Snap! Oops, poor choice of words, I mean ditto... I came away from Monday's session with an increasingly painful (right) wrist, which I ignored, went to work with, then which I put thru it's paces at Training again on the Tuesday evening, resulting in a trip to the doctors of Wednesday, to be unfired that I had suffered a hairline stress fracture Not sure if this was as a result of the original pain, or if I compounded things by not resting, so take things slow, and if you see no signs of its changing, get yourself checked out. Regards Travess
Exactly! I really didn't do anything! What did I say? The sentence certainly isn't a perfect one but did smething cme across cmpletely wrong? Oh I'm sorry t hear that. I hope it'll get better soon. No idea though how long it can take... "stress fracture" sounds like a rather annoying injury especially since it similarly results from something minor I guess. I mean it's not like you hit smething for example and know immediately that something is wrong... Luckily I'm all better now! It hurt yesterday after training still when I took off the bandage, but today in the morning it was much better and getting better still throughout the day. Like really much better. I can move it without thinking and it only hurts at the rather extreme positions. And it's not the sharp pain anymore, but getting much duller like if a bruise is healing. I'm pretty sure it won't hurt past the weekend ^^ Anyway, thank you for the concern! I also finally realised how often you actually use your wrist... getting up, pouring water, dringing, putting clothes of, sliding the fastener, turning pages, signing your finished thesis and generally in about every normal movement
Friday 29.4.16: Tough day mentally, only did 1 Sanchin Saturday 30.4.16: 3 Sanchin 1 Gekisai Dai Ichi 1 Gekisai Dai Ni 1 Saifa 1 Seiyunchin 1 Shisochin (looked up the one step I forgot about last time on YouTube and also checked the two more places I wasn't sure about)
Sunday 1.5.16: Throughout the afternon and evening: 3-min plank (didn't feel like I would be able to do more today :/) 2-min plank 3 Sanchin 10x10 knuckle push-ups (my wrist almost doesn't hurt anymore, but I still better do the push-ups with wrists straight rather than normal push-ups and I should practise on the knuckles anyway...) All the bunkai for all four of the kata I know (finally I probably remembered Seiyunchin! ...barely...) - just in the air practising the movements only nce for each side
Monday 2.5.16: 16:30-17:30 - Beginner children: Running to pads and techniques + cardio, stretching in pairs and Junbi Undo, then going through Gekisai Dai Ichi, divided into parts, toward the end the whole thing. 17:40-18:20 - Saifa practise: One of our friends is going to go for a green belt at the soonest grading, where she needs to perform Saifa among other things. Unfortunately she's a mother of a family and can't spend too much time in the dojo, so she wasn't able to attend the advanced classes and hasn't practised Saifa for months. So me and another friend thought we would take her out during this break each Monday to the closest grassy patch and teach and practise Saifa with her. Today was the first time There are almst two months to work on everything so hopefully we'll be able to make her Saifa as nice as possible ^^ Also sensei called he can't come today... And soon after a student from out dojo came on his bicykle going: "Where are you? All of us are waiting for you!" Apparently the yoga students that occupy the dojo didn't open for the karate students and somehow they saw us from far away across the street. Funny how they're looking for us instead of sensei 18:30-20:00 - Beginner adult class: As per sensei's instructions who's really busy lately, if he can't come, we're to do Hojo Undo, Kihon and San Dan Gi. So Hojo Undo it is! (for 45-50 mins approximately): - Kongoken - 15x up, 16x steering wheel, 10 push-ups (the kongoken feels heavier and heavier XD). Today my wrist still hurt a bit at things like regular push-ups, so only knuckle ones for me today - there were mats in the dojo, so it wasn't too bad for the knuckles, but I generally find there harder...) - Makiwara - 10 tsuki, haito uchi, shuto uchi, ko-uke (ko uke only for the non-hurting wrist, I also skipped the palm strikes) - Miyagi's garden - bring 5 stones (this time only 5 so we have enough time for each station) across the dojo moving in a horse stance - V-ups with a gymnastic ball - holding it with legs, taking it with arms etc, not toughing floor - Chi-ishi - was worried about my wrist here. It hurt a bit but not enough for me not to be able to do this, although admittedly I did 8 instead of 10 reps for the right arm :Angel: - TRX - 10 (knuckle) push-ups with feet above floor in the TRX and bringing knees to the head after each rep; then I only did a plank again with feet up, not even for one minute, though - Makiage kigu - wrist surprisingly took this well, I reeled 5x, I think - 7,5 kettlebell - cca 130 sumo (shiko-dachi) squats only holding