Dean’s Dojo

The 5 ‘P’s: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.

I first heard of the “5 ‘P’s” when I was on a testing trip for my engineering job. We were down in Georgia, and one of the more senior engineers was explaining why we had gone and brought a full day’s worth of food and snacks–and then some–with us to the test site. It made sense then, and it still makes sense now when I apply it to Karate.

If all goes well, I will have the privilege and honor of testing for a shodan-ho (probationary first degree black belt) in Matsubayashi-Ryu next June (2009). At the beginning of that test, I will be required to hammer through 50 pushups, 50 situps, 50 mountain climbers, and 100 jumping jacks. The hardest part, for me, is combining the pushups and mountain climbers. To counter this, I’ve made a goal of reaching 100 pushups in a set by December 2008–One of my classmates, Mr. R (Ikkyu) has a similar goal, and just today we met and decided we’d meet back up in December and throw down 100 pushups on the mat.

Rewind to last night. We have been varying the warm-ups in the intermediate class to keep things interesting, and to give the Ikkyus a chance to get some experience leading class (as black belts, they will be used as assistant instructors and to have leadership positions in class). As a result, the days of just hammering out xx many of each physical warm-up have become less consistent. Since I had a hard time keeping up with a full day of classes on Saturday, I decided it was time to get back into the swing of things.

During the break between the 6:30 youth and the 7:30 intermediate class, I got to work. 50 pushups. 50 situps. 50 mountain climbers. 50 jumping jacks (jumping jacks are easy, so I figured I could give it a rest). No problem! I felt awesome! I had just finished running through some basic kata when Shidoshi called our class over to get ready. She announced that she would be talking to the black belt candidates about their paperwork, and that the rest of us would be running class until she got back, and that we would warm up by doing…guess what! 40 jumping jacks, 40 pushups, 40 mountain climbers, and 40 situps. I treated it as a challenge (I love physical challenges) and we made it through. Having a group of us doing them together definitely made it easier, and put me on my toes to perform–the physical activity also taxed me and helped me realize that 1) 100 pushups in a set is a realistic and achievable goal, and 2) I need to step it up to get there ASAP.

Here’s to you, pushups!

The other night we were doing a Kata ladder as a segue to kata month at the Dojo. We were going up into pairs as we worked through our Kata (I don’t remember why, but we weren’t using part of the Dojo). At first, when it wasn’t a group’s ‘turn’ to perform kata, that group would do some basics off to the side; mae geri from neko ashi dachi, open-hand techniques, improvised combinations, etc. The best activity, though, was the last one we did—the ‘off’ group would go to the mirrors and work a series of movements from Naihanchi Shodan as if they were basics; picking a series of movements and drilling it ten times on each side before moving on.

Sometimes it’s too easy to slip into the habit of practicing a kata, then only practicing single moves, or just pairs of moves, as ‘kihon.’ What will develop speed and faster recall of the techniques is chunking up into larger combinations. For instance, pick three or four moves from a kata (three will probably work better, from kata to kata) and practice that. For an extra challenge, pick a series of movements that includes a turn, body shift, or other transition—it’s even possible to mix-and-match with kata techniques. The main thing is that the techniques are technically accurate—and practicing this way will not only increase general agility, speed, and coordination, but will also go a long way towards polishing kata.

Today was beautiful out–the sun was shining, it wasn’t oppressively hot, and there was even an occasional light breeze. With that thought, and armed with the knowledge (from Google Maps) that the Dojo was only a 1.3 mile trip from work, I set out to try jogging to the noontime workout, rather than driving. My rationale was that I’d actually save time by running, since I wouldn’t have to change or warm-up once I was at the dojo, and could shower and change at work. Besides, 1.2 miles would be so bad–I regularly go for 3 or 4 at a 7-8 minute pace.

Something wasn’t right with one or all of my calculations. First, there are hills…and it was warmer than I expected. Also, for some reason (perhaps I was running too quickly?) I was wiped out before I had finished my run, my heart was pounding, and exhaling gave me slight pain in my upper back/shoulder area. The workout at the dojo was fine, once I caught my breath, and around a ten minutes to 1 I put my shoes back on and began the trek back

I got back to work without incident, showered, and went through the rest of my day. I made it to the dojo (driving, this time), and my legs were killing me–I took it easy in the classes I was helping with, and was feeling great because I was remembering a lot of the teenagers’ names (I’m pretty sure I know most of the Little Sams by now, so i’m working my way through the age groups). It came time for the intermediate class at 7:30, and I discovered two things: 1) for some reason my arms were shot, because pushups and mountain climbers totally destroyed them, and 2) doing an extended kata ladder with lots of low stances and cat stances kills the legs. When we finally finished our ladder and had a brief respite, I was relieved.

