Post-test

So, lately, I’ve been asked one question repeatedly, “What are you doing now that the test is done?”

To be honest, I haven’t had great answers to that question, but the best one that comes to mind is this.  Very little is going to change now.  To be honest, I love the way life has changed since I’ve made a more constant effort to train on my own.  It has been nothing but good for me.  But, yes, there will be a few minor changes.  For one, now that the school year is in full swing, I can’t go full bore on training 6 days a week—there’s just not enough time in the day. 

Here’s what I will do:

·  I will continue to use the striiv at least 4 days a week, averaging at least 10,000 steps a day.

·  I will try my best to write 2 blog posts a week.  I won’t bore you with numbers from here on out, but I will keep writing on fitness in general and martial arts in particular.

·  I will have several forms workouts on my own during the week.

·  I will focus more on strength training and flexibility now that I’ve stepped up my cardio.

Still sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?  It probably is, but it definitely won’t chew up 3 hours a day, which I don’t have anymore.

So, on to a recap of the test.  It was a memorable experience, but interestingly enough, the most memorable thing about it was that it absolutely flew by.  The whole day was over before I even knew it happened.  I definitely enjoyed the experience, but it was a blur of activity—so much was happening that it’s difficult to pinpoint a lot of specific memories.  What won’t surprise you is this: my clearest memories of the test were the mistakes I made.  Thankfully, I wasn’t aware of a ton of mistakes, and we’ll see what I get back from the testing board, but there were a few major things that I will be working on moving forward.

·  Now that I’ve got more stamina, I definitely want to focus on the flow and tempo of kata.  It’s one of those things that definitely develops over time, but I’d especially like to get that aspect more under control—especially with weapons.

·  I’m going to experiment with my guard in semi-knockdown.  I have an issue where I’ll punch and kick, but I won’t be totally active in deflecting attacks towards the last minute of a round.  I’d like to tighten that up.

·  I will not accidently pop my uke in the head in self-defense.  Period.  It wasn’t terrible, but in self-defense, you can rehearse and rehearse the demo, and a slight change in body position in the actual test can mean a pulled technique might accidentally land.  Fortunately, I didn’t hit her hard, but I felt bad (and still do) about the contact.

So, some of you have already had this experience, so I’m sure you can relate.  For others who might one day test for your black belt in one art or another, here are a few dos and don’ts to make life more pleasant in preparation:

·  DO ramp up the physical aspect of your training as your test approaches.  I can’t tell you how much Operation Shodan Fit allowed me to give the testing performance I wanted to give.  I know I could have gotten through it in the condition I was in at the start of the summer, but I’m pretty sure it would have been a miserable process.  The training allowed me to show my best karate.

·  DO ask your instructor for help in training.  My experience in this was fantastic.  I mainly needed help with conditioning and fight prep…I got that and much more.  Remember, that instructors have a whole dojo to think of, and although they need to keep everyone moving forward, they’re more than happy to assist in your preparation.  I’ve found that if you won’t ask for something, don’t expect to get it.

·  DON’T wait until the last minute to get incidental items together.  I am so glad I got my boards, photos, and other incidentals together more than 10 days before the test.  Testing nerves are enough without scrambling to find a Home Depot that’s open on a Saturday morning.

·  DO protect your body in training, especially in the last couple weeks.  Please don’t let avoidable minor injuries take the shine off of your testing performance.  I’ve seen this happen before, and I bet it’s not fun.

·  DON’T forget to eat healthy the week of the test.  Hopefully, this process has been a part of training, but that one greasy burger the week of won’t help much.

·  DO spend plenty of time with your self-defense partners.

·  DO several walkthroughs of your break before you actually have to do it.  This will take a lot of edge off of this aspect of the test.

·  DO get a decent amount of sleep.

I’m sure that some of these go without saying, but it helps to see it in print.  For all of those who I train with regularly, making the decision to persevere and progress through the kyu grades is a major step…You won’t just find yourself there; you’ll get there because you wanted it.  If it’s what you want for yourself, I support you 100%, and I know you can do it.

 

See you in class!  OSU!

Pre-test

As many of you know, I test for shodan, first-degree black belt, in Yoshukai karate in just under 2 weeks.  Usually, coming down the home stretch there are several things that happen to both confirm and reinforce preparation.  One of the most useful is the pre-test, which happened just a little while ago.

Here's the rundown:

Sensei Hofmeister allocated 3 hours to run through what amounts to an entire black belt test.  Since the 2 uke for self-defense weren't available today, we did all material except for self-defense.  Today's lineup went like this:

Nunchaku kata:  Kihon Kata Nunchaku, Kihon Kata Shodan Nunchaku, and Yoshu.

Bo kata:  KK Shodan Bo, KK Nidan Bo (run twice), KK Sandan Bo

Sai kata:  Zenshin kotai sai, Shihohai sai (run twice), Rohai sho sai (run twice)

A rapid-fire series of basics and basic combinations.

All open hand forms except the Kihon Kata forms, which were blended into one form to view the different parts systematically.  Niseishi was run twice to accommodate shime (strike-testing of stances and body mechanics).

