Interlude/Segue

I sat down on Wednesday to write about Tuesday's class and couldn't bring anything up that was overly interesting or fun to jot down. I think what has happened is that I'm really getting interested in keeping detailed notes of what I learned and I'm finding out that I don't have the ability to capture what has occurred in writing.

I really started this blog with the intent to work out my petty peeves from class. I'd found an avenue in which to explore the issues that were nagging at me and really making going to class a chore. What I found was that I take a lot of what happens as personal and if I didn't learn to get over it really quickly my desire to learn was always going to be overshadowed by the inability to deal with my classmates. Having the small community of folks on the web has been integral for me dealing with this and growing beyond it. This is not say it'll never be an issue in the future, but I' d like to think it'll be easier to get my head around and then work out constructively.

What I'm really trying to say in long-winding fashion is a deep heart felt thanks to anyone who's ever read this and commented.

We had a full class of 6 folks for the first time in a year last night. Everyone was in good spirits and the complexity of the moves are continuing to increase each night. Last night we continued our focus on cat stance. Simple and frustrating at the same time. We'd fall back under attack into a stance doing a double knife hand strike. After the chop we grab the arm, slide our rear leg forward between the Uki's legs, elbow strike to chin, continue rotation of torso and do a quick elvis leg twitch and Uki goes flying. So fun we couldn't stop!

New guy! I'll call him Priest. Cook's wife is going to start Lamaze so we'll miss him on Thursdays. I wonder what will happen when the baby comes. I imagine he'll disappear.

Flying Chokes

I believe I'm becoming a connoisseur of chokes. I think it was the 10th or 12th time last night where the incessant adolescent giggling started kicking in following the adrenaline kick that attends the end of the tunnel which we call consciousness.

I hate missing class now. Teacher has been motivated lately to show us some more advanced moves and Me and Cook are eating it up with a spoon. So being gone for a week to visit the parents was tough in two ways - I missed class and I fell behind on a couple of new moves.

Teacher is actually building on skills from class to class in a regular fashion!

The three moves we did last night:
Uki makes the punch. At the same time shoot to the outside of punch. Rotate so your back to back. During rotation curl hand behind to face and drive chin up and then down. Uki goes boom.

Uki makes the punch (right hand). Tori makes right hand outside capture at wrist. Tori drives left hand up under Uki's arm and goes to back of neck on Uki. With a rotation of position, pull Uki's arm up and head down. Then Pick up closest leg and wrap around Uki's head and simply step down. Uki goes down or rolls out.

Uki makes the punch. Tori passes to outside and wraps his arm around neck and punching arm in downward posture (unusual catch). Forearm to neck on grab to start choke. Tori sits down to start tominagi (sp?) and Uki flips onto back. Tori scissors legs and lays on Uki's shoulder and head completing choke.

Today my neck feels like it has a 2nd degree burn all away around, but it was an awesome way to get it. I've got to get video of this stuff because I can't describe it save my life!

Off Thursday because I'm flying over to the mainland for work. Next week!

Fighting Children

And by this title I don't mean two minors fight while I bet with other adults on the outcome. No, I mean this in the literal sense.

The adult class which is always struggling to maintain it's membership beyond a few people looked pretty sad last night. Check and Beard didn't show so it was just me and Cook. However, we had a graduate from the kids class. This gal is the younger sister of Arms of Steel. AOS has left for college, but the legacy remains.

So as Teacher explained some of the differences in the two classes Cook and I continued to warm up on our own. I couldn't help but notice the juxtaposition - both Cook and I are over 6 feet in height and Little AOS is about 4'5" and about 90 pounds.

So we did some blocking drills. I was partnered with her and while we did this I noticed the size of her fists! I know I don't have the biggest hands, but hers appeared to be close in size to mine. I enjoyed this until we went into block, block, punch drill. She doesn't mind making contact and she put those mini-hams right into my floating ribs. Ouch! Damn upper cut from tiny people.

She took off at half-time, so Teacher worked with us on a move I don't remember ever doing before. Attacking into an attack in nothing new, but he fused about three moves into one. We would lock out the same side attacking arm, coming over the top and grabbing behind the elbow. At the same time we'd have to reach across with the other hand move the head of Uki around and get the palm under the jaw line. By this time Uki is off balance and with the rear leg we'd slide into a slightly deeper zenkutsu and Uki goes over easy. From there we can go into an arm lock or elbow lock.

In conclusion small children with big fists are dangerous to lower ribs and I had some backsliding on the apology problem. I said, "I'm sorry" about twelve times.

I'm on vacation for the next week. Visiting Parents in the East.

Technical aspects

Nothing really funny or overwhelming noteworthy, but we had an awesome time. A total time slip. We started out with a combo exercise after doing kicks for a half hour. The roundhouse still frustrates me to no end, but that's what the practice is for. I'll definitely have to do that on my own more often. I've been working on side kicks for so long that all others got rusty.

