Karate: A Family Affair

OK, the title might be a little misleading — but to me, the dojo members are like extended family, and my son is family, so you could say Karate is a family affair for us. 🙂

This week we were lucky enough to train with — tongue in cheek — the “Granddad” of our dojo: Sensei Nohara (10th Dan), President of the Ryukyukan International Karate and Kobudo Federation. He came to give a seminar, and I think he brought the Okinawan weather with him, as the dojo was distinctly hot and humid! Due to my condition, I couldn't train nearly as much as I wanted — but opportunities like this don’t come around often, and they’re not to be missed. 🙂

We trained again on Saturday, marking the first time in five years that both my son and I had been to the dojo twice in one week. That session was a bit of a struggle, thanks to the after-effects of a rather large and spicy pizza the night before! Still, I managed much more of the lesson than I expected, and my son picked up a few more drills than I did — which led us nicely into a Father’s Day follow-up.

My Father’s Day suggestion to him was:

“Go beat me up — then I can do the same back.”

Given that he's bigger than me and a higher grade, it felt like a fair challenge! 🤣

We began with a drill I wrote down two weeks ago (see below), then moved on to material from our previous session — before I inevitably ran out of steam. We practiced kata up to Pinan Shodan, and I shared a few ideas I’d been exploring from a White Crane form I’ve been working on. Honestly, it was some of the best father-son work we’ve ever done. We both finished soaked in sweat, and with grins to match.

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Starting Drill

1. Attacker (with pads) advances toward defender
→ Defender: verbal command + fence stance

2. Attacker strikes pads to sides of defender’s head
→ Defender: backhand palm strike to pads (head)

3. Attacker throws a roundhouse punch
→ Defender: triangular frame block, protecting head

4. Attacker drops pads to simulate a knee strike
→ Defender: bridges onto attacker’s shoulder and pushes down
→ Then: two knee strikes, followed by release

5. Attacker raises pads for an elbow strike
→ Defender: bridges to pads, delivers two elbow strikes
→ Then: releases bridging hand

6. Defender grabs attacker's wrist (opposite side of bridge)
→ Former bridging hand slaps attacker’s head
→ Body rotates in direction of pull, extending and rotating attacker's arm
→ Slapping hand moves to attacker’s elbow, forcing it downward
→ Rotation continues into an arm bar

7. Attacker is taken to the ground

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To all the dads out there — Happy Father’s Day, and I hope you get time with your loved ones to sweat, laugh, and share a few bruises in good spirit.  And to all the mums, thank you for putting up with us.

Thanks as always to those of you who read this.
– REY, 15/06/2025

May to September Karate Diary

 

May to September was a torrid time, but although I stopped formal lessons for a while, I didn't stop practicing.  For the record, I documented it all, although I didn't do any blogs, so here are all the videos.  The shorts seem to be popular, as well as the video (in training) of my son catching me in the crown jewels lol.

May to September Shorts

May to September Practice

May to June Lessons

July to September Lessons

Nunchaku, Family and commitment

Last week was week 9 of lockdown for me, and being on the "at risk" list is more worrying than ever, with it seeming like people are being asked to go back to work before there is any proper kind of control on Covid-19. That said, karate training is my rock in uncertain times and never fails to deliver in terms of variety with stability, kata, fundamentals and the quadrant drill always feature somewhere in the mix.  

Sunday working (1005)

The variety this week was in the form of one lesson featuring the use of fundamentals in a dynamic rather than static setting, working on various stance transitions away from the kata, and some variations in pad work.  My kata work is improving, so I now get to perform our second kata as my highest known in lessons, and we had another lesson in kobudo, this time in Nunchaku fundamentals.  ☺☺☺ This is when commitment pays off ☺☺☺.

1105 after the lesson ends, one more kata outside

I especially enjoy being allowed to perform Naihanchi Nidan, but will still keep the emphasis on practising Naihanchi Shodan. There are many common elements I still need to work on, such as transitioning, the double uke and backfists.

The Nunchaku lesson consisted of the start of the kata taught in by dojo, the "Hamahiga" kata broken down into simple actions, then put together into a longer sequence practised on both sides.

