aurik

I'm on episode 9 now. Quite a few twists and turns.. good stuff!

We actually have one student who will be testing for her sandan-sho (she is an adult nidan) this Testing Cycle, because she is too young to test for full sandan. However, she has been training and teaching for years (she runs several classes at one of our rec centers). She has enough TIG as a nidan-sho to test for a sandan-sho, and as a sandan-sho, she can apply for a Shidoin's license, which would allow her to open her own school if she wanted to.

Have you considered swapping out the lat pull downs for barbell rows? If you do 160x5 on the bench press, turn around and do 160x5 on the barbell row. Keeps your front and back balanced.

Reposting this from the "Equipment and Gear" section from one of the replies, but it very much pertains here as well. So I had an atrial flutter ablation procedure yesterday. The absolute worst part of it was the prep -- they had to shave almost my entire chest and back (to apply the various cardiac leads and parts of my groin area (for access to the femoral artery). And then they had to insert two IV's. My skin is pretty thick and tough (it's always been, and I'm sure the years of kotekitae haven't helped). The left arm was an easy stick in the crook of the elbow. On the right arm I have this really nice vein on the back of my hand that is usually really easy to draw blood from, but yesterday it wasn't having it. The nurse tried it and by the time the needle punctured the skin, the vein just... moved. Then they pulled out the ultrasound machine to try two different veins in the forearm - no joy. Then the anaesthesiologist steps in and finds what looks like a beautiful vein in the crook of the elbow, he brags, "If I can't get that vein..." and then it takes 4 different sticks to get a vein in my forearm. By that time, I felt like a danged pincushion. The procedure itself went by pretty quick. I think it was about 1 hr 45 minutes. They went in through the femoral artery with a camera and a few other tools. The doctor was able to trigger the atrial flutter, then he did the ablation, and was unable to trigger it afterwards. He then checked for other abnormal rythms, and was unable to trigger any of those. So nothing unexpected. For recovery, I had to lay flat on my back for an hour afterwards and was able to have some water, then another hour at 30 degrees, and after 2 hours I was able to sit up fully and have something to eat (By this time it was about 4pm, and I hadn't had anything to eat since 9pm the night before. I was able to go home at about 6:30pm, with instructions to apply pressure to the wound site anytime I change positions (sitting->standing), etc. Take it very slowly up and down stairs for 48 hours afterwards, no showering for 48 hours, and no driving for 5 days. That's primarily to let the incision site heal -- they told me if things start bleeding, I need to apply hard direct pressure, and if it doesn't stop in 10 minutes to call 911, no exceptions. So I'm taking that pretty seriously. Other than that, no showering for 48 hours, no driving for 5 days. I have a postop appointment to check the wound site, and assuming that looks good I can resume physical activities afterwards (but I'll probably wait until after Thanksgiving to be on the safe side). I no longer have to take the Diltiazem (for the atrial flutter), and I can stop the Eliquis after 30 days. So after 30 days, I hope to put this difficult chapter behind me and move forward. I'll probably be seeing a cardiologist for the rest of my life, but it's just one of those things about getting older, I assume.

