This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.
Morning workout.
Dynamic stretching:
Leg swings to the front, side and back – 2 x 12.
Karate:
Moving forward and backward – inward block, elbow strike, back fish – 5 each way.
Moving forward and backward – inward block, reverse punch – 6 each way.
Afternoon workout:
Dynamic stretching:
Leg swings to the front, side and back – 2 x 12.
Today was our state tournament.
I did not do well at all and am pretty disappointed in myself. I trained like a man possessed for almost six months now and I didn’t even place. I am going to have to re-evaluate my training and maybe spend more time intensely working on flexibility and cut back on everything else. All the strength that I have does not seem to be worth much and I still feel that I am not balanced and tight. We had to wait for an hour before going to the ring and I just couldn’t keep my body warm or loose enough to do well. I am pretty sure that I am not going to compete, unless I just do Kihon, until it’s time for me to do Jion. I just don’t seem to have the body for Heian Godan and from what I was told, Jion should be a good kata for me because of my size. I have done Jion a few times in class already and it does feel right to me.
On a very positive note, my wife and son did very well today!
My son took first place medals in both Kata and Kihon. He entered the Kumite but did not place. His first and only match was against one of his best friends and he held back on every punch and fought like his heart was just not in it. He didn’t want to take any chance on hurting his friend. He also told me that he was not going to do Kumite until he gets his Shodan and is going to concentrate on Kata and Kihon which is what I have wanted him to do for a long time now. His fighting skills are just not the same level as his Kata and basics and I am proud of his choice and even more proud that he is now a state champion.
My wife also did very well. She took second in Kata and third in Kihon. Sadly, I did not get to see her compete because I was standing in the staging area for an hour waiting to get called out to the ring. I am also very proud of her.
It is nice to have at least two people in the house get rewarded for their skill and hard work.
Excellent class!
Because we have not tested, our Sensei broke us up into groups. The only people in that class who have not tested is my wife and I so we effectively got a private lesson from one of our Sensei’s.
I asked if we could work on some basics and he obliged. He had us do inward block, elbow strike, backfist both forward and backward. He gave me some good pointers such as reaching more when moving in to the horse stance doing the elbow strike. Also, he told me shift from the front stance into the horse stance which really makes the move much more effective. Also, when moving backward, my stance we way too narrow but once he told me, I was able to really widen it up just by moving my back foot out on an angle instead of just backward like I was doing.
We then worked on some double front snap kicks. I got an “impressive” from my Sensei because my kicks were higher than ever before. He tried to help me with my roundhouse kick but for some reason, I stop after each kick when doing double roundhouse. I cannot collect my balance fast enough to keep the moves fluid like they should be. I need to do some more work on those. He also noticed that my side thrust kicks are weak when over belt level so he had me kick him low while he held the pad. Needless to say, my kicks easily knocked him over when low but once they went higher they are weak until after the forth or fifth kick. It seems to take my hips at least 4 or 5 kicks before the power comes in up high so he wants me to figure out a way to warm up my hips the same way on my test day so that I can put some authority behind them.
We finished up with some kata work. He helped me get my stance wider when moving from the double block into the groin strike. Just moving my leg and pivoting seems to have fixed my issue of my stance being too narrow.
I am kinda sad that I test in three weeks because I really like the personal instruction that we are getting now. 😉