Fighting Tuesday

My energy levels were high and I felt like fighting, so I took my black Gi off the hanger and as I pulled the knot in my belt around my middle I silenced my mind against the modern rush of society and centred myself like the worriers of old. I got to class and it seemed like my Sensei was in the same frame of mind as I was. He reached for the Shinai as I put my bag down. We had a good ten minutes spar and I felt good with the sword in my hand. My defence was better, but I need a bit of work on my attack.

Class was called to order and we lined up. We started off with the plank and some bicycle crunches. I was once again Sempi and I led the class through warm-ups. My old partner was back after a long absence and I thought I would take it easy on him in the body conditioning... I was sorry about that when it was his turn and he literally punched me like a punching bag... I won’t afford you any mercy again.

We did a couple of evasive moves focusing on avoiding a straight punch and following up with a kick, back leg drop and neck lock before we broke up into our groups to do syllabus work. I feelt comfortable with my level and decided to give my partner a chance to catch up on the key ring. We are now three in our group which makes it a bit more difficult for each one to train the same amount of time. We will need to work on a better system next time to give each one equal training time.

We ended the class with kata dante and everyone went their separate ways.

Embrace the shadows.