Sunday, 10 April 40 mins battō. 27 mins shadowboxing. I should say, some time in the previous week I started training HEMA - sort of. There doesn't seem to be a local group, but I have started looking at Fiore dei Liberi's Fior de Battaglia - a 15th Century Italian (mostly) dagger and longsword fencing manual. Using my (and my brother's) knowledge of grappling and weapon martial arts I (we) have been playing around with interpreting the manual. There's some pretty good stuff in there, and we've been able to get everything we've tried to work so far. Still, at the moment I'm not going to count any time I spend training this stuff, since it's still quite speculative. I might start counting it when I get a bit more competent. Monday, 11 April 44 mins battō training. I dragged BOB out onto the lawn and used him to train distance and targetting with my various training weapons and (carefully) with my shinken. Went to battōjutsu class. We ran though the basic kata quickly, then worked on the advanced kumitachi. Tuesday, 12 April 26 mins battō training. 20 mins battō targetting - again on BOB. It ended earlier than anticipated when I accidentally hit the dog on the forehead, and he had to go to the vet's for stitches. I have decided to not let the dog join me in the future when training with swords. Went to goshin jutsu class. Only me and my brother went, so we did what we liked. We started off with kansetsu waza - standing joint locks and takedowns - because my brother hasn't done much of them. He knows the techniques, some (most) better than I do, but he doesn't know the names or the order of techniques, which is good stuff to know in a grading. When then ran briefly through our combat knife stuff, then spent the rest of the lesson doing dagger and spear techniques from Fiore. Wednesday, 13 April Went to battōjutsu class. No-one else did though, so I just ran through my kata. I also particularly like doing kirikaeshi when I'm on my own - repeatedly swingin my sword to develop both form and condition my arms and shoulders. Thursday, 14 April 58 mins bagwork. Working my punches, open hand strikes and kicks. Finished up by training the movements for joint-locking techniques and throws. Went to goshin jutsu class. 1:3 adult to gremlin ratio, so most of the time was spent teaching. I did a couple of exuberant shoulder rolls at the start, and so we ended up doing rolls, breakfalls and throws this class. We adults then did a bit of the same stuff after the kids were sent home.
Friday, 15 April 24 mins battō. Saturday, 16 April 26 mins battō. I usually don't say what happens in these practices, because they're pretty samey, but to make it a bit more interesting I'll just outline what I do. So I start off with suburi - practicing cuts while standing in place. This lets me focus on the mechanics of the cuts, warms up my arms, and lets me wake up a bit, since I do this training first thing in the morning. I sometimes mix it up a bit - for a while I started with some two-sword suburi, and recently I've started just repeating a single cut on both sides, rather than running through the full set. After suburi I do kata - solo forms. I usually try to run through each kata at least 3 times - once focussing on my form, once trying to visualise my cuts in tatami targets, and once visualising opponents. Recently I have been trying to integrate a change into my cutting technique, which requires me to spend a lot longer concentrating on form. I usually do 4-8 kata, since there are 3 sets of 8 in Nakamura ryu. Again, I sometimes mix things up, perhaps trying the kata with a short sword, or doing some of the kata my sensei has taught us from other systems. Finally, and not consistently, I do kumitachi - 2 person forms. Obviously, not having a second person, I just do half and visualise my opponent. There are at least three sets of katana kumitachi, one set of wakizashi kumitachi and one set of spear kumitachi that I know, and a spattering of others. I'll usually pick a set or two and run though each of the kumitachi several times. I can't do much about distance or timing - although I do what I can - so I focus on the footwork and cutting technique more than I would in class. And that's about it. 20 mins kicking and throwing kihon i.e. practicing on the air. End of week 117. Total time: (101:06 + 3:00) + 125:20 + 1:45 = (104:06) + 127:05
Monday, 18 April 18 mins battō. 36 mins bagwork. Particulary, I'm happy with my progress with my lead-leg roundhouse kick. I'm correcting some postural flaws which make it difficult to kick high. Went to battōjutsu training. It was a pretty easy session, with only very basic stuff - cuts, noto (sheathing the sword). Tuesday, 19 April 31 mins battō. 4 mins kata. I went for a run today, and buggered up my knee. I started training after, but I couldn't do more than 4 minutes. For the same reason, I didn't go to class. Wednesday, 20 April 34 mins battō. 21 mins kata. Making up for lost time yesterday. I ran through both kata a couple times, then broke down the second (more difficult) one and drilled it section by section. Went to battōjutsu class. Went through the first two sets of kata, then spent the rest of class doing kumitachi. I'm fairly happy with how it went - I was focused, and able to react properly.