1405 Kata calling

The final action of the week involved something I had actually planned as a FB live feed between me and my sister, with a few others invited online to attend.  I originally had the idea of me doing kata for 30 minutes, whilst my sister did her Tai Chi forms. with maybe her grand childen doing their exercise routines.  On the day though. it developed into something else, as my son wanted to join in.  So we did a live chat instead, where my son and i took turns to demonstrate kata or kobudo basics, whilst the other chatted with our family in France.  They in turn shared videos of what they were up to.  All in all, a brilliant end to the day and the week ☺☺☺

1305 Outdoor session including the Quadrant drill

1105

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal opening
Kata
Quadrant drill

Lesson reminder from 1405

1405

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal opening
KataShuto Uke
Cat Stance steps
Yoi, turn right into Cat Stance, RH Shuto Uke, Left foot forward into Zenkutsu dachi, LH Gidan Tsuki. Retutn to yoi, turn left into Cat Stance, LH Shuto Uke, Right foot forward into Zenkutsu dachi, RH Gidan Tsuki.
Naihanchi Steps
R side then L side fighting stance, Jodan Uke, backhand punch.
R side then L side fighting stance, Chudan Uke, backhand punch.
R side then L side fighting stance, Gidan Uke, backhand punch.
R side then L side fighting stance Jodan Uke, Chudan Uke, Gidan Uke, back hand punch
R side then L side fighting stance, front foot sweep kick, kneeling Gidan Tsuki
R side then L side fighting stance, jab, cross, front foot sweep kick, kneeling Gidan Tsuki
Kata, practice to Naihanchi Sandan, performance to Nidan

Time lapse of Padwork recap of 1605

The final action of the week involved something I had actually planned as a FB live feed between me and my sister, with a few others invited online to attend.  I originally had the idea of me doing kata for 30 minutes, whilst my sister did her Tai Chi forms. with maybe her grand childen doing their exercise routines.  On the day though. it developed into something else, as my son wanted to join in.  So we did a live chat instead, where my son and i took turns to demonstrate kata or kobudo basics, whilst the other chatted with our family in France.  They in turn shared videos of what they were up to.  All in all, a brilliant end to the day and the week ☺☺☺

1605

Warm up
Mokosu
Formal opening
KataFundamentals (Punches, Receiving techniques kicks)
Pad work: Crash, left knee, right knee, RH slap, elbow, pull in to R hip, hook, hammerfirst hook

Kata with family including Nunchaku

Nunchaku

Nunchaku by left side
Step out into yoi, tension Nunchaku at eye level
Step forward RF into Shiko dachi, hammer down RH (LH Nunchaku held horizontal, RH Nunchaku held vertical.
Touch both Nunchaku to R forearm, then Front hand and Nunchaku comes through the middle to vertical over the R shoulder.  Back hand and Nuchaku go round the outside to vertical behind the R shoulder.
Back hand releases and comes back to guard, front hand flips Nunchaku forward, and from the wrist performs several figure of eights.
Nunchaku flipped to guarding hand and trapped step out to Yoi.

Step forward LF into Shiko dachi, hammer down LH (RH Nunchaku held horizontal, KH Nunchaku held vertical.
Touch both Nunchaku to L forearm, then Front hand and Nunchaku comes through the middle to vertical over the L shoulder.  Back hand and Nuchaku go round the outside to vertical behind the L  shoulder.
Back hand releases and comes back to guard, front hand flips Nunchaku forward, and from the wrist performs several figure of eights.
Nunchaku flipped to guarding hand and trapped step out to Yoi.


kata with family

Three times a week...

The three times a week pattern is starting to fit in now, both with work and home life.  This week to two midweek lessons were quite contrasting, in more ways than one.  The Monday lesson concentrated on the use of a chair to help practice kicking, whilst the Thursday lesson concentrated on being able to put together different sequences of strikes.   Kata is an almost ever present in lessons, but now shadow sparring (or free or solo sparring) is starting to become a regular element too.  
For me though, the importgant thing is being able train three times a week and spend time outdoors.  It gives my weeks a structure to pin things on, along with work, it helps my general fitness levels since I cannot go outside and walk, and helps me cope mentally.  Oh and it also helps by karate (especially kata) to noticably progress.

