Wow, gonna be a monster post this time. Tuesday, 15 September 25 mins Battō. 25 mins kihon - throws and footwork Wednesday, 16 September 30 mins battō, with sword and bō. Thursday, 17 September 26 mins battō. Friday, 18 September 17 mins battō. Saturday, 19 September 32 mins battō, with kukri and knife. End of week 87. Total time: (58:40 + 2:10) + 106:58 + 0:25 = (60:50) + 107:23
Scratch that last one, I'm going to break it up. Tuesday, 22 September 25 mins kata, throws etc. Wednesday, 23 September 24 mins battō, with the bō. Thursday, 24 September 33 mins battō. Friday, 25 September 25 mins battō with the bō. Saturday, 26 September 32 mins battō. End of week 88. Total time: (60:50 + 1:55) + 107:23 + 0:25 = (62:45) + 107:48 Monday, 28 September 21 mins battō - bō. Tuesday, 29 September 30 mins battō. 30 mins padwork. Wednesday, 30 September 23 mins battō - bō. Thursday, 1 October 22 mins battō. Friday, 2 October 27 mins batto. End of week 89. Total time: (62:45 + 2:03) + 107:48 + 0:30 = (64:48) + 108:18
Okay, this is taking too long, so I'll just summarize. Week 90 (4/10 - 10/10): (64:48 + 1:10) + 108:18 + 0:00 = (65:58) + 108:18 Week 91 (11/10 - 17/10): (65:58 + 1:42) + 108:18 + 0:36 = (66:40) + 108:54 Week 92 (18/10 - 24/10): (66:40 + 1:52) + 108:54 + 1:01 = (68:32) + 109:55 Week 93 (25/10 - 31/10): (68:32 + 2:06) + 109:55 + 1:20 = (70:38) + 111:15
And back to the regular schedule. Monday, 2 November 35 mins battō. 40 mins kicks. I have decided that I'm not paying enough attention to my kihon (or any of my unarmed, really), so I went through all of my kicks thoroughly. I'm doing pretty well - I am at the point where I am mostly satisfied with my front kick and roundhouse kick (lead-leg high roundhouse is still no good, though). I am at a point where I'm happy to start trying out back kicks and hook kicks with my off-leg, and I'm generally continuing to make progress with them. Wednesday, 4 November 16 mins battō. Thursday, 5 Novemer 20 mins battō, using the kukri. I am starting to appreciate some of the differences between using the kukri and the katana now. Specifically, I have realised that flicking the wrist out when striking with the kukri is beneficial, due to the shape of the blade, whereas the katana calls for a more stable wrist. Some other things worth noting: On the Third of October I had my first tournament - it was run by a local WKA associated club, but it encompassed amateur kickboxing/Muay Thai, BJJ/submission wrestling, stick-fighting and empty hand and weapon forms. I had wanted to participate in the sparring, but I was definitely not ready in time, so I participated in weapon forms. I came dead last (out of 4) - not enough leaping and twirling, I recon. More importantly, I discovered that form comps don't really do it for me - it wasn't any different to practicing on my own time, except that I had to wait around for everyone else first. So I won't be doing that again. Still interested in the sparring, but we'll see how we go. Recently I bought myself a BOB to replace my sadly unusable heavy bag. My thought was to use it to improve targeting (with empty hands and weapons). I have found it to be useful - I'm a bit cautious about kicking it too hard, but it seems to be holding up OK. Also, because it doesn't have the inertia of the heavy bag, it's much easier (and more useful) for punching and hook kicks. The main issue is that I put way to much ballast in the base, and I can't move it at all. So I will have to drain some of it off, which is no big deal. Hopefully it will get me doing some more empty hand training in the future!
Kudos for getting in there and participating in your tournament - despite the odds. That's more than many would do. Now, maybe I missed something or have forgotten if I asked before, how did you end up in a "amateur kickboxing/Muay Thai, BJJ/submission wrestling, stick-fighting and empty hand and weapon form" tournament with you being primarily a Battōjutsu student? Quote: Recently I bought myself a BOB to replace my sadly unusable heavy bag. Sacré bleu! Sacrilege! How could you?!? They've a BOB hanging up at a local sporting goods shoppe and every time I go in there, I see another part of him broken or missing altogether. For what those things cost... But if it works for you ... who am I to doubt :dunno: Glad to see you posting again!
Well, rather than being mainly a Battōjutsu student it's just that I've gotten really lazy about practicing other stuff. In terms of class time, it's half karate as well. Doubt all you like. It's not the same as a heavy bag, but since I mainly go bare-knuckle it's honestly nice having something a bit lighter. More importantly, I haven't been able to find a replacement for my sadly deceased bag stand. Anyway, hopefully it stands up to my abuse.
I was half giving you gyp. You're free to slap BOB or anyone else around all you like I don't know anything about them except watching one fall apart at the Sporting goods store - not a great advert technique on their part. But who knows what attacks it when the lights go off, then? I could see the utility in having something like that as bags are not terribly realistic training partners in either anatomy or movement. Did they put a lot of thought into trying to get a fairly accurate representation on how close to striking a human is with it? Just curio
Well, it moves a lot less, although it can create that just out of reach feeling when it's moving back. In terms of consistency, I'd have to hammer it a bit with gloves on to let you know. So far, it has taught me some valuable (but painful) lessons about accuracy and keeping punches straight.
