Friday, 13 November 31 mins batto - bo footwork. After meditating on my performance in the comp I did, I decided that my main problem was balance during the trickier footwork in the kata, so I decided to drill this on its own. Saturday, 14 November 25 mins batto. End of week 95. Total time: (72:26 + 1:56) + 112:26 + 1:05 = (74:22) + 113:31 Sunday, 15 November 24 mins batto. Working on my one-handed work. 16 mins throw kihon.
Monday, 16 November 10mins batto. Yeah, I was tired. 16 mins hooks. I have made another breakthrough with these punches. The way I started out, I would start with my hips and drag through my arm, but this meant my punch would connect after the power had dissipated, and also gave me a weak structure. Next I started moving my arm first, then pushing my body through after, which produced a satusfactory punch. The other day, though, I watched a video of an MMA fighter (don't remember who) demonstrating a hook, and he emphasised moving the hip first. At first I dismissed it, sonce I had already tried that and moved on; but then I started thinking. So I tried it out and what I realised is that I could start with the hip, then have the hand playing catch-up, whipping through (rather than just dragging behind like I did before). This results in a punch which is quicker and a bit stronger than what I had previously. I guess these UFC types might know one or two things about fighting. But that means thst now I need to drill this new type of hook so I can do it naturally. Went to batto training - but no one else did. So I just went home.
Tuesday, 17 November 15 mins kihon (hook punches) and shadowboxing. 27 mins bagwork, working punches and hook kicks, and a bit of other stuff. Went to goshin jutsu. Only two of us there, so it was a pretty easy lesson. Incidentally, I'm concerned about the general approach we have to groundwork - it seems to mainly consist of quickly running through a bunch of techniques you can use, and then not drilling anything. I can't imagine getting much better that way. Wednesday, 18 November 12 mins batto. 45 mins batto. Once again, no-one turned up, but I decided to get some solo training in, since I'd already driven in. Thursday, 19 November 24 mins batto. 30 mins bagwork. BOB has recently acquired a second smile - or rather a first smile, since he wasn't smiling to begin with. At ant rate, the new one is just above his collarbone, which isn't really a place anyone wants to be smiling. Punching him in the head seems to be the culprit, so for the time being I'm aiming for his chest. I'll attempt repairs at some point. Went to goshin jutsu. I dragged my brother along, and we were the only ones. We went through some of the groundwork from our jujutsu days and did some randori. It was fun, and I remember more than I thought, but my ears are still ringing. Friday, 20 November 29 mins batto. 15 mins bagwork. A simple jab, cross, angle off, roundhouse combo, for the most part. I would have gone longer, but I had to pack up so mom could park her car.
Saturday, 21 November 34 mins batto - kukri, & bo footwork. 24 mins batto - working distance with the bo. It is just a smidge outside of kicking range, which makes it difficult as my brain tries to persuade me that I'm out of range. End of week 96. Total time: *(74:22 + 3:22) + 113:31 + 1: 44 = (77:44) + 114:15
Monday, 23 November 12 mins punch and kick kihon. Tuesday, 24 November 22 mins batto practice. Recently my holidays started, and so I've decided to make use of them by setting myself a fitness challenge. There is a big hill in my town, which people like to walk/run/cycle up, and I have decided I want to be able to run all the way up a particular track on it by the end of the holidays. I have decided on a weekly schedule: Monday - run up the track as far as I can, walking the rest of the way. This will allow me to assess how far along I have come. The track is about 680m long, with an elevation change of 530', or 160m. Wednesday & Friday - do hill sprints on a street a bit closer to where I live. The distance I've set for myself is about 250m, with an elevation change of about 120 feet, or about 36m. I run this 5 times, stopping at the point where I feel like I'm about to keel over, resting until I no longer feel like throwing up, then walking back to the bottom. Week 1 Monday - Ran ~300m, elevation ~75m in 2 goes. Heck, that's about half way. Wednesday - Completed the hill on 1 and 2, on 3 finished maybe 10m shy, and another 5m or so down on 4 and 5. So total distance ~ 1.2 km
Wednesday, 25 November 1:00 battō. Once again, nobody else was there. Thursday, 26 November 14 mins battō with bō. 23 mins punching on BOB. Friday, 27 November 12 mins battō. 31 mins punching BOB. Saturday, 28 November 10 mins battō. 20 mins punching BOB bareknuckle. End of week 97. Total time: (77:44 + 1:58) + 114:15 + 1:26 = (79:42) + 115:41 Week 1 Friday - didn't feel up to hill sprints, so I did some road sprints. I ran 4 road lights, then walked 4 until I had done a loop of about 2.5 km. Unfortunately they aren't evenly spaced, so I'm not sure exactly how far that is.
