New

Went to learn a bit of Kendo again today.
Am starting to get used to the way of standing, facing squarely forward and not slanting.
Now it comes to the detail part of the hand, which I still have some problem with. Hopefully with more practice, I will be able to get it correct.

Kendo gives me a different feeling. The focus is not only on ourselves, but also the shinai that is in the hand. Trying to make the shinai part of our body, maneuvering it the way that we want to. I am not sure why, but I felt that the concentration is is deeper whenever I hold a shinai.
Concentration on controling the Shinai.
But is it because I am new to it, so I need to concentrate until the extent that I can feel myself concentrating hard? Is it because I have more muscle memory of Karate movement, so the concentration is less?

***
Not sure why, but today my body has a whole new feeling. A feeling of being more powerful, flexible and fast. Well, that is only when doing the basic.
When it comes to kumite, I still have quite a lot of problem. The concentration is easily lost with an oponent in front. The thinking is easily disturbed. Instead of seeing what kind of attack the oponent is coming in with, I started to think and anticipate what kind of motion. If the guess is correct, of course it will be nice. But more than often, guesses are wrong...

Have the chance to spar with Ziwee senpai.
I guess this is one of my weak spot. When I attack, my body opens up leaving me vulnerable to attack. When I was charging in, Ziwee senpai counter charge in to Chudan level, giving me a blow just below my ribs on the left side.
Stunt. Not only mentally, but physically as well. Only after about one second, I manage to move myself again, trying to breath. Was able to breath out, but breathing in seems to be impossible. After forcing out air several times, manage to draw a bit of air in with the nose but still not with the mouth (this i really don't know why.. first time notice this). Quickly I draw more breath with my nose and get myself ready again to continue to fight.

Today's 一言: One punch

拳支え

拳支え (kensasae).
Ken is fist. Sasae is support.
Kensasae, one hand will be the fist, and the other hand will be the support.

It is not merely putting one hand beside the fist.
It need to be done in a harmony way.
The support must move together with the fist, the fist must move together with the support. If the fist move too fast, and the support catch up later, the moment they meet, the support will slam into the fist. Instead of giving it support, it hurts the fist.
If the fist move slower than the support, the support will be pushing the fist. Most of the energy are being used to move one hand by another hand, nothing will be left for the hitting/blocking of the oponent.

Harmony.
Both hand should move together as one.
Together as one, both hand move together with each other. When one hand move, the other hand follow. When it stops, both stop. When the fist comes into contact with something and need a push, the support which is always there will come into play, pushing the fist, without making an impact that hurts the fist, giving the fist a support, pushing the together with the fist into the same direction.

Of course, the harmony doesn't just end with two hands.
The whole body, should come into play as well. Rotation of the hip, movement of the leg, controlling of each and every muscle to make sure the balance are maintained always, creating speed and force that made the kensasae to be a stronger one.

Today's一言: Peace inside.

Zanshin

Zanshin, aka Focus.

How focus are we when we are practicing?
Went to meet up with the Kendo people before training. There is a strange kind of feeling whenever I hold a shinai. It is not about running to hit your oponent, but to stay calm and feel the control of your whole self. Trying to focus externally, as well as internally...

This reminds me of the feeling how I did my Kata. The focus is not only towards the imaginary oponent in front. Focus should be place withint oneself as well. To feel the balance of the whole body, the movement of every muscle, shifting the weight from a spot to another spot, punching and kicking, blocking and countering with control strength...

We have been doing basic all the time. Moving forward, backward, punching, blocking, kicking... but are we really focus? Do we really see the imaginary oponent in front of us? Do we feel movement making sure that it is smooth and fast, strong but with full control? One very basic thing that I notice all of us like to do, or perhaps all of us not do. We don't look straight forward. Worse still if there is an oponent in front. Somehow, we didn't dare to look straight into their eyes. More than often, we look at the floor...

Today's 一言：ザンシンがないならアカン! (Cannot don't have zanshin)

Gathering~

We celebrated Sensei's birthday today after training.
And for that matter, a lot of the seniors who haven't been showing up for a long time, all turn up suddenly today. Although I didn't know them, but seeing so many senpai around is always an exciting thing.

