Bunkai with white belts, Heian Shodan

Now that Bill and I have been working more regularly with the white belts, I find myself trying to think of different things to do than what has generally been taking up the white belt's time - that is, something more than just going through Heian Shodan as a group, splitting off those people who are having troubles with the turns and assigning them to purple or brown belt assistants to work with, and then going through Heian Shodan again with the rest of the group.

And again.

And again.

And, well, we have a few more minutes so let's do it again.

And hrm, well, how about... BASICS! Yah, we'll do yellow belt basics.

And again.

And again.

I was getting bored of this, nevermind some of the poor kids who take 9-18 months to get their yellow belt because of their attention spans or motor skills already!

So, this most recent class when I was in charge of the kids, I split them into 3 groups of three, had two assistants help me by taking two of the groups while I took the third, and we went through bunkai (application) for Heian Shodan.

Of course, there are many different ways one could teach bunkai for any kata at all, so I'm not saying my way was THE way, and I really wasn't even concerned whether the assistants were teaching anything that looked consistent to what I was doing. The point was just to do something different with the only things we really can work with the white belts with, and have it be educational and interesting.

I didn't get a chance to talk to many of the white belts about whether they enjoyed it or got anything out of it, but I know two of the three kids in my group loved it for sure. The third kid... I'm not sure if it's just that he's right at puberty and working with me is difficult for him for various reasons or not... but he doesn't seem "in" to it like the other two were. Ah well, a white belt doesn't need to be intense, and he'll stay if he wants to.

It all worked out just great, and I think if we do it a couple more times maybe we can find some white belts who click together who could do a little demonstration in front of the class or maybe even at a Christmas karate demonstration or a tournament itself. Maybe.

We'll see!

Tournament: Bonding with fellow karateka

Tournaments are great, even better when they're out of town like our recent one was. It's those sports trips where I always really got to know people... and I never knew really who it would be on most trips, because who knows what situations life will present you with that'll trigger bonding events anyway??

So, recently there was a tournament in a town 2 hours drive away from home. I rode out and back with two other black belts I've known for the past 10 years and spent a lot of time with those two. We had a great time, we all get along wonderfully and there was a heck of a lot of laughing and horsing around, that's for sure. It was cathartic for the two I was with because they've been working really hard for long hours lately and the tournament was their first "break".

Of course, a tournament is far from being a break... there are officiating seminars to attend before the tournament date and the tournament itself tends to be long... and while it's interesting and fun, it's exhausting as well.

We got into the city early enough to visit the hotel and check in, then sit down for a shot or two of scotch in the hotel room before heading out to get something to eat prior to the official's seminar, so we did just that.

Unfortunately, it seems that I got food poisoning from the seafood stir fry I ate! Before we had even started the seminar I was knowing that I really wasn't feeling well, so one of my karate mates took me back to the hotel to lay down before returning to the seminar himself. I spent the next 6 hours quite ill, but when I woke up in the morning I felt just fine.

I think I'm glad I didn't have to compete after that night, however... it would have been fun to give it a go but I would have tired easily as well, I believe.

So, as a result of not going to the officiating seminar, I wasn't able to demonstrate my centre judging ability to our head Sensei so I wasn't able to centre officiate during the tournament, either. That's okay, I worked the corners and despite having other officials in the group with me being nidans and sandans, I was definitely one of the most educated and sharp officials in the corners. I expect that I'll be centre officiating in January at the latest.

As for the actual competition, it went really well - there was no blood (we're a non-contact karate form, by the way, but when you're doing freestyle kumite, things happen fast and accidents happen) and nobody lost a fight for too many excessive contact penalties, either. Usually there's someone with bad control who socks opponents too often and gets disqualified, but it was all good this time.

The students in our dojo did really well at the tournament, too. Not only did they get medals but they were very good sports and respectful karateka to their opponents, the tournament going on, and the officials running the tournament. And of course, in being those things they were also demonstrating respect and reverence for their dojo and their instructors who taught them how to behave at a tournament.

It all worked out great!

It looks like we might have another tournament in December. I won't be able to compete most likely as I'm having minor surgery this Wednesday, but I hope to be able to officiate somewhat. Maybe I'll work at the tables instead of as an actual official if moving around a lot is still going to bother me by that time (the incision will be just below where my karate belt likes to sit when it's tied). We'll see.

Upcoming Tournament

"Tournament time" is generally springtime, but there also tends to be a fall tournament or two most years.

This year is no exception, and the tournament is this weekend and it's in a nearby city a few hours away from home.

I actually prefer tournaments that are out of town vs the ones that are in town - when I can retreat to my own home afterwards, I'm much less prone to be social with anyone, whereas when I'm stuck in a hotel somewhere (even if I have my car with me), I have nowhere to hide and no computer to while my time away on anyway, so I socialize, and that ends up making the whole experience a lot more fun.

I didn't really start to compete on a regular basis until I had attained the rank of 3rd kyu, brown belt, because my original club (where I trained to 5th kyu, purple belt) didn't have a group that travelled to tournaments, and therefore I only went into one tournament, at 7th kyu (orange belt), because it came to our city. It was only when I moved into a larger centre and started training at a much more advanced dojo that I started entering into 3-5 tournaments a year.

Not only did I get involved in competing (both in kata and kumite), but I also got involved in officiating, because at 3rd kyu brown belt, I was high enough rank to participate in the seminars and actively act as a corner judge during tournaments for colored belts, right away. And, as with any volunteer position, there was always plenty of need and practice for me every tournament.

Now that I've attained shodan/black belt, I can increase the level of my officiating capacity to include corner judging for black belts and centre officiating for colored belts, and since I've done about 10-12 tournaments strictly as a colored-belt corner judge, I'm looking forward to these new challenges.

This tournament, competitively, is the first time I've entered as a black belt as well, which is another reason why this tournament is going to be an interesting one for me. I'm competing with a kata I've never done in competition before (Jutte), against people I may never have competed against before, and I'm making the jump from brown belt kumite (fighting) to black belt kumite as well. This jump is a huge one psychologically from my visual experience of comparing brown belt fighting to black belt fighting.

