Thursday 2.11.17: Kids karate class (1 hour): This class has quite a lot of kids - both beginners and more advanced. Plus, today, the 17 yo son of my friend came, as well as a former karateka from our faculty, who recently joined our club. He said he made it earlier, and so he'd like to train. He used to do karate, but had a break and now wants to get back in shape. Sometimes he has problems with feeling dizzy, which is getting better, but still. We did some warm up with only afew exrcises as the kids played a game of tag just before we started, then Junbi Undo. Then me and a friend who teaches with me decided we'd do kata and towards the end some short exercises the kids wanted to do. And before kata, I thought it wasn't a bad idea to quickly go through the kihon - tsuki, blocks, uraken uchi, hiza geri, mae geri. Mae geri generally didn't look very good so we did it step by step a few times and then the whole kick on one count again. I got a bit lost and like kicks and they could use some practise and work-out, so I kept counting to at least 70. They did seemed tired, then, so I stopped and let them drink. The guy from the faculty just squatted down, shot me a very ugly look, gesturing with his thumb across his throat - a clear sign he's going to take revenge on me Not sure why, but people seem to show me this gesture rather often, lately We did some push-ups/squats/burpees during the class when the kids were too loud or didn't kiai where they should etc. I did all the exercises with them - I wouldn't just stand there and some people might hate me if I didn't We divided the class on groups who can and can't do kata. I practised Gekisai Dai Ichi with the more advanced ones - several variations. And some partner exercises with everyone before we finished. The faculty guy came to me after and said if I remembered how he was prone to being dizzy and nearly fainting during karate classes. He said he wasn't that close to it in a while. Which, ehm, isn't nice, but it made me kind of happy in a way. The kids must have been tired, too, as the final mokuso - meditation, was completely silent, without a single work uttered. Which is almost impossible with so many energetic kids there. At least that is what I'd like to think Adult karate class (2 hours): - Sensei was a bit late so we played a game of tag before he changed. - Junbi Undo - San Dan Gi Ichi - variations - First eight steps of Renzoku kumite - both solo and with partners - most people (there were mostly teenagers there, today) had to leave half way through, so we did a few rounds of randori now - light "sparring" where you block - attack - block - attack etc. In my round with sensei I was thinking what to try and thought about yesterday and got the idea to step on his foot to lock him in place and attack then. He avaided partly, so I didn't lock him too well, but he understood my intentions, and: "You wanted to step on my foot?!" and as the next three steps in his attacks, he kept trying to step on mine, so I basicaly was just avoiding and backing away, as it was clear what he wants to do, now - Bunkai Gekisai Dai Ichi solo, to all four direction etc. Last half an hour we were told to practise the highest kata for our next grading. Sensei repeated the kata for everyone. And since I practised it the most diligently since September, he told me to do Seiyunchin, so I spoke up, that I think Shisochin is my highest kata next. He seemed surprised I already have 2nd kyu, ehm, but let me practise that. Since I didn't in a long time and I like this kata, I did one right after another to practise as well as I could. There are details that might be wrong, but I noticed the biggest problem (that I lately saw even with my Seiyunchin) it that I tend to do each movement sort of separately - like: stop - technique with kime - stop. In a kind of a robotic way. Sensei went around helping each person with their kata... except for me. He only watched me once during the final kata. After training he told me exactly this problem and that there are of course details that could use some work, but I need to be softer and go through the kata smoothly. Which I actually tried to do, but wasn't able, which made me angry at myself. After today, though there wasn't even any work-out in the adult class, I felt generally worn-out. I was glad I wasn't the only one, but still....
Friday 3.11.: I wanted to do something lighter today as I was still a bit sore from my Monday home training and didn't completely recover die to other trainings, onl ybecame slightly sore in different places. I thought I may try the second lesson from the C25K app. Which is 5 min walk for a warm-up, 8 rounds or 60 s running and 90 s walking, then 5 mins walking for cool down. I decided not to turn back in the middle as it was a beautiful evening with sun just dissapearing beyond the horizon and a huge golden moon rising from teh opposite side. Just beautiful. And since I wasn't very tired, either, I decided to do one more lesson of the same. I also used my Polar watch which I set to count the intervals for me, which worked pretty well, giving me vibrations when I am supposed to start another phase. However, just after the two working rounds of the second lesson the watch restarted as it sometimes happened. I started it again, but I have no full data, which I thought would be interesting to compare But another app on my phone started automatically. As for the results, it is going to be data from first lesson + incomplete data from the second (what another app said about my training overall, both lessons added): Duration: overall with some walking back: 1:11 Average heart rate: 136 + 132 Max HR: 165 + 160 Training benefit: Basic & Steady state trainin Kcal: 260 + 155 (436, but considering what the watch said, it should be more) Fat burn: 32 % Avg tempo: 8:35 + 8:54 min/km (average speed 5,9 km/h) Distance: 3,83 + 2,25 km (7,02 km) Also, what I found out today that after almost an hour and a few minutes of running, I feel my shins. Like the bones in my shins hurting slightly upon impact. I can usually feel this just after a while or even at the beginning of any of my running attempts, but today it was more pronounced... Not sure if it is something usual, but I hope it will dissapear with time.
