Dean’s Dojo

We discovered this doing some ‘add-on’ basics (where the first person in a row has everyone do one move, the next person adds one to that–making a two-move combination–, the next person adds one more (3 moves), et cetera.)…try it out

From a left-leg forward zenkutsu dachi (front-leaning stance) facing “North“:

1. Haito (with the right hand, without moving the feet) to the jugular, back of the neck, jaw–whatever you like
2. Step the right leg forward and to the left, so it ends up on the same line as your left foot. Pick your left foot up and place it behind you so you are in a right leg forward zenkutsu dachi facing the “South.” Perform a gedan hasami uke (low-level or downward scissor block (open hand x-block, downward v-block–it’s called a variety of things. Basically your hands cross near the wrist, and your palms and fingers are straight and form a ‘v’).
3. Step the left (now the rear) leg forward so you are in a shiko dachi (feet at a 45 degree outward angle from the center line, and two shoulder widths apart) to your right (”West“) and perform a mawashi empi (roundhouse elbow) with the left arm, slapping into the right hand.
4. Step the left leg clockwise and forward until you are in a left leg forward zenkutsu dachi facing the “North” again, and perform tomoe zuki (circular punch). The tomoe zuki is performed as if throwing an upside down front hand punch to the floating ribs and a rightside-up reverse punch to the solar plexus, simultaneously.

Rinse, Lather, Repeat

One thing I’ve been interested in for a long time has been martial arts demonstrations. It’s some combination of being able to do something I love, sharing the martial arts with others, and a way of not only demonstrating how far I/the demonstrator(s) have become, but also a way of showing newer students how high they can soar.

The first (of hopefully many!) Academy of Traditional Karate Team Elite demonstrations took place yesterday at the monthly promotional. In the demonstration we had everything from weapons and empty-hand kata to board breaking (tameshiwara) to self-defense skits. In all, I think it was good, but as the saying goes, “The enemy of great is good.” With some more effort, streamlining, and practice, I think we will have something awesome on our hands.

Kobudo class is nice in that it’s usually a pleasant surprise what we’ll be working on. Most recently, the focus has been on sai, so I was curious when I saw Sempai J.C. leading warmups with the bo. After I finished picking up the equipment form the clast class and changing to my kobudo belt, I hopped in. Renshi G. then entered, and asked us to all grab sticks–I needed to borrow some from the Dojo.

I do have some filipino sticks, but they are ligh rattan, and not the heavy wood that we use in our Kobudo classes, so I don’t bring them to the dojo anyway. We worked a moving drill and a stationary drill and I only got my knuckle rapped once–Ray was less lucky, and received a cut (and some blood on his gi) for his trouble. When we finished with sticks, it was bo time.

Bo is the first weapon that is learned in our Kobudo system (and in most, I believe), so we reviewed some kata and the 10 basic strikes. I was surprised that I knew the second bo kata better than the first–I guess that’s my body telling me I need to throw the Kobudo kata into my normal kata practice (daily, if I’m motivated/lucky enough). We did a variation on the 10 basic strikes afterwards, and I think almost everyone had an embarrassing moment where they accidentally did a move different from the next move, or skipped a slide switch, or misplaced feet.

After reviewing the bo enough to feel comfortable with it again (It’s been a significant time since my last Kobudo class–probably a month, due to a defensive driving course, the fourth of July, and going to the MAIA Supershow the second week of July), we switched to the sai. I love the sai. I mean, I love the sai. There’s just something about the coolness of the metal, the weight of the weapon, and the way it can be flipped around for a quick strike, then returned, that appeals to me. We ran through the first half of the first sai kata, Rokyu Sai (sp?) before journeying forth with sai kihon.

Afterwards, we ran over the first half of the sai kata to make sure it was ingrained in our brains, and realized that we hadn’t even had a chance to touch on Douto, the nunchaku kata. I guess we’ll have to try and catch that on Saturday. It was definitely a good class–plenty of review, and plenty of new information.

The 5 ‘P’s: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.

I first heard of the “5 ‘P’s” when I was on a testing trip for my engineering job. We were down in Georgia, and one of the more senior engineers was explaining why we had gone and brought a full day’s worth of food and snacks–and then some–with us to the test site. It made sense then, and it still makes sense now when I apply it to Karate.

If all goes well, I will have the privilege and honor of testing for a shodan-ho (probationary first degree black belt) in Matsubayashi-Ryu next June (2009). At the beginning of that test, I will be required to hammer through 50 pushups, 50 situps, 50 mountain climbers, and 100 jumping jacks. The hardest part, for me, is combining the pushups and mountain climbers. To counter this, I’ve made a goal of reaching 100 pushups in a set by December 2008–One of my classmates, Mr. R (Ikkyu) has a similar goal, and just today we met and decided we’d meet back up in December and throw down 100 pushups on the mat.

Rewind to last night. We have been varying the warm-ups in the intermediate class to keep things interesting, and to give the Ikkyus a chance to get some experience leading class (as black belts, they will be used as assistant instructors and to have leadership positions in class). As a result, the days of just hammering out xx many of each physical warm-up have become less consistent. Since I had a hard time keeping up with a full day of classes on Saturday, I decided it was time to get back into the swing of things.

During the break between the 6:30 youth and the 7:30 intermediate class, I got to work. 50 pushups. 50 situps. 50 mountain climbers. 50 jumping jacks (jumping jacks are easy, so I figured I could give it a rest). No problem! I felt awesome! I had just finished running through some basic kata when Shidoshi called our class over to get ready. She announced that she would be talking to the black belt candidates about their paperwork, and that the rest of us would be running class until she got back, and that we would warm up by doing…guess what! 40 jumping jacks, 40 pushups, 40 mountain climbers, and 40 situps. I treated it as a challenge (I love physical challenges) and we made it through. Having a group of us doing them together definitely made it easier, and put me on my toes to perform–the physical activity also taxed me and helped me realize that 1) 100 pushups in a set is a realistic and achievable goal, and 2) I need to step it up to get there ASAP.

Here’s to you, pushups!

The other night we were doing a Kata ladder as a segue to kata month at the Dojo. We were going up into pairs as we worked through our Kata (I don’t remember why, but we weren’t using part of the Dojo). At first, when it wasn’t a group’s ‘turn’ to perform kata, that group would do some basics off to the side; mae geri from neko ashi dachi, open-hand techniques, improvised combinations, etc. The best activity, though, was the last one we did—the ‘off’ group would go to the mirrors and work a series of movements from Naihanchi Shodan as if they were basics; picking a series of movements and drilling it ten times on each side before moving on.

Sometimes it’s too easy to slip into the habit of practicing a kata, then only practicing single moves, or just pairs of moves, as ‘kihon.’ What will develop speed and faster recall of the techniques is chunking up into larger combinations. For instance, pick three or four moves from a kata (three will probably work better, from kata to kata) and practice that. For an extra challenge, pick a series of movements that includes a turn, body shift, or other transition—it’s even possible to mix-and-match with kata techniques. The main thing is that the techniques are technically accurate—and practicing this way will not only increase general agility, speed, and coordination, but will also go a long way towards polishing kata.