Study Group, 12/30/09

Josh and I drilled a little more tonight. We had to cut it short (1 hour) due to me hurting my elbow (wow, and it hurt like the dickens!), but I'll note what we did get to work on.

We started out by warming up with several reps of the armbar drill I mentioned in my last post, only this time, I did it very slowly, focusing on 1) breathing (I always tend to hold my breath during this drill, and indeed during lots of randori too - I have to break that habit), 2) control (of my body, with my legs), and 3) smoothness. I only did 20 or 30 tonight.

Next, we took a look at Saulo's first sweep on his "Guard" DVD (from the first Jiujitsu Revolution series). It's a response to top guy trying to break your guard with his knee in your butt. I couldn't do it well at first, but after a few reps, and trial-and-error to see what I was missing, I got it (well enough to add the drill to my routine, anyway).

During the course of our drilling, we sometimes drift into very light randori, just to break it up. It was at this point I hurt my elbow. It wasn't due to a submission, or crank...we weren't being stupid or playing too rough...it just happened. Wrong angle bearing weight, at the wrong time got me hurting badly enough to call an early end to our activities for the evening.

We decided to try some things that didn't involve my elbow (as long as no pressure was on it, it was fine). So, I got Josh in my guard, and let him try to figure out how to break it. This turned out to be very informative for both of us; Josh has always had trouble breaking my guard when I've decided to keep it closed. Lots of trouble. I was beginning to think I had some sort of magic guard, at least against him, and other small-ish guys. However, we discovered that Josh (and most other guys I roll with) tend to try to break it in one direction - to my right. Turns out I'm strong that way. Tonight it occurred to Josh to try it the other way (toward my left). My legs popped open like a (insert your own colorful metaphor here)!! So we discovered a tendency to be aware of, and I've discovered a weakness in my guard that needs to be overcome or compensated for. We decided to drill passes in both directions from now on.

We called it quits after that so I could get some ice on my elbow. I really hope it's better soon - we're scheduled to begin BJJ at the Gracie Barra school on Tuesday!

Study Group, 12/26/09

This time Josh and I worked on a few different things. First, we drilled a butterfly sweep from Saulo Ribeiro's DVDs. We also worked on a Little bit of the "position-choke-armbar" drill, as well as the typical armbar drill shown here:







Of course we rolled a little too, but nothing too strenuous. I actually made Josh tap for the first time tonight, with choke neither of us have ever seen before. We got a good laugh out of that.

A Little More Drilling

Josh came over again last weekend for more BJJ drilling. We both bought BJ Penn's new book about the closed guard, and since we worked on some posture issues last week, we decided to drill some of BJ's techniques for breaking top guy's posture when he's in your closed guard. We were pretty amazed at some of the results we were getting.

We also tried out Penn's armbar drill and triangle drill. These were a little tougher for me, because I have no experience with this type of motion yet. His armbar drill was especially confusing to me. I'm not (yet) sure what BJ's doing with which legs in order to move like he does. I'll get it though.

A Little Drilling, A Little Rolling

My buddy Josh came over on Tuesday night to do some BJJ drilling with me. We drilled a few very basic transitions for a while, then a sweep to two. As it frequently does, our drilling crept ever so slowly into light randori.

Josh is far more capable than me on the ground, and he was able to help me learn a thing or two about my posture while grappling.

By way of taking a breather after increasingly strenuous rolling, we watched a little of one of my Saulo Ribeiro DVDs. Then we drilled a particular guard passing technique from the DVD.

We rolled a couple more times to end the practice. This was the first time I've trained with Josh in about a year (the last time, I had only been learning judo for a month or two). I could definitely see improvement from a year ago. In fact, I was able to last longer without being submitted, and for a while I was keeping him in my guard really well (he couldn't pass). I was surprised, delighted, and encouraged by the improvement I saw. Not that I'm anything great now, but I certainly couldn't have performed like that a year ago. It's nice to be able to see a little progress once in a while. Josh still dominated greatly (when we were competing and not cooperating), but the gap between our abilities will continue to close. ;o)

Judo/BJJ Study Group, 9/21/09

Last week we had a smaller group at our church judo study group. Three people, including myself. We reviewed all the material from the previous week, and spent a good bit of time doing that. Everyone did every technique with everyone else.

For the new material, we covered some fundamental ground movements: "bridging" and "shrimping".

We then went over munegatame, or side control, and 2 escapes from it: bridge-and-roll and shrimp-to-guard. I asked the guys to work on this not because I'm great at it, but because I suck at it!