Monday, 30 November 11 mins battō. Tuesday, 1 December 14 mins shadowboxing. I started hitting the bag but the dog wanted to join. So he chased me around, and I worked on my foot work. 30 mins bagwork. Punch and kick combos. My lead leg roundhouse kick is coming along nicely. Went to goshin jutsu, where I managed to take a back kick to the hand - this being the same hand that I've been hurting for the last month or so. I'm probably going to take a break from punching things for now. Wednesday, 2 December 36 mins bagwork. True to my words, working only kicks. Mainly the hook kick, with some roundhouse kicking. My left hook kick is coming along. The right kick is really awkward, I don't think my body movement is correct.
Thursday, 3 December 33 mins battō, with the bō & sword. Friday, 5 December 46 mins battō. 12 mins bagwork. 31 mins battō- bō and ryōtō (that is, two swords). Honestly, just playing around. Since my exams finished recently, I decided to reward myself by buying a kodachi bokken. End of week 98. Total time: (79:42 + 2:01) + 115:41 + 1:32 = (81:43) + 117:13 Week 2 Tuesday - Up the hill, Made it ~350m and ~50m elevation. Friday - Hill sprints. First, I will revise my previous distance estimates. Rather than losing 10m and 15m it was more like 20m and 40m. Today, I made the full run 3 times, then 20m short twice. So, an improvement!
Monday, 7 December 22 mins battō. 29 mins shadowboxing footwork. It was raining, and I can't resist training in the rain. Went to battōjutsu class. Since I have a short sword, we started working on the short sword material. So I have something to practice now. Tuesday, 8 December 19 mins battō. Started working my short sword material. Went to goshin jutsu class. We worked a lot of situational stuff, especially wall-work. Wednesday, 9 December 18 mins battō. 30 mins bagwork. In particular working on a double low-high hook we looked at in class last night. Thursday, 10 December 22 mins battō. Went to goshin jutsu class. We worked more wall work, then some bō. Friday, 11 December 22 mins battō. 20 mins battō - bō handling. Things like switching hands and shifting my grip up and down the staff. 27 mins bagwork. I think I'm making another improvement in my roundhouse kicks. It's somewhere between working out where I need to project my energy, and working out that I have to combine the swinging of my leg and the "snap" of my shin to get the most power out of it. I don't know if I described that very well - the way I conceptualize these things can be a bit nebulous.
Ara, I've been neglectful Saturday, 12 December 28 mins Battō. End of week 99. Total time: (81:43 + 2:30) + 117:13 + 1:09 = (84:13) + 118:22
Week 100 (13/12 - 19/12). Total time: (84:13 + 1:02) + 118:22 = (85:15) + 118.22 Week 101 (20/12 - 26/12). Total time: (85:15 + 1:59) + 118.22 + 1:10 = (87:14) + 119:32 Week 102 (27/12 - 2/1). Total time: (87:14 + 0:30) + 119:32 = (87:44) + 119:32 Week 103 (3/1 - 9/1). Total time: (87:44 + 0:44) + 119:32 = (88:28) + 119:32 Week 104 (10/1 - 16/1). Total time: (88:28) + 119:32 That's right - nothing. Week 105 (17/1 - 23/1). Total time: (88:28 + 0:58) + 119:32 + 0:22 = (89:26) + 119:54 Week 106 (24/1 - 30/1). Total time: (89:26 + 0:29) + 119:54 + 0:49 = (89:55) + 120:43 Week 107 (31/1 - 6/2). Total time: (89:55 + 1:03) + 120:43 + 0:24 = (90:58) + 121:07 Week 108 (7/2 - 13/2). Total time: (90:58 + 0:53) + 121:07 = (91:51) + 121:07
Okay, now I can actually remember the stuff I was doing. Monday, 15 February 16 mins Battō. 25 mins bagwork. I've been mostly using the bag for technique work. Straight punches, hooks, roundhouse kicks and hook kicks. When I say it like that, it doesn't seem like much, huh. Thursday, 18 February 20 mins battō. A while back I started doing a bit (10-30 mins) of battō training every morning - this is why my battō training hours go up so much faster recently. However, have been facing the dreaded spectre of oversleeping. This is the last week of my holidays - I've been off since the end of November - so hopefully I will be able to reign this in. Friday, 19 February 10 mins battō. Skipping. It's been ages, but I don't seem to have gotten any worse? although I think my endurance is down since the last time. It was pretty good to get back into it, I think I'll try and get it in more often. 18 mins shadowboxing training. Yeah, training for shadowboxing sounds weird. But since I've only been doing bagwork recently I thought I my footwork could use polishing off. There is a mini-half-basketball court near my house, so I used the circle you shoot from (don't know basketball terms) to practice evasive footwork. It went like this - I started at the edge; moved towards a target at the centre and threw a jab-rev (mainly the foot/hip movement); circled out to 45°; moved back to the edge. I did it right from southpaw; left from southpaw; left from orthodox; and right from orthodox. I then changed the angle to 90°, although I only did this from southpaw. End of week 109. Total time: (91:51 + 0:46) + 121:07 + 0:43 = (91:37) + 121:50
