Sorry I am only posting this now. After a challenging day of training I wanted some rest for another big day today.

Morning Training

To be honest, the morning session yesterday was not my favourite. I did find it very difficult, but the time was very well spent. All the seniors were separated from the rest of the class and partnered up. There was a small, yet very long circuit with only four stations. The first was the makiwara and we had to keep on repetitively doing 10 punches each hand until we moved on. Second, one person had to use the extremely heavy metal bo, whilst the other person would be holding a weight (I am told that it is very similar to a kongoken) in shiko dachi whilst rotating in circles. Third, we would have to use a chiishi and move up and down the dojo in sanchin dachi. And lastly, the time keeper for the rotations would be a pair going one lap just slowly stepping and punching.

Little Champions

For this whole class we worked with Sensei Helen. To start off, we were in groups of either two or three and this challenge was called the 200’s club. As a team, one person at a time would do as many push ups as they could in the time it takes the other/s to do either kihon dosa ichi, ni, or san as fast as they could. The aim is to finish 200 push ups as a team. After this we did some speed training and then slowed right down to focus on rinten and kaeshi to really try get good posture and alignment of the body whilst doing this.

Karate Kids

We didn’t slow down much for the karate kids class last night. We started by partnering up and together trying to complete 100 push ups, sit ups, squat kicks, and burpees for the intensive people to the best of our abilities. We each had a few minutes to complete each of these exercises. After we got our heart rates up we moved onto some bag work and kumite drills… My legs were burning! But, of course after grabbing a quick drink and a short stretch, we went straight back into it again. This time we all had a bo each and all we had to do was hold a shiko dachi whilst holding our arms straight above our head. Especially after all that kumite, my legs were shaking and in pain, but I was determined that I would not come out of it. There were some spots I didn’t feel like I could do it any longer, so, I came up into a higher stance, but I would not let myself completely give in.

The intermediate kids class begun with a 10 minute seiza. I usually don’t like doing it for very long, but today I feel that it was well earned by all of us and it was a good time to catch my breath again. In this class we all had a conditioning quality control check for our push ups, sit ups, squat kicks, and burpees. Near the end of the class we went into small groups who we thought would push each other to do our best. In these groups we chose a number of push ups (Abi chose 32 haha) for our group and once we got to that we only had minimal rest and then as a team we would keep pushing for 10 more over and over again. Being in a team with both Savannah and Abi really helped me push out of my comfort zone because they were both so supportive and encouraging.

Teens/Adults

Compared to the rest of the classes last night, this session was a lot slower and steady pace. For a lot of the class we were working in partners. For the first chunk we did lots of punching, blocking, kicking, and stepping with different partners that I don’t get to work with that often. To shake the class up a little, we did more push ups, but this time only with our legs in a frog position. Although it was only 70 all together, my arms have definitely gotten a big work out throughout the rest of the afternoon. Loads of push ups last night! After this for the last part, we did some wrist escapes. I definitely got some great tips to help small people like me who may have bigger partners to deal with.