A little bit of improvising

I haven't done much paired work during covid, due to the space limitation of often working inside.  My son Brendan, agreed to try out a couple of techniques I had solo proacticed with my own Dojo and with PJ Broomy.  On trying them out, we founf that due to body mechanics, a couple of improvisations seemed to work better for us than the original starting points.

I mentioned these to PJ and was asked to demonstrate, so we did the below video in response.

A couple of grappling teqniques

The first is from lock up, the original interpretation was:

Front leg mawashi geri to opponent's front leg, followed by a stomping kick to the back leg.

Ground the front foot, then Naihanchi leg sweep.

This turned into lock up, trap opponent's front foot with back foot, and deliver front leg knee strike to groint or midriff,

The second is from a guillotine head lock, the original interpretation was:

Pull down grabbing arm, deliver downward elbow to knee then upward elbow.

Head grasp then knee strike.

This turned into poll down grabbing arm, upward elbow and rising headbutt, head grasp and knee strike.

It's fair to say the first tecnique when reviewed, was thought to be genuinely effective, the second not so much, maybe a little too slow.   The suggestions I got to inprove the second one included driving forward and using lateral movement.  We haven't tried this out properly yet, but I'm thinking:

Grom guillotene headlock, pull down grabbing arm and drive forward whilst rotating, using a crashing elbow strike.  Hopefully that should take the opponent's space, destablise and perhaps lead to a drag down with the pulling hand..  I'm hoping I might be able to video that in the near future.

It turned out that the second technique should have actually been used from a reverse headlock, which makes more sense for the downward elbow to the knee, but we had fun and probably learned a way of getting out of a guillotine choke anyway, so by no means a waste. 😊😊😊

Covid, karate and pennies dropping

 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 ☺☺☺

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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.

3110

Jamie Clubb - grappling

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.

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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 

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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

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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