Then, my 5 testing combinations were run, followed by Ippon Kumite (1 step sparring).

After this, a short series of combinations was dictated by Sensei for me to perform.

Then breaking, and wrapped up with semi-knockdown sparring.  The whole proceedings ran just under 2 hours.

All-in-all, I think things went well, and there are a few observations I would like to share with you:

First, operation shodan fit worked.  Absolutely.  I found I had much more stamina than ever before, and I was able to ramp up intensity and find my "zone" for longer than I used to be able to.

There is a minor issue that arose now that there's more stamina.  Here comes a stupid car analogy!  Building stamina basically amounts to having a bigger gas tank with better access to the fuel.  But, what I didn't anticipate is this:  training as hard as I did is also analogous to adding a whole-new higher-powered engine.  Now to milk the metaphor entirely dry...the stronger engine guzzles way more gas.  So, I had to figure out early on how to ration out my energy so that I could be as intense as possible without running myself directly into the wall.

So, now, a major hurdle has passed in preparation for this test.  I have 2 weeks to tighten down the screws, and I'm confident that I'll be able to give a test performance that I can be proud of.  Here's an important thing to remember, though:  It can always be better.  Going back to my post on "Yoshu," I can be happy with the idea that my performance on any given day is indicative of my best work for that day, but I can't be satisfied and rest on any aspect of training accomplishments because it can always be better.  Always.

So, operation shodan fit continues!  In two weeks from today, I will have taken this test.  I'll be a little hobbly and a little wobbly...a little tired and probably a little wired.  And, then, it's on to the next task.  Life is really so much fuller when focusing on a set of s.m.a.r.t. goals, and I'm looking forward to the realization of this set of goals.

More to come as the clock counts down!

OSU!

Operation Shodan Fit: Week 11 Results!

This week was complicated very much by my car of 8 years croaking on me.  Fortunately, that ordeal is now done, so I'm back in the saddle both with the intensity of workouts and in my new vehicle!  Look forward to a recap of the pre-test experience, and the countdown to Shodan testing begins...It is two weeks from today!

Sunday:

Workouts:  HIIT

Steps: 10548
Stairs: 67
Miles: 5.1
Calories: 1160

Monday:

Class:  8:00-9:00 Yoshukai 9:00-9:30 Judo
Workouts:  Spent the day in an auto shop.  Workouts weren't in the cards today. :-(

Steps: 7412
Stairs: 79
Miles: 3.5
Calories: 1002

Tuesday:

Class:  6:00-7:00 Yoshukai
Workouts:  Forms, Tabata, Weapons (sai focus)

Steps: 10193
Stairs: 99
Miles: 5.0
Calories: 1230

Wednesday:

Workouts:  HIIT

Steps: 10233
Stairs: 101
Miles: 5.0
Calories: 1181

Thursday:

Class:  12:00-1:00 Yoshukai, 7:00-8:30 Yoshukai

Steps: 10501
Stairs: 81
Miles: 5.1
Calories: 1053

Operation Shodan Fit: Week 10 Results

As many of you have heard, this weekend has been a doozy with my car dying on me and dealing with all of the hoopla that comes with that.  I've been running around getting things under control
for the beginning of school, so the loss of transportation was a big hit, but I'm working things
out now, and I'll be back in the saddle soon.  As for last week, I recorded all of my totals on
the striiv, but when I tried to open the file, it was corrupted.  I can still see charts for the
last month on the device, but I can't seem to see individual days, so here are approximate
results.

Sunday:

Workouts:  Tabata (pushups, sprints)

Steps:  10500
Stairs: 125
Miles: 5
Calories: 1100

Monday:

Classes:  8:00-9:00 Yoshukai, 9:00-9:30 Hapkido

Workouts:  Forms and Weapons--spent a lot of time with the bo

Steps: 12500
Stairs: 100
Miles: 6.25
Calories: 1400

Tuesday:

Classes:  12:00-1:00 Kyuki-do, 6:00-7:00 Yoshukai

Workouts:  Tabata on the heavy bag.

Steps:  15005 (I actually remember the number for this one)
Stairs: 250
Miles: 7.5
Calories: 2000

Wednesday:

Workouts:  Forms, HIIT

Steps: 10500
Stairs: 125
Miles: 5
Calories: 1200

Thursday:

Classes:  12:00-1:00 Yoshukai, 7:00-8:30 Yoshukai

I twisted my ankle on Thursday, so with the exception of classes, I spent the day recovering.

Renewal

As many of you may know, Athens Yoshukai accepts new students twice a year, usually at the beginning of each academic semester.  There are a few reasons for this, and now that I've spent 2 years actively involved in the teaching process, I can confirm that this really works well for us.
 
Probably the hardest thing with a new group of students--even students who start at roughly the same time--is keeping the momentum of classes moving forward while making sure that there isn't too much of a lapse in new material.  It's definitely a challenge, and a well-executed approach really pays off when a group tests to 8th-kyu yellow belt.  After that, fundamentals are in place and we get to see the new martial artist hooked on the fun of training.
 
