The symposium was one incredible weekend; I'm pretty sure that everybody was able to take something away from it, and learned new ideas. Of all the instructors that were teaching at the camp, I was only exposed to Otis Sensei (it was both good and bad, but mostly good.) Azoulay Sensei, my usual instructor, and DeAngelis Sensei, another sensei that I have trained under were in charge of heading other groups throughout the camp, and as luck would have it Otis Sensei always chose to work with the competitors and dan rank classes.
As with the usual Camp Shotokan curriculum the Shotokan Symposium had an overlying theme to the classes. The running joke, though, is that the theme for camp is always the same thing, body dynamics, but Otis Sensei and Safar Sensei just call it different things. This year's theme was body compression and expansion (body dynamics by any other name, but one can make the argument that Shotokan itself is just body dynamics by any other name). The main idea being that the body compresses in transition during techniques to lead to the expansion into the strike/kick/block/punch. Simple idea, but rather difficult to truly accomplish correctly.
For competitors, the question was of footwork, and using a very simple pattern of compress back, shift forward to attack, side step out, compress and then expand to attack again. The process was repeated in attack and defense, and using several different techniques, but relying primarily on gyaku-tsuki and kizami-tsuki. The classes were attended by some of my fellow AJKA-I US Team members, as well as one member of the WKF US Team, and his brother who is a gold medalist from the Maccabiah Team as part of the US delegation. Aside from them there were a number of solid competitors with pinpoint accuracy and significant power. It was a rough couple of days of competition training.
The regular dan rank classes were similarly basic, but incredibly complex in their own ways. Primarily focusing on relaxing into stances and using the inherent compression to create tremendous power in attacks. There was also a big focus on kata peformance and oyo drills used primarily for utilizing intelligent body dynamics for self-defense as opposed to technique based bunkai drills.
It was one incredible weekend, and hopefully as more details come back to me I will be posting more about it.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Back to the gym
I can't describe how good it felt to be lifting again...I missed it far more than I realized. Unfortunately, I was a bit overzealous and managed to tweak my shoulder and had some minor issues with external rotation of my right arm. Luckily a little Tiger Balm, and my shoulder is back to normal. The level of soreness I'm experiencing right now is incredible, though. I was lifting for about an hour, I'm again following Alwyn Cosgrove's New Rules regime. Hypertrophy I, workout A covers the upper body, utilizing an alternating set routine.
For day 1 all rep ranges were 5x5: incline dumbbell bench w/ seated cable rows, standing dumbbell shoulder press w/ lat pulldown (or pullups), and close-grip barbell bench press w/ high pull, all followed by 3x15 for abs, in this case I did decline bench crunches. The rep ranges rotate between 5x5, 4x10 and 3x15, abs are always 3x15. I've decided to supplement the full workouts with some isolation work, on upper body days I will be doing 3x15 for biceps or triceps (alternating by workout), and 3x15 for calves on lower body days. The specific exercises will change workout to workout, but I'm just hoping for a little extra mass gain in those specific parts. We'll see how it works out, I might change it based on physical fatigue and he like.
If that wasn't enough, I ended the day with an hour of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which is always fun. It was about 30 minutes of drilling and 30 minutes of hard sparring. Basically reviewing the basic hip throw, while adding a new grip to the throw, and then working on scissor sweeps from guard.
All in all, I was pretty wasted after all that, but today I woke up feeling energized and ready for another day like that (yeah, I'll get it on Wednesday). I'm looking forward to karate tonight, hopefully get some free-sparring and good kumite drills.
Hopefully I'll be able to stay on track with my weight-lifting, weight-loss and training goals and peak just in time for Ippon Cup in September...wish me luck!
Saturday, January 5, 2013
1/5/13 - Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
With the new instructor, the classes are only an hour long instead of two hours, but seriously, I feel like I was run over right now! One big difference is that a large portion of the time was involved in live rolling and hard sparring. With our last instructor, we had a 2 hour session with about an hour of passive/compliant drills, 30 minutes of semi-alive training and then 30 minutes of sparring, but during the sparring session there was rarely more than one pair going at a time. Last night, we had 30 minutes or review of Wednesday night's class with some tweaking of technical details, and then 30 minutes of live rolling, there was very little break in between. We were all rolling at the same time, with each of us going at least 4 times. I was lucky enough to roll 5 times...hence the way I'm feeling today!
Anyway, technical details: when bringing the leg over the head to sit back into the arm bar, it's important to not just simply step over the head. You can make a lot of open space which gives your opponent time to get his head clear and sit up in your guard. Most important thing is to slip your leg over without creating space.