Thursday, 21 April 27 mins battō, using the bō. I don't really train with the staff enough (because staffs are boring, *nudge nudge* InkyTommy, if you're reading this ) In all seriousness, it's nice to air it out once in a while. I spent a lot of time just spinning the thing around, trying to get familiar with manipulating it. Also, spinning a 6'+ (~1.9m for those who can't read ' or '') hardwood stick above your head is a pretty good workout for the shoulders. 29 mins shadowboxing footwork. Yes, just footwork - I was feeling pretty uninspired today. So, some moving in and out on an angle, some lateral movement, some moving in on an angle... pretty standard stuff. I'm also trying to get a grip on how to use my one-handed sword - it really is vexing me. I'm going for cuts coming from the elbow, rather than the big circular cuts you get with katanas. Even so, I find the grip makes it hard to use, since I can't get the heel of my palm against the back edge so I end up supporting the sword mostly with my fingers. Also running through some Fiore - at the moment I have decided, entirely arbitrarily, to focus on the first dagger section, the one-handed sword section and the spear section. It's a nice bite-sized chunk, although I somewhat suspect that starting with the core stuff - dagger and two-handed sword - would be a better way of going about it. Additionally, having a partner would be super - lucky for me my brother will be off work from this weekend. Went to goshin jutsu class, which was mostly herding gremlins. The whole lesson was, funnily enough, on bō. Most of the time was working on basics, then some kumitachi at the end - which was a bit nerve-wracking when there are like 8 year-old kids involved. Everyone left with their teeth, though.
Friday, 22 April 12 mins spear. Saturday, 23 April 26 mins battō. End of week 118. Total time: (104:06 + 2:28) + 127:05 + 1:30 = (106:34) + 128:35
Monday was a public holiday, so no class. Both Monday and Sunday I did some orc-slaying, but I decided that maybe playing around for an hour shouldn't count as a training session. Tuesday, 26 April 22 mins battō. Went to goshin jutsu class. We worked on grappling the whole time. My brother and I were able to run through all of our throws until we were tired and dizzy, and then went to help the gremlins learn their second throw. Wednesday, 27 April I had to go to university early, so no morning training. Went to battōjutsu class. As per usual, I was pretty much the only one there. I worked through the Toyama kata - first drilling them, then doing henka, which just means making little changes to the kata. Making them a bit more alive and interesting. Thursday, 28 April 21 mins battō. Hopefully I'll have more to log by the end of the day.
Thursday, 28 April cont. 40 mins bagwork. Just basic kicks and punches. Went to goshin jutsu class. We spent most of the time running over throws, and finished with some sparring drills. Friday, 29 April 19 mins battō. I've now started adding henka to my morning practices, albeit at the expense of kumitachi. End of week 119. Total time: (106:34 + 1:02) + 128:35 + 0:40 = (107:36) + 129:15
Monday, 2 May 18 mins battō. Public holiday, so no training. Tuesday, 3 May 22 mins battō. 28 mins bagwork. Started off doing combinations, then worked through some basic punches and kicks - not systematically, just ones I have trouble with.
How did I fall behind a whole month? Wednesday, 4 May 22 mins battō. Friday, 6 May 12 mins throws and kansetsu waza solo training. Saturday, 7 May 28 mins battō. 25 mins shadowboxing. Practicing some offensive combos and defensive footwork. End of week 120. Total time: (107:36 + 1:30) + 129:15 + 1:05 = (109:06) + 130:20
Monday, 9 May 28 mins battō. Thursday, 12 May 26 mins battō. Friday, 13 May 21 mins throws, kansetsu waza and punching solo. Saturday, 14 May 36 mins battō - orc-slaying. End of week 121. Total time: (109:06 + 1:30) + 130:20 + 0:21 = (110:36) + 130:41
Sunday, 15 May 50 mins footwork. This combined unarmed and armed footwork (which involves more stepping), but let's just count it as unarmed. Tuesday, 17 May 24 mins battō. 22 mins bag-boxing. Wednesday, 18 May 23 mins battō. Thursday, 19 and Friday, 20 May 16+6 mins battō. End of week 122. Total time: (110:36 + 1:09) + 130:41 + 1:12 = (111:45) + 131:53
Monday, 23 May 14 mins battō. Tuesday, 24 May 11 mins battō. Wednesday, 25 May 22 mins battō. Friday, 27 May 20 mins battō. 27 mins shadowboxing. Started with some kata, then did some offensive combos and defensive footwork. End of week 123. Total time: (111:45 + 1:07) + 131:53 + 0:27 = (112:52) + 132:20
Monday, 30 May 53 mins kicking kihon. Worked through all of my kicks - each variation of each kick, 10 times on each leg; for a grand total of 280 individual kicks. It took way longer than it should have, because I was also playing with the dog. Tuesday, 31 May 21 mins battō. Went to goshin jutsu class. There were only four people, so my brother and I taught the kids how to use kukris. Their parents were thrilled . Wednesday, 1 June 8 mins battō, with the kukri.