We spent the last 15 minutes or so rolling.

Study Group, 9/14/09

I haven't really talked about it on the blog here, because I didn't know how it was going to work out, but for a while now, I've been talking with folks at my church about us doing a judo/BJJ study group using the church's facilities.

There was lots of discussion, since we didn't want to expose the church to any liability in case someone got injured, but at long last, it's been approved. This is a pretty cool development, because the church has a large room with an already padded floor in the children's' building (not as soft as real mats, but it'll do for grappling). The room is huge, and it's a lot different than trying to roll on my little 8x12 mat space while trying not to bump into furniture.

We had our first church study group on Monday, September 14 2009. I was very clear to all of them that I'm no qualified teacher, and we were just going to play with some of the stuff I've been shown and have a good time.

5 people were there, including me. It was me and one of my nephews (who's been practicing with me at my home study group), a guy with some previous judo experience, a guy with Gracie Combatives experience (through his training in the Army National Guard), and a guy with no grappling experience, but previous karate experience.

After light stretching and warm up, we went over the following:

• Trap and Roll escape from mount, standard version, headlock variation, and punch block variation (from the Gracie Combatives DVDs)
• Americana armlock, standard version and headlock variation (also from the Gracie Combatives DVDs)
• Scissor sweep and hip bump sweep (from Roy Dean's Blue Belt Requirements DVDs)
• Rolling (at around 50% intensity) for the last 10-15 minutes.

The entire session was an hour and a half. I think the guys had a good time, and they seemed to be having some success with most of the material. We're planning on making this a regular Monday night event, so I'll post a training log after each one.

Study Group, 8/2/09

Our study group tonight was pretty lackluster, for a couple reasons. When Cody and Chase arrived, my wife was shopping, so I had my hands full with my daughter. The boys got bored and started to roll, intending to take it easy. By the time my wife got home they were both exhausted and really didn't feel like doing anything else.

We persevered, and worked on a couple of lessons from the Gracie Combatives DVDs: Taking the Back and the Rear Naked Choke.

The "taking the back" lesson turned out to be a little trickier than it looked. After a few turns each it started feeling better though. The "Remount" section of that lesson was a little tricky at first too.

Once we got that down alright, the "rear naked choke" lesson was a breeze. We didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but I guess some practice is better than none.

Study Group, 8/2/09

Our study group tonight was pretty lackluster, for a couple reasons. When Cody and Chase arrived, my wife was shopping, so I had my hands full with my daughter. The boys got bored and started to roll, intending to take it easy. By the time my wife got home they were both exhausted and really didn't feel like doing anything else.

We persevered, and worked on a couple of lessons from the Gracie Combatives DVDs: Taking the Back and the Rear Naked Choke.

The "taking the back" lesson turned out to be a little trickier than it looked. After a few turns each it started feeling better though. The "Remount" section of that lesson was a little tricky at first too.

Once we got that down alright, the "rear naked choke" lesson was a breeze. We didn't get as much done as I'd hoped, but I guess some practice is better than none.

Judo/BJJ Study Group 6/21/09

Last night, Chase and Cody came over to train a bit. We were able to go through Lessons 1-3 of the Gracie Combatives DVDs, and I was pleasantly surprised, given how long it took Chase and me to just go through lesson 1 last time. This was Cody's first experience with these particular DVDs. They both got their own copies of the set, so we can watch the lessons during the week, and spend more time actually doing the stuff when we get together.

Lesson 1 (trap-and-roll escapes/open guard pass) - I felt like the punch block variant of the trap-and-roll went much better this time, for both Chase and me. Cody picked it up extremely quickly.

Lesson 2 (Americana) - This lesson went quickly; there are only two "slices": standard version and neck-hug variation. The neck-hug version was a little weird for us, but there's more coordination involved. I don't think it'll take that long to work out the weirdness.

Lesson 3 (positional control) - speaking of coordination, this lesson took way more than it looked like it was going to when I first watched it. The low and high "swims" went great, but the transitions from one side to the other (in response to bad guy trying to roll you) requires you to do an opposite-side hook, same-side open knee, and opposite side neck-hug, while keeping your knees light on the mat and your hips pressed into him. It was just several things to think about all at once. We probably need to go more slowly until we get the sequence down.

