Application

Although my diary says that I've been going for roughly two and half years, the long breaks have impacted the overall amount of instructional time.  By my count I'm at around 65 classes.  To me this means that I haven't even seen half a year of regular instruction yet. 

I'm pointing this out because when I started going to class I would go to the after hours black belt group to get extra time in.  During this time I was acting as the Uke to Mark and had to struggle through the defensive part of his application routines.

Shudokan works in a three step process.  First you learn the kata, second you learn the bunkai, and third you learn the application.  I admit to being confused by the bunkai vs application, but to the best of my comprehension I would say that bunkai is the practical application of the moves in the kata whereas the "Application" is a full on two person choreographed fake fight using all pieces of the kata. 

This is the kind of stuff that used to make me frustrated with martial arts in general because even though it requires skill and relies on tons of practice, you weren't trying to actually fight someone or use the skills an actual free environment.  Now that I've eaten kicks and punches over the years in free style sparring I've come to love the lack of serious impact in the Application portion of the work and I get plenty of exercise from doing the "dance moves", as my wife likes to call it.  But I have realized now the attention to detail that goes into making the application correct is reinforcing basics at a very deep level. 

I noticed this last night when Mark had to make sure about his foot placement.  If he didn't he couldn't sweep my leg.  This was fairly relevant to most moves, but the foot placement stuck in my brain.  The idea is that in a lot of step ups you want to make sure that your foot is placed outside the Uke's. You might not want to do a sweep every time, but it'll always give you the option. 

Part of whatever kata application Mark was working on last night required him sweep/strike me.  When I'm down he does a big kick in the chest to which I'm supposed to immediately roll out backward and come to my feet to attach him.  Did I mention that we work on a hardwood dance studio floor?  I ended up doing the roll back about 10 or so times.  And I'm sore as hell this morning is so many places, but not my back.  Will miracles never cease?

Spinning

I'd like to think that I let my life periodically spin out of control just to give it some spice, but that is disingenuous.  The truth is that it just gets that way because of aggressive time-lines my wife sets up for the house.

When we moved to the Rose City we purchased a 100 year old house and we've been working on it for the whole two years with only minor breaks.  During the breaks I've been able to get to Karate with some frequency, but rarely longer than three classes at a time before something turns up. 

The current work doesn't really require me to do much, but as a dutiful husband I like helping when I can.  The deal is that my wife works very hard all day and then when I get home there really isn't much that hasn't been handled.  So I can often get a pass and trot off to Karate.  Then I kind of feel bad that I've left her there not really doing much.  This means that I miss the extended classes for the Black-belts so my learning is stuck at one or two hours a week. 

Anyway, I was able to scurry away to class on Monday without too much guilt and found out that the our two black-belts and brown belt are going up to Yakima in about six weeks to get another shot at testing.  As such the class is going to be dedicated to do a lot of prep work.  So we had to do a lot kata work and that means even more fine tuning. 

Due to the exhausting nature of weekends I'm rarely well rested on Mondays (manual labor all day and socializing all night) so my kata was full of stuck moments and small errors.  This got me partnered with MaryAnn Sensei and back to Sanchin.  Holy cow!  Even more stuff to work on.  That night we realized we missed bobs on movement and a whole sequence of breathing in and out with hand presses at the end before the yoy.  Back the drawing board.  Such a simple kata that gets harder and harder to do.

Sanchin 3

After warmups and some review of the basics we worked on cat stance (Nekoashi-Dachi) for some time.  In this school the weight-baring leg is pointed more forward than in my old school.  The idea is that you are closing the gap.  Ideally being able to stop a kick to the groin. 

We spent a lot of time going back and forth on the floor and I realized my recent forays into leg exercises really didn't do me any favors because my knees told me approximately how far I could go and it wasn't anywhere low. 

To add insult to injury, we had a competition who did the best cat stance while doing blocks and strikes.  I lost early because I have a habit of dropping my arms between moves.  Rookie mistake.  Something to work on.

After that it was back to Sanchin.  Not that I mind working on it, but it gets a bit tiring working on the same thing ad nauseam.  This time around I found out that for whatever reason I was looking down most of the time (apparently at my hands) which was throwing everything off.   After working on that I was instructed to punch higher (think xiphoid process; my own that is) and everything started looking a lot better, but I was working on that so hard that everything else went to hell.  I also love holding my breath which makes me dizzy by the end of this heavy breather of a kata.

