Uke Tuesday

I rushed into class just before the start. We had quite a number of students in attendance and I could see the Sensei was pleased with the turn out. I took warm-ups and made sure we stretched every muscle. The Sensei seemed to think I took too long and gave me a side comment about it being 7h30 so I wrapped up.

We did some body conditioning and my partner assaulted my midsection. I got my revenge and made him drop his arms a couple of times. My energy was building up and I wanted more action. I did a bit of tea cup with the Sensei. I enjoy training with him as he hardly holds back. Soon we grabbed the bags and did a couple of combinations. I swopped sides every time starting with the left hand. My left side felt a little dumb still and all the strikes took more concentration than the right.

We broke for water and I put my feet up to do push-ups. I was watching a video on how to punch harder and they guy said that push-ups is the best way to get the power up. One of the students put a heavy bag on my back and I stopped counting. I focused on each push-up at a time and not straining my breathing. Eventually I felt like I was about to fail so I came down. I got a couple of stares while I recovered my composure and with the sweat running down my face we banded together for the last leg of the evening.

The Sensei started splitting us up for syllabus work. He looked at me as I said I am doing one arm fighting and belt work. “But you know what you going to do” he said in a taunting tone. I agreed and with a smile agreed to be Uke for the 4^th kyu student while my partner trained the juniors.  He was working on Tonfa and Jo so I asked him which he wanted to start with. He chose the Tonfa and we squared off.

The Sensei asked him to do the strikes and rakes. I grabbed a bag and watched him dust the bag off. Soon we went over to arm locks and I had to bite my tongue to not warn him to mind his step. I knew they would have little respect for me as I wasn’t hitting back, but I decided to just take the pain as conditioning and roll with the punches as best I could. I slowed my punch and kept the resistance to the minimum, but inside my mind a war was raging. The Tonfa wielding ninja died multiple horrible deaths in close succession and I had an answer to each of his moves followed by a quick break and deadly choke to finish. Now and then I grabbed the tonfa from him and showed him how the move should be done and even had the Sensei give me a commendation.

The sensei called the end of class. I got a bit of relief with the Kata dante, but I felt very charged after taking all that pain without returning the favour. Maybe I can hit the bag a bit tonight…

Embrace the shadows.