We didn't have time for any rolling this time, but we did do the reflex development drills at the end of each lesson. We practiced having the bad guy feed random "indicators" to good guy, and letting good guy respond with the appropriate technique. I think that part went really well and was very helpful. I think we did a good job being "partners" rather than opponents last night. Bad guys tested the techniques for good guys and helped them remember the particulars of the techniques. There was really a feeling of "mutual benefit" to our practice.

This week, we're all going to watch lessons 4 - 6. Next time we get together we plan to:

• Review lessons 1 - 3
• Practice the "Fight Simulation Drill" for lessons 1 - 3
• Go through lessons 4 - 6 ("Taking the Back", "Rear Naked Choke", and "Leg Hook Takedown"). These next three lessons look really fun!

Judo/BJJ Study Group 6/21/09

Last night, Chase and Cody came over to train a bit. We were able to go through Lessons 1-3 of the Gracie Combatives DVDs, and I was pleasantly surprised, given how long it took Chase and me to just go through lesson 1 last time. This was Cody's first experience with these particular DVDs. They both got their own copies of the set, so we can watch the lessons during the week, and spend more time actually doing the stuff when we get together.

Lesson 1 (trap-and-roll escapes/open guard pass) - I felt like the punch block variant of the trap-and-roll went much better this time, for both Chase and me. Cody picked it up extremely quickly.

Lesson 2 (Americana) - This lesson went quickly; there are only two "slices": standard version and neck-hug variation. The neck-hug version was a little weird for us, but there's more coordination involved. I don't think it'll take that long to work out the weirdness.

Lesson 3 (positional control) - speaking of coordination, this lesson took way more than it looked like it was going to when I first watched it. The low and high "swims" went great, but the transitions from one side to the other (in response to bad guy trying to roll you) requires you to do an opposite-side hook, same-side open knee, and opposite side neck-hug, while keeping your knees light on the mat and your hips pressed into him. It was just several things to think about all at once. We probably need to go more slowly until we get the sequence down.

We didn't have time for any rolling this time, but we did do the reflex development drills at the end of each lesson. We practiced having the bad guy feed random "indicators" to good guy, and letting good guy respond with the appropriate technique. I think that part went really well and was very helpful. I think we did a good job being "partners" rather than opponents last night. Bad guys tested the techniques for good guys and helped them remember the particulars of the techniques. There was really a feeling of "mutual benefit" to our practice.

This week, we're all going to watch lessons 4 - 6. Next time we get together we plan to:

• Review lessons 1 - 3
• Practice the "Fight Simulation Drill" for lessons 1 - 3
• Go through lessons 4 - 6 ("Taking the Back", "Rear Naked Choke", and "Leg Hook Takedown"). These next three lessons look really fun!

Study Group 6-7-09

Tonight my nephew Chase came over for some BJJ practice. We went through the entire first lesson of the Gracie Combatives DVD set. The lesson consisted of:

1. Basic Trap-and-Roll escape

2. Trap-and-Roll escape: Punch Block variation

3. Trap-and-Roll escape: Headlock variation

4. Open guard pass

5. Reflex Development Drill (drilling all the techniques above)

Here are a few of my observations:

- I need to get my hips more elevated in all variations of this escape

- Making the Punch Block variation look as smooth as the Gracie boys' demonstration of it is tough! I find I'm skipping pieces of it, and I'm having trouble making parts of it work without "bad guy" being overly compliant. That one will take the most work, I think.

- I think I will benefit from some solo drills of these techniques just to develop muscle memory.

- I think we did very well helping each other out rather than competing. We talked about the importance of being a good "bad guy" (giving good feedback, testing good guy's holds, techniques, etc).

We didn't do any randori tonight at all. We're going to commit to a more structured pattern of study. We'll still roll regularly, but we plan to prioritize our woodshedding time. It was a great time, and it lasted a little less than 2 hours. I think my hopes of having all 36 lessons down and ready to demonstrate by early next year were way too optimistic. This will take some time.

Study Group 6-7-09

Tonight my nephew Chase came over for some BJJ practice. We went through the entire first lesson of the Gracie Combatives DVD set. The lesson consisted of:

1. Basic Trap-and-Roll escape

2. Trap-and-Roll escape: Punch Block variation

3. Trap-and-Roll escape: Headlock variation

4. Open guard pass

5. Reflex Development Drill (drilling all the techniques above)

Here are a few of my observations:

- I need to get my hips more elevated in all variations of this escape

- Making the Punch Block variation look as smooth as the Gracie boys' demonstration of it is tough! I find I'm skipping pieces of it, and I'm having trouble making parts of it work without "bad guy" being overly compliant. That one will take the most work, I think.

