Kung Fu Diary

Discussion in 'Training Logs' started by Heraclius, Jan 6, 2014.

  1. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    I get that. It's a bit of a balance, I think. So, for example, this time I was doing spin hook kicks, and I wasn't able to stay balanced. I mean, it did tell me what I was doing wrong, but it wasn't much good as practice. I think I would have gotten more out of it if I had done them first, and then finished off with the techniques I know thoroughly.
     
  2. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Thursday, 28 May

    Went to goshin jutsu class - hopefully I should be going consistently now. We have started doing throws again. Fortunately I seem to have mostly lost the anxiety I used to get getting thrown. As a special bonus, I also seem to be doing a bit better than before... 'though this may just be an impression.
     
  3. belltoller

    belltoller OffTopic MonstreOrdinaire Supporter

    Usually our impression is one of having done worse than we actually did. I'd take it as a good sign.
     
  4. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Saturday, 30 May

    20 (?) mins batto kata & suburi. Worked with the shinken, for a change.

    End of week 71. Total time: (34:46 + 1:16) + 98:32 + 1:00 = (36:02) + 99:32
     
  5. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Went to a kukri seminar my sensei is putting on. Started with basics. We worked with real kukri, which is interesting. It's got a different dynamic than other weapons I've handled - lighter overall, but more blade heavy. My wrists were fine with it, but I felt the strain in my elbows. Moved on to kukri v. kukri drills; working on comitting to my strikes. Did some kukri vs. bayonet as well. Finished with unarmed vs. kukri. I was paired with someone from a different MA, so it was interesting seeing the different approach. The whole time was about 5 hours, with another 5 hours tomorrow. I'm glad I don't have anything on on monday.
     
  6. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Sunday, 31 May

    Today I had the sequel to yesterday's kukri seminar - combat knife. The format was roughly the same - start with the basices, move onto knife v. knife, then unarmed v. knife. We didn't do the whole drill with unarmed v. knife, just a couple of combinations. We then finished up with some knife disarms and pistol disarms. Overall, I'm doing better than expected with the freeform drills. Anyway, I'm feeling tired now, although I may try to sneak in some light training later on.
     
  7. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Monday, 1 June

    Went to batto class. We started off by reviewing all of the kata, then spent the rest of the class doing variations on different kata.

    Tuesday, 2 June

    30 mins shadowboxing. Working on stringing punches together, so that hopefully it'll get easier to do under pressure.

    Went to goshin jutsu. Did a bit of groundwork, then worked on throws for most of the class. Good fun, but I was a bit shakey at the end.

    Wednesday, 3 June

    5 mins spear kata and kihon. I'm still recovering from the weekend, and now from last night.
     
  8. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Friday, 5 June

    25 mins battō kata and kumitachi, using the shinken. I went through all of the kata, and the official kumitachi. I find that some things are easier to do with the shinken than with the bokken - presumeably the techniques make use of the weight and balance of the sword. I learn that I will be put up for my shodan test soon, so I need to be reviewing ... well, the things I've been reviewing today. So expect more of the same next week.
     
  9. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    End of week 72. Total time: (36:02 + 0:30) + 99:32 + 0:30 = (36:32) + 100:02

    Sunday, 7 June

    25 mins battō - kata and kumitachi. As per last week, trying to prepare for my upcoming test. Unfortunately it has been rainy today (Monday), so I haven't been able to practice (since I can only swing the sword around outside).
     
  10. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Wednesday, 10 June

    1:00 Battō practice. I decided to get all dressed up and use the shinken, and then 20 mins in my new sword arrived in the mail. Perfect timing! So I spent the rest of the time training with it: more on that later. Did a bit of suburi (practice swings) to warm up, then moved onto kata. Worked through the Toyama kata in detail, then glossed over the others. Did the Nakamura kumitachi, which finishes off the grading syllabus, I think. I spent the rest of the time doing other stuff: other kumitachi, kirikaeshi and pracicing nōtō (sheathing the sword).

    Anyway, my new sword. The one I have been using is borrowed - this is my first real katana. Compared to the other it's about the same size - 32 inch blade (more or less) and 11-12 inch handle. It's a beast, though. The old one is unokobi-zukuri - that is, the blade looks like this:

    [​IMG]

    Whereas the new one is shinogi-zukuri - it looks like this:

    [​IMG]

    This means that there is more metal in the blade, and much more towards the tip. It is substantially heavier, and much more blade heavy, making it a totally different kettle of fish. It's going to take a while to get used to swinging it around. I do find, however, that the larger blade presence lends itself to the Nakamura style.