it - Ab wheel - 20 rolls for me - Tricep dips on a small punching bag - wrist hurts here so I only did 20 and then reverse plank with hands on the bag. I wanted to do 2 mins at least, but we were supposed to change stations when I was at 1,5 mins. I wanted to wait, it was only a bit, but at each side I had "friends" who just wouldn't let me and started adding weight on me, until they sat down and thwarted my plans at 1:45 - Lunges with punching bag on shoulders (the lightest we have) - I did 50 reps - Nigiri game - here the wrist didn't take it well, it felt like something moved r "skipped"? there, so I was only bringing the vase up with left arm, but I just couldn't let it go like that so I tried a few times until the wrist was alright doing this movement ^^ - 3 kg kettlebell - weight on toes, 10x slowly front kick on each side - stretching - Kihon - each technique 130x out of which the last 30 full power. We did: tsuki, yokomen uraken uchi, age uke, harai uke, mae geri - Three friends stayed to practise kata. I wanted to help, but I have a job I should finish + studying for my finals, so I left early 3 Sanchin Also the weekends don't seem to be enough for me to heal everything. Throughtout the last few weeks, I've been only replacing the bruises - blue marks with new ones. They're not ever restricted to arms anymore, from the last sparring I have two on things and a third one from a kid who bit me last week :angry:. A big dark one on my knee from when a friend kicked me with her shin. She's worse off, though, with only a light bruise but it certainly hurts her much more. On top of it my wrist still hurts, although just a little bit for no apparent reason and a shoulder has started bothering me a couple of weeks ago, now even the second one and during sme of the hojo undo even the second wrist a tiny bit. These are all just minor things, but at times it feels like my body is slowly falling apart I should probably make sure to eat enough healthy stuff or something... :/
Tuesday 3.5.16: Ok, so today wrist is almost alright, but both shoulders hurt! :bang: Luckily no push-ups today... 3 Sanchin 16:00-17:00 - Mini class: Four kids today I spent some time just chatting with them. We were playing game of tag, with a bit of karate setting, fights in pairs - push the other one across the dojo, turn them from belly on their back etc. Rounds of light sparring in gloves. I'm happy to let them try and they asked for it themselves today! Then practising mae-geri, finally managed to make a correction for one of the boys who took it to heart and kicked 100 % better today, yaaay! And a short competitin with these kicks. 18:00-20:00 - Advanced adult and older children class: - Kihon - hiza geri and elbows trying on other people in circle - Short belly workout - Junbi Undo - Three combinations based on bunkai practised in pairs and then in groups of three - Saifa kata - 3x, last time with a partner checking ut kata and pointing up to two mistakes. My partner was a 14 year old girl with the highest grade of all of us(3rd kyu). I was pretty sure I won't be able to find any mistake inher kata as I like how she does them ^^ I only found a small one connected to the fact that she lost balance a bit at one point, which was due to the mats anyway... But I got a nice correctin I hadn't been given before, so I didn't really know it should be like that, but it made a lot of sense. I'll get it right next time ^^ - short work-out - All the tennagers and one father left at 19:00 as usual, so it was only me, sensei and a friend of the same grade as me left. We chatted for a bit and per our wishes practised a bit for our next grading - meaning: - Saifa bunkai - I still have a weird feeling about them, like most of them didn't "click" with me and I always have a feeling there's something wrong about how I do them. I asked sensei, but she said it was fine, she didn't think I could get a beating as I thought and friend who was attacking me said he really did try to hit me, so I would feel it if I did it wrong... But anyways, I feel like I need to practise more - Kihon ido - three combinatins from the syllabus - the nasty ones And generally what we don't practise too often. Sensei pointed out some mistakes to me, about height of some of my kicks that are difficult for me to get right when I do them in the air and lean back. So my head-height mawashi geri ended up being above head height and therefore also too close to me - it was high, but to short a distance. And I also crouched a bit. I was able to adjust it after the correction although left side felt weird and I probably did something wrong. Another thing I was doing wrong was height of back kick and a bad technique when doing it from a turn after another kicks - I forgot to beng the leg. Which also compromised my stability. Good to know these, now again I need to practise
Wednesday 4.5.16: No uni training today because of a Rector's sprots day. And on top of that next week will be the last training of the semester I only did 3 Sanchin.