- I think I will benefit from some solo drills of these techniques just to develop muscle memory.

- I think we did very well helping each other out rather than competing. We talked about the importance of being a good "bad guy" (giving good feedback, testing good guy's holds, techniques, etc).

We didn't do any randori tonight at all. We're going to commit to a more structured pattern of study. We'll still roll regularly, but we plan to prioritize our woodshedding time. It was a great time, and it lasted a little less than 2 hours. I think my hopes of having all 36 lessons down and ready to demonstrate by early next year were way too optimistic. This will take some time.

Study Group 5/25/09

I'm on vacation from work this week. While I'm staying pretty busy around the house, I've still been very fortunate to be able to work in some extra training. If you count study groups, I've been able to train 4 times over the long Memorial Day weekend!

The other day I met my buddy Mario, who's just joined our dojo, at his Tang Soo Do dojang. We had the place to ourselves, so it was nice not having to worry about space. We only rolled for a dozen rounds or so...I prevailed maybe 3 times, and those were all near the beginning. As I got exhausted, Mario kept going strong and winning more and more. But I maintain one of my losses was due to his unexpected use of some chin na finger bending, or some such. Speaking of "chin" another loss may have been due to a knee to my chin. You really have to watch those strikers!

So, what observations did I come away with?

• My lack of fitness/endurance is really hurting my judo. Not just costing me rounds, but interfering with my learning process. Enough of that. "Game on" for getting in shape, as they like to say on The Biggest Loser. I recently listened to an interview of Loren Christensen on the Paladin podcast. He was asked how much physical conditioning plays a part in a self-defense encounter. He responded that since most encounters last a few seconds, endurance and conditioning are much smaller factors than your training, HOWEVER, conditioning will enable to to train better, more often, and more efficiently, so it does have an indirect effect on the potential encounter.


• I really need to learn how to deal with opponents with superior strength. Lots of times, my arms get pinned and I can't do anything at all.


• I still suffer from weak guard passing and sweeps. I need to substitute some of my time spent rolling with drills.


• Watch out for knees and finger-locks!

Study Group 5/25/09

I'm on vacation from work this week. While I'm staying pretty busy around the house, I've still been very fortunate to be able to work in some extra training. If you count study groups, I've been able to train 4 times over the long Memorial Day weekend!

The other day I met my buddy Mario, who's just joined our dojo, at his Tang Soo Do dojang. We had the place to ourselves, so it was nice not having to worry about space. We only rolled for a dozen rounds or so...I prevailed maybe 3 times, and those were all near the beginning. As I got exhausted, Mario kept going strong and winning more and more. But I maintain one of my losses was due to his unexpected use of some chin na finger bending, or some such. Speaking of "chin" another loss may have been due to a knee to my chin. You really have to watch those strikers!

So, what observations did I come away with?

• My lack of fitness/endurance is really hurting my judo. Not just costing me rounds, but interfering with my learning process. Enough of that. "Game on" for getting in shape, as they like to say on The Biggest Loser. I recently listened to an interview of Loren Christensen on the Paladin podcast. He was asked how much physical conditioning plays a part in a self-defense encounter. He responded that since most encounters last a few seconds, endurance and conditioning are much smaller factors than your training, HOWEVER, conditioning will enable to to train better, more often, and more efficiently, so it does have an indirect effect on the potential encounter.


• I really need to learn how to deal with opponents with superior strength. Lots of times, my arms get pinned and I can't do anything at all.


• I still suffer from weak guard passing and sweeps. I need to substitute some of my time spent rolling with drills.


• Watch out for knees and finger-locks!

Study Group 5-23-09

Last night I had a bunch of my family over to visit and some stuck around to watch the UFC fight. My 2 nephews and their friend were among them so we had an impromptu Judo/BJJ study group. One nephew (Cody) and I try to practice regularly, but my other nephew (Chase) and the friend (Trey), are way newer to grappling. Unfortunately, last night we didn't work on learning or improving anything - maybe we were pumped up from the fights, but we just started rolling full speed, full power. We didn't accomplish anything impressive, all of us being so new, but it was a lot of fun.