The 30-03-20 Monday lesson took the form of:

20 minute warm up
Formal opening
Naihanchi Shodan, called then performance, then perform highest kata you bsn
Use of a chair. To support on one side whilst moving between kicks, then swap to other side
Use of a chair, to hold position over and kick over.  For example mawashi geri, lift knee into kicking position of vhair, hold then kick.  Perform Ushiro geri over chair and hold
Lay on floor, jump up on instruction and carry out random combinations of jab, cross, hook, uppercut
Arm conditioning
Shadow sparring
Called kata to end

Kicks were never my strong point, so maybe working with the use of a chair might help ☺

The 02-04-20 Thurday lesson was made up as follows (more or less):

10 minute warm up
Formal opening
Naihanchi Shodan, called then performance
Combinations, intermixed with Shadow sparring
Jab, cross, hook - sparring
Jab, cross, hook, mai geri, hisa geri -sparring etc
Kihon gata 1 to 10
Shadow sparring - burpee to call - continue
Naihanchi Shodan warm down

I videoed my part in the whole lesson other than the warm up to see how it looked, and the results are shown below.  I also took some of the elements to make myself a simple morning exercise routine, as shown in the earlier video.

Karate had already become a fairly large focus in my life before the Covid-19 lockdown, but now with that in place it has become even more so. ☺☺☺

Saturday streaming

The second Saturday of online training, and sort of beginning to get the hang of things.  All the devices charged this time, links checked and iPad resurrected (I had flattened it so badly it took 3 days on and off to register), so no tech surprises ☺☺☺☺

The nice thing about Saturday training is that I get to go outside with my Son.  On the weekday sessions indoors, there isn't room for us to train together, we have to work in different parts of the house on different devices.  As ever we started with warm ups, Mokuso and formal greetings, which was followed by Kata.

We went through all three of the Naihanchis, with performance on the ones we know.  I did one run through of Naihanchi Nidan, but as instructed most of my work at the moment is trying to improve my Naihanchi Shodan, so there were three or four runs through of that as performance.  When I record copies of the kata I still see mistakes, but the one below recorded after the online session is one of the better ones, probably because I did it slowly.

Atfer that, we briefly improvised combinations, before being given some novel sequences to work on.  Various elements of our Kihon kata, the quadrant drill, plus some other fundamentals were put together in different combinations to build up improvised drills.  There were three sequences we worked on, 1 long and two shorter ones .  The longer one was build up in three stages:

• Jab, cross, hook, right stance
  Jab, cross, hook, left stance

• Jab, cross, hook, knee, right stance
  Jab, cross, hook, knee, left stance
• Jab, cross, hook, knee, mai geri, right stance
  Jab, cross, hook, knee, mai geri, left stance

The second, shorter drill was:

Jab, cross, step up yoku geri, right stance
Jab, cross, step up yoku geri, left stance

The third, short drill was:

Jab, cross, ushiro geri, right stance
Jab, cross,  ushiro geri, left stance

The drills were followed by a few minutes of shadow sparring, followed by a formal close.  I keep thinking it must be difficult to keep coming up with variations, but then I look online and see what is out there.   There a lot of good karateka sharing their ideas as never before, and I think the hardest thing is actually to keep the variations focussed on the specific themes we need to be learning.  Am sure we will be getting plenty of variation nontheless over the next few months  ☺☺☺☺

Back in the Saddle

This was the first time I had ever done an online lesson live.  I've worked from video, but never live with feedback.  My son had done one lesson previously so had done a dry run.  We were going to do the lesson outside using my tablet, but although I had downloaded everything it wouldn't connect.  The dangers of not being able to do a dry run first 😣😣.

Fortunately, we were able to use my son's phone but missed the warm up.

We started off with Kata, I did Naihanchi Shodan and Nidan, my son went up to Pinan Shodan,  This was both on call and performance for each Kata

This was followed by Kihon gata 1 through to 5

1. Jab, back hand punch with twist, mai geri
2. Mai geri, jab, backhand punch with twist
3. Jab, back hand punch with twist, step up, front leg mawashi geri      
4. Step up,front leg mawashi geri, jab, backhand punch with twist  
5. Right mawashi geri, land in front, left mawashi geri,  jab, backhand punch with twist      

After that came solo pad work with spot mitts, individual techniques of head butt, punch across, elbow strikes, knee strikes alternate sides, followed by a combination on right side of head butt, punch across, elbow strike and knee strike.

