SaiFightsMS

I was 40 when i got my 2nd kyu and definitely saw ups and downs in my training on my journey in the dojo. I also saw the same thing going on in my classmates. But that is what life is like. It is a series of ups and downs. If you have no lows you have no highs and great times to balance them out. And can you imagine how boring it would be to run on the same even, level keel every day? It is our low times that make the high points seem so bright and wonderful.

Being involved in a family program is rewarding in so many areas. Your daughter is going to be so far ahead of her classmates at school in her ability to concentrate, just another side benefit of martial arts training. Watching the kids grow and develop self confidence was one of the most rewarding things for me.

When I see someone who is really elite in their field of endeavor I see a dedication that permeates their whole being. For some it is a total awareness of what is around them and a sense of when to move and when to react before what they are reacting to seems obvious to others. Some see in their opponents eyes what move is coming next. Some see their surroundings in a blink and see where to move to be ready to intercept, the open spot to get to out of the way of danger almost like a 6th sense. For those whose commitment to training in whatever area they choose permeates them to their core.

I am blind as a bat without my glasses and invested in a pair of sports goggles that I wore. I got a second strap for them and even wore them in the pool when I was working with my deep water jogging vest.

Nicely document progress on your thread here.

Patrick reached out to me to chime in on this. I have had ms for 37 years. My training helped me regain a lot of function and maintain it as long as possible. When I began training at the first test I went to as i watched Rohai being done and the crane stance I said there is no way I will ever be able to do that. Then one day there I was learning to do Rohai. I also did tsukenshita haku no Sai with crane stance and my test with that kata went very well. Martial arts training is fairly well rounded when you think about it. We do a lot of flexibility work, strength, endurance work and cardio work. Deep stances and shiko dachi helps strengthen out legs and help keep them strong. Working kata stringing a series of them together will work endurance. Kihon training works with muscle memory. One thing we all need to learn to do is to learn to listen to our bodies. To learn when to push the limit and to learn when not to because that day it will be detrimental. I began training in my chair at first and then graduated to standing next to it for part of the drills hanging onto it for balance. Then onto moving up and down the room with both forearm crutches then a pair of canes. Then as it turned out my spot in the lineup was next to the wall which helped me a lot when I was still working on balance. I came to a point where I was doing everything everyone else did and the same way they did. As i progressed in rank the time I spent teaching white belts they had no idea that I had a physical handicap. Well maybe the did notice I was the only one training in shoes. Things did progress again after a serious exacerbation and I was no longer training the way I was before. By then I had achieved the rank of nidan. And to earn that I did the same thing everyone else did. What I took with me was something internal that had gradually been sinking into every day life. The year I played quad rugby sitting in an armor plated wheelchair i felt like a warrior.

We focused more on having beginning students learn their katas with power rather than speed. Moving slower and focusing on the correct technique done with power helped build strength and endurance. Speed increased later as a natural result after several years of training and achieving doing kata with strength and power. Those who went for speed first were rather lacking in power. The videos linked for examples were also wonderful examples of the combination of power as well as the speed. I would practice katas at a slow pace focusing on technique then do it at power then repeat the process until I basically ran out of gas when I worked out by myself. The pacing of the kata for me evolved naturally over time and a lot of practice with attention focused first on learning proper technique then adding more and more power as the movements became ingrained.

Fabreeze is a fairly new product in the scheme of things. It doesn't matter if we agree or disagree the reasoning behind how or why we do things differently is interesting. I do remember one time someone asked me what a tan belt meant rank wise. It was an old black belt with all of the black worn off leaving just the layers on the inside except for an area of the ends hanging down under the knot.

Had a student once who missed a class because he was helping his Grandma and she thought she had seen a stray black cat in her flower bed. When he went to look for the cat he found a skunk. He didn't want to offend anyone that night with his new fragrance.

For many martial arts is part of their way of a balanced life looking at it from the point of mind, body and spirit. It doesn't always start that way but the longer one continues the practice the more is absorbed. In many ways the practice of martial arts is about doing your best with what you have to work with and it doesn't hurt that along the way our training can increase what we have to work with. Hope that made sense.

Happy birthday!

I used to wear black gi pants to work out in after I got tired of ripping out my sweat pants.

Ive seen a few spectacularly grungy belts that really did not look good. Ever notice that in pictures of the old masters their belts did not look like a ratty old rag? After you sweat in your gi and your belt you go home and wash your gi. Now after a while the belt becomes offensive and when you pack your bag do you want a nice clean gi in the same bag with a belt that is making the entire bag smell like the pair of socks someone took off in basic training after a week on bivouac? I admit to washing my belt a few times by soaking it in cold water with a very mild soak, rinsing in cold water and drip drying but only when it was getting ripe.

I had to go peruse the archive. Some of those pictures bring back memories.

We used to play all night Risk games at Ft Devens on Friday or Saturday nights. In College I played a bit of D&D.

[quote name="chrissyp" I'm not proud of this' date=' nor is that the point of this post. i'm posting this, because I learned through this conflict, what it means to be a martial artist, or something; I held back, I didn't hurt him like I could have, I picked and choose my shots. Even though I was very emotionally hurt, I had concern for his safety, and only did what was nessesary to end it, and avoided really hurting the guy. Before martial arts, I would have just hurt him...maybe it means I've learned compassion for my fellow man? [/quote] Holding back and doing just what was needed to handle the situation shows your maturity and growth as a student of the martial arts. It is often said there is no first strike in Karate maybe you see a bit of insight into this now.

Shodan is where you find out how much you don't know and a new journey starts.

Informative

Very nicely done!

As you age you will learn to pay more attention to properly warming up and maintaining your flexibility. As you continue to train you will find that you are in far better physical shape than your friends and your mental condition will also be improved. I was 40 when I got my brown belt and lets not discuss how old I was at nidan.

There are multiple components in a well performed kata. To perform the techniques correctly and in the correct order is among the first consideration. Focus, power and stances are also things looked for. I have seen few perform kata at a rapid pace that did not look sloppy. Focus and power are much better to strive for than speed.

I took my favorite kobudo weapon and added what my training helped me to do better than anything else in the years of battling a chronic condition. Do I still get my sai out and work with them? You better believe it.

When I began looking for karate information I found several forums but this one was the friendliest and has been one of the most longstanding. The quality of moderation here keeps things civil and even though participation may wax and wane the quality is always high.

Congratulations!

Good luck and train hard.