Anyhow, that's all of the admin stuff, so now for a quick summary of what I'm actually doing. Theoretically, I'm going for a grading in both goshin jutsu and Nakamura ryu some time in the next month or so. Accordingly, I've been trying to devote time to preparing for these, both in class and in my own time. For the Nakamura-ryu grading this is mostly polishing up my kata, although there are a few points in my kumitachi which need fixing up a bit more. Besides this we've also done a bit of unarmed vs. sword recently - mostly aikido-ish stuff. In goshin jutsu, for technical stuff it's mainly throws that need work. Most of them need refining, and no-one can consistently get harai-goshi to work properly. Besides this there are also the self-defence techniques - little one-step kumite that we're meant to dream up ourselves. The main problem is that for this grading we have to do ones that incorporate throws and locks/chokes etc. As to how we're meant to do this, I have only a vague idea. It's one of those things that's on the grading requirements, but you've never actually covered in class, you know? There's also a bit of light sparring, so we've been doing some sparring drills, although not nearly as much as I'd like. Honestly, I feel as though my brother and I are being put up for this grading without having been given anything like enough training in these areas. And while I can understand why that might have been the case - low numbers, lots of kids in class, not enough senior students, etc. - it is frustrating.
Seems I'm doomed to keep repeating this You wouldn't think it would be hard to post more often than once every 1.5 months. Friday, 3 June 21 mins battō. Saturday, 4 June 16 mins battō. 30 mins kata - most of my kata and forms from each of the martial arts I've done. I'm probably missing a lot of details from my TKD and kung fu forms, but whatever. At any rate I'm not too worried about the TKD forms. End of week 124. Total time: (112:52 + 1:06) + 132:20 + 1:23 = (113:58) + 133:43 Sunday, 5 June 31 mins shadowboxing. Monday, 6 June 16 mins battō. 9 mins using the virtual sparring partner. I didn't record this at the start, but what the heck. Working punch defences. Thursday, 9 June 12 mins battō. 10 mins shadowboxing in the mirror. 29 mins bagwork - mainly hands, with some kicks thrown in at the end. Saturday, 11 June 10 mins battō. End of week 125. Total time: (113:58 + 0:38) + 133:43 + 1:19 = (114:36) + 135:02
Monday, 13 June 30 mins bagwork. Same pattern as before - mainly hands with some kicks at the end. Wednesday, 15 June 19 mins shadowboxing in the mirror. 12 mins Virtual Sparring Partner (VSP) shadowboxing. Again, this is mainly defensive. Friday, 17 June 15 mins VSP shadowboxing. Saturday, 18 June 14 mins battō. 30 mins kata. End of week 126. Total time: (114:36 + 0:14) + 135:02 + 1:46 = (114:50) + 136:48 Tuesday, 21 June 18 mins battō. 11 mins battō - bō. 24 mins all kata and forms. Wednesday, 22 June 11 mins battō. Friday, 24 June 25 mins bagwork, all hands. End of week 127. Total time: (114:50 + 0:40) + 136:48 + 0:49 = (115:30) + 137:37
Monday, 27 June 41 mins battō. Tuesday, 28 June 25 mins bagwork. Wednesday, 29 June 31 mins battō. End of week 128. Total time: (115:30 + 1:12) + 137:37 + 0:25 = (116:42) + 138:02 Tuesday, 5 July 34 mins kicking kihon. Wednesday, 6 July 24 mins VSP shadowboxing. This time working head movement, rather than the usual blocks and parries. Thursday, 7 July 30 mins battō. 45 mins bagwork. Approximately. I worked a lot of punch and kick combos, then a bit of focused work on my backfist and getting some relaxed, short power. End of week 129. Total time: (116:42 + 0:30) + 138:02 + 1:43 = (117:12) + 138:45
Monday, 11 July 7 mins battō. Wednesday, 13 July 9 mins battō. Saturday, 16 July 16 mins battō. Exciting week so far. Although to be fair I've been doing some practicing for my upcoming goshin jutsu grading that I haven't counted. This should be coming up the week after next, but honestly it's been up in the air for so long that it's hard to get too serious about it. In other news, on 24-25 June we had our annual Nakamura-ryu seminar, at which I graded to 2nd dan. Yay. That's also the reason for the huge spike in activity the week after. I didn't learn anything new, but lots of corrections and a couple of changes to some of the kata. Altogether it was a good weekend.