From what I've heard, political BS that is going on between a few different clubs in our association may cause attendance to be poor at this tournament which would suck, but we'll see what happens. Politics are always around us and have been particularly charged for the past 8 months, I'm so glad that although I know full well what is going on, it really doesn't affect me directly like it does others close to me in karate circles.

So, wish me luck, I'll be sure to report back on how it all went :)

Progression of teaching, progression of students

So, it's been a couple of weeks since Bill and I, now with the support of Assistant Sensei Don, have been more strict on some of the dojo rules that used to need to be relaxed a little many years ago, but now have relaxed too far.

Bill and I alternate for the handling of the white belts, so I handle it one class and he handles it the next class, which allows us both a break from the task and an opportunity to train at an intermediate (orange-purple) level with the other colored belts as well. We still train when we're working with the white belts for about half of the time, but we're also doing a fair amount of standing around counting while the white belts go through Heian Shodan and their testing basics for yellow belt.

Last class was my turn to be Sempai (that is, primary assistant to the instructor or Sensei) and it seems that every class is getting better and better - the kids are getting better at knowing what to expect and because I have trained next to all of them for a few months or even a year or more, and I wear a black belt (and I'm an adult), they seem to enjoy working with me as their instructor and seem to demonstrate respect, which is one of the key focuses of karate.

There were still a couple of new students who started in September who were having problems with the turns in Heian Shodan so the two 'assistant to Sempai' students I was assigned were given those two students to work with separately from the group. The rest of the group stayed with me and we went through Heian Shodan at various speeds thinking about a few different things (lengthening stances, looking up, not down) during the kata. After a while I approached my assistants to see how things were going there, and then we all formed one big group again and went through Heian Shodan a final time before it was time to merge the entire class again.

Bill and I are introducing things that the white belts haven't had to deal with for the last few years - things like staying in second position (what's the name of the standing-up, ready to do Heian katas stance?) and staying STILL whenever they are being instructed on something. A key I focused on was how they should be able to stay in second position for 15 minutes if that's what it takes, if I go over to the other side of the gym to ask Sensei a question and it takes forever for me to come back, by the time I DO come back, they should all still be standing in exactly the same spot in second position, focused with their eyes forward but aware of their surroundings.

Yah, probably a hard topic to teach some kids, but everyone is 8 and over in this particular class, and really, out of the 10-15 white belt kids we have, only two of them have attention/being silly problems so that's manageable.

There used to be a third kid that was difficult to handle, but he's settled down a whole bunch this fall and rarely needs to be called by name to pay attention or stop fooling around during class. Now we just have to teach him that he influences other kids with his defiant behavior BEFORE class, and he'll be rockin' in the attitude department as well as the participation and technique ones.

I really enjoyed going through Heian Shodan at full speed with the kids, because they were VERY responsive and I was really impressed with their kata as a whole group. I think they're appreciating this specialized approach to training as well because there's less time for them to get distracted by other things.

After class, Bill, Assistant Sensei Don and I went over to our dojo's Head Instructor's place to visit. This was the first time Bill and I were seeing our instructor after his oral cancer surgery, so neither of us really knew what to expect. Sensei had obviously had surgery that requires a lot of healing time, but he was in good spirits and glad to see us, and offered us drinks right away (Bill was DD so he had Coke :) ), and we visited for about an hour before Bill said he had to get back home, so our group carpool departed. I'm going to call tonight to find out how Sensei's most recent test results came back, as he was supposed to get that information yesterday.

Send all the good vibes you can towards my Sensei. He's an awesome guy with awesome integrity and life experience; reliable, caring and intelligent.

Sensei is back, changes implemented

Ahhh, nice to have (assistant) Sensei back. We had our first class with him back on Saturday, and then another class last night.

Bill and I talked to Sensei before class started on Saturday and let him know what changes we had begun to implement with the white belts while he was away, and Sensei seemed very receptive to it - of course, since we're basically saying we're willing to step up to the plate and help deal with the junior members of our club so the intermediate members can get more of the attention they need.

So, from now forward, the white belts all get shuffled off to the side for warmup and for the main meat of the training class, and either Bill or myself does the warmup with them, but standing right in front of their group, making sure each one is participating.

The change in the "less disciplined" kids when we do this is remarkable - of course, when they're not being stood over, they're more likely to not pay attention and to distract others, but when we're right there staring them in the eye, there's a lot more participation.

I'm also finding that while I'm working with them, I'm getting more of a chance to see what the kids are capable of, I'm getting more chance to encourage them when they're doing something well, and I'm assuming that the intermediate kyu ranks are getting a much better lesson on their side of the gym as well because the white belts aren't restricting what the class is able to do.

Last night I worked with Jerome, a 7 year old who is in his second season of training with us, and who is a white belt with two yellow stripes. His next testing is for full yellow, but I've personally been very skeptical about the message that would be sent to other white belts if he were passed to yellow, because he inadvertently teaches new students it's okay to misbehave and not listen by his own behavior. However, working with him over a few classes I'm starting to see where he is doing well instead of just where he's causing troubles, and I'm much more supportive of him getting a yellow belt now, as long as we also sit him down and tell him about the influence he has on other kids and what a yellow belt is expected to behave like. He's a smart kid and will do well in karate once he gets a bit more advanced, but for now his focus is a bit troublesome.

There's another kid who is about 8 or 9 and who has ADD - Cody. He's also white belt with two yellow stripes and his next test is also for full yellow. And from what I'm hearing from Sensei, he's very likely to get his yellow belt in December, which is kind of fine, but he's another kid who needs to be constantly prodded to pay attention (yah I know, that's what ADD is) and to control his body and stay still so he's not distracting others. Advancing him to his next kyu rank and thus taking him out of the pod of white belts will be interesting as well.

I hope both Jerome and Cody wear the yellow belt and start to feel a bit more pride about it and start to attempt to behave more like the senior belts and less like uncontrolled white belts.

Time will only tell!

Surviving the "Other Teachers"

I think our club did rather well with the three different instructors (me, Rob and Peter) they had over the last three classes, but it'll be good that one of our regular Sensei's is back on Saturday, for many reasons.

