Cool stuff I learned this week

[sensei8]

Now you’re talking!! Great help for both you and Zach.

Nothing more exciting than having a guest instructor of that caliber on the floor.

He definitely ran you all through the paces from A to Z and back. That’s my type of training…hit them hard and shake them up with no- nonsense training. I bet everyone one the floor was drenched in sweat from head to toe.

An old Okinawa saying that my Sensei always reminded us often…

“Minai chichi nai. - We learn by watching and listening!!” You both did just that.

[bushido_man96]

That's an awesome training experience, @aurik.  You are right about doing the same things from someone else's perspective; it helps you to see the same things in a different light and brings on new thoughts and methods of doing things.  Sometimes you don't need to learn something different, just the same thing differently, to open avenues of growth.

It's really cool how he pulled Zach aside to work with him.  Awesome for him.

[aurik]

So I saw Ian yesterday at his dan grading (he was grading for nidan).  I asked him about that sokusen geri -- the third time, Gushi sensei hit him hard.  Of course, Ian, being the good Uechi Ryu karateka he is, kept a stolid face.  Gushi leaned in and whispered, "That hurt, didn't it?"  He definitely nodded.  It turns out he had a bruise on that thigh visible from across the room (his mom noticed too.)  Fortunately being the young guy he is, he recovered in a few days.

[Nidan Melbourne]

On 5/20/2025 at 5:44 AM, aurik said:

So I saw Ian yesterday at his dan grading (he was grading for nidan).  I asked him about that sokusen geri -- the third time, Gushi sensei hit him hard.  Of course, Ian, being the good Uechi Ryu karateka he is, kept a stolid face.  Gushi leaned in and whispered, "That hurt, didn't it?"  He definitely nodded.  It turns out he had a bruise on that thigh visible from across the room (his mom noticed too.)  Fortunately being the young guy he is, he recovered in a few days.

I've lost count of how many times that's happened to me over the years. 

I remember going or my Nidan, was doing Sanchin Kata and my "partner" left a massive welt on the inside of my right thigh then my sensei came up to test my stance and delivered 6 nasty thigh kicks to my outer thigh. 

i winced after every kick, which sucked massively. Then one of the other instructors asked me the same thing "you got one heck of a bruise don't you?" and all I could give was the look of "No duh Sensei"

But what was worse that I still had to do Saifa, Seeinchin, Sanseru, Seisan and Shisochin after that little beating. *ouch*

I changed into a lighter Gi after my last kata and before the Pre-Arranged Sparring portion of the grading. And the bruises were clear as day to everyone even the instructors. 

Hurt like heck for the rest of the grading as I had Pre-Arranged Sparring (Our Gyakusoku Kumite, Kyogi [Self-Defence Routines we come up with], Bunkai [Dojo Created]) and Sparring. 

Although to be fair I did leave a monster bruise on the one that gave me the first bruise and that was during a couple of rounds of 2 on 1. he just laughed it off like a maniac which was hilarious.