Hurrah! Just got back from grading, and I'm now a nidan! I think I'm going to be sore tonight. Time for a beer, I think.
Nidan in GoJu Ryu? What did you have to do for your test....any good stories from the grading, or vids? Congrats!
Thanks guys. Yep, in goju ryu. No special stories, it was a fairly straightforward grading. We did all the technical requirements last weekend at a camp down the beach (when it was 35 degrees C in the shade), and did the usual of basics, tensho, sanchin and pushups in the surf. Then when the cool change came, we went back to the beach and did kata in the gale, with the sand whipping past our legs (stupidly, I didn't close my bag and it filled with sand while we were doing it). Lots of applications and two-person drills then. Today was therefore more of a pressure test of the things we didn't do too well on the previous weekend. Started with sets of 50 pushups and squats, followed by basics, followed by another set of pushups and squats, followed by padwork, followed by more pushups and squats, followed by more basics, folllowed by.... well you get the idea (350 pushups and the same in squats for the grading). Then, katas, some applications, a couple of 2-person drills, then we sparred each other and all the existing 2nd and 3rd dans. And that was it. Oh, and another 50 pushups and squats to finish It took 3hrs today. It was good fun, but I think I'll be feeling it tomorrow.
