Finding new muscles to be sore in

Ah, late again! But for a good reason, of course; I had one hand-in and one home exam/test, both of which were due yesternight, the one between Sunday and Monday.

I had a surprising amount of muscle soreness after my little forest jaunt, or then again, perhaps not so surprising. I forewent any more training that week, apart from the everyday things like chosing the stairs instead of the elevators and suchlike. My cough has finally eased up, and now only breaks out occasionally, once or perhaps twice a day. I was absolutely delighted to prepare my smoothie (made, this time, with two oranges, one apple, a lot of frozen berries, some pumpkin seens and a few hazel nuts and almonds, and two coffee measurements of proteine powder) and set off towards sparring practice on Saturday.

There were only me and the Fighting Furies, plus the trainer, which is a pity because hot damn it's gorgeous, lovely fun! I ended up partnering the trainer, Theo, most of the time, which I don't mind even though I always steel myself - I know how good he is, and how hard he hits.

We took a good look at kicking and hitting, and, again, this is something I really appreciate with these Saturday sessions. Theo knows the importance of going into the most basic of basics, and to build from there. He is good at showing, too, with his body how it is supposed to move. I daresay I finally got some idea of how to properly execute a hook, and uppercut!
Now, one would think that, as an iaidoka, I would have all the leg muscles I need, even after a two-week enforced rest. As my thighs, bum and other leg muscles all attested to when I woke up on Sunday... I do not. Executing a proper kick is tricky. Again, I am happy that I've been doing martial arts for so long, and that my "mitorigeiko", that is, learning by looking/watching, is fairly good these days. Getting the body to do it is another matter, but, hey...
I've had a lot of trouble with kicking, or rather, using my muscles correctly, keeping my stance and not get unbalanced. Now, however, I've felt what it's supposed to feel like, and know what I must strive for.

And that is important, in every physical thing one does - know what it's supposed to feel like, and look like, so that one can strive for it.

"Opening" the hips is a bit of a dodgy description, but it really is the best. Suddenly, I had balance! And lifting the leg correctly, rather than doing a dance-like swipe, as well as doing the quick kick rather than let it hang in the air... aye, it felt a lot better afterwards. Going back to basics is never wrong, no matter how advanced you are.

We donned gloves and did one of Theo's trademark "learn to move your legs, damnit"-exercises, which are always, always useful. Switching around partners was good here, because one of the FF, who is damn fierce and hits like a sledgehammer, nevertheless needs to move her feet a bit more, and when Theo, after explaining patiently, eventually actually puts you through some rather intense practice whether you think you're ready or not, you have to move your feet. ...and it feels a lot better avoiding his punches than standing there, taking them...
The ensuing easy sparring that followed was very enlightening. Distance, closing the distance, moving here and there, ducking, the "oh shit"-block, allowing your opponent to do their stuff, coming up with combinations... very enlightening indeed. It is worth going out of one's comfort zone, always, stop thinking and, well, as they say, "It is essential to let go of the mind". I think it is Mencius saying that. If you let go of the mind, it will be in all directions. If you put your mind in your hands, in one strike in "I must block", it will get stuck there, and you will be undone. (Yes, I have read "The Unfettered Mind" quite a few times and yes, I can almost quote it verbatim by now... still good, though).

We finished with using heavy sticks, and hitting hard. For longsword practice, we call it "tip control", but it is always the same, no matter if you call it "pulling your punches" or "stopping" or whatever. Hit with full force, but keep control so that you can stop within a centimetre from actually connecting.
It was, again, enlightening, to use heavier sticks and hit with full force. It does help, even when you're defending, because you really get something to defend against. And still your partner retains control, so that if you would be too weak, you'd still not get all blooded up.

I do have a bit of an advantage when it comes to parts of single-stick training, but I must always apply myself fully to what we are supposed to do. Single stick and katana are not the same, even if similar!


I write about Saturday's practice in detail because it was, as I've said, enlightening, and very rewarding. I may have felt very weak (two weeks, I say, two weeks of a stupid cold!), but I came there in good spirits, and left in even better. Even when it's tricky and hard, it encourages me to try even harder. And to have such an emotional state in relation to your physical exercises is important! It makes it all the better. Of course, you can't have it all the time, but to know that you have it sometimes, or at least feel it sometimes, is a very good spur to keep on, to not stop, and even to keep upping your own game.
I want them muscles, and I want them skillz, as they say.

This week, I wonder a little about what you do after training? When you're full of energy, endorphines and cheer, exhausted or not, mind clear or full of new things, what's your favourite after-training activity?

See you all next week, until then, good luck with your training!

A lot of legwork

And on the sixth day, she kind of felt a little exhausted.
Monday saw me help out with coaching two of the more advanced iaidoka, so it was reasonably productive, but Wednesday saw frustration running fairly high. Sensei took a bit more of an interest, and I focused exclusively on my cuts - kiritsuke, that is, straight down from over the head. I've had trouble with that, and my grip, for as long as I can remember. Ohara-sensei tried to correct me, but I think I only managed to fix it in small part, and though it has become better, it is not good. My cuts are decent, but not as good as they could be. And it is such a delicate thing to fix, that it's incredibly hard to see what is wrong if someone is doing it "almost right", and even more so if they've already been doing it wrong for, oh, eight or nine years.

