Old Habbits Reveal Themselves

My roommate Beau and I used to be in the Marine Corps together. We've been friends since childhood and now that he's moved to Florida we decided to set up an exercise regime to get back in shape. Today was the first day of that and I'm exhausted. While waiting to use the shower I decided to do some tegatana and made a discovery. All moves and habits become VERY clear and exaggerated when tired. I noticed myself leaning in the opposite direction just before I fell in the direction I was about to go in. Bryce has been telling me I do this but I couldn't see it till now. So if you're ever super-tired, try it :)

New Mats!!

Well my old roommates have moved out and the new ones are in. My new Zebra mats arrived and have been stored in the garage until everyone finished using it for their respective moves. They look great, haven't had a chance to actually test them yet since I plan on thoroughly cleaning up the space being used first. I'll post as soon as I do. Also once me and Andy get a steady schedule going I plan on posting a couple of times a week unlike the once a month or so I've been doing lately :)

Judo Posture

Tonight me and Bryce went over how important good posture is in Judo. We've beaten it to death in Aikido but you see a lot of leaning and bending in Judo, especially competition. While being active and not just waiting for the other guy to try something is important, keeping your posture correct while doing so is just as important. It all started with us going over hip throws and what I need to work on once Bryce is gone and Andy moves in. While exploring the timing of the initial contact of the hips or thighs, we got into a discussion about reversals and how by keeping good posture, a lot of the time they become self evident. As your opponent goes to throw you, you can just keep your back straight and sink a little. As he rises, you rise with him and continue his upward momentum, from there, you can do almost a reverse engineered hip throw, or even ko soto gari. After practice we started discussing exercises Pat used to have him do like knee walking from the mount as the guy on bottom rolls left and right, barrel rolls, and shrimping. In case anyone's wondering what barrel rolls are, it's when a student rolls from one end of the mat to the other, laying down, without letting his arms, hands, legs, or feet touch the mat...good times.

Quick Workout at the Y

Me and Bryce got a free guest pass in the mail the other day to go to the YMCA, so we used this opportunity to use their tumbling mats and get a little Judo time in. First off, like all our attempts at doing Judo, nothing comes easy...there were no tumbling mats. They had a tumbling class for kids on a soft carpeted room but after speaking with them for what we were looking for, they had some old mats that they didn't use anymore they loaned us. The mats were very old, pretty hard, full of holes, and there were only two of them (not even of the same size). I'd say one was about 4'x8' and the other was 4'x6'. There was only velcro on the short ends so we put down some yoga mats on the hardwood floor and they kept tension so the mats didn't slide. In spite of conditions, it worked reasonably well considering we knew where the other person would fall with each throw. He gave me a few pointers on what me and Andy can work on when he gets here. After the workout the attendant at the desk asked if we were interested in joining on a monthly basis. For an individual membership is was $60.00 a month and you're allowed 1 free guest pass a year. When I was growing up I remember YMCA's being $20.00 a month with lock-ins and it was run more like a boys and girls club. The one we visited had 4 kids around 10ish for the tumbling class and everyone else there (who wasn't an employee) were in their 50's and up. I understand most of the youth going to the college gym and L.A. Fitness around here. I seem to recall the YMCA being about more than just a gym though. I guess it was just a weird disillusionment. After talking about it with Andy and an Aikido teacher a little over an hour away, we'll probably post some videos every couple of days of our workouts (and ALL opinions are welcome). Once or twice a month we'll drive down to Vero Beach to see the Yondan down there and let him review our progress. It'll be strange not having Pat or Bryce's guidance, but sometimes if you want to keep training you gotta train yourself.