Karate Master: Part 8

This last training session was particularly interesting. I arrived a few minutes early, while the advanced training was still going on. The instructor called me over, and let me participate in the last few minutes while the other club members were arriving. It consisted of shuto practice, in particular it's application in real combat. Until then I'd only considered the stance a fancy way to face your opponent, not something you'd really want to use against an opponent. In fact, it is quite an interesting block, that can easily be used to throw your opponent off balance.

The bulk of the practice consisted of training kicks. We introduced a new kick, the side kick (seriously, why can't I remember these names?). Surprisingly I still had the proper muscle memory from four years ago, and picked it up again fairly quickly, while allowing for a few modifications dictated by the new style I'm practicing.

I think the most important thing that I learned was that you don't block kicks. In Shotokan, at least in the school I learned it in, we were taught to block kicks, doing so with a low sweeping block. In Shotokai we're taught that's a good way of breaking your arms. There may be a few exceptions, but it'd involve us having to do some experimentation. Something that I'm not at the proper level to do yet.

All in all, a good training session, I enjoyed myself quite a bit. There was one incident during sparring, which involved a white belt getting kicked in the face by a green belt. Fortunately, the martial arts, especially this style it appears, attract a certain type of person, and the incident didn't escalate beyond the white belt asking if he could keep the bloodstain on his Gi as a souvenir.

I've always thought to myself, you can't do martial arts and expect not to get hurt. The training is made as safe as possible, most of the times, but you won't get far expecting to be uninjured during training. Best to start considering each injury as a badge of honor or something of the like. If you're bleeding, all the better.

Karate Master: Part 7

My legs still ache. I think they won't stop aching for as long as I'm practicing karate. No worries though.

On a slightly more positive note, the instructor told me that the instructor on Saturday said I was making good progress/I did well. Good to hear. I like being told I'm doing something well.

This training session was focused completely on kicks. Practicing getting our knees up fast enough (equivalent of drawing one's weapon) to be able to kick properly. We worked with pads, with the person holding the pad remaining stationary, and then moving forward. The guy I was holding the pad for at one point missed just a little bit...

They always miss.

His foot grazed my elbow, and apparently his toenail nicked it, because after he looked back up from checking to see if his foot was alright (elbow>foot), he told me I was bleeding. I looked at it and saw that I was in fact bleeding. It didn't hurt, so I decided to just ignore it and continue practice. It was around the time that I realized that I was dripping blood all over the floor. That's when we decided to take a quick break so I could clean up my elbow, while he got some paper towels to clean up the floor.

Other than that, there wasn't really much to say. I quite enjoyed this training session, since I was slowly getting the hang of kicks. I think it goes without saying that I really love martial arts, and hearing that I'm actually pretty good at it, is quite encouraging. Perhaps it's because I'm older now, and stronger? I don't know. But it's still good to hear, and have something I'm good at. Also, I think that I'm enjoying the training more because I'm older. Before, even though I enjoyed karate, I didn't like the training sessions. Now, I look forward to them.

Karate Master: Part 6

Friday night I went to be before midnight, quite the accomplishment for me if I do say so myself. Because of this I was finally able to wake up at seven thirty without feeling like dirt. I still hate early mornings, but at least I wasn't dead tired.

I was a little late, and right from the beginning we started off with a little bit of training in the horse stance (still don't know the proper names). Well, in all fairness we did a kata first (nope, no names), but after that it went right into the stance training.

I thought my legs were on fire in previous training sessions. Nope. This was without a doubt the most painful training session I've ever had, as far as my legs are concerned. I thought my legs were on fire before, it wasn't till today that I finally learned the meaning of the phrase. There was fire in my legs, literally. And for the rest of the day there was a frantic twitching in my legs.

Besides being incapable of holding my upper body loose while doing this, I've learned that my footwork is an abomination that needs some serious work. I'm practically incapable of backing away from punches. I'm seriously considering just decking anyone that tries to hit me instead of trying to block. Sure I'd probably get hit, but I'd get them too.

Actually...that doesn't sound like such a bad idea.

Anyway, I need to get a move on with further entries. Especially reviews. I'm lagging behind, way behind. I also need to look up some other adservices, since Chitika is being difficult.

Karate Master: Part 5

Back when I was learning about medieval European fencing style we learned an important technical fact. Which was, never to block with the edge of the sword. It dulled the edge, and could lead to cracking in the blade, ultimately destroying your weapon. We had a drill that was meant to teach us how to work footwork into our combat. The arm, from the elbow to the fingertips would act as our sword, and we had to use our footwork to gain an advantage. This was also meant to emphasize proper blocking technique, as blocking with the "edge" of our arm (where the bone is closest to the surface) would soon teach us not to do so.

