The Martial Way is Back Online!

An Apology

As you may or may not have noticed, I've been unable to update this blog for nearly two weeks because of an error in the template code. In the end, I gave up on waiting for Blogger.com to help and got working on a new template. So, here I am again - new look, new posts, same old me... ...to those that have been waiting patiently, "I'm sorry for the delay!" I'll get started on some new entries as soon as I can.

Excitement Builds

There are many, many changes taking place in my personal and professional life right now. They will have a major impact on my practice of martial arts and I will go into greater detail once things become 'public knowledge' (there are a few people that need to be informed personally before I 'announce' on the internet).

Great changes in life often come with great deals of stress. So, I'm very much looking forward to the next week. It's sure to be the ultimate stress reliever!

In just two days, I'll be training my little cotton socks off, for five days straight, at a Kyokushin Karate summer camp in Budapest, Hungary! No doubt, that'll be the source of some new material for this diary. I've been taking a rather long break from training (OK, I showed up for own 'fight night' but I really did need it) and it's killing me. Most of my injuries seem to be healing up nicely but my right ankle and right hamstring seem to be of major concern right now. They just don't seem to be getting any better. That said, they won't stop me attending the summer camp. I've been looking forward to it for a long, long time and no bruised up ankle, nor torn up hamstring is going to keep me away.

For those with an interest, here's the site for the hosts of the summer camp: Kyokushin Hungary.

Visit My Dojo: MMA Ireland : Photos

Something's gotta give...

The Bad and Ugly

Ok. It's official. My injuries have finally got the better of me. I've reached the point of no return. Last night was a great night, full of fun, frolics, new experiences and brand new injuries...

Andy and I arrived at the dojo bright eyed and bushy tailed. We had a great night planned and were looking forward to learning a shiny new kata (sequence of karate techniques). This past week has been a busy one and kata was just what the doctor ordered. We spent this weekend training 6 hours daily with Shihan Leonardo Voinescu (7. Dan Kyokushin Budo Kai, 4. Dan Kyokushinkai, 4. Dan Judo) and my muscles were already visiting the dark side of painsville.

We skipped the 'traditional' warm-up and decided that some light (semi/zero contact) sparring would do the trick to get our muscles nice and warm. Usually, Andy and I end up like a couple of giggling school-kids when 'light contact' comes into play. Why? Because 'reflex' is a funny thing. The body has a habit of doing things long before the brain has a chance to notice what's going on.

A fist makes its merry way toward my face and my brain doesn't register, "It's OK. It's only semi-contact." Oh no! That would be far too easy. Instead it screams, "Aaaghhh! Fist!!!" and launches a front kick to the testicles before I really understand why my foot is connecting with something warm, soft and squashy. Now, before you start thinking, "Poor Andy!" please remember that The Curse of the Killer Reflex works both ways.

For example, I initiate a rather half-hearted (remember, this is warm up) mawashi geri (round-house kick - a bit like kicking a football) towards Andy's liver. Now, Andy's conscious brain knows full well that the kick will barely connect and cause no pain whatsoever. The problem is that his subconscious (aka. The Curse of the Killer Reflex) seems blissfully unaware of this fact. The end result? His elbow drops into a protective cover position over the kidney and my foot connects rather abruptly (and seriously painfully) with the pointy end. Bugger!

The thing about very light contact is that the foot (or any other body part for that matter) isn't in a state of tension when contact is made. Therefore, it is not prepared to take any kind of blow. Indeed, it's fully relaxed when 'The Curse of the Killer Reflex' drives the pointy end of an elbow into the bones of the foot leaving a golf ball sized bump as a 'welcome present'.

I don't really mind. In Andy's case (and my own) there is enough control and good common sense to ensure that no serious injuries occur. The problems really began a little later. It seems that our light contact sparring set the precedent for the rest of the evening. Charley (Sensei) arrived and said, "That's a good idea. Everyone - light sparring as warm up!"