Shin splints can be quite painful, and hamper many runners - Not saying you have shin splints, but your symptoms sound very similar, so it would be well worth your time to monitor and record any discomfort. Travess
Oh, never heard of it, but now that I read of it, it does sound quite spot on. But it usually says it can happen if you run on hard surfaces. Problem is, I am not exactly a runner... The only guess I had would be that my shins are more sensitive (which they are), after I got accidentally kicked in them. In both. The right one hurt for some time, though, but it is nearly a couple of years ago. Not sure what I could get the shin splints from, but thank you for the tip, I'll watch out for when and how it hurts and if it hurts too much...
I've ever suffered myself, in fact, the only reason I am really aware of the condition is because we were warned about it in basic training. There may be remedial exercises you can do, or tips to alter your stride/foot placement when running that you could look up, but beyond that I'm not sure what, if anything, can be done. Good luck either way. Travess
Saturday 4.11.: I went with my dad to prepare our family cottage for winter. We started with a walk in the forest as it was fairly cold to do anything else (just a bit above 0°C). We took a basket in case we'd find some late mushrooms int he forest. We did, but only a few tiny ones, though quite a bit of some not edible. W walked 4,6 km in 1:14, burned 311 kcal. After snack and tea the time came for some work in the garden. Nothing too much, but I got to rake off (is that the word?) the fallen leaves from our walnut tree. Gosh, one wouldn't believe how many leaves there are! They took me around 10 or 11 wheelbarrows and trust me, I did try to fit in as many leaves as I possibly could. And just a tiny bodyweight workout (6 mins) later inthe afternoon to warm myself up. I again realised how nice it is to go there and the autumn atmosphere was something unusual. And almost all the neighbors went to their cottages, too. I have a lot I would like to do there with the garden. Now lets see if I talk my dad in helping with it next year
Sunday 5.11.: Only a short walk: 3,26 km in 0:45, 241 kcal burnt. Monday 6.11.: I was afraid to go to crossfit and thought to do the next C25K lesson, but it was a cold rainy weather, so I just a abit forced to myself to finally re-start crossfit again. And I am glad I did I was worried that after the month of not coming it is going to be nasty, but I felt just great and look forward to attend classes again CrossFit: - Warm-up: 2 rounds of: 30s rowing, some strange exercise to activate the butt muscles (10x), 10 sit-ups and 2x hollow hold wall climb. Basicalley from a push-ups position (with butt a bit up) you start walking up the wall with your feet until you do a handstand (and touch the nose to the wall as I was reminded when I, ehm, started to walk back too soon O ). - skill: Overhead squat - either practise or try to find a 3 rep max. Everyne started with an empty bar (15 kg for women) and I went on to always add 5 kg at a time. The hardest part was balance, apart from actually getting the barbell back onto my shoulders when it got to weights I can do a press with. Not sure what the standards are and I've never done Overhead squat to find anything close to a max before, but I got several comments from the guys next to me when I kept adding bit by bit. My last (and successful) attempt was with 50 kg. And because it seemed too much to safely put back on my shoulders and I loaded 3 5kg discs on each end and we are generally forbidden to drop any discs below 10 kg (and I was just alzy and scared to change them), I thought up a new strategy how to put the barbell back into the rack. And that was, ehm, to walk there with the barbell overhead and do like a ahalf squat to put it back safely. When my three neighbors noticed what I was doing silently, hopefully without atracting attention (int he phase of walking step by step to the rack), they all appeared besice me and helped to put the barbell down O Giving me various advises what to do, I should have said something or just dropped it, who cares O It was nice of them, I appreciate it, though they had no appreciation and probably misunderstood my strategy completely... Anyway, I could probably squeed at least a couple or more kg of weight on the barbell, perhaps, bus because of all the putting the barbell back on my shoulders, my wrists quite hurt at this point, so I left it. It appeared no one was doing any squats maybe even for some time anyway... - WOD1: 5 min AMRAP: 8 power cleans (Rx 25), 10 pull-ups (I used the black rubber band again and still this was pretty tough), 12 American kettlebell swings (Rx 16 kg). I did 2 rounds, and up to the 3rd pull-up -> 2+11. - 3 min break - WOD2: 5 min AMRAP: 8 shoulder-to-overheads with 25 kg barbell (jerks for me), 2 hollow hold wall climbs - this nasty thing again, and 12 box jumps (50 cm). I managed 2 rounds and 3 reps. - 3 min break - 2 mins of double unders - do as many as you can. In one go, on the second try, I did 4 with a much better form then previously, I felt. But couldn't really repeat it. Counted together, I did 20 double-unders, but usually 1, 2 or 4 at a time. Polar results: Time: 1 hour 3 mins Average HR: 123 Max HR: 150 Training benefit: Basic training Kcal: 451 kcal Fat burn: 39 %
Oh, and I forgot to add that the instructor told us to absolutely take the empty bar after the workouts, lie down on one side and use the wider part of the bar to massage our forearms from both sides. My friend said it was quite uncomfortable, which wasn't a sentiment I shared. I was rolling it across the forearm when suddenly the bar became quite heavier. I turned my head up and saw a foot and a leg and at the end the face of the instructor stepping on my bar to add pressure to my massege Maybe my remark that it feels quite comfortable made him thing I needed more pressure He then showed me to use the widest, though not very long part of the bar to use which will, by itself but more pressure, so I did both arms again. It never occured to me before to use a barbell like a foam roller