Okay, I just noticed that I seriously messed up the dates in the last two entries. Rather than April/June, please read July :bang: No more training on the 16th, so that's the end of week 130. Total time: (117:12 + 0:32) + 138:45 = (117:44) + 138:45 Sunday, 17 July 20 mins kicking kihon. Trying to lock down my back kick, and also working on my right leg hook and roundhouse kicks. Tuesday, 19 July 15 mins shadowboxing, using the Virtual Sparring Partner. I focused on watching the elbows this time, and my reactions seemed to be better than usual. 47 mins kicking BOB. Towards the end I was really breaking things down to try and iron out the little problems in my form. For my back kicks I have trouble making the kick go back - either my hips twist a bit, making it a side kick, or I end up kicking out on an angle. For my right leg roundhouse kick I'm not extending my leg properly, and also have trouble opening up my hip and lifting my knee. For my right leg hook kick I also have problems with lifting my knee, but I also struggle with driving the kick through the target. I've not quite figured out why. Thursday, 21 July 15 mins spear, since we did a bit in class on Wednesday. Actually, I spend most of the time going over the spear techniques from Fior di Battaglia rather than the rather thinner Nakamura ryu curriculum. Friday, 22 July 26 mins spear. This time I just drilled various thrusts. There are two variations on the basic thrust - the first way I was taught has the spear being thrust straight from the hip, at a bit of an upwards angle towards the upper chest. The second has the hands being raised to shoulder height and the spear being thrust straight forwards. Then there is a downwards thrust to the chest from over the head, and a downwards thrust to the legs/feet. I did each of these 50 times then a basic combination, thrusting low and then high. In goshin jutsu I taught more than I learned. On Tuesday I had the class (with two students), and I just ran them through some basic sparring padwork drills. First I had them move around doing straight punches on the mitts. After that I did a drill where one or more people hold kick shields and crowd one person, as though they were going to attack. That person then has to use footwork and whatever other techniques (delivered to the shield, obviously) to keep away from the "attackers". Sort of a super-budget bullet-man suit thing. On Thursday we had the kids doing some basic grappling - bridging and rolling an opponent from the bottom of mount, passing from full guard into mount and the repeating for the other person. After the kids left the adults played with toy guns for the rest of the lesson. In Nakamura ryu we worked with spear on Wednesday - hence training with the spear - until someone broke it. Not me, by the way. Nothing serious, that a bit of super glue won't fix. Otherwise we drilled some kata and some kumitachi.
Saturday, 23 July 20 mins battō - spear thrusts End of week 131. Total time: (117:44 + 1:01) + 138:45 + 1:22 = (118:45) + 140:07 Sunday, 24 July 39 mins spear thrusts. Monday, 25 July 15 mins battō. 10 mins spear thrusts. Tuesday, 26 July 15 mins spear. Wednesday, 27 July 23 mins battō. Thursday, 28 July 20 mins battō. Friday, 29 July 23 mins battō. 31 mins spear thrusts. Saturday, 30 July 60 mins bō and spear. End of week 132. Total time: (118:45 + 3:56) + 140:07 = (122:41) + 140:07 Sunday, 31 July 15 mins dagger. Anyhow, in goshin jutsu class, on Tuesday we took the gremlins through some knife stuff, and on Thursday worked through gun disarms. In Nakamura-ryu we have been working a lot on spear work, and the advanced kumitachi set. This set is not widely taught - my instructor has never learned it. Mostly we are learning it from a book, with pictures and text, but recently we have found several videos, which has helped quite a bit.
