Tuesday Night

I missed last night so I went tonight. Pete taught.
It must be my birthday or something.... we did udekimenage. I love this technique. I'm not necessarily doing it right all the time but I love it because the ukemi is easy and it's a nice warm up. Looks like I spent too much time doing breakfalls last class. The first couple throws I did less of a roll and more of a quasi-breakfall. I fixed that quickly.

We did a tsuki nikkyo. This was awesome. I was just going to write that I hadn't seen a nikkyo in a while. The problem lies in the fact that I typically don't go to the Wednesday class. This means that sometimes they cover stuff that I miss. Nothing can be done about it.

I remember at one point we were doing a tsuki kotagaeshi. I had trouble keeping my hands low and in front of my center. So, I slowed up a bit and focused. I got things to be a little better.

I was asked to uke for someone's upcoming test. He knows I normally can't come on Wednesday's so he told me not to worry about it. I'd love to be his uke though. I'm going to look into getting a babysitter that night. Tough to do as I don't have anyone.



DAPI: 1

Schedule Got Messed Up

Typically, I like to hit the Sunday morning class. I always feel refreshed when we're done and is a great way to start the day. Since I couldn't make it I actually took a class Sunday night in Beverly. I've been there one time before.

Class was excellent. Was good to see people I hadn't seen in a while. We worked on that tougher entry where you slide in with your back to uke. It's getting easier the more I see it in classes. I think I saw a shihonage, an iriminage, and a bunch of other age's.

The workout was excellent. There seem to be a lot of throws that seem to need a breakfall. So, I tried over and over to do some. My right side seemed fair. At least it felt like a breakfall most of the time. My left side seemed screwy. Things got worse as I got more tired as well. Their mat is silly forgiving so it's a great place to practice something like this.

During one of the techniques Matt was uke for me and showed me that you can just pronate the arm a little and that raises uke up before we did a yonkyo. It sort of takes the slack right out. You have to be real careful as the first time he had me try it I turned a little strongly which resulted in a tap. I immediately let off. After a couple tries I figured out that just a small amount went a long way with that.

There was one technique(udekimenage maybe) where you turn uke around do a j-step and throw... but without taking a step. Your supposed to just use the momentum and turn your hips and snap into position throwing uke. Tough to do correctly.

We also did a something-tosh. You eventually get uke on your hip and as your throwing you grab their calf and pull up.

Great class. I didn't necessarily do lots right but it was still great. It was nice to get lots of corrections.


DAPI: 2
Minor ache in both shoulders from non-stop breakfalls.

Friday Night

Had another good class with Alan. Another one lost in the void.

DAPI: 1
Apparently whatever we did... didn't hurt the next day.

Woo Hoo...

I'm back and I feel great. I was only away for a week, and it felt like a month. I was so jazzed up to be on the mat that I was actually yakking.

We did some udekimenage. A suwari version I believe then a hanmi handache. There were other things of course lost in the void that is my memory.


DAPI: 1
The week off fixed everything.

Or Two

Still sick enough that I wanted to not spread it around. I'm at the tail end of this thing though so I should be able to attend a class soon.

My attention was needed elsewhere anyway.

DAPI: 1
Wrist and other things are way better... Maybe taking the week off was a good idea anyway.

Took a Sick Day

Didn't want to infect anyone so I stayed home today. No Class.



DAPI: 2
Wrist a little tweaky still

Warm Sunday Morning

Sunday mornings can be tough because it can be cold out and really all you want to do is roll over and go back to sleep. It's totally worth it though. Once you are done you feel refreshed and full of energy for the day. This morning however it was warm for some odd reason. Is this January or what?

Alan filled in this morning and we had a great class. We had a couple of line throws. Except the first time I tried to do one I ended up almost doing a kaitenage just out of muscle memory. Oops.

Then we slowed down the pace a bit with some tenchinage. Then... we did a throw I love. For when you are trying to do a tenchinage and someone is pushing against you. You turn your hips and throw. I've done this one before but not in a while.

We did a throw from kneeling position where uke comes around and tries to grab your shoulders. Nage sort of steps/moves the kneeling position and bends/bows for the throw. This throw is all about timing and a comitted attack. I got a couple of good ones in. As uke I had only one problem. There was one nage who was trying to help me by moving his hand up afterwards. All that really did was hit my body and cause me a small amount of disorientation. You think you know where you are going and the smallest deflection can mess with you..... or at least at my level.

We did some ushiro version of a sankyo.... and ended with some jujinage. My partner for this wasn't taking ukemi so we just worked on a no-throw version. This actually was excellent practice for me since I needed to improve how I keep my back straight... lower myself... and make sure I have the arms wrapped up nicely. My partner was working on getting the motion feeling right to her. I thought she was doing fine but I'm no judge.

DAPI: 3
Sankyo's reactivated some pain in my right wrist. I tapped out early on that side. Odd .. feels fine just sitting here typing. Hurts if it is stretched in a sankyo. I'll still go tomorrow night and just tap early if needed.

Friday Night

Because of the holidays and my own busy factor I haven't caught one of Alan's classes in a while. It was great.... I remember enjoying the class.... but err.... I'm currently blanking out on what we did.

The only technique that sticks out in my mind was an interesting one that attacks the elbow. You sort of end up turning the arm and pushing down on it while bringing your center down.

DAPI: 2
Left elbow got too much of a workout
Good news is wrist and knee are almost 100%

Busy Monday Class

My knee was sore that day but exercise I think helped it some.

