Sunday, 20 July No skipping. Sunday is my day off. 10 mins battōjutsu practice. Just going through my cuts. 20 mins bagwork. Mainly working my straight punches and right leg roundhouse kicks. All in all, going alright. I did land a hook badly though, and it's causing some niggling pain in my wrist still .
Monday, 21 July Morning skipping. 21 mins battō practice. One 10 min morning session, then another 11 mins later in the day. As per usual, just practicing cuts. 40 mins kihon. Practicing the straight punch. When I started doing goshin jutsu, I changed the way I generated power from when I did kung fu. Now things appear to be coming full circle. I'm not quite sure yet, but I think that the only change I needed to make was letting my heels come up a bit. Instead I spent 6 months trying to spin around on my toes. But at least my straight punch seems to be coming together. Nakamura-ryū class in the evening. One of the other students has bought a set of replica Edo-period armour recently, and brought it in today. Unfortunately I will have to wait before I can see it displayed properly. Our sensei used the opportunity to point out how the design of the armour unfluences how the sword is used. After gawking at the armour for a bit we went through the happogiri (eight cuts), and I spent the rest of the class practicing the first kata. Which is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Bs1mXd8aq_Q
Tuesday, 22 July Morning skipping. I got over the rope more than 800 times in a row, I'm quite pleased with my progress. 35 mins battō practice. Cuts, kata and nōtō. I'm not very good at any of it, but that's why I'm practicing, I guess. The nōtō (sheathing the sword) is the most frustrating, though. With anything else, if you get fed up you can just stop or move on, but you'll always need to put the sword away at the end! There is no escaping nōtō. Goshin jutsu class was had in the evening. Mostly padwork, with some kata. My technique continues to be refined, especially the straight punch. This is because, in trying to fix one thing I started doing something else, which heretofore I have usually (but not always) done correctly, wrong. My back kick was serviceable. My roundhouse kicks are awkward on kick shields. Probably they need a bit of work.
Wednesday, 23 July Morning skipping. I only did 13 mins because my rope broke. I can't say I'm not disappointed it only lasted two weeks or so . But I stuck the handles back on and put some electrical tape around it to stop the handle from cutting into it. We'll see how that works. 10 mins battō practice. going through the cuts as usual. Went along to battōjutsu class. I am now borrowing a different, heavier sword. It makes everything harder, as you might expect. As usual the happogiri were practiced and time was spent on nōtō. I am developing in both of these (I think), although I really do need to practice nōtō on my own. Ran through the first 4 kata. This is the first time I've done all four of them. We also looked at some kumitachi (sparring drills, emphasis "drills") with bokutō. This was fun, but I had been developing a cold all day and it was starting to bother me at this point. I think I'm getting a better grip on how I'm meant to swing the sword; I go for the feeling of casting a line. But I'm most likely wrong.
Thursday, 24 July No skipping. I have become sick, so, yeah, no. 25 mins battōjutsu practice. Suburi with the bokuto. Felt pretty good overall. Friday, 25 July 5 mins punching kihon while running/walking.
Cheers, I am. Saturday, 26 July 18 mins battōjutsu practice. I got the sword out, rather than the bokutō, so I practiced kata and nōtō as well as suburi.
Sunday, 27 July Morning skipping. Glad to be back into it, although I seem to have become rubbish. Might have something to do with the fact that my rope is 3 inches shorter now. 20 mins battōjutsu practice. Just suburi with the bokutō (again).
Monday, 28 July Morning skipping. 10 mins battōjutstu. Suburi and kata. Went to Nakamura ryū class. Spent most of the time doing kata. I'm now at that stage where you realise you know far less than you had initially suspected. Tuesday, 29 July Morning skipping. 10 mins battōjutstu. Refer to the previous entry. 26 mins bagwork. Working the straight punch. Things I'm working on: proper hip rotation; proper shoulder/arm alignment; proper fist alignment. Went to goshin jutsu class. I just worked on kata by myself. Made a couple of small corrections, then spent quite a while working on my kamae - foot position, keeping the knees soft and keeping the back straight. Wednesday, 30 July Morning skipping. 7 mins kata. Going over the stuff from Tuesday night. This replaced the battōjutstu practice I normally do in the morning. It isn't 10 mins because someone else rocked up to the park where I skip etc., which made it a bit awkward. Went to Nakamura ryū class. Went through suburi, kata and some kumitachi. I had someone new teaching me, and so there was a new set of corrections.