Peter is officially the "senior student" in the club but he doesn't train regularly due to a back injury, so I am regularly "senior student", with Bill as the next in line for seniority. Bill and I have had some great conversations about how to improve things at the club in the future, especially regarding the children and teaching them the rules and ways of a dojo, and during the past three classes we've been implementing some changes, with the co-operation of the two other instructors.

So, when Don gets back we're going to take him for coffee or something, I believe - and have a nice deep chat about some goals for keeping the dojo in order regarding new students, while also making it so the intermediate students are getting more of what they need and the first class isn't all about the white belts anymore.

It's interesting how a few years at a dojo combined with a black belt make me feel more authorative and confident in being so. And so far I haven't been pulled aside and told I'm going too far, so that's good ;)

Oh, and last night after class at the Instructors' dojo, a bunch of us went out to the local Legion to have a few drinks, as one of our bunch is having exploratory surgery on Monday for a recent diagnosis of cancer and isn't sure what to expect as a result from the surgery. There were a few people around that table who didn't know about the cancer, but most of us did. It was really good to be able to sit right beside the guy (my favorite Sensei btw) and buy him a few shots of his favorite scotch liqueur and have some fun conversations with him, as he doesn't train regularly and since he's not teaching regularly this fall I haven't seen him very often since June.

I hope the news will be good on Monday.

First time teaching

Our main instructor is extremely busy with a new business, so the assistant instructor has been handling the classes since the start in September. However, now the assistant instructor is on holidays for a week and a half, so new some of the rest of us at the club are taking on instructing responsibilities in the mean time.

I was asked to teach on Oct 11, but there are two others who will be teaching the next two classes that the assistant instructor is still away for. I think I was only offered one day because the main instructors didn't want me to have a bad experience with the first and then still be responsible for the next two classes as well.

As it turns out, the class went really really well. I didn't do it all on my own, however, and that's what made it work out the best. A fellow karateka, Bill, helped watch the white belt kids who need to be supervised and hounded to pay attention and not disturb others, which helped a lot because it allowed me to pay better attention to the intermediate students and allowed me to separate the techniques that they all practiced.

It's always nice to be able to tell the white belts to do white belt things, while getting the more advanced students to execute more advanced combinations. This is one thing I feel has been missing in our club, largely because the white belts haven't been separated from the rest of the class enough. Bill and I agreed that the classes would be much better if the white belts WERE separated, however, as they really do bring down the complexity of the class for the rest of the students.

After standard warmup and initial basics, we split the gym up with a big curtain and Bill worked with the white belts on his own on one side while a junior brown belt by the name of Adam and myself worked with the colored belts on the other side. Adam handled the yellow-to-green belts to go through Heian Nidan and basics for yellow to green belt testings, and I took on the purple belts to go through Heian Godan, since a couple of the low purples are thinking of testing for high purple come December.

There were 24 people in the first class, and everyone seems to have gotten a good workout, and even the kids were more disciplined when they lined up to be dismissed from class, after Bill had been standing over them, making sure they participated properly instead of just lolling around. One of the parents came up and thanked Bill for the disciplined instruction, which was another pat on the back for us both, aside from what we'd already seen as improvement in the class due to the white belt segregation.

Bill and I chatted for a bit before and after class about how to improve our club, because right now we really do have a few undisciplined white belts that bring down the quality of the class for the higher ranks, and our higher ranks are moving very slowly up the ranks as a partial result. Unless they stay for the second class, they're not going to get much of a chance to work on their testing material, and even if they DO stay for the second class, the odds are we will be working on material that is way above their current point and doesn't help them directly for their own testings.

Bill and I are going to talk to the assistant instructor when he returns and suggest that we take turns taking on the kids and separating them from the colored belts. I think this is a way that we could motivate some of the kids to pay more attention, because once they get to a certain level of proficiency we could "graduate" them to the main class as a reward.

At any rate, it was a great experience, and it'll now be interesting to see the two others who are going to be instructing while our assistant instructor is gone - the guy who is teaching tomorrow morning is someone who has basically never trained at our club and is largely unknown by the students, and the guy who is teaching next Tuesday is hardly any better in terms of attending our club regularly or being known, etc.

Everyone liked my class from the feedback I got, and I certainly liked doing it. I wonder when my next opportunity will be??

When will my legs stop hurting so much??!!!

I keep telling myself my legs are hurting so quickly during class because I haven't been training properly for the past 3 months or so, and I know that's the truth, but I can't wait until I've been back at it long enough that someone else in the brown and black belt class is wimpier than me.

Last night three of us carpooled to karate at the Instructor's Dojo and participated in the Thursday evening class, which is generally a lot about advanced basics and partner work.

Partner work is a big part of this club, our instructor is very good at building a class where first we warm up, then we practice attack and defense combinations that we then use in partner exercises with a variety of partners. The combinations are definitely co-ordinationally challenging, and Sensei puts us through it at a pace that makes it extra challenging as well. Occasionally I can remember the combinations well enough to go hard and fast, but most of the time still I'm a little confused and going more of a medium-type pace.

My partners were good ones last night, I'm happy to say. None of the "bruisers" as I call them (those guys who are stronger than they realize and who have one speed, no matter if we're supposed to be going full speed or "light") were out and training, and therefore there were a lot less "accidental contact" moments.

In fact, there were only two people (aside from the instructor) who don't train regularly at our kyu rank club, out last night. Four out of six students were from our other club :)

We're taking over!!

After those advanced basics combinations/partner exercises, Sensei had us practice cat stance for a while, and stepping forward in cat stance as well. For my already exhausted legs, this was more torture, but thankfully stepping forward lets one leg work, then rest while the other is working, and on and on.

Cat stance practice was a lead up to the kata that we practiced for the last 20 minutes of the class - Gojushiho-sho. Sensei had wanted us to work on Gojushiho-Dai but there weren't enough people in the class who knew it to help guide those who didn't know it, so he went back to Sho.

I went home after class and drank a full liter of water while I wound down for bed, and surprisingly I didn't get up ONCE in the middle of the night. Tired, and dehydrated after class, I guess!