My katana being a wee bit too heavy for me, just a wee bit, does make things worse. I think I have a fair idea of the principles and the theory of it, and I may have felt what it feels like if I hold and cut right about once or twice, but it doesn't stay that way, and we shan't even speak of what happens when I actually do kata...
But I am working on it.
With fifteen minutes left of practice time (twenty went to warmup, and fifty-five for cutting and cutting only), I finally felt that my frustration was more of a hindrance than anything else, and went over to doing a few of my favourite kata. Now and again I did only cuts, but mostly I did kata.

Ah, how frustrating it is with these old troubles! One can only continue to work on it.

Kali Sikaran was far less frustrating, much, much less. I certainly didn't do perfectly, but I didn't hurt anyone, and I had fun. I didn't overexert myself, but managed quite well! I have actually begun to get some sort of control over the fighty stikks (or rattan sticks, baston or whatever you wish), both double and single. I am starting to see how things fit together, with and without weapons. Sometimes I can't really figure out how I'm supposed to do a particular string of movees, but most often I can figure it out after a while.


And then, Friday arrived, with lovely sunshine, and I absolutely could not resist: I took out my skis, and grinning rather broadly I'm afraid, I set out across the fields behind the house. And then I found a tunnel under the road (oh AM I going to use it for when I can run again!) and after following the broad path for a while... I found wide, wide fields, pristine and sparkling, with houses scattered far and wide, and forests encircling it, or dotted here and there on them. I found the tracks of other skiers, and followed them. After a while it turned out that the fields had turned into the fields of a golfing club. This reminded me that I am often not very interested in taking long walks, but skiing, oh, skiing is freedom! I could go anywhere with skis, through a forest or across fields, and hurt nothing and no one, and not be stopped. It's fast going, it doesn't hurt and I can go fast or slow.

I revelled in the feeling of freedom.

The track ran around the golfing area, though I didn't follow it all the way around the meandering edge, I stayed on the south side of a brook. But next time I am going to cross it and go out to the sea - it's not far, I've looked it up thoroughly on a map. Or, "far", I should say... This jaunt took me about two hours, and I think it was ten or twenty kilometres. I'm not certain. I loved it, regardless. And then I came back home, still grinning, had a long, good shower and then ate a nice meal. I ought to have stretched more than I did, but, oh well.


And theeeeen... today was again Open Floor, or Security Fitness. I couldn't resist it in the end, but went, and in quite high spirits too. And it was good, really good! Nice warmup with a mix of complex moves and physical exertion, too.
We mostly used the baston, sticks, building on what we did last week and variants of that. Blocking, hitting, but first and foremost: footwork!
As many martial artists know, footwork is paramount if you are to ever have a better understanding of fighting, whether said fighting is in competition, only amongst your art-mates, proper self-defense, UFC... or what ever. There are those arts who have lost that knowledge over the years, or simply do not need it anymore. However, the Filippino Martial Arts are often still very much grounded in real life application, and I am very, very glad of that, partly because it complements my iaido so well. If I ever were in a sword fight, I couldn't rely on simply walking back and forth. I would need to be able to dodge this way and that, step lightly and adapt. And with such a focus on kata, these things are often, if not overlooked, under-trained. We don't have the opportunity. The knowledge we may obtain, but the practice is far less often possible.
Oh, if I had the opportunity, I would learn. I certainly did get a grip of the basics when doing longsword fencing, and during my miserably few kendo lessons. But when you are armed or attacked empty-handed or with a knife, why, then it is very, very relevant to have it in your backbone to bloody well move not just back and forth, but to the sides and a bit of everywhere. So I am learning it at a high speed, which feels very good.

Today's practice, then, was good in many ways. I also learned a few new ways of blocking and checking, and we finished it all off with a "king of the hill" sort of thing. I did quite well, despite everyone there being more experienced in me in those kinds of arts. In fact, I DID get quite a good hit on the fourth participant (a man who has practiced FMA for 18 years) with the softknife, almost at the very start of our second bout, but maybe he was too surprised to notice. I did well, but most of all I am happy to find out what I can get better at! And it was all done in good spirit. He also went on to tell me, afterwards, a lot that I could get better at. I tend to prefer hesitating and grabbing the initiative from my opponent, and he gave some very solid advice on how to do that in a better fashion. Even after two hours of new information, exercises and physical exertion, a lot of what he said stuck.

Now, however... oh, am I glad I have learned to make those after-workout smoothies. My body is admittedly a little sore, and a little tired... And I am going to have a lot of bruises tomorrow! But that's all good, really, and getting hit in a safe environment in a way that does not give permanent injuries is good practice. Otherwise, I'm probably not going to react very well if it happens in real life.
Although... I do think of getting some sort of boob protection. When holding up a large blue mits, the force of someone's punches or kicks still spread through it and onto my chest, and when being stopped doing a pushkick, with one hand on my chest, well, that kind of hurts too.

...you know what, I ought to write something about how those things get in the way - boobs and crotches. Something for a future post perhaps. Today has mostly been about "wohoo yay six days of practice this week".
A lot of legwork, all in all, and they are pleasantly tired. And quite a bit of armwork too. Good, allround training this week!

And my question this week relates to that:
Do you only do your "routine", whether that be jogging, gymming or martial arts (or whatever)? Or do you sometimes add something else, just for fun, or to up the level a bit? Maybe one more session a week, or a new way of working out?

Until next week - enjoy using your body, enjoy keeping it strong, and take good care of it!