This morning's practice was severely curtailed due to the construction in our house.  Our glorious main room that has been empty for several weeks is now closed off as my wife rips the walls out.  The only space I've got is the basement where I can't really lift my hands above my head.  At least I offered my cats some really excellent entertainment as I stumbled around in the dark trying not to stub my toes. 

Sanchin Sweatin'

I got to lead warm ups again, but I get to a certain point and have no idea what to do next.  I then ask the class, "what should we do next?" which gets me lots of blank looks.

MaryAnn Sensei reminded me that it's a dictatorship and not a democracy.  Well, next time...

After warmup I was placed with MaryAnn and worked on Sanchin for the entirety of the class.  For those who might not be familiar with this breathing intensive kata, there is a lot going on in something relatively simple from a cursory look (well, aren't all kata?). 

Sanchin dachi (stance) looks like an offset pigeon-toed with the addition of tucking ones behind in as forward as possible.  This "locks" the stance into place giving the practitioner an unbelievably solid stance.  Look at this guy for instance:

His Sensei checks stance from the floor up.  Up to and including a kick in the crotch.  How fun!

I was mostly concerned about getting the basics down, but because this is a very tension filled kata I neglected to watch my breathing. This left me a little woozy when I finished.  So I think I did this about 20 times and pretty much soaked my gi. 

It was a solid evening and I was happy it was only an hour.  So tired.

Fightish

I made an assumption that we'd be sparring again since Sensei's tournament is this weekend and I was close to being correct. 

Sensei poked his head in and had me warm up the class.  During this time I did punches and blocks and finished up with kicks.  I chose front kicks and side kicks.  I had to explain why I referred to them to as "snap" kicks.  In our old school we used the term thrust kick and snap kick to delineate the difference between the way they are delivered.  New info for this group - whoops. 

The way I broke down the kicks really didn't win me any points either.  There just isn't any emphasis on this kind of thing for lower level belts.   I would have thought it would have been mandatory to get it ingrained, but such is life. 

So after a little work on attacks Sensei started having us focus on reading intent from fist and foot placement.  Although this wasn't necessarily new to me I'd never done it with his method.  He would have the opponent freeze into a position and have you guess at what they were going to throw next.  This included the old "I have no idea what I'm going to throw". 

He then had us set up the sparring area and had a couple of fight then someone would call freeze and we would break down what we thought we saw.  No matter how good we thought we were there was also a lot crap to be seen.  I attribute this to the fact that when someone calls freeze everyone tends to freeze just when you're pulling back.  This created some really silly live sculptures.

Sensei is off to his tournament that I would have loved to seen and participated in.  He isn't doing weapons or kata, but just judging and kumite.  Can't wait to hear the after action report.

Shūdokan 60

Wow, sixty classes! It's nice to see progress, even if it's just measured in numbers.

During warmup Reed Sensei told us he was going to a regional competition.  He didn't feel good about his kata, but he's going to be doing the kumite for senior, black belt division.  I'd love to have seen that.  For a big man he moves very smoothly and is incredibly thoughtful and deliberate with his actions. 

When he told us this I had an inkling that we'd be having a fight night and I was right!  After warm ups he took us through a sequence of punching, kicking, and distance work. 

He introduced me to concepts that I was aware of and practiced often enough, but did have a name for.  The first of the these is the blitz.  Basically, going straight at your opponent (maybe eating a punch).  The second was the Stuff(ing).  When someone blitzes you the response is a front snap kick. 

There were other bits and pieces I'd wish I'd known in competition.  Basically, the judges aren't going always going to get it right.  So you can do a few things to help them out with their decisions. 

1. If you punched then you better have that hand back in chamber/retraction when action is stopped.  This signifies a good hit. 
2. Your poker face better on game.  Good hit, bad hit, when action is stopped you face better be still.  No acknowledging or eye rolling on bad calls.

A weird thing in class is that we all train to punch with the right.  There is literally no attempt to work on the left.  I have to ask Reed.  I assume it's because of lack of time. 

