and Sandan.

After Kata, we went to try Tai Sabaki (body management) - with our Sensei trying to hit with a padded kendo style stick.   The trick was to evade, first of all to a lunge by stepping away, followed by a head swipe followed by ducking.  After that, we had to evade a leg swipe by jumping, followed by a head / leg swipe combination by ducking then jumping.  Finally, we had to evade a lunge by swaying, followed by evading a lunge, head swipe, leg swipe, lunge combination by stepping, ducking, jumping and swaying.

We then worked in pairs to evade forehand and backhand punches by parrying and stepping away to the outside, followed by delivering a return punch from the side.  We followed this by trying to evade random forehand or backhand punches.   The last part of the lesson was padwork for mawashi geris / punches / 4 punches, followed by front foot mai geri and a spinning kick / uke to random head and leg strikes.


Finally, we did Naihanchi Shodan cool down to end the lesson; plenty of variety and new things to remember.  Awesome 😊🙏

Go with the flow

Yesterday's session in the Dojo was mostly about drills.  We started off with sprinting and breakfalls (which i ran of out steam on 😢), including being able to kick and roll through.  This was followed by a short Kata session doing Naihanchi Shodan.

Then we started with the flow drills, after our Sensei quoted Geoff Thompson that attackers usually follow the 4 Ds "Dialogue, deceive, distract, destroy", We started role playing various simple scenarios leading through to destroy, including blocking the first blow and locking on to the arm to take control, and turning into an attack from behind using the head protecting "crash" from Naihanchi Shodan.

Then, regularly swapping partners, we went through flow drills based on both the Naihanchi and Pinan families of Kata. There were many different scenarios visited, but some of the key elements worked in included arm bars, arm locks, counters to hay makers (including the use of Gidan Uke), knee strikes, neck take downs using ridge hands. There was also some ground work covered, break falls, use of kicks to keep the attacker distant, scissor leg takedowns and recovery.

Finally, we did some more free form work, using attacks and defences from the drills. Not full kumite, but challenging nonetheless. All in all, apart again from my stamina, a great session. 😊😊😊 Having some tests soon to look at the stamina / breathing issues.

Dojo Work: Basics and a little bit of wrestling

Saturday in the Dojo was definitely a back to basics day.   The warm up included breakfalls and shrimping escapes, crawling and rolls, then it was basics time, punches, receiving techniques and kicks.

Some of my kicks are showing signs of improvement, but my Yoko Geri is still pretty awful 😞 But I'm not the only one struggling with some kicks, so our Sensei got us to partner up and do some kicking to pads.  My Ushiro Geri is looking better, as is my Mawashi Geri, but one of my biggest faults is not using my hands properly as part of the techniques,  so more practise needed.  

After that was a lighter spot, as we practised Sumo style grappling, either with the one getting a fall or their opponent out of the marked area being the winner.   Although Sumo is a Japanese Martial Art, as ever there is an Okinawan equivalent, which I looked up as I couldn't remember the name 😞.  It seems there are a few names, Shima (a martial art in its own right), Tegumi (Naha) or Mutō (Shuri or Tomari).  Well I won one, lost one, so wasn't too bad by my standards anyway 😊

Finally on to Kata, and practise of Naihanchi Shodan and a run through of Nidan.  We did both single step and performance versions of the Katas, whilst the higher grades went on to practise Sandan upwards.  Finally, in pairs we did performance versions of our next needed Kata, scrutinized by our Sensei.  For me, that was Shodan and apparently I have made a lot of improvement.  So the regular practice certainly pays off 😊😊

Our dojo has been asked to perform a demonstration for charity, so me and my son are both looking to give it a go. Should be fun and for a good cause 😊😊

In the Dojo: Core and Flow

The Thursday session in the Dojo was a low key affair, a lot of the time I was working with my son, as the only other students were another family pair, mother and daughter.  Stretches, Kata, and a particular "sticky hands" drill were memorable from that session.

Today's session in the Dojo was somewhat different:  I was wary of today as it was the first time I have ever done 5 consecutive sessions, and have been running low on stamina in some of them, but I needn't have worried.  We started off with core strengthening exercises (the shrimp, back breakfall and shrimp escape, front breakfalls, back breakfalls and rolls, forward rolls) and for the first time I managed to try the whole lot. 😊😊😊

After that, was a run through the fundamentals, punches, receiving, kicks and other stuff, such as hisa-geri, shuto and uke.  And then on to flow drills.  The quadrant drill presented (but not named) in an earlier blog was the core of the work, but we practised in in segments to start off with, firstly on the pads and then with our partner.  Each segment was done with a different partner.   The drill as a whole is presented again here for the sake of completeness:


#1   LH jab                        #2 RH parry, head to right
#1  RH cross                     #2 LH parry, head to left
#1   LH hook                    #2 Step in, two handed upper arm block and spread (Nidan)
#1  RH hammer fist         #2 Step back, cross arm block
#1  LH hook                     #2 Step in, two handed upper arm block, inc LH shuto to neck
#1  RH hook                     #2 Step back to cat stance, LH block
#1  LH backfist               #2 RH receive   
#1  Forearm  strike         #2 Naihanchi block, LH palm up RH palm down
#1  LH uppercut to ribs #2 RH Gedan Uke
#1 RH uppercut to ribs   #2 LH Gedan Uke
#1 LH haito to neck
#1 RH haito to neck
#1 grasp behind neck, using thumbs as 5th finger (gable lock)
#1 pull head down  switch leg back
#1 left knee strike
#1 switch legs, right knee strike
                                        #2 Head up, break out, link hands
#1 head butt

This was followed by the sticky hands drill as done in the Thursday lesson, with a partner inside block to inside block then base of hand to base of  hand and keep swapping wrist grasps.  Done firstly RH to RH, then LH to LH.  

We finished off with 10 minutes of pad work, followed by Naihanchi Shodan to warm down, a thoroughly challenging but fun lesson 😊😊😊