Questor

Last weekend we had our first SSU Oceania Gasshuku since 2019 up in Brisbane. 2 days of training learning katas Papuren and Gojushiho, as well as drills around their application. Sadly Ishitobi Sensei couldn't make it down from Japan (as he wouldn't have been able to get back into Japan afterwards) but it was great to train with people from all over Australia (and New Zealand) and be surrounded by fellow karate geeks.

Great class yesterday - we spent pretty uch the whole 1h15 going through the 6 main bunkai we have for Bassai Dai. Bunkai can sometimes seem rather esoteric when related to the kata, but these were really excellent, and in some cases, rather brutal

I have been rather slack updating my experiences here, apologies. Have been consistently training 3 days a week most weeks, I can definitely feel myself getting more proficient as I go along. Last weekend we had our quarterly grading. The week leading up to it had been nice and cool (low 20s degrees C) and of course grading day got up to 32..! My sweat got me through and I'm now 4th kyu. I still can't quite believe my progress, but being regular to training definitely helps. The most exciting thing is that our Australian Union of dojos in our style are having a Gasshuku in Brisbane at the end of April and I have booked to go. Sadly our Japanese head of style cannot make it this year, but it should be a great weekend, as I understand it we will be going through the kata Gojushiho, with all the bunkai and kumite applications. Really looking forward to it.

Keep us updated on your progress HM756

Been a little while since my last update. Today we had our final grading for the year. Melbourne decided to make it tough for us, and we graded in 33 degrees C heat! Much hydration was the order of the day. I managed to successfully grade to 5th kyu. We start to slow down from here, and promotions only come every 6 months at the earliest, but I don't mind that, as I don't want to rush into anything. Looking forward to getting back on the mats again this week for the last few classes before christmas.

Get better friends? *grins* But seriously, that's ok. I have found that I have become friends with the people I train with, or some of them at least, and we can all indulge our MA passion together. It's good that not everyone is into the same things, though not if people can't take the hint if you're obviously not interested in what they are talking about.

Awesome news - I have grading in 3 weeks too

We've been back in dojo for a week now. As expected there has been quite a bit of kumite work happening, given how long we have all been training on our own at home! I have had a mixed week. Thursday night I had one of those nights where I felt I was just not on my game, and my techniques and kata were behind what I know I can do. I know we all have those days so I am trying to not let it bother me too much. This morning's class was good. Had a little issue with one sparring partner who was throwing roundhouse kicks like he was trying to hit an impact shield (he has a few issues he is dealing with so I am not holding it against him too much, but I did have a word to sensei to maybe get him to rein it in a bit, as while I was quick enough to get out of the way, others might not be). We then worked a little more on the advanced kata we were learning through Zoom, Anan. I actually really like this kata, it is something very different to our usual.

Almost back into dojo! Our hard lockdown ended this past week, though we are still not allowed back into dojo until we are at 80% fully vaccinated, which is projected to happen by the end of this coming week. Outdoor 2 on 1 classes have been continuing though, and yesterday morning I went for a 20 minute 2-1 class that turned into staying around for over 2 hours. Was great to get some personal feedback and help me work on stuff that I had been struggling with. Also started to learn the kata I will need to grade with in about 6 months, Bassai Dai. It's a bit of a step up from the Heian katas I have been doing, but it seems pretty easy to learn so far. Mastering it is what will take the time of course!

It's been a little while since I posted. A few things have happened: We opened up in early August and after 3 days of freedom got locked down again. We had 4 hours notice of lockdown, so got a last class in on Thursday evening, then the Dan grading candidates had a very late notice late night grading because otherwise we weren't sure when that was going to happen! Since then we have been training via Zoom, it's of course not the same, but I've been going OK. The last couple of weeks, our vaccination rate has gotten to the point where 2 on 1 outdoor personal training can happen, and Sensei has been offering us the option to do some face to face classes that way, dodging the rain that comes with a Melbourne spring This all culminated in a grading happening today, 2 students to 1 instructor, outside, and without kumite, as contact is still forbidden. Only those of us who have kept up training online were invited to attend, but I managed to successfully grade to 6th Kyu. Hopefully in a few weeks time we will be back in the dojo, and we can get back to that all important in person training. Onwards and upwards

Back in the dojo this week after a couple of weeks locked down. Tonight's class was excellent, had a good chat with sensei around kata, along with a fellow student (same level as myself). He said that as we are moving more to the intermediate stage of our kyu ranks he's going to get us putting more technique into the movements and not just following the pattern, and also doing more bunkai. Bunkai is one of the things that really helps me get a kata into my head so I am definitely looking forward to that!

And we're back to lockdown, thanks to people not following the rules (not dojo related, just 'people' Before we got locked down, I started learning the last 2 Heian katas I have yet to learn, Shodan and Yondan. I think with a bit of practice they should be fine.

grading day was yesterday and I promoted to 7th kyu An hour and 40 minutes of full on work, rather proud of myself, even though there's still so much to learn. Kumite is always going to be my hardest discipline I think, it just doesn't come naturally to me, but that's why we train right?! Osu!

Saturday was a much better day - still plenty to work on, of course, but I didn't feel like everything I was doing was awful, which is an improvement!