Tuesday 7.11.: Karate class (2 hours): Traffic is terrible and the gps navigator had me (yet again) drive through weird places as there was some reconstruction on the main road. So I came 10 minutes late. But, surprisingly, the training didn't start yet, probably partly because there was only sensei and one other person. Though two others came even later then me O - Warm-up: Game of tag, that wasn't particularly active as there were only four of us and it the tag just sort of ran in circles without much running... - Stretching - Sensei asked if there was something we wanted to do (which I sort of thought and hoped she could), so I immediately proposed Shisochin. At that point thare was one other student with 2nd kyu, which is quite rare, but all the better opportunity! Sensei had us practise then. The other second kyu didn't remember the steps well, so I was going slowly with him. I asked sensei some parts I wasn't sure about and got some more corrections. I said I know about me being stiff and not flow through the kata, sensei observed everyone has that problem, though. Becasue I am not sure how to improve that in this particular kata, I asked sensei if she could show what the kata should look like. Man, was it a difference! I have loads to work on! Sensei also explained some principles to help us. I said I just wanted to practise this as I didn't in a while, only in the last class where we had time to practise the kata for our next grading. This sensei was also surprised I actually already have Shisochin next (come on, I wasn't the one who did the syllabus and everyone is surprised about it! ). I think that was when she understood why I wanted to practise. - Next we went through all the bunkai till Seiyunchin and sensei even wanted to quickly go through the Shisochin ones. I have done them before, but a long time ago. We only did about half of them, if even, as it was already past the hour we should have ended. We, ehm, talked quite a lot today... - A quick work out.
Wednesday 8.11.: Karate at uni (90 mins): - Footwork, some easy combinations - step and tsuki and turning 45° with a technique (generally using kizami, oi and gyaku tsuki) - stretching - Age uke, harai uke - Partner drills - sensei was going fot a combination of five techniques from Renzoku kumite (starting with a kick). There was an even nuber of students, so I partnered up with sensei, but mostly for demonstrations and then going around, helping him with corrections. - Some push-ups in between I think that was all. Sensei also invited the students for an upcoming weekend seminar for public. At the end of the class he advertised that we are going to exercise in groups, he is going to be there, and I will be teaching too as I am working towards my trainer's licence. Whaaa...? Though, to be honest, I heard from someone before it may be the case, but since then I heard how senseis from other dojos are coming and eliminated the disturbing thought out of my mind. And startind looking forward to the seminar At least, as there are four of us doing the licence - two from Prague, one of which is incapacitated and can't exercise, therefore demonstrate well - we are probably going to be teaching in teams of two. I am very happy for that
Thursday 9.11.: Children class (1 hour): Some running games for warm-up, Junbi Undo, then I planned to start with footwork, similar to yestarday and add some techniques to practise ippon kumite. I did a small contest for practising the footwork, which seemed to have success, so we spent a bit more time with it. A time, when sensei also came early. Then he asked if he can take over for the last 15 minutes, which was to be expected. Sensie did kihon and some work-out in between, so I just relaxed and went around helping with the techniques and holding pad for the kids to try the techniques on it. Karate adult class (2 hours): Because of the Saturday seminar, another sensei arrived from a different city. So we had two 5th dans at today's training - Junbi Undo straght away - Hojo Undo (probably around 45 minutes) - in pairs (7 pairs altogether). I was paired with another 2nd kyu, a guy younger then me, but by about a head and a half taller. He used to be a student of the visiting sensei, but since he came to study in Prague, he visits our dojo, though only from time to time. - Kongoken - We took it out. I was waiting for my partner to grab the carpet to put under it. He didn't know how it goes, so it took a while. The visiting sensei commented that I am holding the kongoken like a toothpick. A toothpick? He said yes, that it looks light. Well, not sure what to say about it as my arms were slowly started to cry in pain, but I tried to look like I am perfectly fine, of course - 20x lift + shiko dachi (with two short breaks with kongoken on my shoulders), 20x steering wheel, 15 push-ups (not too deep though, especially at the end...) - Miyagi's garden: Take 9 stones one by one to the other end of the dojo walking in shiko dachi. - Ude Tan Ren (Iron body conditioning). Me and my partner did the 4 basic exercises for forearms, each 30x, then punches to the body. I counted and counted them 30x for each of us separately, and 2 punches for each count. If my partner knew, he would have probably objected formt he start, as he was later caving in and seemed generally uncomfortable, though I didn't go very hard. He seemed angry at himself that he didn't do much since the start of summer. If he comes more often, we'll train him in belly punches soon enough, I'd say . Also kicks to the thighs, this time only 15 for each leg. I was quite happy about the low number, too.. - Belly work-out at wallbars: 100 half sit-ups, 50 with raised legs, 50 crunches. I had some more exercises in mind, but the time ran out. - Makiwara - for each hand: 10 tsuki, 10 shotei tsuki, 10 ko uke, 10 haito uchi, 10 shuto uchi (I finished about one and a half round) - Chi-ishi - did the three technique combination 10x for each side, one more exercise 10x and half of another one before time ran out - Nigiri game - finished two kata - Every time before changing stations we did one striking technique in the air while everyone counted to ten - so 140x, then 110x after some younger students had to leave - Practising Saifa Renzoku kumite - Stretching - Sensei announced that after we'll be doing bunkai and kata, but it was obvious we don't have time for everything, so we finished after the renzoku kumite. Sensei would have made the training longer, I supposed, if it wasn't for the Saturnday seminar and if he didn't want to clean the dojo now.
