Questions on style

I have so much floating around in my head to blog but I've been bogged down by...work. Ach there's always an excuse. I just have to make time for the things that are important to me!

Interesting post at Mokuren regarding stylistic differences within and between styles.

Lots of intriguing questions spring to mind from this article: how different are styles really? Is artistic/individual interpretation the difference between styles? Is there a commonality between (almost) all martial arts? Can we link Karate to Jiu jitsu or Judo even when superficially they seem so different?

For another post regarding stylistic 'differences' or even commonalities, check out Ikigai's post regarding Sanchin.

Lots of questions to be investigated in future posts...!

Running in Spring

Is it Spring? Maybe...?

I went on a run around the lake today and saw a variety of birds. Maybe it was the lovely birds I saw or the pleasant weather but it feels like there's a change in the air.

- American coot

- Grebe (I love seeing this bird)

- Mute swan

- Greylag goose

- Song (or mistle-I couldn't tell!) thrush (turdus philomelos)

This wonderful gathering of birds gave me a visual treat as I shuffled around the lake. 

I enjoyed the moment thoroughly.

Oakington footpath run, 3.5 miles

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Upon exiting the wood and entering Oakington, the field to the left is bumpy and lumpy and I believe is the site of a saxon settlement.

Nearing the end of my run I was puffing and panting and I think my excess noise frightenend a beautiful Green Woodpecker which flew right in front of me. Was a nice highlight to the long, hard run.

Body clock, nutrition and exercise

I watched Horizon documentary the other night:The Secret Life of Your Bodyclock and learned plenty about the way our bodies react throughout the day and night to our activities and conversely when those activities are best suited to our bodyclock. I was particularly interested by the ideas about exercise and eating. When is the best time to exercise and what should our eating patterns be like?

The documentary alluded to Siffre's famous experiments of living in a cave for 6 months without natural light to see how is body clock reacted. Based on this and other experts analysis the programme comes up with some interesting results:

- Between 7 and 11 in the  morning our body has an increased blood pressure, vessels can't widen and blood is stickier (more resistance to flow) showing that the heart is under great pressure. Statistically you are three times more likely to have a heart attack.

(Something I already knew! Mornings are for larks, not for people....)

- If you increase your activity at the right time of day it can be beneficial! Exercise in the afternoon reduces blood pressure by 10 -11 % while exercise in the morning does not reduce bp at all.

Even gently walking in the afternoon can be beneficial.

- Body temp and alertness rises in afternoon and exercise is best late afternoon /early evening.

When training or the Olympics, the cyclist Chris Boardman says he found no pain in evening training like he experienced in the mornings. Records in cycling tend to be broken in afternoon and evening. In cycling hard training seems to be often conducted in the evenings when the body temperature has risen. This helps as the body seems to be in a pre-race or warm up mode.

(The only caveat was that balance and hand steadiness may be better in the morning.)

- Our eating patterns now show that the average UK main meal of the day is at 8pm. Linda Morgan from Univ Surrey says that over the last 100 years our eating patterns have changed: 100 years ago we had big breakfasts, large lunches and less in evening. Recently this has been reversed so that little of our day's calories are consumed in the morning and more later in the night. This means glucose remains in the blood more in the evening: high blood glucose levels in the evening is not great. According to her experiments into eating we should aspire to: "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper."

So we haven't learned something we didn't already know, right? I mean we train in the evening as that's when most lessons are held: after people have come home from school and work and not too late as to interfere with our sleeping (I find if I exercise late int he evening I have to wait some time to come down before I can go to bed). 

Plus I eat too much anyway. Interestingly if I stack my calories up at the start of the day I'm in a better position for my insulin to regulate my blood glucose levels throughout the day (it seems). I did read a long time ago about an American football coach who recommended to players who wanted to lose weight to eat nothing after 8pm. This is something I aspire to do- it also helps with my IBS!

Days

As I was ripping home from dropping a daughter off at school I couldn't help but think of the tasks I had to cram in during my two free hours and as I rushed towards the traffic lights in the car I knew I had a choice. I had pulled alongside a hearse which was turning left and I was in the right hand lane to go straight on. The faster route would mean me having to cut up the hearse and scream down the slip road ahead of them or I could meander onwards leavnig the hearse and its lovley wicker coffined occupant in peace. Food for thought. I took the slow route. Why? A bit of respect, I guess, but I also realised that rushing around isn't really going to get me there any quicker. I'll be in the grave soon enough so why hasten it on by dashing madly around.

