Back

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Lots has changed.  Japan is waaaay in my past now and I'm missing it, of course, but there are new adventures to be had and new things to be doing.

Been working hard these last two years or so.  Lot of time spent making money which forced certain decisions within my training: over focused on certain things, focused less on other things.  Did the 5,3,1 programme for a while and made some damn good progress, pushing up my totals in the powerlifts but impacting upon flexibility and other things.  Cardio suffered in some ways but pad work and sparring in the mornings has helped in certain areas: standing up and striking doesn't get me half as gassed anymore, but going down and getting up gets me more gassed.  Weight, clearly.

My hand/eye coordination has improved under Fraser, as has my general sparring ability: I use my weight to great advantage, I wait things out, I plot and execute moves.  My mind game has certainly improved.

But....

But my black belt is coming up and I'm not flexible enough or fit enough in the right way and my body... I came back from Japan with a body that could do anything.  Lift, run, bend... now I have a body that is very strong but that just doesn't satisfy me anymore.

Don't get me wrong, it did satisfy me for a long, long time, but now it's... wrong for me.  I want a body back that is well rounded.

So, with the black belt as a deadline, that is what I am now doing.

Cardio has improved, weights are getting shelved save for deadlift and kettebell stuff.  Far more calisthenics and other stuff.  More grease the groove stuff: "If it's important, do it every day," so says Dan John quoting someone else.  So I am now doing certain things every day: stretching, mobility drills, Paval Push Ups, bridges, pistols.  Volume, volume, volume.

Weight is coming off now, a stone since Christmas, and I feel better, more fluid, my middle is thining out and my mobility has definitely improved.

Goals wise I'm aiming for a one hand hand stand push up by December.

We'll see...

re: Christmas

Okay, so I've been gone a while.

What can I say? Work, life, etc.  It gets in the way and changes your routines and, well, changes everything.  I had a lot of fun in Japan and learnt an awful lot about myself, but that time is now gone and I've got to take stock and move on. 

And I have, don't get me wrong, I have. 

Training wise, I'm progressing, developing.  I'm stronger than when I left Japan, not as fit in a cardiovascular manner, though I can still run and sprint (I'm faster at sprinting) , but my lifts have gotten better and I've maintained most of the flexibility I developed.  Technique wise I'm more thoughtful and my throws have become better as have my entries and my ways of doing things. I am a better martial artist, whatever that means, and more comfortable in my body. 

Far more com0fortable, and the better for that.  That's Fraser, he's been banging on that I'm a big guy and I fight against it and I should embrace it, so I have and... and, yeah, I move well.  Not gracefully, but powerfully, and with a certain amount of unstoppable inertia. 

Why do martial arts?  Do learn to defend yourself.

What's the best self defence?  Looking bigger than the other guy. 

It works and I'm happy and my techniques are developing with that in mind.

Oddly, my hand speed hasn't diminished, and I can deliver stopping force with my left hand (god bless being south paw) and with my right leg.  The lessons Yogi taught me are still bedded in too, that sinking of everything into the strike.  He knows a lot, that man. 

Anyway, why this post?  Yeah, I've been looking, drunkenly, at pictures of myself from a few years ago, back when I was getting poor training advice from a fat man.  Run loads, drop weight, he told me.  Why did I listen?  I do not look healthy in those pictures, and it does not suit me being below 15 stone. I am a big guy, I may as well revel in it.  He gave me the training advice for a marathon runner, not for someone who was learning a martial art (hah, but we have moved on).  I am far more efficient and capable at my current weight, and strong.  Very strong.  Stronger than him, I know.  Strong and coupled with superior technique. 

I do wonder why he gave me such poor training advice.  Was it just him being misguided?  Or was it because he wanted to do me harm?  I'm going to be charitable and go with the former (although he was so fat I wonder why he didn't take the advice he gave me and put the damn spoon down). 

Don't get me wrong, there are certain... personalities in the old club that I miss (and miss talking to, training with, hanging with), but the new club is so much better, so much... more relevant?  I don't have the words currently.  This year will be a good year for us, a year of change as we fully grow out of the shadows of the past (even as the old club attempts to change its ways and becomes more sport orientated, or so I hear along the grapevine).

It will be an interesting year, whatever comes along.

And I'll be ready :)

Things

Okay, my posting of late has been poor, but my dad is getting better and better, so that's all good.  His eyes are still yellow but he's back to putting away 5 hours a day tending the garden/farm and is walking the dogs again, not quite the old 2 hours in the morning and 2 in the evening, but an hour each way, which is good too.  I suspect that I get my tenacity from him.  I certainly get my cool head from him, which is good as I also have my mum's temper. 

