No - last week we had 5 days of over 40C (104 degrees F) in a row, and we're heading for 39 again next week. Winters in Melbourne rarely get below 10 degrees as a maximum.
Jan 22 Having only recently been introduced to naifanchi nidan (it's an optional/ancillary kata in our school), I spent the time going through it. I saw a version of it in tekki nidan half a lifetime ago when I did shotokan, so it hasn't been to hard to get the hang of. TT: 15:34 D: 22
Jan 23 Started with some core work, then into kata: naifanchi nidan, suparimpei, then a couple of run-throughs of saifa and gekisai dai and sho. Basically, getting ready for the weekend. TT: 16:11 D: 23
Jan 24 Nothing very interesting today. Just ran through some kata that we may be doing at the seminar this weekend, and finished with taichi. TT: 16:41 D: 24
Jan 25-27 It's been a big Australia Day weekend, with a three-day seminar with one of the top people from the original Japanese dojo. The major focus for the three days was in applying and blending three power generation methods; rotation, opening/closing of joints and expansion/compression. Saturday had an emphasis on kihon and iolation exercises, with (partnered) punching techniques in the afternoon. Sunday opened with focus on flow and extension, particularly with kicking - a fair few partner drills and techniques. Then, suparimpei kata and bunkai practice. Monday, we spent the day on sepai kata - power generation, technical points, flow and applications. I'm bruised, exhausted and better and more knowledgeable than three days ago. All in all, a pretty good combination TT: 32:00 D: 27
Jan 28 Went over some of the solo work from the seminar, then paid particular attention to sepai kata, working on bedding down the details from the seminar. On another note, it was the first day back at work today. Kids start tomorrow! TT: 32:30 D: 28
Jan 29 Today was more teaching than training - but it still counts as training! I spent about an hour and a half helping two shodans learn and practise applications for sanseru, with particular emphasis on breaking the balance and flow. TT: 34:00 D: 29
Jan 30 A very busy, very long day at work today, so I wasn't up for an energetically exhausting workout. Ba duan jin to begin with, then tai chi. I rounded it off with sanseru done tai-chi style. Not slowly (although it was - but slow was the consequence, not the reason), but with the same method of movements, no double-weighting, legs leading the body, leading the arms, fluidity, extension, using non-ballistic power generation. Sanseru lends itself very well to this. I've tried it with seienchin, tensho and saifa, but find it works better with sanseru, shisochin, seisan and kururunfa. TT:34:30 D: 30
Jan 31 Started with some push-ups, sits ups, supermen and core exercises - which included 30 child assisted pushups (fortunately the lightest 10kg child. My oldest, at 20kg I struggle to manage more than 10). Worked through solo power generation exercises from the seminar, and then played with appropriate bits of kata that make use of those methods. That's one month down, 11 to go! TT: 35:03 D: 31
Feb 1 After the seminar, where some things we were doing seemed really akin to aikido principles, I dusted off the yoshinkan aikido kihon dosa. I think I will keep doing them for a while, as the power generation they train is similar to what we were doing. Plus, I did love doing aikido! Then, ran through every kata I know. Given that that is now 20 kata, it took a little while. TT: 35:46 D: 32
Feb 2 It was pretty hot again today, 42C. Did 6x sanchin, then for did something I've been meaning to do for a while: work through some of the asymmetrical kata in mirror image. So, I did sanseru in mirror image x5 and sepai in mirror x5. TT: 36:16 D: 33
Feb 3 Started with ba duan jin, then power generation exercises, including the kihon dosa for half an hour. TT: 36:50 D: 34
Feb 4 Classes have started again! Hurray! We had a major focus on tensho applications, and tui shou. TT: 38:30 D: 35
Feb 5 I'm starting to see a pattern emerge. The day after a lesson, I spend my time working on things that came up as needing improvement. Today was no exception. Spent most of my time fixing stuff in tensho kata. For a small kata with only 7 steps and no turns, there was a lot to work on. Otherwise, did 5x20 pushups, and tenshin-ho practice. TT: 39:00 D: 36
Feb 6 Lesson again today. kicking basics, some pad work, saifa kata and working flow drills and a sort of chi-sao/muchimi-di drill. TT: 40:30 D: 37
Feb 7 Worked on the kata I haven't done much of lately: kururunfa, seisan and hakkucho, with particular emphasis on the power generation methods from the seminar. TT: 41:00 D: 38
Feb 8 I waited until an hour after sunset today in the hopes that it might get a bit cooler before training. It did, but was still 34C! Went through all the kata in grading order tonight. Almost exactly half an hour without pause. TT: 41:31 D: 39
Feb 9 Really didn't want to train tonight. Too many hot days and nights of too little sleep I think. Anyway, decided to take it easy and warmed up with 10 minutes of kettlebell exercises. Then, bo junbi undo and fundamentals. TT: 42:00 D: 40
Feb 10 Pushups, situps, supermen and yoga-poses to begin, then working on different aspects of seisan kata (a little bit of seienchin also reared its head when I was working on a similar bit in seisan) TT: 42:30 D: 41
Feb 11 Training tonight. Lots of throws and takedowns. It brought back fond memories of my aikido days. TT: 44:10 D: 42