My Kata Improvement Cycle

Do - Watch - Correct - Repeat

Over the years of training and teaching, I have evolved a 4 step process for improving my Kata.

Step 1: Do.

Do the Kata. Or do a part of the Kata.  Record the Kata on video so you can proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Watch.  

Take out that video you just recorded and watch it. Notice all the things you are doing wrong. Watch someone else do the Kata. Notice what they are doing right that you might be doing wrong. Watch videos of someone else doing the Kata. Notice their cadence. Is it different than your cadence.  Does it make more sense? Look for principles you may have wrong that are throwing everything else off.  

Step 3: Correct.

Pick something you just watched and work on fixing it. Over and over. This usually doesn't involve doing the whole Kata.  It could be a single technique or maybe an overall principle. Whatever it is, work on it. Try to fix it. Work to make it better.

Step 4: Repeat.

Go back to the beginning and repeat Steps 1-3.  Do this as any times as you need to to try and perfect whatever it is that needs perfecting.  Hint: it will never be perfect, but you might get pretty good at it!

Training during Covid-19

Tallahassee Karate Club has chosen to take precautions during the Covid-19 threat.  We have moved our twice weekly, at the dojo format, to a virtual training session.

It looks like many dojo are doing the same thing.

We have had 3 virtual classes, so far. I did the first one from my back porch, using Facebook messenger.  There were some challenges.  The internet connection wasn’t great. I don’t have a ton of bandwidth at my house and I was a ways away from my WiFi router.  Mosquitoes were present. Still, we made it work as best we could.  Space was limited so we did standing and moving basics, Naihanchi and Passai.

I moved to the garage for Training #2.  This was a challenge, as I needed to clean up enough to clear a spot big enough to do kata. We also switched to Zoom for the 2nd training.  I also set up my iPad so I could see everyone while they trained, and used my phone as the camera. This was much more successful than the first training, I think.  Zoom did present me with a message that said my session would be limited to 40 minutes, but it seemed to let us continue for an hour.  Once again, we focused on basics, Naihanchi and Passai.  I tested out the space before class and it appears I can do most of the other kata if I modify the stepping, a little.

Training #3 presented challenges with Zoom, so we ended up back on FaceBook messenger.  Still, it wasn't a bad training .

One of the best things about this virtual training is the ability for some of our former students, who have moved away, to join in and participate in training.  This allows them to reconnect with the class, and the Kata.

As we continue with this format, I hope it will get easier, and better, and the flow will feel as much like the regular dojo experience, as possible.

I really hope the pandemic runs its course quickly, but in the meantime, Tallahassee Karate Club will continue with Virtual Training.

2019

I look back at 2018 and find I didn’t really blog at all in 2018.  Why?
Was it because I was lazy? Uninspired? I had nothing to talk about?  No.  It was a transition year.  I think I say that a lot.  My karate is always changing, transitioning.

Since 2014, I have been working to incorporate Shinzato Sensei’s latest principles into my karate.  It has felt like a 180 and there have definitely been times of frustration.  Here I am in 2019 and I don’t really feel I’ve made much progress.  Thinking back to my years in Kishaba Juku, it has always been thus.  I work to try to figure out a concept, then boom! New concept arrives and I have to try and figure that out.  This is the crux of Kishaba and Shinzato Sensei’s methods. You can’t rest on your laurels or think that you have it figured out, because as soon as you do, they change it up!

You might say, this goes against Traditional Karate methods of passing kata down from teacher to student without ever changing it...keeping the lineage pure.  This is not the way of Kishaba Juku. Instead, we look to constantly improve and refine.

For me the hardest part right now is to work on a simple relax and extend concept.  Relax, relax, relax, then extend. I never thought relaxing could be so hard!

As for the Dojo, we have a very small group at this time.  Everyone has their lives that keep them busy, including me.  We already only train two nights per week, but lately it seems we have more gaps in between than actual training time.

I hope to blog more this year. I hope to train a lot more this year. I hope to gain a working knowledge of Sensei’s new ideas.  Most of all I hope everyone has a great 2019!

2018

This is the first post in over a year!  I just did not feel much like posting last year, I suppose.  Classes at the dojo are small, these days.  We usually have 2-4 people, per class.  I hope that number will grow a little this year.

Mostly, we have been working on Shinzato Sensei's relaxed koshi principles.  These are pretty much 180 degrees reverse of what we practiced for years.  Someday, I may write about some of the transitions we have made throughout the years, but not today.

Here are a few ideas from our training at this time...

• Start relaxed, stay relaxed, end relaxed
• Open the koshi and let the joints relax.
• Don't use muscular strength. Align the bones and simply extend.
• Sink, then sink a little more, and extend. 
• To transfer power, extend more quickly.
• Let the top half of the body float on the bottom half.
• Keep your centerline vertical.
• "Test" the techniques with a partner to see if you can extend or retract them easily without tensing.
• Don't tuck, don't squeeze, don't use your shoulders, don't wiggle your hips, don't over-extend, don't rotate, don't breathe hard and don't push.
• Believe that it can work

We still do a lot of Naihanchi!

Happy 2018!

Haven't Posted in a Very Long Time

It's been over a year since the last time I posted anything here. At the Dojo we've mostly been working on relaxing and re-engineering our koshi principles to be in line with the way Shinzato Sensei is training now.

As usual, most training is centered around Naihanchi and the ideas therein.  It's a lot of work, and there are no quick results.

I have personally been spending a lot of time working on Shirotaru no Kun.  It's a very difficult, but exciting Bo kata.

Our class attendance is at an all time low as we near the 11 year mark, and I wonder if we have reached a plateau, if classes will pick back up in the new year, or if we should take it as a sign that it's time to move on...