Shūdokan 70

Thank god it's my 70th class because I couldn't think of a snazzy title for this post. 

Due to the sudden heat wave in the Rose city I was more than happy to go to beatings since the place we use has air-conditioning.  Strangely enough the heat is dry and drying.  You can almost feel the moisture leaving your skin.  Even with the air on I was damping my gi just during our warmup.  I guess it could have been enthusiasm. 

My wife has been experiencing sinus problems for a couple of years now and hasn't been able to completely get rid of it, so she became excited when she heard a friend finally get rid of her problem by going on an anti-inflammatory diet for a month.  So my wife did a bunch of research, and as the supportive husband, I'm going along with the process.  At the very least I'm hoping to lose some weight, but by and large, I didn't feel bad before, so who knows how this will make me feel.  Today is my first day and the change is breakfast is weird.  No grains or dairy.  How I miss thee. My start of diet weight is 204lbs.

After warm-ups we were split into groups and I was placed with a group that was working on a kata.  After we got started, Reed asked if I knew this one or had been working on it.  I hadn't, but once we got about half way I realized that it was close to one of mine from Tang Soo Do!  Pinan Sandan.  That makes learning go fast!  The refinements that are part of the Shūdokan school are great.  I don't recall my last teacher having the knowledge that's being pressed here about foot placement and movement down to such a fine detail.

Right after we more or less mastered the refinements, Sensei had us pair up and use the moves in a bunkai sort of thing.  An inside crescent kick, an elbow block to arm grab -> into arm bar then a big rotation into a laying arm-bar.  I was paired with Sarah who has a brown from another school and has opted to go white and work her way back up.   

I finished the evening working with Mark on his application.  We now can do both sides, but after a couple of days off we are not smooth and have to remind each other of the actions we need to take.  Lots of stuttering. 

The question of the day was how do we contend with a dog attack.  Our new guy, Ed, had been horribly mauled by a dog so we went with all sorts of ideas.  I'm not sure what's the best approach is as I always thought getting the dog on it's back to stop mobility would be best while other were all about poking the eyes (which I think is a hard target at the best of times, let alone when chopper has  your arm in it's mouth).  Ed showed us the scars and all I could guess was that it was a big dog because the scars are profound and all over him.  Yuck.