Monday, 22 February 12 mins battō. In my battō practice recently I have been focusing on the way I bring the sword back to kamae after a cut. Usually I let the tip hang way down near my back - since I train with a shinken I don't reckon this is a good idea. So I've been trying to keep the tip higher, and It's made things much easier. I've also been playing around with my iai; although this is harder to do in practice because I use a bokken when I'm not at the dojo. Besides this, I've added a very basic two-sword drill to the beginning of my session. Somehow it seems easier to do when I'm still groggy, and gets me awake enough to do the rest of the practice. Went to battō class. There was a new guy, although I've met him elsewhere before. He has some kendō experience, but has never handled a katana before. You really do forget how awkward it is to learn to to nōtō at the start . Tuesday, 23 February 31 mins battō with bō. I felt like getting out, but I didn't feel like doing a big skipping/shadowboxing session. I also don't practice enough with my bō, so this seemed like a reasonable compromise. I went through the basic strikes from different hand positions, and then ran through both of my kata thrice. Went to goshin jutsu, although I can't remember what happened. Wednesday, 24 February 12 mins battō. Went to battō class, and did lots of kata. Thursday, 25 February Went to goshin jutsu. We spent most of the time kicking shields. Friday, 26 February 14 mins battō.
Saturday, 27 February 29 mins kata, with some breakfalls tacked on the end. I am having trouble with back-breakfalls, so I figured I'd practice. Also did some skipping beforehand. End of week 110. Total time: (91:37 + 1:09) + 121:50 + 0:29 = (92:46) + 122:19 Wednesday, 2 March 22 mins Battō. Went to battōjutsu class. We worked on the spear kumitachi, which we haven't done for a while now. It took a while to get used to the distances, as well as the sensetivity you need to maintain contact. Thursday, 4 March 28 mins battō. Goshin jutsu class was mainly teaching little kids. We just have swarms of them now. End of week 111. Total time: (92:46 + 0:50) + 122:19 = (93:36) + 122:19 Monday, 7 March 26 mins battō. Went to battōjutsu class. There is an advanced kumitachi set in Nakamura ryu, which isn't really practiced anymore - although I have heard rumours that they're going to bring it back - but it is outlined in "the book". So, we decided to bring in a copy and work the kumitachi out. We got most of the way through - they are not too complicated, but refreshingly different from the other kumitachi sets we have. Tuesday, 8 March 26 mins battō. I worked through the kumitachi we did last night. I have also been working on getting my focus right when practicing. I go through my kata three (or more) times, focusing first on form; second imagining cutting targets; and third human targets. I find by externalising the focus some things fall into place - plus it encourages the awareness that will let you mesh with a partner/opponent - although it can cause you to make mistakes. 40 (?) mins bagwork. Acutally, a lot of it was shadowboxing, since I was mainly working combinations. I'm trying to take into account what might or might not work on an active opponent, but I don't really have enough experience. Besides this, I'm also working on weaving off-line and moving back out of range after each combo.
On Wednesday I was on my own for battōjutsu class. I spent the first 30 mins doing suburi and kirikaeshi - swinging the sword around. It's a hell of a workout for the arms. Then did some kata, and practiced some kumitachi with the shinken. On Thursday, I went to goshin jutsu class. We went through a bunch of stand-up grappling - always fun, but I'm pretty awful at it. Friday, 11 March 30 mins battō. Saturday, 12 March 10 mins battō. End of week 112. Total time: (93:36 + 1:32) + 122:19 + 0:40 = (95:08) + 122:59 Sunday, 13 March 24 mins battō. I had meant to do some shadowboxing today, but instead got roped into doing some cross-country biking. Then I got two flats, and ending up running/walking all the way back, so I am beat. Thus, no shadowboxing
Monday, 14 March 24 mins battō. Tuesday, 15 March 27 mins shadowboxing. I started off doing footwork, then worked up into attack and defence. Friday, 18 March 25 mins battō. Saturday, 19 March 35 mins battō. Running through some kata with the short sword. Not super different, but the iai does change. 42 mins bagwork. Running through basic punches, some punch combos and a bit of kicking. End of week 113. Total time: (95:08 + 1:48) + 122:59 + 1:09 = (96:56) + 124:08 Edit: Also went to classes. battōjutsu classes have been pretty standard. Not many people have been coming recently. Goshin jutsu was mostly working on kick combinations. On Tuesday we ran through throws at the end - a review more than actual practice. On Thursday we trained some striking while in guard. This is very involving for the core, and made me think I really ought to do more core exercises.
