Tuesday 12.5.15: Sanchin - 3x Advanced karate class (1,5 hour) Today again there were only three, later just two of us students with sensei. I don't know why so few people come today. It's true our dojo doesn't have many advanced students (I'm considered intermediate), but still... Today's class was focused on open-hand techniques. It started with kihon - basic techniques, then partner drills of these strikes and blocks. Then sensei had us practise and taught us several bunkai (kata applications) that again make use of open-handed techniques: - 2nd and 3rd bunkai from Gekisai Dai Ni - 2nd and 6th bunkai from Saifa (I do know bunkai for Saifa, but still struggle with them) - 3 bunkai for Seiyunchin (I don't know this kata, nor the bunkai of course, so this was something very new to me) - 1 bunkai from Shisochin (again, no knowledge of this kata and bunkai, but I've seen the kata performed and it's a very beautiful one, so I'm looking forward to learning it. The bunkai we learned was quite nice, too, much more so than the bunkai from Seiyunchin that I find a bit odd - they don't have such a nice "flow" - well, at least in my interpretation...) At the end we tried all of them one after the other, which wasn't very easy, but I enjoyed it. Because of the Seiyunchin bunkai we also learned a new stance - renoji dachi - that's a bit similar to neko-ashi dachi I'm familiar with, but still quite different - enough to make me completely confused when trying to use it fast in the bunkai. Need to learn that one, too... Last 10 minutes was a usual belly work-out.
Wednesday 13.5. - Friday 15.5.15: I was on an excursion that was a part of my uni's course, so no time for exercising ... and I even had to skip Thursday's training, when we were supposed to try out our dojo's brand new Nigiri game (vases) that a student from a sister dojo made for us . I managed to find a little time for 3 Sanchin on Thursday and Friday, however Wednesday was skipped
Saturday 16.5.15 ...finally time for some exercise at least at home: 3x Sanchin Kata (forms): 3x Gekisai Dai Ichi 3x Gekisai Dai Ni 3x Saifa Kata bunkai (applications): It's not like training with a partner, but better than nothing. For both sides: -all 5 for Gekisai Dai Ichi -all 4 for Gekisai Dai Ni -all 6 for Saifa -the 3 open-handed ones for Seiyunchin we learned last week -and 1 for Shisochin from last week too Work-out: 50 tricep dips 50 squats 50 push-ups 50 lunges 50 sit-ups 50 V-ups 20x Neko Undo Stances: Neko-ashi dachi (cat stance) - 1,5 min for each side Shiko dachi (horse stance) - 3x 1,5 min + a bit of stretching - today I realised I can do the push-ups deeper than I ever could! Finally! Looks like the exercising pays off ^^
Sunday 17.5.15: I heard from a friend of mine that the one training I missed on Thursday was, in fact, a pretty awesome one - 1,5 hour of Hojo Undo and Sanchin and another 1,5 hour mostly practising techniques for the grading that is approaching at a frightening speed. Only a month to learn all I need to know and I haven't even seen some stuff from the syllabus yet. Looks like it's about time I started to freak out... :cry: I'm kind of counting on a week long course in Croatia right before the exams. Last year it helped me catch up a lot after almost two months of doing nothing because of a broken toe, so let's hope this year will be the same. Today I at least did some work-out again, but no outside sport as I planned since my pollen allergy finally arrived. 1,5 hour exercising (including breaks): 5x Sanchin 10x Neko Undo 108 push-ups 108 squats 108 sit-ups 108 v-ups 108 lunges 108 tricep dips ...before anyone asks why do such a weird number of reps like 108, the number 108 is a significant one with various meanings in eastern culture and other, I think. From time to time we do 108 kata challenges in the dojo, so today I challenged myself with it, too A quick kata and bunkai training later: 1x each kata: Gekisai Dai Ichi, Ni and Saifa all the bunkai I know once for both sides (the same as yesterday) Also as a bit off-topic side note, I'm not a big fun of watching other people do sports, but since the world championship in ice-hockey is held like 3 km from my home and the whole country lives by it, I decided to watch a bit, too - just when we started losing. Looks like we ended up 4th, just a step from a medal. So sad :cry: But I'm still proud that our small nation made into the semi-finals with three of the biggest countries in the world
