Shotokan

Thanks for checking in on me. The new job has been taking a lot of my time along with training which is going really well. I am averaging 75 minutes of training per day over the last month. I have been working on some new things I learned in my Karate classes which aren't really new, just a different approach with the same result. My other workouts have been going well too. I get an hour lunch break and I do my other training with weights, bands and some extra cardio leg work. I am also spending more dedicated time to flexibility and mobility work which seems to be helping more now than when I used to do it in the past.

The idea is train an entire 45 minute to one hour class five times each week. Either to do the same things in I did in my formal classes or train what I learned from past classes but for the time needed. This was to give me more hours Karate training time instead of only my two formal classes and spurts of training.

Late to the party again. The last challenge went better than I expected. Lot of workouts and average of over 80 minutes a day of training time. Most days had three or more workouts and even some days up to five workouts and over two hours of training. It went exceptionally well. This time around, I am going to try something different and put my entire challenge focus on one thing, Karate training. Karate training 5 days a week is the plan. I do some type of Karate training every day already but the plan is to go through an entire class five times a week. I have some good notes from my current training and I will use those for my training structure.

It's not really too hard overall. The workouts throughout the day are going really well and the rest in between them lets me totally recover before the next workout. I have been keeping the weights pretty low overall and I only moved up 5 pounds per dumbbell and 5 pounds on the kettlebell since a month ago. The impact it has made on my muscles and mobility is better than ever before and with the relativity light weights and high reps, I have no DOMS. I think there was a study how construction workers adapt to doing strenuous work for hours per day and I think I can do that same with the benefit of the rest periods in between. I have only been doing this for about 5 weeks now with an average of three to four short workouts and one longer workout each day. I usually only do one or less short workouts on the weekend but at least one long workout on those days. So far, from last Friday until today, I averaged 95 workout minutes per day and I still have about another 45 minutes to workout today. I'm not sure about this week yet but I did 23 workouts last week. Today I did my morning workout which is mobility, Karate and core and four other workouts, which I'll outline in another post soon. I went to my chiropractor today and he said that I was in better shape now than before and he only a minimal adjustment because everything was pretty much where it belonged structure wise. I don't have enough long term data to support how long I can do this but it has been an interesting challenge that keeps me motivated without burning me out, thus far.

Late to the party again but better late than never I guess. This time around, I started thinking how does Batman train. He's either out saving the city or rubbing elbows with the rich and famous. When does he have time to train? I am guessing, for him to keep beating bad guys he has to train whenever he can. If that's the case, I am going to train like my favorite Batman, Christian Bail. He was in good shape and not willing to ever give up until the job is done. 1. Train Karate five days a week My formal Karate classes are really taking me to the next level but with only two formal classes a week, I need to ramp it up to keep working on all the new things I am learning. Five days will be a little tough but what would Batman do? 2. Micro workout 3 times a day, six days a week. I am making so many gains from these short workouts spread throughout the day and I want to get a little more structure. For the last couple months, I was doing two or three a day along with my regular hour long workouts each day but I need get them in six times per week since I seldom did them on the weekends. 3. Mediate 45 minutes per week. I have fallen behind on my meditation but it really does help so I need to step it up this time around. Extra Credit: Read the book I am trying to finish at least 30 minutes a week. I am having a hard time getting in time to read my book. Even though I read a great deal each day for work, my personal reading has fallen off and this time around, I need to get back into the reading grove.

Weekly Update: Sunday through Saturday week five and challenge end. Structured workouts: 5 days over the past week with at least 2 workouts per day. Fluid training: Four days of fluid training again. Mind improvement: Two mind improvement sessions. Extra credit: No reading for any significant amount of time. The workouts went up during the last week of the challenge. I am settling into my work schedule and was able to get in the workouts throughout the day and then some really good workouts after work. The fluid training is going well but the meditation is on a downward trend but I need to figure out a way to to get 20 minutes in a day. I didn't read at all. Not enough downtime for it right now. If I was work related reading, I would have read three novels within the last two weeks.