It ain't nice when your parents get sick, is it?

I'm back to the UK tomorrow for the Reading Festival, where I shall eat, drink and be merry, so this last week I've run my body into the ground by training every day, no matter how I feel and generally pushing myself.  I've also been thinking about my training goals for the next year (I'm a teacher, our year goes September to August).  Basically I'm going to slowly trim down to 16 stone for Pete's Shodan (watch out Pete, I'll be fast and strong), then bulk back up to 17 stone and cut it down again to 16.5 for my Shodan, so I'll be heavy for my Shodan, but I want to do it my way, which will be controlled power through each technique.  Watch out every body.

So, this last week, what have I been doing?

Well...

Wednesday 18th
Ran to the Church and back, then 12 pull ups

Thursday 19th
Shadow boxing for 20 minutes
Tried out different combos and different ways of stepping into things and generating force as you move into and through your target.  Got a few nice ideas there I need to try on Fraz and Pete. 
Stretched
13 Pull ups

Friday 20th
Feeling sore and stiff
Did stretching, isometrics and Ki

Saturday 21st
Gym work
Mobility warm up
120 deep bounces
Press ups 40
Independent snatch: 22.5k x 5 per side
Isometric hold 3 x 3 sec
(later figured that I'd done this in the wrong order, whoops)
Deadlift: 70k x 6, 70k x 6, 110k x 5, 140k x 3, 160k x 3, 170k x 1, grip going, damn finger, 170k to knees.  Leave
140k x 1

Bent over row: 70k x 10, 75k x 6, 80k x 5, 85k x 5

Clean: 70k x 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (+press)

Military press (one dumb bell each hand):  2 x10k x 15, 2x12.5k x 10, 2x15k x 8, 2 x 17.5k x 6, 2x20k x 4

Tricep extension: 20k x 4 per side, Tricep pull down: 25k x 5, 5 (independent)
Bicep cable curl, independent: 15k x 5, 5
Bicep curl: 20k x 30+15

Had no grip for the deadlift, but having not gone to town on it, found my back very strong for the bent over rows. 

Sunday 22nd
Boot run from parent's house to Atlantic drive and back.  Tough old run, 3.62 miles, about 1/2 hour. Got back and did 55 burpees


Monday 23rd
8 pull ups followed by 6, later still another 6 pull ups.  good form on all

Jogged down the hill at gran's house and sprinted back up.  A nasty windy hill, 160 metres or so and steep and rough terrain. Managed it 3 times before felt nauseous. 

Got back to mine and did the 350 work out: 9.25.2, nice time.  I seem to be able to maintain that out of breath feeling for a long time with little detriment to my activity. 

Tuesday 24th

Mobility warm up
Press ups 25, 10, 5

Bench: Bar x 20, 70k x 5 explosive, 5 slow, 80k x 5 explo, 5 slow, 90k x 5 explo, 4 slow, 100k x 1, 100k x 1, 110k x 1, 110k x 1, 115k x 1
Well, with the leap in strength, this slow and explosive mix is working

Squats: 1 legged squats 5 per side
Front squats: bar x 5, 40k x 5, 50k x 5, 60k x 5, 60k x 4
Back squat: 60k x 10, 80k x 5, 80k x 5, 80k x 5
Squat circuit: 25 body weight squats, 25 prison, 25 on balls of feet, 25 holding 20k plate
10 squat jumps

Snatch: 10 per side @22.5k
Bicep: 20k x 40

Wednesday 25th
Boot run to Atlantic Drive and back, 25 minutes
Ki and isometrics in evening

Thursday:
5 minute bike ride
mobility warm up
Press ups: 20 (was thinking, oh, I've clearly quite tired, maybe deadlift isn't a good idea...)

Deadlift:
Indy clean 22.5k@ 5 per side, then 3 x  sec 3 isometric holds, then 3 per side for indy clean

Deadlift proper: 70k x 5 (flew up), 110k x 3, 140k x 3 (over/under grip), 160k x 3, 170k x 2, 177k x 1 (grip really failing), 177.5k x 1, 140k x 6

Bent over rows: 70k x 10, 70k x 8, 75k x 6 (tired)

Clean with barbell: 70k x 5, 3

Clean and press: 22.5 k x 5 per side
Lateral raises: 10k x 12, 12, 10
Over head press (indy): 2x10k x 10, 2x12.5k x 8, 2x15k x 5
Bicep: 20k x 30, 15
Tricep pull down: 15k x 12, 20k x 7, 25k x 5

All in all a good week, good progress, good gains.  And cardio is maintained, so we shall see how next week goes when I get back on the mat. 

