My journey back into Goju Ryu

[Dani_001]

Renzoku bunkai of gekisai dai ich is what we did tonight. It's like the more I fall into Goju, the more I fall in love with it. It's similar to the Seni Silat I once did in certain aspects. Discarding what is flashy and using what really works against an attacker.

I am also learning Saifa kata, this kata is a bit challenging for me but I am getting there...

New developments are that June 21st there will be an orange and green belt gashuku and I will be attending. Also, in September, Africa Goju Ryu Federation is hosting a kumite in Johannesburg, my sensei and I agreed that I will be attending and fighting. So we are getting fight fit.

I am excited

That's the latest...

[Dani_001]

Guess who's back!!!

So,......... life happened... and there was only juniors left in the specific dojo I was at, and I'm talking about kids. So I decided to lay low for a while.

I never got as far as my previous post states about the gasshuku and the competition. I just gave up and hung up my gloves, sold my gi and went on with life.

But I restarted in this week, still at OGKK but at a different branch that has sufficient amount of seniors. My enthusiasm has kicked in again and I thought I would forget but my first session back was really good. After almost 3 years.

In the meantime I still did weightlifting and bodybuilding. Hopped onto the powerlifting train and I really enjoy it so I added it to my training.

On Tuesday evening back at Goju Ryu, we did kihon with those big foam pads. I gave the brown belt a hard time with that as my upper body strength has developed quite a bit due to my weight training. MY legs too have gotten very strong, but my kicking technique sucked. He (brown belt) on the other hand executed his kicks very well and pushed me back tremendously.

When it came to katas, I remember gekisai dai ichi fully and gekisai dai ni I lost footwork at the last five moves as I couldn't remember which way to go.

Saifa, I got the gist of it still. Now, the journey continues. I am ecstatic to be back!

[sensei8]

Dani_001,

It's absolutely fantastic that you've returned to the floor, and not everything was forgotten. I can feel the fire is still burning bright in your posts!! Welcome back to KF, and more importantly, back to the floor!!

Train hard...train well!!

[Dani_001]

Thank you so much!

By the way, the more I try to understand Saifa, the more the goal posts move away. I'm trying to get the moves 100% correct but it's difficult. Then I see higher grade belts also struggle and that consoles me. Perfection in Karate is hard but achievable. We just have to strive to get it.

[Dani_001]

Hi everyone! So I decided to do something I never done before. And that is training Karate OUTSIDE the dojo.

I was going to do it at gym but I was shy, so I decided to practice in my living room.

Just the first three stances of Saifa, 45° Zenkutsu, Musubi?, then into Shiko dachi.

I think it's called Musubi dachi for the second dachi...

But damn, it's amazing how quick just those three movements can work up a serious sweat!

I enjoyed it so much that I'm going to start training in the evenings when I can. I have a lot of work to do so I need to work on my footwork. On top of that, I need to drop my weight so I'm on a cut as well.

Keep strong peeps!

[Wayofaswede]

Sounds great, best of luck with your solo training sessions 😊

[Dani_001]

Thank you, WOAS, I believe that the heart of training is doing it on your own as well.

[Dani_001]

So yesterday we went through the sequence of Seiyunchin. The kata is not easy at all. We only went thru the movements. It was intense actually but I loved it.

I see that some schools vary in their rendition of the kata. Even their Saifa is different.

I bought my karategi also yesterday and I really enjoyed feeling like I'm a part of the class. I want to get another karategi now lol but I will be consistent in my training first.

[Wayofaswede]

Congrats on getting the gi, truly feels different to train in one.

[Dani_001]

@WOAS, Thanks it does truly feel different. Now I just need to shorten my pants as it touches the ground with a surplus of about 1cm. I am thinking of shortening it by 2 inches and my jacket sleeves by an inch.

Just an update, something amazing is happening! In early March, we are having a gashukku, wonder if I spelt it correctly. This is something I always wanted to do as it looked great from pics. I understand that training will be extremely hard on that day as we will be fine tuning techniques in Bunkai as well as Kata. Kihon and fitness will also be tested. This Gashukku is in prepartion of grading, which will be late April.

I have to say that since starting again, classes didn't become easier, but I got tougher. My suppleness has increased and I have lost 5.4kgs to be exact. I am very involved when it comes to my training and I take it seriously, sometimes I'm at the dojo an hour before the seniors start just so that I can do added stretching and warming up. I am still pleased that my control is perfect, I can execute a technique at great speed and not make contact or hurt my fellow student.

My forearms have been taking a beating though because I instruct my fellow student to block my technique at the speeds that I execute, but I am sure it will get stronger where I won't feel it anymore.

That's it from me, and have a lovely weekend and be safe everyone!