When going for an Americana lock, the important point of tapping your opponent isn't necessarily torquing the arm upward, some people are just too flexible for that. It's more important to bring their elbow down tight to their ribs and then torque, this puts the maximum amount of pressure on the shoulder and often will tap people without even turning the arm.
With the cross collar choke, the most important detail is the grips, if you don't shoot your hands deep enough along the lapels, it will take much longer to finish the opponent, giving them extra time to breathe and think. You're better off shooting your hands towards the gi-makers brand tag behind the neck and try to make your knuckles touch there. Then lean forward and turn your palms up.
I'm already looking forward to Monday's class, it was nice to see that our head instructor's teaching style is very similar to his instructor's, who was the primary teacher on Wednesday night.
Anyway, technical details: when bringing the leg over the head to sit back into the arm bar, it's important to not just simply step over the head. You can make a lot of open space which gives your opponent time to get his head clear and sit up in your guard. Most important thing is to slip your leg over without creating space.
When going for an Americana lock, the important point of tapping your opponent isn't necessarily torquing the arm upward, some people are just too flexible for that. It's more important to bring their elbow down tight to their ribs and then torque, this puts the maximum amount of pressure on the shoulder and often will tap people without even turning the arm.
With the cross collar choke, the most important detail is the grips, if you don't shoot your hands deep enough along the lapels, it will take much longer to finish the opponent, giving them extra time to breathe and think. You're better off shooting your hands towards the gi-makers brand tag behind the neck and try to make your knuckles touch there. Then lean forward and turn your palms up.
I'm already looking forward to Monday's class, it was nice to see that our head instructor's teaching style is very similar to his instructor's, who was the primary teacher on Wednesday night.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Shotokan Symposium - Part 1
Every year the American JKA-International holds an international training camp in Carlsbad, CA. The training camp is, simply called Camp Shotokan. This year, unfortunately, the location we utilize is under construction and our usual training areas are currently compromised without guarantee of being ready for the summer rush when the organization comes together. The executive committee instead decided to take the AJKA-I on the road, with several separate training camps being held across the country at different times of the year. The first one coming up is the Shotokan Symposium (1/18/13 - 1/20/13), in Buckingham, PA at the Solebury Club.
The Symposium is being run by Sensei Rob DeAngelis, 6th Dan, Director of the AJKA-I East Coast Instructor Training Program. The camp will be taught by three primary instructors, all members of the AJKA-I Executive Committee and several guest instructors. The primary camp instructors are: Sensei Edmond Otis, 8th Dan, AJKA-I Chairman and North American Chief Instructor; Sensei Avi Azoulay, 7th Dan, AJKA-I Technical Committee from New York; and Sensei Rob DeAngelis.
Sensei Edmond Otis, 8th Dan
Otis Sensei is well known in all parts of the world, he travels extensively between the US and New Zealand, where he currently lives, and also teaches annually in Europe at the AJKA-I International Instructor's Camp. He began training 1967 under Nishiyama Sensei in Los Angeles, and continued training under Nishiyama's senior student Sensei Ray Dalke in Riverside. While there, Otis Sensei trained extensively under Dalke Sensei, and Sensei Frank Smith (long considered the greatest American JKA fighter of his generation). Otis Sensei brings years of teaching, coaching and judging to the dojo floor and provides amazing insights into the most basic of karate's techniques. He is well known for saying, "Karate is very simple."
Otis Sensei coaching competitors at Camp Shotokan:
Sensei Avi Azoulay, 7th Dan
Azoulay Sensei has been training continuously since 1971 in his native Israel under the guidance of Sensei Satoshi Miyazaki (JKA Belgium), after championing the Israel Open two years in a row, Azoulay Sensei made the move to the US to train under Sensei Alex Sternberg. In the early 90's, Sensei made the move to join the AJKA-I while training under Dalke Sensei at Camp Shotokan in Colorado. Azoulay Sensei has been on the US Maccabiah Team three times, and was the captain for the team in 1993 to the World Maccabiah Games in Israel. In his competition days, Sensei has medaled in various national and international competitions including silver and gold medals at the World Maccabiah Games. He is well known for his technical mastery and for making every class both enertaining and instructive.