Doo doo doo

Part of me does wish that I wasn't in Ireland.  I'm missing the Crossing the Pond Seminar and it looks so damn good.  Ah well, such is life.  Another part of me is very glad that I'm here, chilling with my folks and watching as Dad gets better and better. 

Well, after Sunday's amazing weather, yesterday was terrible!  Wind and rain and more rain and then some more rain.  No let up at all.  I sat around the house and watched Sons of Anarchy, which is an incredible show. 

I waited till the evening, then stretched a little and did the 350 work out, which is the same as the 300 work out, only you do 35 reps as opposed to 30.  Clever, huh?  I changed some things around too, swapping Hindu press ups for dips and then dips for step ups.  Time was 11:53.7, not too bad, but my oh my did I feel all those press ups.

Today I gardened for a bit, collecting in all the onions Dad planted.  There's loads, enough to keep the entire village in onions for the rest of the year.  And shallots, and red onions and, well, some other things.  He's also experimenting with the best type of potato to grow at different times of the year; I never even knew that there were different types for different parts of the year.

Training wise I got myself to the gym and did the following:

Pull ups (at gran's) 11

Mobility warm up

Press ups: 40

Bench press: bar x 15, 70k x 5 fast, 70k x 5 slow, 80k x 5 f, 80k x 4 s, 90k x 4 f, 90k x 3 s, 100k x 2,
110k x 1, 110k x 1, 110k x 1

 Front Squat: Bar x 8, 70k x 3, 70k x 3 70k x 3 wrists sore
[20 normal body weight squats, 20 prison squats, 20 squats hugging 25k weight] x 3, minimal rest between sets

Independent clean and press: 22.5k x 5per side
Independent snatch: 22.5k x 8 per side

Bicep curl: 20k, 21 protocol, 60 reps.

I dunno what it is about my biceps but I just can't get any DOMS in them these days.  Tomorrow I reckon I'll go for a jog, maybe 5 mile or so, we'll see.  My calves are still tender from that beach run. 

Sunday

My calves are aching again, but there you go.

Right, what have I been up to?

Well, Friday I took the dogs for another rambling walk across the moors and later went to grannys and did 10 pull ups and then 8

Saturday I went for a long walk with the dogs and came back and went to the gym.  I do love the Mulranny gym, hardly anyone uses it so I get to do pretty much whatever I want.

Isn't it great?

Anyway....

Warm up was mobility

Press up: 30

Deadlift:
Warm up: Isometric lift 3 x 3sec
22.5k One arm snatch x 3
Main lift:
70k x 5, 110k x 3, 130k x 3, isometric lift, 140k x 2 (grip was going on right hand because of little finger), 160k x 1, 170k x 1, 170k x 1, 177.5k x 1, 177.5k miss (damn right hand), 177.5k x 1 (to knees), damn right hand's little finger just wasn't working, 140k x 5

Bent over row - 70k x 8, 70k x 8, 70k x 8

Tricep extension: 20k x 4per side, 17.5k x 5 per side

Lat pull down: 45k x 10, 75k x 4, 75k x 4

Bicep curl- 20k x 45, 30, 21 (21 protocol)

Sunday:

Back a little stiff.  No bicep pain at all.  In fact, getting any pain in my biceps is pretty damn hard.  

Today went to the beach and ran 3.75 miles according to mapmyrun.com.  Bless it.  Did some fartlek training and went from jog to middle speed to sprint over the course of the, uh, course.  Calves sore now as tried to stay on them all the way.  They've done up the kid's play area and have put in a nice basketball court.  I used the hoop's support for pull ups and did 8, then 6 Up/downs, then 6 pull ups.  Not bad. Forearms sore from yesterday.  All in all a good weekend.  

Tomorrow I'll probably do the 300 workout, only shift it up to 350!  

Thursday

My calves have ached today, and it's an ache that has slowly increased.  Which is good, in its way, as my calves can take a hell of a pounding and recover quickly, so my run yesterday was clearly hard on them, and I managed to keep myself on the balls of my feet the whole way, which is good.

Today I decided to take myself to the gym in Mulranny for some weights and some sauna time.  Now, last time I was there, the gym was a bunch of cardio equipment, some free weights (but not too many, and dumbbells only), some bands and a bunch of machines.  I walked in there today and to my shock there were no free weights, just machines.  Oh, I thought to myself, a variation of the 300 work out it was to be...

