upnorthkyosa's reflective training journal

[Makalakumu]

11-17-2007 - Practice Entry

I worked Martial Arts Workout C this morning. Focusing on nunchaku again. It really seems to be working well to save this workout for the weekend. I have more time to really analyze various concepts and get them down on paper.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-19-2007 - Practice Entry

I slept in and worked weights when I got home today. Very good workout. I felt pretty good. No time to work the makiwara though. I'll hit that some tomorrow morning.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-20-2007 - Practice Entry

For some reason getting up in the morning has been extremely hard this week. I've decided to take the next couple of mornings off and workout evenings in order to get my body a little more rested. This morning, I just ended up sleeping in a little and despite being tired, I couldn't go back to sleep. So I woke up and did some weight lifting.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-20-2007 - Teaching Entry

Worked a lot of tournament stuff tonight. I had a pretty good turnout, so that was good. We worked point sparring tonight and that was interesting. We must look so bad trying NOT to hit each other.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-21-2007 - Practice Entry

I finally had a martial arts workout. I did Martial Arts Workout A this evening. Its so hard to workout in the evening. There are just too many demands on my time. I can do it every once in a while, but not too often.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-21-2007 - Practice Entry

I finally had a martial arts workout. I did martial arts workout A this evening. I can't do that very often. There are just too many demands on my time. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to get up and try to squeeze another one in before I travel to my parents for turkey day. There is also a good chance that I'll be able to get together with my teacher on friday. That will be cool.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-22-2007 - Practice Entry

I worked Martial Arts Workout B before I went traveling for Turkey Day. It was a good workout, I worked more nunchaku and I think I'm getting that form down now.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-26-2007 - Practice Entry

Martial Arts Workout A this morning. I tried tuning down the speed of my forms and working some old fighting combos that worked in point sparring tournaments before. We'll see what the competition will be like at this level. My guess is that it will be pretty fast.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-27-2007 - Practice Entry

I woke up this morning well and did my normal weight lifting routine today. It was a good workout. Although I went kinda slow. Lots of stuff on my mind.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-27-2007 - Teaching Entry

I ended up getting caught up in some child care issues tonight, so I could only teach one of the classes that I had scheduled. I don't like doing that, but that is how it all ended up.

Anyway, we worked form and kicking sequence and then we worked kazushi for o soto gari. The students seemed to really like that and get into it.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-28-2007 - Practice Entry

I worked Martial Arts Workout B this morning. It was pretty great. I like being able to really spend some time with some of the weapons that I'm working with. For some reason, things just seemed to flow really well this morning. I'm not exactly sure why, but I wish that I was able to channel that feeling when I compete. I'd be unstoppable.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-29-2007 - Teaching Entry

I skipped working out this morning. I've got one day that I usually give myself a pass just in order to get some more sleep during the week. The weekend is turning out to be a good time for me to finish my weekly targets. I can sleep in and do my workout later in the morning when I feel better.

Anyway, class tonight. Great class. The kids all have uniforms now. They were so excited. We worked on punching and holding pads for a good part of the class tonight and they seemed to think that that was super fun. We also did roll falls and jumping side kicks on our big blue crash mat. They weren't really side kicks, mostly just running around in circles and kicking and then continuing running. The intent is to work on moving the body from one activity to another.

My adult classes consisted of working forms, kicking sequence, and Ill Soo Shik during the first. Then working tournament rules for the second. There is a lot of ettiquette involved in a tournament and these rules are just as important as your performance. One of my students was very turned off by the whole concept, preferring the more relaxed way that I tend to run things. I can understand that sentiment, however, this is probably the closest one is going to get to the formal ettiquette that this art came out of. The culture of the old dojangs right out of Korea and Japan was much more strict.

 

[Makalakumu]

11-30-2007 - Practice Entry

Slept in this morning and did my weight lifting workout this evening. This really felt good. I went pretty heavy and now I feel that nice tightness throughout all of the muscle groups I worked. I did some stretching to loosen up a bit. I may do some more in a bit.

 

[Makalakumu]

12-1-2007 - Practice Entry

I worked Martial Arts Workout C this morning. It was very difficult because I had a splitting headache, however, I pushed on through. I was curious to see how I would do when I was distracted with a little bit of pain and I'm happy to say that for the most part, I was able to put the pain aside. There were few times where I flubbed something, but that was about it.

It's snowing to beat all hell right now. This has got me smiling because I am going to be able to cc ski and get some cardio now. And then there is biathalon. I've been dying to try that for years.

 

[Makalakumu]

12-2-2007 - Practice Entry

I did my normal weight lifting routine today, but my exercise is not done yet. I'm going to be going out and shoveling a foot of snow in about ten minutes and then I'm going to either go cc skiing or sledding. It depends on what my kids want to do. Either way, I'll be outside.

 

[Makalakumu]

12-3-2007 - Practice Entry

I worked Martial Arts Workout A this morning. It was a great workout, except for the fact that my back got a little sore near the end. I opted out of some the kicking combos just to take it a little easier and not stress it that much.

 

[Makalakumu]

12-4-2007 - Practice Entry

I worked my normal weight lifting routine today. By normal, I mean pretty heavy. About once a week, I go lighter and do more reps just to shake up the routine. I also started taking some time to visualize the tournament I'm going to be fighting in. You need to see yourself winning far before you actually win. Imagine what the competition is like and see yourself overcoming it. It's not the time for reality. Its the time for confidence.

 

[Makalakumu]

12-5-2007 - Practice Entry

Between the weather and family issues, practice and class has been very tough this week. I did my Martial Arts Workout B after school today and it was not so fun. Good workout. Better practice then trying to force a morning thing, but still not fun...too many distractions. Alas, the life of a martial arts dad...

 

[Makalakumu]

12-6-2007 - Practice Entry

Well, my wife is boarding a plane to Hawaii to run in the Honolulu Marathon and I'm stuck at home with the kids. Not a bad place to be, but it sure limits my options for things to do. If Charlie were a little older, I'd have no problem with this. With a three year old though, this changes this. As far as this mornings workout went, I did my normal weight lifting routine. Hopefully tonight I'll be able to find a baby sitter so I can teach class. If not, then I'll have to cancel. I hate doing that.

 

[Makalakumu]

12-7-2007 - Practice Entry

I worked Martial Arts Workout C this morning. It was a pretty good workout. I hit the new nunchaku kata hard and I think that I have it to the point where I could back off and just practice it normally now. This leaves my C workout kata-less for now. I need to think of a new project.