So the combo was an upward block (jo dan) combined with a punch to the solar p that then moved to a neck grab to knee strike. Executed smoothly you get the feeling that the other person would never know what hit them. I had to learn a few things around this combo. First, go as low I can on the strike so I can use the upward block to keep uki's arm up. Then, second, keep my elbows up as I slide my hands in for the neck head grab to further my control of uki's arms in the short time I'm doing the move. I have a tendency to keep my arms down, since we've been taught that so often, it's now become hard to do anything different. And, third, when grabbing the head for a knee strike, you're actually grabbing the neck with fingernails down with slightly interlocked fingers. You don't even have to use muscle as it naturally guides the uki's head forward to the proper kneeing position.

So I learned that the harder I strain for the knee shot the shorter my stroke it. The more I relax for the strike the higher I bring my knee up. It was like a full foot difference -wow.

Cook asked Teacher about practical sword use. I was intrigued because we rarely bring out the weapons and this seemed interesting. Teacher used the common sword draw hand movement and turned it into a self defense move. Uki sticks a gun or knife in your kidney and you do the sword draw. Basically, you reach across with opposite hand, take their hand (making sure not to get stabbed or shot) and do the draw. This brings their locked wrist/hand up and over your head and then as you move down in the "strike" position Uki must roll or flip to exit a very painful wrist/elbow/shoulder lock. Fun as hell. It's like all those dumb movie stunt man moves that requires the stunt man to do all the work while tori effortlessly moves out of the way.

I only said "I'm sorry" five times this evening. I made sure that I was making contact and that I was doing it correctly. Day one of the new me.

3 Times

Since I've started I've heard this three times, "I wished we met more that twice a week."

The first was from my own mouth during the first year.

The second was from a student who has come and gone.

The third is Cook.

Funny how that special type of enthusiasm comes and goes over the years.

Bloody Nose and Bruises

I missed a post last week and I'm not sure why, but I had a good time playing instructor with Cook. Most of the class was dedicated to simple instruction and some basic work on movement. It felt good to have some practicle knowledge and have the ability to impart it so that it's understood.

So tonight we got started on time (will miracles never cease) and immediately started on one-two drills. I've seen videos of this kind of thing and I guess it's very formalized in some Tang Soo Do schools, but not us. For the beginners it's a time to embrace the basics and for the more experienced students it's time to work on our speed, ingenuity, and accuracy. I was paired with Check for the first hour and that went well. I felt like we were really exploring our weak areas and fine tuning some older stuff that doesn't get worked on often.

After the break I got paired with Beard. As always his skills from Judo make him a fierce opponent and force me to concentrate on everything I've ever learned. So we started working on two part attacks which require the other person to respond with three different moves. At our level (hah!) we are expected to show a lot of imagination or, if not that, very good skill. Almost immediately Beard did a great attack where the leading fist drops after a punch attempt and the lower blocking hand circles up to do another strike it the absence of the first. I got the first two, but forgot they can keep coming. After a poor block I felt a light contact on my nose and didn't think anything about it until he broke off contact. I can't say that I've ever had a bloody nose from the top before but they bleed just like any other kind. What a mess. I ended up doing the rest of the class with a band aid on top of my nose and that made me think I had my glasses on.

Still paired with Beard, the rest of the night was pretty awesome. I would occasionally show some good skills, nothing great, but they always make me feel good. At the end of class, after I had taken some jarring blocks off his kicks he mentioned something that almost stopped me cold.

He said, "I think you need to stop saying I'm sorry when you make light contact. I think you need to start talking to yourself in a positive fashion - like, 'I'm going to make contact but it will be precise.' I think this is messing up your distance and ability to make decent contact."

He was right! Time for a mantra. I will punch and kick correctly and with the right force!

Red Jaw

I was actually looking forward to coming to class tonight. I have to admit that there are times where I'm either dreading it or too exhausted to contemplate the exercise. However, after such a long hiatus I've been looking forward to going back with some regularity.

So Cook came early and I asked permission to start teaching him the first kata. Teaching kata is so difficult. I think the art is determining how much detail you should give a person. I definitely don't have that. I have the tendency to talk too fast and try to correct every little thing.

Sensei was big on basics tonight. Which I thought was great just for my own development. Block drills and movement. Great for the new guy and great for me - the old new guy.

The second hour was all ground work and fending shoots to the hips and legs. The one that really sticks out in my head is the catch of the back of the neck. We form a cup over the yuki's neck and ride our middle fingers past the ear lobe and then press the nerves in the jaw. Holy cow! Dropped me like a slaughtered hog. This required very good timing, but once achieved was very effective.

From there defending and attacking into a kick while you are on the ground. Tough but fun as hell. It was rather sobering that you'd probably get a busted rib if your timing was off and it probably will be in a bar on the floor. But once we had them down we learned a nice submission on the foot. I wasn't paying attention and Check kicked me in the lower abdomen with her free foot. Keep that other knee up!

