We did a lot of basics today. Maegeri with sanbontsuki up and down, ageuke with gyakutsuki up and down, etc. It's interesting how much just simply punching takes it out of your arms; half way through we did some push-ups and the furthest I could get was 30.
It felt good to clear my mind and just focus on technique. Sensei was chatting to C at the end of the lesson and was saying he thought the reason C is bad at kata is that he works hard all day and probably has work on his mind when he comes to karate, which then gets in the way of him focusing. There may be something to that, but I always feel as though karate cleanses my mind after a hard day. I start tired and apprehensive every time, but then always go home feeling refreshed and even re-energised.
Thursday 15 October 2015
Tuesday 13 October 2015
13/10/15
A technical session. We spent some time doing kihon kata as a mirror image (left = right) and then doing the entire kata using shuto uke. I love stuff like that. It shakes things up and focuses the mind.
We also did a little mat work, practicing arm locks. I've figured out that a lot of mat work is down to using the opponent's body like a fulcrum. But it's all very well saying that....
Made it to 70 push ups. Maybe I was just tired last week.
Thursday 8 October 2015
08/10/2015
Today was divided in two. Some very tough and rigorous punching and maegeri practice. Then running through all the kata from kinon to heian yondan. It's fascinating to watch white belts and red belts attempting yondan, but it's one of the reasons I like the club - it's about doing karate, irrespective of belts and what kyu you are.
A is without question the best at kata. She has a very clean, graceful and accurate technique. It's good to watch. I think I'm somewhere around the middle. Not bad (I have no problem memorising the movements) but lacking grace. It's hard to learn that, however.
I found myself for the first time gossiping about somebody else in the changing room afterwards. Nothing major, but I was disappointed in myself for doing that - it's not the ethos of the club. I won't do it again. Another thing I was disappointed by was that for some reason my press ups were pretty poor. I can normally do 50 good ones (part of my daily routine), and push towards 60, but for some reason I found myself petering out around 45 when told to do 50. I wonder if that's due to lack of sleep - I only got 10 hours total the last two nights.
I'm going to start going on Saturdays as well as Tuesday and Thursday again. Need to work off my incipient beer belly.
A is without question the best at kata. She has a very clean, graceful and accurate technique. It's good to watch. I think I'm somewhere around the middle. Not bad (I have no problem memorising the movements) but lacking grace. It's hard to learn that, however.
I found myself for the first time gossiping about somebody else in the changing room afterwards. Nothing major, but I was disappointed in myself for doing that - it's not the ethos of the club. I won't do it again. Another thing I was disappointed by was that for some reason my press ups were pretty poor. I can normally do 50 good ones (part of my daily routine), and push towards 60, but for some reason I found myself petering out around 45 when told to do 50. I wonder if that's due to lack of sleep - I only got 10 hours total the last two nights.
I'm going to start going on Saturdays as well as Tuesday and Thursday again. Need to work off my incipient beer belly.
Tuesday 6 October 2015
06/10/2015
Tonight was rigorous and technical. We spent more or less the entire session going up and down, forward and back, doing gyakutsuki, oitsuki, soto uke and uchi uke. Relentless stuff, but enjoyable all the same; it is very hard not to improve through repetition.
About half way through we stopped to do some leg stretches. I'm disappointed how inflexible I am still. I am definitely improving in this regard, but nowhere near as much as I'd like. I need to double what I am currently doing, clearly.
Sensei praised us at the end for working hard, which is a very rare occurrence. I think it's because we all like these kinds of classes; it's nice to just spend a session doing karate.
About half way through we stopped to do some leg stretches. I'm disappointed how inflexible I am still. I am definitely improving in this regard, but nowhere near as much as I'd like. I need to double what I am currently doing, clearly.
Sensei praised us at the end for working hard, which is a very rare occurrence. I think it's because we all like these kinds of classes; it's nice to just spend a session doing karate.
Thursday 1 October 2015
01/10/2015
Really tough session tonight. Sensei did his old trick of asking if we wanted a hard lesson or not. Of course, we said yes. And sure enough, it was hard. Maybe the hardest yet - pretty relentless with press ups, squat thrusts, burpies, etc., all mixed in with some oitsuki, maegeri and shuto uke practice.
But I was pleased to find I was able to get through it relatively unharmed. My fitness is definitely improving. Main things to work on are keeping the front foot straight when in back stance, and making sure I lean back in maegeri.
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