Cool stuff I learned this week

[bushido_man96]

That sounds like a great week of classes (except for getting your arm cranked...hopefully, that gets to feeling better sooner rather than later).

Very cool on sitting in on the testing and watching. Hearing those evaluating the testing giving similar advised to what you saw and would have given is one of those higher level "aha" moments that Bob would talk about. Let's you know that you are actually getting this stuff too, which is a great feeling.

[sensei8]

What great classes you had both as a student and instructor.

All are students first and foremost before any other thing. The CI is a student first!! The Instructor is a student first!! Each matures in their techniques in their respective time. Meanwhile every student has many aha moments for one reason or another. Celebrate each aha moment because they're part of the building blocks of ones MA journey.

Isn't the MA...GREAT!!

[aurik]

What great classes you had both as a student and instructor.

All are students first and foremost before any other thing. The CI is a student first!! The Instructor is a student first!! Each matures in their techniques in their respective time. Meanwhile every student has many aha moments for one reason or another. Celebrate each aha moment because they're part of the building blocks of ones MA journey.

Isn't the MA...GREAT!!

I'm starting to REALLY appreciate the Tuesday night advanced adult class. In our typical class format, we generally do 30 minutes of warmups/hojo undo/sanchin, then we do 30-45 minutes of "rank material", and then 15 minutes of kata. Well, as a black belt, our tests are much further apart, so our "rank material" segment is basically "Here's an interesting set of techniques I want to show you". Sometimes it's something we've seen before, so it's a refresher. Sometimes it's a new application on an old technique. Sometimes it's something he picked up at a seminar somewhere. But basically it's something out of his breadth of experience that we get to work with, try to understand, and then apply to our own karate. SInce we don't test on a regular cadence, we don't have to focus on specific rank material -- in fact, the only difference in dan-grade exams (up to 5th degree at least) is the kata you need to demonstrate. (Of course the expected standards you are graded on will definitely change).

I remember once when I was talking about our CI and how he was disappointed at the number of students who quit once they got their shodan, thinking that was "the end of the line". He had told me "but that's when you get to start learning the really good stuff". A year into my dan-grade journey and I am starting to really understand that.

[sensei8]

To this day I still do not understand either the methodology and ideology surrounding "rank material". Laying aside a big part of the class curriculum dedicated to "rank material" seems to me where that school's concentrating towards the bottom line...money...is a disservice to the student body.

Training in the MA, imho, should never be driven by money but by effectiveness in ones techniques because money based training leads to ineffectiveness across the board.

If a students entire training was "rank material" based, then I believe that that student hasn't any maturity in their techniques. Inasmuch, I can see why many students stop their training at Shodan, which, might be the best thing in the scheme of all things concerned.

After all, to me, seeking rank and allowing the seeking of rank leads down a dark road that's paved in total ineffectiveness as a MAist. Training based in "rank material" sounds to me that the rank is more important than maturing in ones techniques...this is the fault of the CI and/or the Governing Body, but inasmuch, the CI is at blame for leading their student body down that path.

[aurik]

To this day I still do not understand either the methodology and ideology surrounding "rank material". Laying aside a big part of the class curriculum dedicated to "rank material" seems to me where that school's concentrating towards the bottom line...money...is a disservice to the student body.

Training in the MA, imho, should never be driven by money but by effectiveness in ones techniques because money based training leads to ineffectiveness across the board.

If a students entire training was "rank material" based, then I believe that that student hasn't any maturity in their techniques. Inasmuch, I can see why many students stop their training at Shodan, which, might be the best thing in the scheme of all things concerned.

After all, to me, seeking rank and allowing the seeking of rank leads down a dark road that's paved in total ineffectiveness as a MAist. Training based in "rank material" sounds to me that the rank is more important than maturing in ones techniques...this is the fault of the CI and/or the Governing Body, but inasmuch, the CI is at blame for leading their student body down that path.

Perhaps I over-generalized my statement. That 30-45 minute segment is more of a "material of the day" segment. Often it involves practicing the bunkai and/or yakusoku kumite appropriate for the student's rank. It may involve (infrequently) sparring drills and techniques. Every so often the CI will sprinkle in self-defense techniques derived from kata, or joint locks, or throws, or working on something completely different.

[aurik]

... And so it begins (again)

Many things have happened since I last posted in here. I started on a new blade, this time a tanto, with about a 9 inch blade. The nice thing about a tanto is that the construction is near identical to that of a katana or wakizashi, but on a much smaller scale. Therefore, much easier to get the details right. For example, one of the hardest part of making a sword is keeping the bevels consistent along the entire blade. The way most people handle this challenge is to forge the bevels to a very thick edge, then rough them in with a grinder and finish them with hand sanding.