Fight Review:

• vs Kyle - Tater wins 3 to 2.  What the hell?  The kid was getting all the flags.  So I had to make it clear I was winning the exchanges. 
• vs Mark - 3 to 1.  Poor Mark doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body.
• vs Sensei - 1 to 3.  I would say my pride was a little hurt, but I was literally the only person to get a point on him.  Sheesh.

Sanchin Huff And Puff

A five month hiatus!  How time flies when you remodel a house.  My wife and I took four and half months to complete our upstairs bathroom and to celebrate started working on our downstairs bathroom.  

This was determined to be a less than favorable approach to celebration.  Not having a time to relax and sit back between home disruptions creates a lot of stress.  Additionally neither one of us has been able to get any decent exercise or eat very well while the house is in construction mode.

This leaves us both feeling kind of shabby, out of shape, etc.  My wife started going to a gym down town in order to see if that met her needs.  She clearly liked the social aspect and enjoyed the workouts, but driving there was beyond her tolerance level and the cost was really high.  So at the end of the month that went by the wayside.

To celebrate the end of the upper bathroom we went to Mexico for a week to enjoy some sun and salt water.  Upon our return it was time to embrace our new healthy selves.  This means eating more at home and exercising more.  For my wife it means going out and working in the garden until she almost drops dead and for me it means beatings!

I've been practicing every morning so I don't forget the stuff I've learned over the last year.  So going back last night wasn't as horrible as it could have been. After warm up we did the "10 Kata".  Which is to say that we actually do ten katas even though everyone around might be doing a different one.  Everyone stops after they finish and then we are told bow, etcetera.  This continues until everyone has completed ten.  

After we finished the 10 I was partnered with MaryAnn Sensei to learn Sanchin.  I looked around a video and this was a close as I could find.

Ibuki breathing is tiring!

After running through this a few times I felt like a Karate superstar.  I totally forgot locking my hips and stuff, but it'll be fun to learn.  

We ended up doing a self defense move directly from Aikido or used by everyone.  You grab the wrists of the person in front of you and don't let go.  I hate that part as being unrealistic, but the move is fun.  You duck down go into an elbow lock and throw.  Then pin and punch.  Weeee.  I can't find a video of it but I'm pretty sure I've seen it every Aikido and advanced technique class I've ever been in.

I Promised...

I promised to myself that I would not gripe about my physical ills on the blog, but since I've had some time off working on the house I've collected a slew of small issues.  Most notably my right foot has three puncture wounds that have healed enough that I can endure class, but last week's session produced a tear in the pad of my big toe.  Which simply produces the worst pain until it healed up.  I guess it's the constant pulling and movement.

So last night I'm doing good, but notice another spot on the right foot is giving away.  Great.  This time near the pinky toe.  I should have called myself Pinkytoe instead of Potatoefist.  

It was just Mark and I until an boy of about five was brought into class.  This isn't usually a big deal, but the kid's parents are the most beautiful people I've seen.  All white teeth and blond hair with a tan.  And on top of that the boy is able to focus the whole time!  Damn perfect people.

Reed Sensei had us go through movement drills that made us look absolutely horrible.  So move forward, block/strike, turn to the open part of the stance, block and strike, turn forward do it again and move forward.  We looked worse than the five year old.  Super embarrassing.  At one point a guy came in to watch and I think he left after 10 minutes.  Probably wondering why a couple of advanced belts looked like lurching drunks.

We finished up with Kata work and although nothing new was learned on the Kusanku I did refine a few pieces.  

I'll be in out for the next month making attendance very sporadic.  I'm hoping December allows me to get into a regular pattern.

Move and Sprawl

Two nights in a row!  I'm practically a lifer at this point.  Ha! After such a long time off I was incredibly sore on Tuesday.  I still felt pretty horrible this morning, but I was kind of excited to work on something new. 

Unfortunately plans went a little sideways because we did a lot of basics which I clearly needed.  Shudokan uses a very direct approach and they are okay about crossing feet on attack which I can't even begin to do unless I concentrate really hard. That and very twisted torso on the reverse punch.  I mean it makes sense to cover a lot of distance, but it takes a lot relearning on my part. 

I'm also out of practice as it relates to distance and contact.  My left punch was severely needing some recalibration.  I struggled so much and partner was a slight 19 year old girl.  If I made a poor contact I would have taken her head off. 

