08/12/15

A very hard session - almost non-stop rigorous exercise. Sensei trying to fatigue us before the holidays... And succeding.

03/12/15

We did a mixture of hard exercise and sparring today. My sparring is pretty good. I was paired up with D (who hits very hard and very fast), J (who is old and wily) and Ja (who is young and cocky) and came out on top, I think, against all of them. I'm pleased with the speed and power of my blocking above all.

After the class we were chatting in the changing rooms about our favourite techniques. It's funny how much fun for a group of blokes it is to talk about fighting. I think actually blocking is my strong suit. I don't know what that says about me (I value self-preservation above all else?) but I can deliver really effective downward and inside blocks that I think can be developed into proper bone breakers. It's really satisfying when an opponent comes in for a punch and you execute a perfectly-timed uke which makes him wince in pain. Maybe that also says I'm a sadist as well as being into self-preservation.

Exercising was tough. Sensei came up with a new double burpee technique: down, squat thrust, two press-ups, jump. Repeat x 20. The fun never ends...

01/12/2015

First of December, a mixture of the tough and easy: the first half-hour was non-stop exercise (whether leg-raises or continual repetitions of kizami-tsuki); the second was self-defence techniques. Some really nasty finger break stuff left me with aches through my knuckles, but I'm reassured to see that I'm improving generally with the self-defence (or "RBD" as I've seen it called on the 'net).

Sensei gave a min-lecture at one point about aikido, which he has also practiced for years. He expressed the view, basically bearing out a lot of internet commentary on that art, that aikido isn't really for fighting. It's more a form of bodily harmony or meditation. It's not useless but nor is it for "the street". In all his long experience he barely ever employed it.

26/11/15

I had a cold on Tuesday and skipped class so as not to spread the lurgy to the unwitting. Apparently I missed something seriously tough.... And bizarrely I'm a bit disappointed.

Fitness continues to surprise me. I did 45 squat thrusts, followed immediatley by 30 push ups, and barely felt it. It's funny how slow, incremental improvements have a way of suddenly creeping up on you.

We did a bit of kata practice, but then quite a lot of self defence. We also did a bit of gyakutsuki practice, punching each other hard in the chest through a pad. Sensei was demonstrating the difference between punches: if you want to take somebody out, punch right through the face or chest. You'll knock them out or break ribs and the fight is over. But if you want to cause pain and injury, punch the first inch. It sends shockwaves through the immediate area, smashing teeth or damaging internal organs. Interesting stuff.

21/11/15

Went to a Saturday class for the first time in ages, and was glad I did. Nothing like 60 squat thrusts to melt some of the ice in the muscles.

My left leg is getting better. More accurate and powerful. It's only when you see how incompetent a white belt is with his "off" leg that you realise how far you've come.

Quote of the day: "If you want an easy club, go to a different one."

19/11/15

A really hard lesson, the first such lesson we've had in a couple of months. Lots of push ups, lots of squat thrusts, lots of mountain climbs, lots of burpees... Felt really good to burn off some of the fat (although there's plenty of that left).

It's funny how much doing a decent maegeri takes it out of you, though. Doing three in a row going back and forth up and down the hall is a seriously exhausting form of exercise. Likewise sanbontsuki. Doing karate rigorously is one of the best workouts there is.

The final 15 minutes we spent doing some ground work. I'm slowly getting the hang of getting a decent arm lock. I'd like to branch out into judo or BJJ at some point; the game of chess that is ground grappling is genuinely fascinating - and while I think I'm decent at it, I need to learn how to finish an opponent off. I get into a commanding position but I'm never quite sure how to deliver the coup de grace.

I was reminded how hard as nails Sensei is while he showed us how to break the fingers of somebody you have in an arm lock before snapping the arm. "He's not going anywhere, so you can take your time." Now that is a guy you don't want to get on the wrong side of...

17/11/15

An interesting kata-focused lesson. We had a tough warm up - lots of abs work - but the lesson itself Sensei took us through heian yondan and godan repeatedly, over and over. I like using kata as a teaching tool. It breaks things up nicely, but also puts the moves in context and it's great exercise. Very early on I remember Sensei teaching us heian nidan even though most of us were white belts. As he often says, you're going to have to learn them anyway so doing them now will do you no harm. None of us lowly types could master heian godan but after 20 minutes of repetition we were at least memorising it and able to perform a kind of bastardised imitation. Not bad and something to hone in future - rough clay to work with.