2008 Workout #30, Perfect Pushups #15: Sparring and a new pushup regiment…

Tonight’s workout began with a classic basics lesson which turned into some distance and timing drills. The timing drill had one side close their eyes, and the other side move the hand as a target and on the count you would open your eyes and had to tag their hand with yours. At one point Sensei Quinn walked up while my eyes were closed and put his hand RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE. When I opened my eyes and saw skin I dropped back and sunk into stance (we were in ready position so I was standing up), everyone laughed and Sensei Brewer remarked that was exactly what I should’ve done.

Score one for instinct!

The second class was a great sparring workout, we warmed up with flowing basic combinations from sparring stance up and down the floor and then applied them with partners. I was feeling a little erratic in my movements today, but it was probably due to the fact that I took a two hour nap before karate tonight.

We then moved into some slow sparring, and a few of the encounters led me to think a lot about my mentality on slow sparring. To me, slow sparring is a chess game but when the advantage is found the attack can maintain a certain level of speed and intent. Apparently, this viewpoint is not shared with a few of my peers and they were displeased with my rate of movement.

I talked it over with Sensei Quinn a bit after class, and he said that there is a variety of different approaches to that notion. One dictates that you can slowly work to gain your advantage, strike quickly, and then back off. He warned that if you constantly exert fast techniques that eventually it will escalate into more free sparring and less slow sparring, but the partner has a certain responsibility to control the action as well.

I like that notion, mostly because it lets me work on whatever I need to work on and arrest the situation should it start to get out of control. In my oh-so-humble opinion, its time for some of my peers (especially those complaining about this) to bring the pain… I’m going to need it in order to get ready for Sandan.

I want you to push me.
I want you to try to get in and hit me.
I want to get that scared adrenaline hit when I’m sparring so I can learn to deal with it.

In short, its time to put on the big boy pants and get this show on the road. I’ll have a roll of tape in my bag should anyone need to borrow some to lash on their manhood.

That being said… and I moved to a new level of perfect pushups today, completing our requisite sets in 10-8-6-4 fashion. I feel the difference between the increased reps, doing this regiment after a full hard workout like tonights was a real trial but we both got it done!