Andy and I continued planting golf ball sized lumps on eachother whilst giggling at the 'ouch!' sounds that seemed to accompany every third strike. Everyone else took the hint, partnered up and got started with the warm up. No problemo - right? Wrong!

Firstly, the warm-up eventually became the class. Once the fighting started, it never came to a stop. A quick warm-up exercise between Andy and I, had somehow become the the next hour and a half for all of us. Fine by me. I love sparring. After all ... this was light contact.

Unfortunately, not everybody is capable of understanding the term 'light contact'. If you've been following this diary, you'll know that I am certainly not shy of full-contact (and the pain that comes with it). However, when Sensei says, "Locker bleiben! Und ohne Verletzungen!" [Nice 'n easy and no injuries!], I assume that he means it and begin to exercise the control neccessary to spar ('exercise' form of fighting) without inflicting damage and/or painful contact on my opponent.

Not every one - it seems - has this control. I am not really talking about technique here. I am talking about 'self control'. We typically spar full contact and once fists, feet and bodies start flying, the blood gets warm and before you know it, not everyone is in complete control of themselves.

There will always be those that believe 'kumite' and 'sparring' is actually fighting. I'll never really understand why they think this and I'll save my full viewpoint concerning kumite for another time. For the sake of understanding however, here's the short version: "Kumite is a method of free-form technical exchange that allows participants to better themselves through the practice of technique in a non-compliant scenario."

Anyway, to cut a long story short (or rather, to make a long story not quite as long as it could have been!), I ended up with ice on my arm, ice on my foot and the sudden realisation that I no longer possess a major body part without injury. This can't be good. Not good at all.

For the last nine months or so, Charley has been trying to convince me to take a break of some kind. I've tried 'light contact' instead of 'full contact' and any other method I can think of to avoid 'taking a break'. Sadly, the end result has been more and more injury (protecting one injury can easily lead to the receipt of a new one).

I can't ignore them any longer and a 'recovery break' is essential. In three weeks time, Andy and I will attend a Kyokushin Summer Camp in Hungary. Six long days and nights of hard training and my body simply isn't up to the challenge. So, last night I grandly announced to Charley, "That's it! I've finally learned something!". To which he replied, "I seriously doubt that!"

Despite Charley's whitty riposte, I'm going to take his advice (at last!) and spend the next three weeks out of the Dojo and in the gym. I cannot begin to tell you how much I hate weight-training but it's better that doing nothing for the next few weeks. So, expect a lot of moaning and groaning over the coming weeks!

The Good

Kata is something that I really enjoy. I realise that many people no longer see the need for it. They perceive it as a relic of the traditional martial arts. The recent boom of Mixed Martial Arts competition (a new name for a truly ANCIENT concept; feel free to ask any practitioner of Jiu Jitsu) has left many people believing that 'sparring is king' and 'kata is useless'. I completely disagree but that's a story that must be saved for another day. I can say only this; if you are one of those people that believes kata to be useless then you have been very badly taught.

Learning a new kata is like going to an ice-cream parlor and finding a brand new flavour on the menu. It doesn't take away from one's love of ice-cream, it just offers something new and further expands one's appreciation of the tasty treat of frozen cream.

Learning new kata is a bit like solving a puzzle for the first time. Getting past the feeling of, "wait a minute - that can't be right", and moving into the feeling of, "Aaahh!!! Now I get it!!". Andy and I had many such moments last night and I remain grateful to those that came before us. Those that took the time to put complete systems into a moving human record that is being past from generation to generation.

Full contact karate isn't always about pain. Sometimes, it's about the ice-cream.

Visit My Dojo: MMA Ireland : Photos

In Sickness and In Health

I really didn't feel like going training tonight. I've been ill for most of this week and couldn't train at the Dojo last Monday. That really bugged me - so I forced myself to go tonight. It's been a most enjoyable evening and I only threw up twice.

It was a funtastic sunny evening and I arrived at the Dojo (training hall) thinking; "I feel like I'm married to this life. In sickness and in health."

I popped my head into the Dojo and Charley (Sensei) wasn't there. I thought, "Oh dear. Here we go..!" I knew what Charley's absence meant. Andy (my training partner and something of a sadomasochist) would be leading the session.