Thursday, 31 July Didn't do skipping because I had to go to uni early (sort of) and didn't have time. Went to goshin jutsu. Easy class. There was a new guy, do we started going over basic footwork and punches, also looked at the front kick. After this we did some partner excercises: some basic sparring drills. We looked at front kicks (alone, just working on distance); front kick to close distance, then jab + reverse; and finally parrying drills. Friday, 1 August Did morning skipping; this marks a full month of it (yay). 10 mins battōjutsu. Suburi and kumitachi practice with the bokutō. 10 mins kata (for goshin jutsu). Stopped on the way home from uni along the riverside. Saturday, 2 August Morning skipping. 10 mins kata. Focusing on my kamae - feet in place, knees bend, back straight. I want to integrate "chin tucked" as well, but this is enough for now. I have decided to do 10 mins practice after skipping; goshin jutsu on Sat, Mon and Wed, and Nakamura ryū Fri, Sun and Tue. On account of my early morning on Thursday. If I am able to get my sleep pattern under control (unlikely) I will change my day off to Sunday. Anyhow, all of this morning practice has really helped this week, as I've done very little else. I just can't seem to find the effort . Anyway, end of week 29. Total time: (0:50 + 4:46) + 0:53 + 51:40 = (5:36) + 52:33 Not bad time, altogether. On the other hand, clearly my training in each individual art is suffering from suddenly having two.
Did some leg stretches on saturday night, just before bed. I may try and make a habit of this. Monday, 3 August Morning skipping. I only did 10 mins because I'm concerned about my rope breaking again. I'm going to put some tape on before I use it again, to keep it from getting more damaged. 10 mins battōjutsu. I just worked on the three downwards cuts: the vertical one and the left and right kesa-giri. The basic technique is the same, so I'm really only working on one thing. 17 mins punching. I'm still trying to re-learn my basic technique. It might be a bit of a slog, not unlike my previous fixation on roundhouse kicks, but hopefully it should pay off. I had meant to do more, but my knee started hurting.
Monday, 4 August Morning skipping. 10 mins kata. Again, mainly focusing on kamae. Tuesday, 5 August Morning skipping. 10 mins battōjutsu practice. I think I only did downwards cuts. Went to goshin jutsu. Did some pad kicking, then finished with an activity whereby two people, holding kick-shields, um, basically charge at you, while you react: punch, kick, elbow etc. All I did was evade, but I'll try harder next time. Absolutely exhausting. Thursday, 7 August Morning skipping. Only 9 mins on account of my rope breaking. Again. Went to goshin jutsu. Mainly padwork, including some empty hand work. We moved on to bō work, but since I don't have a bō I did some battō practice with someone's bokutō.
Saturday, 9 August Did some tameshigiri with the people from the dojo. We are doing a demo next weekend (not me, but the others), so this was a practice. It was my first time cutting, and I was predictaby rubbish. But I was able to get some decent horizontal and diagonal cuts by the end. I think it has made a big improvement in my downwards cuts, actually. You know when you're doing it right. I got to handle a couple of different swords, since mine wasn't really sharp enough. My sensei uses a beast of a sword, must have been 4-5 inches longer than the one I use. Mine was as heavy as any other sword there, though. I got an edge put on it at the end. It is now literally sharp enough to shave with (that's how the guy tested the sharpness). End of week 30. Total time: (0:20 + 5:36) + 0:27 + 52:33 = (5:56) + 52:53 Pretty poor showing. Sunday, 10 August 41 mins Battōjutsu practice. With the sword, going through suburi, kata and kumitachi. Like I said, I think that the tameshigiri really helped with my downwards cuts; they feel much better now. Actually, my form in general feels better today; cuts, kamae, positioning and transitions. Went out and got a new skipping rope this morning. I got one with fancy handles with ball bearings, so hopefully this one should last a bit longer. I also got a bō for myself. 1.9m long and 30 mm thick; it's a bit of a beast. I'm a bit worried that it will be too heavy to train with, actually. Did a bit of mucking around with my brother in the back yard, him using a 5 ft bamboo broom handle. We decided that size really does matter, although he is quite a bit better than me. I will maintain that it's because he trained with a bō for longer.