    Here is the sword itself:

    [​IMG]
     
  11. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Thursday, 11 June

    16 mins batto. As before.

    Friday, 12 June

    20 minss throws. Solo work. Focusing with what I'm doing with my opponent's body.

    End of week 73. Total time: (36:32 + 1:41) + 100:02 + 0:20 = (38:13) + 100.22

    Saturday, 13 June and Sunday, 14 June

    Battojutsu seminar. My sensei brought his sensei over from Japan for the seminar and grading. The first day involved going through most of the curiculum: all 3 sets of kata; sword vs sword kumitachi and sword vs spear kumitachi. This was really good - I have enough notes to keep me busy for a very long time. I took a rap on the knuckles during one of the kumitachi, but fortunately my partner was only usign a bokken.

    The second day was the grading. We started drilling the specific requirements for the grading. Then there was the grading itself, which involved doing 5 kata (the first toyama kata for me), 3 kumitachi and 3 cuts on the tatami. I had a couple of issues, but made the grade. We then finished up with some tameshigiri.
     
  12. belltoller

    belltoller OffTopic MonstreOrdinaire Supporter

    Whoa! Now, that's freaking nice!

    I assume its tempered/hardened to keep its edge.

    :confused: Metal as opposed to ... ? I don't know anything of swords but typically for cutting tools one would prefer plain carbon steel (water- quenched) over stainless - Stainless is shinier, pretty and lighter weight but tends to brittleness and won't hold an edge ( unless it very expensive nickle-alloy grades, etc)

    From the sound of it, your new sword is more functional and durable than the borrowed one, even if it is heavier.
     
  13. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Yup, properly heat treated. When I say more metal, I mean the blade is thicker - thus there is more mass overall than the other sword. And no, you wouldn't want to use stainless steel for something as long as a sword.
     
  14. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Ok, time for a very big update.

    Sunday, 14 June

    20 mins battō kata.

    Monday, 15 June

    12 mins practicing throws.

    Thursday, 18 June

    20 mins kicking kihon.

    Friday, 19 June

    24 mins battō training.

    End of week 74. Total time: (38:13 + 0:44) + 100:22 + 0:32 = (38:57) + 100:54

    Tuesday, 23 June

    15 mins throwing practice.

    7 mins kata.

    End of week 75. Total time: (38:57) + 100:54 + 0:22 = (38:57) + 101:26

    Tuesday, 30 June

    10 mins bō kihon and kata. So yeah, somewhere around this point I started learning the bō. Incidentally, this marks the start of a slight change in my logging practice. Until now, I have divided time between the two martial arts I do. However, when I'm training with the bō (karate/goshin jutsu) I tend to roll in some spear and naginata struff (Nakamura ryū). So I decided that from now, I will divide time between weapons (both Nakamura and goshin jutsu) and unarmed.

    Wednesday, 1 July

    21 mins bō kihon and kata.

    Friday, 3 July

    20 mins bō kihon and kata.

    End of week 76. Total time: (38:57 + 0:51) + 101:26 = (39:48) + 101:26

    Sunday, 5 July

    38 mins bō kihon and kata.

    Monday, 6 July

    20 mins bō kihon and kata.

    Tuesday, 7 July

    1:00 weapons practice, including sword, bō and naginata. I made the terrible mistake of leaving my sword in the sun while I did the other stuff, which... basically ruined one side of it. Patches of red rust all over. I got rid of it with some sanding, but the surface is pretty rough. I'm gonna need to go at it with a bit more care some other time.

    Wednesday, 8 July.

    25 mins battō practice.

    Thursday, 9 July

    1:01 sword, bō, naginata and spear practice.

    Friday, 10 July

    20 mins battō practice.

    Saturday, 11 July

    15 mins battō practice.

    50 mins kata, shadowboxing & kicking kihon. In terms of the shadowboxing, I was working on some very basic moving & striking, making sure that I'm planted before I start throwing punches.

    End of week 77. Total time: (39:48 + 3:59) + 101:26 + 0:50 = (43:47) + 102:16

    Monday, 13 July

    11 mins battō practice.

    Tuesday, 14 July

    14 mins kukri practice.

    Friday, 17 July

    10 mins kukri.

