Karate 23
by Administrator ~ January 26th, 2008. Filed under: Karate, Training Notes.In this school, you will never get very far if you don’t master the techniques. There is no free lunch.
Today we warmed up, doing core stabilization exercises in the form of holding a position. Then we did the usual stretching, followed by dynamic warming using basic blocks, kicks, stances, and punches. Buhrs Sensei led the first hour of classes with the warm-ups, stretches, katas, and push-ups. Ballard Sensei led the second half with a lesson on the difference between sparring and real self-defense fighting. We learned how to get out of a shirt-grab and also a grab from behind. Then we went into sparring, which I hate. Maybe I hate it because I am so bad at it. To me, it is really hard to pretend to punch or jab at someone all the while dancing around each other. I would rather do better at it, I think, if we wore helmets and gloves. Not to protect me, but to protect my opponent. I don’t have the black belt type of control that comes with practice. At that level you know exactly how long your arm is and whether you are going to make contact or not and how hard. At my yellow belt level, I’m lucky just to be able to do the moves right. I am not the only one who hates sparring. There are many others.
I really need to work some more on my katas and kumites because they are all numbered and when the Sensei at the front of the class says, “OK, white do kata number 4, yellow, do pinan nidan, everyone else do kata number 10, and so on…” It would be nice to be able to remember which one that would be.
Today, I sucked. Oh yah, I also got my certification from Japan today, and I also picked up Marilyn’s. She was home sick today.
