Kane (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ikura) wrote,@ 2009-07-17 11:15:00 |
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A martial arts, um, dojo, I guess is the word, opened up in a storefront on Sunset in the middle of Echo Park and I've started going. American Kenpo, with boxing and brazilan jiujitsu touches. It's run on a yoga schedule: a class every day, you can pay per class, or per week or greater time unit for unlimited classes. It exhausts me, which is kind of the point.
Hourlong, the first half of the class is just solid exercise - major muscle groups to the point of exhaustion, and your recovery time is spent exhausting another one. I've been getting to the point where I can do 10 push-ups in one set, if it's the only exercise I've done that day. The sensei has us doing 3 or 4 sets of 25 in the course of 15 minutes. I'm not keeping up, but I'm pushing, and the sensei's good at tracking a bunch of people and inspiring/challenging to their limit, which is the whole thing about physical training. By pushing you to the point of exhaustion and not just unpleasantness, having a guide makes you do more reps per set or whatever, for an exponential increase in effectiveness (as the more you do the more you'll be able to do next time).
Then some techniques, some of which have official and kinda purple titles, but tend to get presented more as "here's a way to hurt a guy who's grabbing you", or "here's a way to block and counter an overhand knife slash", or "here's a way to block a kick and open up a throw".
Then, after we're totally exhausted, we put on gloves and do 5 or so rounds of sparring. This is fun, and I'm definitely doing better in the few sessions I've been going - I'm putting in good showings with the other white belts and some of the yellows, though even the ones my age I tend to have reach on. The higher belts could absolutely wreck me, but I learn stuff from them - at first they were just kinda teaching me to block, and now they're teaching me how that's not enough, how they can do attacks where my blocks just open me up worse. So I'm focusing more on how to not just keep blows from landing, but do it in a way that throws off their balance or rhythm, and keeping constantly conscious of the position of my body and limbs relative to their body and limbs.
So: fun times.
Hourlong, the first half of the class is just solid exercise - major muscle groups to the point of exhaustion, and your recovery time is spent exhausting another one. I've been getting to the point where I can do 10 push-ups in one set, if it's the only exercise I've done that day. The sensei has us doing 3 or 4 sets of 25 in the course of 15 minutes. I'm not keeping up, but I'm pushing, and the sensei's good at tracking a bunch of people and inspiring/challenging to their limit, which is the whole thing about physical training. By pushing you to the point of exhaustion and not just unpleasantness, having a guide makes you do more reps per set or whatever, for an exponential increase in effectiveness (as the more you do the more you'll be able to do next time).
Then some techniques, some of which have official and kinda purple titles, but tend to get presented more as "here's a way to hurt a guy who's grabbing you", or "here's a way to block and counter an overhand knife slash", or "here's a way to block a kick and open up a throw".
Then, after we're totally exhausted, we put on gloves and do 5 or so rounds of sparring. This is fun, and I'm definitely doing better in the few sessions I've been going - I'm putting in good showings with the other white belts and some of the yellows, though even the ones my age I tend to have reach on. The higher belts could absolutely wreck me, but I learn stuff from them - at first they were just kinda teaching me to block, and now they're teaching me how that's not enough, how they can do attacks where my blocks just open me up worse. So I'm focusing more on how to not just keep blows from landing, but do it in a way that throws off their balance or rhythm, and keeping constantly conscious of the position of my body and limbs relative to their body and limbs.
So: fun times.
