I worried about doing exercises this morning because I’d experienced some pain in my left back shoulder blade and shoulder area last night. This morning, it was better and I was able to do all the exercises. In general, I should try to slow down and not rush through the exercises; if something hurts, then I need to modify what I do or do different exercises.
Since I’d had pains in one thigh last week, and last Monday’s treadmill run did not cause any new pain, I decided to stick with that and avoid jump rope intervals. Mentally, it was a bit of a challenge because I was watching the time go by pretty intently. A good podcast can help, but those commercial breaks are always an excuse for me to look at the time I’ve already jogged and mentally calculate how much time I have left. That is something I’m not proud of.
Last night, Sensei taught karate class over Zoom! A group of us had a small meeting with him after class to talk about promotion, since he’d suggested to a few students that they are ready to promote. For two adults in our group, he felt strongly that they should promote to green, which is the beginning of the advanced level. It would be good for the club, since they could then help teach. He suggested the club hold a promotion soon, particularly to reward the kids for sticking with karate during this pandemic. We are not sure how to pull that off, at the moment. TF suggested compiling a list of everyone’s current rank, and the last time they tested. Then, we can go over that list with Sensei and discuss who is ready.
We also discussed reaching out to a family that recently moved to the East Coast. Three of them studied karate with us for years, and we’re hoping to have them participate with us over Zoom. F has been in touch with the daughter, also an ichi kyu, who chose to set aside her junior shodan in favor of her adult rank.
The class was fun: Sensei went over the nunchuck kata again. SL, one of the junior shodans, also demonstrated a different nunchuck kata that he learned. He is one impressive kid.
This morning, while writing outside, I wrote this: it’s so pleasant–cool breeze, sunny but I’m in the shade; birds are singing, squirrels chirping and mosquitos buzzing. Mosquitos? Out this early? They’re the little “tiger” ones, new to this area.
Tonight, I admit, I did not do exercises. Instead, TF put together a kata study group that included the two yellow belts promoting to green, her and me. We drilled Tsuki No Kata together. It is one of the longer and more difficult kata. Once you get it down, though, it’s very cool. It focuses, at least in the beginning, on stances (kiba, sanchin, zenkutsu dachi) and emphasizes both reverse and straight punches (gyaku tsuki and oi tsuki). Lower-ranking kata will tend to have more mirrored moves and more straight punches, in contrast, and they follow a more clear pattern. This kata also starts from standing meditation, another mark of more advanced kata.
There are two versions on-line that actually look like the same performer, though one version is pretty blurry. I’m posting the more clear one, though I think we actually watched the other while we practiced.
We practiced this kata together over Zoom for roughly an hour and a half. At the end of it, I was pretty tired. I did a few push-ups, and rushed, despite planning not to rush through exercises. D came outside to check on me. I did not do squats or push-ups. It was after 9pm, and I was pretty tired. But I felt good after practicing the kata with friends. Also, kata practice is a good work-out by itself, so it’s an acceptable substitute for evening exercises.