Because it hurts.

Let me tell you what also hurts. Improper blocking in karate. Mostly this includes blocking with your forearm, rather than your fist. Towards the end of this morning's training session I was really feeling my mistakes, as I'd been blocking almost exclusively with my forearm. Not only that, but I wasn't even really blocking, so much as striking at my sparring partner's arm. I quickly, probably not quickly enough, learned that I needed to pay special close attention, and focus my blocking on my hand, not my arm.

Pain is a great teacher. Which is what I think one of my sparring partners was trying to get at. He'd come at me, not full force, but with enough to show me he meant business. If I messed up, chances were I'd get a fist in my gut. At first this annoyed me, but then I realized it was the best way to speed up my progression, especially if I wanted to be worthy of the green belt I was wearing (my other belts got lost again).

I realized that I needed to spend some more time outside of training internalizing what I was being taught. One of the new techniques we were taught is "passing," which is basically exactly what it sounds like, a way of passing right past your opponent's fist. I think I need to spend some more time getting the leg work and upper body movement right for that one.

Anyway, I'm still a little tired, even though I came home and took a nap when we were done. Right now I'm just finishing off some lunch. I'm still not sure what I want the format of these to be, whether I want them to just be a beat by beat description of what I did at training, or if I want to add in a few jokes. Guess it just depends on my mood.

Karate Master: Part 4

Ow...

You miss three training sessions and this is what happens? I'm going to be feeling this in my legs tomorrow. Scratch that, I'll be feeling it mid-day and for the rest of the week. I wouldn't be surprised if I find myself unable to move for a while.

Other than that, training was great. We worked on the...horse stance? I really need to learn the actual names of these stances. I'll get onto that soon.

Most of our training was focused on keeping stability. We paired off and tried to knock each other over/make our partner loose his balance. Actually quite enjoyable.

For the record, the girl that was there last time I was, wasn't there. However, there were two new guys at training. It's enjoyable seeing new people at training.

After that we practiced a new block (old for me, but new for our training schedule), the Gedan Barai (I think, again, I need to memorize these names). I've been noticing that every move, every attack, every block, has to have an element of rotation. Moves that I used to do without the rotation, in other words: wrong, are now improved by a slight twist of the wrist adding the rotation and power to my attacks and blocks, and overall just feeling better.

I've slowly been getting better at closing the distance to attack. Mostly it involves tricking my opponent with false steps and closing in when they're off guard. Some would think this cheating, I think of it as strategic thinking. Still need to work on back away from an attack though.

We haven't learned any new kicks, but I still need to work on the basic one, and wouldn't mind doing some more training with the pads.

For the record, I'm still abysmal at memorizing kata. Then again, the one we did today is normally reserved for brown and black belts in shotokan karate. In shotokai we use it for red belts (one level above white belts). Interesting concept, starting beginners into one of the harder kata. It definitely illustrates the "bird dropping her chicks out of the nest to teach them flying" principle. And that quote was longer than it should be.

Anyway, I'll be back with you next saturday, as long as I manage to get out of bed early enough.

Karate Master: Part 3

Well, there won't be as many pictures in this one. I'm kinda tired. My legs don't hurt as much anymore, but I do have a blister on my toe that's gotten worse. Last night I was finally able to figure out what I was doing wrong last Saturday during "shuffling" practice. I wasn't taking a proper half step to get extra distance out of my retreat.

There were a few new members in the club, though I think they attended last Thursday, while I was in writing class. One of them is actually a girl. So we now have a grand total of one girl in the club (that I know of).

This week we continued to do more range practice, which is where we train ourselves to understand our and our opponent's range, and when we're safe, and when we can attack. It sounds simple, but it's kinda complicated if you're not used to it. I can avoid attacks pretty well, but I'm not too good at judging range for my own attacks. On the plus side, I am noticing a distinct improvement in my basic skills.

As a sort of aside, while I was practicing with the instructor, he mentioned that we were going to be doing counter attacks, but some of the newer members hadn't progressed quite to that point yet. But since so far I'd been picking up on new/old techniques he said we could try it out quickly. There was some difference between the way we counterattacked in Shotokan, mostly with stepping outside the opponent's leg with our leading foot and throwing a good portion of our weight into the punch.

The katas, which used to give me serious trouble, are starting to come back to me. I'm actually understanding how the techniques are applied now.