Friday 10.11. CrossFit: It seems there were quite a lot of changes in coaches lately. One that I liked moved to the other part of the country and apart the new one that I already had a class with several times, there are like 2-3 new coaches that I haven't yet seen. Today the class should have been with one of them, but in the end, the class was led by the head coach. She immediately asked where have I been since she hadn't seen me for a while. - Warm-up: 4 minutes of: 30 single unders, 10 air squats and 5 ground-to-overheads with a 10 kg disc for me - Stretching - Snatch complex: 10 min EMOM - each minute do: hang power snatch + hang squat snatch and a power snatch. We were advised to not take anything overly heavy, or at least not from the beginning, we can add later. I haven't done snatches many times, yet, I can't remember a single proper exercise with them, so had no idea what weight to put on. Tried 25 kg. When I tried the squat snatch - my very first time, I think, I decided to only go with 20 kg. I am not there to impress anyone, so I wanted a weight I can easily practise the technique with. After around the second round, though, the instructor asked me if I didn't have it a bit too easy. So that provoked me to promise, I will add to 25 kg, which I did after the fifth round, when I felt a bit more confident and tried to battle the heavier weight, especially balance-wise, especially in the squat clean. And I got some corrections from the instructor. The usual ones like push the heels down, which I struggle with universally. The weight wasn't overbearing, but the technique was hard. Need to practise before I try to add more. - 30 burpees for time.... oooooh, nooooo! ... finished in 1:26. I started quite fast, I'd say, surprised myself, that the first 10 were pretty ok. But after 20, it all went down the hill. Comparing myself to all the other people on the white board, the fastest person finished at something over 0:50, the slowest at 1:58, so I was somewhere towards the middle, but most people were faster. Anyway, I was happy I wasn't the worst amongst all, considering how I battled with burpees at least until not too long ago. - WOD: 10 mins AMPRAP: 10 pull-ups (I took a black rubber band again) 10 thrusters (25 kg for women) 15 kettlebell swings (16 kg for women) 15 hand release push-ups This WOD definitely wasn't easy for me. I thought - ok, the first two exercises are terrible, the last two should be fine, but... The pull-ups, at least from the beginning didn't seem as bad as I thought (though they were bad), the thrusters were so-so, but after I was tired with these two, the swings and push-ups were killers. And the coach didn't even let me lie down in the middle of the push-up when I needed some rest. And when I was happy how my push-up technique improved after I started crossfit - that I don't curve my lower back (at least not that much), the coach came and told me to not curve my back or go up first with the upper, then the lower part, but like a plank. Which I tried and it slowed me down even further At the beginning the coach told us yay, you can do at least 5 rounds (which sounded just as crazy as it was), and some people went: Yay, we'll go for six! Well, even the thought that I'd have to do the pull-ups like 4 times was terrible for me. Why weren't they the last exercise, instead of the first? I didn't want to do them the most times... In the end I finished after 3 rounds and 5 pull-ups. When I was taking a break. No was I could do them without a break and there was little difference if I did 5 or, let's say 8, right? So, ehm, I didn't really push myself to the very end. The coach commented I must have spent a lot of time on the beach during my holiday, so... oh yeah, she saw me resting way too often, I suppose But in the end, my score was similar to the others, the best did something like 3+22, and my 3+5 didn't seem that far behind... sooo... I think I slacked off just alright And considering I have a week of headaches that I attribute to the lack of sleep since last Sunday... I think they should be happy I showed up in the first place! Polar results: Time: 0:57 Average HR: 134 Max HR: 179 (during the burpees, where else?) Training benefit: Steady state training Kcal: 448 kcal Fat burn: 31 %
Saturday 11.11. 2017: PRAGUE SPORT FESTIVAL - KARATE SEMINAR: An event for karate people and for the public organized by our sensei. People could come and try karate, yoga, power yoga, pilater, mohenjodaro, and whatnot. The karate part was on Saturday, from 10 am to 3 pm. As agreed, sensei and the four of us aspirants for the trainer's licence met in the dojo, which is nearby at 8 am. Sensei quickly explained to us some principals about training, what are good methods to use and mistakes to avoid. We didn't know exactly how many people are to come for the seminar, but sensei thought about how to divide those who would into groups - beginner kids, beginner adults, kids + adults - yellow to orange belt, green belt and higher and self-defence students. There were three senseis to teach + two pairs of us. We decided on who will teach whom and when and sensei gave us some quick tips and we quickly discussed possible program just before we left for the gym. There were 5 blocks of 50 minutes + 10 minute break: 10:15 - 11:05 - Warm-up + Junbi Undo: The warm-up on seminars is usually led by brown belts, while black belts either practise their things by themselves or discuss the program of the seminar. Our pair was supposed to warm up the kids under 10 yo, while the other brown belt pair was to lead the warm-up for adults. There wasn't too many kids, though, so sensei cancelled our warm-up and only one person lead it for everyone. There were, hmm, maybe around 40 people in total? Junbi undo, some footwork and basic techniques. 