This week in karate

There is nothing more fun than being thrown down to the floor. Except maybe throwing someone else to the floor. We did a lot of bunkai Monday night. We worked on Pinan Sandan bunkai also which I had only done maybe twice and over a year ago. It’s a lot of fun. There’s an excellent take down at the end when the attacker gets you in a bear hug from behind and you have to grab his/her hands, move your left leg behind theirs and then twist and drop down and they go flying! (this takedown is also in our Kumite # 7). I’ve always had a problem with takedowns. Either I lean over too much and I get pulled down, or I don’t drop down into a deep enough horse stance, or I just try to use brute force which really never ever works. But for some reason, last night I did them all smoothly. I guess the techniques have finally sunk in. (its about time) I even threw down a couple men who are much bigger than me. Now that’s pretty cool. Heehee.
Last night I braved sparring. Haven’t done it in more than 6 months. It was a good class-not too many scary fighters (you know the kind…more interested in being brutal than practicing technique) I actually practiced some spinning hook kicks which I never do during sparring. I’m always convinced that while I’m spinning, my opponent will be way quicker than me and get to me before I’m completely spun around so I just don’t bother. But last night I did try and I was fairly successful. Successful meaning I did make it 360 degrees without being crushed. I didn’t necessarily land any of the kicks, but my aim was good. Not bad I thought. By the end of class I was wiped out. My cardio still needs a lot of help. I really need to start running again.

weapons

Went to weapons today. We worked on nunchuck dai ichi and kama dai ichi. While I've been away, they have changed some things on each kata. Why? Well, I guess over time some things have been tweaked and tweaked until they are all of a sudden different than the original intention. So at some point, Kyoshi took a closer look and fixed them. One big change is what hand we hold the small weapons in while bowing in and out of the kata. We all had been holding them in our left hand-which was non-confrontational. Along time ago in Japan, students were all forced to become right-handed so holding their weapons in the left hand meant they weren't going to attack. Well NOW...we have been told to hold them in the right hand because we actually ARE attacking. sigh. And we hold them in the left hand when we bow out of the kata..because apparently, we've already attacked, now we're done with attacking and we are peaceful again.
Another change, in Nunchuck dai ichi, there is a move where you step forward and squat down and do some figure 8s. Well they've changed that to a one knee position instead of the squat. THANK YOU! much better-i never felt very stable in that squat position and had a major fear of tipping over. And the other change is with Kama dai ichi, There is a stance change in the middle. I don't remember exactly what the stance we were in before was, but it changed into a horse stance, then is twisted into a weird back-stance/horse stance kind of thing.
AND.... I whacked my knuckles with my nunchucks. It hurt.

It feels really good to be back in karate. And by “really good” I mean very sore and bruised, but happy. I went to Monday and Wednesday class last week, both are taught by Kyoshi. Luckily for me, Kyoshi was not there on Monday, which meant he didn’t have to go thru the torture of watching me screw up royally. Sensei D and Renshi S taught class that night so it was a bit less bad-ass than it usually is. Doing some of the bunkai was down right embarrassing, though. It was good to see my karate friends. Wednesday’s class was better. We did a ton of kata and the only ones I really messed up on were Kihon Ichidan, Nidan, and Sandan. The first 3 kata we learn. The most basic of the basics and was totally off. Oh well, what are you gonna do. I wasn't practicing those at home the past 6 months. We also did a bunch of arm conditioning. That always feels good :( Anyway, my goal is to go every Monday and Wednesday night for regular class and Saturday for weapons. I think we have sparring this week. oh boy..

Frotoe, "Get your a** back to class -we miss you" Kyoshi

I got an email from Kyoshi. I better do what he says....I'm in such bad shape right now, trying to do kata at home with weights on my arms and legs just isn't cutting it. Its been 6 months for crying out loud!

someone light a fire under me please!

I have basically hibernated for the past 2 months. I am in TERRIBLE shape. It started when I joined the Shape Up RI thing thru work. We had teams, we wore pedometers and I had all these ideas of starting running again and more karate etc etc. Instead...I became the laziest slug on earth. Passive aggressive maybe? Seasonal Affect disorder? Too much stress? I don't know. All I know is that I HAVE to get back to karate. It is taking a toll on my flabby gut and my flabby brain.
I have learned some new crochet stitches in the mean time...so my right hand is in excellent shape. I started working on an afghan/Tunisian stitch and bought these really long afghan crochet hooks. I have so much yarn that was my grandmother's it would be perfect to make an afghan with it all. I'm also still working on my granny square afghan, too. I'll post pictures soon, I promise. I've also been gardening-starting seeds for this years vegetable garden and doing a bunch of yard work.
I miss kicking and punching and kata. Although, I do kata at home its not the same workout I get at the dojo. Its not as much fun either.