Weekly Update: Sunday through Saturday week four. Structured workouts: 4 days over the past week with at least 2 workouts per day and most days 4. Short 5 minute micro workouts are working well and it counteracts the sitting while working throughout the day. Fluid training: Two days of fluid training again. Mind improvement: One mind improvement session. Extra credit: No reading for any significant amount of time. I didn't think I would get in many short workouts because of work but I was able to get in some good training. I did three Karate classes and all of them were great. The shoulder is getting better with no noticeable pain except for when I push it. I am averaging 1 hour and 19 minutes a day for workout time this month. The average times have been steadily increasing since February but I might start to level them off once I reach 1 hour and 30 minutes a day. I normally get 60 minutes on non class days and near 2 hours on class days.

Weekly update: Sunday through Saturday week three. Structured workouts: 4 days over the past week with 2 workouts per day. Mostly Karate training but that's a good thing. Fluid training: Only two days of fluid training. Mind improvement: One two times over the last week. Extra credit: none I spent most of my time last week and now the start of this week getting my home office setup for work. I still got in my Karate classes and some micro workouts but not much else. My shoulder is still not good but it's better than is was a week ago.

Weekly update: Sunday through Saturday week two. Structured workouts: 4 days over the past week with 2 to 3 workouts per day. I ended up hurting my shoulder Friday, not anything bad, but my chiropractor said to cut back on the push ups so I took a couple of days off. Fluid training: Four days over the last week. The foot work training is coming along well. My body shifting movements are improving and I have a better connection to ground even though I move easier. Mind improvement: Four times over the last week. I found and old hypnosis audio program that I bought some time ago and I have been working on it. Extra credit: No much reading but some. Last week was filled with a lot of Karate training and a good amount of mobility work. My shoulder seems to be healed up but I hope to get back into the groove this week with the micro workouts. I didn't get to read but I was doing some online training brushing up on my SQL nerd skills.

Weekly update: Sunday through Saturday week one. Structured workouts: 5 days over the past week with 2 to 3 workouts per day. I am averaging 40-60 squats, calf/tibia raises, KB deadlifts, crunches, V-sits and glute bridges along with 30-40 bent over DB rows, pushups, DB curls, KB triceps extensions an KB side bends. This is going well and each micro workouts only takes about 10 to 12 minutes because these reps are broken down to half or a third for each session depending on how many I do each day. Fluid training: Four days over the last week. This training is either comes at the end of the workouts above or even a separate session. The Jo training along with the foot work drills are really helping my overall body shifting and smoothness moving from on technique to the next. Mind improvement: Only three times over the last week. I normally do this before bed but I stayed up a little too late a couple nights and the bed won the battle. Extra credit: It's a good book but there is a lot to absorb. I still want to finish it by the end of the challenge but I want to make sure that I can use and retain what I am reading. Overall, it was a great workout week with a lot of training including a lot of Karate. I had three official Karate classes and another informal class with one of my fellow students from my Dojo who lives in California. One additional thing that happened is I passed my 6th Kyu test with my new dojo. Even though I took my Shodan 12 years ago, I am still training Karate and it is Shotokan but there are some differences that made me feel like I was starting fresh and testing with the new club makes it official for me. My wife passed her 6th Kyu also so we are doing the same thing we did many years ago.

The most interesting part is, I had ability to create power internally but following the rigid structure limited it. My form still looks like Shotokan but I am starting to remove the extra fluff and am keeping my techniques tighter and more centered using the entire body. For many years, the way that I was taught and taught others was to make each move totally separate. For example, a typical combination movement is downward block and reverse punch with a distinct stop or pause in between the techniques and even executing the techniques, there were movements that had individual parts. What I am doing now, is not stopping but instead with constant fluid motion. There is still the inflection point in all the techniques but now, the end of one technique becomes the beginning of the next technique because of the compression and expansion of the body. It was always there but until I brought it into center focus, it was muffled. This is what keeps my interest in the Martial Arts because there is always something new to learn and improve.