I obviously need more leg conditioning. Unfortunately, that will have to wait a bit, because I’ll be conserving my strength on Wednesday for a special project I have planned…

I just finished creating some DVDs of a seminar that Renshi M. taught on takedowns and chokes as kata bunkai, and seeing the material twice gave me a good chance to reflect. The main theme throughout the seminar (beyond the takedowns and chokes, of course) could be summarized as ‘body positioning.’ Not just body positioning of the person applying the techniques, but also the body positioning of the opponent.

The seminar began with a technically intensified movement from our second basic one-step sparring drill. Tori steps in with a high leading leg punch, and uke receives with a sliding in parry, followed by a ridgehand strike and a takedown. What isn’t normally done with the drill (at least that I’ve seen), is an intense focus on technicality. What Renshi M. provided was deeper focus on the positioning of the whole body. The elbows were in, for power and control; the stances were technical, as if doing a kata, to promote stability and off-balance the opponent; the bodies and hips were tight, in order to ensure a good link between tori and uke, as well as to keep tori close enough for follow-on techniques after uke applies the takedown.

After that we explored going immediately for a choke to counter a punch, a technique I first saw when I trained under Grandmaster Waldrop. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the insight yet to realize that this very same choke could be interpreted as a bunkai of a very basic yoi position. Another thing that was new to me was further feedback on how to apply the choke effectively as both an air and a blood choke.

Perhaps the bunkai that I most enjoyed was something I’ve seen and practiced but never fully had an understanding of. In Taekwondo, it is popular for spearhand thrusts for the non-striking hand to be palm-down, near the elbow. I was always told it was a parry, and understood it, but was still curious about the spearhand thrust. My reasoning (which was helped by a number of good books on the subject of bunkai) was that, if Karate was intended to be useful defense, then why would it be required for me to strengthen my fingers for years before being able to apply a specific technique? The answer: I wasn’t considering the whole hand. The essence of the bunkai we practiced was using not the fingers, but the bent knuckle of the thumb from the spearhand to manipulate a pressure point after the initial parry. This worked much better initially than my other concepts for the bunkai of the nukite.

Essentially, the seminar was a good thing for me. I’ve been working towards a black belt at my school for about a year now (consequently, the same amount of time I’ve technically (and legally) been residing in Boston), and I was focusing on honing my technique since I’ve seen some of the material before. Now I have a new set of technical details to work on, that I know I need improvement on. I’ve also gained some interesting tools and insights for kata bunkai–now it’s time to see if I’m ready to apply them.

I was trying to think of a more clever title, but I believe this one gets the idea across.

Often, when thinking about what exactly to teach to students, I have had to trim down what I have planned. It is much easier to overplan and plan to overachieve than it is to have a measured, steady approach to things. Specifically, the winter teaching session at my high school comes to mind.

Every January since high school graduation, I’ve traveled back to my high school with an awesome group of alumni to teach an intense, week-long Karate ‘Camp.’ Last year was the first year we really made an effort to organize. We brainstormed a list of goals, objectives, and what we wanted our students to accomplish by the end of the week. At the same time, we set some goals for ourselves as instructors, and also talked about what changes we would like to effect in the high school Karate Club. We came up with a course packet, handouts, crossword puzzles, presentations, and numerous ‘extras’ that really made a difference that week. And by the end of the week (and in the weeks following the session), we struggled to come to grips with the fact that we had not accomplished everything, and that several goals had been accomplished to a mediocre degree because there were simply so many to absorb our efforts.

So, in thinking about new strategies for dealing with this problem, I’ve been applying the knowledge gained in my intense and immersive involvement in teaching at the Academy of Traditional Karate to trying to understand how to do better next year. The answer is simple: do less.

There is a huge list of specific items that could be modified for next year that I have sitting in front of me, but I’m saving the details for those who are dedicated enough to keep coming back year after year to teach (and others who foolishly agreed to receive said details). The basic idea is to take a list of ten or so things we wanted the newest Karate students to learn, and narrowing it down to a handful. Likewise, narrowing down the objectives for instructor development is also a priority. By attempting less, it should be possible to focus more energy towards each task to achieve great results, rather than distributing energy amongst myriad tasks and achieving mediocre to poor results.

Of course, what would this post be if it didn’t bring this idea back into “real life?” I’ve tried to take this idea to heart recently–I normally plan to accomplish so much during the week and weekend that I often end up with a fairly dense list of goals and tasks for the coming weekend by Wednesday–consequently, my weekend evaporates into planned task after planned task. Time management is good, but having to constantly multitask just to get through my list does not leave much time for relaxing before the start of yet another work week. So, instead, this past weekend I restricted myself to a handful of items, and it worked out spectacularly! I had time to do everything on my list (even some extra items!), and I am ready for the current week. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and nobody ever mastered a kata in a week.

To twist the words of an old Jedi Master, “Do or Do Not. There is no Try.” Try less, and you’ll do more.