Cool stuff I learned this week

[sensei8]

 Both aurik and Brain are really getting the benefits of both their core training as well as their cross-training as well as n their Kobudo training.

Words haven't been better spoken than when someone say/s the Okinawan practitioners disrupt our opponents through and through. In Shindokan our main goal is to get behind our opponent t and what better way to achieve that goal is to disrupt our opponent as often as possible. For Shindokanists, disrupting our opponents base is key by constantly attacking ever/y inch of our opponents legs/base. these constant attacks to the base...imagine what starts to happen with these unrelentless attacks to the legs/base is that the opponents body starts to falter in keeping a well-balanced profile, and when that becomes quite apparent, well, my opponents profile tilts to one side or another, and with that, getting behind my opponent becomes much easier to achieve. If I can't directly get behind at that moment, then, I can force my opponent onto the ground, which is the next best thing for a Shindokanist.

Keep training and train well!!

[aurik]

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.  

[bushido_man96]

I've been a pin cushion before, Aurik; no fun there.

It sounds like everything else went really well, though!  I'm happy for you!  After Thanksgiving, you should be raring to go!

[aurik]

Circling back on this thread -- it's not that I haven't been training, it's that I haven't been posting.  Shame on me.

One thing I have been finding is that the older I get, the longer it takes to regain my conditioning once it slips.  So while we're now into April, I'm still not at the conditioning level I was at before my first incident back in last May/June.  Of course, it doesn't help much that I took most of a month off back in November after my surgery.  However, I'm still training regularly - at least twice a week for weapons and karate.  I've been struggling with scheduling -- my wife seems to keep scheduling things over the days/times I usually go, which makes attendance a challenge.  However, I'm training as best I can as often as I can.

Of course, one thing that makes things even more challenging is that in the past year, I've added kobudo to the mix.  Optimally, I'd love to be able to train kobudo/karate back to back.  I usually am able to do that on Thursday and Saturday; Thursday is possible because as an instructor on Thursdays I get to pick and choose how intensely I train.  Saturdays is only a 1 hour karate class and I can usually budget my energy during that class.  Tuesdays is a challenge, because weapons completely wear me out.  However, I'm going to start making more of an effort to train individually on off-days to improve my overall fitness.  One thing I also need to do is have a frank conversation with my wife about our priorities and schedules.  I mean I could in theory train on Monday or Wednesday nights, but Tuesday is the advanced adult (karate) class, which I really should be attending regularly.

One good piece of news is that our CI is bringing in Tsukasa Gushi, son of Shinyu Gushi, who is the 2nd generation head of the Ryukokaku Karate & Kobudo Association.  If you search for "Gushi Sensei" on youtube, you'll see videos of Shinyu Gushi performing all of the Uechi-Ryu kata, both full-speed and in slow-mo.  He'll be running both karate and kobudo seminars over the weekend of May 9-11 (Mother's day).  I've signed up both Zach and me up for the seminar -- I'll most likely be extremely gassed by the end of the weekend.

 

[bushido_man96]

I know how that goes, @aurik, dealing with inconsistency in training.  I've been fighting that the past few months.  Every now and then I have a good week, but more often than not it seems I have bad weeks with a good day here and there.  I have to pace myself in classes, too.  As we get older, we just have to figure out how to manage our time and energy better.  It's tough, for sure.

[sensei8]

You and Zack are STILL on the right track as far as all that’s required for a MAist, and you both should be very proud of yourselves through and through. 

Like Brian has already mentioned, as we get older we have to properly prepare and gauge and understand that sometimes a break away from training is necessary.

[aurik]

On 4/19/2025 at 9:18 AM, sensei8 said:

You and Zack are STILL on the right track as far as all that’s required for a MAist, and you both should be very proud of yourselves through and through. 

Like Brian has already mentioned, as we get older we have to properly prepare and gauge and understand that sometimes a break away from training is necessary.

So one other thing I'm going to have to do for the next little while -- take it really easy in kobudo classes.  I've got something going on in my left shoulder/tricep area that doesn't feel quite right.  It's one of those things where it's not seriously wrong -- yet.  But you also know that if you don't take it easy and let it heal, it WILL be a bad thing.  Two of the people in my dojo have had to deal with biceps and/or rotator cuff tears, and I definitely don't want to be the third.  I have been battling a partial tear in my left rotator cuff for the past 10+ years, but this triceps issue is something new.

That's the other thing us experienced MA'ists need to know how to do.  Figure out how to train through minor injuries and not make things worse.