    Saturday, 18 July

    1:45 sword, bō and kukri practice. With sword, I usually do some practice cuts to warm up, then spend most of the time on kata. With the bō, I spend most of the time practicing basic strikes - since I'm new to the weapon, I spend most of the time getting familiar with it. With the kukri I usually start off with practice cuts - again, I'm not so familiar with it yet - and move on to doing basic partner drills - by myself, obviously. I also spend some time doing basic flow drills with the kukri, mixing up the various cuts.

    End of week 78. Total time: (43:47 + 2:20) + 102:16 = (46:07) + 102:16
     
  15. belltoller

    belltoller OffTopic MonstreOrdinaire Supporter

    I can't help but to notice that Kata, bo-staff and "battō" <--- is this 'sword drawing'/iaijutsu? - occupy the preponderance of your training time now. Is this by design?

    Cor...that's just horrid. :cry:

    Did you use wet sandpaper - 600 grit? Remember not to sand across but in the direction of the grain (lengthwise). Make sure it is absolutely free of moisture afterwards and apply either machine oil or at a minimum a good mineral oil - DONT use WD 40 - use Boeshield T9 instead as a moisture displacement agent if you insist on petroleum distillates. You'll probably have to order through a machine-shop supplier.

    The thing you need to know is once rust sets in, you have free oxygen in the metal which spreads deeper into the metal matrix which has the effect of continued rusting at a deeper level.

    If its still rough after that then the metal is pitting. You'll need to wrap it in gun-cloth every night to seal out any oxygen.

    It may take several sessions of slowly working the wet sandpaper (single direction along length of blade), carefully drying it and applying machine oil each time before you have truly freed it of rust. I don't know how comfortable you are in using phosphoric acid ( don't use other types of acids ) which is best obtained in the form of Naval Jelly - You should probably mix it with alcohol but the problem there is unless you can obtain near - reagent grade alcohol - the denatured stuff you can get in hardware shops has too much water in it.

    You could possibly obtain it from an autocar or machine shop.

    Hate to tell you but the high-temperatures necessary for the metal to absorb moisture from whatever was around it probably ruined the temper of the steel. :(
     
  16. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    It's just what I've been interested in recently. Also, I've started trying to get in a 10-20 min session first thing each morning, which is going to have a fairly significant effect.

    Dry sandpaper. The rust was only on the very top layer - there's no pitting or shadows on the metal, so I'm pretty confident I got rid of it all.

    I'm kind of dubious? To clarify, the problem is likely that the wood of the scabbard started to weep as it heated up in the sun. I would be surprised if the steel got anything like hot enough to ruin the temper.
     
  17. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Monday, 20 July

    24 mins batto - suburi and kata.

    Tuesday, 21 July

    14 mins batto.

    Wednesday, 22 July

    10 mins batto.

    20 mins shadowboxing. Started working on moving & punching, then moved onto some kicks at the end.

    Friday, 24 July

    25 mins batto.

    Saturday, 25 July

    10 mins batto.

    10 mins batto - orc-slaying. Just getting the sword out and swinging it around. Flowign between the cuts, with a big emphasis on gettign the footwork right.

    10 mins sparring with my brother. We decided to limit it to punches to the body, since, well, we aren't very good.

    End of week 79. Total time: (46:07+ 1:33) + 102:16 + 0:30 = (47:40) + 102:46

    In other news: we have a new training location as of next week. Apparently it is a proper MA training venue, with matted floors, bags etc. Until now I have always been training in community halls, so that will make a welcome change. Also, wome of our long-absent students are returning, and seemingly we are going to start sparring ... again. I did mention late last year that we had started dparring, but with so few adults attending we haven't done any so far this year. So anyway, this weelend I have expanded my sparring kit. All I need now is the headgear. I am looking forward to it.
     
  18. belltoller

    belltoller OffTopic MonstreOrdinaire Supporter

    Oh, okay. For some reason I thought the layer of rust to've been much deeper.

    Glad you were able to bring it back!
     
  19. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    So am I. It was mortifying when I drew the sword to find it.
     
  20. Heraclius

    Heraclius BASILEVS Supporter

    Not an update, since I haven't been able to do much training recently. But, on Tuesday night I had my first goshin jutsu lesson at the new venue, and I was suitably impressed. Having the right training environment makes a heck of a difference. Using the fully matted floor we were able to warm up with rolls, breakfalls etc without having to take turns. Well, most of the lesson was pretty much normal, but at the end we availed ourselves of the heavy bags for some kick training. The only thing the place is missing is mirrors, but it has big windows all along one wall, which works pretty well.
     

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