More stuff growing

I found a couple other random things growing that I've dug up and brought inside. One is a baby Holly plant, and the other is a baby Azalea. I think I'll raise these as possible bonsai.

stuffs growing :)

Ok, so I don't have anything interesting to say regarding karate because I haven't been. Just too busy with other aspects of my life. I'm jonesin' for it, though. Hopefully this week I'll get my dormant ass in there. Until then, i have some pictures. There are some crocuses...some lilies..and along side of my front walk there are tulips growing. I just planted those in the fall and I am so happy I didn't plant them upsidedown. (i've done that before)

Helloooo

I'm still here~I'll post soon :)

Stuff

a couple crochet pictures for your amusement..(since I haven't been to karate in a couple weeks) the quality sucks because i took the pictures with my camara phone. The top left is a baby blanket I made for a co-worker, the hat on the bottom I made for my niece (its much more vibrant than it looks) and above is a hacky sack I made for my son. I wish I had taken more pictures of the things I made as christmas presents but..I didn't.

Warrior Spirit

So, what do you and your friends do when they all turn/turned 40? I've got an idea, pack your sleeping bags and pillows, drive down to NY, have a sleep over at your dear friend's apartment, go down to St Marks Street and get some ink! I highly recommend it. Here's what I got-

It means warrior spirit or essence of warrior. At first I thought it just meant 'warrior' but upon further research I found out it actually means Warrior spirit which is what I originally wanted. I'm very happy with it. Its on my leg and as soon as its healed nicely I'll post a picture of it.

My new favorite weapon and some self defense too

So I went to 2 classes on saturday (C and I, actually) First was weapons. There are 2 weapons classes that go on at the same time, one is all bo, the other is all small weapons. C went to bo class, I went to small weapons. I successfully passed Nunchucku dai ichi and got to start learning Kama dai ichi. So far, they are my favorite weapons. (i haven't learned Sai yet, though but thats next ) There's something about waving around sticks with big blades attached that makes you feel like a warrior (heehee). All the ripping, grabbing, and jabbing..thats good stuff. (and NO, the blades are not sharpened ) The kama I have are traditional Okinawan style (the ones in the picture) and are much bigger and heavier than what a lot of students use at my dojo. I like them. My arms are skinny and using heavier weapons will only help to improve my strength and eventually my speed. My bo is heavier than most too. So anyway, thats where I stand with my weapons. I'm hoping to have C write down the whole Kama dai ichi kata so that I can practice more at home..he's not sure he remembers it all, though.

So after weapons class was regular class. We did mostly self defense which I love. I used to be very intimidated by self defense but it is true that it becomes more natural feeling the more you do it. I was partnered up with L, who is a 3rd (I think)kyu adult female, and mom to a 2nd degree teen. She's a lot of fun to work with and I've seen a lot of improvement in her technique. She used to be one of those students that during punching/blocking drills she would not punch at her opponents face or body, but to the side..not helping her opponent to truely learn how to block..But now, she punches directly at you and she is strong! Its excellent. So we had a good time, we mostly worked on defense for different types of wrist grabs, usually ending with the attacker on the ground by using his/her own momentum to throw him/her or by using a painful submission technique to bring him/her down. I love it.

Holiday Make-up class

Saturday there was a 2 hour make up class. C and I went, of course, because I love torture. C went snowboarding on Friday night and was exhausted so if it was up to him, it would just be me going to this class. But it was not up to him. :) The class was packed. We all warmed up together and when it was time to touch your toes, Kyoshi said.."Kids, do you hear that "uuuuggghh" sound? Thats the sound the adults make when they stretch out. Also you might hear some creaking, and cracking sounds...don't be scared... Its just the adults.." Of course, we were all laughing..because it was true..After we warmed up a bit they split the class up and the underbelt kids went into the other room for their class. We warmed up some more, then partnered up for some moving basics. We lined up in 2 lines facing each other and after each basic drill, we would rotate and get a new partner for the next drill. There were also some self defense drills worked in there as well. We also worked Kumite 1-4 (these are pre-arranged short sparring drills). We did Kihon kata about a gazillion times too. And empi waza. We did bag work and then break falls. Then at the end we had to do about 20 different types of push-ups. All evil. Some were on the knuckles, some on the fingertips, some with your hands forming a triangle under your chest area, some with your hands flat but with your fingertips facing your toes, and some more with one hand at shoulder level and the other hand at waist level. Then some pushups where you push up, then lift one hand up over your body pointing towards the ceiling, alternating hands. I can't remember any more...but I am still very sore.