Back on track? Time only tells.

September was a month of colds and holidays, but now I'm back from holidays and feeling healthier and am back at training as a result.

Of course, it's also FALL now, in Central Canada, and since our region had a snow advisory for today (it's snowing right now) I figured I'd do some raking yesterday, and the 45 minutes of cleaning up the front yard (not including the boulevard) was a very good workout for my upper body.

Then, I went to karate last night at the kyu rank club and did a whole whack of basics and a few kata, which were a great workout for my lower body.

This morning, I'm feeling the pain!

At any rate, back to karate ...

Our kyu rank club generally has a wide variety of belt levels training at any one time, and at the beginning of the season like now, we can have up to 50% white belts in a 30 person class.

This season, our new white belts are all under 13 years of age it seems. Thankfully there are very few under-7 trainers (ie: those who fidget like crazy and can't stand still or pay attention for very long), so dealing with the new people hasn't been all that bad in terms of having to bark at them about staying in position.

Our main Sensei is unavailable for a while as he deals with personal matters, so the assistant instructor is relying more heavily on the senior belts (brown and black belts) to keep the club running smoothly this fall, whether it be teaching occasional classes or merely helping to demonstrate what a good karateka trains like and helping keep the kids focussed.

So, a fellow senior belt, Bill, and I are going to be handling the class next Tuesday while our assistant instructor is out of town. I guess that means I'll handle the warmup, and then we'll see how it goes from there. Maybe Bill won't mind taking on the kids (he's more experienced with dealing with kids) and I can take the teen-adult belts and work with them on one of their kata that we normally don't get to go through during the first class.

I haven't had very much experience instructing or leading groups of people, so this will be interesting :) I am looking forward to the opportunity, but will probably be a little nervous as well!

Jill

Loving the brown and black belt kata classes

When I was a brown belt (less than a year ago), I enjoyed Wednesday kata night at karate, but didn't enjoy it as much as I do now that I'm a black belt. Why? Simply because at brown belt level, the katas that we practiced in class were largely not usable in competition due to restrictions for kyu ranks (non-black belts), and thus my focus was highly on what I'm allowed to do for competition and what my black belt test will take me through.

Now that I'm a black belt and restrictions in competition largely don't exist for me (or at least are different restrictions), practicing those black belt kata like Jutte, Bassai Sho and Hangetsu actually MEANS something. I CARE whether I come back to my starting mark at the finish, I CARE whether I'm doing the right stances when it comes to stances that look similar to front stance but are different tension-wise. And I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming competitive season. For kata, anyway. Kumite is going to be quite another story, although I look forward to my learning improvements there too.

Last night the lowest ranked student was brown belt so we practiced Jutte and Hangetsu. Last Wednesday we had a purple belt in our ranks so we went through the 5 Heian katas and Tekki Shodan - which is fine, because at every level we are to improve the kata that we no longer have to worry about for testing sake... but I'm pretty sick of some of those kata from doing them 5,000 times each.

Jutte and Hangetsu are both kata that don't have jumps in them, which is a good thing to me because I have bad arches in my feet and jumping isn't the best thing for me on cold hard floors like most competitions have. I got a chance to see how close I come back to my mark in Jutte but we didn't go all the way through Hangetsu before class ended, so I don't know how close to my mark I am there.

After class, two of the regular training females descended on me in the changeroom and said they had a "proposition" for me. I responded something smart ass about not easily being propositioned by women initially ;) They asked me if I'd like to be in a team kata with them this year for the competition season leading up to Nationals in May '06. Excellent! Last year I didn't get into a solid team for this, and this year we're able to choose from a much larger variety of kata, so this is good from all angles!

This weekend there's a 3-day seminar, the three of us should get a chance to walk through some kata to figure out what we like and what works for us together, and I'll get a chance to chat with my Enbu partner for this upcoming competition season, Scott. This is another event I'm very much looking forward to getting into, the pre-choreographed attack and defense sequences.

For karate reasons, I'm glad fall is here. I'll be sad to see the snow fly in October and November, however.

Jill

Walkin' round the neighborhood

I have another hobby aside from Karate which I'm quite interested in and have been building a solid foundation for, for the past 5 years or so, and that's building my passive income portfolio. I've recently decided my investments are going to go into real estate in various ways, and since I'm nowhere near Florida where the prices are nutzo, I think I'm okay in terms of a bubble popping ;)

Tonight I put on my runners and went for a brisk 40 minute walk in my neighborhood. I headed over to a street where I had seen a "house for sale" sign pointing down the road when I was driving around earlier, and set out to find that house.

Well, it turns out that house was the opposite way that I wanted to go, both in my walk and in the physical neighborhoods I'm looking to purchase my real estate investments in (north of a certain street near my house, prices skyrocket), so I walked the way I wanted to walk and kept eyes out for other "For Sale" signs.

I only found ONE for sale house in the 200 or so I walked by, so I made sure to write down the information so I can follow up and see what the deal is. I also paid attention and looked for houses which needed "exterior improvements" - outdated color (one was salmon pink), or peeling paint, or unkept yards is what I was looking for. I wrote down five of those houses. Of course, for now I have no idea what to do with this information, but at least I have it and can ask the question.

The walk was a nice one, I saw a few folks from our neighborhood out exercising or walking their pets, and I made sure to make eye contact, smile and say hello to each one or each group that went by. Perhaps one day I'll be looking to buy their neighbor's house, after all.

Jill

Wednesday, kata class.

Last night's class was another excellent, physically draining workout. There were about 12-14 people in the class, and after Sempai took us through the regular warm-up, Sensei continued us through more strenuous warm-ups for a short while before starting on the katas he wanted to review with us.

The most junior student was a teenaged purple belt - 5th or 4th kyu - so I believe that's why Sensei took us through Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan, Heian Godan and Tekki Shodan before progressing to the black belt kata we normally practice (since the club is predominantly brown and black belts). After we went through all of those kata multiple times and at different intensities with Sensei using different students to demonstrate the key points in each of the kata, we finally did a black belt kata, Kanku Dai.

