So unless you belong to one of these dojos that forsake physical and mental conditioning, a certain painful memory of some kind of excerise/punishment/torture/fun for the sensei will have been conjured from reading this title I know I have a few. Leg raises Our sensei seems to have an abnormally strong set of lower abdominals, meaning when we do leg raises he can go for hours without stopping, at a constant speed, just on the wrong side of painful, while the rest of us cringe like we've never cringed before Bunny Hops As in crouching and hopping from one side of the dojo, always at the end of the lesson, performing decent oi tsukis. It's a laugh at first, until your legs give up on you and you land flat on your face. Twice. Punching from crouched position Again, always at the end of the tough lessons, we start off fully crouched and do 10 punches, raise an inch and repeat and so on. But obviously thats too easy, so we're normally told to go down an inch, down another inch, up an inch, down another inch etc. But I suppose it's nice to wake up the next two days feeling like a more conditioned karate-ka. I suppose...
Do you know what? I also HATE bunny hops, actually I REALLY hate them, and squat thrusts...just a pain in the ass....
See, I can deal with squat thrusts. We do alternate leg ones which I find a hell of alot easier than double leg ones. Like running on the spot, just on all fours
The leg raises and just holding your feet 6" off the deck get to me. I thought I'd escaped them by moving 100 miles and changing MA but we've still had to do them once here! Most things involving coordination are a pain for me too
Bunny hops, gah. I popped in to check out a new kickboxing class once, and spent a whole 2 hours sprinting around the gym/jumping/raises/crunches/hops etc. Then spent the next 2 days in bed :bang: Didn't do anything apart from fitness. Needless to say I didn't go back
Kicking from a crouching position i.e. crouching then standing and kicking quickly then returning to a crouch. Now that kills the legs
That one is a bit of a bitch. My old sensei was fond of that one! I found it strangely satifying though...
We do squat-maegeris - they're OK. We've also got in the habit of cheering out loud when sensei says do push-ups or sit-ups (it came about because the kids all used to moan "aaaw noo!", so we turned it around). The one I don't like is running around the edge of the dojo and touching left (hidari), right (migi) or both (morote) hands to the floor.
Hi All I find it amazing in a growing age of Governing Bodies, advanced sports science, Health and Safely Legislation and Instructor Accountability, that some of these exercises are still used. Bunny Hops and Duck Walking have long been known to cause long-term knee damage. I know...I was doing these stupid exercises nearly 34 years ago and I have very painful knee joints now. I know that we all hate these exercises, but there is a choice. Find a better, forward thinking instructor that is no longer trapped in the dark ages, feeling the need to impress students with pain. This is NOT a comment about Traditional Karate. I hold a high rank in that. These exercises have nothing to do with system or style, and are just part of the instructor's sadistic ego. Train safely and you will enjoy a much longer shelf-life within your chosen art. Respectfully Peter Lewis - 5th Dan
good point even the legs six inches off the floor can cause massive lower back problems - you need to keep you lower back completely flat on the ground, which is very difficult to do (although a few pilates lessons will help you with that one). Jacknifes at the end of a lesson are a bit of a killer, and I hate mountain climbs that go on for ever and ever....I am a bit crap tho.
I don't think the exercises we do are an ego thing. They certianly never come across like that. And there is definitely no sadism involved here. If these were to be done every lesson, perhaps it'd be a problem. But it's not like they are built in to every lesson we do. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of trying to perform better than last time. And to be fair, if you have started to develop the muscles around your knee joints beforehand, it is less likely to cause a problem.
Hi Shoto_can Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post. Firstly, I have very strong leg muscles and kicks, and my comments are based on the actual damage caused by such exercises in the long-term, and nothing to do with my own physique. It is very common and well documented that many Karate-ka, TKD seniors and even Ballet Dancers experience crippling joint injuries later in life. I used to do hundreds, even thousands of these exercises, just the same as you do, or any other aspiring Karate-ka does. Just like knuckle pushups, it doesn't make it right to do these exercises, there are safer alternatives that produce the same or better results, and once you have the injuries, as many of us seniors do, they are with you for life. Finally, I have heard many instructors comment on how they "Enjoy" seeing the pain on their students faces during such exercises. Never a comment of, "Maybe I am causing that student serious long-term damage." I just promote the Filipino Martial Arts these days, where we hit eachother with sticks, or attack with knives...a far safer activity than doing dangerous exercises that have little bearing on the Martial Arts. Regards Peter Lewis - 5th Dan
Hi Peter. Fair enough, but like everything, if done in moderation... Our sensei doesn't do it to see the pain on our faces, and we don't do these exercises every lesson. If they were to be done every lesson I'm sure most of us would feel it, especially our resident black belts, who are not young any more! As our sensei says, there's a difference between momentary discomfort and pain.
Hi Shoto_Can Yes. Very valid point. Anything in moderation is fine. Sounds like your Sensei has the situation under reasonable control. I think the problem is that many of the Old School teachers didn't realise what damage was being done and didn't understand what "moderation" meant. I am sure that some of the most senior Japanese Sensei would admit that, during the earlier years, they were told by their Sempai in Japan that, the only way to gain respect from a foreigner was to beat them up. With that mindset, it is not surprising that there were some appalling practices during the early days of Karate in this part of the world. Learn well. Train hard. Fight easy. Peter
Punching combination (head punch, step in middle punch), then drop, do a pushup (preferably explosive), then back up to ready position. Repeat ad infinitum (okay, realistically usually 20 off each side... just feels like an infinite number at the time). The exercise itself is hard enough, but I've found myself occasionally getting lightheaded from the repetitive "altitude" changes... I also have quite low blood pressure, which likely doesn't help the situation.
Pad work with suicides thrown in .(Doesn't help that our new hall is twice as long as our old one either)
