Camp (1)

Karate camp from Friday to Monday.
But I was only around on Saturday and Sunday...

Our very own sensei, Shihan Ishikawa, a sensei from Rome, Sensei Yamada and 3 sensei from Hong Kong came to the training camp.

The training in the morning, physical exercise. Jogging, running, stretching and all sorts of exercise that train the physic such as push ups, sit ups, etc. One of the interesting thing that Sensei Loh asked us to do push up with one hand. I never thought that I am actually strong enough to do that! Well, just for 2 times... haha... Another interesting exercise is to lie flat on the floor facing the floor, with the hand fully stretched forward. Then use only the palm and the toe to lift up the whole body. I couldn't do that, i need to at least use my elbow to lift up the whole body. It was quite tough and challenging that i forgot to look around and see can other accomplish the task or not.

Vincenzo (I hope I spell his name correctly) is Sensei Yamada's student who follow him to the training camp. Sensei asked me to punch his abs, and when my punch landed on his abdomen, I really thought that I was punching a wall! It is solid!

There are quite some juniors around. Do hope that they really bring back home something from the camp, at least memories, and hopefully inspiration to practice and train hard.

Tired...

Tired ... tired...
Well, training today was not that tough, but accidentally brought over the tiredness from work in the morning.

So, too tired to type here also~

Today's 一言：Don't kill me....

Grading

Perhaps it is a lucky thing that I decided not to take this grading.
Was and am still sick.

Sitting aside looking at all of them doing, I am not too sure is it because of the 'knowledge' that I have for Karate, i found that they are not really that impressive. For a lot of the stance are floating, a lot of punches are just bruit forces, a lot of unnecessary movements...

In terms of floating stance, I still haven't manage to find a proper reason for why this happen. When looking, I am able to spot stances that are floating and not firm. But when asked wat need to be done to improve, I have no idea at all. My guess is that when one is too concern about moving forward, too concern about next step that they forgot about this very step they are taking, they don't let their weight settle down, and thus they float. Well, sounds very philosophical... but that is only my guess.

Punches and blocks in Karate should be done in the way of Karate... well, easily said. Starting from the very basic, the line of motion should be correct. The twisting motion, should not be forgotten. Only when this are well controlled with speed and force, then one can start to incorporate twisting of body and others. Well, that is what i always believe in, but from I see is a lot of people still struggling getting all of them learn and properly done at one shot.

Unnecessary movement... well they are like pulling up the sleeves, shaking the hands, standing up and going back into the stance after every movement. The training that had last time, my sensei used to scold if we have all this unnecessary movement. She always said, "Don't make it a habit." Not too sure whether do i have these unnecessary movement, but i know when i am too tired, i can't keep myself in that posture for long.

Today's 一言：one step at a time

Shifting

Basic training today was faster. Instead of start slow and increase the speed, we started fast, and move fast. At 7.30, we started to do basic kumite.

Terminology: くりうけ(kuriuke). Shinpa's blocking are all kuriuke.
Yokouchi and yokouke... sigh... I still mix up these two things... HELP!
If i remember correctly, yokouchi is outside in, and yokouke is inside out block... not sure....

Basic kumite, with attacker punching chudan gyakutsuki
Defender shift 45 degree backward either inside or outside but not too much, haraiuke, chudan, jodan nirentsuki; or
Defender move directly backward (inside opponent) into shikoudachi, yokouke(?), urakenuchi, kensui (hitting the groin), and gyakutsuki; or
Move 45 degree backward shutouuke, and kick mawashigeri or maegeri.

Attacker punch jodan gyakutsuki:
Defender move slightly sideways, kuriuke block and punch; or
Defender do karauke (let say right hand punch), use right hand to catch the hand, twist clockwise direction and gyakutsuki; or
Defender move backward in a slight angle, with a sashite, and shutouchi at the neck.

Some key points:
When doing shutouuke, it is always done in sideways, and never moving back straight.
The moving back should not be done excessively. It will cause it to be very difficult to move back and attack. For some of the technique (such as the uraken and kensui, sashite and shutouuchi), yoiashi shifting is very important. It not only bring the person closer to the opponent, it also increases the attacking strength.

Kata:
In Wanshu, all the 'katateshutou' are fast, not slow.

Hmm... am still wondering... how should I be blogging here....
Anyway, somehow i felt that the training is becoming tougher and tougher. Although it makes me feel tired, but it makes me feel good. But good food is also important I guess. With the good food that i ate in the afternoon, I found that I am able to do things better and more concentrated.

Today's 一言：Hungry fighter can't fight.

Block it, not parry it

Thought of doing some difference in today's warming up.
Instead of run run run, stretch stretch stretch... I mix running and stretching together. And the dashing in the end, I still made it into small section, dash and push up, dash and push up, dash and sit up. I think Sensei quite like this idea. Not too sure, but just my intuition.

