There is now just 1 month until the IOGKF European Gasshuku in Bournemouth, England. I just thought I would mention that.

:)

Training with a partner

I would like to mention briefly about the benefits of training with the help and assistance of other people. It is an important aspect of karate training to find a good instructor (Sensei) to be taught by, and this should not be overlooked. However it is also very useful to be able to practice exercises and routines with people, such as a gym partner or somebody to go on a run with. It is often the case that people lack motivation or experience to exercise alone, and although you might find the idea of physical exercise appealing, actually getting up and doing it can seem quite a challenge, so more often than not many people do not doing any exercise at all. Rather, they will sit at home and become frustrated for not taking the time to exercise. This is a good reason to find someone to train with, to motivate you to initially start doing something - anything!

After years of training with partners and also spending time training alone I can appreciate that having someone there to go through exercises has helped me a great deal. I have had so many excellent people to train with on a one-on-one basis and each of them has taught me more than they might know. I am able to take my experience of training with a partner away with me and use it to good effect when training on my own, I find that I can alter my thought pattern when alone to become my own training partner - that might sound a bit strange but it does work. Then, when I next meet up with friends to go through routines, I put my experience to good use and I find that often our training progresses so much more as a result.

There is a saying "Every journey begins with a first step" and begining exercising and taking part in any kind of training is no exception to this. The first step is almost certainly easier to acheive when you have somebody along side you to train with.

It is often important to find a good training partner who you can meet to go through exercises and routines, help with weight training, practice your sparring technique or perhaps kata (if you are practicing a martial art). A training partner will help you by watching your form when you are performing exercises, also when you are beginning to tire it is good to have someone with you to spur you on to the end of the routine. Training with a partner is good as a motivational tool, also you form a bond with a partner and your training benefits as a result.

Training in the dojo environment is much like having several different training partners all at one time - each time you meet together and train under the guidance of a good instructor you will find yourself training hard with several different training parnters over a given time period. After a while you come to appreciate that everyone has a different rythym to their nature and their movement also, some people are much better at certain things such as leg exercises while other have more upper body strength and are much better suited to wrestling technique or boxing.

Dojo training also allows you to practice with several training partners at one time. For example, combat situations can be devised that allow you to practice being pitted against several assailants at one time - a person training exclusively with one training partner might find such training difficult to come by. These are just a few of the potential benefits of employing a training partner, as well as training in a dojo environment. I believe that this is true no matter what martial art or sport you might practice.

June 21st

Today is the longest day of the year, training today usually involves being hot and sweating a lot - this evenings session at Childwall Dojo was no exception.

Tonight's class had the following black belts training with Sensei Roy Flatt:
George Yuen, Steve Walley snr, Steve Timson, George Weston, Steve Walley jnr, Cynthia Dare, Nick Bradford, Hayley Bradford, Neil Meadows and Mike Lyons.

Some of these students are training towards a grading examination at the upcoming European Gasshuku with our World Chief Instructor, Shihan Morio Higaonna.

A lot of tonight's class involved training with a partner.

The class began with Sanchin kata for senior grades, with shime (focus slaps) administered by a training partner.

The focus then moved onto class then moved onto padwork, again with a set training partner. Once paired up we mainly did kicking drills - one person holding the pad while the other kicked it using roundhouse kick (mawashi geri). We moved on to punching the pad follwed up with a roundhouse kick. Each series of techniques was repeated 50 times on each side (both left & right). Training tonight was particularly hot, I found myself getting "stitches" from kciking off the front leg (we stood in a long stance (zenkutsu) when kicking the pads, this made the exercise more difficult to perform many times.

After about half an hour of padwork, Sensei split the class into groups according to grade and we did kata until the end of the evening. Beginner grades were instructed by different black belts, each Sensei took about 10 minutes each teaching their group. Each group began the kata section of the class with Gekisai Dai Ichi kata, which was performed quite slowly and to a set count. Indeed, the senior class was given extra kata training - Sensei had us practiced Gekisai Dai Ichi on the spot (using no leg movements and always facing towards the front of the class) for 2 or 3 turns, after that we moved on to practice the kata proper, using legs and turning movements.

Training in heat is a good character builder, you have to try hard to keep going - it would be very easy to stop for a while and have a short rest between routines. It is useful to remember that karate from Okinawa was originally practiced exclusively in a country that is warm and humid all year round, so the opportunity to experience hot weather training her in England should be sought after as often as possible!

Sunday 18th June 2007 - Kicking Techniques Class

Class at Heswall Dojo, Wirral. Junbi Undo followed by press-ups, sit-ups and squats.
Basics incorporated lots of leg techniques. First exercise was to stand in musubi dachi (heels together, toes apart) and kick using gedan mawashi geri (roundhouse kick), returning to musubi dachi after each succesive kick. This technique was then practiced with a partner - partner assisted by standing directly in front of person kicking and holding their hands out at low (gedan), middle (chudan) and high (jodan) kicking heights while mawashi geri kicks strike towards a given target several times.

This class used mostly kicking exercises from start to end, padwork for target practice and several differeing types of moving basics and combination work incorporating several different kick.

Session ended with each student suggesting a different kicking combination for the class to practice as a group, the last section of the class went on a bit longer than planned and we overran a little on time as a result.

Session ended with stretching.

Training this evening (07 June 2007) at Childwall Dojo, Liverpool

Junbi undo - Warm Up taken by Sensei Steve Timson, exercises designed to carefully prepare all muscles and joints, for training. From toes and ankles right up the body to the head and neck.

After junbi undo, rest of class instructed by Sensei Roy Flatt.

Basic technique - Ura Zuki. This is a close in strike delivered either to the stomach wall (chudan) or to the jawline (jodan).

Chudan uke - Blocking practice with an opponent. Both partners deliver chudan uke block, both blocks delivered at the same time against one another with muchimi (similar to ude tanren arm conditioning training). Sensei Roy refers to using chudan uke in this fashion as "developing a searching block".

With opponent - one person attacks with a punch to the chest, the other person blocks chudan (as used above) and counter-attacks using Ura Zuki.

Padwork - one on one padwork with a partner. One person holds hand pads and calls out combinations for his training partner to perform. 3 rounds of 2 minutes, changing so each partner has a turn at holding the pads.

Sparring - Light, slow sparring with a partner. 4 or 5 two minute rounds, changing partners after each round.

Stretching with a partner - leg stretches, tricep strecthes and back stretches.