That Dojo Life: Working it out...
KSo... I decided to jot down a workout at my dojo and slap together a blog post about it. I just need to throw up some disclaimers here:
On a typical day I get about 85-90% of this down, due to time constraints, and what else I might be doing that night (e.g. teaching, sparring, etc)
This is not The Way to train in Uechi-Ryu. It’s one way. It’s how I train. Nothing more.
This is a workout for karate and fitness, not competition.
I am not an expert or master at Karate. I’m only a Nidan (2nd degree black belt), with a long way to go.
With that, this is how I do:
Paired exercises (ie. with a partner)
Yaku soku kumite dai ichi
Makawari work (i.e. Hitting boards/hard stuff)
25 seiken punches (reverse punch, 20 into the pad, 5 to the board)
10 shomen geri (front kicks)
10 shuto uchi (knife hand strike -- judo chop!)
10 tetsui (Hammer fist strike)
50 low round kicks (each leg)
50 mid-line round kicks (same)
25 side kicks (each leg, both front leg and back leg)
Wa uke blocks with weights (circle block.-- 30x @5 kg, 15x @7 kg, 5x @12 kg).
20 shoken (one knuckle strike)
20 bushkin strikes (palm strikes)
20 nukite strikes (spear hand strikes)
10 higi tsuki (elbow strikes)
10 ura uchi (back fist strikes)
20 “gut punches” (don’t know the term, but it’s a reverse punch for the guts without turning the fist)
Sanchin (twice with nigri game aka gripping jars, once by itself)
Sushi no Kon sho (Staff kata)
Hama higa no Tonfa (Tonfa kata)
This takes about an hour and a half to two hours. It’s a hell of a sweaty workout, but at the end I feel more alive than anything else.
It’s part on parcel of training after reaching black belt -- if you want to move past that milestone, you need to step up and keep working. Not an easy path, but rewarding each and every time you set foot in the dojo.
