Winter training
Well, I am a morning person, but this morning I got up early. Very early. Today was winter training in the dojo from 7-9AM. All students were invited because this is spirit training to start off the new year. There is always a little voice that says,"You don't want to do this. You want to stay in bed, nice and warm, and sleep." I try not to listen to that voice.
I was up and at the dojo before 7. Some students slept in the dojo all night and then got up for training. We started out running outside the dojo just to get the blood moving. I just wanted my blood moving, not my stomach. Then basics, followed by situps, pushups, and jumping jacks. Then the training actually started. We did basic kata, but backwards and in reverse. Then we added movements to each kata movement. The lower belts were told to sit down and brown and black belts did Tekki Shodan ten times fast. Then the lower belts did the lower kata that they were working on for their next belt tests. Brown belts were next, doing a black belt kata. Finally, the black belts did individual kata.
Now, some of our students are..experienced. As in 60 to 70 years! They did every movement, so the younger belts had no excuse to slack off. Finally, we did a burnout and it was over. Other families cooked eggs and sausage and pancakes, and we had breakfast before shuffling off to our various chores for the day. Non-martial artists would call us insane, but this is what we do.
I was up and at the dojo before 7. Some students slept in the dojo all night and then got up for training. We started out running outside the dojo just to get the blood moving. I just wanted my blood moving, not my stomach. Then basics, followed by situps, pushups, and jumping jacks. Then the training actually started. We did basic kata, but backwards and in reverse. Then we added movements to each kata movement. The lower belts were told to sit down and brown and black belts did Tekki Shodan ten times fast. Then the lower belts did the lower kata that they were working on for their next belt tests. Brown belts were next, doing a black belt kata. Finally, the black belts did individual kata.
Now, some of our students are..experienced. As in 60 to 70 years! They did every movement, so the younger belts had no excuse to slack off. Finally, we did a burnout and it was over. Other families cooked eggs and sausage and pancakes, and we had breakfast before shuffling off to our various chores for the day. Non-martial artists would call us insane, but this is what we do.