So, shop talk aside, the beginning of a new semester is always exciting, and more importantly, it gives us all an "excitement booster shot" that drives us right into our own practice feeling renewed as well.  Here's a little look into some highlights of the past week:
 
One of my favorite traditions--I suppose it would be a tradition.  At any rate, it always happens--is after new students have had their first few days of class.  The class reforms as 2 to 3 long lines, and everyone in the room executes a basic block, punch, or kick in drill...100% with full kiai.  The spirit goes through the roof, and at that moment, it becomes clear that from day 1, we're always working on our basic technique.  It happened my first day of class 3 years ago, and I always enjoy the experience.
 
Monday nights, we have a half-hour's class alternating judo and hapkido.  This mostly serves to enrich us with skill-sets that some of us don't get regular opportunities to develop, and it's a lot of fun.  Last monday, we spent the half-hour working on grappling, which will be an event at our upcoming local tournament.  After learning a basic pin/escape and a guard pass, everyone had the opportunity to do some light grappling randori (free practice, also known as "rolling").  If you've never seen this in action, it's a real treat.  With very few exceptions, smiles are everywhere, and I'm willing to bet green money that the new students who got the opportunity to grapple on their first day will remember that experience for a while.

Thursday brought it's own bit of exciting fun.  We began with a team warm-up exercise composed of straight back/forth laps across the dojo of the following exercises:  bear crawls, crab walks, full-body pulls (man...), and leapfrogs.  There was one catch...the two lines with a brown belt at the front had 4 students to Sensei's 5, which meant that the high rank had 2 full laps an exercise!  Now, to be honest, I'm only moaning and groaning for comic effect...doing the extra exercise was a fun challenge, especially on the full-body pulls (lying flat, dragging your body across the floor with long-drags of both hands).

Also, Thursday night, we had a suprise get-together as a thank you for Sensei McCandless.  When I found out this was going to happen, I was moved by the initiative that 2 of our yellow/blue belt students took in making this event a success.  It was a fitting tribute, and I'm hoping it is the first of many fun social events for the dojo.

Obviously, the excitement in 6 class can't be adequately distilled in just one post, but this is a good sampler.  This week, keep an eye out for a musing on some recent days of fight training, and more on Operation Shodan Fit.  As always, thanks for the continued support--seeing and feeling the results of this exercise plan has been great, but the constant cheering on from my friends has made it even better. OSU!

Operation Shodan Fit: Week 9 results

Alright friends, back to school week was insane.  Everything is fine; don't get me wrong.  But, I did not have much time to myself, so my blog posts on fight training, new students, and smart goals will be coming up soon.  As for today, I really only have time for a quick update on OSF.  I'll edit the post probably on Sunday to include class hours and personal workouts, but for now, here are my Striiv numbers:

Week 9 Results

Sunday

Steps: 11008
Stairs: 106
Miles: 5.3
Calories: 1282

Monday

Steps: 10550
Stairs: 108
Miles: 5.0
Calories: 1297

Tuesday

Steps: 10913
Stairs: 26
Miles: 5.4
Calories: 1367

Wednesday

Steps: 10371
Stairs: 89
Miles: 5.2
Calories: 1372

Thursday

Steps: 10264
Stairs: 277
Miles: 5.1
Calories: 1422
I like how the distances and calories are becoming more consistent.  Now that it working out that way, I can start pushing these aspects of my workout a little bit to either include a little more distance or a little faster pace.  More about this soon!  Thanks for all your support.  It has really made this process fun and exciting!

Operation Shodan Fit Week 8 Results

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm getting ready to start a new "workout week" starting tomorrow for the new school year, so this week of transition was a little odd, but it was definitely fun to throw the gauntlet down and have a record-breaker day today.

Here are the results:

Monday:

Classes Attended:  Yoshukai 8:00-9:00

Workouts:  Forms, Weapons (bo intensive), Tabata

Steps: 11,451
Stairs: 171
Miles: 5.7
Calories:  1,241

Tuesday:

Classes Attended:  Kyuki-do:  12:00-1:00, Yoshukai 5:30-6:30

Workouts:  light forms, Weapons (sai intensive), HIIT

Steps:  11,191
Stairs: 98
Miles:  5.5
Calories: 1,311

Wednesday:  (DAY OF REST)

Thursday:

Classes Attended:  Yoshukai 7:00-8:30 (Seisan/Yoshu intensive)

Workouts:  Forms, Weapons (nunchaku intensive), Tabata

Steps: 10,729
Stairs:  146
Miles:  5.1
Calories: 1,278

Friday:

Workouts:  Double forms, double weapons

Steps:  11,478
Stairs:  75
Miles:  5.6
Calories:  1,291

Saturday:  (Distance Record-breaker day)

Classes Attended:  Kyuki-do with Master Kim 2:00-3:00, Kyuki-do Practice test 3:15-5:00ish

Workouts:  Forms, Weapons (bo intensive), Tabata

Steps:  27,257
Stairs:  343
Miles:  14.1
Calories:  3,154

And, to go with the "I'm down 20 lbs" revelation, here's a comparison between two tests at AKF--one in the Spring, and today.

Red stripe test in March:

And today:

(Photos courtesy of Kim Durden Photography)