Nachi's Log

Discussion in 'Training Logs' started by Nachi, Apr 23, 2015.

  1. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Sooo, I was thinking about starting my training log after the example of many people here. The reason is to see my (potential) progress and to have another motivation to work on myself.
    I mostly only train in classes, so I'm not sure if this log will be interesting since I don't do much on my own (I should, I know!), but today I had a great training and I'm rather tired to do any work, so why not write something down?
    I will see how often I'll update this, but I would like to write things down so I can see my improvement (if there's any :))

    So for starters I train traditional Goju-ryu Karate (IOGKF), now for about a year and a half. I go to classes Monday to Thursday, therefore usually training for 7 or 8,5 hours a week.

    At the beginning I would also like to appologize if I don't know English terms for some exercises and therefore will clumsily attempt to describe them my way :D
     
  2. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    And because I don't want this to be too empty, I'll start from the beginning of this week ^^

    Monday 20.4.15:
    An hour long karate class: doing various exercises focusing on mae-geri for the whole lesson. Some work out at the end (don't remember too well).

    Continuing with a self-defense class for women (participating as a student and assisting sensei if needed - mostly doing a sparring partner for the beginners to help them with techniques).
    At the beginning we tried some sparring - girls made pairs and to each pair was added a man as the main attacker. Not enough man, I'm playing a man this time, too.
    3x4 rounds of pinning one person to the ground so they can't move. The two attackers only use one arm. When attacking us (men), everyone uses both arms. Probably lost one time - was choked, not pinned yet, though. Lot of fun :)
    3x4 rounds of sparring with gloves, we get body padding so the girls aren't afraid to hit us hard and can practise striking a moving person who's defending themselves, too.
    3x4 rounds of girls practising elbow strikes on the attackers. We kept the padding, but the full power strikes still aren't overly comfortable. I wish a really was a man, some places hurt...

    Some work out et the end, focusing on belly. Enjoyed the training, even though I gained some bruises and scratches.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2015
  3. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Tuesday 21.4.15:

    90 min. training, only sensei and three, later just two students. Nothing too difficult, practising kicks (mae-geri, mawashi-geri, ushiro-geri, hiza-geri), blocks and ashi barai (sweeps), later all three of my kata, some work out (belly again).


    Wednesday 22.4.15
    90 min. training (PE) at my faculty - training for beginners.
    Started with the same pinning to the ground exercise as on Monday, but with tougher opponents. More fun :)

    Hiza-geri and mae-geri and somersault practise, training to stay in shiko-dachi.
    Kakie (pushing hands) - two different forms, practised in a row of people, then with two opponents.
    San dan gi practise, then assisting sensei a tiny bit with teaching the first kata.
    At the end of the training I was asked to show how the kata should look. I was somewhat nervous, so I was a bit too tense and wasn't very happy about how I did. Need to work on this.
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2015
  4. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Thursday 23.4.15:
    Two classes became one 3-hour training.

    Training started with hojo-undo. Around 10 minutes with makiwara or a heavy bag (gyaku tsuki, shotei tsuki, ko-uke), then kongoken and chi-ishi.
    Kongoken is as heavy as ever, I didn't surpass any of my records, performed as usual:
    15x lifting it above my head (strech arms fast and fall into shiko-dachi)
    10x rotating it and falling into shiko-dachi
    15 push ups with one end of the kongoken resting on my neck
    I really want to improve this!

    Next part of the training was ude tanren (conditioning - as in striking each other with different bodyparts as hard as one can take):
    ... mostly 30 strikes x 3 opponents x 11 exercises (different forearm strikes, hand, elbow strikes, shoulders, back, leg kicks, punches to the stomach)

    Kakie - three different forms, one or two opponents, just the basic pushing hands, without other techniques - working out.

    Practising one sequence from the kata in pairs, got to practise with the most advanced student (1st kyu) and sensei, which was great, always increasing pace and power of the strikes and blocks until I'm catching my breath.

    Kata training - all three of my kata: Gekisai Dai Ichi, Gekisai Dai Ni and Saifa; all bunkai for Gekisai Dai Ichi and Ni. Heard some interesting points on Saifa, need to remember them and try to do better with the timing and flow sensei was speaking about.