11:05 - 11:55 - Adult beginners: As mentioned before, we taught in pairs, my partner and I always switched places in the middle of each part. One teaching, the other assisting, trying to use the tips we got from sensei. My partner taught kihon - tsuki, age, yoko and harai uke (in preparation for San Dan Gi they could demonstrate at the end) and zenkutsu dachi and moving in this stance, along with the techniques. He is hurt, so I was doing the exercises with them. As for the second part, I taught something different, so that isn't kihon the whole 50-minute block. I wanted them to try Kote Kitae (Iron body conditioning), with some mild work-out in between. There were only 4 people in this group, so they made pairs without me exercising with them. We only demonstrated each technique slowly and then full power, what it can look like. The work-out in between was 10 jumping squats, 10 push-ups, 10 V-ups and 10 crunches, which we did, too. 12:05 - 12:50 - Beginner children: As for the kids, we originally planned, along witht he other brown belt duo to teach them first techniques and then also chain them in San Dan Gi. They did some games with them, so I thought we'd start with tsuki, with different exercises, to not just do them statically, but have them run around, get down and up, punch us, elbow us, punch the pads, etc. That was my teaching part, my partner did age uke and toward the end we played some games. We weren't exercising with them most times, rather explaining, going around, being or holding the targets, etc. Surprisingly, though, after the first 50-minute block and my part they seemed fairly tired. Which is rare for these kids (mostly beginners from our dojo) 13:00 - 13:50 - The "intermediate" group - up to an orange belt: From the morning, we were supposed to have the intermediate group - 9th to 6th kyu, the other brown belt pair were to teach self defence. The SD group was small and made up of parents and they didn't continue up till this block, so we could pick who wants the intermediate group and who wants the advanced - a group of three people - blue and brown belts. We thought it's fine to keep the intermediate one. We originally wanted to go through Renzoku kumite with them and then Saifa kata. But, we saw, the sensei beofre us practised Saifa with them the whole block. So we changed teh program during the break to San Dan Gis - the several versions, then decided Saifa bunkai might be better and maybe some Iron body conditioning and work-out wouldn't be bad, either. That's when sensei approached us and told us to do something full of action with them - some kumite drills or so. I am not good in making the kumite combinations or exercises up in a span of the remaining couple of minutes so we thought if we do what we agreed in a bit freer manner, it would be fine. The last block started nd suddenly, we had a huge group of not only yellow and orange, but only white belts and the beginner kids we just taught. Two senseis were allowed to not teach, but rather, practise by themselves, as some kids and the SD group left.. But still, there was one sensei teaching the four beginner adults, the other brownbelts with an advanced group of three and then to two of us with a group of twenty or more, starting with 5 year old beginners to 6th kyu adults. We thought it was a mistake and had no idea what to do. I left for a while, looking for sensei if it is some mistake, we didn't get a word about the beginner kids joining us. Unfortunately, sensei said, yes, there were only 5 kids left, so he merged them - basically the two largest groups. But just forgot to tell us. And we had no idea what to do with such a group. Both Saifa bunkai and iron body conditioning were out of question and we had to improvise. Sensei also wanted to do something active to exhaust the orange belts, but how, when there were suddenly small kids that were already quite tired an hour before? We started, yet again, with basice techniques - punches, kicks and so on, held pads for practise. When it was my time I went for partner drills - basic strike and blocks very fast and then continued with San Dan Gi Ichi. Towards the end I had everyone lie down on their back, lift legs slightly above ground and hold them and move them in various ways. I thought we were just about in the middle, but everyone was moaning so much, that I stopped then. I hope they weren't just playing tricks on me, but half of the people seemed to give up in the meanwhile. We did a short, roughly a minute, maybe not even that long plank, shorter plank on right and left side and reverse plank. Then, since the seminar was about to end and the final work-out is a usual thing, I had everyone do as many sit-ups and (sumo) squats as they'll need to do in their next grading. I pardoned them from the push-ups, but still heard some talking back Depending on the belt, they had to do 10 to 50 reps. Since they didn't like it and I wanted to be fair (and work-out a bit myself), I did my 90. And as quick as I could so no one needs to wait for me. The class was over, though, so I told them to stretch before everyone (ehm, me), finishes and let the class end. Phew. This block was difficult. 