Recovery

A part of my recovery plan has been to limber up. Today I did this by utilising karate tachikata (stance) based stretches and dynamic stretches, which I believe are the most critical flexibility exercises for the martial artist.
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Two of these stretches are pictured here, front leg swings using the hand as a target and side leg swings. Other dynamic stretches I regularly utilise include rearward leg swings, inside and outside crescent leg swings (and the same with knee swings to effectively warm up). Of course I also use all of Asai sensei’s dynamic stretches with the shoulders and arms. Remember to include dynamic stretches in daily practice as they are specific for karate training and techniques in general.

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Kihon: I decided to also blast through some ido-kihon to further prep my body, namely: (1) Chudan oi-zuki; (2) Mae-geri kara chudan oi-zuki; (3) Mawashi-geri kara gyaku-zuki; (4) Ushiro-geri; (5) Yoko-keriage kara yoko-kerikomi; (6) Jodan age-uke kara mae-geri soshite chudan gyaku-zuki; (7) Chudan soto-uke kara yori-ashi (kiba-dachi) yoko empi-uchi, uraken yokomawashi uchi soshite chudan gyaku-zuki; (8) Chudan uchi-uke kara jodan kizami zuki soshite chudan gyaku-zuki; (9)Tenshin gyaku-zuki ( Kaiten shinagara gedan-barai kara chudan gyaku-zuki); & (10) Chudan shuto-uke (kokutsu-dachi) kara mae-ashi mae-geri soshite nukite.

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Kata: To wrap up my practice I lightly went through Kibaken-shodan, Kibaken-nidan, Kibaken-sandan, Kibaken-yondan and Kibaken-godan in succession.

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Today I am feeling much better with a surge of energy, increased power and speed. Thanks to everyone who sent me `Get well’ messages, I really appreciate it and are now well on the road to complete recovery. Domo arigato gozaimashita!

Osu, André.

© André Bertel, New Zealand 2011.