So I actually had the procedure yesterday. The absolute worst part of it was the prep -- they had to shave almost my entire chest and back (to apply the various cardiac leads and parts of my groin area (for access to the femoral artery). And then they had to insert two IV's. My skin is pretty thick and tough (it's always been, and I'm sure the years of kotekitae haven't helped). The left arm was an easy stick in the crook of the elbow. On the right arm I have this really nice vein on the back of my hand that is usually really easy to draw blood from, but yesterday it wasn't having it. The nurse tried it and by the time the needle punctured the skin, the vein just... moved. Then they pulled out the ultrasound machine to try two different veins in the forearm - no joy. Then the anaesthesiologist steps in and finds what looks like a beautiful vein in the crook of the elbow, he brags, "If I can't get that vein..." and then it takes 4 different sticks to get a vein in my forearm. By that time, I felt like a danged pincushion. The procedure itself went by pretty quick. I think it was about 1 hr 45 minutes. They went in through the femoral artery with a camera and a few other tools. The doctor was able to trigger the atrial flutter, then he did the ablation, and was unable to trigger it afterwards. He then checked for other abnormal rythms, and was unable to trigger any of those. So nothing unexpected. For recovery, I had to lay flat on my back for an hour afterwards and was able to have some water, then another hour at 30 degrees, and after 2 hours I was able to sit up fully and have something to eat (By this time it was about 4pm, and I hadn't had anything to eat since 9pm the night before. I was able to go home at about 6:30pm, with instructions to apply pressure to the wound site anytime I change positions (sitting->standing), etc. Take it very slowly up and down stairs for 48 hours afterwards, no showering for 48 hours, and no driving for 5 days. That's primarily to let the incision site heal -- they told me if things start bleeding, I need to apply hard direct pressure, and if it doesn't stop in 10 minutes to call 911, no exceptions. So I'm taking that pretty seriously. Other than that, no showering for 48 hours, no driving for 5 days. I have a postop appointment to check the wound site, and assuming that looks good I can resume physical activities afterwards (but I'll probably wait until after Thanksgiving to be on the safe side). I no longer have to take the Diltiazem (for the atrial flutter), and I can stop the Eliquis after 30 days. So after 30 days, I hope to put this difficult chapter behind me and move forward. I'll probably be seeing a cardiologist for the rest of my life, but it's just one of those things about getting older, I assume.

Can I join in? I've not done Naihanchi in a really long time, and would love to learn something new. I'd be happy to teach a Uechi-Ryu kata or two -- maybe our versions of Sanchin and Seisan?

Congratulations!

There are days where training is easy. There are days where training is hard. There are also days when training just plain sucks. Throughout your training you'll have ups and downs. You'll have days that things just "click", and your understanding of your art jumps to an entirely new level. The thing is, they rarely happen if you don't train through the suck.

Even after you're gone, whether that be in 5, 10, 20, or even 30 more years, you will continue to have an impact on this world in everyone you've touched. Whether that is your family, friends, students, associates, or those who you influenced on here.

When we spar, adults are only required to wear hand pads. We are encouraged to wear mouthguards, and shinpads + footgear are optional. Students under 16 are also required to wear headgear and footgear. I'm with you, sparring is about learning to get around/past your opponents defenses with light contact. Generally adults should be able to control their techniques so as to not injure their partner. However, in sparring the unexpected often happens (someone steps INTO your attack instead of away from it), so some padding definitely helps avoid injuries.

I love sparring someone that doesn't believe in the quick "out-and back", because I'll happily eat that kick, trap it, and then step in and pummel the snot out of them

Congratulations again

We don't use the term English "master" very often. We do have a number of well-defined instructor and shogo titles. For example, one can earn the title of shidoin (apprentice instructor) at 3rd degree after completing a certain number of hours teaching under guidance of an instructor; this allows you to open a school relatively independently (but you still must nominally train under a shihan ). Likewise, you can earn the shihan title (nominally "master instructor") at 5th degree, which allows you to teach independently without oversight. We then have the shogo titles of renshi (generally awarded at 6th dan), kyoshi (awarded at 7th/8th dan), and hanshi (awarded at 9th/10th dan). Again, we rarely use those terms; we generally refer to our CI just as sensei, and if there is another instructor teaching, I'll usually call them <name> sensei to differentiate from our CI. The exception is our CI's dad, who we'll usually just refer to as hanshi.

空手の日, "karate no hi", or Karate Day, celebrates the meeting of karate masters on October 25, 1936, where the name 空手, "karate" was officially adopted for the art we know today. It also established the kyu/dan ranking system. In 2005, the Okinawan Perfectural Assembly officially established October 25 as Karate Day to celebrate this anniversary. Each year, karate-ka from around the world gather in Okinawa to celebrate, culminating with a massive group demonstration of kata in Naha, Okinawaa. In fact, the 2016 Karate Day celebration established a Guinness World Record for the most people simultaneously performing a kata. This year, my CI and his wife went to attend the celebrations and to train with other high-ranking instructors in Okinawa. The video of this years' celebrations is posted below. The Uechi-Ryu contingent performs the kata Sanseiryu (三十六) at about 9:40 into the video. My CI is front and center in the contingent for most of that segment.

Sad to see the Avs losing to the Blackhawks... of course, the Avs have been struggling a bit this year. Heck, so have my Blues, too