While we practiced variations on that Reed Sensei brought out the mats and for the next session.  Which was defending against the sprawl.  The standard first attack from someone with a wrestler background which goes for the legs needs to be countered by a sprawl.  Basically jetting the legs out wide and making your weight forward and down.  Each of use did a couple of go rounds trying to tackle someone our own weight, but Reed is a big man and it didn't go well for me. 

We then did a 6 o clock, 12 o clock position to turn the attacker over and get into an arm bar.  Lots of fun, but I split my food pad and ground  a lot skin off my feet ouch. 

Great night and I feel very exercised.  Well see how I feel tomorrow!

Big Sweatin'

I just realized I haven't posted since August!  Well I'm back for at least three sessions before travel and work get in the way again. 

Back in August we decided to work on the house again  which meant that we'd be working every night and every weekend.  It's been grueling, but we've made major progress.  During this time the only time I've had to myself to practice is really early in the morning.  Three katas a day has allowed me to keep most things in place.  I was rewarded in class when Reed Sensei said, "well you've obviously been practicing", boom!

After a brief warm-up I taught, or retaught, Sarah the staff routine and after a few goes at that Reed moved me back to the Kusanku and refined my boo-boos.  I got learn the next section which was a lot of fun. 

On the ride home I realized I haven't been moving like that in a long time.  Lots of ab work to jump around.  Argh.  This weekend I turned 49 so I felt pretty good that I still move pretty well and kick pretty high.

New Kata 2

After warm up Reed Sensei got me back on Kusanku to introduce me to the next couple of pieces.  Since I actually haven't seen the complete kata I have no idea it's overall length or complexity.  So it's kind of fun to iron out the components as they come.  

Periodically Reed will stop and work through a piece of the kata. When I asked he said he hadn't taught this one in five years!  I don't know if I could remember anything if I stopped doing it after 6 months.  He certainly has a phenomenal memory.

After that it was back to the elbow techniques. This time I was trying to test my knowledge by going first, but I was only able to get through the first five and still needed hints.  We got through the two bunkai and application and then moved up to Mark's third kata's work.  I hope I'm helping him memorize this stuff because it comes slow to me.

The heat is almost unbearable outside, but the sport's club where we have class is nicely air conditioned.  For some reason I don't cool down that much when I'm changing out, so I'm perspiring before we even get started.  I'm wearing a light gi and it feels so close and clingy.  Yuck.  

No running or weights due to travel and I'll be leaving town tomorrow for the rest of the week.  I'm 200 lbs this morning.  Hopefully I can keep it under control.  

New Kata!

As I've mentioned before Shūdokan is very focused on kata.  The preset movements act as a foundation to everything done at the school.  First comes kata, then the bunkai and finally the application.  

Unlearning the casual brutality of my old school is not difficult, but I often look back fondly on how tough it used to make me feel.  I miss the physical contact, but not the injury so I console myself with the excitement of learning new stuff as a replacement.  However, my learning curve is a bit modest.  At six katas, I'm still getting fine tuning tips and reminders about footwork etc. 

To my pleasure, last night Reed Sensei hit me up with, "let's work on a new kata tonight" again.  Before that started Mark and I went through the ten elbow techniques and then worked on the Kyoku series.  

The Kyoku are specific to Shūdokan meaning that they aren't supposed to be shared openly.  That being said they feel fairly normal in the scope of kata, but their bow in and out are unusual.  Working with Mark on their bunkai and application didn't take that long since we'd worked on them in the past I could kind of remember them reasonably well.  

My new kata is called Chattan Yata Ku San Ku.  I have no earthly idea if I'm spelling that correctly.  Apparently, we borrow several kata from Yata from Chattan (or maybe that's the other way around?).  Reed Sensei tells me this is black belt kata which will have some jump kicks.  We made it through the first leg so now I have something new to practice!

Exercise note

I'm trying to keep consistent with the running.  I got up to 2.5 miles, but it was littered with stops and one of my calves gave up on the return.  Assuming I have time tonight I'm going to try again and see how it feels.  

I'm keeping up with the weights, but's relegated to the weirdest most broken up schedule I could imagine. For instance I did shoulders at 5 this morning.  What the hell is wrong with me!

