I was just over at Ikigai and read Matt’s recent post on the Okinawan hoe, the kuwa, as an element of kobudo training. Intrigued, I then watched the bunkai clip he posted from YouTube; I can now confidently say that the kuwa if officially awesome. I’m sure Wifey is going to be just thrilled to see me waving around and twirling the garden hoe my Dad left at our place when he was over helping me with a while back, because I can guarantee I’ll probably do it the next time I have to bring it out of the shed to do some work in the yard 😉

… and this once again reminds me that I’d love to take up kobudo, but it isn’t something I’ll be able to do until next year at the earliest. Between all sorts of stuff (i.e. money and time :P), it’s not something that’s practical at this point. Doesn’t mean I can’t keep watching clips on YouTube and read kobudo-related blogs though 😀

Bloginated Monday, 21st September 2009 / Kobudo
Tag-isms: Kuwa | Okinawan hoe

This is an image of my stomach just above the belly button after a short session of iron stomach training – Jyastin-kun has excellent targeting and accuracy considering how many strikes we did and it’s all focused into a single spot! This photo was taken Friday, so by now it’s started going all yellow around the purple/red area and isn’t as painful as it was last week.

I’m not sure what it says about me personally that I find this kind of thing amusing 😀 And yes, we all know how attractive my hairy man-belly is 😛

Bloginated Monday, 21st September 2009 / Injuries
Tag-isms: body conditioning | bruising | stomach impact | stupid injuries | training

Just wanted to add a quick post on this week’s training – in addition to the iron stomach conditioning, we also did some general arm conditioning as well, and some cool 2-person drills that eventually evolved into a continuous flow of blocks and strikes, with both sides playing the part of aggressor/defender with relative equality. The combination seemed like it would make for good application during sparring as well, which is ace.

What was interesting was how we started the lesson – after doing our warm-up routine, Sensei had us stand in a low kibadachi and practice standing continuous oitsuki (reverse punches). After doing this for a while, we then walked along the line, standing in front of each of us with a pad placed against his abdomen, which we were to strike with as much power as we could a certain number of times. After this, he then demonstrated the importance of the use of hips, thighs, knees and feet in executing an extremely powerful oitsuki in order to get us to improve our technique. From here’s where it gets interesting – to encourage better kibadachi, we all had to stand in a line, but so that the sides of our feet were pressed up against out neighbours to either side. This actually helped reinforce my stance, but overall it helped encourage all of us to dig lower in our stance and find greater strength, kept our feet straight and knees solid – the techniques that followed were apparently greatly improved, and I know I felt the difference as well.

We also went through kata (by the end of the session I’d gotten the basic pattern down reasonably well, so now it’s time to work on refining my technique, and I’m hoping that by the time we get to the end of the year I’ll be ready to grade again), some groundwork (which was a bit of light BJJ) and some other two-person drills/techniques.

It was a really exhausting session, half-way through I was already starting to feel it, but I dug deeper when I needed to in order to push forward. The end result was an extremely good workout for the mind and body!

Bloginated Friday, 18th September 2009 / Karate
Tag-isms: body conditioning | Groundwork | kibadachi | Oitsuki | Stances

Had a bit more body conditioning at training this week, including something that was really fun – iron stomach training!

In the previous style I used to do, we’d messed around a little with this premise before, so it’s been a while since I’ve last done it. I was quite surprised at how much punishment I was able to take though, much more than previously I reckon, but still, I want to be able to take more 😛

This isn’t too surprising in the grand scheme of things, as I’m currently suffering from Cake Belly. For those unawares (which would be most, since I’ve just coined the term :P), that when you’ve eaten multiple instances of yummy cake over a week and haven’t exercised your abs appropriately to offset all the awesome food 🙂 It also brought home that I really need to get back into the swing of doing weights, as it’ll help develop the muscles in my torso to withstand a bit more punishment.

BTW, for those unawares, broken down into its most basic form, iron stomach training teaches you how to tense and use the muscles in your abdomen to withstand a direct strike. The process involves two practitioners standing in front of each other exchanging reverse-punches directed at the stomach on each other, starting with a low intensity and progressing to gradually higher impact until the receiver of the strike reaches their absolute limit.

Or in simple terms, it’s two people punching each other in the stomach until one of them almost falls down 😉

At more advanced levels, I’ve seen iron body demonstrations where planks of wood, baseball bats, concrete, and so forth, are smashed against parts of the body (head, stomach, arms, legs), with little to no harm to the practitioner despite the object breaking/shattering as part of the process.

The awesome part of it was that I was actually doing the iron stomach training with Jyastin-kun, so we were pretty comfortable with upping the intensity of the training as we went, which was awesome fun. I once again fell into the habit of pulling my stomach as some of the punches were coming in instead of letting it hit without obstruction. By the end of it I was working hard to break the habit, but I still need more work.

The disappointing thing at the time was that it wasn’t looking like I was going to get any bruising, despite the fact I knew it had to have had some impact given that I was struggling to bow out at the end of class due to the tender muscles in my belly! Looks like some bruising is starting to come through, so at least I’ll feel a little justified for being a bit tender for the next few days!

So yes, I’m stupid, but body conditioning is fun 🙂

Bloginated Thursday, 17th September 2009 / Karate
Tag-isms: body conditioning | stomach impact | training

Yes, I know he’s painting the fence – I couldn’t find a picture of Miyagi helping to paint the house 😛

Last weekend was spent trying to be useful as McAdam is moving into his new place next weekend. This involved lifting heavy things, driving around with a trailer on the back of the car (which was pretty amusing in itself as I demonstrated my complete inability to reverse with one sitting on the back of my car :P), going to the hardware store and painting the house. Having painted our previous place, I have to say I’m not too shabby at the task – plenty of practice there.

Anywho, when I woke up Sunday morning after a hard day’s work, my thigh on my right leg was absolutely killing me! On Saturday night when I went to bed I was struggling to be able to hop like I normally would, and after a full day of painting on Sunday, my thigh was absolutely shot come Sunday night. When I woke up on Moonday morning, I knew I’d done a good job 🙂 It wasn’t as though it was permanently damaged or anything, it’s just that the muscles were extremely sore. While this is pretty normal for most people I guess, I think it’s exasperated by the fact that when I suqat down or head up on the step ladder when painting, I’m doing everything using only one leg, as my prosthesis is such that it’s there to provide support while walking or when stationary, but because of the lack of a working knee, my body relies entirely on my right leg to lift the body when crouching/climbing step ladders, that kind of thing. It means it gets a good workout, too!

So come Monday night, I was getting worried that the muscles weren’t recovering as quickly as I wanted when I had one of those light-bulb moments – the magic mud!

The infamous Magic Mud

I’ve posted before on this magic stuff, so have a read if you’re interested – once again, the stuff made a huge impact on my thigh, I massaged in a pretty generous amount on Monday night, and while it was still sore on Tuesday, it was considerably less so. And today? Feeling almost back to normal.

If you’re keen to try it, Google ‘Rotorua Thermal Mud’ – the maker of the one I have is Parrs, and they were readily available when Wifey and I were holidaying in New Zealand a few years back. When my current batch runs out, I’ll definitely be ordering some more online from NZ. At least for me, it works really well on freeing up aches and pains from my joints and muscles.

Will have to try and remember this for when I start painting our place later on this year and I inadvertently mangle my muscles in the process 🙂

Bloginated Wednesday, 16th September 2009 / Prosthesis or amputee stuff
Tag-isms: House painting | Magic mud | Sore muscles