This was the done as a simple exercise work out: 1 element, burpee, 2 elements, burpee, 3 elements, burpee, 4 elements burpee.

After that we did the first few elements of the Quadrant drill (4 limbs, 4 directions) in combinations:
Jab, backhand punch, left hook
Hammerfist, overhand left, right hook
backslap, elbow, left uppercut, right uppercut (to ribs)

Finally it was kata to warm down, with Naihanchi Shodan.

A fun lesson, in a format am sure to become used to ☺☺☺.  Below is a revision video of the lesson I did today

Back in the Saddle revision

Why Karate, but particularly my style, is right for me

I think I have been lucky in finding a style of Karate that suits my needs first time. I think any style of Karate would be good for Cardio-Vascular exercise, provided the person's limitations are taken into account.   However from my journey so far, I can honestly say sports Karate would not have been for me.   Finding out I had COPD later this year was also a big downer, but at the stage it was caught, the exercise we do in the Dojo is highly recommended by my doctor.

The luck started with trying to find my son an activity to make him confident when transferring between schools.  The centre where we looked had both JuJitsu and Karate:  He preferred Karate and in taking him to the lessons I became interested as well.  Not only did it work out for him, it has worked for me, and we now share a common interest 😊 .  Who would have believed we would end up competing and winning medals together?

Where I live has become much rougher in recent years due to police cuts, amongst other things.  I need to learn self defence as well as work out; some of the other styles may well have worked, but Shorin-Ryu seems to meet my needs perfectly.  Of course, having Sensei I both like and respect is a great starting point.

The basic advice to all people wanting to learn self defence is, hopefully, always try to avoid, or avoid conflict or escape if at all possible.  I can try the avoids, and escape if it is at a sane pace.  But for me, it would take a massive amount for me to try running away.  My speed is definitely not a strong point, and younger chasers are always likely to have more stamina.

So for me, learning to hit, kick, forearm strike, knee strike,  etc. to vulnerable parts is an absolute must.  If I have do defend myself, it needs to be done as quickly and effectively as possible and  need to make sure the opponent stays down.

I understand the idea that the sports style of Karate is good for controlling the distance, but for me if I have to engage, I think the only option I would have is to step inside before my attacker expected, so the style I am studying works just fine for me.😊 

That said, the nerd in me loves to see how other styles of Karate do things, and hear other people's stories.  A beginner like me needs to learn one style well, but there is nothing wrong with an open mind or inquisitive personality either.  😊  Also I have always been a lover of history, and Karate offers a wonderful insight into all sorts of aspects, from medieval to modern day.   😊 

Hopefully the journey will continue for a long time, with many more eye opening and positively challenging times to come. 😊 

Monday Night Fright Night - featuring the Nerd

I promised my son I would do another Monday night training session, as he gets to train with the adults as well if we do that.  As it is half term, seemed like the perfect time to do it.  as there is grading next weekend for at least one of our Dojo, it was always going to be an attention to detail session.

After the warm up and formal opening, including Mokuso (silent thoughts, a technique I find useful in real life), we started with Kata.  We did all the Naihanchis and all the Pinans, and got to watch Passai Sho (black belts only).  Everyone got to do the step by step versions of the Katas, then performance up to what they know.  I felk confident enough to perform up to Naihanchi Nidan this time.  My son absolutely loved it, as he had never gone past Pinan Shodan before😊😊.

After Kata,we went on to fundamentals - punches (jodan, chudan, gedan) , receiving techniques (jodan, chudan gedan) , kicks (mae, yoshiro, yoko, mawaishi geri), followed by tsuki, shuto and uke.  As with the Saturday lesson, I tried to do as much of this  as possible fully, the only element I held back on was the quantity of "tsuki"  in the generic section, so I could complete the "uke" section. Currently the last elements aren't in our grading syllabus, but that might change, so it is important to practice all of them.

After that we went through all of the kihon katas, done both right side and left side, 20 in total done this way.  The grading syllabus only includes the right side, so this is the first time I had performed any of them on the left hand side 😊😊. I am gradually becoming more familiar with them, but get a little muddled on the middle ones.  To help me out, I went over them with my Sensei to document them for an aide memoiure.  Below is the full documentation of our kihon katas for the first time by me:

Kihon Kata

Shodan

2 punch combination, Mae Geri

Nidan

Mae Geri, 2 punch combination

Sandan

2 punch combination, 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, spinning kick

Judan

Shuffle, backhand forehand punch, shuffle, backhand forehand punch, right then left mawashi geri, hisa geri

I definitely favour the left hand side versions, being left handed, but I will get there.