Monday 19.5.15: 3x Sanchin 19:00-20:00 karate class: - randori - stretching + junbi undo (warm up) - today's training wass all about the 4th bunkai from Gekisai Dai Ichi kata, we strarted by the moves separately and added them, did some variations, starting with footwork (sliding): - sai-yu (?) - tai-hiraki - sai-yu (I hope I have the name right) + hiki-uke (hooking block) - tai-hiraki + morote hiki-uke (double hook wrist block?) - sai-yu + tai-hiraki+ morote hiki-uke - in pairs the whole bunkai (the above + shuto + ashi barai + stomping kick?) and it's just a bit different variation from the inside - then each pair demonstrated this to the others 20:00-21:40 self defence class for women - warm-up + some fun stuff - stretching in pairs ---> I DID IT! YEEEY, I DID THE FIRST SIDE-SPLIT IN MY WHOLE LIFE!!! FINALLY, WOO HOOO!!! ...so my next goal is now a front split, but especially the Van Damme style side split on two chairs :evil: - practising the drilled techniques - escapes and strikes to do for some situations - work-out at the end: 70 squats + 105 sit-ups - relaxation + breathing exercise 21:40-approx. 22:00: A friend was showing us some judo throw (ippon? or something like that) and might show us a different one next time. I'm looking forward to knowing more about the other one, because during sparring a friend instinctively used that on me once, but instead of me elegantly landing in a somersault, because I didn't expect it, I landed straight on my face. ...basically there's some payback that needs to be done :evil: 22:15-23:15 Because sensei cares for our healthy lifestyle, he came up with the idea to go to a McDonald down the street. This is slowly becoming a Monday tradition...
Tuesday 19.5.15: 3x Sanchin 1,5 hour advanced karate class: Usual Tuesday sensei is absent, so the head sensei teaches today, too. - 1x Sanchin - 2x Gekisai Dai Ichi & Ni and Saifa - Gekisai dai Ichi with reversed sides - I messed up and somehow switched to the usual order several times on different places... - Gekisai Dai Ichi & Ni and Saifa - on the spot with partner pushing against - stretching - sensei probably heard my yesterday's plea to practise techniques for the upcoming grading, so most of the lesson we spent doing kihon ido (basic techniques while going forward) from syllabus from 8th to 6th kyu (6th kyu being the grade we're aiming for) - in pairs so we can target the partner instead of just hitting air -> I feel pretty rusty since it's been some time since we did this stuff + the techniques for the 6th kyu were new to me, so I can tell my performance wasn't all that good. But now that I know what to practise, I will ... probably a lot. -> I was also told my jodan mawashi geri (roundhouse kick to the head) is technical, but slow, so that's another thing I'm going to work on. I did it slow because I needed to aim for sensei's hand near his face (with the ball of the foot, which I find more difficult), so I really wanted to be precise. I can go faster in the air or to the pad, when I don't need to aim too much, but definitely not as fast as I'd like. So that's another thing that needs more work. - Sanchin (sensei did one, too, so I could see I have the lenght of breath a bit wrong at some places and I need to put more emphasis on kime right at the start) - stretching - ice-cream
Wednesday 20.5.15: No more regular trainings on Wednesday, at least I found a while for some quick exercising. Tried some more difficult stuff I'm not good at. - 3x Sanchin - 10x Neko Undo - 20 burpees - 5 knuckle push-ups (I really want to learn these, I tried on bare floor, but one of my knuckles still hurts. I tried putting more weight on the knuckle that didn't hurt, but I'm not tough enough to go for more. To be honest, I'm not sure I'd be able to even if the knuckle didn't hurt, although I think I managed 10 once or twice) - one arm push-ups - 10 for right arm with 2 breaks between, but my left arm is weaker, so what I did on that side doesn't quite deserve to be called a push-up yet I should also improve the form... - one leg squats - 12 for each leg, alternating sides all the time with a break in the middle
You should consult with InkyTommy - he's the resident Knuck-pressup guru :bow1: one arm push-ups I have tried...I end up jack-knifing like a lizard and topple over
Haha, I shall keep the great guru's name in mind for times I'm in need of consultation! :bow1: So far for me it's mostly about making myself believe that "standing" on the knuckes is the most comfortable thing ever and it is over all a piece of cake No toppling over for me, but, well, I wouldn't exactly give myself as an example of what such a push-up should look like, either
