No Beatings

Our local festival kicked off yesterday and Sensei knows none of the kids are going to show even if it is raining and 43 degrees (F). So this is one time class is canceled, but I got roped into moving some friends in the rain. Sweating in the rain - yeah.

Sad Interlude

Quick notes for a bummer evening.

First we started with the oppposite hand grab and then a side kick in the ribs. Then a semi-complicated move that had us move out of the way of the punch, stand shoulder to shoulder and knuckles to the face, groin, throat. Very action movie.

Break.

Practice basic grabs and locks. Then advanced. Then out comes the fake sword they use in Kendo. We were practicing the baseball bat attack and counter. I have to say that I had an "aiki" moment because I was great. I got inside the swing did a couple of throws and was generally brilliant. My back is killing me and one of the disarm moves required a punch through the arms that beat the crap out of my bicep. I promised that would whine less, but that was too much so many times in a row. Ouch.

So Check shows up because she was feeling fat and out of shape. So it was nice to have her. She was originally going to move this summer, but things didn't work so we'll continue to have her around. The bad news was that Arms of Steel's Dad stopped by and told that AOS wouldn't being coming back. He's just signed up for the military and would be heading out for training shortly after graduation. He was obviously upset but wanted to be supportive. He's scared for his son and I have to admit that I think it's an odd choice for someone who was planning to go to college. We'll just think positive thoughts that he won't get shipped out right away.

You've also heard me complain in the past about Nilon (Nut) and I find myself feeling less anxious about him all the time. It's as though I can see him mature in the skills and I don't take anything personally anymore. He seems lonely and I feel like he has a hard life.

It's back to raining and being cold. Seems to fit the mood.

Zombie Class

Never have I seen such a lack luster, non-energetic, yawned filled evening. We actually ended class early because we were stumbling around so much. There was only four of us, Kid Speed, Nilon, me and Teacher.

One and Two-step drills and some Kata. I don't know about the others, but I felt absolutely beat to death after Tuesday. We actually have some sun now so I even sleep less. I gather everyone is in the same boat.

I felt bad for Nilon. We were working Pyung Ahn O Dan and Bassi and he's still struggling with the first Kata. He still smiled and tried his best.

Post Sick

After a week off I feel as week as a baby deer. Well maybe a bit stronger than that. I went to the gym and managed five minutes on the treadmill before my legs told me that was enough. Then tonight, even though I was very focused on breathing, I had to take frequent rest breaks to slow down my heart. Illness is terrible on morale.

Now that the summer has arrived Teacher's youth class is down to small numbers but it looks more difficult to me. I've never seen such a collection of unusual children. I can only guess ADHD for the lot of them, but maybe some developmental disability as well. Teacher is worn out by the time he gets to us. Yuck.

Simultaneous block and strike with a hip twist to give the punch some umph. My back was starting to protest after so much inactivity. Then on to multiple attacker drills and the after the break multiple attacker with knife (rubber). I sprained (light) my thumb again - same damn one I always tweak and took a kick to the elbow that has left some swelling. Not an auspicious start after a break. But then again, I say that all the time!

I received two corrections that were really insightful. The first was that I was having a stuttering attack. Where I make two really great strikes that are well placed and timed and then I hesitate and strike again in another flurry. It was pointed out that it was redundant. Stop at the first part and move on.

The second was that when confronted by attackers you aren't going to know if someone has a knife or a gun or what have you. Focus on doing the best and concerning you self about the knife as it arrives. Hard to do when you know it's there, but fun to work on.

Good to be back and get some exercise. It makes me feel alive.

Out sick

So Beard calls me Monday and let me know.

"I got third place in Kumite!"

I said, "Oh man, that's awesome - I knew you'd do great."

"Out of three people!"

I said, "...."

Thankfully he was laughing about it. It appears that our training regimine didn't work out the way we expected. We trained so that he had the cardiac fitness to go forever, but the matches were only two minutes! He needed to have a plan in place and execute immediately instead of waiting to see the weaknesses. Ah well, next time.

The cold I've been fighting off for the week finally found me. Running nose and stoned out of my gourd from Sudefed. Weeeeee.