He shouted across the Dojo, "Shane, get things started off with some jogging..."

"No problemo!" says I.

"Now..." says he.

I started running around the Dojo like a frightened ferret, sticking closely to the the four walls and the others followed suit. No problems so far. After a couple of circuits I foolishly thought, "this isn't so bad..."

"I meant outside!" says Andy...

"Ah...!" says I.

So, that was the start of something that I very much enjoy. We all headed outside, barefoot and wearing white pajamas, onto the open road for some light jogging. First, we jogged down the steady incline that runs directly in front of the Dojo. Then, we head up hill as home owners look out from their windows and shout, "what the f%$& are you people doing?" (of course, they shout it in German). At the top of the hill (about 1.5km from the Dojo), we did our usual bare knuckle pushups on the road, followed by a steady run back in the direction of the Dojo. Nice night for it really. I have to admit that I really enjoy doing this - there's something very 'traditional' about it.

On the way back, I could see a familiar figure in the distance. It was tall, it was big and it was hairy. No, it wasn't Bigfoot, it was Charley (Sensei) jogging down the road toward us with a big grin on his face. I got the feeling that the 'real fun' was about to begin.

We all met in the middle and continued our jog to the Dojo. We arrived at the car park and I headed instinctively inside. What a fool I was.

I had failed to notice that look in Charley's eyes that says, "anybody feel like breaking stuff?"

Tameshiwari (breaking techniques) is an important element of Kyokushin Karate. Why? Here's a brief explanation from www.karatebreaking.com;

"Any sword that is sharp enough to cut has the potential to do damage, but the sharper the blade, the deadlier the weapon. A razor sharp blade is formidable even in the hands of an unskilled fighter, while a sword with no edge is of little use even in the hands of a master. Breaking practice allows [us] to hone [our] weapons to maximum effectiveness ... Without the ability to hit hard, [we] are not truly practicing combative martial arts."

So, breaking strong inanimate objects is a fairly important practice. The thing is, when Charley wants to start 'breaking stuff', he really means 'stuff'. Not boards, tiles or any of the other boring 'prepared' items that most people practice with. Oh no! Charley just takes a look around the outside seating area and decides, "Sod it! That bench is bit old looking..." Then, before you know it we're smashing it to bits with elbows, fists and palms. Talk about doing things 'the old fashioned way'!

I'll take some pictures of the places and objects that I'm talking about and post them here (maybe I can even get Charley to pose for the odd pic or three). A few pics will probably do a far better job of setting the scene.

After some rather sexy Hiji (elbow) breaks and a couple of Shuto (knife hand) breaks, I was forgetting all about how sick I was. Then it happened, the piece of old park bench that decided to 'fight back'. I brought my hand down with an apparently clean Shuto (so I was told later). My hand hit the wood and... nothing. I was certain that I could hear the wood laughing at me. That's when I realized that the 'sound' in my ears wasn't laughter. No, it was pain. Good, old fashioned, 'oh shite my ears are ringing' pain. I thought, "Bugger!"

Should have given up there and then really. Unfortunately, knowing when to quit isn't one of my strong points. So, I tried again. What an idiot. I really wasn't concentrating at all. My hand came down with the speed of an express train with no brakes... ...and completely missed the wood. It's a pity that I can't say the same for my wrist bone. It certainly didn't miss. In fact, it was bang on target. I have the ruddy great bruise, where my wrist used to be, as proof. This time, I really could hear the wood laughing at me! I could also see little birdies flying around my head and through my ears. I had to smile. What else could I do?

Lesson learned: Attacking a defenseless piece of wood doesn't always guarantee victory.

On the positive side, training in the Dojo was up to it's usual excellent standards (thanks to Charley). Andy and I continued with "pick a fight with the heavy bag" after the scheduled training and now I'm finally home. I think I've sweat out just about any signs of the cold from which I've been suffering and on the whole it's been a great night!

Visit My Dojo: MMA Ireland : Photos