Thursday 21.5.15: 3x Sanchin 18:00-20:00 karate class: - stretching Hojo Undo (1 hour) - 7 posts: 1. Makiwara on the wall (tsuki, ko-uke, shotei tsuki = open hand strike) 2. Nigiri Game - finally got to try it, though it wasn't too hard, since these vases were not very big and we couldn't pour in water because it's apparently leaking, so we'll need to get some sand first to make them heavier 3. Kongoken - stretch arms with kongoken above head + fall into shiko-dachi 20x - shiko-dachi "squats" (= fall into shiko-dachi) 10x - for relaxation before: - steering wheel + fall into shiko-dachi - 16x - push-ups with one end of the kongoken resting on neck - 10x 4. Makiwara on the wall (tsuki, ko-uke, shotei tsuki, shuto-uchi = knife hand, haito-uchi) 5. Miyagi's garden (picking 9 stones one by one and carrying them to the opposite side of the dojo, only moving in shiko-dachi back and forth) 6. Kettlebells - 2 kettlebells of 3 kg - I tried punches with them + holding them in outstretched arms in front of me and on the sides + throwing & catching (shiko-dachi where possible) 7. Chi-ishi Kakie = pushing hands + techniques - mostly bunkai from Gekisai Dai Ichi + some alternations or added joint manipulation Belly work-out: 70 half sit-ups 70 "sit-ups" lying on left side 70 "sit-ups" lying on right side 70 half sit-ups 7 times counting to ten, while holding in the half sit-up (shoulder blades above ground) till the end ...as Sensei said, he was going easy on us today, because there will be a hell of a training on Saturday.... 20:00-20:30 A friend was again teaching me some techniques to be used for ground sparring. A nice one he called a butterfly sweep, for example. Did a few rounds of sparring on the floor, while he was going (more or less but still) easy on me, always giving me some time to think about a way to get out of his grip or to win. I did a couple of nice things, I think, but even when they succeeded, I had no idea what to do next... But it was fun, I should do that more often. And the friend seems happy to spar anytime 20:45-23:15 Relaxation and a tea party in the dojo - a friend brought 3 types of tea from China, so we had to taste them all
Dojo Day Friday 22. - Saturday 23.5.15: Dojo weekend Again after two months, there was a dojo day planned for this Saturday (morning and afternoon training, hanging out, having fun + some maintenance of the dojo). Friday: 3x Sanchin + rest In the evening I went to the dojo to play a board game and hang out with friends. It took longer then we thought and since we were having a good time, somehow we went to sleep when the sky was already getting bright, at around 5 AM. And I couldn't sleep well even then, so I wasn't particularly happy about sensei waking me up at 9:20 when I was finally getting a good nap. Saturday: 10:15-12:30 - morning training: - Junbi Undo - traditional stretching and warm up (30 min.) - Hojo Undo (1 hour): - Nigiri game (vases) - this time filled with water, so they gave me a much harder time. I know it's just an excuse, but I have small hands and because the vases were slipping from my fingers and I was afraid I'd drop them, I had to pause the Nigiri game kata several times to put them down and adjust the grip. My grip is weak, I know that much. - Kongoken - 15x lifting it up, 16x steering wheel, + some other, not that difficult exercises - Makiwara - tsuki, ko-uke, shotei tsuki, shuto-uchi = knife hand, haito-uchi - Belly work-out at wall-bars: - 100 "half" sit-ups (= only half way up), - 50 half sit-ups with elevated bent legs - 20x swinging extended legs up and down - 20x right and left - 30x butt up and down with legs extended towards the ceiling - Chi-ishi - Kihon waza - all the basic techniques for grading for 10th - 6th kyu I was told I tend to shorten some strikes from time to time (not extending the elbow enough), which is something I haven't realised, so I'll have to keep that in mind. - 1x Sanchin 13:00-16:15 lunch + cleening and maintenance of the dojo (obviously the dojo's floor under the mats wasn't cleaned for some time, so we did it quite thoroughly and cleaned the mirrors too + other stuff). Also a new ladder for hanging the bags from the ceiling was bought (the last one broke). It was kinda fun to watch what ways people can come up with to hang the heavy bag up, but it is good to have a ladder after all 16:30-18:30 108 kata challenge: We started doing these challenges last year - do one kata 108 times in a row. Last year we did Gekisai Dai Ichi & Ni and Saifa, this year sensei decided to always add some kind of a bonus, so we had 108 Gekisai Dai Ichi with a push-up after each kata, 108 Gekisai Dai Ni with one or more bunkai ater each kata (cca 272 bunkai) and today was the time for: 108 Saifa + 108x5 "shiko-dachi squats" (= 540x falling into shiko-dachi, going up and down in the knees, working out thighs) The challenge is about doing the one kata 108 times without any break, or drinking. Saifa isn't