Glad you're still doing the bagwork and shadowboxing. Are you still doing the sparring stuff? I confess, I haven't time to be the avid reader of The Kung Fu Diary as I used to be (so I'm way behind on this season's episodes)!
Don't worry, so am I. Unfortunately the sparring is not keeping up, and its frustrating me. The guy I was sparring with, I don't think he was experienced enough to bring things down to my level - we would have got there eventually, but... and of course I'm still a total noob. There still aren't enough adult students - or teachers - to spar in class. Probably I'm gonna bring this up with my sensei soon, since It's something I'd really like to get into.
Wednesday, 23 March 28 mins battō practice. Friday, 25 March 24 mins battō practice. Saturday, 26 March 34 mins bagwork, punching BOB. So, at the beginning of this week my knees were killing me, which is why I didn't do much. I went to battō training on Wednesday, but I was the only one, so just some solo practice. I also went to goshin jutsu on Thursday, and spent most of the time looking after the gremlins. End of week 114. Total time : (96:56 + 0:52) + 124:08 + 0:34 = (97:48) + 124:42 Sunday, 27 March 25 mins battō practice. 38 mins shadowboxing - as usual I started with footwork, then did defensive and offensive combinations. Monday, 28 March 42 mins battō. Tuesday, 29 March Today my kukri arrived. I have been thinking of getting one of these for a while now. Here is a (very small) picture of the one I ordered: The blade is 12" long - I had though of getting a 15" instead (I've still not quite given up on the idea...) but for now it's quite enough knife for me. Went to goshin jutsu class. There was just me and one gremlin, and we worked on bō. Wednesday, 30 March Went to battō class. It was only me and sensei there, but he was feeling up for a bit of training himself for a change. We started off with a kata spot check, then did some kumitachi. We briefly looked at the two-sword stuff as well, then finished off with more kata. The kumitachi was done iaito on bokuto, and my bokken got hurt in the process it makes me sad, but they are only cheap(ish) training weapons. This is kind of what they're there for. Thursday, 31 March 36 mins battō with the kukri. You may have forgotten, but my battō practice includes all weapons I train with, technically. Since I have my shiny new kukri, I thought I'd get familiar with it. This is just how I am with new weapons - as a matter of fact I am wearing my kukri on my belt as I type this. Incidentally, I've also been trying out some basic sword handling drills taken from the Schola Gladiatoria youtube channel, which had, by this point, thoroughly knackered my hands and forearms. Went to goshin jutsu class. There were even more gremlins this time - we had 8 this time, meaning there are 10 in total - a thoroughly alarming prospect. Fortunately I was spared the indignity, as the adults (a far more reasonable 3) were split off. We spent the class doing padwork. In general I'm pretty happy with my techniques. I could stand to do more punching practice, to make sure I'm getting the proper hip rotation - I also need to fix my habit of creeping in when I throw multiples. My front leg kicks need some work. My spinning back kick also needs amending - I have known for a while that it isn't technically correct, but since it worked I didn't bother fixing it. This is apparently no longer acceptable. Friday, 1 April 25 mins battō - back to swords. Saturday, 2 April Today I have been messing around. Over the last 4 years or so I have made a handful of (admittedly not historically accurate) shields, because that's how you enjoy yourself when you don't have friends. So this morning, I grabbed my big shield (60cm (24") across x 80cm (32") tall, sub-rectangular), my bō, moonlighting as a short spear, and my kukri, and came up with some basic spear/shield and short sword/shield kata. Of course I based it as much as possible on things I know from my prior weapon training, but given 90% of that training is with a longish, two-handed sword there is obviously quite a lot of stuff I just made up, both from watching youtube videos of people who (hopefully) are more knowledgeable than myself and from my own ideas and intuitions. My objective is of course to play pretend, and thus I feel no remorse for my actions
End of week 115. Total time: (97:48 + 2:08) + 124:42 + 0:38 = (99:56) + 125:20 Monday, 4 April Went to battōjutsu class. My sensei was feeling well enough to participate, (and there wasn't anyone else there), so we worked through the advanced kumitachi set. Tuesday, 5 April 30 mins battō. Wednesday, 6 April 17 mins battō. Went to battōjutsu class - or so I say, but no-one else was there. This is becoming a trend. I spent the first hour or so doing my own practice, and the last half-hour watching the bujinkan group we share space with. They were working on some naginata stuff. It was interesting to see how other groups work, and there was some interesting stuff. Thursday, 7 April 25 mins battō. End of week 116. Total time: (99:56 + 1:12) + 125:20 = (101:06) + 125:20
