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.