too long, but is a bit longer then Gakisai Dai katas, so it took 2 hours. We agreed that it wasn't as difficult as the Gekisai Dai, probably because Saifa doesn' have only strikes, but has more flow, therefore isn't that demanding. This kind of exercise is great for making one realise how many things can be done wrong in a kata. Sensei always told us to focus on a particular technique in the kata for the next 10 reps and I realised when I was compromising some techniques and what I didn't do well enough when getting tired. And some of the things are still hard to do even if I focus on them. 20:30-21:30 Reiki: A fellow student decided to offer reiki healing in our dojo, so she introduced us to what reiki is about. 21:30-0:00 "tea party" at the dojo 0:00-2:00 AM - watching old japanese film Seven Samurai, but when most of us were at least half asleep, we decided to go to sleep and watch the rest in the morning (what a long movie!) Great weekend!
Sunday 24.5.15: Nothing except 3x Sanchin. This was a very lazy day, because I was pretty tired from yesterday. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday 25.5.15: 3x Sanchin 5 knuckle push-ups (knuckles finally don't hurt, but the push ups aren't much more comfortable...) Karate class (1 hour): Almost all of the time was dedicated to practise basic techniques in pairs (variations of uraken-uchi, elbow strikes, front kicks and roundhouse kicks). At the end three rounds of light free sparring, where the higher graded person doesn't use one arm, other than that, basically everything was allowed. For the last round my sparring partner was sensei. His idea of light contact is a bit different to mine, but I really enjoyed it It doesn't hurt to be pushed a bit... Today I'm actually kind of proud of myself, because I went for a sweep when I had an opportunity (something sensei obviously didn't expect) and I succeeded! ...which was something I didn't expect in turn, so I flew right over him, before I even realised what just happened... Self defence class for women: Fun warm-up: playing a game of tag, using legs instead of arms to "catch" the other person, while paying attention to the three punching bags hanging from the ceiling, swinging around. Stretching legs in pairs Bag work: I was in grouped together with two fellow karate students and we were assigned to the smallest bag that didn't have a very long chain, so its bottom was at the base of my neck. So sensei meant for us to practise the kicks (and hand strikes) at head-height: - flying knee kick (the bag was just too high for me to reach with the knee while standing) - mae geri (front kick) - mawashi geri (roundhouse kick) - ura-mawashi geri (hook kick) - mae-tobi geri (flying front kick) - yoko-geri (side kick) - mikazuki geri (crescent kick) - tried flying mawashi geri, one out of two quite successfully, and definitely fun, so I'm gonna try again - elbows (from the side and back) - head strike (front and back) - open-handed strikes - kagi tsuki (uppercut punch?) -3x30 seconds do whatever you want with the bag with gloves on (which also involved some chasing the bag around since it swung a lot)
Tuesday 26.5.15: 3x Sanchin - actually both yesterday and today it felt like I made an improvement in breathing - I already know approxiately how fast to move in order to synchronize each movement with breath, but now suddenly, although moving at the same speed, I could still breath in for a bit more. I suppose it's a good thing. Even the tiniest visible improvement makes me happy, especially when it comes to Sanchin Advanced karate class (1,5 hour): Fun warm-up + a bit of junbi undo + stretching + warming up with some exercises Techniques applied to punching bags (in pairs, where being faster than the others is an advantage, so I didn't do it much technically, but fast, which proved to be a good aerobic exercise); for each side: 50 gyaku tsuki (punches with rear hand) 50 mae geri (front kick) 30 mae tobi geri (flying front kick) - to the bag that had its bottom at the level of my neck to make sure we're not slacking Then as many exercises as the number of techniques we didn't make in time before one of the pairs finished (43 in my case). Because the form was somewhat lost to speed, we did the techniques again, slowly, facing the mirrors, checking our technique. For each side: 25 gyaku tsuki 25 mae geri 15 mae tobi geri For the last 30 mins or so everyone was told to practise the highest kata for their grading, Gekisai Dai Ni in my case - mostly slowly, checking ourselves in the mirror. Sensei pointed out two not too big and probably easy to change mistakes to me concerning angles of my arms. Not enough time for usual belly workout today...
