Post holiday fatigue - getting back into martial arts shape!

Wow! Isn't it hard to get back into gear after having a holiday? I only had 5 out of a possible 12 martial arts classes in August and boy do I notice it. I also notice the extra few pounds I seem to have mysteriously gained over the summer! My brain always seems to turn to mush after a holiday and I've found it really hard to remember anything new in the karate classes.

(Photo: Carbis Bay, where I think I may have left my brain!)

I could really have done with hitting the ground running at karate since we got back but instead I've hit the ground and crawled! We've got a lot of new stuff to get to grips with now that we have a new syllabus with the SSK - and that's just for my grade. I also need to get to grips with the syllabus of the grades junior to me because my junior grades were done under the old SKU syllabus. So I have to admit I feel a bit overwhelmed with it all at the moment.

I decided the only way to get to grips with all the new stuff was to practice at home - a lot! So I have been very good this week, I have been in the gym by 7.00am four times this week. Don't be too impressed by this admission - we have a small gym at home so I only had to walk bleary eyed downstairs and wake myself up on the cross trainer!

Monday I just did a fitness workout. Tuesday I went through all my sword katas and tonfa techniques. Thursday I went through the 6 new punching combinations for karate. Thursday evening (I forgot about this one) I went in the gym again with my husband and we went through some defences against oi zuki and mawashi geri which we had learnt in Wednesday's class. These had completely bamboozled me in the class but I think I'm pretty clear on them now. And this morning I went through the 6 kicking combinations I need to know - still not sure on some of these but at least I've made some progress!

I feel a bit happier with myself again now that I've put some personal effort in this week - hopefully now, in next Monday's class I will be able to hit the ground running, or at least walking!




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