New Year Training

Everyone at work has been saying "Happy New Year!"

Except it isn't and they're not. Everyone is a bit down in the dumps after the adrenaline rush of party season and the realisation that they're back on the treadmill for another year.

Lucky me then, to be back in the Dojo! It's been a hectic 2 weeks of doing extra hours (10 hour days - ugh! Get up in the dark, go home in the dark).

Karate has been great, just the thing to brighten my day. Even the students have come back and behaved themselves, and they put some effort into their training. We've had some fun classes.

We're working on some new kata of course (Pinan Shodan right now). My approach isn't to go into the fine details or too much correction. You can't correct what isn't there yet. So we're working on "learning the moves". Not ichi-ni-san (yawn!) but by varying the pace and structure of the sessions. The students are picking up key points in the kata much better than before, and I was able to look at some fine detail along the way tonight.

We studied some basic applications from the form which adds to interest, and momentum in the lessons keeps up. If you give their minds a gap to peer through, boredom and distraction (especially in the senior class) soon creep in.

The trick is to keep minds focused by breaking up the rhythm of the classes, as well as maintaining the stimulus and challenge.

All in all it's been a good start to the year, and I still believe that martial arts training is better than mindless exercise in the gym.