Recently while lying around in the hospital recovering from surgery on my right arm, I was feeling a bit down and thought about calling my Sempai from Honbu days, Nicholas Pettas. Firstly I knew he had tons more serious injuries and surgeries than me, so he would be positive about recovering and secondly I remembered him taking me to doctors when I had injuries in Japan. Sometimes I felt we were trekking all the way across Tokyo! He helped me obtain the medical card so I could access the Government Medical assistance program.
Anyway, I called him and he answered, lucky for me as he has a pretty busy schedule these days! During the conversation the topic of the uchi deshi journal surfaced. Now Oyama Sosai had all the Japanese uchi deshi keep a daily journal. I think Nicholas may have been the only Westerner to also write a journal in Japanese. I stand under correction here, but Sosai either reviewed them daily or weekly. According to Nicholas Sempai, if your entry moved or impressed Sosai, he would give a special stamp.
I recently also suggested to my South African team member of the 1995 6th World Open Team, Wandile Ncapai, now also a 7th Dan in the IKO Nakamura Organisation, that a journal could be a useful tool for students at brown belt level all the way to Sandan. Now what should be in the journal?
The first pages should be an attendance register for the year. Each student should track his training hours per week. Remember is his books Sosai suggested around 9hrs per week of class time. By tracking your own class attendance you will know whether you qualify for annual gradings. Aim for 80% anything less than 60% means you are a social trainer…gradings will be far apart for you and probably traumatic! J
Daily entries should track training goals, record morning training, strength & conditioning and other self-training sessions. These days nutrition could also be recorded. Training goals can be variable…brown belts preparing for Shodan may want to focus on kata and increasing strength and stamina for the 10men kumite challenge. Shodans could well spent time on developing skills in boxing or judo or Jiu jitsu by attending a class or session once a week in these martial arts. Your instructor may review your journal weekly or fortnightly and comment. The journal allows you to communicate with your instructor. You could also record or discuss personal understandings or realisations.
Let’s talk about morning training. Depending on the season, it may be outside or inside training. Generally we always woke up at 6:00am in the dormitory, jumped into our running shoes and started with a run. This was around 5km. In summer we would train in the park doing skipping rope, push-ups, squats, hand stands etc. In winter times we would train inside the first floor dojo. So morning training aims at cardiovascular endurance and as you have just arisen from sleep a run is a good way to ease into the session. Now for older karateka, with hip or knee joint issues, stationary bikes, elliptical trainer, treadmills, rowing machines are probably more appropriate for 30min of low level cardio. Followed perhaps by mobility drills or light yoga. I aim for a minimum or 3 or 4 morning sessions between Mondays to Friday. During the past year my focus has been on mobility and light 15minute yoga sessions. Tom Merrick has good 5minute mobility drills on YouTube and Sean Vigue has 15min beginner Yoga workouts.
Strength and conditioning is also something you should concentrate on outside of dojo times. I love Oyama Sosai’s story about increasing his strength in the bench press…he asked his wife to poke him with a needle to get out more reps! Sosai spent much time touring with wrestlers, so he did a fair amount of weight training and the results are evident in his physique. When I was living in the dormitory, Nicholas Sempai took me under his wing and I trained with him at the nearby Unicorn Gym. We did weight training around 4times per week and he made me keep a journal of every set, every rep and even comments about how it felt! I kept this up for 10years. When he arrived in Japan Nicholas Sempai weighed around 67kg and Judd Sempai was about 65kg I think. After 3years, Judd may have been around 90-95kg, Nicholas was around 100kg. It took me 6years to reach 100kg. At 17years I was 75kg and in 1996 I fought the South African Champion of Champions Open tournament at 106kg. Weight training sessions can be in the afternoons or on evenings when there are no dojo classes. Actually karateka can do 2 sessions per week in my opinion concentrating on the compound exercises like deadlifts, squats, bench presses, overhead presses, barbell or T-bar rowing. When you are 8weeks away from a tournament substitute weight training for conditioning drills. Again there are many options available these days. Once you have reached your targeted fighting bodyweight, weight training can be done once a week to maintain strength.
Self-training sessions can focus on technical development, perfecting techniques or building your fighting combinations, or conditioning shins and fists. Narushima Sempai would often spend time kicking and hitting the sand bags in the change room at Honbu. He was focused! Ask your instructor to help you identify your 5 strongest techniques…say two types of punches and 3 kicks. From these techniques develop 5 combinations which allow you to deliver a powerful blow to your opponent. Remember the initial attack techniques will probably be feints or distractions to create the opening to allow a powerful strike to hit home. Consider also how you close the distance, side –side movement, zigzag or a kick to distract or unbalance your opponent. Once close try to take a side on position (this is always well described in Ashihara or Enshin videos!) to strike and then consider your exit. I like to say take the side door or back door, meaning leave sideways or end up behind your opponent. Just going back in a straight line means that you jump straight back into the firing line. A smart opponent will wait for you there and then fire his powerful strikes.
Goals for Shodans and Nidans should, like Musashi says in the “Book of 5 Rings” get to know other schools of swordsmanship , in this case get to know other martial arts. I would advise boxing and judo or wrestling. Other useful arts would be Thai boxing, kickboxing and Jiu jitsu. If as a Shodan you did an extra class a week of boxing for a year, then Judo for year two and Thai boxing for year three. Now you are at Nidan grading, once you obtain Nidan repeat again. After Sandan you could start Kudo (founded by Takahashi Azuma, 9th All Japan Tournament Champion) once a week as its great at integrating all aspects of the fight game while maintain Budo traditions. Or just specialize in some of the other arts to help you become more well-rounded. Kata will also become more meaningful as it has a fair amount of takedowns and throws which if you only know strikes you are probably not aware of or you would execute them incorrectly. Sandans should also have the goals of attending training camps, seminars, and visiting other dojos. This builds mental toughness and independence. You cannot grow beyond a certain point by always being in a comfort zone. Sandans should also teach as this way you get to understand techniques more deeply. Even if you only have one student!
A training journal will be very useful in setting goals and tracking these with your instructor. Osu!
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