Day one: Today was a rest day but I still wanted to train. I spent 35 minutes working on some Karate movements I did in the class I has yesterday. I like to review the things from a day or two after each class to help keep them fresh in my mind. The class from yesterday was about using the entire body when executing various movements. This sounds simple or maybe it is for everyone but me but the focus on this has improved my power exponentially. I spent some time working on my wavemaster and I have never punched with that much power and so little effort in all the years I have been training. Apple watch: Move - 478/300 Exercise - 34/30 Stand - 12/10

Hello Everyone! Even though I had some of my best training session over the last few months, I didn't do the last two challenges because I wanted to spend some time finding a more structured training routine. With all the information available in the internet and YouTube, I had a period of information overload that gave me too many options and quickly moved me from one direction to another like a bouncing ball. I fell into the trap of, do this one movement for this and then do this one movement for that which turned into 50 different movements that could be covered in a few compound movements. Sometimes too many options are worse than no options for me and that took me down some paths that made me regress instead of improve. This caused me to search for answers on getting my mind in the right place and letting my body tell me what and how I need to train based on the feeling instead of trying to analyze everything instead of just doing. I had analysis paralysis in a bad way. I read a couple of great books, watched a few good videos and talked with a few people who are at the level I want to be or on the same path and I think I found some of the answers that I have been trying to find. This challenge will consist of the following: 1. Structured workouts 5 times per week This part of my training is not rigid but instead structured. I found a group of compound movements that have helped me make some great gains in a short time. I found that training two to four times per day for 15 to 30 minutes helps me get in enough work without running me down. I have also found that doing these micro workouts before my Karate classes give me an edge that I didn't have before because my entire body is awake. 2. Train to become more fluid 4 times per week After many years of Karate training, I realized that I became very rigid in my mind and this transferred to my training and my body. Even though many of techniques were textbook level, I was training with blinders on and not trying anything new. Some words said by my Sensei, who were told to him by his Sensei, is "no style", which to me means, in simple terms, just move. The way that I learned was by trying to emulate my Sensei's instead of doing what felt right. I was able to build a good foundation but my Karate hasn't started to become mine until very recently. Even though I still train Iaido and recently started working with a Jo, only now have I found that the way the body moves can be applied to each other. Even though those are all different arts, they all have a common denominator which is efficient body movement. 3. Mind improvement 5 times per week. I have been searching for mind enhancing systems, non drug type, for some time now. I have been exploring different tones and binaural beats type sounds to help improve my mental clarity. There are some great Youtube videos on Yoga Nidra and NSDR that can settle my mind along with an app I found Brain.fm that can not only slow me down but also raise my focus level when needed. 10 to 30 minutes seems to work well for me and it has improved my sleep and lowered my resting heart rate even more since I started using them only a couple weeks ago. Extra credit: Finish the book I am reading. I have recently read some books that forced me to "read", not only to get it done, but to have a deep understanding of what the authors are trying get across. I often have to read the same paragraph or even sentence multiple times to understand the real meaning of the words. I have read two books so far that have made a great impact on my training and some other areas and I am on the third book now. I am one of those people who only read non-fiction books because if I can't learn from it, I don't read it even though, I really enjoy fiction movies.

Quick update. After my last post, I had some kind of attack with my stomach. It literally kept me on my back for three days and it took almost 10 days to get back to the point I could train with any intensity. I lost 10 pounds in three days and had almost zero energy for over a week. I was able to do some Katas each day and a little bodyweight training but nothing much else. Not eating anything for three days and a minimal amount of food for three more, my muscles shrunk what seemed like almost overnight. Fast forward to the last couple days, I was able to take my online Zoom Karate classes again and I got in a good workout tonight. Not back to 100 percent but getting closer each day and I finally gained about three pounds back.