After that, we had a couple of short bouts of light to medium kumite.  The first was punches and kicks, and the seconds was kicks only.   At the end of the first session, I had a bit of a panic as I had taken at least one punch to the ribs, and landed a kick on a block, catching an older bruise. With the pain and ragged breathing, it gave me a fright, but I managed to shake it off and rejoin in the kick bout, taking back over from my Sensei, who had filled in to allow my training partner a full go.

All in all, another enjoyable lesson 😊😊😊😊  Thank you very much to my Sensei, son, patient training partner and other dojo members for putting up with me as I plod along.🙏

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 😁😁😁

Competition Time dojo

Today's session was dedicated to the inter club competition we have tomorrow, between our own association's dojos.  I'm doing Kata and my son is doing Kata and Jissen Kumite (full contact).  That's triple nerves, two as a dad and one as a competitor.....

So after warm up, it was straight into Kata, and I was first up.  Apparently my intent is now very good, I look like I'm trying to do serious damage 😊😊😊  However, there are still a good few points to work on.  After that, we did round about 45 minutes of drills based on punch / kick combinations to help those going in for Kumite.  Have to say I ran out of steam at that point.

Finally was reminder time, doing pad work based on dirty Naihanchi, to remind us of the self defence basics that get pulled from competition.  Was a really hot and sweaty session in the dojo, but tomorrow is the key.

Looks like I will need to learn point style fighting though if I want to fight, and I do want to try at least once.  My style doesn't allow full contact competition if you are over 35, so looks like I need to practice touchy feely Karate to get a go,  but I am stubborn..... 

Good luck to everyone tomorrow 😊😊😊

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 😊 😊

Frustrations of grading

The grading on Sunday was good, apart from a double set of nerves, as they split the session in two: Firstly my son had to grade, then me.  So I was nervous for him and for me, but had to pop out half way through his grading to get in my gi.

When I was done, he was on to his Kata, and I know he knows his Kata 😊😊😊  He got a good pass and his green belt, then it was my turn.  I did ok and got a good pass, but my frustration is still with my kicks, especially Yoko Geri and Ushiro Geri.  Have practiced them, but they are still ropy.

So today I decided to try to slow them right down and hold them for about 5 seconds each in knee raise and extended positions (only on my better side) for each kick.  Here are the results:

Yoko Geri

Ushiro Geri

Both have wobble, but the Yoko Geri is better, as I managed a better extension.  Long way to go, but I think I can do better than I actually did in the grading, so just got to keep trying 😊😊.

Grading fundamentals

Sunday is grading day, and so Saturday's session was all about fundamentals.  It was also about pushing ourselves. staying sharp and executing  with good attitude. Strong Shiko Dachi and crisp movement.

We went through the various Ukes, Tsukis and kicks, followed by the 10 fundamental or kihon kata that form the basis of our style.   I only need the first two for grading this time (orange belt), but will need the first four and Naihanchi Shodan next time (blue belt).   

After that was a good session of practicing Naihanchi Shodan, followed by some basic drills featuring crashing, knee strikes, elbow strikes and pushing away.  I can't help but reflect how much of an improvement was, compared to the sessions before the last grading in March.  I struggled far less than then, probably both due to more practice and improved medication.

My son should be grading as well, to Green belt, so hopefully tomorrow will be a wonderful day 😊😊😊 

Aching All Over 😊

After today's session, I'm aching in places I haven't ached for ages.  From my shoulders down to my elbows, and my upper thighs, I ache most of all.  I warmed up outside the Dojo, during the Cadet class, with Kata.

Once in the Dojo, was running, rolls, jumps, squatageri's and stretches.  I can't forward roll well and landed on my shoulder in one attempt,so that's a part of the aches.

It's grading next week, so it was fundamentals day, going through the grading syllabus.  First up tsukis and ukes.  This is probably the source of the upper leg aches.  We do these in Shiko Dachi stance, and Sensei Ben got me to go a lot deeper than I have been (photo above shows lack of stretch).   We were doing these for about 20 minutes, so my muscles got some stretching.

