A quick thought

Let an opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let an opponent smash into your flesh and you fracture his bone; let an opponent fracture your bone and you take his life! Do not be concerned with your escaping safely; lay your life before him!”
Bruce Lee.

What this quotation from a modern master of the martial arts means to me:

Don't be worried about what other people can do, or are capable of doing.  Do not be taken in by things not in your control.

But do be prepared to go that extra mile when necessary to dig in and never let anything overwhelm you mentally in your training.

Think along these lines & I believe we will never be too far wrong.

Another 3miles today & yesterday.  Fitness is starting to pick up.

Got big determination.

OSS
29/08/2011

What you put in, you get out!

We're really getting down to business in the dojo now, 2 tough nights this week, shodan syllabus kihon & kumite.  I've also been running in my own time, another 3miles last night, and 1.6miles before training each day & skipping & Kata as my warm up.

We're not going to get anything out of karate without putting in the effort & the groundwork first.  Basics need to be drilled, not just blindly but with understanding as to what we're doing & why we're doing it.  We won't be able to ever advance if we don't pay the required attention to our basics & put the time and effort in!!

Look at all the top sensei' in the world.  If you look at most of them they all got 1Dan more or less within 3years of starting karate.  That will tell you the effort & training that they put in while they advanced up through the kyu grades. 
Unfortunately some associations are a little too "laid back", to put it mildly, about the standards they keep to.  It just seems to be a case of pay your membership, turn up for training, pay your grading fee, and collect your belt. 

Horrible isn't it? Wheres the learning? The effort?  The self-discovery?  The sense of achievement?  All gone & what we have is people just holding belts & throwing shapes and have no understanding of the discipline or essence of karate at all.  We have people who cannot even hold a basic stance for the best part of 20sec without standing up out of it.  Disgraceful really.

I'd like people to think about exactly what they want to get out of karate.  What are you prepared to do to get it?  If you end up teaching in a club in the future what kind of message will you be sending to young students about this great art if you, yourself are 1 of those people who can't hold a stance or have just bought your belts? 

Think about what you want. 

Karate is NOT EASY, NEVER WAS, NEVER WILL BE!!

Put in the effort, you're letting your art down.  If you feel that your club don't instruct correctly, don't use it as an excuse for your poor standard - LEAVE, take responsibility for your karate & find a club that will train you and help you develop.

Remember, you only get out of something, what you put into it.

Put nothing in? You'll get nothing out!

OSS
27/08/2011

Starting to Focus

Been running consistently now and the leg injury seems to have healed up.  (Mostly anyway).  First time kicking in class last night for a couple of months.  All roads now leading to December where I'll be grading for 2kyu.  Biggest grading so far, huge jump up in standard & requirements.  Which I think is very far ahead of a lot of associations I've been able to nosey in on ha ha.  I wont be publishing any grading syllabus from my association as its not my place, but lets just say its double the size of my previous gradings. 

Hard class last night of dan grade kihon basics and absolutely loved it.  My mawashi-geri's need major work, its something I've kinda got away with as mawashi is not asked in grading besides the kumite section up to purple belt.  Now I have had people compliment my kicks before I was injured so the month off may have made me slightly rusty but I know myself that especially my left side is not at all good.  Now hitting a target is different & a lot easier, Kihon basics require a close to perfect technique as we're hitting "thin air" & to do this at full speed & power is tough, while trying to hold your technique together.  That's the beauty of how we train, any cracks will appear massive under the slightest scrutiny.  At least the way things are done for us, we wont get away with half-doing things.  Which is best for us in the long-run.  We know if Sensei puts his name to a grade we have definitely reached that level so we can have every confidence in our grades, no matter where we train (provided we continue in the same honest vain).  I feel really lucky with the training I'm receiving and I know I've said it before but, this association is a real high standard. 

Maybe the end of September I will be starting up my gym programme leading up to my grading with 8/9 weeks of solid training, sprint sessions and extra work on Kata and basics at home, (on top of what I already do).  This way my physical fitness should be high, my last grading I let it slide & suffered for it.  Some cardio sessions, will include LSD (long, slow, distance running. 45mins approx.), sprint sessions, (20 mins approx).  Bag work (boxing, no technique, just endurance.  10 x 3mins, 30sec break), and some "kickboxing" type of rounds, again working endurance (10x3)..  kihon basics & Kata at full speed & power Every kata I know, TWICE (this will be at the end of my session after my running/bag work, when I'm exhausted) perfect simulation for my grading environment and even real life combat where adrenaline dump can leave you "exhausted" in seconds. 

You can start to see how everything is inter-woven & it all leads to preparing for real self-defence.  Everything you learn in karate counts, everything matters, from how you make the fist to hikite, breathing hip movement.. everything you learn as a beginner is more important than anything else.  If these aren't correct you cannot advance any further.  ITS A MUST!

