2007 Workout #48: Sen no sen…

Tuesday’s workout was a good one. We were treated to a traditional summertime slow burn first class, featuring basics primarily. For whatever reason, I was having an extremely difficult time getting my wind… it got somewhat better once Sensei Brewer turned on the air conditioning, but I didn’t start feeling like myself until partway through the second class. The basics training was good, however I have been neglecting it lately. I still feel like I am learning some lessons about hip action and connection from Sensei Quinn, but its hard to break so many long standing bad habits.

The second class was a study on sen-no-sen (taking the initiative first), and I was lucky enough to pair off with my good buddy . We were doing a drill where one side would initiate the attack by flinching or starting a forward movement, and the other would then counterattack before they could complete the technique (or, more appropriately the thought of throwing the technique). I have always enjoyed working on these aspects of sparring strategy, however I found my efforts labored on Tuesday night. There have been times in the last year where it felt like this type of strategy “just worked”, but this class was not one of them. I have found myself back to watching kumite videos from the Japanese Championships, dreaming of the day when I can have a reverse punch that sharp and strong.

More training will get me there!