I have been extremely remiss of late, and I haven't written any posts regarding my training for Ippon Cup in September (and potentially USANKF Nationals in July). So far so good! Due to my time constraints with work and school, I've been forced to cut back on the number of days per week that I'm training karate. Originally, and ideally, I was training karate 3-4 days per week, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 3-4 days per week and lifting weights 3 days per week. Lately, my karate training has dropped down to 2 days only every week, with an occasional 3rd day if something changes in my schedule. At first I was concerned that by less karate, I would be becoming worse and less capable on the mat. Turns out the opposite is occurring; my performance during classes and training sessions is a hundred times better.
I think I have to give a lot of credit to my time spent in the gym and in BJJ. My level of fitness has skyrocketed from before, my strength is increasing daily and I'm becoming more flexible and relaxed while performing every activity during classes. Coach pointed out something to me that made a lot of sense, everything is karate training, whether you're punching and kicking, or working through life's daily problems. Everything you do is karate training, and everything makes your karate better as long as you're pushing the pace and working through things.
Anyway, so karate-wise I'm doing much better, performed spectacularly at America's Cup last month, gold in kata and silver in kumite. There was a tournament today, but unfortunately had to skip it. It was a big one too, so it really was unfortunate.
One big issue I'm having while working through kihon and kata is that the heel of my base leg during transitions keeps popping off the ground. I'm not sure if this is an issue of ankle flexibility, or just a lack of attention to that detail, but it's destroying the rhythm of some of my kata, specifically Unsu and Kanku Sho. The other thing I've been focusing on since the Shotokan Symposium is the pressure in my hips during stances, forward pressure for front stance, backward for back stance, etc.
By tightening my glutes into the front stance, I'm finding it much easier for me to keep my body upright and hips underneath my center of gravity, thus making all techniques much nicer to look it and more effective.
So anyway, that's it for now, hopefully I'll be more attentive over the next several weeks and continue to post updates as we go forward.
I think I have to give a lot of credit to my time spent in the gym and in BJJ. My level of fitness has skyrocketed from before, my strength is increasing daily and I'm becoming more flexible and relaxed while performing every activity during classes. Coach pointed out something to me that made a lot of sense, everything is karate training, whether you're punching and kicking, or working through life's daily problems. Everything you do is karate training, and everything makes your karate better as long as you're pushing the pace and working through things.
Anyway, so karate-wise I'm doing much better, performed spectacularly at America's Cup last month, gold in kata and silver in kumite. There was a tournament today, but unfortunately had to skip it. It was a big one too, so it really was unfortunate.
One big issue I'm having while working through kihon and kata is that the heel of my base leg during transitions keeps popping off the ground. I'm not sure if this is an issue of ankle flexibility, or just a lack of attention to that detail, but it's destroying the rhythm of some of my kata, specifically Unsu and Kanku Sho. The other thing I've been focusing on since the Shotokan Symposium is the pressure in my hips during stances, forward pressure for front stance, backward for back stance, etc.
By tightening my glutes into the front stance, I'm finding it much easier for me to keep my body upright and hips underneath my center of gravity, thus making all techniques much nicer to look it and more effective.
So anyway, that's it for now, hopefully I'll be more attentive over the next several weeks and continue to post updates as we go forward.
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