[sensei8]

Heal first…get approval from your doctor to return to training, secondly!! The floor isn’t going anywhere; it’ll be there with open arms when you return to training!!

As you already know, kobudo training can be quite taxing at times, and a body that’s mending can hinder its progress in any training, and libido is no exception.

Hang in there!!

[bushido_man96]

On 4/21/2025 at 9:25 AM, aurik said:

That's the other thing us experienced MA'ists need to know how to do.  Figure out how to train through minor injuries and not make things worse.

I would add a little subtle comment to this; figure out how to train around minor injuries and not make things worse.

[aurik]

This past weekend was, to put it lightly, intense.  We had a guest instructor, Tsukasa Gushi, visit our dojo over the weekend and taught a seminar for both Uechi-Ryu and Matayoshi Kobudo.  He is the head of the Ryukokaku Karate & Kobudo Association -- at his dojo you train both karate and kobudo as part of the same program (unlike ours where they are separate programs and ranking).  His other job -- a professional race car driver.  The last time he was in Colorado he raced in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.   The weekend was, for a lack of a better term, intense.  We trained for 2 hours in Kobudo on Friday, 2 hours in kobudo followed by 2 hours of karate on Saturday, and then another 2 hours of Karate on Sunday.  There was a second 2 hour karate session on Sunday, but Zach and I had other plans -- we were taking Mrs Aurik out to celebrate Mother's Day.

The Kobudo sessions covered material I'd never seen before.  We started out with a new bo kata: Seijun no Bo, followed by an Eiku (Okinawan oar) kata: Tsuka Akachu no Eikudi, followed by the Jiffa (Okinawan hairpin) kata.  We had trained a bit with the Eiku the previous week, and I have to say that I'm very grateful that I have gotten used to my purpleheart beast.  The Eiku is very heavy (even just a traditional oak one), and the balance takes quite a bit of getting used to.  Fortunately, one of our instructors brought a batch of his own, and at least some of them were made of poplar, which is oh so much lighter.  I would say that over the course of the 4 hour seminar, I started getting the hang of the Eiku, but I still have a long ways to go before I can say I am comfortable with it.  And the Jiffa kata reminds me a LOT of some Shuri-Ryu I had done and seen many many years ago -- it reminded me a lot of the Kanku Sho kata, with the crescent kick/spin/duck to the ground sequence.  Unfortunately we only had a handful of real jiffa, so we made do with substitutes.

The Uechi-Ryu segments of the seminar were very enlightening as well.  While we didn't cover anything really new until the end of the second session, he brought new understanding and interpretations to everything we did know.  For example, he started by evaluating our hojo undo techniques, providing feedback on issues he saw.  For example, he really stressed the fact that every block we do needs to end with our hands in a tiger claw.  Why?  Because everytime we block/receive a technique, we should get in the habit of grabbing the attacker.  Likewise, he had slightly different interpretations of how to perform certain of our techniques, such as seiken tsuki and hiraken tsuki.  We then ended the hojo undo session with a discussion of Uechi-Ryu's sokusen geri, or toe kick.  Gushi sensei started that section out by demonstrating the toe kick on one of our black belts (Ian) in the outer thigh.  He wasn't gentle with it, either -- I hope the bruises aren't too bad.

Next, we started working kata, primarily kanshiwa and seisan.  One of the things I remember most is when he was discussing the lunging elbow strike.  The tendency is to lunge forward, stop, and then do the elbow strike.  He then demonstrated on me that the proper way is to lunge and strike in the same movement - it was quite effective.  I had to step back several feet to get my balance.  I'll need to figure out how to demonstrate that to my students next time without actually hurting them

Towards the end of the second session, we worked on their version of dan kumite.  It is much like our dan kumite, but they add a few extra moves to each sequence.  I liked it, but sadly we had to get out of there in time to take my wife out for her Mother's Day celebration.  

The best part of the seminar though was what Zach got out of it.  As he has grown so quickly, he has gotten "floppy" in his movements.  He tries to put power into everything, but it's undisciplined power.  Gushi sensei noticed this and pulled him aside several times over the course of the seminar.  He said 'for now' (next year or so), focus on doing your techniques without any hip pivot or shoulder pivot.  Learn disciplined movements.  And he listened.  And over the course of the seminar, as he kept getting that feedback from an outside source, his technique improved noticeably.  I made a point to tell him how much better his techniques looked, and I made it a point to tell him to keep working on it.

Sometimes, getting the right outside opinion makes all the difference.