LIttle Good, LIttle Bad

Practice today is best described as “a little good, a little bad”. It could have been a lot worse, I guess, but at least it wasn’t a disaster.

To start with, my left leg was feeling much better, no pain during stretches, and no tightness when I did a few trial lunges. Itou Sensei asked me if I was genki and I could enthusiastically tell him that yes, I was genki! And I was too. I got through all of the warm up suburi with high energy (though chouyaku suburi was taxing).

We did a bit of ai-men, some large motion men, and some kote-men, all of which felt pretty good. We also did kirikaeshi, and that’s when my leg started to tighten up again. I didn’t want to stop before the end of mawari-geiko though, so I stuck it out. Itou Sensei split the usual three sets of 2 minute mawari-geiko into three 1 minute rounds, two 1 and a half minute rounds and one 2 minute round.

It was obvious right away that initiating an attack myself wasn’t going to work. I’d have to get way too close to be able to execute one without lunging, and Itou Sensei already corrected me once on being too close during the drills. That pretty much left pressing my opponent to attack first by both inching forward slowly or by giving an obvious opening and then responding with a hit and a stationary fumikomi.

It worked with some success. Unfortunately there were still some instances were I had to launch the first attack, or where instinct launched me forward before I could remind myself that 'oh right, my left leg isn't working'. My leg did not appreciate that at all. Sankyu became very hard to get in and out of but there was nothing for it. I kept going through all the rounds, which got especially painful with taller opponents who I had to ground myself on my left leg against. But, at least I learned the lesson of how to get opponents to attack me first.

I sat the ju-geiko out, however, not wanting to stess my leg to the point of needing a longer rest than I want. Instead I just practiced more suburi by myself. That, combined with the suburi I do in the morning, and the suburi at the beginning of practice makes it 500 suburi I’ve done today.

At the end of practice Itou Sensei initiated a drill that I was sorry to have to have missed. Everyone found a partner and would stand in kamae. When Itou Sensei clapped the wooden blocks together, they were supposed to launch into ai-men without hesitation. It was interesting to watch those who could snap forward at the clap, and those who hesitated. It was a good drill to practice seizing an opportunity with zero hesitation when it presents itself. I hope that he does it again when I’m able to snap forward myself. It looked like a lot of fun!