Friday 31st October, Training at 4-6pm.
Today we had a new type of training schedule as per suggested by Ervin. I quite like this training schedule. Much more intense and I felt I got more out of it. My keikogi is currently drenched with sweat so airing it out as per usual.
First we started off with general warm up; all went well I guess, 30 Normal Hayasuburi which was (in my opinion) pretty good. Then we had another 30 Hayasuburi but pulling our shinai to our butts like in Joge/Naname-Suburi. That was a bit more diffficult, but managed to live through it.
Then comes bogu training without taking a mini-break. So we put on our men after Mokusou and then started Kirikaeshi. I mistook what Ervin said about acting like you're in a shiai and did it in the kirikaeshi. Peter corrected me on this.
Then came Kihon Men Cuts; acting as thoguh you're in shiai. Ie; gain center and strike.
Then was Dou Cuts. My Dou cuts really suck. I need to improve on it. I screwed up on the finding an opening to do dou, and when i did; it was too close. I got mune-tsuki'd by Steven a couple of times and I pretty much swore underneath my breath.
Kote cuts were alright.. Zanshin is a bit different from what Ervin wanted us to do. Motodatchi needs to push up against the Uchidatchi to try and push them back. It was weird at first, but when i was up against Peter, I did alright.
Then came something new I learnt. Tsuki. I still think that it's a bit early for me to use tsuki but it's a good measure for getting proper center & chuudan, since tsuki should just be a straight thrust towards their throat. Went up against Chai, and missed most of the time. And then I was up against a korean guy, and i managed to get the tsuki down pat.. but need to attack with KILLER INTENT.
Rested for a while after tsuki since Sim (her first time in bogu I think) wasn't feeling well. It was a welcome break to get a drink. Then.. JIGEIKO.
I was up against the korean guy first. I attacked a lot more then when I first had proper jigeiko against Don, from whom I just stood there when he went to attack me. When the korean guy started to attack, I initated attacks more often but still had problems identifying any openings. Then I was up against my rival, Kelvin.
It surprised me how much better Kelvin has gotten. I'll need to get my act together and do more suburi's to get muscle memory of cuts. Another factor for me is my fumikomi. When under pressure, my posture & fumikomi goes to hell =/
I'll probably get a heel protector for the time being since i had to basically had to walk without using my heel after training and sat out the bit last of jigeiko. Skin of my toe also ripped. which was crap. -_-
Anyway, I'm (in my opinion) steadily improving my kendo. It's not where I would like for it to be at the moment... but it shall "suffice" so to speak.
So list of things for me to work on:
- Dou Cuts
- Power in my cuts
- Fumikomi
- Posture.
- Centre
- Relaxing underneath pressure
- Using more left foot to push for attack.
Well that's my rant for the moment. Back to watching T2. Cya. ^^