Sensei asked me to lead basic idoushiki (移動式) today. Personally, I don't have a lot of variation. My basic drills are kind of standard. 追い突き (oizuki)、逆突き(gyakuzuki)、上げ受け(ageuke)、横打ち(yokouchi)、横受け(yokouke)、払い受け(haraiuke)。。。

And what follow is Kata training. Oh! Got the name today.
Big knuckles = だいけんとう　(daikentou)
small knuckles = しょうけんとう (shoukentou)
In the beggining of 十手(jitte), there are two small knuckles that was used to hit the hand, and if hit at the right point, it can be very painful. And for the 下段払い後屈立ち (gedanbarai koukutsudachi), we are told to cross our hand to perform a full blocking. May be I should try that for my chatanyara Kusanku as well. May be it will look better.
For Wanshu, the 4th step (werid way of counting...) where we hit our own hand while raising one leg, when dropping down, it is not just a yokobarai. I used to think it was so. Sensei said that we need to pull in our hand slightly and 'punch' it out. It has a blocking, as well as a punching/pushing in it. (hmm... bad in describing. haha...)
And the double palm, the lower hand is 'pointing' sideways, supposed to hit the waist. And I always thought that it is a block. Well, but everything is also up to our own interpretation, we can use it as a block, it is just a variation. Just that must always keep in mind, originally, it should be a hitting, that is all.

After all the training, Ivan was telling me, when I didn't do yokouke correctly. The correct way should have the fist slightly outward from the body. But it doesn't really look nice in kata, so for competition purpose, most of the time we made it align with the body. But for real application, it should be slightly outward to make sure efficient blocking.
Kevin was telling me as well, when I block I didn't block completely. Most of the time, I am just using nagashiuke. But by executing a complete block, I am able to clear the whole area, and be very sure that the opponent will not be able drive in through the same place again.
What does it mean by a complete block? The elbow, should be moving all the way in, just like when we did in basic, when we block. Ivan said that is what Albert Senpai always teach. Block, not parry.

Today's 一言：Block fully, punch fully, live life fully.

Tiring training..

First half training of today was tiring. No rest between different technique of basic training. Leong Lok Senpai said that was sensei's order. In the end of 1 hour, my sweat really soak my Gi. Haha... but it is a nice feeling, especially punching with a soaked Gi, it gives a better sound.

Basic training today (Don't think i can remember all, but here are some):
1 Gedanbarai Shikoudachi forward and backward.
2 Gedanbarai shikoudachi, shift open front leg gyakuTsuki zenkutsudachi, shift front leg gedanbarai shikoudachi again.
3 yokouchi nekoashidachi, back leg maegeri move forward, move another step forward oitsuki.
4... (ah.... can't remember already....)

People who have stance floating, when they move forward and backward, their shoulder will go up and down together. I am wondering, is it because the shoulder that cause them to 'float' while moving around? Also, there is a tendency for them to push all the weight to the front leg, leaving the back leg very light. As common sense tell us, balancing with two legs is always better than one.

Enshin Kumite (円心組み手?) is an interesting way of training one step sparring. One people in the middle, and several people surrounding the person. The attack comes in one by one, at a fairly fast speed. A lot of us are not used to change our target from one person to another in that speed, consequently not able to block or block wrongly.
Our group do it in a fairly slow manner, so that we have enough time to recover and change our focus to the second target. The other group however move continuously. No complicated movement, just simple technique. But getting it accurate and sharp is the difficult part.

Today's 一言： tired....

Wrong!

Is this joke of the month? Or perhaps for always...
I can't believe myself as well, I did my kata wrongly! And, I didn't realize I did anything wrong, only until the end when i finished, i am backing the audience!

I sat down and started to think over and over again, wondering where i made the mistake. After going through the kata mentally several times, oh! I miss out a turn! I did it like Chatanyara Kusanku, instead of the way basaidai should be.
Oh well, wrong doing is wrong doing. Must admit i did that wrongly.

Today we kind of interact and demo Karate in sports camp, hoping to promote Karate, hoping to be able to recruit more people to join Karate. Other martial arts group was around as well. But somehow, Karate people and Kendo people talks to each other. Not so much with other group of people. I am still wondering why.
I am still not sure, what are the things in Karate that actually attracts the attention of people of no martial art background. A lot of our interaction have skipped the basic, the basic that i always deem important. I wonder will there be more people who join in without wanting to do the basic...
But I like the first thing that we taught them, as far as possible, avoid conflict. Escape from their grab, and RUN AWAY~

Trained kumite after the whole demonstration. Hendrad said I will lost my Zanshin after 4 or 5 attacks, which made me quite easy to attack. And when i am tired, i tend to attack more. But with a lot of opening, i kept on finding Hendra's hand and foot landing on me.
But one thing still remain the same, it is hard to pull me down. :P


Today's 一言： Be environmental friendly, don't break board~