Fat hips that haunt

I've never posted right after class before, but since I can't sleep I figured I might as well. I'm on the laptop sipping Old Overholt wondering if I run tomorrow because of the insane bruise on my foot. Out of the whole class we did only a few minutes of kumite with Beard and I still pick up a couple of lumps. I've never heard him complain about anything (I'm trying to quit) so he is either tough as nails (possible) or just doesn't see aches and pains as an issue to discuss (very cool).

So I was feeling extremely fit tonight after I hopped out of the shower. I was admiring myself in the mirror and sucking in my gut as guys do when I thought in a moment of vanity that I would take a picture of myself and share it with anyone who might chance upon the blog. Now anyone who knows about life in the far North realizes two things; you don't get a lot of sun and you wear a lot of clothes. To cure the first part my wife and I going to the tanning booth to get ready for our vacation down South next month. The second part I thought was going to go away because I exercise so much.

You'll notice that there is no photo today. I am definitely not as tan as I thought (think sour cream) and my physique in the lens made me look like an aging porn star. I was suddenly depressed and didn't want to make anyone gag. I'd already tortured you with my tie dye gi and I don't want to push my luck.

Class was a lot fun in the second hour. We learned a variation on a wrist lock take down and as usual I ended up slowing class up by making Teacher show a lot detail. I just need so much fine tuning. I ended up apologizing at one point, but realized that because I take the time I'm learning the moves very well and Teacher doesn't mind at all taking the time teaching. He loves it.

I was going to call the post hips, hips, hips because we practiced a ton of roundhouse and it was if I'd forgotten how to do them. Very frustrating. Something to bring up on the practice priority.

Teacher's sage words to the kids when they complained about wanting to learn something new. "So you want to learn something new, but don't want to continue to practice what you know. This mean that you'll learn the new stuff and have to practice it and the old stuff - oh wait, you don't want to practice any of that stuff. Get back to work."

To borrow a phrase from Mat - Persevere!

Late note.

Whoops, I forgot to post the other day.

In the big city the large Karate school is having a tournament this weekend. Teacher was encouraging me to go as usual, but my wife pretty much put a stop to that. She has attended the tournaments with me in the past and was pretty upset with beatings I took even though I got first place. I had to get examined by two EMTs after the kumite to make sure I didn't have a concussion. Needless to say she was incensed. I think she would have been alright with me going if she wasn't there, but I thought how much the trip would have cost and figured it'd it was for the best. I'd have to buy a airline ticket, get a car rental, and then a get a room. Ouch.

So Beard, Teacher and Teacher Slim have made plans to go. Although the Teacher's aren't competing Beard will get a full compliment of video for his Kumite. He's not doing any Kata or weapons, so he might have a relatively short day at the competition.

To prep him we've been doing kumite at class that vaguely resembles the rules of the Karate tourney. I've got thin little arm bones and when I woke up I realized that I did, indeed, stop a kick near my wrist. Ow.

Time Compression

And then class was over.

We got started late and then went into the break and then class was over. I can't decide if I like it when class flys by and there has been a loss of time or frustrating because it didn't feel like I was working hard. Well, you know I was working hard, but you know what I mean.

One and two step sparring for the first hour. It was pointed out that I didn't need that many strikes after a block. Teacher Slim pointed that out to me in a rather memorable fashion. I was favoring a short rib strike followed by an elbow or two quick punches to the head. So he pulls me to the side and punches me in the short ribs. Naturally, I curled up around his fist like a slug around a new flower. He pointed out that my head was no longer in the same position and, therefore, I shouldn't be punching to that space.

So after a lot of retooling I started thinking with my legs. Lots of knees to the head of the bent over guy.

After break the mats came out. Since Teacher Slim was there it meant that locks and throws were going down. After I don't know how many chokes, throws and locks class was halted. Learned an awesome counter for the rear seated choke if I can move fast enough.

I still couldn't go to sleep until Eleven.

Practical Application

More bruises! This morning a big blue one on a bicep and big brown one on my hand. I know the one on my hand came from the wrist locks, but where did one arm come from? Mysterious and I don't bruise very easily - at least I haven't in the past.

I assumed that since my legs were barely functioning that we'd be doing kicks because karma is like that, but instead it was night of applying kata and then an evasive move to throw.