Sensei Rob DeAngelis 6th Dan
DeAngelis Sensei is without a doubt one of the fiercest fighters and competitors I have ever met, with an incredible blitz attack and phenomenal judo, he is a scary individual to meet on the street or on the competition floor. DeAngelis Sensei began his training under John McClary in New Jersey and then continued his training under Sensei Leslie Safar, 9th Dan, AJKA-I Technical Director and Chief Instructor for Europe. DeAngelis Sensei has an incredible knowledge and intuitive knack for employing superior body dynamics and breathing to create destructive power. His many competitive accolades include: 2nd Place - Kumite 2007 World Cup in Spain; 2nd Place - Kumite 1997 World Cup in Los Angeles; 1st Place - Team Kumite 2004 & 2006 Euro Cup in Hungary.
This will be without a doubt an incredibly instructive and exciting weekend full of karate. There will be classes for all kyu levels, black belts and competitors of all levels. Furthermore, camp participants will get the chance to train with past and present AJKA-I US Team members, who are preparing for the Ippon Cup in Berlin, Germany in September 2013.
I can't wait for training to start!
The Symposium is being run by Sensei Rob DeAngelis, 6th Dan, Director of the AJKA-I East Coast Instructor Training Program. The camp will be taught by three primary instructors, all members of the AJKA-I Executive Committee and several guest instructors. The primary camp instructors are: Sensei Edmond Otis, 8th Dan, AJKA-I Chairman and North American Chief Instructor; Sensei Avi Azoulay, 7th Dan, AJKA-I Technical Committee from New York; and Sensei Rob DeAngelis.
Sensei Edmond Otis, 8th Dan
Otis Sensei is well known in all parts of the world, he travels extensively between the US and New Zealand, where he currently lives, and also teaches annually in Europe at the AJKA-I International Instructor's Camp. He began training 1967 under Nishiyama Sensei in Los Angeles, and continued training under Nishiyama's senior student Sensei Ray Dalke in Riverside. While there, Otis Sensei trained extensively under Dalke Sensei, and Sensei Frank Smith (long considered the greatest American JKA fighter of his generation). Otis Sensei brings years of teaching, coaching and judging to the dojo floor and provides amazing insights into the most basic of karate's techniques. He is well known for saying, "Karate is very simple."
Otis Sensei coaching competitors at Camp Shotokan:
Sensei Avi Azoulay, 7th Dan
Azoulay Sensei has been training continuously since 1971 in his native Israel under the guidance of Sensei Satoshi Miyazaki (JKA Belgium), after championing the Israel Open two years in a row, Azoulay Sensei made the move to the US to train under Sensei Alex Sternberg. In the early 90's, Sensei made the move to join the AJKA-I while training under Dalke Sensei at Camp Shotokan in Colorado. Azoulay Sensei has been on the US Maccabiah Team three times, and was the captain for the team in 1993 to the World Maccabiah Games in Israel. In his competition days, Sensei has medaled in various national and international competitions including silver and gold medals at the World Maccabiah Games. He is well known for his technical mastery and for making every class both enertaining and instructive.
Sensei Rob DeAngelis 6th Dan
DeAngelis Sensei is without a doubt one of the fiercest fighters and competitors I have ever met, with an incredible blitz attack and phenomenal judo, he is a scary individual to meet on the street or on the competition floor. DeAngelis Sensei began his training under John McClary in New Jersey and then continued his training under Sensei Leslie Safar, 9th Dan, AJKA-I Technical Director and Chief Instructor for Europe. DeAngelis Sensei has an incredible knowledge and intuitive knack for employing superior body dynamics and breathing to create destructive power. His many competitive accolades include: 2nd Place - Kumite 2007 World Cup in Spain; 2nd Place - Kumite 1997 World Cup in Los Angeles; 1st Place - Team Kumite 2004 & 2006 Euro Cup in Hungary.
This will be without a doubt an incredibly instructive and exciting weekend full of karate. There will be classes for all kyu levels, black belts and competitors of all levels. Furthermore, camp participants will get the chance to train with past and present AJKA-I US Team members, who are preparing for the Ippon Cup in Berlin, Germany in September 2013.
I can't wait for training to start!
Starting the New Year off Right
While the gym is still not open, I haven't been able to begin my fitness goals in full, but I have been in the dojo, and let me tell you...wow! Two weeks off from training because of the holidays and work commitments and it felt amazing to be back! Wednesday night was the first day of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, new instructor and new training scheme. This instructor, in my opinion, is much better the last and his teaching style is far superior, at least for me.