Chase got me with an armbar once, I got him with an Ezekiel the next round. Trey is incredibly strong, so he was tough for me to manage. I need better technique! I also submitted him with an Ezekiel, and he got me with a rear naked....strangle. It wasn't a blood choke, but it hurt enough to make me tap. Cody and I didn't face each other last night, but he and the other guys went quite a few rounds. I mostly let the young folks have their fun. What did I learn? Nothing new, however, I did notice I was able to stay a bit calmer and not panic while in disadvantageous positions. That's progress, I guess, but I'd also like to learn to not end up in those positions so often!

Study Group 5-23-09

Last night I had a bunch of my family over to visit and some stuck around to watch the UFC fight. My 2 nephews and their friend were among them so we had an impromptu Judo/BJJ study group. One nephew (Cody) and I try to practice regularly, but my other nephew (Chase) and the friend (Trey), are way newer to grappling. Unfortunately, last night we didn't work on learning or improving anything - maybe we were pumped up from the fights, but we just started rolling full speed, full power. We didn't accomplish anything impressive, all of us being so new, but it was a lot of fun.

Chase got me with an armbar once, I got him with an Ezekiel the next round. Trey is incredibly strong, so he was tough for me to manage. I need better technique! I also submitted him with an Ezekiel, and he got me with a rear naked....strangle. It wasn't a blood choke, but it hurt enough to make me tap. Cody and I didn't face each other last night, but he and the other guys went quite a few rounds. I mostly let the young folks have their fun. What did I learn? Nothing new, however, I did notice I was able to stay a bit calmer and not panic while in disadvantageous positions. That's progress, I guess, but I'd also like to learn to not end up in those positions so often!

Judo/BJJ Study Group, 3/15/09

Tonight Cody brought his friend Christian over, but he ended up just watching...I guess checking it out to see if it would be something he'd be interested in. Cody and I warmed up with a few reps of some throws. Deashi barai, kosotogari, osotogari, hiza garuma, ukigoshi, AND I tried to show him my 2 new throws, kouchigari and seoinagi. Nothing much to note here, except that at one point, Cody caught me with a beautiful osotogari. It felt about like when Pat did it to me for my yellow belt demo - I came way up off the ground. I guess he just got the timing spot on, because it was crazy...seemed effortless. Surprised me as much as it did Cody, I think.

We pretty quickly moved on to ground randori. Let me just confess right off the bat: My escapes sucked tonight. Particularly the basics - bridge&rolls, uphills, elbow/knees, etc. For one thing, Cody had some kind of otherworldly munegatame thing going on tonight. His mune was tighter than the skin on an apple. I couldn't get ANY space to escape, or even improve my position. Well, it gives me something to work on. I did (barely) pull off an uphill escape tonight, and I got a handful of hip bump sweeps and a couple of scissor sweeps. Even my upa's were not having much luck, and those are usually easy.

As far as submissions, Cody made me tap to a rear naked choke right off the bat, but his bread and butter tonight was the Americana. After a failed Kimura, I got him in an armbar (with both of us face down), one wakigatame (Yes, still an armbar, but I got this one the way Pat taught it in class, from side control), and countless Ezekiels (okay, not "countless", but I sank 4 or 5 of them before he started catching me setting it up). Oh, I got one katagatame from mune as well.

We got to play for around 2 hours, which was great! I think next time we get together, we may be drilling basic escapes. My #1 fan (wife) had her camera out, so she took a few pictures. Be warned - we're noobs and it just might show up in these pics.

Cody has me in kesagatame

Cody trying to pass

Cody's seoinage

Me trying sasae-tsurikomi-ashi

Me trying to pass

Cody setting up a sweep

Cody's nice ukigoshi

Judo/BJJ Study Group, 3/15/09

Tonight Cody brought his friend Christian over, but he ended up just watching...I guess checking it out to see if it would be something he'd be interested in. Cody and I warmed up with a few reps of some throws. Deashi barai, kosotogari, osotogari, hiza garuma, ukigoshi, AND I tried to show him my 2 new throws, kouchigari and seoinagi. Nothing much to note here, except that at one point, Cody caught me with a beautiful osotogari. It felt about like when Pat did it to me for my yellow belt demo - I came way up off the ground. I guess he just got the timing spot on, because it was crazy...seemed effortless. Surprised me as much as it did Cody, I think.

We pretty quickly moved on to ground randori. Let me just confess right off the bat: My escapes sucked tonight. Particularly the basics - bridge&rolls, uphills, elbow/knees, etc. For one thing, Cody had some kind of otherworldly munegatame thing going on tonight. His mune was tighter than the skin on an apple. I couldn't get ANY space to escape, or even improve my position. Well, it gives me something to work on. I did (barely) pull off an uphill escape tonight, and I got a handful of hip bump sweeps and a couple of scissor sweeps. Even my upa's were not having much luck, and those are usually easy.