Super frustrating session (personally) last night, just felt like I was a little 'off' with everything I was doing. I think I made it worse in my own head because I know I can do all the things we were doing much better, and so I was being extra hard on myself. Oh well, we all have days like that, just gotta come back next session and do my best

Woo hoo we're back in the dojo We have been able to train in person again since last Saturday. First class was definitely more easing back into things, given a lot of people haven't had the opportunity to get online and train. Grading was initially planned for this upcoming Saturday but has been postponed a week to give people the chance to get a little more confidence back . So I should now be testing on Saturday 3rd

Still under lockdown here in Melbourne, so the last week has been just online training via Zoom. I have to admit in general I don't get as much out of this as in person classes, which comes as no surprise I am sure. We did do some more work on combinations though and I think I am starting to feel more confident, particularly with the first 20 of them.

Just 2 classes again this week, but not through choice. We went into a 7 day lockdown on Friday thanks to a few cases having escaped hotel quarantine. Monday was a very interesting class, we went through the bunkai for Ananko. While it's not a kata I need to know for a little while yet, I found it super interesting, particularly since I really like the kata. We did a couple of different interpretations, as well as a really good piece of groundwork. Thursday was more combination work, then more kumite coaching. This week we talked about how to fight a counter fighter, while staying relatively safe yourself. Was super interesting. I also had my first dose of Covid vaccine today (Saturday) - so no classes for a few days probably works out quite well for me, give me time to get over any potential mild effects of the vaccine.

Just 2 classes for me this week (have a beer festival on Saturday....!) Got notice of the date for our next grading, towards the end of June (although could change to a week earlier as Sensei has shoulder surgery potentially happening that week!) Worked on some of our combinations. In our style we have a total of 40 combinations we have to learn by the end of our kyu grades, divided into 10 different sections of 4 each (1a-d are generally to do with oi zuki, 2s are gyaku zuki etc) To Aurik's point I am definitely having a bit of a struggle with my ushiro geri, but even though I was definitely still having trouble last night, something kinda clicked towards the end of that section of class and I think I have it in my head how to get it right. Just need some more practice. Kumite drills were about cutting on an angle to then quickly counter with your opponent open. Even though I don't yet do a lot of free sparring (generally we don't free spar until at least 7th kyu) it gave me some interesting ideas for sure. Not too much kata practice this week, although one of the things I dislike the most happened, we were all asked to perform our next grading kata in front of the class. The introvert in me always baulks at this! I didn't go too bad though and one of our Senpais gave me some really good one on one tips to try and help me be less tense and relax while performing the movements. Getting that balance of tension for kime and relaxing for fluid motion is something I definitely don't have down yet!

Inspired bay Wayofaswede's posts about their training, I thought I would start something similar and document how my training goes. Partly because it will help me remember what we worked on in class, and partly so I can look back as I progress and see where I have come from and hopefully not keep making the same mistakes! A little background, which I already kinda put in my introduction post here. I am a 43 year old guy, currently living in Melbourne, Australia. I trained Wado-Ryu for a little while as a teenager, then life caught up with me and I never went back to it. It has always been at the back of my mind that I wanted to train karate again and after a tough year mentally last year (working frontline healthcare has been rough) I decided in January 2021 to just do it. After looking around for dojos locally I settled on one teaching a style I hadn't actually heard of before (Shukokai) but upon doing some research I was happy that it actually has a traditional history. So, the story so far, up to the middle of May. I have been training 2-3 times a week now for around 4 months. My first few classes I was nervous as heck heading to the dojo. I was concerned about being both the oldest and most inexperienced person there. As it turns out, I shouldn't have worried, I was made to feel very welcome, and everyone has been very understanding at my inexperience. The muscle memory, while rather faded, has been coming back a little, and I have been managing to pick up techniques perhaps a little faster than someone who is an absolute beginner. Of course I am still in that beginner phase but my instructors have given me good feedback so far. We had a little curly situation about 6 weeks ago when our organisation had to close the dojo I was training at due to the landlord significantly increasing the rent. It had a silver lining though as I now train at our honbu dojo, mostly with our CI, who was State kumite coach for a number of years. As kumite is by far my weakest area, the tips I have been picking up have been invaluable so far. In late March I had my first grading in over 25 years and was surprised to be double promoted to 8th kyu. I guess my kata practice at home did pay off after all.. I by no means expect any further double promotions, and in actuality would prefer not to, as I think spending time to learn is a good idea. I do appreciate that 9th to 8th kyu isn't that huge of a jump and that the finesse required as we progress further increases with each rank I think that sums up my journey so far, I hope to post at least once a week with what's happened since last time. Feel free to follow along, all advice gratefully received.

I can also recommend thinking about finding a new school. While solo training is definitely something you could do, there is no substitute for training with a good instructor, you'll find you learn so much more and probably much quicker that way too.

Howdy gang, great to see some forums still around in the age of social media! A bit about me: I am a 43 year old guy currently living in Melbourne, Aus. I practiced Wado-Ryu for around 18 months when I was 16/17 years old back in the UK, but being a teenager, and then heading to university meant I didn't keep up with it. Fast forward to early 2021. I had been thinking for years that I should start training again, and finally got off my backside and did some research into local clubs. I discovered one rather close to home that seemed to have a good ethos, signed up for a trial, and haven't looked back in the last 3 months. It is quite different to the Wado that I have previously practiced, but it's been great so far. It's been an interesting experience, given I was the only white belt for the vast majority of classes, and almost everyone else was 3rd kyu or above, not to mention that I was almost certainly the oldest member of the class too! That being said, being immersed in a group of brown belts has been really good for my development so far. Everyone has been super friendly and helpful, even when there was something that I couldn't do yet. Had my first (in a long time anyway) grading last weekend, and graded to 8th kyu. Still a very long way to go, but I am looking forward to becoming better every day!