I wonder how long have the senpai been not training. Or are they still training every now and then on their own? Perhaps they can't remember the kata clearly, but the basic, the foundation are still there. Solid.

I wonder after my graduation, when I strat working, will I still be training? If I am not making regular appearance in the dojo, will I still be doing my own training every now and then?

Today's 一言: Built in foundation are hard to lose.

Faster 2

Sensei wanted basic training again today.
Basic block, punch and kick, on the same spot.

The aim of the training was not aimed to drain all the breath by continuously punching and blocking at a speed so fast that one is just merely moving the body without any concious thought. The counting is made slower, with no fix tempo. This is to ensure that everyone is concentrating, focused, executing technique by reacting to an external factor.
And more importantly, try to make every technique to be sharper, faster, and stronger.

As what Sensei said, the training now, is at a fix position. At a fixed position, are we able to punch faster, sharper, more powerful. In kumite, we are moving. But at the time of attacking and blocking, the split second, we are in that fixed position.
The aim: to execute the technique completely in a split second.

For me, to accelerate a punch, one should not just be focusing on the punching hand, but also the 引き手(hikite), the hand pulling back. There should also be a control of the muscle, ensuring every moment the movement is under our control, to extend forward and to pull backward, instead of letting the momentum to complete the technique by itself.

****
Went to the Kendo place and learn a bit from them. Karate stance and Kendo are quite different. One of the very obvious thingy is when we stand, Karateka tend to slant the body (at least a bit) while in Kendo, this should not happen.
First lesson? Hold the shinai, at the correct kamae, continuosly.
When the hand is tired, the hand will relax automatically (as there are no more energy), and that should be the correct way of holding. Only at the split second cutting down, the front hand will be exerting force to make the cut clean.

Putting the idea back into Karate, reminds me of a saying: From nothing to something.
Kamae should be in a relax form. All the muscle should be relaxed so as to be able to react faster. When executing a technique, the force are poured in and from a totally relax (nothing) position, we block/punch, ending with full strength at the very end (something).

It is from nothing to something, not nothing to nothing. The very end of the punch should be full with force instead of no force at all.
But sadly we don't train on makiwara or any pad. With punching of the air, any force that is generated will be experienced by our own punching hand. So, it will be important to ensure that our hand are strong enough to take the force as well.
Thus another saying: We should be able to receive hit as hard as the hit we can deliver.

Today's 一言：ざんしん　(focus)

Mawashi-geri

From a stranger, I heard that sensei's mawashi-geri made him very famous. The speed and accuracy, topping up with flexibility and strength, it just made it more formidable.

The stranger said, "Asked your sensei how to do it."

Personally, I know the answer without asking.
Train, train, train harder and train more.... in the correct way, of course.

Sensei made us do Mawashi-geri today, as part of the training.
First is to stand with heisokudachi (feet close, toes all pointing forward). Pick up the leg with the knee tugged in, and then kick. The moment picking up the leg, it is important to rotate the Jiko-ashi (the foot on the ground) to make sure that the leg can reach further.
And repeat repeat repeat...
Then standing with shizen-dachi, using right leg kick to the left side, and left leg kicking to the right side. A lot of spinning, and a lot of balancing.
After that, is just kumite-gamae, kick mawashi and step forward. Lastly is kick mawashi with back leg, and step forward, and then pick up the front leg and kick again.

Do these training help? A lot of people wonder and doubt it.
The thing about Karate, is not that you just need to know the theory and it will work. One will need to keep on practicing and do a lot of traing, to build in this muscle memory, to learn the ability of coordinating the whole body movement, to train the muscle so that it is strong enough to control the movement exactly as we want it to be.

And as what have been said in one of the previous post, kicking slowly is useful in learning how to control. It builds up all the muscle that is required to kick the leg so that one will be able to kick with full accuracy and full control.

Today's 一言：It is that simple, just practice more.

Back to School....

At last, today we shifted our training ground back to school.
It was really something that I have been looking forward to. It is a lot more convenient for me, and other people will be able to see us (better publicity), kicking pad is just near by and we can take it out to use easily.