Warning: Angry rant below....

I need to vent. Our school has had a "dress code" forever which is T-shirts (instead of gi tops) are allowed on saturdays(all year) and every day during the summer months only (June thru September). And they have to be karate-related t-shirts. The rest of the year, full gi is what you wear. I don't think thats unreasonable. But lately at the dojo, I've been noticing some students wearing t-shirts instead of their gi top. So I asked one of the instructors what was going on. Apparently, there are some students who complained that they wanted to wear t-shirts all year. They didn't think it was "fair" that they could not. They even went so far as to threaten to leave the dojo if they couldn't be accommodated. So the policy was changed. Now, certain "winter" t-shirts are allowed all year.
You will NOT see me or my son wearing a freakin t-shirt during the winter months . I would love to know who the whiney babies are that caused this to be an issue. Why?? Is the gi top too hot? Too cumbersome? Too uniform-y? well suck it up! its Karate, for crying out loud! The gi is part of the whole experience. It just blows my mind that people have the you-know-whats to complain about these things. I couldn't imagine owning a business like this. Maybe I wouldn't have many students. I don't think I could stand all the whiney babycriers. "What? you don't want to wear your gi top? Then GO HOME!" There's no whining in karate. If you want to join a dojo, then follow their rules! don't try to change them for your own selfish reasons! Grow up!
Ok, stepping down off my soapbox now. Thanks for listening.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Spar Wars

So, Saturday was Spar Wars. My son and I were signed up for the 1pm time slot. We got there in time to watch some other matches and we stayed for a while after to watch some more. I had never seen Kyoshi spar seriously before yesterday. He is a big man. He is also very fast and very powerful. He teaches while he spars and if you're paying attention you can learn a lot. If you're not paying attention you will hurt a lot. Now, it is also important to note, that he only goes as hard (or a little harder) as you do. So if you go into the match in full attack mode, expect to get taken down a notch or 2. There were all ages sparring him. Some of his opponents only came up to his waist. I love watching those matches. One of these kids was doing back to back spinning hook kicks. Not even coming within 2 feet of landing any of them. But Kyoshi would pretend to dodge them all and praised the boy for his efforts. There were lots of cute little kid matches. Kyoshi is known for his powerful spinning hook kick. He got everyone with at least one. His speed and force depended on the size and skill level of his opponent. For the little kids he was slow motion, ending with a tap to the kid's head with his foot. I did pretty well in my 2 minutes. I took a decent hit to the head , (I'm thinking that was because I hit him in his head) but all in all I dodged his kicks pretty well and he was obviously very kind. Next came my son, C. C is 15 years old. He has been going thru a rough time. Those of you who have teenagers know what I mean. They want to make their own decisions and sometimes you have to let them. He stopped going to karate a couple months ago - I said he could take a break but not quit. This is his freshman year in HS. He has ADHD. He's having a hard time making the right decisions. Anyway, long story short-Saturday was his first day back at karate. Kyoshi has missed him and knew about what he was going thru. They bowed in, shook hands and sparred HARD. The first spinning hook kick Kyoshi threw landed squarely on C's jaw-POW! Knocked him off balance, and then Kyoshi got him in a headlock and took him down to the floor. My friend M is looking at me saying "are you okay mom? are you worried?" I was fine, I knew he wasn't going to end up at the hospital or anything like that and frankly, he needed this. C could not get out of the headlock. Kids watching were yelling "Elbow him!" but Kyoshi also had his arm trapped. After a bit, Kyoshi released him. Finally, they were up on their feet again sparring and Kyoshi executed 2 more speed-of-light spinning hook kicks and C ducked under both of them. Good thing to, because they would have sent him flying. But he learns fast and is quick and agile. Finally the 2 minutes were up and the bell went off. They bowed, shook hands and Kyoshi gave him a HUGE hug, told him he was glad to see him back and that he had missed him. C walked out of the ring with a bloody lip and a big smile on his face. It was great to see. Now, that is tough love!

