Saturday training

Satruday training is now resumed, for the preparation of next year's IVP training.

The usual morning physical exercise are still done to improve our physical. But how effective are the trainings actually? I have not read any articles that specifically said what kind of exercise is needed to improve our physicals, let alone exercise that is specifically taylored for Karate. True that I have been doing the training over and over for three years. But there is one element which I still felt I have not enough, stamina.
After coming to Singapore, it is true that I have been training constantly. Yes, I can see myself improving, in terms of technique, in terms of speed, accuracy... but without stamina, it is difficult to make full use of these traits that I have.

How to train stamina?
I believe in jogging and swimming. It is not about how fast one goes, it is not about how much distance one cover, but rather how long is one running or swimming continuously. The training that I prescribed to myself was to run 10 minutes, slowly increasing to 15, than 20, than 25, than 30. I don't run big courses, but only a short track, going round and round and round. Perhaps the view is boring, but the focus is on the training of stamina, the coordination of the body while running, the breathing in and out...

I will be going back to my place for 3 weeks. Hopefully in this three weeks time, I will be able to build up my stamina, at least by a bit. And hopefully by that, I will be able to make full use of my ability.

***
Training for competition... what should the training be like...
Again, I started to think and question the trainings that we have been doing. Should we be introducing all sorts of combinations? Or should we just drill on a the few basic and let them combine as they like? Should we be practicing all the movements? or just drill on the same movement over and over and over and over and over and over again?

Looking at the way they punch, apparently we still don't have full control of ourselves. It is relatively hard to hit consistently on the same spot. Some of them have problem punching in a straight line, the trajectory pathway is like a hook punch, or there are all sorts of extra movememnts, unneccessarily extending the time of flight.
Some even complain about hard to pull back, it is not natural to pull back. My only reply is "That is why you need training. Train hard and train well so that pulling back becomes natural to you."

Karate training is not just about punching hard, landing a heavy hit on your oponent and sending him to the ground. It is the control from the begining till the very end, and the end is not when the punch lands on the oponent, but when you have pull back the punch, pull yourself away to a safe distance from your oponent.

Well, but that is only for some.
In anycase, experience is the other component that is important. After repeating and repeating the same punches over and over again, when there is a living target that moves around and counter back every now and then, it is a whole new different story.
I believe in putting them into the arena, have some fight, for as many times as possible, so each and everyone will have the rough idea of how does a real fight looks like. The simple one two punch becomes a bit absurd when the oponent have their hand in front, able to strike you at any point of time when you charge in. What to do when this happen? Press down the hand? Charge in at an angle? The oponent is moving, what is the optimal distance for attacking?

Today's 一言：The fastest way to learn swimming is to jump into the deep trouble water (if you manage to survive...)

Punch punch punch kick kick kick

Training today is pretty straight forward.
Punch punch punch and more punches.
Kick kick kick and more kicks.

And it is super tiring!

Punched the kicking pad today.(sounds weird....)
My wrist is really not strong enough. As what Albert Senpai once said, our training doesn't really train us to be able to fully ustilize our stregnth. We may be able to build up the strength, to punch with a great force, but because of our wrist, we can't transfer the energy efficiently, and more than often, we might hurt our wrist.

Today's 一言: Strengthen the wrist!

Traditional training?

Punching from one end of the dojo to the other end, to and fro to and fro, with different techniques...
This was what we have been doing almost for one and half hour, with only a two minutes water break in between.

This is one of the more 'traditional training' that I know of.
But to really train, it is not just doing it, but also doing it the right way. How much power one puts into the punch, how much care one does to ensure the balance of the whole body, how much effort one does to ensure that the stance is moving in the correct manner and is always correctly placed?

They form the basic of the person.
True when we are doing kumite, we don't really do cat stance, zenkutsudachi, or whatever stance that we learn. But the basic training are to stregthen our muscle, and we will be standing in a mix stance of all the stance that we learn, depending on the situation.

The more important thing is flexibility.
A lot of people like to ask this, "Why do you practice kata? Do you think that the person will definitely kick after punch? What if the person don't kick after punch? Then the sequence of the kata will bring you to danger!"
But that is not the whole point of kata!
When one practice kata, it is an imaginary oponent doing that set of technique alright. But in real situation, apply individual technique according to the situation, not blindly do what we always do in that one particular kata.

But it will be quite difficult to apply technique in kata nowadays. It was a form of training traditionally, with technique that is design to kill at first strike. A lot of them aim at the weakest point of human being.
I used to think why there are such short punches in Kata, I used to doubt whether are we able to apply it. That time, the only 'fighting' that I knew was the kumite for competition.
Today's training ade me rethink. Sensei has a lot of movement, to move in so close to the oponent to attack. At those distance, perhaps it is difficult to punch the punches that we normally do in kumite competition, but the punches that we learn in Kata can be put into good use.

Today's 一言: Shall we learn it in the traditional way?

Hong Kong

No, I didn't mean I went to Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Karate-ka came for training today. With 6 black belts around, Sensei's training was a bit more advance today. The movement are generally more complicated.

According to the Hong Kong people, the newer generation, when they do squat, the knee never bend more than 90 degree because it will hurt their knees, according to someone (some research??). However, the training with bending the knee for more than 90 degree is in a way better. Comparatively, we who trained with the old style, are able to pick our leg up higher, pulling our leg back still at the higher level comparing to those who don't bend more than 90 degree. But the trade off is when we get old, we might (not definitely, but just might) have knee problem.

How accurate is the information? I have not the slightest idea.
Perhaps will just take some supplement and pray hard that it will nullify the damage (if there is any) to the knee.

Today's 一言: Supper after training taste GREAT!