Then it was kicks, followed by Kilhon Kata, I need the first two for grading, but did the first four.  Then it was Kata, and I need Naihanchi Shodan for the grading after next.  I lost count of the repetitions there, but it was over 10.  

This was followed by hardening exercises and then a pad circuit of punch combinations, kicks and knee strikes.  All in all, I seemed to need a few less breaks than I would have expected and the aches are good ones, so I'm happy 😊😊😊 Plus, I've been told I'm ready to grade, along with my son 😊😊😊 Happy days 😊😊😊

A Brilliant Day

This is a short post to cover a brilliant day, workout in the dojo,  part of the demonstration team at the Isla Rose fun day, and then on to see the first New Japan Pro Wrestling show in the UK, with my son 😀

Dojo day was warm up, Kihon - Uke, Tsuki and Geri, with Kata practice and walkthrough, followed by Kihon Kata padwork up to Rokudan. 😀 Needed when gradings are coming up 😀

Isla Rose fun day was just that, we did Breathing techniques, Kihon, Pad work, Kata together.  Then there was Okinawan wrestling from the cadets, Sparring from the cadets and adults, plus Kobudo from our Sensei and Senpai. 😀 In was fun and all in a good cause 😀

After that, with a few hiccups, on to the Wrestling.  My son was more than happy to see something special, and I thoroughly enjoyed too 😀😀

Coping with bad news for me

I have been putting off for quite a while an appointment with my doctor as to why my health hasn't improved past a certain point, with taking up Karate.  I suppose I always knew that smoking for over 30 years would have taken it's toll, but had hoped that giving up and starting to exercise as a result of finding out about my heart condition would have had better results.

So today I had my Spirometry test to see what was going on with my lungs as I run out of breath too often, and the results weren't inspiring.  I definitely have some form of lung problem, and its not Asthma.  Everything else in the UK is classed as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) for short.  I lost my father to a coronary thrombosis ( related to my family's hereditary propensity to heart problems) and lost my mum to emphysema, the worse development of COPD.  Now I have early stages of both problems 😔😔

So I am not in the best of places at the moment.  I will be damned if it makes me give up doing Karate though, it's a big link with my son and at the least has prevented any deterioration in either condition.  So I need to carry on learning how to fight, both for my family, my health, and to learn self defence as its a cruel world out there (thank you you extremist and ineffective politicians 😔😔).  

Thank you to my son, my family and my Karate family for the wonderful support 😊

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 😊🙏

A Short introduction

Hi, just a little background about myself: I'm Robert or Bob if you prefer, 58  and approximately 2 years ago was told I had a heart condition.  It was hereditary and my father had died from it, and for a while I went into my shell 😟

Then through a love of wrestling I share with my son, and his starting Karate, I found Karate.  I kicked back against the sinking feeling I had and tried to do something positive 😃

I thought it might be good for me and maybe even helpful to others to share my journey in blog form.  So will be posting here to see how things go.  Thank you for reading this and hope you enjoy 😃

Comments and questions welcomed.

Robert, March 2019

Flowing in the Dojo

Today was a challenging day in the dojo, but an interesting one too.  From a personal point of view, not at my best due to things going on around me.  So not enough sleep and a bit too much stress make for a not too sharp me, but I tried to work through it.

We did a slightly different warm up today, with some different stretches, then in to basics.   We went through all the punches, kicks and receiving techniques, then started to look at a relatively new drill.

We worked through it stage by stage, both with and without pads.  Once a particular element was covered, it was added to the flow drill.  After that, at each point we needed to repeat the key elements just looked at, then perform the flow drill from the start to the point we had just got to.  

At the end point of the main lesson, each pair was asked to perform the flow drill to see how much we had learnt.  I lost it round about the forearm strike.  The full drill is given in outline below; thank you Ben for the corrections 😊😊.

#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 kneck
#1 RH haito to kneck
#1 grasp behind kneck, 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

The drill was both challenging and fun 😊😊.  For the last part of the lesson we did bo work, the first 6 kihon katas.  As there were a good few people, we had to split into two groups to accommodate us all, but it was fun.  So much so, that me and my son went to the park later to practice.  Here i am doing kihon Katas Godan and Rokadan (badly but enthusiastically) 😊😊.

Hope you enjoyed 🙏