I'm not sure how, but it seems like now the small details are starting to make more sense. Perhaps it's because I've seen martial arts applied so much more than I did when I last practiced? It probably helps that while I haven't been practicing martial arts have continued to be a mania of mine. I've actually been researching them more over the past few years than I used to.

Overall, improvement all around, but unfortunately I don't have the energy to think of more manga based martial arts jokes. I hope you don't find this too boring, and I'll try to be more entertaining in my following posts.

Karate Master: Part 2 Addendum

So if anyone wonders why I'm going through karate training. Here's why:

Priceless!

Karate Master: Part 2

So, my legs finally stopped hurting from last Tuesday. Now they hurt just as much as they did back then, and I've got some new blisters on my feet. It almost feels like some insane training you'd find in a manga.

Okay...so maybe it isn't quite as hard as that. But it's still pretty darn tiring.

Uh...well...

I'll...I'll just be quiet now.

For the record, I need to work on my foot work the most now. Which is why it's kind of nice that we've been focusing on that so much. According to the teacher parts of my skills are currently at green belt level for their style, but other parts aren't even at red belt level (their lowest).

Apparently I rest too much of my weight on my front leg, which the instructor said is perfectly fine if that's the way I've been taught. He then went on to say that it'd just make it that much easier for them to beat me. After being told to rest my weight more in the center, I was able to execute a proper punch using the new stance. Good thing I remember most of my training, and it's really just a matter of getting back into practice.

I also learned that I need to angle my upward block a little more. That way I don't risk hitting myself in the face. Instead the attack slides down my forearm and is deflected to the side.

So essentially, I've kept some good parts from my last training, mainly my punches, but have a lot more to make any of it usable. Which is just fine by me, since it'll give me plenty of more blog posts.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go lay down and hope my legs fall off. Or my feet. These blisters are really making it hard to walk, let alone move boxes to a new house.

Yeah, we're moving. And I'm doing it while exhausted from getting up at 7:30 in the morning.

Hopefully they take it easy during sparring with me.

You know...I'm really hoping my instructor doesn't read manga.

Really, REALLY hoping!

Karate Master: Part 1

Years ago I achieved the green belt in the Shotokan style of Karate. For those of you who are interested in that style the ranking (in Switzerland at least) follows this order (from lowest to highest):

• White
• Yellow
• Orange
• Green
• Blue
• Brown
• Black

Now, keep in mind that this was very heavily based on memorization of katas, and not quite so much on skill level. However, I will admit that my skill probably ranked at the appropriate level.

I haven't trained in close to four or five years. I can't remember any of the katas, but every once in a while I'd review the techniques, but not do any serious training. I read a few manuals, familiarized myself with some moves that I previously hadn't understood, and learned a few new ones. Oddly enough, I've learned a few new moves from manga, especially Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, which actually portrays martial arts quite accurately.

Okay, so maybe there's a few inaccuracies.

But I really haven't done anything to actually apply them. So this semester I've decided to start attending the Shotokai Club at my university. Why Shotokai and not Shotokan? Because I don't want to shell out $40 every semester.

It's also worth noting that in this case, the reason they go by Shotokai, is because there was already a Shotokan Club. The only real difference is that this style is full contact (veeery nice), and emphasizes flexibility and speed.

I decided a while back, that I'd be keeping a record of my progress on this blog. So if you're interested in my path to human weapon-hood, then by all means, check back here every Tuesday and Saturday.

To start off, this one will be a little shorter, since all we really did was a basic introduction.

The most important thing I learned today, right before training, was that apparently I can touch my toes. I haven't tried in a few years, so this came as a surprise, considering I've never been able to.

We did some range practicing, and basic punching (using punching pads), and kicks (using punching pads). Apparently my basics are stronger than I thought they were, as it didn't take long to get close to performing the techniques properly. One of the permanent members actually commented on me having a good punch. The straight kick was giving me trouble at first, but after a few pointers, I surprised myself by delivering some pretty decent kicks.

It's interesting that I'm making more progress in this one night of training, than two years at the other dojo all those years ago. Maybe my mentality has changed? I have a stronger body now? I don't know what it is, but the basics are coming back much faster than I thought they would. It helps that I remember most of the techniques I ever learned. I run into trouble when you try and put them in a certain order I have to memorize.

Also, in this club, ranking is determined by skill, not memorization of katas. Who knows, maybe I'll deserve to wear this green belt soon enough. (Green belts are instructor level in Shotokai.)

PS: My legs hurt.