I warmed up by doing 5 minutes on the cross trainer, then wanted a drink and went looking for the drink fountain.  And then I found it: the pool/snooker room.  They'd converted it.  Converted it into a weights room!  Bench, squat rack, 170k of weight... Oh yeah.  I was so happy. Here's what I did:

Press up: 35

Bench: Bar x 15, 60k (explosive) x 6, 60k (slow) x 5, 70k (e) x 5, 70k (s) x 5, 80k (e) x 4, 80k (s) x 3

Press ups: 6

Front squat
Deep squat held for over a minute (easy too)
Bar x 5, 40k x 5, 50k x 5, 60k x 3, 70k x 3  My wrists were going so I backed off.

Press ups: 25

Independent overhead press from floor: 22.5k x 5, 5, 5 each arm
Independent snatch from floor: 22.5k x 6, 6, 6 each arm

Press ups: 15

Bicep curl, 22.5k each arm: 8 reps, then 100 band curls.  Then 5 reps and 100 band curls

Press ups: 15

Later in the day I did 9 Pull ups and walked the dogs for a bit with some jogging.  All in all a damn good day. Was hoping to watch the meteorite showers tonight but the weather being the way it is, all I can see it cloud :(

Wednesday

My dad's out of hospital! whoop!

Didn't actually realise how worried I was till he got the all clear.

Training wise...

Visited gran in the morning and did 8 pull ups

Picked up dad

Did 4.62 miles cross country in the afternoon with some nice hill climbs.  Popped into gran on the way back, did another 8 pull ups and then got back to my parent's house.  All within an hour. Not sure on an accurate time... but it seemed fairly fast and I was in the zone.  A few more like that and 10 miles won't seem so bad.

Tuesday

Today is Tuesday, isn't it?  I'm losing track of days here, but that's the nature of the beast.  Spent another day sitting around the house looking after my sister and visiting gran, mum was off at the hospital.  I'll drive tomorrow as it gets me away and we'll have a wander around Castlebar, grab a bite to eat somewhere, which'll help mum's mind too.

Anyway, training.

Whilst visiting granny I found that the old cow shed has a strong wooden second floor that I can hang off and do pull ups on.  So I did a few sets:
6, 2, 7

Later in the day took the dogs for a walk/jog which got a sweat on me.

Then got back and:

Same squat protocol as before (so that's 210 squats) with only one set of isometric holds as various angles.

Then did kicking practice:

20 rear push kicks each leg
15 snap kicks each leg
20 side kicks each leg
10 double side kicks each leg
20 set ups each leg

Finished off with 50 burpees, which were scarily easy.  Even did them 1-50 in my head as opposed to playing my usual mind games.

Humm...

Otherwise shoulder, pecs and lower back are all a little tender from yesterday.  We shall see how we feel tomorrow.

Training

So my dad is still sick and the hospital visits are crappy.  They've made a few mistakes with forgetting to scan him and feeding him at the wrong times and all sorts of stuff that does make you wonder about the Irish health care system.

Grr, wouldn't get this in super efficient Japan!

Anyway, today I stayed at home with my sister as the constant travelling just isn't fair on her.  Managed to have a look at the gym potentials:

This is an 80 litre bin half filled with rain water.

These are sacks filled with turf and that is an ancient rusty cast iron bathtub!  Fun, fun fun!

Short walk in the morning.

Mid afternoon was

Shadow boxing warm up

300 work out in 08:09:00!

Then outside to the gym!

Bin dead lift: 10 reps

Bin pick up to chest: 10, 10 (sort of a clean type motion with different angles, weird hand holds and instability)

Bath lift up (like a tyre flip, only no flip): 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Bags of turf bicep curl: 5, 5, then change to hammer grip: 8, 8, 8

Farmers walk with two bags of turf: 39 sec and 45 sec

Over head clean and press with two bags of turf: 1, 1, 1

Press ups: 20, 15, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Got a good all round pump, especially in the lower back.  The awkward angles and general instability were good and those cleans and presses were real tough.

Went for 40 minute jog/walk/sprint with dogs cross country.  Erratic interval training, sort of. 

Saturday

So my dad's sick; probably Hepatitis.  He's in hospital currently and I'm running around doing stuff, but you do what you got to do.  He should be fine and I'm not really worried, but everyone's sort of on edge until we know for sure and he's definitely out of the woods.

My legs are currently killing me, but that shows what that squat work out was like.

I'm walking the dogs a fair bit, and trying to get Rusty to run with me, which he's sort of doing in a doggy way.  Very stop/starty, but it's good for me, running across the sort of moors.

Yesterday I did a variation on the 300 work out:

Press ups, Prison Squats, Alternate press ups, Scissor jumps, Burpees, Leg raises, Dips, Explosive press ups, V ups, Step ups.