14:00 - 14:25 - Oyo ippon kumite combinations for everyone: Everyone worke together, the class was the only one led by our, the organizing sensei, who was, until now, watching how we lead our groups. He had us practise three oyo ippon kumite combinations - the usual ones with a kick or a choke added. We higher grades were told to take some beginners and/or people not from our dojo. So we did. 14:25 - 14:45 - Kata demonstration: Everyone was to show their highest kata. I was hoping the second brown belt duo would wait with me for Shisochin, that they also practised, but likely long ago and maybe partly forgot. My partner remembered it, but was injured and not in a shape for kata demonstration. As expected the two guys and the other brown belts stood up for Seiyunchin, which made me stand up, too. I didn't want to be the only one demonstrating a kata I am not that confident in. Sensei saw and I immediately heard: "Where are you going?". But then added that it's fine, I can go warm-up with Seiyunchin. When we finished it, though, I probably didn't look overly confident about staying there for anything else and he asked me if I wanted to do it or not, that I don't have to, as he probably understood my feelings and I managed to note something about demonstrating it alone. Being the same grade and at least the other guy, I'd feel out of place, slightly. Then senseis demonstrated Sanseru, Kururunfa, Seisan and Suparinpei. Nice After the semnar we went for a lunch-dinner to our favourite local Chinese restaurant with tables big enough for 12 people, two of which we filled. Sensei gave us a quick summary of the mistakes we did during our teaching. I also heard from the other table from a yellow belted kid I didn't know (speaking loud enough so that I can hear), that the seminar was very difficult and tiring, only until I came. I looked his way: "You didn't have enough? Fine by me! I wanted to go for more anyway, I'll remember for the next time! His face lost some color at that moment and he took everything back Heh, funny kid! Also I was happy we managed to go through the seminar (more or less smoothly) and that it is not very likely this is going to happen often. After all, we have enough black belts and senseis to teach around 4-5 groups that there usual are at our national seminar. Yep, that feeling left me straight when sensei told each of us to prepare a class for white, yellow, orange and green and higher belts at the next seminar in a month... Dang! Also, to, ehm, of course(!) only see what time it is and when to finish our block we taught, I wore my Polar watch (and happened to set them for training) - at least for the three block we taught, so I have some karate results (though I didn't participate in all the exercises)! Polar: Time: 3:02 Average HR: 113 Max HR: 164 Training benefit: Basic training, long Kcal: 1141 kcal (hmm, nice! I suppose if I add the warm-up and the last block, it should have definitely been over 1500 kcal, at least) Fat burn: 51 %
Sunday 12:11.: Only a short walk: around 4,2 km in 51 minutes, maxHR 144, 300 kcal burnt, 48% of fat. I wanted to practise Shisochin in the evening, but was busy and only went through it once.
Monday 13.11.: I needed to go to my parents' house in the morning (with a short stop at one store), so instead of going by car, I did (it was a rare chance) another session of the C25K app, the second week: 5 min walk, then 6 rounds of 90 s running (though quite slow-paced for me) and 2 mins walking, 5 min cool down walk (at the beginning of which I still ran for a bit). Polar results: Duration: 0:32 Distance: 3,28 km Average heart rate: 144 Max HR: 176 (on a nasty hill) Training benefit: Steady state & Tempo training Kcal: 284 Fat burn: 26 % Avg tempo: 9:52 min/km (average speed 5,9 km/h) ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ I postponed Crossfit for tommorrow, hopefully, probably instead of karate training, but in the end, I did some after-dinner home work-out. Bodyweight and kettlebell (16 kg): - 3x Shisochin - Burpees: 30 + 7x10 - Kb swings: 50 - Kb jerk: 5x5 per side - Kb high pull: 2x30 (max HR of the session) - V-ups: 3x10 - Goblet squats: 30 - 5x Shisochin Polar results: Time: 0:50 Average HR: 136 Max HR: 172 Training benefit: Steady state & Basic training Kcal: 400 kcal Fat burn: 33 %
Tuesday 14.11.17 CrossFit: Wet in my usual time and just as the reservation system suggested, I was the only attendee, so I had my first 1-1 class. The instructor said we can do more theory and work on the techniques more now when I'm the only one there, which I appreciated and even the warm up seemed to go smoothly, in a slow pace. He also said I will have a tough time today. And he was totally right XD I didn't have time to check the white board, so the work-outs were a surprise to me. - Warm-up: 3 rounds of: 30 s rowing (working quite a bit on the proper technique), 20 mountain climbers (each rounds leaning more and more to the front to activate shoulders more) and 5 kettlebell push presses for each side - slow, while kneeling and with the bottom of the kettlebell facing up. Did two rounds with 4 kg and was allowed to try the 8 kg kettlebell for the last round. It slipped at least three times when I was unable to hold it still with the bottom up. I was advised on the breathing technique that should be important in this and the other exercises, too. - Surprisinly, we moved straight to the two WODs, though I was explained some exercises to detail, also questioned how I'd do this and scale this down etc. which was useful for me. Having recently attended the trainer's course, it helped me to understand some things. This instructor now doubt knows a lot about mucle workings. WOD1: EMOM - 12 mins (=4 rounds) - 1 min of wallballs (I was forbidden to take the lightest one and had to do it with 14 lbs..) - 6 push-ups (I am quite sure the board said 10-15, but instructor didn't believe it and told me to do six and not the kneeling ones as girls are often allowed... though I don't like them anyway) - 6 box dips (the board wanted to do them on the rings, but, ehm, I couldn't even hold in the basic position for a sec, much less do the dips like that, so I did the somewhat scaled down version - box dips) - the box dips were aimed on the excentric contraction so I had to go slowly down, then step on one foot and use it to shoot myself up and then again slowly lower myself back What to say about this. The wall-balls were terrible. I was told to count the number of reps. Instructor thought it was 34, but I only counted to 32. This, as I later found out, was on of the results to be written down. There