Day eleven: Three workouts today which include to two short workouts and a home Karate class. Energy levels are a still a little low but overall I was able to do more today Workout 1: 12 minutes Normal warmup 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises 1 Kata Workout 2: Normal warmup 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises 10 lying side leg raises each leg 10 crunches 10 back lying leg raises 30 second side thrust kick hold each leg Workout 3: Home Karate class which was a repeat of what we did in the Zoom class on Monday. All kihon which I have done thousands of time but I feel like a beginner again. Mediation to follow

Day ten: Today was going to be a lazy day. The three Karate classes in a row didn't have an impact on my body but my energy was very low. We had our first frost and when the weather changed, it took my energy. Normally, the weather change has an adverse impact on my muscles and joints but the last 4 months of training seems to eliminated that problem this year. I ended up doing only one workout but as I got moving, it turned out to be a good one. Workout 1: 60 minutes Normal warmup 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises 10 lying side leg raises each leg 10 crunches 10 back lying leg raises 10 knee up crunches 12 back lying single leg raises each leg 2 supersets of kettle bell swings - 10x25 lbs + 10x20 lbs + 10x42 lbs + 10x35lbs Lat pulldowns - 2 sets of tri-con with 60 pounds 1 unassisted pull up - not pretty but it was more than none Bent over db row - tri-con with 15 lb dumbbells DB benchpress - tri-con with 15 lb dumbbells Side DB raise - Tri-con with 8 lb dumbbells Lying side leg raises - tri-con with 6 lb ankle weight - this was interesting and I might add these to the daily routine A little Karate kihon and some kata work Mediation to come but it will be 10 minutes or more

Day nine: Two workouts again. The first not long before my class and the second was the Karate class. I am glad I did the first workout to my body ready because we worked on kicks during class and it helped me move really well for class. Workout 1: 14 minutes Normal warmup 12 calf raises 12 squats 12 bodyweight good mornings 12 tibia raises 12 lying side leg raises each leg 12 crunches 12 back lying leg raises 12 knee up crunches 12 back lying single leg raises each leg Workout 2: 61 minutes Karate class felt exceptionally good. My hips were cooperating very well and even though I haven't done side thrust kicks for a couple weeks, they were above average for me. Mediation: 8 minutes

Day eight: Good workouts today, especially Karate class. Some new training and old training reviews in class made it great. Every class I train in, I learn something new or something that I have been doing wrong for years. Workout 1: 7 minutes Normal warmup 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises 15 pushup to downward dog Workout 2: 66 minutes Karate class - Kihon, Kata and self defense Workout 3: 30 minutes Normal warmup 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises Simplistic Mobility

Day 7: Two workouts today. The first was mostly an activation workout to get my muscles working for my Karate class. I am finding that even a simple movement helps get the muscles turned on and my classes go better than if I go in cold. I am hoping that this will lead to correct muscles turning on based on movement in the future instead of asking them to wake up. This is fine for training but if I am being mugged, I don't think I can ask the mugger to wait until I turn my abs and my glutes on. Workout 1: 11 minutes Normal warmup 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises 15 pushup to downward dog Kettlebell carry with 42 lb and 35 lb for 50 steps each side. Workout 2: 62 minutes Karate class with a lot of kata work. Mediation: 10 minutes

Day six: Two workouts today with the first being a good head clearer and the other enough to drain my body of pretty much all the energy I had left in body. The interesting part that was challenging today was my grip endurance. The kettlebell carries were cramping my forearm and the pulldowns were a difficult struggle. Workout 1: 18 minutes Normal warmup 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises Three katas - working on slower, precise movements and more body control, which is really much harder than it sounds. It's similar to mind / muscle convection when lifting weight but it's not easy to get multiple muscles to fire at the exact time. Workout 2: Normal warmup 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises Kettlebell caries - 42 lb and 35 lb in each hand for 100 steps each side Lat pulldowns - 2 sets of tri-con with 60 pounds Dumbbell curls - 2 sets of tri-con with 10 pounds in each hand DB skull krusher - 2 sets of tri=con with 10 pounds in each hand 10 Side leg raises each side 10 crunches 10 back lying leg raises 10 glute bridges Meditation: 10 minutes

