Stories of a middle aged beginner

[aurik]

Super frustrating session (personally) last night, just felt like I was a little 'off' with everything I was doing.

I think I made it worse in my own head because I know I can do all the things we were doing much better, and so I was being extra hard on myself.

Oh well, we all have days like that, just gotta come back next session and do my best

We've all had days like that, and the fact that you persevered through an "off" day says quite a bit about your character. I personally find that when something feels "off", I'll complete the technique (kata, drill, bunkai, etc), then run through it in my mind and try it again with more focus. Sometimes things go quite a bit better, sometimes they don't. However, the process of going through that struggle will lead to the "a-ha" moments in the future, where everything feels great and you feel like you've done your best technique yet.

[Questor]

grading day was yesterday and I promoted to 7th kyu

An hour and 40 minutes of full on work, rather proud of myself, even though there's still so much to learn.

Kumite is always going to be my hardest discipline I think, it just doesn't come naturally to me, but that's why we train right?!

Osu!

[Zaine]

Congrats! That's great to hear!

[Questor]

And we're back to lockdown, thanks to people not following the rules (not dojo related, just 'people'

Before we got locked down, I started learning the last 2 Heian katas I have yet to learn, Shodan and Yondan. I think with a bit of practice they should be fine.

[sensei8]

And we're back to lockdown, thanks to people not following the rules (not dojo related, just 'people'

Before we got locked down, I started learning the last 2 Heian katas I have yet to learn, Shodan and Yondan. I think with a bit of practice they should be fine.

Sorry to hear that, Questor. Train hard and train well as often as you can. Please be safe during this hard time.

[Questor]

Back in the dojo this week after a couple of weeks locked down.

Tonight's class was excellent, had a good chat with sensei around kata, along with a fellow student (same level as myself).

He said that as we are moving more to the intermediate stage of our kyu ranks he's going to get us putting more technique into the movements and not just following the pattern, and also doing more bunkai. Bunkai is one of the things that really helps me get a kata into my head so I am definitely looking forward to that!

[Wayofaswede]

Happy to hear that you’re back in the dojo and that I inspired you to start this thread.

Best of luck with your training, keep sharing the journey

[bushido_man96]

Back in the dojo this week after a couple of weeks locked down.

Tonight's class was excellent, had a good chat with sensei around kata, along with a fellow student (same level as myself).

He said that as we are moving more to the intermediate stage of our kyu ranks he's going to get us putting more technique into the movements and not just following the pattern, and also doing more bunkai. Bunkai is one of the things that really helps me get a kata into my head so I am definitely looking forward to that!

That sounds great! Getting to start working on bunkai and things that bring out applications is a great way to retain information.

[Questor]

It's been a little while since I posted. A few things have happened:

We opened up in early August and after 3 days of freedom got locked down again. We had 4 hours notice of lockdown, so got a last class in on Thursday evening, then the Dan grading candidates had a very late notice late night grading because otherwise we weren't sure when that was going to happen!

Since then we have been training via Zoom, it's of course not the same, but I've been going OK. The last couple of weeks, our vaccination rate has gotten to the point where 2 on 1 outdoor personal training can happen, and Sensei has been offering us the option to do some face to face classes that way, dodging the rain that comes with a Melbourne spring

This all culminated in a grading happening today, 2 students to 1 instructor, outside, and without kumite, as contact is still forbidden. Only those of us who have kept up training online were invited to attend, but I managed to successfully grade to 6th Kyu.

Hopefully in a few weeks time we will be back in the dojo, and we can get back to that all important in person training.

Onwards and upwards

[aurik]

Zoom training isn't the best training, but it's better than no training and feedback at all. Our dojo did Zoom training and no-contact training for 6 months. Keep putting in the effort, and you'll find that you'll keep making progress. Some areas, like timing, distancing, and the like, are very difficult to improve on without contact. However, you can always train kata solo and build that muscle memory for when things open back up.

Good luck and keep training!