Monday, 11 August Went to Nakamura ryū class. Working through kata tonight. I spent most of the time on Toyama kata 1 through 4, then did a bit of work on 5 and 6. I intend on focusing on 1-4 though - there is more than enough stuff in there for now. Tuesday, 12 August Back to morning skipping again. Having a longer rope makes a huge difference; I've been getting maybe 1-200 max as my rope got shorter, then today, with the new rope, I got over 800. 10 mins battōjutsu practice. Worked through the suburi and did a bit of kata work on the end. 37 mins bagwork. Mainly working on my roundhouse. It's not bad, but I'm still a bit iffy on it; it just doesn't feel right . I also did a bit of front kicking and looked at uraken mawashi uchi a bit. Although ours looks more like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JISgLclfX3c than this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Be0c02JARLI Had goshin jutsu class. Pretty standard class. I did some moving and punching drills - a long, slow intro to sparring.
Saturday, 16 August Skipping. 10 mins kihon. End of week 31. Total time: (0:51 + 5:56) 0:47 + 52:53 = (6:47) + 53:40 Sunday, 17 August Skipping. 10 mins Battōjutsu. Monday, 18 August Skipping. Tuesday, 19 August Skipping. Thursday, 21 August 34 mins bagwork. Mostly working my roundhouse kick, which seems to be coming along nicely. 9 mins bag-boxing. 3x3 min rounds with 1 min breaks. Using open hand strikes and roundhouse kicks, with some front kicks. Bloody exhausting, which is of course why I did it. I'll see if I can keep it up. Friday, 22 August Skipping. 35 mins kihon, or rather messing around. Going over a bunch of techniques, footwork, a bit of shadowboxing, etc. Saturday, 23 August Skipping. 26 mins battōjutsu. Working kata. I used my own sword, which is a bit lighter than the one I usually use. End of week 32. Total time: (0:36 + 6:47) + 1:18 + 53:40 = (7:23) + 54:58
I did my workout again... last night? This morning? At about midnight. 60x pushups squats dips crunches situps This afternoon I worked out how I can do inverted rows, so I've completed my gamut (?) of bodyweight excercises. I lined up two stepladders and hung a (kayak ) paddle between them. Yay! 44x inverted rows. I tried for 10s at first, but I wasn't up for it so I set it down to 6s for the last 4 sets.
Wednesday, 27 August 33 mins kihon and bagwork. Worked on my throws, then went through some open hand techniques on the bag. Thursday, 28 August 11 mins kung fu. THere's no reason to let it get too rusty, so I decided to brush up on my SPM curriculum again. Friday, 29 August 10 mins kung fu. Same as before. Saturday, 30 August Morning skipping. I'm really getting slack with this. It's frustrating, but it's getting really hard to make myself keep it up. 15 mins uppercuts. This is my next crusade. My roundhouse kicks and straight punches are doing alright, but my uppercut is utterly miserable. So I will work on it. Workout: 60x pushups dips squats crunches situps 36x inverted rows End of week 33. Total time: (7:23) + 1:09 + 54:58 = (7:23) + 56:07 Sunday, 31 August Morning skipping.
Monday, 1 September Battōjutsu class. The usual in terms of content: suburi and kata. A couple of basic corrections: I need to keep my lower fingers gripped more tightly, and I need to tighten my grip as I cut through my "target", to stop my point bouncing about when I stop it. And I guess so I don't lose my sword if I actually try and cut something :dunno: Tuesday, 2 September Goshin Jutsu class. Lots of padwork - punches and kicks. My straight punches are ok. My uppercuts are still soggy. I usually let my guard come down when I do multiple punches, although it gets better if someone is trying to hit me in the head. Strange, huh. Front kicks, roundhouse kicks (high, middle and low) and back kicks. Finished off with some kata. Wednesday, 3 September 18 mins battōjutsu practice. I need to stop my point from bouncing around when I finish a swing, so now I'm whacking a tree with my bokken. ... what, is that not a good enough explanation? Apparently, if I can stop the bokken bouncing back off the tree then I should be able to stop cleanly in the air as well. It is very painful on hands and forearms. 20 mins padwork. Working my uppercut. I'm just using a single pad by meself, holding it in the non-punching hand. It seems to work alright for uppercuts. I can get a decent punch, but it's not consistent. It got worse as I got tired as well. I also worked some other techniques while I had the pad out; mostly kung fu stuff.