I must admit writing these blogs help me think in more detail about my techniques & why we do certain things we do, even as I type I continuously get realisations & I end up going off in tangents. 

Trying to get myself focused now, its just what I need.  Having all the advanced "smaller" techniques is a product of having a strong basic foundation.  So lets work on that basic foundation, lets not get ahead of ourselves and enjoy this experience.  After all its the journey that matters, not the destination.

Last night I had 1.6mile run before training, no training tonight but I'll have a little stretch, work some stances and have a 3mile run ha ha.  No rest for the wicked.

As Geoff Thompson says, "A warrior seeks discomfort"

Speak soon

OSS

24/08/2011

Priorities

Although you may really love what you do, whether you are a professional karate instructor/fighter or any type of fighter, regardless of style. Even any area of life could relate to this. Our priorities need to be established and never forgotten no matter how deeply involved we may get in our chosen career/hobby. Family first! Its something I've always lived by, but got a little reminder today when I had to cancel attending class due to matters at home. Its great to have an interest in something but if you don't look after your family when you're needed, what good are you? Don't leave it until its too late, they should be the most important thing to everybody, everything else secondary.

Another thing, I'm going to be very choosy with who I speak to about thoughts on martial arts and how to train in the future. Some people just aren't ready to be honest with themselves and are dangerously hibernating in a false sense of security about themselves and their abilities. I hope the hardest test they fail will be only a dojo grading and not an encounter on the street, because to be honest, they just won't cut it.

I feel really lucky, to be in a part of the country where traditional martial arts is almost non-existent and to have the standard of instruction I have is a fantastic thing.

I just wish some more people would open their eyes and strap on a pair and put themselves to the test. Its gutless.

Other than that I know where I'm heading at the moment in my karate and I've never been more excited. I think I'll just focus on my own thing and leave the people who want to live in a bubble, to it.

Apart from that busy couple of weeks at home, moving house pregnant fiance etc. haha. Although I didn't make it to the dojo tonight I still got in my 3mile run and those motherf*****g hills ;-) & some stance work and light stretches. I still can't kick unfortunately. ( I hope its not a major injury).

Until the next time.

Oss.

09/08/2011

A Quiet Week

Had a quiet 8 days, no training, been a little bit under the weather and very busy moving house.

Just after my 1st run since last week, a very tough and hilly 3miles. Felt like giving up a few times but its all about staying outside your comfort zone.

That's really the only way we improve I think. If you don't stretch yourself and your boundaries, both mental & physical we'll never get to know ourselves at all or what we're capable of doing. What good is martial arts training if we're not testing & exploring ourselves. Aside from all that if people in our association wish to last through a grading you better be doing some kind of auxiliary training otherwise you're in big trouble.

I think its a fantastic way to train to help a martial art, not just in terms of cardiovascular endurance, but mentally. In terms of preparation for any real-world altercation outside the dojo. I find after the long run when I'm exhausted - trying to do a kata like tekki shodan or bassai dai, when all your body wants to do is stop - is very very rewarding.

No breaks in a real self defence situation and knowing we can't re-create this environment in training we need to do what we can to get as close as possible. Perform your kata as hard as possible, full speed and power, technique second once again to spirit. (There's that precept number 5 again). When your body is SCREAMING at you to stop, DIG DEEP. You'll discover things about yourself when your in this situation that you can't in most other areas of life.

This I think is as close as I've come to re-creating that feeling of a real-life encounter. I found that when a self-defence situation occurs in the street, I immediately feel sapped of energy, its natural. The more it happened the more I learned to deal with it (luckily). To perform your kata in this state is going to be the toughest, most gruelling thing you can do,(if it's not, you haven't pushed yourself, either in the kata or the run, or both.). You must take yourself outside your comfort zone in order to stretch your boundaries. You are supposed to enjoy your training, but what people mean is you're supposed to enjoy the experience of discomfort & hell that you put yourself through in order to gain in abundance afterwards.

I absolutely love pushing myself physically & not worrying so much about technique because that's what your sensei' are there for. They'll correct your technique when its needed. You just give 100% and everything will fall into place.

Remember your training & how you progress is really all up to you. So whatever you want to gain from any martial art or any physical training really, you must be prepared to work your ass off for it. That way, you'll be sure to achieve it and nobody on the planet can take it away from you or doubt your achievements. That is one of the greatest feelings in any area of life. Personal achievement. Its all in our shotokan just saddens me to see an awful lot of people looking for the easy route, therefore by-passing the very core of karate, & missing the essence of the whole thing.

Remember: nothing in this life worth having comes easy.

Think of this the next time you want to give up during a training session, whether a run or in the dojo.

Rant over :-P

Oss

08/08/2011