Of course, by that part of the class I had about 10% juice left in my batteries, and while they recharge at a fair rate during the many rests Sensei gives us, once the batteries have been drained a bunch, they drain a lot more quickly after a bit of recharge ;)

Because of the concert I'm going to tonight and the upcoming holiday weekend, there's no karate class until next Wednesday. So, I guess I'll be treadmillin' it until then!

Jill

Getting back on track

Life kind of got disrupted with the passing of my last living grandparent. Gramma Eleanor died on August 12, and the funeral was on August 17, which would have been her 94th birthday. It doesn't sound like she died in pain, which is good, but she's been in everyone's lives forever and her being gone really does change the way the world looks, just a bit. That elderly lady with the bright red top and dark pants, sitting with her friends at the donut shop, gives me warm feelings, instead of just being another woman I don't know, for example. It's nice, although sprung from a sad occasion.

I went to karate last night (Monday) and after two weeks of not training, the class felt like a killer! There were more than a few times that I was barely able to go through the techniques - I certainly wasn't attempting to do the techniques any kind of right. I'd gain back a bit of wind with a bit of rest, but by the time class ended I was toast.

I walked on the treadmill today, using the new workout I programmed just before Gramma died is what I walked to today, and my heartrate got up to 163 as a high. When I got to the end of the program, my heartrate was still above 140. This sucks, but will improve as I keep at it.

For now, however, I need to get rested as tomorrow is another karate night and promises to be physically challenging once again!

Jill

Changes to treadmill workout

I programmed a new, more challenging, 45 min workout while walking tonight.

Old stats:

• average speed 3.7mph, with about 40 min of the walk at 3.8mph
• 2.8 miles completed
• 6.8 aeropoints
• ? calories expended (sorry, I don't pay much attention to this stat)
• max incline, 1 degree

New stats:

• average speed 3.7 mph, with about 40 min of the walk at 3.8mph
• 2.79 miles completed
• 6.8 aeropoints
• 320-some calories expended
• max incline, 3 degrees

As you can see, not much of a change to the workout, the major change was the max incline. I targetted my new workout to a heartrate of 155 or 157bpm during the main 35 minutes of the walk, bringing myself up gradually over the first 5 minutes and down gradually over the last 5 minutes.

My walking goals are to maintain a 45 min walk that holds my heartrate between 145-155, so I should be able to use this new program for a couple of weeks before the main part of the walk is getting very close to not keeping my heartrate high enough to stay within that range, and then I'll have to re-examine things. I won't worry about it until then.

No karate tomorrow, so I'll be walking then, too. After taking this time to carefully watch and adjust the incline and speed on the machine to go with my heartrate, it's always nice to take that first walk on the new program, without having to pay attention to changing anything.

Wednesday night training

Last night was a great class! Physically it went very well, Mentally I was well-connected within partner exercises, and as an added bonus, my favorite instructor who runs a related club came out to train with our mutual Sensei here at the Instructor's Dojo.

Brianna - someone who used to train 15 yrs ago as a pre-pubescent youth and just came back - came to the dojo early enough that I was able to invite her before class started to go through the kata she knew years ago, and she was very happy about the invite. We only had about 7 minutes of time to work together before Sensei came onto the floor and class started, but we went through Heian Shodan three times and walked through most of Heian Nidan before class started. After class, Brianna asked me to take her through Heian Shodan one more time so we did that as well. Throughout class and while we went through kata before and afterwards, Brianna trained near me and watched me for clues of what we were doing, and as a result I tried to go through my techniques more completely without rushing through them, to give her brain time to recognize what was going on.

During the class itself, Don (my riding/training buddy) conducted the warmup as usual, and when Sensei returned to the floor, we continued the warmup with our standard standing punches (hip vibration practice), then jab/reverse punch combinations while standing in a deep front stance (hip rotation practice), then stepping forward, punching (forward drive practice), then front kicking (hip pendulum action practice). We went back and forth and back and forth with the moving exercises, and got the blood pumping and the breath gasping for everyone.

Wednesday nights are 'kata night', although we tend to have kata as part of all of our training classes, with very few exceptions. Wednesday is specifically labelled kata night however, and we tend to go through more kata or junior level kata with much more detail and depth than when we were learning that same kata for testing for a colored belt years ago.

Last night we went through Kanku Sho again a few times, and then moved on to Heian Yondan and Heian Godan. I'm sure Sensei selected those two to help Brianna re-familiarize herself with those two kata, since her old rank attainments as a kid had already used both kata successfully in tests (meaning, Heian Godan was the last kata she used for her last successful testing, and thus isn't testing with the same kata again for the next 3 tests, but still should know and improve upon the kata she's finished testing with). We went through each kata about 4 times, until everyone was tired again.

Afterwards we did some kumite exercises with a partner, and switched around so we got to work with a number of different people. I was working on my sen timing, mainly. It's kind of scary to go IN on an incoming roundhouse or front kick to start my defense, but a useful timing ability to have.

All in all, class was a good workout and I made some nice deposits to the karate karma bank by being the one who approached the "new girl" and helped her start to re-learn what she already knows. I don't understand why so many other people my rank are afraid to offer assistance, or just don't think about what someone else at a junior rank may be interested in getting assistance with. After all, Sensei can't answer every question or help you with everything - a lot of karate is self-training and seeking out help on your own.

Walking walking walking...

Watched another episode of Smallville, season 3 today after work during my 45 min walk.

Tom Welling is hot, even if a little cheesy now and then. Just had to write it ;)

I increased the incline to 2.0 degrees, with the max speed still at 3.8mph (walking), to increase my heartrate so it was closer to 147-150 than the 139-142 it was at before then. I will eventualy re-program my walk to the higher rate, but for now I'm going to play with it manually. I was pleased to find that I could adjust the speed and incline while I walked, I think in different programs on the same machine I can't do that.

Tomorrow is a regular training day, and is Don's turn to drive. I like sharing the driving responsibilities, it really helps me keep focused on attending regular classes.

Monday night training

I wasn't sure I was able to make tonight's class, because I went to a Real Estate seminar in the afternoon and wasn't sure it would end in time. Thankfully, it ended with enough time for me to go home, eat something useful, and relax a little before I went to pick up my training buddy and riding buddy, Don, and then head for the dojo.