108 Gekisai Dai Ni Thursday 5.5.16: Second kata challenge of this year, this time 108x Gekisai Dai Ni. Done as always without breaks with the exception of sensei shortly explaining something. Surprisingly this challenge attracts people who only show up occassionally. Altogether 18 people participated (so there wasn't much space), although some had to leave early. Two girls from our faculty's classes came to try. And also one guy with a green belt obviously from another style. I'm not too sure who he was, but he said he just returned from HOng Kong after two yeard and apparently we'll see him around! Today's challenge felt good, I didn't run out of energy and managed to do the kata more and more strongly. From around 70 up I focused on my stances - particularly Neko-ashi dachi (cat stance). I decided that I need to do it properly and have the lowest cat stance of the people present. It generally went well today 3 Sanchin
National Seminar in Strmilov Friday 6.5.16: 1 Sanchin Strmilov is a small town in south Bohemia (by small I mean it has perhaps arund 1500 inhabitants). The close vicinity of Strmilov and the closest city is a place where most, or rather, probably all of the Senseis of ur association originate from, or lived at at the time our association was founded. Newly there's a new dojo in Strmilov, mostly from children. And each of the six dojo is trying to organize at least one event a year, this seminar was a first for Strmilov. The seminar was planned for Saturday, but since our sensei's mum lives in the town as well, sensei invited us there of Friday for a barbecue, which was absolutely delitious! We also got to admire and pet the many British shorthair cats his mum has, along with currently 7 kittens of 3 cat. Cuuute! :love: Only problem was the heavy traffic, so the journey there (around 150 km) took us very close to 4 hours. Saturday 7.5.16: National Seminar in Strmilov In the morning we put on our gis, took some foor and water to dring and went out to cross the town to the local school's gym. For some reason walking the streets in a gi didn't even feel too weird. Anyway, there were surprisingly a lot of people, around 40, I think (which is more than at other, more accessible seminars... Also, all 6 of our associatisn's dojo's were present. There were 6 of us from Prague, 4 students, 2 senseis. The seminar started a little after 10:00 and ended at 14:00. There were 4 short breaks, other group though got some of them drastically shortened because in the short block we didn't manage to do all the particular sensei had prepared for us... First block was warm-up and Junbi Undo + partner work-out and a cardio - running in between two people holding vertically stretched belts, punching one belt, then running to the other and kicking it. Second round had two punches (for both sides) and two mae geri, all the way up to ten rounds and ten punches for each side as well as 10 kicks... Then there were four teaching senseis (our lower graded sensei did the warm-up and then participated as a student in a group of the only two blackbelts other than senseis). The rest f us were divided into three groups, ours was me+friend (5th kyu), 2 people of 4th kyu and one guy with 2nd. Being in a small group and with the lowest grade there was rather nice First block was about bunkai. We did Seiyunchin - shortly the whole kata and then parts and for each part a bunkai. We didn't do all, but most. Sensei also pointed out quite a lot of details we had wrong. Or rather details that we weren't told abut before. This teaching sensei has Seiyunchin and his personal kata so he has a lot to say about it. It was great I need to write all the things down before I forget. The most important thing was he told all of us our shik-dachi was wrong, we don't turn our feet enough. I will be trying to get it right Second block was supposed to be kihon/ kihon ido. Sensei picked San Dan Gi - we did San Dan Gi Ichi, probably San (or a modification of what we practise as San) and Shi. Practised in ne sequence which was a bit more difficult, then in pairs, also with our additions and "finishing" techniques - more strikes or take-downs etc. Not easy overall, but nice. Then we continued with footwork - avoiding a strike sideways + slight turn of feet that I tended to go wrong especially with increasing pace. Together with the turn there was block and then lunge forward + strike with the same hand. The combinations were hiki uke + teisho tsuki, yoko uke + (jun) tsuki and nagashi uke + shuto uchi. For lack of time we didn't get to practise all of them too much. Then we were told to form pairs and practise this again, then with the attacker attacking randomly from the front of hind arm, either with a step forward or without, so it became more unpredictable, but we had to react anyway. All of these techniques are rather universal, so if done properly, they worked for any of the strikes. All done with one hand only and fast, attack following a block immediately. Sensei saw how we struggled with things we hadn't drilled before. And he was right. He's said to enjoy teaching advanced students, and he probably did, because our perhaps 10 minute break was