Let me tell you, hand sanding a 30" blade takes a REALLY long time. However, when working a 9" blade most of it can be done by a belt grinder with only the final few grits being done by hand. So that leaves the fittings -- the habaki collar mating the blade to the guard), tsuka (guard), and tsuba along with associated fittings. The only real difference between making these for a tanto, wakizashi, or katana is the length of the tsuka. So by working a few tanto, I get to practice making all of the fittings with a much smaller blade. Last weekend I took a piece of bar stock, forged it down to my intended size (started with 1 1/2" stock, forged it down to 1 1/4"), and then forged THAT into a sunobe (a "preform" of sorts for a japanese sword, which slightly tapers both height and width-wise to the tip, and then forging a sharp tip at the end). Once I formed the sunobe, I forged in the bevels until I had the rough shape of a tanto. The edge wobbles a bit, but it is still thick enough to grind it into the final shape I want. Hence the phrase, "Forge thick, grind thin".

Back to the karate training. This is where the "... and so it begins" phrase comes in. This week is the first week of our dan examination prep class. It is intended to be an awakening of sorts, especially for people testing for shodan or shodan-sho. In this class we ONLY practice the material covered on the test. Of the 15 people who are supposed to be testing, 10 of them showed up, including Zach and me. One of the surprises that everyone received at the class -- when we perform Sanchin in this class, you need to remove the top of your gi. No t-shirts allowed underneath. Ladies are supposed to wear a sports bra for modesty. When they test your sanchin on your test, they want to be able to see that you are tensing the appropriate muscle groups (specifically traps, lats, abs, and forearms). Of the male students, only Zach and I knew not to wear a t-shirt underneath (including 2 students who are attending their dan testing for the 2nd and 3rd time). And the female students didn't wear anything underneath their tops. Well, first lesson learned.

This was pretty much a feeling-out class. Where we all ran through parts of the test and figured out where we were, and where our instructor looked to see where we needed to go. Since we had an odd number of students, she went with the youngest (girl) student during the bunkai phase of class. Also in the process, she gave her a LOT of feedback and corrections. At the end of class she pointed out that there will be a LOT of corrections done in this class, and that we need to be able to take what could be some harsh criticism. Because when we get to the test, there will be NO feedback given except after the exam. The only feedback we get from the testing board will be "Can I please see that again". Which means that we did something substantially wrong, and that our grade automatically goes down a fraction of a point for that segment.

I was able to work with one of the guys my size who will be testing for shodan this time around. Everything went pretty well, and I was able to give him a lot of good feedback especially in the yakusoku kumite and bunkai segments. The bunkai section is by far the hardest and most difficult segment of the test, especially for shodan candidates, so I'm glad I have 12+ weeks to brush up and polish mine.

The good news is that Zach is really looking forward to this class, and he seems to be taking things very seriously. After class I felt a very proud papa. After class, Heather sensei told us that the reason that they do this class is so we are all properly prepared to represent ourselves well in front of the testing board. Since they have implemented this prep class, they have not had any students fail a dan grading (but there have been some who washed out before the test happened for various reasons). She told us that the classes will get more difficult, mentally, from here on out, because they are going to be nitpicking details with us as we move forward.

Until next time!

[aurik]

Prep cycle week 2:

Tuesday was an interesting class for several reasons. We practiced our hojo undo with partners, but this time when we practiced with partners, we started with our hands at our sides, as if we were having to defend against an unexpected attack. It was pretty fun, and we all got tagged a few times, but it was definitely a learning experience. Later on during class, we practiced our seisan kata bunkai, and this time our CI partnered me up with Jack, who is considerably older than I am (in his 60's), but close to my height and weight. That turned out to make things pretty interesting.

Two of the defenses involve sword attacks. The first defense involves a single two-handed sword attack to the forehead. As the attacker raises the sword, the defender closes the distance, posts with the right hand to stop the attacker's left elbow, then performs a circle block with the left hand to redirect the opponent to the (defender's left side), simultaneously grabbing the opponent's upper arm to control him. The defender then strikes the opponent in the ribs with an elbow strike, followed by a hiraken-tsuki (leopard-paw knuckle strike) to the opponent's face. The second sword defense involves the defender in a low stance, "offering" the attacker his right (front) leg. The attacker steps in swinging the sword at the right thigh. The defender leaps back onto the right leg, pulling the left leg up out of the way. The attacker then resets and steps in to strike at the defender's forehead. The defender then leaps back to his original position, performing the same block as before, and this time performing an elbow strike to the ribs, a back-fist strike to the face, followed by a one-knuckle strike to the ribs. These defenses can be seen in this

at 2:57 and 5:34.

Well, Jack is pretty big and strong. He has for the most part been able to get away with not doing the "post" portion of that block, and only doing the circular block. However, I'm also big and strong, and I've practiced those sword attacks a lot for my own shodan testing. So when I come in with the attack, his block fails and he ends up with my forearm "bonking" him in the forehead. Not quite as bad as a sword, but still unpleasant. Oof.

There is also another interesting defense, at about 2:30 in that video, where you are defending against a grab. Our version has you strike the opponent in the obliques, grab and lift him by the belt, turn him towards a second opponent and push him into the second opponent. Well, as I said, I'm big and strong enough to force my opponent to do this. However, Jack isn't used to people being able to do this, so he jumps up in the air. I figured I'd have to push him HARD to get him to move. The end result... he flies about 10 feet across the dojo into the weapons rack, knocking down several bo and (wooden) kama. That was... a scary encounter. We all paused to make sure he was okay (he was, just a litlte shaken up).