Low Legs, Lowest Legs

It was a fantastic evening.  I had been having a difficult time keeping a regular schedule in the last month mostly due to season tickets to our local Women's soccer team and a lot of social obligations. So actually getting to class has become a pleasure as well because it acts as a stabilizing force in an otherwise chaotic schedule.

There are 10 techniques and I notice everyone has there mnemonic.  Here is my new list:

1. Stop 1
2. Stop 2
3. Stop 3
4. Waiter 1
5. Waiter 2
6. holding
7. Slippery
8. Elbows
9. holding
10. Knockdown twist

Of course, this morning I can't remember what I call number 6 or 9, but I'm getting better!  

I worked the rest of the class with MaryAnn Sensei on her application of a Gojo Ryu kata.  I'm about a foot and half taller than her which is great for her because of the Aikido-like management of the attacker.  I walk up behind her and grab her arms which lead to a complicated arm lock (because I don't let go), a heel to the groin, followed by a Judo throw.  I think it's a Harai goshi or Hane Goshi, but unlike a Judo throw there is no way to exit and slap.  So you just eat the mat with your arm drawn up behind you.

All 40 throws. The Harai and Hane are tucked in there.

When it was my turn to be the defender I was operating at the height advantage/disadvantage.  I have to squat lower than MaryAnn's hips to do the hand work and the throw.  After four attempts I ended up having to stop due to burning knees and thighs.  I'm sure I'm not doing something correctly, but this is for MaryAnn's next rank so I doubt I'll need to work on this anytime soon.

Exercise Note 2

The heat in the area is showing no signs of going anywhere so I grabbed my running sandals and hit the road in 100 degree, arid heat.  The strange thing about being in such a dry stretch is that it didn't appear that I was sweating at all.  I am fairly used to perspiring a moderate amount trying to move my 200 lbs around.  I realized later that it was probably evaporating as fast as I was producing it.  I never felt uncomfortable, but I only ran for 13 minutes netting me a 1.3 mile run.  Not very exciting, but with reconstructing my gait and a slight fear of overdoing it in the heat I thought I did pretty good.

I only took one pause at the turn around, but I did feel sorry for people out in the heat as I trundled by.  A man chasing his stomach while his lovely moobs swayed to a mild beat has got to put anyone off their chow.  I wonder how my wife can tolerate the site.  However, this might explain why she has the lights off in the bedroom when I come to bed.

The important part of this note (really not all about self-loathing) is that my legs don't hurt at all, but I have a small amount of tenderness on the tip of one toe that must have been rubbing incorrectly. Talk about a great progress.  My knee didn't show any sign of wear or tear and my legs feel comfortably exercised without the gripping pain from my last go round.

I squeezed in a shoulder work out while we watched TV later in the evening.  It feels great to use weights again after all this time, but I must admit it's a bit upsetting to use such small amounts.  I'd rather keep away from injury though and I'm keeping my eye on the long path.

For those of you interested in near barefoot running here's the site I eventually chose because of the price of make it yourself shoes Xero Shoes.

Gettin' Swole

Since my crippling run on Sunday I haven't put on the sandals for my next run, but I would say I'm more or less back in working order.  All the pain I experienced several days after is gone and my legs feel a bit stronger.

The problem with going for a run is that we are going to be hitting 100 today.  The only time to run being late in the evening and that's when I'm trying to get ready for bed.  A conundrum since I need to get back out on the road.  It might be a short run (1 mile), but it'll be getting out there for a little bit to toughen those feet up and work on my technique.

Just as I left the house last night my wife said, "have fun", which I rarely think about anymore. While I attended at my old school I made her say, "break a leg" as way of fending off injury.  That honestly didn't work since I was fending off injury constantly.  And now when she says have fun it appears to have the opposite effect.  Last night was an unfortunate repeat, but it started with a moment of enthusiasm.

Reed Sensei asked me if I was ready to learn a new Kata!  I was very excited by this even though I could work on what I have for some time, but I ended up spending the class working on the staff routine with Sarah.  Again the class went quickly because of the focus on refinements, but I didn't get learn anything new.  Sad face.