As far as submissions, Cody made me tap to a rear naked choke right off the bat, but his bread and butter tonight was the Americana. After a failed Kimura, I got him in an armbar (with both of us face down), one wakigatame (Yes, still an armbar, but I got this one the way Pat taught it in class, from side control), and countless Ezekiels (okay, not "countless", but I sank 4 or 5 of them before he started catching me setting it up). Oh, I got one katagatame from mune as well.

We got to play for around 2 hours, which was great! I think next time we get together, we may be drilling basic escapes. My #1 fan (wife) had her camera out, so she took a few pictures. Be warned - we're noobs and it just might show up in these pics.

Cody has me in kesagatame

Cody trying to pass

Cody's seoinage

Me trying sasae-tsurikomi-ashi

Me trying to pass

Cody setting up a sweep

Cody's nice ukigoshi

Karate-do

Okay, so I have not officially begun training in karate-do yet, but I think I will add it to my list of pursuits soon. Based on discussions I've had with Pat, I really look forward to it, and think it will be a blast.

After our Aikido lesson Saturday, Pat demonstrated just a bit of karate for me. I practiced Tang Soo Do for years as a young child, making it about 75% to black belt. I briefly started it again early last year, but quit when I found I would be one of the only people in the class over 4 feet tall (lots of kids)...awkward. I've always been a fan of karate, but my understanding of kata was limited, to put it mildly. I've only just begun to learn about bunkai. Before, I thought a down block in a kata simulated blocking a low strike or kick, end of story. I had no idea how many potential applications might be contained in the most basic movements. Pat's been able to clear some of that up for me, and it's like I was blind, and now I (begin to) see!

We've also discussed how karate does not necessarily have to conflict with Aikido training, in terms of short-circuiting the evasion reflex we try to develop in Aikido. Pat wrote a fantastic article about that here. It really broadened my view.

So, as my interest in karate-do has been rekindled, I've been reading more about it. As I said in an earlier post, I recently finished Funakoshi's Karate-Do; My Way of Life. Now I'm reading his Karate-Do Nyumon. I'm trying to reacquaint myself with some of the stances, strikes, etc.

So for this pseudo-training log, I'll just mention what I worked on from it tonight.

Tennokata Omote:

• Chudan Oi-zuki (middle level thrust punch)
• Jodan Oi-zuki (upper level thrust punch)
• Chudan Gakyu-zuki (middle level reverse punch)
• Jodn Gakyu-zuki (upper level reverse punch)
  

I didn't count the repetitions, but there were many. I will surely need Pat's correction on things as I get back into this stuff.

Karate-do

Okay, so I have not officially begun training in karate-do yet, but I think I will add it to my list of pursuits soon. Based on discussions I've had with Pat, I really look forward to it, and think it will be a blast.

After our Aikido lesson Saturday, Pat demonstrated just a bit of karate for me. I practiced Tang Soo Do for years as a young child, making it about 75% to black belt. I briefly started it again early last year, but quit when I found I would be one of the only people in the class over 4 feet tall (lots of kids)...awkward. I've always been a fan of karate, but my understanding of kata was limited, to put it mildly. I've only just begun to learn about bunkai. Before, I thought a down block in a kata simulated blocking a low strike or kick, end of story. I had no idea how many potential applications might be contained in the most basic movements. Pat's been able to clear some of that up for me, and it's like I was blind, and now I (begin to) see!

We've also discussed how karate does not necessarily have to conflict with Aikido training, in terms of short-circuiting the evasion reflex we try to develop in Aikido. Pat wrote a fantastic article about that here. It really broadened my view.

So, as my interest in karate-do has been rekindled, I've been reading more about it. As I said in an earlier post, I recently finished Funakoshi's Karate-Do; My Way of Life. Now I'm reading his Karate-Do Nyumon. I'm trying to reacquaint myself with some of the stances, strikes, etc.

So for this pseudo-training log, I'll just mention what I worked on from it tonight.

Tennokata Omote:

• Chudan Oi-zuki (middle level thrust punch)
• Jodan Oi-zuki (upper level thrust punch)
• Chudan Gakyu-zuki (middle level reverse punch)
• Jodn Gakyu-zuki (upper level reverse punch)
  

I didn't count the repetitions, but there were many. I will surely need Pat's correction on things as I get back into this stuff.