But imagination can be quite limiting. Either we think of the good things only, or we think of the bad things only. And in this case, obviously I have neglected all the not so pleasant thing.

Basket ball people came in, saying that they will be having competition tomorrow, asking to borrow half of the court to practice. And the volleyball people 'think' that the court belongs to them... and we only have an area of two badminton court. (the size of the hall is 6 badminton court).

Perhaps that is not too bad. They are shouting, we are shouting. I am not sure is it because of the echo or the Juniors are really shouting loud today, trying to beat the noise of the other people. But when it comes to explanation, our voice is just drown in the sound of friction between the soles of the shoes and the wooden floor, as well as the ball being hit by the hand or falling to the floor...

And something worse is that the ball keeps on flying towards us...

All of these are disruptive to the training. I couldn't concentrate.
Training without concentration is not really training. Somehow it is not satisfying, it is not tiring, it is becomes not enjoyable...

Solution? We will be shifting back to the Japanese Primary School next week again.

But there is one thing that I realized.
One thing about Karate that I enjoy is the concentration that I have when I am doing it.

Suddenly reminds me of these two times when I was so concentrated in doing my Kata. It was in a competition, where the whole place was rowdy and noisy. But the moment I announce my Kata, Kankudai (and in the other occasion, Tekki Shodan), i came to my own arena, with me and me only. All the sounds and all the crowds are swallowed into another dimension, and I am given the priviledge to enjoy the tranquilty.

Today's 一言：Concentrate well

Hanging on...

Training today somehow ended up being very tiring, especially for the first half.
Towards the end of the first half, I am moving with my mental strength, rather than pysical power. I reckon a lot of others are also as well. The physical started to have problem in keeping balance, let alone to move. But the strong mental will, kept on telling ourselves that just a bit more, another one, just one more... and this kept us continue to move and move and move.

This pushing over the limit are the things that made us improve everytime we train. True, the training are just the repetition of basic, but there is no limit of improvement, and there is always a 'better' to attain.

Wanting who just came back from Japan was still ranting that here we don't give encouragement to each other. Everyone just mind their own business. Shouting out, giving encouragement is a 'difficult' thing to do. True that we trained with the Oosaka people and we have seen how they cheer up each other, but wanting to bring in this culture into our dojo, perhaps is really not such an easy thing to do.
Nevertheless, I do hope that it will take place some day.

A lot of juniors are still afraid of hitting their opponent. When the punches slightly contact, they will go 'Sorry sorry!" and punching with punches so light subsequently.
As what Colin said, we need to believe our partner that they will be able to take the punch, and we will be able control our punches, not to the extend of killing the oponent.
In my own words, it is showing respect. Respecting your oponents ability in receiving punches.
A mental barrier to be overcomed.

That is not all. In kumite, we tend to be very 'soft'. When people attack, we just move back, pull back. This is not always a good choice. Imagine when a person attack you, and you pull back. This gives the opponent enough distance to kick easily. And because you are pulling back so much, your ability to push back and move forward for an attack becomes so much lesser.
Ideally, one should just attack back when the oponent attack. Block and counter attack at the same split second. Colin was telling us his training in HongKong, the defender will be standing near to the wall. When the attackers come in, there is no more space to pull back and was force to charge in.

To me, training can be divided into two major component. Physical training, and mental training.
Physical training, to train one to be tough, to be flexible, to be fast.
Mental training, overcoming fear, to move in an exact opposite of our reflex action, to be the person in control of oneself.

Today's 一言：If you are scared, just close your eyes and punch!

Faster

Sensei commented on the training today.

When he said faster, it doesn't mean that I need to count faster, so that the transition becomes faster. More importantly, it should be each movement faster. The transition can still be a bit slow, to let them reconstruct the imaginary target, to recollect onself, to be preapare for the subsequent attack.

Somehow, need to encourage all of us to move faster. The pushing of oneself to move faster is the important part in the training, so that the muscle are able to react faster, to generate a faster punch and a faster kick.
What can be done is using word to encourage and to push them to move faster. When counting, make sure the sound is 'fast' enough to drive people to move faster.

Today's 一言: Speed allows you to attack, and allows you to escape.