Sunday's subjects (as far as I can remember...):
Kihon:
- Oi-zuki
- Age-uke
- Soto-uke
- Shuto-uke
- Mae-geri
- Yoko-geri Keage
- Yoko-geri Kekomi
- Yoko-geri Keage separately, focusing on proper course of action
Kata:
- Heian Shodan, focusing on hip action as per Vonzell's request
Kumite:
- Basic 3-step sparring, focusing on distance
- Free-style: Catching "Sen" against a half attack
The exam for 5 of you is coming up soon. Some still have unsteady stances, so try to lower yourself one more inch in every stance and don't let go the tension in your legs. At this stage, your legs should still get tired after a class; soon they get used to the stance and you can maintain a proper stance for long duration without much effort. Then that's one less thing you have to worry about, and you can focus on other points!
Chris already told me the secret training... it was a Hadoken wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteI have a question for Taichiro - something I've been noticing in class.
ReplyDeleteWhen you tell us to step into a stance and then explain what you want us to do are we supposed to hold that stance the whole time? I've been noticing that we are getting into the stance and then standing upright to listen to you and then go back into the stance to do the technique.
Is the idea to get us to hold the stance for conditioning purposes?
Yeah, I've definitely wondered about that as well.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've been a little curious. I used to try holding the stance during class, but found that when I did, I wouldn't have enough strength to finish when we started moving again or wouldn't be able to do it correctly. Is that the point of conditioning? ;)
ReplyDeleteHard to build stamina and condition when you sit at a desk 10 hours a day.
In the oldschool training, a student should be holding the stance once s/he gets in a stance and listens to an instructor without moving (in pain, sweating...). As jon said, that could serve for a conditioning purpose.
ReplyDeleteBut to be honest, I'm not paying attention as to how long I make you hold a stance when I talk. And if it gets too long and you can't focus on my talk because of the stance, that's NOT what I want. Perhaps I should be timing how long I talk? "Hey Jon! It's been only 125 seconds; get back in your stance!!!" Uh, I don't think I can...
However I don't want you to immediately lose a stance as soon as I start talking either. So my suggestion for you is, hold the stance as long as you can comfortably tolerate and let go when it gets too much. I think that's pretty much what most of us are doing. I believe I was doing that when I was training under Sensei Nishiyama, too.
There are some customs and traditions we should maintain as a traditional karate dojo, but there are many things that don't make sense or scientifically wrong. Intensive stretching before a class is one of those, as well as "don't ask me a question; do as I say!" teaching. This "stance: keep it or release?" question is tricky because there seems to be a reasonable purpose, but again, when I talk I want you to pay as much attention to me as possible, so the leg conditioning is secondary.
This may or may not apply to other instructors/dojo though. When you go train somewhere else, pay attention to how the regular students behave and try to follow them.