30 of each, making 300 reps in 9:29:2

Then did 10 press ups, rested, 9, rested, 8... and so on down to 1.

Arms and chest sore today.  Also walked the dogs yesterday for a quick hour and a bit and walked them twice today.  My legs are still sore so if I get a chance tomorrow I'll sort something out with the massive copper bathtub that's lying around outside and those 80 litre bins half filled with water.  Hummm...

Bookwise the new John Connolly is very good, a few twists there I didn't see coming.  Am currently working my way though "The Secret History of the World".  Weird but interesting.

Ireland

It's cold here and wet, but there you go.  I've been on two long walks today, taking the dogs each time across the... well, if they were in the UK, you'd call them moors, but it isn't quite as grand.  An hour and a half for the first walk and about 45 minutes for the second.

It's good to be back in Ireland, seeing the family.  My Dad's sick, which is a downer, and it's probably hepatitis A, which is better than the things we were thinking it could be.

Training wise, what have I been doing?  Well, are we sitting comfortably?

Last Friday-
Shadow boxing warm up
Then
Chin ups
Clapping press ups
Kettle bell swings
Done in the following sets: 10, 9, 8, 7... you get the idea, down to 1.  No rest.  Total time: 8.14.62

Single leg squats: 2 sets of 10 per leg

Step up farmer's carry with 2 x 17.5kg: 2 sets of 10 per leg

KB cleans x 3 per side

Sat - off

Sun - Long walk + Jujitsu

Monday:
Jujitsu throwing with Mark Bloom

In the afternoon:

1000m row in 4 minutes

Pull ups: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: 35 in total

Up/downs: 8, 7, 6, 5 (3, 1, 1), 4, 3, 2, 1: 36 in total

Press ups: 10, 9, 8 (rest), 7, 6 (rest), 5, 4 (rest), 3, 2, 1

Independent bench press: (2x20k) x 8 (slow), 8 (explosive)
(2x28k) x 3 (slow), (2x20k) x 10 (explosive)

Shoulder press (20k x 1), 6 per side, 28k x 2 per side

Kettle bell snatch 5 per side

Tuesday: Jujitsu twice

Wednesday was travelling to Ireland, always more tiring than any other type of travelling

Thursday: the two long walks, obviously, then

Squat work out:
20 x Regular
20 x Heels off floor
20 x Regular
20 x Prison squats
20 x Lunges
20 x Heels off floor
20 x Prison Squats
20 x Lunges
20 x Prison Squats
20 x Heels off floor

Isometric contractions at 3 angles for ten secs each x 3

10 x squat jumps

Legs currently killing me.

Have been checking out my parent's place for equipment I cane use for training.  Watch this space.

Thursday

Getting back into it, slow but sure.  Just spoke to James who is up at ridiculous o'clock because of the heavy rain.  Poor guy.

Anyway...

Wednesday did the following:

Mobility warm up + stretching
Pull ups: 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4 = 30
Up/Downs: 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Footwork between sets

Deadlift: 60k x 10, 90k x 8, 110k x 5, 130k x 6

Lying Pull up 6

Bicep: 20k M-bar x 30, 15, 9
10 sec iso hold then 21, 9, 6,then 15 sec iso hold

Thursday:
5.77miles Cassio Park run in 1.02

Evening was stick work, sai work and kicking practice.  Seem to be getting the hang of the power generation in the sai kata, only my right knee started to act up weirdly.  Good session working through strikes and playing with kicking footwork.

What else, what else...

Well, blog wise I'm slowed all down, clearly. But all those little updates I was going to do for my historic investigation will happen in Ireland.  And I'll get back into things there, as there'll be nothing else to do :P

Back in the groove

Hey gang,
sorry about the hiatus.  Been drunk in Spain and Portugal.  Hell of a holiday and an event, fitted some training in, but not a great deal, probably good to let my body rest a little bit, although I have managed to catch some kind of cold thing, probably from the bloody air-con.  Anyway, got back and did some training, here's the list:

Monday:
Shadow boxing warm up
Stretch
Up/Downs - 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 = 30
Pull ups -  4, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4, 3 = 25

Press ups - 25, 10, 10, 12
Bench - 50k x 10 e, 50k x 8 s, 60k x 8 e, 60k x 8 s, 70k x 5 e, 70k x 5 s

Tuesday:
Jujitsu in morning for 1.5 hours

Evening was going to be jujitsu again, but RL got in the way so went for a run, did 2 miles, got back and stretched out.  Kept on the balls of my feet for the whole run, which is good.  Feeling it in my body a bit today, calves and shoulders.  I'm back to sleeping on a bed and that niggly nerve thing is back.  Damn.  Going to grab some food now and then lift some weights.  Tomorrow will be a run day.