were only around 7 people who wrote their results before me and I found most had around 25 reps and I was actually third best! Would be second if I did the 34... But, the next three rounds, I did only something over 20 or 20. It was tiring. I hate dips and the instructor confirmed they obviously don't like me, either XD Anyway, even the push-ups and dips were aimed on shoulders or I don't know what and the subsequent rounds of wall balls were really difficult... WOD2: 8 min AMRAP: - 3 hollow hold wall climbs - 10 front rack lunges (25 kg) - 10 shoulder-to-overheads (25 kg) When I heard the forst exercise, I thought he was kidding and I thought that even more when I heard the third would be presses. Seriously? I had my shoulders and arms in general pretty tired and now this? I told the instructor he must hate me too, but he answered he didn't make up today's program - it was the blondie, he said. Yep, the "sadistic" head instructor. Plus her being a women, it is hard to argue with her that that work-outs like this are easy for men... I was told straight away, though, that I am to do 3 rounds. Not sure if it was too much or too little, but after second thought, he definitely wouldn't set the goal too low. However, the instructor specified it wasn't strict presses, but I can easily do push-jerks. I confirmed what exectly push-jerk were, if it is the exercise wiht the hop where you finish on straight legs, though. He said no, you finished slightly squatted down and then straighten the legs. Ehm, I later realised I still did it my way and had no energy to change it much and react to instructor's urges to use the body more. As for the start, I was allowed not to touch the nose to the wall in the wall-climbs, unlike last time, and could only get, in a well, "comfortable" position with hands approximately 50 cm from the wall. Still, three were quite a lot, especially considering I don't feel that comfortable standing on my hands, much less if my arms are fairly tired and I feared at one point my elbow giving in... As for the lunges, they seemed like the easiest thing, by far. Finally something for the legs and with "only" 25 kg. I found them strangely difficult, though. I pushed through them each time without stopping, but felt like I wouldn't be able to do 11 if I wanted. I said I am strangely worn-out today, even this is difficult. Instructor said he wasn't surprised when I did like 70 wallballs. When he mentioned it, I realised that is indeed the case and that it was more like a 100 rather than 70. What a devilish class today! And the jerks or whatever I was doing to get the barbell up... were just terrible. I had to take a break in the middle and had a tough time. With a tendency to bent my back and lean backwards and lazy to put my elbows up, I was focusing on this, doing it as best as I could. When I finished the lunges of the third round and was catching my breath I asked how much time was left. The clock said we were at 7:17. I thought, ok, I should at the very least finish the third round. But, then I realised it wasn't a 10-minute AMRAP, but 8-minute! So I didn't wait anymore, didn't even think much anymore, took the barbell and did the (oh, I would very much loved to use some ugly adjective for this) 10 final jerks without stopping in 30 seconds! Now sure how, but I put all my remaining strenght in it, and to be fair, my form mush have been terrible. I didn't bother keeping the elbows up - no time, no strenght. Apparently, I still had 10 s left after this so the instructor kept shouting to do one more wall climb! I took a couple of seconds to recover and realise what he wants me to do, but I only managed to climb up in the time limit, not back down, so it wasn't counted (and therefore was a totally wasted effort ). So, I did what I was told - finished the 3 round and even was able to get "Rx" behind my result, which I don't get oftn as there usually is some exercise I need to scale down. To find out that the majority of people before me finished at something like 2,5 rounds, there were one, or maybe two guys with the same result as me, I think, and the best result was 3 rounds + 3 climbs. I felt cheated a little - he made it sound like not finishing the third round would really be a shame... but he managed to push me like that. After the last wall climb, I just let myself lie completely down, very tired. Instructor came for a high five as usual and happened just what I expected - my arm couldn't resist the slap anymore and flew away XD My shoulders are done for today. I was told to stretch them properly, which I did, but still have serious trouble lifting my arms up. And on my way to the changing rooms I met the head coach, who smiled at me with a comment like: Intense, right? I think I may have shot her quite an ugly look Sorry for the wall of text to anyone reading, but I had an urge to write my feelings about this training down The one on one class had pros and cons. It was great that I was able to get detailed instruction on everything, the not so great part was that I was closely monitored and knew my every mistake is seen and noted... and I can't slack off too much Polar results: Time: 1:02 (I stopped it a few minutes after, I forgot) Average HR: 135 Max HR: 173 Training benefit: Steady state & Basic training, long Kcal: 497 kcal (I think the is actually the most yet I burned in a crossfit class - since I own the watch, of course...) Fat burn: 32 %