By the way, when I said I wasn't sore last time I was incredibly hasty in that statement. I spent the weekend taking ibuprofen hoping that I wouldn't die. Getting back to shape is going to be tough, but I've started.

Back! again...

Sensei asks me, "how do you feel?"
"I'm fat, old and hung over - well maybe not in that order - more like hung over, fat and old."

A month of indulgence made my face look like a wadded up bundle of sheets. Pale and blotchy with heavy lines under my eyes, I endeavored to work as hard as I could without pulling an myocardial episode.

So I'm back, again. Sensei has been calling regularly to tell me what's coming up and see how I was doing. After one month of 12 hours days, six days a week I've been feeling pretty frazzled. On top of this my wife and have had a not stop stream of visitors and social obligations. The real icing to this cake has been an almost constant battle with a flu that never seems to completely clear up. Even last night Sensei commented on my slight nasal honk.

The night before was my wife's birthday. I stayed up way too late and and drank way too much for a work day. I was groaning most of the day at work, not being terribly productive when Sensei called because he was getting two new students and wanted the class to be filled out. The proved to be an excellent excuse to get to class.

The two new girls didn't start that day. They just watched a bit and promised they'd be back in the future. However we have a new guy who started while I've been in hiatus. I'll call him Cook. Tall and thin and what seems to be the perfect attitude for starting out in beatings, he was a pleasure to work with.

Anywho - I'm not nearly sore as I thought I'd be. Yeah!

The Visitor

Sensei called me up last Wednesday and told me that he ran into a guy who was an instructor for 35 years and talked him into coming to class to visit/instruct. So he wanted as much of the class there so everyone could get a little more. Since I was still hacking like I have TB I just visit for the last hour to see how it was going.

Without knowing the visitor's background I'd have to say he knew some stuff about some stuff. I haven't been doing MA for very long, but did you ever notice that you can tell someone who has skills no matter what they look like. He reminded me of Teacher Slim in that he had an everyman appearance and didn't appear to have a super hero physique, but in action he had so many skills that I don't have enough knowledge to even describe how good he was.

While I sat with his wife he took our members to task. He definitely came from the old school. By this I mean that hitting is for keeps and grabs are extremely painful. After class we found out that he has attended schools in Japan and the Philippines and had acted as a trainer in so many places that I couldn't keep track. Quite the CV.

I talked with Teacher tonight and he said that everyone was still sore afterwords. Life! I can't wait to get back...

Still dragging

Another week of poor health. I had to work until 2 or 3 am last week and that following two weeks of poor health sent me right back. I woke up on Sunday thinking I was hung over, but I hadn't drank the night before. I couldn't get out of bed to save my own life. I can't wait for my wife to get back and take care of me...

Back In The Saddle

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Check.
"I think so. Why?" I replied.
"You're completely pale and sweating." she responded.
I looked past Teacher's shoulder into the floor to ceiling mirror directly behind him and noticed with concern that invisible mime people did a ghostly makeover on me while I was doing punching drills. The sweat I could discount until I realized that no one else was having a problem with the light effort. Nice.

I realized later that there are two types of out of shape; one that comes from general inactivity and one that comes from prolonged illness and the inactivity that it breeds. The later had me in it's grips last night. I was doing everything I could to keep breathing regularly, but at end of a sequence I'd be huffing and puffing like I just did sprints. Can a person have negative cardiac fitness? Apparently.

I was dreading going back because I wasn't sure that I'd have the wherewithal to do a whole class, but I made it through, drank two beers and when to sleep. It was great to see the class again. We now have a new member, a young man (12 or 13) who comes from a formal Karate background. At Yellow belt he knows 12 Katas very well compared to our 8. Ah youth.
Apparently his attendance has helped everyone be a little bit more professional so we are back to a formal bow in and out. Very nice.

Return

When I returned from vacation I had thought I had a bout of allergies, but it turned out to be a substantial cold. It's in it's second week of incubating and causing me misery. Apparently everyone has it here, so I've just got to ride it out.

It a moment of frustration I decided to run. The cold just makes me feel mildly icky so running seemed like a great way to get back into gear. At five minutes I almost passed out in a drainage ditch. I ended up walking home enjoying the weather while massaging the already fierce cramping that was starting in my thighs. Wow, four weeks of enforced relaxation doesn't do me one bit of good.

So I promised a picture, but much to my shame I'm not in shape or very tan for that matter so here's the closest one I could stand posting.

Now you can all see my inability to match clothes, but they are easy to wash...

Back

We're back from Vacation and it's taking me some time to get back on my feet. The trip was great, but I'm exhausted and my allergies are in full gear. Who would have thought it would ever be nice here.

Anyway I promised a picture so I'll try to dredge something up from the trip. I'm afraid it wasn't a vigorous trip so I'm out of shape and there wasn't much sun either.

Vacation

In the week up to leaving my wife and I are running around as it is and then I get an evening job to get going! Stressful!

Anyway, no posts for a couple of weeks. I'll post a picture when I get back.

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!