I thought of 'Days' by Larkin (1922 - 1985).

What are days for?

Days are where we live.

They come, they wake us

Time and time over.

They are to be happy in:

Where can we live but days?

Ah, solving that question

Brings the priest and the doctor

In their long coats

Running over the fields. 

Sparring strategy (Tang Soo Do)

Last night was a good, long, hard sparring session looking in particular at some set pieces. Before we set to, though, we got into the spirit of things with some regular sparring which started off gentle and finished in a hard but well-natured manner.

It was tough though. I was trying to get a point onto my taller and strong opponent who very often stopped me with a firm but polite side kick. I was chasing him (which puts me at a disadvantage) but I wanted to play! At one point he attacked with a high kick to my 'open' side (ahneso pakeso cha ki I think) so I defended and countered with a spinning hook kick to his head. I didn't score but I avoided a kick in the chops. His kick did, however, connect with my spine at the top of my back about T3 and my body shuddered! It didn't hurt so much as rock and surprise me. It ached much later after my shower but it made me think about not getting hit there again!

That particular bout also made me reflect on closing distance on my opponent to score a point. Tang Soo Do 'neutral' distance is just out of normal kicking range-this is primarily a kicking style after all-and the two fighters want to be just outside of each other's kicks to be 'safe'. 

Distance is very important and knowing where you are on the distance spectrum can help you with techniques. As far as I can see these distances exist:

- Out of range

- Jumping kick range

- Rear leg kicking and spinning kick ranges (spinning kick has a slightly longer range)

- Front leg kicks

- Hand techniques (Bill has something to say about this though!)

- Biting, gouging, finger techniques.

For sure not all of these are permitted in Tang Soo Do sparring! Biting and gouging were not permitted even before Queensbury codified boxing. Not even pankration allowed these either, but this illustrates how close real fighting can get. Feel free to add to the list. In competition however if you want to win, don't draw your opponent's blood. Although this seems harsh it is intended to ensure techniques are controlled and you will be disqualified if you see blood from your opponent as a result of your technique. In any case direct frontal attacks to the face are not allowed.

The issue I'm thinking of is getting from neutral range into scoring range quickly. A jump kick is possible but rarely scoring. I always find an initial attack of a jumping kick is seldom missed by the opponent and consequently easily blocked or evaded. This said it's very good at closing the distance in order to follow up with other techniques-more likely a kick, chasing down with hand combinations. You can also gain ground by replacing the standing front foot with the back foot and kick gaining you some distance and then follow up with other techniques.

Gain your ground into your opponent's space and follow up with point-scoring techniques.

This stringing together of techniques is important and something beginners often find hard to achieve. The truth is that your opponent will most likely evade techniques 1 and maybe 2 but will struggle or at least be on the back foot (so to speak) for technique 3. Follow up the attack and pursue. Having said that I mentioned earlier that chasing the point-scoring technique is sometimes a disadvantage as the *best* fighters are those that counter well. Don't believe me?

Then take Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace's word.

Kogatana

The kogatana was an accessory knife associated with the wakizashi (which originally meant 'side arm). Samurai would wear this shorter sword along with their katana as a pair and this would be known as the daishō (a contraction of daitō, long sword, and shōtō, small sword, thus meaning big-small)

References of wakizashi being used date back to the 16th Century and Turnbull in his book Warriors of Medieval Japan implies that the wakizashi was used during the Age of Warring States or the Sengoku period of mid 15th Century to 17th Century Japan.

A small knife was often carried in a small pouch on the wakizashi and was known as the kogatana after the blade or the kozuka after the hilt. 'Weapon-A Visual History of Arms and Armoury' (DK Books) maintains that this small blade, while very sharp, would be used as an accessory knife for cutting paper and envelopes perhaps. Bugei.com states the kozuka, "have many uses including being used as a small throwing weapon".

check out some examples of the kogatana here:

http://www.ncjsc.org/gloss_kogatana.htm

Below is a film about sword forging and in this example they are making the short blade or kogatana.

Interestingly medieval European hunting swords may also use scabbards with 'trousses' within which would be held small knives for meat trimming or a bodkin for piercing holes.