Wednesday 15.11. In the morning I felt that my muscles were worked yesterday, but it got better after some, not really special morning stretching. Later in the day, I didn't even feel it, only while lifting arms up like in age uke and still it was waaay from anything serious. Which was a great surprise in general Karate class at uni (1:15 - sensei arrived late): - Some partner drills for a warm-up (me partnered with sensei, so that was nice) - Individual stretching - I worked mostly on the legs and didn't move to the hands, head and torso, yet, when sensei announced end of stretching... - Today's plan was to teach the class the first kata - Gekisai Dai Ichi, so we worked on that most of the time. I demonstrated the kata once and then showed bunkai with sensei. I took the attacking stance, but as I thought, sensei told me he's the attacker, I demonstrate - 10 push-ups and 10 burpees (or rather, down-ups) in between Today's training wasn't very exhausting, which is a pity, 'cause I was hungry all day and ate quite a lot and wanted to buuuuurn a lot of energy Nevermind. Though I already pity the kids I am going to teach tommorrow
Thursday 16.11.: Children karate class (1 hour): Came late by 15 minutes. Because of the ridiculous traffic. Normally the drive takes like 25 minutes. In these busy hours, I am fine if I leave like 50 minutes in advance. As I was today, according to navigation, but as I was progressing and stopping in the cues, in the end, it took me a full hour... Luckily my friend, who teaches these classes with me (though I should be the main one, probably), just finished warm-up, which was nice. - I tried to give the responsibility for Junbi Undo to the highest grade among the kids. Next class I promised it to the oldest, though fairly lazy guy who tends to disturb the class all the time. I told him to prepare for it and motivated him so he actually wanted to try. I will see it he will actually put some effort in his techniques or whatever then... It's an experiment. - My friend's idea was to do bunkai as grading is nearing. I took all the kids - beginners to sixth kyu and explained and practised, though we only did the first bunkai for today. Pairing them up to try didn't really work. They are impossible when working in pairs... So at the end I wanted them to do a circle and for each pair to demonstrate. My friend however, took the lead to do some fun exercises, so she, though without even knowing, saved them Yesterday I clearly stated I will have the kids work hard today, didn't I? Just as I was leaving for the dojo, I got a call from sensei appologizing that he can't come today. I said no problem, I can try to teach the adult class, too. See where this is heading? Why be harsh on the kids when the adults were given to me for today? Karate adults (2 hours - teaching, but exercising all the same - I went there for training, so no way am I just going to stand by commanding others of similar grade...): I asked what they wanted to do for today and got the obvious answer - preparation for grading, especially bunkai - some for GKI, some for Seiyunchin. - For a warm-up I asked five people to name an exercise: push-ups, squats, V-ups, Crunches, and a belly exercise with legs while lying down. I wanted to do the "Scotch Five" of sorts, as sensie calls it. Do 5 rounds or 5 reps of these 5 exercises. I got talked into changing the order so there aren't belly exercises one after another). Sensei usually uses harder exercises, so I wasn't as tired as afte his Scotch Five. So I tried to explain to the class that it is such a pity there were no burpees there. What would the burpees say? Wouldn't they be sad? Right? They would. We should do at least 10, riiiight? ^^ At this point I could clearly see ugly faces being shot my way, so I fobid that. No more ugly looks my way! If you look my way, you should smile! Aaaand, especially for some, agree with all of my ideas It is so much easier to work with adults XD - After that I thought we could quickly go through kihom - basic techniques according to the list for grading. We did all the techniques for the first grade. I counted to 50 for each, twice to 60 when I pointed out some mistakes I spotted. Some people tried to shoot ugly looks at me after 50 mae geri in quick succession followed by 50 mawashi geri. You wouldn't believe it, but some people even stopped and soe kicked like every otehr count. What a morale! - I found the Bring Sally up, Bring Sally Down song on my phone. But, I was kind (I wouldn't be able to do the push-ups, no one would I suppose) and thought we could do Shiko Dachi. Go low when told, stand up when told (in the song). I think it was perfect. Everyone finished, you could adjust the difficulty by how low you go and I think everyone's thighs hurt. - An hour has already passed! Unfortunately. I stopped the kihon in favour of the kata bunkai. Asked my friend - the second teacher from the kids class, who didn't particularly need to practise anything, if she could take the two white and yellow belts and to teach and go with them through Gekisai Dai Ichi bunkai. I made a group with the two 3rd kyu guys to teach Seiyunchin bunkai. They need it for the next grading, which they probably hoped to do in December (which is hard if they don't know the bunkai yet). They got it quickly, so I explained as best as I could, pointed out where I am not 100% sure about some detail and we practised up to the 8th bunkai (out of 12), which was pretty good, I'd say! From time to time I left to check on the remaining two guys (now that I think of it there were only us two women today! Wow!), whom I left to unfortunately just practise their bunkai - up to Saifa. I told tried to correct the mistakes I saw, same with Saifa kata they practised toward the end. - And before finish, a small work-out was needed, so I found the tabata song to only do squats in every round (I went at it fast, did 18-20 in each round). I still got some ugly looks and a thread from the newest guy, though a former karateka, that suure, I can continue, especially if I want to carry him all the was home. It was nice, though. I didn't prepare anything before the class and felt bad for teaching people of similar grades, but it is all among friends after all, so I have to say I actually fairly enjoyed it today
