Friday Training Journal

Another fantastic class last night with a reduced, but committed group of karateka.

We started with a good 20-25min Goju-Ryu warm up. It is my opinion that warming up is becoming less popular in a number of dojos and, I believe, this is because in money-focused dojos (1h classes, or less) one can’t include a proper and sensible warm-up, which is almost a workout, because that leaves hardly any time for kihon, kata or kumite, let alone bunkai.

Warming up properly not only prevents injuries, but makes you understand you body, develops your strength and flexibility with an awareness of your own bio-mechanical limitations.

Once we were hot and sweaty, we  were ready to start

Zenkutsu ido kihon sequence (basic forms whilst on motion):

  • From neko-ashi move front foot to zenkutsu dachi and perform chudan yoko uke and jodan gyaku tsuki combination and step forward to neko-ashi. Going backwards step back with back foot into zenkutsu dachi and perform the same combination and back again to neko-ashi.
  • From neko-shi mae geri with rear foot and then continue forward into zenkutsu dachi and perform jun tsuki (oi tsuki) chudan-then slide back foot up to neko-ashi. Going backwards first mae geri with front foot stepping backwards to zenkutsu dachi and then slide front foot back to neko-ashi.
  • From neko-ashi move front foot to zenkutsu dachi then front arm hiji-ate and gyaku-tsuki chudan and step forward to neko-ashi. Moving backwards step back with back foot into zenkutsu dachi and perform the combination then back to neko-ashi.
  • From neko-ashi mae geri with rear foot and step forward to zenkutsu dachi then front arm hiji-ate ura uchi harai uke and gyaku-tsuki then sliding up to neko-ashi. Moving backwards mae geri with front foot and step back into zenkutsu-dachi hiji-ate with front arm then ura uchi harai uke gyaku-tsuki and slide front leg back to neko-ashi.

The class followed with a number of close range techniques, working in pairs:

  • Tsuki (punches), where Ben Craft Shihan taught us all “time on target” punching technology.
  • Basic tai sabaki (body evasion) whilst performing a simple block Again, Ben Craft Shihan deepen in the value of the move from a self-defense point of view by controlling the opponents elbow
  • Dropping opponents guard down and whilst taking them off balance, use body momentum and follow with a mawashi geri to the leg, kidneys or head.
  • Yako tuskis, keeping elbow in. Working in pairs, punching at the same time, the elbow must remain in if you don’t want to punch your partner’s fist or elbow.
  • Haito uchis targeting shoulders, but explaining this was a neck target techniques. Working, again, on relaxation and to delivery hard strikes.
I was impressed with Westley who understood and, more important, felt how by relaxing shoulders, arms and fist, keeping the elbow in and concentrating the fist at the time of the impact his punch was exponentially stronge by, on his own words, “doing no effort at all”. I was in the receiving end of the punch and was well delivered.

We spend the last 25 min working kata. On one hand, Brad Candy was covering Geikisai Ichi, Ni and Saifa with Shihan Ben overlooking him and I taught geikisai ichi from scratch to three white belts.

Classed finsihed with sanchin kata, performed by Shihan Ben, Brad Candy and myself. Absolutely love this extremely difficult kata. Magic!

Once again, thank you Ben Craft Shihan for his contribution throughout the class: a wealth of knowledge applying functional combat technology to what we do.

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