There were a few seconds there where some little voice in my mind piped up, worrying I wouldn't get enough relaxation time before going to socialize at karate, and another voice popped up in a soothing voice, trying to convince me I didn't want to go to class tonight... but I quieted them down and shooed them away, with the simple thought that I would have to call Don to cancel picking him up, and I don't like to cancel for whimsical reasons - I already avoid enough classes with legit ones.

It turned out, as it generally does, to be a great workout. I perspired a lot, of course, but didn't get super-winded like I got the last few classes, and I didn't feel like it was me lagging behind who was determining the pace of the class during the last half hour. When Sensei ended the class, I actually had a bunch more energy left and could have gone for the full 1.5 hours by training an extra 10 minutes, quite easily. I'm happy leaving with this positive feeling, however, as I've been feeling a lot of discouragement regarding my endurance over the past couple of years. I'll take any of the good experiences I can get.

We worked on Kanku Sho again today, after going through some basics (hip vibration, then rotation practice in terms of punches, and hip tilting practice for front and side snap kicks), but there were a number of people in the club who didn't know the kata very well, so we never really went through it with much speed or power.

One thing, while doing the basics, that Sensei pointed out to me specifically is that when my right leg is the supporting leg in a side snap kick, the supporting leg caves in. He says my left leg is just fine but my right leg has problems. I need to bring my camcorder in and do some taping so I can see what it is HE sees. It's really hard from above to see the problem and mentally understand how to correct it, and the mirrors just don't cut it.

Anyway, good workout today, and my next workout is on Wednesday, which means tomorrow is a treadmill day.

Today's walk

I walked again this morning, another 45 min with the majority of the walk at 3.8 mph at 1deg incline.

For some reason, my heartrate didn't reach 150 this time and generally hovered around 142-144, whereas yesterday (at the same time in the morning) it made it to 160 and hovered around 155. I'm not going to change my workout until next Saturday, but it'll be interesting to see how the heart rate progresses.

My next walk will be on Tuesday, and I will walk on Thursday if I don't train karate, and Friday for sure.

Today's walk, combined with the walks from the past two days, have left me with lightly sore achilles tendons. I need to stretch them out well before and after walking, but I'm glad to be doing something that strengthens them.

Treadmillin' it.

I'm happy to post that since I didn't have a workout on Friday, I walked for 30 min on the treadmill, and it's now 9:38 AM on Saturday morning and I've already done a 45 min walk as well.

My walking goal is mainly to walk 45-60 minutes, keeping my heart rate between 145-155 for as long throughout the walk as possible. Right now, 3.8mph at an incline of 1 degree seems to be pretty much perfect. As time goes on and my cardio system gets fitter, I plan to increase the incline rather than increasing the maximum speed, so I'll always be walking, but up "hills" eventually.

Now I can sit back and relax, maybe have a snooze, and enjoy my Saturday, which plans to be hot, and where I plan to be sitting by an outdoor backyard private pool during part of it.

Noon hour class

I'm sure you'll be relieved to know that I've decided to accept I live in an extreme climate and high humidity and heat in the summer is "the norm" and thus not something I should repeatedly complain about. I've given myself permission to mention that it was humid and hot at class, but no longer to whine about it ;)

I took in the noonhour class at the "Instructors" club today, with two other karateka in attendance. We warmed ourselves up and then Sensei started the class at 12:15, then worked us until about 12:50. Relatively "short" workout, but when there are only three students, (and it's in the heat of summer) that can be a damned good workout despite its length.

We started out with standing punches, where the main focus is on starting the punch from the hip (heel to hip to target) vs the shoulders, which is a big mental shift for many people training karate. Especially men who are used to generating their power from their arms and shoulders in a punch, apparently. Personally, I don't get feedback that tells me I have any problem with starting my punches from my shoulders, but I mention it here because it's something that a lot of people DO have problems with, and because I'm not entirely sure it's because I'm a woman that I don't innately have that problem.

My main problems when it comes to punches in general, no matter if they're standing punches or punches executed in a stationary but low-to-the-ground stance or punches executing while I'm moving are as follows:

• I let my punching shoulder extend too far out at the moment of impact. I need to focus on squeezing my armpit into my torso at the moment of impact (instead of letting my arm "float out too far") so I'm properly connected with my muscles at that key moment. If muscle connection is not "right on", there's a lot more chance that I will hurt myself when I hit someone else!
• I punch across my body's centre line. I consider this something I did because a lot of fellow students don't punch to the centre properly and thus the whole class gets reminded regularly to punch to the centre... and now I'm doing it too much ;)
• The line of my punch from hip to target is not straight. It's fine up until the moment I twist my fist at the near-end of the punch, but somewhere in that twist my hand is going up and then coming down onto my target, which severely changes the direction and amount of energy present in my landed punches.
• I open and close my hands between punches - I need to keep my fists consistent in some usefully closed position.

Then we moved on to hip rotation practice (standing punches are hip vibration practice) by stepping left foot forward into a front stance, then starting our punching position in a reverse punch (opposite arm forward as the currently-forward leg). From here, we keep our feet in the same place but execute alternating jab, then reverse punches while focusing on generating drive for the punching techniques from our back leg and from proper rotation of the hips and legs. As with all techniques in Shotokan karate, what's going on with the legs and hips is far more important than what's going on with the arms.

Continuing on with basics to warm us up more, next we did stepping punches going forward, then stepped backwards doing a 3-part combination of upward block, front leg front kick, reverse punch.

So, yeah, by this time in the class, I'm already puffing and panting. My endurance sucks worse than anyone else's at class but I keep working at it.

Next we ventured into kata. We went through Kanku Sho a few times to reinforce this kata as we've been going through it semi-regularly at previous classes and all three of us pretty much had the general gist of the kata down well enough for Sensei to start to work with us on parts of the kata we were especially weak at. Since I was training with two men over the age of 50 who aren't very flexible nor naturally athletic, side kicks got some special attention, which was just fine by me.