Wednesday 27.5.15: Sensei that usually teaches on Wednesdays couldn't make it today and asked me if I could substitute him for a bit. I have no more trainings on Wednesdays so I agreed, but asked a friend if he could come, too I finished running some errands and came to the dojo earlier than planned, so I used the time to get a bit of solo training (45 mins) making use of the punching bags: 30 push-ups and a short skipping, some stretching With bags (mostly the high one): - mae tobi geri (flying front kick) - mawashi tobi geri (flying roundhouse kick) - just tried for fun, I can't really do that, not sure how - yoko geri (side kick) - mawashi geri (roundhouse kick) - to head height, trying to improve speed for a bit, but not as much as I'd want to, because I was reluctant to turn on the blister on my foot, so without thinking I turned in the hip joint instead and realised why it is indeed so important to turnt the foot - ura-mawashi geri (hook kick) - mawashi geri + turn + ura-mawashi geri Facing the mirrors, checking my techniques in: Saifa kata 3x Gekisai Dai Ni San Dan Gi Ichi San Dan Gi Ni Beginner class for children - "teaching" (1 hour): I've been in this class a few times, but only now I realised there's in fact not a single girl there, so it kind of made me wonder why, when in the adult class it's about 50/50, maybe even more woman, probably because they come more often from the self-defence classes. Warm up with fun game Junbi Undo + stretching Some competition in teams and solo, with basic kicks (mae and mawashi geri) Wanted to do something more technical towards the end, but it was obvious the kids would much rather play their favorite game in which I participated, won, but got my hands pretty scratched. Generally I think it went well, the kids seemed to enjoy it, so we enjoyed it, too It seems hard to "tame" them, but competing among themselves made them focus on the activity we wanted them to do much better ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3x Sanchin
I'm curious about your doing hook kicks on a punching bag. I stopped doing this a while back because, with the inertia of the bag, it encouraged me to stop my kicks short, and I wasn't getting decent penetration. Do you have any issues with this? or perhaps you're using a particularly light bag?
Yep, I picked a small and light bag that was hanging quite high. So after kicking it near its bottom (at the level of my neck/head), it moved out of the way making for a good practise. I sometimes tried with the heavy bags - I found it good for learning (I couldn't easily visualize the target), but when kicked with a bit of power, the bag deflects me and makes me turn all the way back instead of "going through"...
Okay, I get that. When I was having trouble visualizing I just used a target in the background, and in class we just use pads. I found that the drawbacks of using the heavy bag outweighed the benefits. I'm rethinking the possibility of using it to train kicks to the body or legs, though.
Thanks for the tips As for the visualizing the target - what worked for me in the end was practise with the heavy bag or a person without much contact (that was best, because I could aim more precisely) - once I got the mechanics and angles of the kick more or less down, I started trying to add some speed and power (which is the stage I'm at now). Though I agree, the hook kick is tricky. I generally also prefer using pads, but I think it's good to practise it with bags, too - they're harder, so it's more of a conditioning. And that could be useful for body and leg kicks practise. I find the heavy bags good for most kicks (hook kick being an exception), although more for power and technique, not much speed, since they tend to move too much unless someone is holding them. Practising hook kick with the pads seems similar as with a bag to me - at least the big pads held close to the body - I get deflected that way, too....