Nunchucks and Spar Wars

So I went to 2 classes on saturday. First was weapons. I brought my big girl nunchucks and had some refresher training on Nunchuku Dai Ich. By the end of the class I could get through the kata without help so that means...next week is Kama!!! I'm very excited. I have to say, though, I'm really enjoying the nunchucks. Anyway, after that class I had regular class, where we did a lot of partner work with focus pads. We went thru several combos (jab, cross, hook, upper cut) while staying in motion. I swear, the hardest part is holding the pads and remembering which way to turn them to receive the next punch. I worked with B, a brown belt who works her a** off. She is one of the group of parents who started training a couple years ago. They are all brown belts now and I can't wait to see them all get their black belts. They are so cool. Its going to be a huge group testing in about a year. So after skinning my knuckles on pads (ouchie), we worked on focus kicks-double roundhouse kicks (to the stomach , then to the head) and then hook kick/round kick combo.


In a couple weeks we have Spar Wars. This started a couple of years ago when one of the student's house burned down. Kyoshi set aside one saturday and had people sign up to spar him. The cost - $5 for 2 minutes in the ring with Kyoshi and all the money collected was given to the student's family. This year, the proceeds go to the KIAI fund which is a scholarship program for students who want to learn karate but cannot afford the tuition. So, there is a 3 page sign up sheet, you can choose the timeslot you want to get your hiney whooped that day. I have never sparred Kyoshi. It will be amusing. I'm sure he'll be smiling the whole time. That same smile he gets when he watches the adult students practice "coffee grinder's" ( a breakdancing move also) or like at Thanksgiving cardio kickboxing , at the end of class,when he had us do partner sit-ups where we lined up in 2 lines across, facing each other -in sit up position , ankles locked with your partner, do 10 situps, making sure you do "high tens" with your partner each time,then after 10, rotate to the right and do the same with your new partner. and over and over and over...that twisted, evil smile he gets watching his students suffer like that.
I'm looking forward to it! :)

still here

Sorry its been a while. Not much to talk about, Thanksgiving was good, started out at 6am with the annual Thanksgiving Cardio Kickbox "so you can have extra pie" class. It lasted for over an hour and was pure torture..I loved it. There was no class that weekend because of a inner school Tourney. I didn't participate in that one. I really need to get to class tonite.

QQS 2-5pm

so QQS was fun. I came home feeling pretty good about things. Sore and exhausted, but good. The run went fine. We had to run for 1/2 hour on the bike path across from the dojo. I almost did 3 miles. Its weird how even if you haven't run for almost a year, your body doesn't forget how to do it. Not like I had forgotten how to actually run, but the pace and the breathing just fell into place. I also know enough about myself to know that I have to stretch my calves out for a good 15 minutes before running. If not, shin splints will ruin it for me. I have to stretch my calves until I can't feel them stretching anymore. Its the only way. So after the run, we went back in the dojo and changed up for sparring. Sparring was great. We all line up in 2 rows facing our partner, then spar for a while, then stop, bow, shake, and rotate to the right. I was paired up with people who I knew wouldn't go to rough, including many little jr blackbelts. Now some of them are half my size. Some have super control and are excellent at sparring. Some of them were trying to be extra tough and going full force. And some of the newer bb's were OUT OF CONTROL. There was this one kid next to me. The one kid who wore his blue gi top when we're all supposed to wear white. He had something to prove, I think. He was all over the place, even punching a couple teen Nidans in the face. (they had EXCEPTIONAL self control and just let it roll off their backs) But the weird thing was, that this little guy was on the verge of tears the whole time.
So after sparring we did kata for the rest of the time. It was excellent. AND B (who got his black belt with me) and I had some time to learn Gojushiho. Cool!

QQS

QQS is on saturday. I need to go. QQS is 3-4 times/year and is for black belts only. I think I've mentioned it before, it lasts about 3 hours, starts with a 3 mile run, then sparring and kata and weapons. QQS means Quality, Quantity and Spirit testing. I am so out of shape right now the run will probably wipe me out, but its important to go and do your best regardless. It is fun, too. Sometimes Kyoshi will have other events count as QQS...this year, the St Patricks day tournament and summer camp both counted as a QQS for black belts. I did both. Last November was my first QQS and it was held outside at the HS track. We lucked out as it was a beautiful and unseasonably warm day. Not sure where this one will be. If it is in the dojo, we're gonna be packed in like sardines. We'll probably smell just as bad by the end of it too.

There's a 4th day of November too?

Well, I've already blown the NaBloPoMo daily blogging thingy. Why? cause I forgot, thats why. I have no good reason. But, I will continue to blog daily thru the month just because I said I would. DOH!

Noel

We're getting the remnants of Hurricane Noel today. Its incredibly windy and rainy. My kids and I stayed in our pajamas all day. My husband had to go to work so he had to get dressed and face the storm.
But the rest of us lurked around the house all day. I watched HGTV and crocheted. It was excellent.