    Sanchin kata twice at the end. I find Sanchin kata incredibly hard - to synchronize all the minute detailes with breathing and keeping some of the muscles tense all the time and be wary of everything. Not even mentioning the proper way of breathing...
    I'm told it should be practised every morning and evening. And I think it would really be great. I'm just too lazy to do it, errrgh

    I enjoyed the training very much, feeling all sore and leaving with purple forearms...

    I was also stretching at the beginning and end of the class, trying to do the (side) split. I'm almost there, although I've been stuck at this point for some time. But think I made a tiny progress. Anyway, both my calves on the ground, now it's the time to get my butt there, too! :D
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2015
  5. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Friday 24.4.15:

    Today was a bit special day, there was an event in the center of Prague about health and prevention of heart deseases. There were a few booths and one of them was dedicated to our karate. We had a short exhibition and then even appeared in a short life tv report. I was hitting a makiwara. We didn't know when the camera will come to us, so we were doing our exercises for a longer time in advance. I had already hurt my knuckles during the first demonstaration and was able to punch only with one hand. I tried to hit hard despite the pain, which only resulted in my knuckles being painful, swolen and my fingers still shaking now.... I won't overdo it like that again, I hope. Luckily I have the whole weekend for regeneration.

    Then there was no more official programme, so we practised our own stuff (kata, bunkai, pad work,...) and so were able to have a training on one of the biggest and most famous squares in our country - the Wenceslas Square in Prague.
    Too bad the people there interested in the heart diseases were mostly rather old and weren't potential new students. When we did our stuff there was an occasional group of younger people standing nearby watching or even taking a video, but I'm afraid we won't get many new members from this... :(
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2015
  6. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Sunday 26.4.15:

    It's been a long time since I spent my Sunday at home (finally it looks like I'm done with the fieldwork for my diploma thesis this season!) so I decided it's time to take a break from sitting at the table working and do at least a short exercise. I planned to go skating, but the rain made me change my mind.

    I thought it was a good idea to warm up properly first, so I started with:
    10x10 push-ups
    10x10 squats
    10x10 sit-ups
    10x10 lunges

    I'm in a need to learn to do knuckle push-ups (ten on a wooden floor is my record so far :/). I shall do them next time, my excuse for today is that my knuckles still hurt, although the swelling is almost gone.

    Then came the time for me to practise Sanchin. I tried three times, with a break between each try. Gosh, I'm so bad at this XD I tried to concentrate on the correct posture, but failed to do the proper breathing and vice versa. My breathing is way too short, way too weak and not properly to the tanden most of the time. When I learnt it for the first time last year, I think I was actually able to breath more strongly. There was this sensation that I can't reach anymore.
    On the more optimitic side, I think my breathing improved a super tiny bit with each kata. So it's probably a good idea to always repeat the kata more times during on session.
    My heart at the end also beats faster than at the beginning (which shouldn't be, I think).
    My whole body started shaking during the second try, which probably means that I do tense the muscles, which is good, but I don't think they're supposed to shake :/
    Oh man, there are probably not too many exercises that make me sweat so much!

    Now, I hereby declare I will practise Sanchin more often and if there's not time and place, I will at least try to practise the tanden breathing! And I will practise the breathing seperately on a regular basis, too!
    There'd have to be a devil working against me, for me to not be able to do a proper Sanchin someday!
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2015
  7. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    sanchin is awesome :D
     
  8. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    It is indeed :D But I sort of have a love-hate relationship with it at the moment...
     
  9. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    it does take some work to get it right. i still never managed to root myself properly while doing it, but playing with it anyway has done absolute wonders for my technique. definitely a worthwhile time investment :D

    then you have to work on making it EEEEEEEVIL!

    EEEEEEEEVIL SANCHIN! :evil: :ban:
     
  10. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    I'm sure it will take a huge amount of work to synchronize everything. Well, I need to learn to be able to do all the stuff first, before synchronizing it... yep, rooting is another of my weak points (well, one would have a hard time naming one thing that isn't my weak point in Sanchin). I'm trying to keep my legs tense, but tend to forget about toes. And last time when sensei came to me and kicked to the groin to test my posture, needless to say, it went right through, prooving my posture a failure...

    Thanks for the encouragement! It's cool it worked for you! :)

    Haha, I think my facial expression might already look evil from all the concentration. Or funny, at the very least :D

    You really do like to encourage people to come to the evil side, don't you? :D
     
  11. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    evil is fun. just ask your sensei, if what you say of him is any indication :p
     
  12. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Haha, true :D Now I'm wondering what I said of him that made you think so, but indeed, he can be a little "evil" sometimes :D As every sensei probably should :)
    Never taught me any such part of Sanchin, though! You'd have to show me, haha. The misterious hidden meaning behind Sanchin, that is!
     