Friday, 6 November 37 mins battō. This time (and some other times) I played around with switching my hands around - using a one-handed grip and a left-handed grip. Partly for fun, partly because I own one of these: and so I like being able to swing it around and look like I have some idea what I'm doing Saturday, 7 November 31 mins bagwork. Punches and some open-hand strikes starting from close range. Trying to replicate a social confrontation with the second, although strictly in the name of fun. Actually, trying to tag the BOB's head as it swings wildly about is pretty tricky, and I have come away with various nigglies; I caught my left thumb, and I kept scraping my outer knuckles. But then, we only get better by practicing. End of week 94. Total time: (70:38 + 1:48) + 111:15 + 1:11 = (72:26) + 112:26
That begs an interesting question: How does one condition their hands for such a bare-knuckle confrontation? We don't develop calluses their as we would develop them on our finger-tips (e.g. from playing guitar) do we?
Whole load of what is known as "hit medicine" but would be better called "contusion and conditioning medicine" Chinese herbal salves that work on increasing bone density, and strengthening tendons. With exercises that go with them. Interestingly its not about skin toughening and callousing as much as preparing the hand for the stresses of striking without wraps.
The body is an amazingly adaptive organism. Like you said, our finger tips develop callouses to "toughen" them up the more we play guitar. When I was doing muay thai, our coach had us occasionally go bare knuckle a few rounds on the heavy bag. He wanted to "toughen our hands" both with callouses and, as Tom Baley said, to prepare them for the stresses of actual contact. If one looks at my knuckles, it's very obvious they've hit very hard things. Now in kung fu, part of our Rank tests require us to palm through boards. Sifi has a box of sand and a box of gravel he has the upper belts practice striking to toughen them up.
It's not so much a matter of conditioning per se as proper alignment and picking your shots carefully. You do develop calluses, but I have ripped off callus by skimming my knuckles on a target - punching straight is much more important. Things like that.
Monday, 9 November 9 mins battō. After hurting my thumb this was surprisingly difficult, so I cut it short. 13 mins orc-slaying with spear. It started raining, and I love nothing more than training in the rain. My bō (which serves as a proxy spear) is also waterproofed, so it's all good. Tuesday, 10 November 15 mins battō, with the kukri. Since my thumb still hurts, I thought I'd use an easier weapon. 34 mins bagwork. Working punching combos on the BOB, with some kicks. I wore bag mitts to protect my thumb, and I didn't have any trouble. I am hitting with the wrong knuckles sometimes though, I can notice even with the gloves. Something to work on. Probably my main focus is on keeping my straight punches tight, so they don't curve and hit strangely. Went to goshin jutsu class tonight (just to be clear - it's not like I've stopped going for months, I just couldn't be bothered talking about it for ages). It was a bit empty, so I got to drive the pace a bit. Worked on kicks first, which are coming along nicely. My lead leg front kick is starting to click. Went into some padwork, doing punch & kick combos. It soon transpired that my partner, who is only a white belt, hasn't done much work on hook punches, so I spent a few minutes taking him through them. Then did some bagwork (since they have nice big Thai bags at the dojo) - swinging the bag, then evading as it comes towards you and hitting it with a low kick. We did this because one student, who is only like 11 years old, was sort of wandering around randomly kicking the bags, and it was annoying me. So I thought I would give him something productive to do.
A bit of a more involved answer. Wrist alignment/strength - not having your forearm lined up behind your knuckles can easily collapse and hurt your wrist. Not having enough strength in your wrist does the same - as I can attest. This is particularly obvious if you go from training with gloves and wraps to bareknuckle in one session - your form will be terrible. Picking your shots - If you don't hit the right target (get the guy on his cranium) or with the right weapon (hit with second knuckles, with the little fingers, with your thumb) you will easily hurt yourself - or at least, more easily. Little mistakes you can just ignore with gloves on, you cannot ignore bare-handed. Form - If your straight punches aren't straight, or you hooks are too wide, etc., it's easy to hit with the wrong bit of the hand, or to skim off the target. Skimming is not so bad in a short encounter - it should in fact hurt them more - but if you do it too much you will skin your knuckles. Maybe it's possible to get enough callus that you don't, but it's certainly easier to just punch properly in the first place. Of course, none of this is stuff that you wouldn't get taught in any decent MA, I would hope; you've just got to be much more careful about it without gloves on. EDIT: of course, the things the others are saying are also true - one can condition the knuckles, developing callus over them, and the Chinese have their famous dit da jow for conditioning (or whatever else). But I personally believe that the thing's I mention are much more important - unless you can condition your hands into 10 oz gloves (which may not be entirely desirable, for various reasons).
So...how'd you get into bare-knuckle boxing? Just you and BOB having a go or do you do something more formal?
Well, it's karate. Apparently, when my sensei was younger there used to be a comp. circuit involving bare-knuckle, full contact fighting with bubble-type headguards; he also spent years working doors, and now has a a definite prejudice towards bare-knuckle training. Basically, we don't wear gloves at all (sparring notwithstanding). The training is not very formal - we train out of a fighting stance and do a fair bit of pad- and shield-work - again, all bare-knuckle.
Wednesday, 11 November 23 mins Battō. 31 mins bagwork. Going over some of the combos I did the other day (and some different ones), then finishing by sort of treating BOB like a speed bag - alternating left and right straights as his head came into range. Basically I'm trying to get my range and timing right, and also helping to keep my punches tight (that is, straight). Went to Battō training. There was only two people there, so we took it easy. The other guy is less experienced than me, so I helped him out with the kata he's learning.