I got home and had some energy after dinner and descended into the basement and actually worked out with the weights.  Finally putting a light workout on my chest.  My morning push up regimen hasn't been able to keep up with my aging muscle mass; giving me the appearance of a post-menopausal B cup.  I really don't like taking my shirt off.  This is one very important reason to get the weights.  Of course I don't want to hurt myself so I had to take it easy last night with very light weights and two sets.  Maybe in a year I can build up to something more.  At the very least I'd like to have some tension in my muscles.  I hate looking in the mirror and seeing something that looked like a man, but now a melted candle shaped one.

Burning Thighs

My foray into barefootish running lead to an immediate physical blow back.  I finished a mile and half loop and felt pretty good until the next day.  The idea is that because you are moving so carefully you insulate yourself from impact and thus running doesn't cause any issues to knees and back.

What is not mentioned is that if you are still out of shape your body is going to be pissed off after a surprise exercise session.  I got up on Monday morning barely able to move my legs.  My left knee felt liked it had been kicked by a mule which is an unfortunate sign that I overdid the exercise.  On the flip side I had zero problems with my feet.

So it was off to class in the evening with my normal pattern of trepidation, but it this case it was founded on the concern that I could barely walk up the stairs.  Thankfully we did a bit more warm up than usual and I didn't suffer horribly when we had to run around the room five times.  The class went smoothly.  I ended up doing the elbow techniques and staff routine with Sarah the whole time.  She's better at picking everything up than I was.  But  I could be an awesome teacher as well.  Hah.

I got home and told my wife how it was going to be the last cool night in awhile so we should go to an outdoor brewery and enjoy the evening air.  She agreed, but later asked to take the bikes.  I thought to myself, "well this is going to be challenging", but it wasn't far so I thought we'd be okay.

The next 45 minutes almost led to a divorce.  My wife, who is always flawless in directions, decided to take a different route.  Again, I wasn't worried, because she always finds routes that are usually faster.  We ended up converting a 15 minute ride into the tour de France.  I have never been so agitated.  It was like she was choosing a larger hill at each bad turn.  My already burning legs were on fire.  I had no idea there was so many hills in the Rose city.  Lactic acid aside, I was also only riding a bike that only has three gears.  More suited to beach cruising our pleasure bikes turned into mobile torture devices.  My wife, however, had the indignity to never appear to be out of breath.

We eventually got to the brewery.  I waxed philosophic about how the ride home would be easy, but my newly shredded legs were like pushing a rope.  By the time I got to bed I could barely walk.  Today was hilarious because I had to walk down stairs to leave and I had to clutch the railing like a sailor on the deck of ship getting tossed in massive waves.

This should be a running day, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Exercise Note 1

I purchased some Bowflex adjustable weights off of Craigslist this week and started a modest work out routine yesterday.

In the evening I did an 8 mile bike ride followed by a half mile run with my new sandals.  I should mention that I ate a huge amount negating any of the positive effects I was working towards, but I woke up feeling a bit fitter.  I'm sure it was all psychological, but I'll take it.

As promised, running in sandals turns out to be a less stressful activity that one would think.  Because you are conscious of your feet, you become careful about the force you place on them which evens out your running.  I also had to make sure that I keep my posture upright.  I realize a half mile isn't saying much, but my feet and legs appear to have no issues.  I'm not sure how this is going to pan out as weather gets colder, but I'm anxious to try a longer run when I get back from our weekend.

My goal is to run regularly for a month.  When the scorching heats the area I don't even want to go outside,  limiting my time to the evening or the morning.   We'll see how that goes.

Big Shūdokan 50

I guess I should express some enthusiasm for making it to my 50th class, but in all actuality I haven't passed a year and relatively speaking I haven't learned a lot of the syllabus.  

That being said, I've enjoyed the class immensely and love the folks there. Progress feels slow, but every time things speed up I can barely keep up.  So maybe the pace is just right for me. 

Monday night I helped teach the squirrelly kids basic movement to "wear them out".  All that I succeeded in was to tire myself and doubt that the kids were getting the point.  

The rest of the night I spent teaching Sarah the beginnings of the staff routine, Chattan Yatta.  She's got a lot of experience in her old school so she was able to pick up a lot faster than I originally did.

