yes, I know I'm fickle. I tried to understand Wordpress language because the templates are so pretty. But I can't do it. I can't fake that I understand it. So I am back at Blogger because its in a language I understand. It speaks to me like I'm 4 yrs old and that is just what I need.
Sorry- thanks for following me. :)
So- some good news on the pretest. M passed (i knew she would), the crying one passed, and the adult arm-breaker did NOT pass. There IS justice in the world. So right now, they're all at the track freezing their butts off running 4 miles and doing crunches and pushups. aaaaahhhhh fun.
So, since our dojo has a new space for pilates and yoga, they've also started offering belly dancing class. Thats right, BELLY DANCING. For women only. I went last night and had a BLAST! They are having it every friday night and its taught by this girl (well, 24 yrs old) whose brother and sister take karate. I will definitely go again next friday. Rumor has it that Renshi wants a belly dancing demo done at the next Black Belt spectacular. I am definitely up for that. I enjoy making a fool out of myself in front of a huge crowd.
Last nights class was excellent. Renshi's classes are always good. The BB pretest is tomorrow night so we are still reviewing kata kata kata and all the bunkai that can go with it. Tomorrow I am going to go to the dojo before the pretest to help out M. There will also be another woman testing for shodan. This one concerns me. She's quite a crybaby. Seems to always have one injury after another. And they're never injuries that are visible to the human eye. Don't get me wrong, she is a very nice person, but always seems to have an excuse for why she can't do something. she actually cried the other day when she found out that she needs to know Kusanku Sho for the pretest. CRIED and then left the dojo w/o going to class because she was so upset. a wee bit over dramatic too say the least. AND ITS KARATE! there's no crying in karate. Not like that. As far as I see it, bottom line is that it should be fun. If she's crying now when the cycle hasn't even started yet, I cannot see her surviving a whole testing cycle. So I'm sure she'll be there wednesday before the pretest practicing along with M and I. I hope she can keep this all in perspective.
Not too much to talk about. I've been getting back to class on a regular basis finally after the holidays. right now we've been focusing on lots and lots of kata. This is because the pretest is coming up next week for the new black belt candidates. The lesson plan is set up this way to help the 1st kyus practice and fine tune what they will be expected to show next week.
I AM SO GLAD ITS NOT ME! My friend M will be taking the test. we started taking karate at the same time but she took some time off to have a baby so we ended up in different testing cycles. I think this group is a lot larger than mine. With a lot of students testing for Nidan and possibly Sandan too. there is one adult student that is going for Nidan who is going to be a problem. This man is a grown up version of arm breaker. He spars like he's in a back ally brawl every time. Always hits extra hard. If he passes the pretest (he sucks at kata so he could actually fail) he's gonna be a tough one at the practical. I AM SO GLAD ITS NOT ME...oh. i said that already..
Well, I went to class last night. I did not spar, though. It was a great class anyway, mostly working combinations with a partner. Then they did regular sparring towards the end of the class. They combined the teen class with the adult class so it was pretty crowded. I worked with a woman who just got her green belt. I love seeing that there are more and more adults taking karate. My dojo always encourages the parents to start taking classes,they usually offer a free 3 months to parents of students. Right now there is a group of maybe 10-15 parents who are now green belts who all started as a "parents class" a couple years ago. Its going to be awesome to see them all get their black belts together.
My little arm breaker was in class last night too. So was my son. My son cracked him in the head with a ridge hand and said.."thats for my mom"
what a good boy...he's been waiting for an opportunity for that since the night my arm was broken.
Happy New Year!
I hope its better than last year. :) We have sparring this week~ I'm hoping to be brave enough to go.
No karate this week. Too much holiday stuff to take care of. I did get myself a christmas present, though..
http://www.centuryfitness.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10051&storeId=10051&productId=84190&langId=-1&product_parentId=13628&crumb=13501&categoryId=13628&parent_category_rn=13519
just try and break my arm!! (i got the pink ones :)
Happy Holidays everyone!
Its kind of funny to me that after I achieved Shodan many people (including other karate students) ask me "whats next?" Like thats the end of the road or something. I guess it is for some people. I do know of students who after they got their black belts considered their goal accomplished and quit karate. It makes you wonder why they even began taking it to begin with. It seems like an awful lot of wasted time to go through all that just to quit.
Well, I went to 2 classes this week. It felt good to get back into a normal karate routine. We've been working on Pinan Shodan bunkai-which is different than Pinan Shodan OYO bunkai which most of the students are used to. I've noticed that they seem to be raising the bar on what the students should know and I think its great. I love learning new things. I had done this bunkai a few times so I was a bit more familiar with it than some of the other students.