  13. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    lol :p. it's not a hidden mysterious meaning, it's an optional extra (and a highly desireable one, if you ask me :D).

    like with any other kata, technique or whatever, first you gotta learn how to do it properly, then you have do so, then do so in a natural manner, and that all takes its time. at that point, though, it's ingrained into your movement as a single thing rather than multiple component parts to be done simultaneously, and that is when you can start experimenting and adding fun bits and bobs to it. see for example anything ever done by masanobu shinjo, kazuo terauchi, ikemiyagi masaaki and masaji taira. all four have distinctive and overt personal flavours to what they do, developed over the course of their training careers, all four have very noticeable power, particularly if you know what to look for, and at least in the case of the latter three (haven't seen relevant footage of shinjo sensei), you can just feel the evil oozing from them when they demonstrate or train by themselves :D (by evil i mean the constant lookout for and seizing of opportunities to immediately shut the opponent down as efectively as possible via the use of their personal 'flavour')
     
  14. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Yep, any 'extras' will come later :)

    Thanks for the tips. I don't know the names, except for sensei Terauchi. I tried YouTube, but didn't find any video of any of them performing Sanchin (except for sensei Terauchi again). I'll do a more thorough search later...
    Well, one thing is for sure, I wouldn't want to make any of them angry :D

    Not too long ago I bought a book called Sanchin: The Three Battles, written by sensei Pervez Mistry. I have only read a smaller part of it so far, but it is a very interesting read. Sensei writes about all the things that Sanchin should improve, how it works, what it does from physiological point of view etc. According to him, Sanchin indeed makes a person more alert and prepared to fight immediately, it should even improve the reflexes. No wonder those karateka you mentioned have a that kind of feel to them! :)
     
  15. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Monday 27.4.15:

    Not too long before today's training I got a message from Sensei, asking if I can come to the dojo earlier. I managed to be half an hour earlier, to, as I suspected, take over the kids' class, because Sensei needed to go somewhere and there was nobody to teach the children. I only came for the second half on the training. I'm not used to working with kids and the more time I spend with them the more I admire those who can actually teach them regularly. There is always mild chaos in the class, although they can be really cute sometimes and polite, too. Today I had a boy raise his hand, politely asking me if he could please hit the boy who was annoying him from behind, lol XD

    Then came our adult class with Sensei still absent. We warmed up and decided to do a circuit training also with some hojo undo stuff. The time to change posts was decided by the one (or the pair) doing an exercise our Sensei likes to call 'the Miyagi Garden' in honor of the late Sensei Miyagi who is said to have made his new students come and seemingly randomly move the stones or pieces of rock around his garden (...so Karate Kid-ish, right? :D). Only those who always came despite knowing this will be the only thing they'll be doing again, were deemed worthy and patient enough to learn karate.
    We also have ten pieces of rock in the dojo. The exercise is to move all of them (each one separately) to the other side of the dojo, but only walking in shiko-dachi (horse stance) back and forth. Sometimes sensei would also attach a bamboo stick to our back (held by obi) to remind us and ensure we kept our back straight. We didn't use the bamboo, but for some reason voluntarily did this exercise. I did feel the muscles I used yesterday for squats and lunges.

    Another post was kongoken. Again I managed:
    15x lifting it above my head + fall into shiko-dachi
    16x (went for an even number to work both sides equally) rotating it like a steering wheel + shiko-dachi ---> See? New record!
    15 push ups (had a hard time doing all 15 since I was a tad more tired from the rotating)
    Tried another exercise I did only once before of flipping the kongoken and holding it on outstretched arms. Only did it twice, before it was time to move to on.

    Then chi-ishi and practising kicks with the pad (mae, mawashi, yoko geri).

    Self-defense class for women:
    Sensei finally returned as promised to teach the class. Since some girls still had bruises from last week's sparring, we didn't do anything too difficult. Mostly practising techniques in pairs and just a little work-out.

