2005 Workout #12: Death via kata…

Last night’s workout was one of kata, kata, and more kata. There were also some interesting comments made about a condition that has, but I’ll leave them for him to recount or leave out, depending on his desires.

During the first class, the black belts were split up to instruct the lower ranks, I got the red and blue belts. I elected to train with them, as not to undermine my four nights of workout a week. We alternated Heian Nidan and Heian Sandan in order to get full coverage for both belt ranks, and everyone was doing pretty well. I started to explain to them a little about how hips play into stances, and I think the Elder West-san was getting it by the end.

I had a pretty good sweat going by the end of the first class, the second class was a torrent of kata like I have not seen in recent time. We did all the Heians in rapid succession, followed by Bassai Dai, then Empi, then Jion, and finally Kanku Dai, the longest Shotokan kata.

I was really pouring it on by the end of the night, and I could feel it. My Jion felt wobbly and somewhat disconnected for some reason and I saw a few sparkles during Kanku Dai. I knew I had pushed myself when noticed that I had a large, throbbing vein in my forehead while we were eating dinner twenty minutes after class. I’ve really gotta work on Jion and Kanku Dai before April. The other two I’m feeling moderately confident on, but Empi needs some polishing.

I rarely get corrections made on my Empi, but I’m nowhere near full of myself enough to think that means I have no problems with it. I know my stances drift too often in kata, and I still have some issues with my center. These things are going to be my focus points for the next month or so.

Tonight, I am told that Erbe-san and I are going to be the only people there to help Sensei, so I may be hard pressed to work out during the first class. The second class will likely be the murder of us by him, but that’s OK, we need it.