We have a new training room in our dojo- there used to be an art studio in the back of the building but they moved to a newer bigger location so Renshi opened up a Pilates and Yoga room and has hired an instructor to be in charge of that area. Its a beautiful room too- nice mahogany wood floors. How Cool! I have wanted to take pilates but the local place that offers pilates and yoga is very crunchy/granola au natural which is fine for some people but I don't really enjoy the B.O. and armpit hair that goes along with that clientelle (sp?) its great for some people...not for me. So...now I have the opportunity to try it. It seems like Karate takes care of toning every part of my body except for my jello stomach so it will be a nice addition to my work out. Although I have my doubts that it will ever become as toned as I would like it to be.
My arm is doing pretty well, still a little pain where it was broken (along with a big lump) and my wrist and elbow are still stiff and sore, but its progressing.
so I learned kusanku dai. pretty cool kata except that there is a lot of turning and spinning. We worked on it at QQS. After the 3 mile run I went with the other students who weren't sparring while everyone else sparred. So I learned it there on the track, and later we all did every kata and then went into groups and worked on our new kata. And we did it over and over and over anad over. I have problems with spinning...somersaults, spinning kicks, motion of any kind, really. So I really didn't feel too great, but it wasn't so bad that I would stop. So then finally we were done with kata and worked on weapons. I hadn't done them for a while because of the arm so I was working on the 1st 2 bo kata. there is also spinning in those. Luckily it was almost time to go home but the damage was done. So my son and I got into the car to go home. As soon as I sat down in the drivers seat I got this AWFUL foot cramp in my right foot. THe kind that are really painful and everything tightens up in the arch. And I'm on the verge of puking. My son is in fear that I'm gonna hurl on him, I'm in fear that I'm gonna hurl on my nice white gi (and it would have been those orange colored cheese crackers with peanut butter inside)
I was even driving with my fingers clamped over my mouth. But amazingly, I did not throw up. I did, however go straight to bed when I got home and it took a long time before I felt well enough to eat something.
But other than that QQS was a lot of fun.
Today is the day after Thanksgiving and I ate a lot. But Renshi was kind enough to hold a 6AM Special Thanksgiving Cardio Kickboxing class which I went to (on Thanksgiving morning) He said we could all have extra pie if we went. Now today, I am sore. everywhere. I had a hard time getting out of bed. I can barely walk to the fridge to get the extra pie that i earned. He has this 6am class every thursday, but its usually only a half hour and there's only 6-8 people., but yesterday's class there were 37 people and it lasted a little over an hour. it was awesome. I think I'll go every thursday.
So I've only had this black belt for 3 weeks and I have to go thru a new test. I haven't even been to class because of the arm. But today, is QQS-which is black belt testing. Since the black belts don't go thru regular belt promotions like the underbelts they have this event which takes place a few times /year. It is a 3-4 hour test, very similar to my black belt practical test (except I won't be breaking anything today because I still cannot do any contact karate) It will start out with the old 3 mile run, then sparring, kata, weapons etc. My son has been to this many times. I am kind of looking forward to it. (he is not) I haven't been to class in 2 weeks which seems like forever and I'm going thru withdrawal. Today's QQS is going to be outside. It is usually at either the dojo or at the HS gym. But today, we couldn't get the gym. So we are doing it all outside at the HS track (where I ran weekly not too long ago). I haven't run in a couple months. I'm going to hurt tomorrow. I am hoping, though, that I will get to start learning my next kata. I think it is either Kusanku Dai or Goju Shiho (sp?). YAY- i love kata.
Its going to be sunny and in the 60's this afternoon-perfect for outdoor karate. My arm is still pretty weak, but its been getting stronger daily-it hurts like hell in the process, though. It seems like every muscle in my arm atrophied during the 3 weeks in a cast. I have to train them all over again-very weird and very painful. A couple weeks ago I couldn't even hold my arm out in a punching position. I couldn't even lift my arm off my desk to move it from the mouse to the keyboard. Really freaky and scary. My doctor said not to worry, and that in a couple weeks I would not have these problems. He was right- go figure... He also said that i probably won't need PT because the karate is therapy enough. COOL. Now, I have a lot of mobility back in that arm, except I still can't do a high block. I can do inside block, outside block, punch, low block, kagite, shuto but no high block. Can't get my arm up and over my head without excruciating pain. I guess i need to be patient and keep working at it. And also- my wrist and my elbow are so stiff and painful its pissing me off. I didn't break those-why do they hurt??
oh- and what does QQS stand for? I keep forgetting, but I think it is Quality, Quantity(or Quarterly) , and Spirit testing. I think. I'll ask again.