In TSD our katas can seem often bizarre (to me anyway) and since we don't have formal bunkai we are often left questioning the practicality of certain movements. So Teacher took a couple of odd bits and made sure we had an idea of how they played into reality - fun!

The rest of the class was devoted to evading a bear hug attack. Teacher's friend was all drunk the other night and he got to pull this one out of his hat. We do the double upward block (from kata!) then using an elbow to the shoulder, a behind the elbow pull and a step out of the way the uki goes flying. It took about an hour to get it flowing, but it was awesome fun when it worked correctly. No effort for a beautiful flight.

Ironically my legs were nicely loosened up all the activity.

Realisation - we need more people for the class. We're going to be losing two more folks this summer and then it'll be Nilon and I with Beard on occasion. Yikes.

Gym Note

9:55 mile (struggle to run)
225 Squat (barely able to move this morning)

Blood and Softness

Where do they come from? In the shower last night after beatings I noticed two holes in my hand and something that looks like a burn mark on one forearm. I can't remember doing or receiving anything that would create these but there you have it.

The first hour was dedicated to sticky hands! This is rare, but fun as hell. Nilon and I did it for a full half hour without the shoulder strain that usually accompanys the exercise. I assume that means that I was relaxed enough to learn.

Second hour was a big shift - soft block and evade. This is one of those integration things that is apparently very hard for me. TSD is so hard style and then Teacher shifts gears and makes things all touchy feely which I apparently suck so bad at that I create a vacuum. Still interesting and fun. And when done correctly requires no muscle. Fast night.

Down Time

I skipped beatings last night. I had to work late at the second job and by the time I finished dinner class had already started. That and the pain up and down my left side didn't feel very motivational. If it sounds like I'm making excuses - I am. Everytime I laugh it hurts and when I rolled over in my sleep last night I woke myself up from discomfort. Nice. I'm so tough.

gym note

8:55 mile, 205 bench, 205 squat. 40 years old!

It's full of stars...

The afterimage of a hundred flashbulbs flashed in the darkness. After the static in my vision cleared I tried to quickly pick myself up and get out of the way of the next uki. I took a horrible fall and the result was a sore neck and momentary loss of vision. Tough night.

We started with punching and kicking drills that somehow seemed incredibly fun and fast. I got paired with Nilon and AOS. Nothing really new, but Teacher Slim came in for his once in a month visit. He was to my one side correcting my newly developed bad habits, while Teacher corrected my old ones. Making a fist, breathing, etc. As usual Nilon struggled to remain consistent with the exercise and immediately started trying his locks and grabs. Teacher Slim really doesn't have patience for such things and wandered away. When I have both of them its like watching ADD in stereo. Teacher Slim only wants to teach advanced moves and concepts - often pushing far beyond what I capable of doing, while Nilon wants to try whatever he can think of instead of the exercises at hand. This frustrates me because I want to know what Teacher Slim has to offer, but you really have to concentrate and give him your full attention and that's not possible with Nilon.

Nilon, whom I used to call Nut, was getting on my nerves again last night. I'd like to think that I was making my peace with him, but he has special powers to drive me over the edge. The more energy expended the more he gets energized. Thankfully he took a three hour hike before he came to class. Even the constant exhortations of "relax" from the teachers had a limited effect.

So the mats came out at half time since Teacher Slim was there. Nilon, still full of vim and vigor took care of that all by himself. Youthful energy makes me jealous. But seeing it makes me even more tired.

So it was on to Aikido. I may have mentioned this before, but Teacher Slim had some exposure to Aikido in the past and has taken some favorite things from that art and combined with them with some really painful stuff from Gojo-ryu.

We partnered up and then practiced all the basics and a little of the advanced moves. From there we had the person in the middle and the rest did a line. Attack, attack, attack. Supposedly we are trying for variety, skill, and timing. In reality there is a lot of poor falling, poor throwing and general poor execution - well, at least from me.

And that's where the stars came in. Beard pulled me in and executed a wrist lock and take down so fast my feet left the ground. I didn't even have time to tuck my chin. Boom. From there everything got a little less smooth.