Day five: Good workout day today even though a swollen gun has been bothering me all day. The workouts seemed to have helped along with an ibuprofen. Workout 1: 13 minutes Normal warm up 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises 3 katas Workout 2: 35 minutes Dumbbell complex 20 reps for db dead lift, db row, db squat, db clean, db press, db curl, db calf raise, db hammer curl and db tibia raise. Lat pulldowns - 2 sets of tri-con with 60 pounds - I'm going to stick with 60 pounds for now 2 supersets of kettle bell swings - 10x25 lbs + 10x20 lbs + 10x42 lbs + 10x35lbs 10 Side leg raises each side 10 crunches 10 back lying leg raises Workout 3: 18 minutes Simplistic Mobility Meditation: 15 minutes

Day Four: Today was home Karate class. Most of the time was spent revisiting the basics but at the advanced level. Body control is something that I didn't really think about until about a year ago. It's not that my training wasn't good but it wasn't at the next level. The same simple movements can be so much more effective and it shows that there is no end to learning a Martial Art. The other was maintenance but useful. Workout 1: 53 minutes Home Karate class Workout 2: Normal warmup 10 lying side leg raises each side 10 crunches 10 back lying leg raises 10 glute bridges Lat pulldowns - 2 sets of tri-con with 50 pounds - need to raise the weight more next time 2 supersets of kettle bell swings - 10x25 lbs + 10x20 lbs + 10x42 lbs + 10x35lbs Meditation: 10 minutes

Day three: Today was something different. I started playing with Tri-Con training. It's three normal reps with focus on the eccentric, then three reps held isometrically for 10 seconds each and three more reps with 4 second up and down for each rep. The weights are light overall but the back and shoulder workout that I did a couple hours ago is still being felt now. The idea behind the tri-con sets is lower impact on the joints from what I heard. Workout 1: 40 minutes Normal warm up 10 calf raises 10 squats 10 bodyweight good mornings 10 tibia raises Lat pulldowns - 3 sets of tri-con with 40 pounds - need to raise the weight Side db laterals - 2 sets of tri-con with 12.5 lb dumbbells - need to lower this weight to 10 lbs Bent over DB rows - 2 sets of tri-con with 15 lb dumbbells 3 eccentric pull ups 3 5 second pull up hangs Workout 2: 10 minutes 10 lying side leg raises each side 10 crunches 10 back lying leg raises 10 glute bridges Mediation: 10 minutes

Will do. So far so good. It only comes out to 80 for the last few times but the weight variation seems to keep it manageable. It does get my heart rate going though.

Your rant is totally on point! So many martial artists are caught up on how the end technique looks and not what caused the result. There's too much focus on what techniques should be used in fixed situations. If the person has to stop and think about what to do, he or she is already on the ground looking up. My Karate Sensei often quotes his Aikido Sensei and says "there is no style." The mental and physical connection between you and your uke, the control of center and the intention of what needs to be done comes down to just move your body. In real life situations, martial arts is ugly. The perfect technique videos and pictures we see in books are all done in with no threat but if someone is trying to hurt you or take your life, you don't have time to execute the perfect technique. For many years, I trained to have to perfect techniques but the problem is, they do not work in all situations. I don't have time to drop into a low front stance with the perfect punch when someone twice my size and half my ago is coming to attack me. As long as I have control of my body, the punch will be the same if I am in a low stance or standing straight up because of the movement I create with my body. I feel that if we break the confines of stye and textbook form we will all elevate the arts. I am not saying the we should throw our foundation of our art away but instead remove the handcuffs.