shortened to about 1 min Or it was rather that the other groups were waiting for us to finish before starting another block... The third was about kata. Or rather was supposed to be. It was taught by our sensei we came with. But he saw we went through Seiyunchin and with that sensei obviusly to the depth, so he chose to practise bunkai with us as well. But all the bunkai we (are supposed to) know: Gekisai Dai Ichi, Ni, Saifa, Seiyunchin. First we practised all of them once for each side in the air, which is in fact a bit more difficult usually, then we formed a circle of five people with one in the middle. Surrouning people attacking, each one with the next bunkai, the person in the middle defends with bunkai, in a rather quick succession. I think I probably finally remembered all the Seiyznchin bunkai! Yay! Of course, I'm far from being able to do them well, but at least now I think I remember all there are XD We had some time left apparently so we did 2 Sanchin, sensei checking our psture. He only came once to me for a well, like one movement, but f course, he can check on me anytime in the dojo... At the end he talked about the breathing to the only other girl in our group. He explained that if she can't breath so straongly to start with making the breath as long as possible. He was talking to her, but it was obviously meant for me, too. I do have that problem as well. And as sensei said he noticed it even with more advanced women, so he tried to help us start somewhere... Last block was with the organizing sensei, whom I don't know too well and is rather strict and specific. He loves his locks and all the joint and pressure point things. And he's good at them so he almost always teaches those at the seminars. Out starting point was frm kakie (sticky hands), doing the most basic pushes and working witht he strenght of the partner. Then came some other locks and takedowns and some tips how to get out of them and then retaliate, etc. We also did 3-person kakie, working on attacks agains two people like that, attacking symmetrically, or also training our motoric abilities by disbalancing both people, taking one down with one hour leg, pushing the other the other way quickly. There were interesting ideas in that and it was rather fun, but unfortunately we really didn't have much time, so we usually tried each thing once... I'll try to remember as much as I can, though Great seminar, for our group this time not very exhausting, but we got several tips about our techniques from several senseis, which was really good, even though some of them are smetimes a bit unscrupulous about how they say stuff Which is good for us, too, I think No additional Sanchin today.
Sunday 8.5.16: 1 Sanchin I originally planned to do a bit more, but a friend from the dojo took me out for a picknick and she also wanted to make me a new profile pic. I really can't make a normal face to the camera, but in the end, we were just experimenting and something nice came out of it! So new profile pic without me making silly faces, here it is! I know it's kind of cliche, but I still always wanted a photo like that! So no training today, but I had fun ^^
Thank you ^^ No doubt about it! I'm not exactly a photogenic person and I'm generally not seeking to be photographed
You did more than you are giving yourself credit for - Technically you did 1 Sanchin and at least 1 Mawashi Geri Great Pic by the way! Travess
Ahaha, you're right! Well, then I did quite a bit more mawashi geri and also Gekisai Dai Ni and Saifa! I completely forgot about that! Thank you ^^
Monday 9.5.16: At lunch time I had a Thai massage. It was nice, I picked a "hard" level, since once I go for a massage I want to feel it and get my muscles "worked" properly I had a burly masseuse who said she was going "medium-hard", cause you see, "hard" would look like that and she diiged her elbow into my back with all her strenght. Wow But to her suprirse I was up for it so she worked hard since then. Only for the beginning with the back, though, massaging the limbs wasn't anything close to painful if I remember well. But the back I can feel even now in the evening. Which is good, though! I fell the muscles relaxed and kind of hoped it might help a little with my shoulder that still hurts somewhat. It did a little bit, I think 16:30-17:30 - Children class: A friend who's teaching with me had a sore throat and didn't feel too well. Probably from the cld night we spent at sensei's before the seminar. I have my throat sore a little as well. She didn't feel like practising Saifa maybe not even coming for adult training, but was still nice to come help me with the kids. She's just too kind Anyway, I wrote to teh other friend that probably no Saifa today, so he can come later. Instead he came even earlier for the kid's class, so that the sick friend could go home. Only four kids today, three of the small once, one older. After Junbi Undo and stretching I decided to practise age and yoko uke. First technique, then them trying to blck my punches, then block and punch a pad. The friend who came usually teaches this class on Wednesdays and was surprised that the small ones were relatively calm, they are worse at his classes. I can't really imagine that, though But today, they were nicer, I think. Last 5 or so minutes light sparring with gloves. 