Thursday night was our test prep class -- we mainly just did most of the drills that are on the test - hojo undo, kotekitae, yakusoku kumite, seisan bunkai, and our rank kata. This time, I was paired up with our other nidan candidate for this cycle - he will most likely be my partner for the test. Aaron is about 17 years old, roughly 6'4", and thin as a rail. But he's wiry (if you've seen

you'll know what I mean. Okay maybe not with all the other bad habits). He's one of those partners I really enjoy training with, because he's fast. If I don't have my defenses just right, he'll tag me. As we're going through our partner training and doing our kotekitae (arm conditioning), he commented, "You know, after this prep cycle, my arms should be HUGE." and "Also I hope that by the end of this, I want to be able to make your arm MOVE when I hit it". We both got a good laugh out of that. As we were doing the drill, Heather Sensei came by and yelled at me for dropping my arm during the drill. Bad habit, I know. So that's something I need to focus on.

We then went through our yakisoku kumite and kata bunkai. The kumite went really well, especially for the first day of prep cycle, and so did the bunkai. At more than one occasion in the drills, I had to comment on Aaron's lack of meat on his bones -- specifically I hit one of his bony elbows with my forearm (and still have a bruise there today). Also on one of the sword defenses I missed my block and ended up getting an elbow to the forehead. At least it wasn't a sword, but still... the forehead is tender there today.

All in all it was a good training session. We both pointed out places where our partner needs to improve, but they were little things. Also, during the drills we took time to help out other candidates (both of whom are ikkyus testing for shodan) are struggling. Definitely a good session.

[bushido_man96]

The testing prep you are doing sounds great, and it sounds like your instructors are really serious about producing quality black belts, which is awesome. I enjoy reading these updates, and it sounds like you are doing really well, and should be proud of yourself.

Also, caught the "wiry" reference.....good stuff!

[aurik]

Prep Cycle Week 3.

AKA "The Hits Keep Rollin".

This has been a compressed week, since the Mrs arranged for the 3 of us to go on a short mountain vacation. One of her coworkers has a vacation cabin that she arranged for us to go stay in, so we'll be heading out Friday through Sunday.

So Tuesday night we had our advanced training class, and on a couple of occasions I was training with Ethan Sensei (our CI's younger brother). I've said before that he's tall, strong and *fast*. About halfway through class, we started training our dan-grade yakusoku kumite drills, and he pointed out in the most sublime of ways, that I've been getting lax on some of my defenses. That's right, he tagged me a couple times -- hard. On one of those sequences, I step in for a seiken tsuki, he is supposed to block, and step in with a punch to the midsection, a punch to the chest. I'm supposed to block both of those and respond with a front kick to his midsection.

Well, I block the low punch no problem, but I'm a bit slow/weak on the chest-level punch and he tags me in the upper chest -- fairly hard. Not hard enough to do serious damage, but enough that afterwards you want to wince and rub the affected area a bit. His eyes light up with an "a-HA" look... of course, without missing a beat, I let loose that front kick into his gut and wiped that smug look off his face. Again, not hard enough to do serious damage, but enough to get his attention. My CI then says, "Good front kick, Ken!". It was a good lesson learned there.

Wednesday evening, and Zach and I were back at class. We did quite a bit of two-person dan kumite drills with different partners. I worked with a few of the younger ikkyus, who have been getting the message "you have to train strong and hard all the time". Well, the problem with that is when they end up kicking my arms or shins at full power, they're usually the ones who end up with the bruises. And I'm not actively trying to hurt them either.

Fast forward to Thursday night and the black belt prep cycle class. Heather Sensei started us in hojo undo and went straight to Sanchin, with shime testing on everyone. This was a real test of strength and endurance. After about 5 minutes, my shoulders were absolutely screaming at me to stop, especially the left where I've had a torn rotator cuff for years. It doesn't bother me except at times like this. But I make it through two iterations, with her checking my focus by striking various parts of me -- the fingertips, forearms, thighs, and abs the first time around, and then the traps, lats and pecs the second time around.

After Sanchin, we caught our breaths, grabbed some water, and then went into kotekitae (conditioning) and then kata. She had us nidan candidates perform seiryu individually in front of her, and she gave us each corrections. I thought mine were pretty minor, so I'm feeling pretty good about things. I'm sure there will be others once I fix what she pointed out to me in this class though.

Last in the class was sparring. Since I'm over 50, sparring is optional. I chose to spar in my shodan test, but this time I'm going to forego. Most of the injuries in testing occur in sparring, and I just don't heal nearly as fast as I used to.

Speaking of injuries, I've been fighting with inflamed tendons in my right forearm, so I've been trying to take it easy on the right side so I can get through testing. I've also got a lacrosse ball to do some trigger point therapy on it, so that will hopefully help.

This morning, my entire body was sore from the extended Sanchin training last night. This mini-vacation will definitely be good for that!

Until next week!

[Wayofaswede]

Thanks for sharing. Good luck prepping for Nidan