One of the moves takes the attacking hand and moving it into a circular block to move the arm out of the way. You then take your other hand and grab the back of the head forcing it down and if executed well then the uki ends up doing a roll out. I crashed to the floor thunderously. I got a really sore foot from that one.

I slept like a log last night.

Fog Of Weekend

I left beatings early to catch a plan to the city. I know I had something interesting to talk about, but I'm so tired right now I can't remember what it was.

I think Nilon and I were trying sticky hands. I saw a video on another blog by some fellow that was a definite expert. So we tried this and there some moments of synchony but not much beyond that. I helped with the kids class. This does nothing good for my blood pressure.

Uninspired on a Monday morning. I feel like I was gone for a year.

Went to a bar on Saturday night with a friends and his friends. Missed two fights right next to me. So much for me situational awareness. No kung-fu skills here.

Video Review 2

I didn't have much of a class last night because I got called into work after we started. I did have enough time to catch myself on film though. Here's Bassei again. Although I can get through the whole Kata Teacher notices that I'm trying to rush to the end and don't have any dramatic pauses. I think you can see that he's correct...

Interlude

I missed last weeks beatings due to other obligations and fighting a cold. As an alternative I hit it hard at the gym. I was able to run a 9.05 mile. Not bad for an out of shape 40 year old.

Two conversations about Brown Belt rank. I had assumed that I was no where near that damn thing. One of the guys at the gym is loosely affliated with us, but due to a bad back rarely attends anymore. So he braces me about the whole belt rank thing thinking I should be there soon. Yikes. Then I was talking to Teacher and he says something along those lines. He apparently understands my reticense. I think he said something like, "you think you aren't ready, but how many times have you said that in that past when I knew you were ready." Yikes again. I just my rank the other day! I hope this is just a discussion in general...

A Moment of Brilliance

My wife is back from her journey and I was surprised when she let me just trapse off to beatings. I figured after a week and half she'd be, "I miss you and I want to spend time with you." Not that this is bad and I would have been fine with this, it's just not what I expected.

So off I went expecting a bland class with Nilon and Beard. Surprise! We had Check, AOS, then Kid Speed and Beard for the second hour. Check gave us some bad news while we were warming up - she wants to move South. Problems with her ex and daughters and the lack of any warmth here for a year have put her into a moving frame of mind. Dang.

The exercise flow started with a two-step consisting of backfist step punch. This migrated into someone grabbing you from behind and punching. This was met with the backfist (properly done you'd get a block and strike at once) and then punch. We had to practice outside and inside because Teacher says under pressure you never know which way you're going to go. After profficiency we moved on to sparring.

I didn't realize that I had missed it so. I felt alive in every sense of the world. No matter how many troubles there are in the world and in my life (not too many) there exists nothing beyond the conflict at hand. Other than a lot of fun last night I did a beautiful thing. I executed a roundhouse aimed at the side of Beard and as he blocked I changed direction to gently pop him on the side of the face. I have never been able to execute such precision before. Awesome.

Short story Long

It's been a couple of weeks, but my wife left town and I had a couple of side jobs in the evening so no beatings for two whole weeks. I was actually dreading going back tonight but it turned out great. The first hour was Nut and I (I can't call him that anymore so I'm re branding him Ninlon (Nut who Is No LOnger Nut).

I had been jonesing for some contact and Ninlon was ready to go. It was almost organic how things came together, but I'd have to pull out every couple of minutes because I'd lose the pattern. It was all hands but it was beautiful.

Techniques from Teacher have a natural migration anyway, but tonight it seems extra clear. First was the two punch and the other person would try to get inside. This lead to chin and throat strikes and then lead to throws.

I'm not sure how I feel about throws. I love them, but I'm not good at them. My height plays against me and then I use muscle which defeats the purpose. So the second hour was an endless practice of getting my hip in and taking the balance of the uki. Very difficult, but I got a couple in. For the first time I actually knew what they were talking about. Beard was my unfortunate uki most of the time since he's my around my height, but letting go of my muscle use is tough.

Good to be back even with my back in knots.

Missed

So my wife is leaving the country for a week or so and we wanted to have a romantic evening together so I missed out on beatings.  We went out to dinner and then sat around with our laptops doing bills and such.  Hah.