Fitness Report

Living in the Rose City can be a trying experience in that life here is a never ending exposure to delicious food and wonderful beers.  As my friend likes to say, "sometimes you have to pump the brakes!" referring to slowing or stopping the cycle of visiting a new restaurant or brewery every couple of days.  

So I do what most people do; I find something different to get me motivated. I'm back up to 205 and I'd rather not be there since it's not muscle.  So I bought some weights off Craigslist.  This had to be the shadiest thing I've ever done. 

"Cash only, no check" muttered the barely articulate man in a heavy eastern European accent.  The boxes were brand new and I assume must have fallen off a truck somewhere.  Clearly not what he had in the pictures as they were photographs he must have pulled off the web somewhere.  I quickly loaded the boxes and took off.  

The other part of my healthy regimen is to get back to running/jogging.  I say this so often that it all sounds like a joke to me.  However, after reading the book "Born to Run". I got motivated by the idea that I could possibly run longer than my best three miles.  

To this end I ordered a kit to build some running sandals.  We'll see how this pans out.  I did a test last week to the end of my street and, low and behold, it wasn't bad.  I'll let you know how it goes.  

Inauspicious Return

After a month of having an unsettling bronchiospasmic cough that still appears once in a while I was pretty excited to return to class.  I think I've been out for almost two months at this point.  

I got in late by my standard (five minutes till) and no one was there.  Which always leads me to think that I may have gone on the wrong day or they had a holiday and neglected to mention that to me.  However, I had a text chat with Sensei and knew that everyone should be there.  

Before we got started a very muscular man came in with his 6 or 7 year old son. I didn't get to chat because we started to line up pretty quick, but before Sensei rushed in I overheard him talking to his son.  It was along the lines of "I know you don't want to come sometimes;  I know it's fun when your brother is here; sometime we have to keep coming to build on things...".  I was impressed because this was a very big man.  The kind I associate with brash, over the top personalities that come with steroid laden work outs and gold chains.  However, this guy was extremely mild and obviously a thoughtful and caring parent.  So point to him for breaking my mental stereotype.  

Although his son seemed hesitant and shy, he opened up nicely during the class and participated fully during the class.  Sensei does work with the kids very well.

After bow-in Sensei grabbed me and we went through Chattan Yata (the staff kata) again.  So much for my warm up!  He fine tuned six areas that had fallen off in my practice and then I literally spend the next forty minutes practicing the kata and getting those pieces he mentioned back in alignment.  

This got me to thinking.  Of all the practice I do - over time I manage to lose components of kata and technique regularly.  I remember all the forgotten stuff as soon as it's pointed out, but my memory apparently can hold so much if it's not constantly being reemphasized.  To test this I was trying to do some of my old TSD katas this morning and for the most part they are only living as pieces. I'm sure I could relearn without too much effort, but I assume my focus should only be on the task at hand. 

The last ten minutes of class was spent on wrist locks!  Finally something I could do with some confidence.  As I assumed - there are only so many variations on a theme, but always something done a little different.  I definitely brought a bunch more then they were teaching and they were okay with that.  

The way I was taught:

• grab same side wrist with thumb up
• grab same side wrist with thumb down
• grab opposite side with thumb up 
• grab opposite side with thumb down (kinda dumb, but you need to know how to get out of stuff)

In each of those there should be an escape and or a lead in to capture and lock. Shudokan (or whoever donated these techniques) allows for rotation in a grip where TSD does not.  Both are effective.  So I feel like I expanded by personal canon and maybe got a little respect from the gang.  Weeee.  

The reason it was inauspicious was because I was sweating so profoundly I couldn't believe it.  The work with the staff was so completely tiring that I had to periodically stop for a drink of water.  My shoulders are screaming today and my neck feels two inches thicker than it should.  Nevertheless, it's awesome to be moving again!

Off Task

Hey loyal followers and anyone else that makes it to this page!  I haven't posted in a bit because of family issues and an unfortunate cough that has turned out to be bronchitis.  I'm looking forward to seeing the end of it, but I'm only on week two and I've been told the minimum is four to six weeks.  I'm going to try to return to class tomorrow to see how I do.  I'm almost up to 50 classes and I love a milestone, but to what end I'm not sure.  Just that it's a nice round number.