Somewhere along the way we picked up three new students again. Mr. Mulligan was unavailable so Bob kept them busy doing breakfalls and other things..... at one point they mixed in for a simple backstretch or three.

We did a yokomenuchi shihonage. For whatever reason, this technique felt really smooth and fluid for me. I was moving in a continuous motion with no stop and go action. I think I even did most of them ok too. After a short while Bob had us change to a different entry. You slide in past uke with your back to them and catch the hand coming in.

We did a kotagaeshi at one point. My inclination was to step in but the technique was shown stepping back. I think the step back is better if you want to really throw someone. That was how it was shown so that's what I tried to do. I had trouble finding the grip. My partner for this one was a woman with a black belt that showed up last week. This wasn't Dawn... this is another woman. I got the impression she'll be coming to more classes. I never got a chance to talk to her to ask where she came from.

One of the techniques we covered was one of my old favorites.... udekimenage. Bob asked me to demo with him for this as he knows I like this throw. He was really pushing the elbow though. I was able to keep up but barely. The tough part about ukemi for this is that my weight feels like it's moving in the wrong direction when the actual projection starts. I try not to anticipate, but I think at the speed at which Bob was doing the throw I have to start anticipating just a little. He's throwing me just on the edge of my ability. For whatever reason most times when I am thrown from this technique I roll and pop right up facing nage. This is what I like about the throw. Somehow since I don't have time to think my ukemi is automatic.

DAPI: 4
Knee still weak

Good Class... Bad Next Morning

Ok... saw yonkyo again. Now I understand what I saw in the Methuen dojo in another context. They were double pumping the arm during ikkyo. I'm wondering if they are practicing an ikkyo a certain way because in the future they will be doing a yonkyo or some other technique.

Also done today.... kaitenage, kokyunage, kotagaeshi, sankyo.

I'm starting to really like sankyo. I'm not sure why.

Didn't realize I hurt myself until the next day. I felt fine at the time but I took a bad few throws in a row. Nage was throwing me to his feet and holding on to one arm to boot. Made the ukemi harder. A couple times I got away from him. A couple others I did a breakfall. One time I allowed myself to go down on my knee because I didn't think I was moving that fast. I was wrong. I woke up the next day with my knee unable to bear weight for about a minute. In fact, whenever I stop moving and sit for a while (like at my job) when I got up, I limped badly for a minute.

Today is Tuesday and the knee is starting to feel better.
Wrist from last week still sensitive but definite improvement.


DAPI: 5
Whammed my knee

Splash... Here I Go Again

Since I was unable to come to Friday nights class, I went to the Methuen dojo. We started with what I consider an abbreviated warm up. Before class started I asked one of the other students how they line up for class. I didn't want that confusion again. They line up the same way we do.

I had a great class. If I had a memory perhaps I could tell you what we worked on.... hmmm.... some kind of ikkyo. Two omote, two ura and the 4th one is a pin. My partner at this point was a talkative brown belt. I really like the way they sort of double pump uke's arm to get him down. It was interesting. My yakking partner also gave me one other good tip. The attack was a tsuki... rather than slapping your crosshand down on top of uke's and doing a technique she suggested putting it on the arm/wrist somewhere and slide it down. Less of a chance of missing uke entirely I guess. She did one thing unusual though. For the pin I would describe it more as a horizontal nikkyo pin except she didn't press the wrist near as I could tell. Although honestly I wouldn't necessarily notice it if she did it lightly enough.

Also done... start off with an ikkyo and come under the arm shoving your elbow in uke's face. Instead of pulling it down and through, he had us turn at this point and throw. I had trouble with the final hand change to do the throw. I think you have to let go and regrip but I wasn't sure how exactly.

We also did two flavors of iriminage. I particularly liked practicing the long version (what they call ura) as I hadn't done it in a while. Sensei Dore asked me to take my other hand and instead of doing nothing or perhaps putting it on the small of the back... he had us putting it on uke's shoulder and pushing so they turn some.

If I have another free Thursday, I'm sure I'll be going back.

There is good/bad thing about the dojo. The mats are quite nice but they sit on a cement floor. As a result, the mats feel a little harder than normal. Good for ukemi :)

DAPI: 1/2
Wrist feels a little better now. No new damage whatsoever.

New Years First Class

I attended Shodokan's first class of the year. There were a good number of people attending. Sensei Mulligan asked the class to have a beginners mind for the evening. He wanted us to pay lots of attention as if we had never done the techniques before.

In some ways this was a harder class. It's seems like its been forever since we did any techniques that started with a wrist grab.

Once again I had a problem riding that fine line of knowing how much to press your uke when there is resistance. For the shomenuchi ikkyo I had our least senior student. I think she's been around for maybe 3 months. She keeps to herself mostly, and does well enough for her experience level. So... the problem. When I brought her arm down during an ikkyo, she wouldn't really let me get a full extension and get her bent over. I could have easily forced her down but even though there is no throw involved I still think of this as ukemi. I didn't want her to take ukemi beyond her ability so I pushed her to the point which I think she could take and left it at that. It's not a contest to see if I can shove her to the ground after all. Still... it was kind of tough to do an ikkyo like that. Good practice for me again. An uncooperative uke can be just as much of a learning experience as a perfect uke.


DAPI: 1/2
Wrist is still not healed up from being hauled across the dojo last class like a sack of fish