Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Tuesday, 26th July 2016 at Titanium Fitness Gym, Westlands

Once again, the 2 of us focused on techniques from gyaku hanmi katate dori attack. It was a very short session (20 minutes), during which we were able to cover irimi nage, juji nage, kokyu nage, kote gaeshi, nikkyo, and sankyo. What’s amazing is the uniqueness of each session. There is no way to replicate a technique. If last week it felt right, this week it may feel totally wrong, even when mentally applying the same level of thinking.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Tuesday, 19th June 2016 at Titanium Fitness Gym, Westlands

Despite the low (no) turnout, we managed to remind ourselves something about ushiro ryoute dori techniques. As it turns out, watching the techniques on you tube and other media is way simpler than actually doing them. It was a sweaty 45 minutes or so, and hopefully there will be more participants on Thursday.

Friday, July 15, 2016

Thursday, 14th June 2016 at Titanium Fitness Gym, Westlands

Better late than never was the highlight of my attendance; in simple words, I was late for class. Initially, the techniques were dynamic and advanced, before we cooled down to basics in the last few minutes. We were able to go through techniques from yokomen uchi and chudan tsuki attacks. Lastly, we revisited gyaku hanmi katate dori ikkyo omote, and finished the class with ai hanmi katate dori ikkyo omote. It is amazing how many details we miss while focusing on the basics. No wonder Mateusz surprises me every time he says that his technique is not good, yet he has been practicing for the better part of his life. Hm. I can now relate. It was encouraging that the attendance had improved from 2 to 5. I hope that we can keep this up.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Tuesday, 12th June 2016 at Titanium Fitness Gym, Westlands

‘Carrying the torch’ is certainly not an easy thing, judging by the direction which the club has taken. Worse is when you try to alienate yourself from your lineage, in search of ‘greener pastures’. This is so cliché, that it makes you wonder why people forget so fast. While so many things have gone wrong, so many inspirational things have also happened. When will it all fit in the big picture? Anyway, in attempts to retrace Mateusz Sensei’s steps, we explored Katate-Dori Gyaku-Hanmi Ikkyo Omote, as the first step into Gyaku-Hanmi Osae Waza. The session was rather short (only 30 minutes), as requested by the management (it always sucks when you don’t have a place you can call your own). Despite the fact that we were only two, I tried to make the session reminiscent of the class on Friday, March 26, 2010. Back then we had no major problems. It is my hope that some of that spirit may come back to us (especially those who got to train intensely with Mateusz Sensei). Piotr sensei’s comment on the above session was that one needs to avoid leaning forward. Mateusz sensei said not to expose your side to uke when doing ai hanmi ikkyo. Centre should always be towards uke.