Respect

Respect, is very important in Karate.
We respect the place, the dojo that we use. We respect the arena, the area that we fight and compete. We respect the school, the name that we train under. We respect the sensei, the person who teach. We respect senpai, the person who give guidance. We respect our friend, the person we train together with....

We respect our enemy, our foe, our opponent.
I respect my opponent, so i fight seriously.

Today's 一言：Respect yourself

Competition

Today, I told sensei about my wish to compete with Shitoryu kata instead of Shotokan kata, like I used to do. I must admit that my shitoryu kata still have a long way to go, but I was thinking, since i am now fighting in the Shitoryu dojo, it will be better for me to fight in Shitoryu style.
For one, it is my respect to sensei, to learn from him and competer under his name. For two, to increase more sense of belonging to this place.

At the end of training today, me and Ziwee senpai do Basaidai and Nibaibo together, while every other people watch. Not prepared, I found myself to be quite 'unstable' yet. The mind is in a mess while doing the kata.
Well, at least this is a good start.

Today's 一言: Need to watch the video clip!

Defend Vs Attack

I recall when I was young, we used to have this idea, defender will always win.
Because most of the technique that we learn is defend and counter. Or immediately counter while people are attacking. Or grab the attack and counter...
The bottom line is, defender always win.

But today's training and saturday's training seems not really so. A lot of time, I am able to block the first attack. Any subsequent attack are hard to anticipate or block. Although I am able to see it coming in, but I still can't get my hand well coordinated, they always jammed together giving the oponent a target to hit.

And yet, I still find that attacking to be irritating. I can't really find a nice opening for me to go in. And opening up a target is not an easy task either. And most of the time, I find my effort to be in a mess.

What is it that I am lacking?

Today's 一言:Continue to search

Mid night training

A sudden urge.

Perhaps the Kata of Shitoryu and the kata of Shotokan may be somewhat similar, but there is a big different that I realize today, in the kata of Basaidai, between this two variation.
In my previous post, i mention about the upper arm being painful.
I guess I know the reason now. It is the Basaidai.
In shitoryu, the movement requires a lot of twisting, not only from the forearm (which i am more used to), it requires a fair lot of twisting of the upper arm as well. Surprisingly, my upper arms' muslce are not well trained. A few time of repetition, my arm felt like toring apart.

It is obvious, more practice is required.

Today's 一言: Feel the twisting

Injured arm 2

Is my arm healed?
Or I just got used to it?

But one thing that i notice, the pain comes back bit by bit when I practice my Kata.
When i spar, it remains quite alright...
Except the upper arm of my left hand starts to feel some funny feeling.
Not the feeling of tired,
but pain.

The idea of training a new kata, wanting to compete with only shitoryu kata, seems to be more and more difficult.
Either i trained with an injured arm, risking injuring it further;
or rest and might not be good enough for the competition.

Today's 一言: Still in Dilemma

Injured arm?

I am not too sure is it injured or not.
For one moment, i felt that i can't twist my left arm due to some sharp pain.
But the next moment after warming up, what do you know, i can use it.

Although i can't really see it or feel it, but Pat Senpai said that it was swollen. It is softer (oedema?), it was warmer (inflamation?).

Hmm... how how how... how ah?
Should i wrap my arm, put myself into rest, or should i continue to train?

Today's 一言: Dilemma...

Tiredness

Really 'hit the wall' today.

For several time, i run out of energy, until the extent that standing up requires a concious effort. Have i experienced such tiredness before? I can't really recall. But I was really really tired.

This is also perhaps the first time, I felt my body generated so much heat, that i feel I am burning myself. I really have this feeling as if I were standing in front of a burning furnace.

TOday's 一言:Feeling great!

Muscle aching...

I wonder, how long does it take to heal.
My thigh muscle has been sore for quite a period of time. I thought it was because the continuous training together with a lot of walking when moving from one place to another.
Taking bus when travelling, no traning on Thursday, I thought it will be healed by then.
Sadly, it is still the same.

Can't really remember well since when my shoulder muscle starts to ache.
Applied Salon Pas, applied deep heat. The moment they are applied, it feels slightly better. But the pain still remains and lingers around.

And the lower back pain. Is back.

I am wondering, is it because I have not enough food? which causes the healing process to be much slower?

Ah... with so much pain around my body, i really wonder how am I going to continue my training.

Today's 一言: Heal!

Small details...

Learning from other martial art still.

There are things that we see on TV a lot of time. I tried some of them, but most of them i can't do. Well, that is what i thought.

Today, manage to have the chance to learn from a capoeira guy. One of the things that we did is lie on the floor and kick yourself up on the ground. I tried that quite a lot of time, but i never manage to do it. He looked at the way i did, telling me a few pointers, and guess what? I can do it!
I always had the flexibility and strength to do it. But I lack the most important thing, technique.

This is the different between learning from just mere observing, and to have a person beside you teaching and guiding you.

Today's 一言：I am amazing!

Variation

Sports club actually come up with this thing that all martial arts teach each other, some basic ideas, moves of respective martial arts.

One of the things that i felt, all of us are proud of ourselves, is the variation that we have. True, all of us kick and punch, grab, lock and throw. But being able to varry it a bit here, a bit there, makes a lot of differences in each of our own realm.

Today's 一言：You can't fight a bear with the way you fight a lion.

Natural reaction..

When we kick, a lot of people have the tendency to 'open' their hand to balance their body.
But that is considered 'dangerous' when fighting, as you are exposing yourself, giving your oponent a bigger target.
But, that is the natural reaction!
So?

In Karate, there are times, a lot of time where we train so that we don't act with our natural instinct. We reprogramme the way we act, we stand, we fight so that we are always in the upper hand.

Today's 一言: I wonder why are the kicks heavier during training...

Science VS Karate

Wonder why i was missing in action for sometime?
Yeah, didn't go for training as some other things were on. Went to one of the seminar which taught about agility training. They taught us the posture to squad so that we will be able to push our body better and move faster.
Putting the idea into Karate... perhaps not.
When half squatting, the knee was slightly bent, not exceeding the toe, and the body was leaning forward. In Karate, with the body and head leaning at front, you will only find yourself to give your oponent a nice big target called 'head'.

The stances that we do, perhaps in their point of view is not 'perfect'. But in the real life context, in terms of fighting, that is more practical. There are always trade off, and we need to find the balance of everything. Perhaps we lose some speed, but we don't expose ourselves to danger.

They develope all sorts of exercise to travel different set of muscle. Actually, we have as well. Our kata. They are good training. But a lot of time, people neglect it. Repeat it over and over and over again, doing it the right way, and you will find yourself imporving along the way.

Today's 一言: Eat 60g of carbohydrate after training within 30minutes for better recovery.