    Today was a bit weird day, I couldn't concentrate on some techniques and did some stupid mistakes (kicking a guy in the groin included)...
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2015
  16. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Tuesday 28.4.15:

    Couldn't make it to today's class. At least I decided to continue my Sanchin struggle tonight.
    Without any warm up I tried four times with breaks in between. I was thinking about recording how much time I spend with each kata - the only objective way that could possibly show any improvements that I could think of (?).
    Since there is a precise number of breaths one should take during Sanchin, the longer it takes, the better.

    I didn't check for the first kata, the second one took 3:25, the third 3:30, the fourth (although I had a feeling I was doing quite good) only 3:08. The times include the whole etiquette (from the first bow to the last).
     
  17. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Wednesday 29.4.15:

    I admitted to one Sensei (not my teacher) about my intention to learn Sanchin and again got an answer that Sanchin should be practised daily. Very well, then! Bring it on!

    Midday Sanchin - 3x:
    times: 3:27, 3:34, 3:35

    Later today I went to alergology and with a spirometry test was diagnosed with obstructive and restrictive lung deseases. I will get new medication that should help, although I don't really feel any bad. But I think it's another reason to learn and practise a breathing exercise like Sanchin often.

    A karate class at my faculty (90 mins):

    Stretching and warm up with 40-50 pushups, at least 70 sit-ups, and another exercise that I don't know the English name of.
    Practising different punches and mae-geri, mawashi-geri and ashi-barai in pairs in a few different exercises and other strikes and kicks a couple of times.
    For jodan mawashi-geri I was paired with a friend, who's rather short, which was good. It was one of the not-so-frequent times I was told to kick with koshi (ball of the foot) to head-hight. It's a bit more difficult so I was happy to be paired with someone of the same height :). But I could still stretch more.

    Then several rounds of randori with only arms, later several rounds with arms and legs and possible takedowns and ground fighting.
    I didn't really go for taking people to the ground and if I occasionaly did, didn't continue there, but I had no choice in some cases. Once with a guy who does judo, I think, and twice with Sensei. Guess who lost! :D My strategy usually is to somehow take them down, too, if I'm already on the ground, and then if the person has stronger arms, make use of my usually greater flexibility to at least annoy them with my legs for as long as possible and get them in the way of whatever the attacker is trying to do. :D ...I should probably learn some techniques, haha... :D
    At one time I was at least quite close to going for a triangle a friend showed me, but the opportunity passed quickly as Sensei didn't let me get the other leg into the right position. Well, I'm quite sure it would've failed anyway... I should have thought of something better, but I'm still a bit happy that I even rememebr the technique! :)
    I should be practising that more, too.

    Ooops, I guess I write a lot not that important stuff. Sorry about that if anyone is reading this, but I would like to keep some of my thoughts here, too, to see if my abilities and strategies change in any way over time :)
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2015
  18. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    It's YOUR log. You write what you want to!:cool:
     
  19. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Hehe, you're right! :D ...I just tend to make a wall of text from everything :D
     
  20. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Thursday 30.4.15:

    Morning Sanchin - 4x:
    3:36, 3:12, 3:43, 3:17
    I actually think I managed to breath just a little bit deeper and stronger today. Got a little of that feeling that I used to have when I first learned the kata. Not sure if it's right, but it seemed good.


    Sensei is away today, so me and a couple of my friends were asked if we could teach the children class.
    Because of that I went to the dojo an hour earlier than usual and a bit earlier still to open the dojo before others came. As it turned out, nobody came to class today, because they're likely celebrating the spring by burning the witches and tommorow's a national holiday, so many families are leaving the city for the weekend.
    Which basically meant I practised kicks on my own (no punches, my knuckles still hurt from last week...) - a few times slowly in the air concentrating on technique, but mostly I used the heavy bag. I don't really like the bag that much, because it swings a lot when using it on kicks, but still it's better to actually kick something.
    Tried yoko-geri (side kick), jodan (head-hight) mawashi geri (roundhouse kick), but mostly ura-mawashi geri (hook kick). I find the last one not too easy, but yesterday Sensei easily got me with it - kicking me to the head while I had no idea how it happened... therefore it's worth learning :D

    When people came for our adult class, we practised a kata (Gekisai Dai Ni) in line in pairs - something like bunkai - showing the applications of the techniques within the kata. We only did it a couple of times in class and chose the very slightly more difficult 'English' version to practise.
    Then we warmed up and did all the kihon (basic) techniques we could think of - strikes, kicks, blocks - each one 30 times.
    And a little work-out at the end.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2015

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