After going through Kanku Sho three or four times and answering all of our questions about the various pieces of the kata, Sensei decided to take us through Go ju shi ho sho. I personally have gone through the kata about 30 or 40 times, but not on a regular basis enough to keep the entire thing memorized. My familiarity with the kata made it a lot easier to go through, however, because once the memories were tickled I remembered a lot of the combinations and with guidance didn't have a lot of troubles going through it all.

The class was only, what, 35 minutes of training? But I was drenched, once again, and tired. Exactly what I want to be at the end of a good workout!!

Not entirely about karate

Another hot night of training!

Yesterday - thankfully an off night - it reached 35C with huge humidity. Thankfully, today there was more cloud cover and while the humidity was still sky-high, the high was more around 29 or 30. By the time training time came around, it was about 23C out.

I drank about 4L of water today, throughout the day, and another 500mL throughout the class then another 500mL plus a Coke :) after class. I may be a woman, but that saying about women not sweating is completely bull in my case. It is, of course, a "clean sweat" because there's so much fluid flowing, but none-the-less, I finish classes even in the cold of winter looking something like a drown rat... so I'm actually having to towel off my hair with my gi a few times throughout class with this heat.

Training was good - my training buddy, Don, and I arrived about 45 min earlier than we normally did, so we had lots of opportunity to stretch out and to go through a few kata to keep them memorized outside of regular class time. We actually went earlier because it might have been "Movie Night" at the club which means no regular training, and Don and I wanted to make sure we had a bit of a workout at least.

As it turns out, Movie Night has been moved to mid-month so we had a regular class. I ran out of steam at a serious level about 20 minutes before class was supposed to be over, so it's a good thing that I went really easy in that extra 45 minutes we gave ourselves before class.

My running out of steam is a constant problem, and one that I've put effort towards resolving a number of times, but fell back in my resolve time and again. I don't get down on myself for falling back, I just know that I need to toughen my resolve and give it another go.

There's always excuses (aka "reasons") for why I fall back, and while I don't feel bad for their presence, I do try to realize them and respect them. And I do believe that the more I pay attention, the more I learn about myself and my natural motivations and how to tap into them and what drains them.

Soooo.... what's my plan? Getting back to walking on the treadmill.

Last time I was watching an episode of Smallville while I walked, which was great but I wasn't drawn to watching Smallville enough that I would walk just to watch it.

These days, I'm listening to Podcasts out the wazoo (free broadcasts on a wide variety of topics, available easily through iTunes) and I'm really interested in learning more about investing, finance, real estate, and the likes. I like that when I listen to these types of things in audio format, my mind is engaged to a point where my vision isn't so important, which is perfect for walking on the treadmill.

I have to co-ordinate with my husband with treadmill workouts, but I think I'll do my first tomorrow, while listening to ..(selecting).. Ed Zollars' Tax Update podcast (likely American, oh well in my case) about uninsured medical reimbursements. It's just under 30 minutes long, which is a good length for my walk, especially considering there's another karate class I'm pondering going to tomorrow night.

Ooops, my husband just came in and said he's going to cook steaks tomorrow night. He is only recently doing this BBQ steak thing and he's doing an excellent job, so when he wants to do it, I want to be there. Maybe I'll train at noon... maybe I'll extend my walk and do an hour instead of a half hour. I certainly have the Podcasts and Smallville episodes to keep me entertained.

At any rate, this wasn't really a "karate" entry, but I promise to soon spend some time pontificating about karate things.

Jill

Summer training

Wow, tonight's workout was HOT. The temperature was only around 22C in reality, but for some reason it felt a lot hotter tonight.

Normally on Wednesdays we work on kata, but tonight we did a lot of basics work before venturing on to the kata of the night.

Basics classes at this dojo are great. The students are predominantly brown and black belts and as a result we have a base level of knowledge that allows Sensei to go into more detail about basic techniques and combinations. When the average rank of the club is more near the orange and green belt ranks, the extra detail just confuses students, so it's important for any student above the average rank to seek out other places to get that more in-depth instruction.

I'm very lucky, in that I am "senior student" at one club, and still I have another club to train at where I am 2-4 black belt ranks junior to the senior student... this allows me to practice being an inspiring student leader at times, but still surround myself with karateka who inspire me to train harder as well.

At any rate, tonight was a very good workout, but I was very glad when it was over. I carry an extra 30 lbs around these days, (for those who mistakenly get the idea that I'm trim just because I train karate and am a black belt) so all that extra insulation adds to my already-present tendancy to sweat like a river is flowing off of me... it was great to suck back a 500mL bottle of water as soon as I got home, and I'll drink another before I go to bed so my muscles have a lot of fluid to help with cleaning up and repairs.

I think next class I'm going to dampen my gi top or the shirt I wear underneath my gi top, so I start out with cool water on me to cool me down. I've employed this strategy successfully when I'm at outdoor training camps and about to go train in a shadeless field at 10 AM on a summer day looking to be a complete scorcher.

Next class isn't until next Wednesday for me, due to the holiday weekend coming up. I might train on Monday with a friend who has dojo keys, maybe practice some kumite (sparring/fighting), which I'm not all that confident at/comfortable with.

But that's a whoooooole 'nuther entry.

Karate + me, 6 years.

Welcome to my new karate blog. I don't really have any special goals with this blog other than to have somewhere to write about my experiences at karate.

As an introduction, my name is Jill and I've been training Shotokan karate off and on over the last 15 years, having actually physically trained for 6 of those years. I recently attained the rank of "shodan", aka 1st dan, aka 1st level black belt, and I am 32 years old.

My brother initially introduced me to the sport, having attained the rank of shodan prior to my starting training. Douglas ran a club of his own, so when I moved in with him to go to university at 18, joining karate wasn't really a question - as a lifetime athlete who wasn't interested in university sports teams, karate looked like a fun physical activity to get into and I had private instruction at my fingertips.