Transit

I'm currently sitting at a terminal in Narita airport. 

It's cold.

Well, I say it's cold here, I'm wearing my Gant cardy because it feels cold to me, now that I'm all aclimatised to Okinawa.  Looking at the thermometer, it's 22 degrees.  Humm. 

Anyway, yesterday, for my last day, I did the unthinkable and visited a cos-play restaurant!  I know, I know.  Terrible.  But it had to be done.  They sang at me and kept calling me, James and Steve "lord and master". 

And they drew little happy sayings on the food and giggled repeatedly in their costumes.  When I get time, I'll upload the pictures I took (I had to use my iphone as there was a no photo rule in the cafe).  As a side note, I learnt that it is against the law for any digital camera in Japan (including phone cameras) to not make a camera noise!  There's a reason for it...

Anyway, must dash. 

Catch you in the UK. 

Coming to the end of the road

So last night I sat my Karate brown belt grading.  Matabashi Ryu has green belt, brown belt I, brown belt II, then black belt.  Normally you need to wait 6 months between gradings, but Arakaki Sensei bent the rules for me somewhat and, well, I sat the brown belt grading a little early.

As ever there were mark sheets and everyone explained their opinion and gave helpful comments.  I do like this system, having been in gradings where the system was unclear to say the least, this system is designed to show you who thinks what and why.  I even got to keep the mark sheets!

I passed, by the way, and we celebrated with a meal in Sensei's house.  We drank, ate, chatted and generally had fun.

This morning was up early and out the door for beach training time.  James had a selection of bodyweight exercises for us to do in the warm, warm sun and we went at them.

10 exercises, some I'd seen before like sit ups where you wrap your legs around your partner or partner push ups, others were new to me.  It was a hell of a core work out, tricky too as you were generally moving another person around.  Good exercises for grapplers.  Invigorating in a strange way.  Warm up was the standard 1500m with 30 clapping push ups and 30 burpees (I only managed 15 as I am literally half the speed of everyone else)

Afterwards we went into the sea and floated around for a bit; there were some waves in the distance so the life guards had the safety markers in super close and were being all militant.  James was told off for having a snorkel with him for Angelina!  But there you go.

We got back, go the house ready for the BBQ and generally pottered around.  I packed my bags, struggling slightly, but managing in the end.  I'll be over weight for my journey from Okinawa, but there you go.

I then got it into my head to do another work out, as I still had some gas in the tank and I probably wouldn't get another chance before flying out, so..

Upside downers: 7, 5, 4
That's this, by the way:

Slosh pipe squats: 20 front, 20 back, 20 front bicep hold, 20 back (pipe not put down)
Pull ups: 5, 5, 5
Push ups: 25, 10, 10, 10
Bench press: 45k x 8 (explo), 45k x 6 (slow), 45k x 8 (explo), 45k x 5 (slow)
Clean and shoulder press: 45k x 3, 45k x 3
Bent over rows: 45k x 10, 55k x 10, 55k x 10, 70k x 5
Bicep: 30k x 8
Pull ups: 5
Push ups: 20
(that's over a hundred push ups today!)

Then it was BBQ time!  We had so much meat and so much alcohol.  And we had UFC on down load, coupled with sun and a great breeze.  Why can't every day be BBQ day?  So good, so very, very good.  A good send off complete with the final closing hours spent on campchairs out on the decking sipping beer and chilling.  Good, good times.  Rodney did well with his steaks, Cody produced his epic chicken wings (secret recipe) and Mike made fajitas.  I just ate.

Loads of food it left over, so it'll be steak for a few days yet :)

Right, that's it.  Tomorrow is my last Monday and then Tuesday I depart and... and who knows?  I wonder how this blog will end up.  I want to keep it alive and ticking, although with no where near as many posts as currently.  It's kind of sad, when you trawl the internet and you find those un-updated blogs and you think, "what happened to this person? Why did they stop?"  Sometimes life gets in the way, I guess, or circumstances change, or they change or who knows.

Anyway, this blog will not die.  Dunno what it'll become, but we'll see.

Over and out.

Discussions with masters and general shenanigans

Sitting here with the fan on, looking out over the view and drinking tea.