His first session teaching was very basic, but highly technical. His teaching method is based on starting from the feet, and flow down to the ground and into several submission ideas. First, the take down: basic osoto-gari from gi-grips, from the take down assume side-control. Main points to remember, keep the sweeping leg in motion throughout the take down to ensure full motion and no stoppage, also when down in side-control keep the hips low and use your knees to block your opponents hips from moving. Lastly, throughout the process of take down to side-control, keep your head close to your opponents shoulder to add extra weight to your position. From side-control, go for mount and then three different submission options. When taking mount, remember to base your hips, block your opponents knee and then step over.
Three full-mount submissions:
Cross-collar choke: use one hand to open the lapel and feed your other hand deep into the collar and grip, first hand then slips under and takes a deep grip. Put your head down above or next to opponents and rotate your palms up.
Americana: if your opponent is defending the neck to prevent the collar-choke, isolate one arm and pin the ground with fingers pointing above the head. Using a thumb-less grip, slip your bottom hand under the arm and grip your own wrist while gripping your opponents wrist with your top hand. Shift your attacking side knee back and pull your opponents elbow down and gradually lift up to apply pressure to the shoulder.
Arm-bar: if your opponent attempts to push you off, post on his chest with one hand between his arms, and the other arm looped around one arm. Twist your hips so you ride up the elbow and keep your weight on his chest. Step your back leg over your opponent's head and sit back. Get wrist control so the thumb is pointing up and pinch your knees together and your heels to the floor. Apply pressure upward with your hips and down on his wrist.
Yesterday's karate class, was also nice and intense, some simple kihon to warm up: oi-zuki, gyaku-zuki, age-uke-gyaku-zuki and age-uke-maeshi-mae-geri-gyaku-zuki. This was followed for the rest of the class by ippon-kumite. Starting was basic, practicing the combinations we used during kihon, and gradually went to a more complicated combination, coincidentally also playing with osoto-gari. As the opponent steps in with oi-zuki, shift your lead leg out to the side and do a high jodan soto-uke, mawashi-geri with the back leg to mid-section and immediately with the same leg shift back and execute osoto-gari to your opponent's front leg.
The classes were mostly basic, and that's exactly what I wanted. I need to start talking to Sensei about more specialized and specific training for Ippon Cup, as I need more time to work on my kata and more importantly my kumite. Hopefully we'll be able to work something out soon.
His first session teaching was very basic, but highly technical. His teaching method is based on starting from the feet, and flow down to the ground and into several submission ideas. First, the take down: basic osoto-gari from gi-grips, from the take down assume side-control. Main points to remember, keep the sweeping leg in motion throughout the take down to ensure full motion and no stoppage, also when down in side-control keep the hips low and use your knees to block your opponents hips from moving. Lastly, throughout the process of take down to side-control, keep your head close to your opponents shoulder to add extra weight to your position. From side-control, go for mount and then three different submission options. When taking mount, remember to base your hips, block your opponents knee and then step over.
Three full-mount submissions:
Cross-collar choke: use one hand to open the lapel and feed your other hand deep into the collar and grip, first hand then slips under and takes a deep grip. Put your head down above or next to opponents and rotate your palms up.
Americana: if your opponent is defending the neck to prevent the collar-choke, isolate one arm and pin the ground with fingers pointing above the head. Using a thumb-less grip, slip your bottom hand under the arm and grip your own wrist while gripping your opponents wrist with your top hand. Shift your attacking side knee back and pull your opponents elbow down and gradually lift up to apply pressure to the shoulder.
Arm-bar: if your opponent attempts to push you off, post on his chest with one hand between his arms, and the other arm looped around one arm. Twist your hips so you ride up the elbow and keep your weight on his chest. Step your back leg over your opponent's head and sit back. Get wrist control so the thumb is pointing up and pinch your knees together and your heels to the floor. Apply pressure upward with your hips and down on his wrist.
Yesterday's karate class, was also nice and intense, some simple kihon to warm up: oi-zuki, gyaku-zuki, age-uke-gyaku-zuki and age-uke-maeshi-mae-geri-gyaku-zuki. This was followed for the rest of the class by ippon-kumite. Starting was basic, practicing the combinations we used during kihon, and gradually went to a more complicated combination, coincidentally also playing with osoto-gari. As the opponent steps in with oi-zuki, shift your lead leg out to the side and do a high jodan soto-uke, mawashi-geri with the back leg to mid-section and immediately with the same leg shift back and execute osoto-gari to your opponent's front leg.
The classes were mostly basic, and that's exactly what I wanted. I need to start talking to Sensei about more specialized and specific training for Ippon Cup, as I need more time to work on my kata and more importantly my kumite. Hopefully we'll be able to work something out soon.
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