Karate has turned out to be WAY more than I ever thought it could be. It started out merely as an interesting, engaging physical activity that challenged not only my whole body (muscles and coordination), but my mind and my emotional control as well... and then as the years went on and I flew from under my brother's wing, I discovered an incredible society of people who have made karate their life's blood for 10-40 years. These days, I'm deeply wedged into that part of the society in our local area. I'm one of the core people who train regularly and attend every seminar and elite training class available locally, and I am not afraid to take up seminars and camps in other cities, provided the $$ and time off is available of course.

I've met some of the most amazing people in karate over the years, and some of them I'm very proud to say belong to a "mutual admiration society" when it comes to me, as well. As in, I think they're cool as shit, and they think the same of me. How awesome is that??!

There are, of course, jackasses in karate. And there are slick slimy folks too, and there are assholes. Not everyone is cool - in fact, a very elite percentage are truly cool. This is, after all, a reflection of real life - every kind of group contains a small percentage of truly cool people, if you take the time to find them. But, there are people who are better off avoided as well, even in traditional Shotokan karate, where "The ultimate aim of karate lays not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection in the character of its participants".

At any rate, with all its mix of people and politics and all that fun stuff, karate has been an amazing force in my life, has altered my way of viewing the world forever, has been great for exercise both physically and socially, and it's one of the few places I feel totally and completely safe.

Great to have those kinds of places, they really charge up a lot of things inside.

Jill

To the new karateka

Welcome to Karate!

Congratulations on your decision to try out a physical activity that can be as recreational or as life-altering as you allow it to be.

As a new karate student (karateka), you are considered a "white belt" (9th kyu). When our instructor (Sensei) refers to the white belts, that's you, even if you don't actually have a white belt yet.

Where do I get my white belt?

You get an actual white belt with the purchase of your first training uniform (gi). You do not need a training uniform immediately, but you are required to have one before entering any competitions or taking any tests for higher level belts.

Testing for new belt ranks

Tests are generally around 3 months after your start date. Your first testing would generally result in receiving your yellow belt (8th kyu), although particularly gifted or athletic individuals may be allowed to "double grade" and may skip yellow entirely and jump straight to orange belt (7th kyu).

Competition???!

Competition is an aspect of karate that is encouraged, but not required. If you're not sure what it's all about, don't worry about entering yourself into any events, but be sure to come out and volunteer your time and brain to the various things that need to get done to make a tournament run smoothly. You'll get a front-row seat to watch what goes on at a tournament, and as a volunteer you'll be right in the middle of it all, learning an amazing amount about the competitive and officiating aspect of the sport. If you choose to compete later on, you'll know the rules much better than most of your competitors. And as a new karateka, you will have minimal responsibilities, so while the senior black belts scurry around in funny dress-like pants with worried looks on their faces, you can sit back and watch and not be in the wrong.

Back to reality...

Okay, okay - we've gotten a bit off of the "new karateka" trek, but I could hear you askin' about those things in your head, so I covered them.

The first class

In this club, the first class isn't really a whole lot different than the second class or the third, and so on. There's probably more in the way of announcements because our instructor has 3 weeks of news to unload on us, but from there, it's a pretty standard karate class that you'll do two months in to your training as well. So, what I'm saying is:

You are going to get hopelessly lost during this first class. Expect it. Don't worry about it. Just keep trying.

Don't look at me, with 6 years of training "under my belt", or even the green belts who have been training for 1-2 yrs, and judge yourself harshly because your brain cannot seem to command your arms to move in those ways when it looks so "easy" for us. When your brain turns to mush, don't get down on yourself. This is normal. Eventually Sensei will do something confusing to demonstrate how even higher belts can get confused, and everyone will laugh.

But, I should back up. The start of class will be somewhat confusing and surreal as well, until you get used to it. I've heard it compared to a religious ceremony by an outsider who didn't know what they were looking at.

Before class, students will be milling around socializing, practicing techniques alone or on one another, or doing other things to keep themselves entertained. There's a sign-up sheet that the returning karateka will know to sign, Sensei will inform newcomers about the list at the start of class, but by that time it is too late to sign in until after class.

Class starts officially when Sensei says "Line up!". At that call, all students are to stop what they're doing and find their place in the lineup. Lineup is done in rank order, with the most senior students to the far right, and the most junior students to the far left. So yes, you'd be far left :) It doesn't take much to work your way up that line, tho!

Line up has us all standing side by side, shoulder to shoulder, close to one another, back straight, heels together, toes apart (feet in a "V" position) and arms hanging down by the side with your palms flat against the sides of your thighs. Sensei is at the front of the class, facing us, and while we stand in line up, he greets us, makes some small talk, then gets into announcements and the likes.

Once he's given out all the news he and his assistant can remember, he will motion to his assistant instructor, who will step out from the line a few steps. Sensei will then turn around to face the same direction we're all facing, and he will kneel down. Assistant Sensei will kneel down after Sensei has finished kneeling down. Then, the senior student will call out "seiza", at which point all students kneel down together. Watch Sensei to learn how to kneel "correctly". There are many small details to a good kneel and bow-in.

After all students are kneeling down, the senior student will call out "mokosu" which is Japanese for "quiet meditation". At that point, all students and the instructors are to close their eyes and focus on their breathing - release the real world and its problems behind you and prepare to commit yourself to your karate training.

After a short period of meditation time, the senior student will say "yame" which means, literally, "stop", but in this case is extended to meaning "stop meditating, open your eyes". We used to say "mokosu yame" which made more sense - "stop close your eyes".

Now come the bows to the various people we are showing respect to for our karate training. The first one has the senior student call out "shomen-nei rei" and karateka, students or instructor, bow to the front of the dojo, where the picture of the founder of Modern Karate, Gichin Funakoshi, is. Then, Sensei turns around and faces the students and his assistant instructor, and the senior student calls out "sensei-nei rei" and everyone bows to Sensei. Then the Assistant Sensei turns to face the class, and the senior student calls out "sempei-nei rei" and all students bow to the assistant, and the assistant to the students.

That's a formal bow-in. After that, Sensei generally tells us to get up and spread out in the dojo to prepare for warmup, and then he selects either his assistant instructor or a green belt or higher student to conduct the warmup. While you're not subjected to having to lead a warmup while you're a white belt, it's something that's part of every karateka's training as they advance.