Yesterday was a good day:

Got up, went to Kobudo and sweated going through the kata and working on my power generation.  The kata is now fully in my head and the power generation is getting there.  A lot of it is to do with sinking into the stance and transitioning correctly, as the power comes from the transition.  Sensei Yogi also showed me a kata from his style of karate, Uechi-ryu; the kata was literally a series of grabs and punches/elbows/kicks.   Very straight forward, very effective looking techniques.

From there it was a trip into town to buy lots of tea and then return for shower and nap!

The night was... fairly interesting.  The original plan was to go to Kadena, buy meat for the BBQ, then hit an all you can eat place, then hit Gate 2 Street.  By the time we actually got to Kadena, though, the commissary was closed, so James, Shun and Rodney had a look around the BX.  Rodney could only sign in 2 people so I elected to wander the book store at the bottom of the mall.

You can tell a lot about a place by it's book store and a lot of the books were geared towards middle aged women who were looking for vampire adventure and romance (seriously, lots of vampire romance books, lots of romance books and general escapism).  A bit of sci fi, a strangely organised fiction section, a fair bit of military history stuff and a small political section that had the typical American extremes of the political spectrum, although there was one centrist book.

From there we headed out to an all you can eat place and ate lots.  I could have kept eating but the night was wearing on so we headed on out.  Alas, Paddy Mack's was closed so we ended up in a karaoke bar and, once 12am came round, all the military guys cleared out and we were left to ourselves.  This involved general drinking and merriment with the bar staff and the bouncer and a round on the house.  I was trying to stick purely to whiskey, which was making me mellow, but Rodney went and brought some God awful mixture bucket thing which was.... urgh.  I drank a lot of it though and it did not agree with me.

This morning I didn't feel too bad, but was still a bit drunk and managed to help James and his neighbour to clear away a large chunk of jungle from the land James wants to use for growing bananas.

I may work out later, but tonight is my next Karate grading!  Eeep!

210kg!

So, woke up this morning sore and stiff, last night having hit hard and my body feeling it today.  That and the cutting down trees and pulling stumps out of the ground bit.

Anyway, got myself all set to head off to lift weights and... and no house keys.  I'd left them locked in James' car. Doh!  He did have a spare key, however, so I managed to get my house keys out and then head on down to the Budokan.

Cycled, as Betsy is totally dead now and will not start.  Cycled in high gear all the way and felt easy, which is good.

Got there to be confronted by some sort of organised tour or something.  Dunno what they were there for, but they had booklets and diagrams and all sorts.  The nice weight lifter girl who normally serves me looked all nervous.

So, there I was having dragged my tired body to the gym and I could feel that I wasn't feeling it.  But what the hell, huh?  I had intended to hit the deadlift hard and try and break through my earlier 205k.

Did 15 minutes of stretching, covering the floor of the stretching area in sweat.

Then did the benchmark:

20 Push ups (told you I was tired), 6 Pull ups, Chin ups 4, HLR Failed (Yesterday hit that hard), Dips 6.

So, dismal numbers, and still I was in a "hell with this, I'm going for it" type of mood.

Deadlift: 70k x 5, 100k x 5, 120k x 3, 150k x 1, 170k x 1 (belt on), 180k x 1, 190k x 1, 200k x 1, 210k x MISS, 210k x 1!

Totally exhausted, though, with the 210k being a hard lift.  If I'd been less tired, maybe I could have hit 215, maybe 220.  But, still, 210 is good.  30k higher than anything I'd lifted back in the UK.

I then finished off with biceps: 20k x 20 full reps, 10 half reps, 5 full reps.

I was dead and that bike ride home was sloooow.

Shower, nap, food and more food and then Karate.  More informal Bunkai, which is interesting.  Also, my sensei is becoming the Deputy Director of the Okinawan Karate Organisation, which is pretty cool.

Right, sleep is calling.  More adventures tomorrow!

Wednesday

Up early, ran with Shun.  Then did reps on the rings: chin up, then bring body up and legs above head.  Hard to describe, I'll get a photo.
Did 6, 3, 3

Then 100 combos on the pads each.

Sort of chilled today, did some writing and helped James in the garden.  Chainsawed down trees and pulled one out of the ground.  Hard, hot work.

Training we played with hammer fist blocks, the half shoulder (how it should be done), sparring and movement.  Lots of getting off centre and destroying the opponent's equilibrium. Fun stuff.

Tomorrow: Dead lifting!

Random coincidences

Weird one today.

Got up, little stiff from yesterday, and the plan was to meet with Rodney and head on over to Kokusai dori for some souvenir shopping; he rings up sick, however.  Okay, fine.  I ring Mike to confirm for Friday night's big bash and he tells me about these summer kimonos for sale in San-A (which is sort of like Tesco's).  Okay, I think, sounds good, will check that when I get back from Kokusai Dori.  So I get myself ready, after doing my usual dilly-dallying and get on ol' Betsy and-

-and chuga-chuga-chuk!  No start!