18:30-20:10 - Beginner adult class: - Junbi Undo - 5 push-ups - 5 push-ups with fingers pointing outward - 5 push-ups - backward (shoulder isn't acting up, phew...) - 100 "half" sit-ups - In groups of four practising techniques with light contact, if possible: ura tsuki, kagi tsuki, mawashi tsuki, ushiro hijiate(?) uraken uchi - to head height and gedan. The uraken uchis only aggravated my (what I supposed to be) healed wrist. I only felt it slightly at push-ups etc, but now in the wrist movement, I felt something popping there and ot was accompanied by not terrible, but sharp pain... :bang: So I decided to skipp some of the urakens - In pairs then practising blocks (age, yoko, harai uke) + tsuki. Also mawashi tsuki + ko-uke. Sensei participated, so it was also a bit of iron body conditioning... When it was again my time to partner with sensei, we stopped changing partners and he used me to show the bunkai for Gekisai Dai Ni that mst people don't know. It was good for me, he can go a bit harder on me than some others and I practised them enugh, so he had time to check on other pairs. I managed to kick his hand when he didn't close it into a first and it looked like it hurt. It must have, otherwise he would suck it up and not show anything. I know that. Hopefully it won't be anything serious He continued right away... Anyway, partnering up with sensei is good for me! He then showed all the bunkai in succession with a bit of power, so that he always pushed me back several steps. I quickly inclined forward and charged again immediately. It didn't look funny only to me. Sensei commented on it with a saying: "Throw her out of the door, and she comes back through the window." - Shiko-dachi - sensei said it will be one minute and to keep the horse stance really low - hikui shiko dachi. I thought one minute is ok, so I went as low as possible, parallel to the ground. And when the one minute passed, sensei decided we should do 2 mins, it was too short :bang: Sooo, I went for a little bit higher posture - 100 half sit-ups with elevated bent legs - 100 moving upper body sideways in the same position, with upper back above floor 20:15-21:00 - Bunkai practise: The self-defence course is over and sensei promised we can use this time to prepare for grading. He invited us two green belts and anyone who wanted to train to practise bunkai for all of our kata. Meaning in a circle, each f us tries all the bunkai once. For me GKI, GKN, Saifa, Seiyunchin. Mostly though we did partners for sensei, who did probably all the bunkai, except for Suparinpei, the most advanced kata. It was really nice to see all the bunkai. Apparently soem techniques and sequences we practise come from those 1 Sanchin
Apologies if I have already asked this before, as I know I have thought to ask it before, but... ...Do you have set (specific) Bunkai for each Kata? Or do you decipher each Kata yourself, to grasp your own understanding of their Bunkai? (Being careful not to stray from Bunkai into Oyo of course) Travess
I don't think you did Yep, we do. When it is said we do bunkai, we practise the specific set. We definitely also do variations of them or simply sets of techniques derived from the kata. Or we are explained that some techniques can have different interpretation and practise that way. At our level, though, usually sensei shows and explains or says that as inspiration. For the dan-graded or simply advanced students this might be different, I'm not sure.
Cool - This is something that my Instructor is thinking about introducing for the junior grades (10th - 7th Kyu maybe) in our adults class, so I was curious - Do you feel it gives you a better grasp of the Kata still? Does it help with understanding the 'advanced' Bunkai, when it is explained to you? Travess
I see It's quite useful in a sense that it's easy to practise even without sensei. Also for the seminars. There are minor differences for different senseis in our association, but we can easily do bunkai with them as well as the set is given. It certainly does. When I first learn a kata, I can't tell what all the tehcniques are meant for. When knowing the bunkai I can apply it back to the kata. nce I know what the move means, it's easier to do. Also practising kata then has a meaning if I can imagine doing the techniques against an imaginary opponent. Although of course, for example moving the feet is different etc. As an example there's this video. IOGKF also, although different coutry. I only know the bunkai up to Seiyunchin, so I can't tell further, but this is pretty much how we do them, too, with slight differences in some. But I can definitely recognize each one https://www.facebook.com/lambertkarate/videos/584344991715157/
I see (Thanks for the link) and whilst our own Bunkai, both basic and interpreted is vastly different from what is shown in the video, I can certainly see the merits of a set 'learning' structure - and I totally get how easier it much be to drill these techniques without an Instructor present, which is another plus. Thanks Again.