Arrgh.

Okay, fine, no worries.  I'll just go to San-A down the way, pick up some sake and maybe have a look for a kimono.  So off I trot, walking.

I get there, I buy a can of coffee, I drink it slow and wander.  I go to the top floor to look for a kimono, but there's none so I decide to head on down to the food court.  And at the point I see two Americans looking lost with a map out trying to get directions from the Japanese shop assistants who speak no English.  The man (they're a middle aged couple) asks me if I speak English and I end up finding out that they want to go to a pottery museum off Kokusai Dori.

Now, Kokusai Dori is a fair way from the San-A and a bitch for directions though Tomishiro's winding streets.  They'd been staying up in the middle of Okinawa visiting their son on base and had come down for a day trip, taking the motor way down, getting lost and pulling off and asking for directions in a place that looked like people maybe spoke English.

So, randomly, through a series of coincidences and chance occurrences, there I was in the right place at the right time.  The map they had was useless so I said that I'd ride with them and off we went.

I ended up hanging with them for an hour and a half after I'd gotten them to Kokusai Dori, they bought me lunch as a thank you and I showed them some of the sights.  They were impressed that I knew my way round and could get by in Japanese.  I guess I have picked up some of the damn stuff.

It was...

It was a good experience.  It felt like closing the circle, if you know what I mean?  I showed them stuff that I'd been shown when I first got here.  I helped them like I'd been helped.  It felt good and, I dunno, has made me feel better about going.

S' funny how things work out?  You'd almost think there was a plan to it all or something.

Anyway, I spent the next 5 hours wandering up and down Kokusai Dori and the streets around it, exploring and getting into things.  I found a sort of funky mall for hip young things (Hisano later told me that she hung out there all the time when she was younger); I had a massage (super cheap and good); I played in arcades; I checked out pachinko (still no idea what to do); I bought things for people in the UK and I generally trundled along looking at stuff and taking pictures, being touristy and thinking about my time here.

I then walked home.  So all in all I had about 6 and a 1/2 hours walking, save a massage and a sit down to play Street Fighter 4.  My legs were stiff by the time I got back home and ate curry.  Mmm, curry.

Went to Karate tonight and did kata practice.  My Nihanshi Shodan is getting fairly okay and I'm finding it easier to generate power in the karate way.  Sensei also showed us two more informal bunkai, which looked short, brutal and effective, as opposed to the formal bunkai that we do for gradings.  It's an interesting thing, the formal bunkai, they are just a watered down dance, clearly created when the Japanese took Karate, took out all the nasty bits and put it into their school system as a callisthenics exercise programme.  The informal bunkai is clearly all the nasty secret stuff the Okinawans held close to their hearts.

Anyway, bed is calling so night night.

Great training!

So today I went to register my alien status at the Tomishiro City Office.  It was, I have to say, like stepping into Terry Gilliam's Brazil; desk after desk after desk of bureaucrats, all lined up and waiting to drain your soul.

James was with me and he had to sort some things out to do with his family's stay and he got the worst of it.  I was lucky finding myself with two young bureaucrats who "bent the rules" for me and told me that I didn't need to register as I only had 9 days left.  Not what they'd said at the Immigration Office, but there you go.  Bit of a shame though as I would have liked the card.

Hot day today, went for a run about 2ish in 34 degree heat.  Did 2 miles including Widow Maker I and III and then did 50 burpees, which are getting easier and easier.  When I was training for my Shodan Ho, 50 burpees wasn't that big a thing and it's getting back to that now.  So hot though, I got in the shower right afterwards and ended up sticking it on it's coldest setting.  Still too hot.

Spent 2 hours training in the Budokan with James.  Me and him for an hour and a half with Shun for the last half hour.  Agi sensei also dropped in for a chat.  It was hot in there, up into 36 degrees maybe, and muggy, and so many other people training.  Me and James soaked through our gis and then soaked the floor too.

We worked on throwing, but throwing from a different type of block: real close in, swamping the attacker from inside their guard.  Works very well for hip throw, body drop, shoulder throw, major outer reap and rice bale.  Doesn't work at all for half shoulder, but then half shoulder is in fact a Catch wrestling throw that was brought into the WJJF syllabus; it shouldn't be done from a block to a punch, it should be done from a clinch.  Me and James learnt a lot tonight experimenting with ranges and blocking.  Great session but boy did we sweat!