Iai-hiza hurts. It's Official!

Anyone familiar with iai will know that kneeling in seiza for long periods hurts like hell. Yes ok we all use knee pads but it still hurts the thighs (we can train that) and the joints of the knees, ankles and feet. Once we reach the fourth of the seitei iai kata, tsuka-ate, we reach a whole new level of pain. That pain is called iai-hiza.

Iai hiza is a seated position whereby the left leg is bent under oneself with the shin on the floor and the heel on your bum-hole (more or less) while the right foot rests on the floor with the leg bent upward. Ouch.

So when you're kneeling there wondering why, as a gaijin, you're even bothering to try to master this very Japanese martial art, you can rest assured that it's not your *fault* that it hurts. And it'll probably always hurt because we're just built differently. That's right we have different sized (and proportioned) lower legs! It's official too : I found this article called 'Anthropometric Comparison between Japanese and Caucasian American Male University Students' by Yasuto Nakanishi and Vincent Nethery. Their broad conculsion is that there are clear anthropometric differences between Japanese and Caucasian American males particularly Japanese having shorting standing height (ok I could've guessed that) and longer trunk to standing ratio. In a nutshell this means less in the leg department. Japanese calves are shorter but more importantly for iai-hiza their calf to height ratio is less than their American male counterparts. Hey presto: Japanese can sit more easily in iai-hiza (hey it was invented by them) while my gaijin lower legs protrude into my bum and stop me from sitting correctly.

Of course there are other issues too which I assume are common such as joint pain but at least we can know why we feel that pain in the ass.

Aw quit griping and keep practicing...

Ref: Anthropometric Comparison between Japanese and Caucasian

American Male University Students

Yasuto Nakanishi and Vincent Nethery

Department of Science, Kobe University.

Age is a number...

...not a fitness index.

Seb Coe and Gary Lineker featured on the Today programme this morning (Click here to open an audio file of the feature) speaking about age in sporting achievements. This was all prompted by the fact that Steve Davis is competing at the crucible in the World Snooker Championships. Don't get me wrong: watching snooker is as dull as ditch water BUT the question remains-is Steve Davis, at 51, past it? Well he certainly hasn't won the championship in quite some time (World championship since the eighties and other major events since the nineties) and as Lineker points out in this radio piece Davis' eyesight may not be what it was and his nerves might get to him more nowadays!

Coe (someone I see as being intensely competitive and who in a recent interview said that during his training schedule one Christmas Day the mere thought of his rival *potentially* training a second time that day forced him back out on the track) was a little more philosophical about age: Age is a number, not a fitness index. Mental attitude and determination can get us a long way.

Lineker however moves in for the coup de grace and points out that most professional (association) footballers and rugby footballers performances decline after the age of 30. You can't cheat the ageing process!

He's right of course: our physical abilities do tend to decline at about that age and if we're not a professional footballer by then, well there's always snooker. However...I did meet a Tang Soo Do practitioner in his seventies who assured me that building up the muscles around the knee help protect it from the ravages of age. And there is always mental attitude. Check out Michele's blog about a spunky septuagenarian!

Martial artists' physique may decline with age but their experience increases and experience counts for a lot. Knowing the techniques intimately helps you naturally flow through moves and counters as your body has already 'memorised' these structures. As long as your memory is ok...! Check out Dan's blog here showing technique in an older martial artist.

But hey, even if you don't like snooker you can always take up something sedate like Tai Chi for example. Right?...er... Right?

Martial Arts Festival - Wayne Swietoslawski

I met Wayne at the MAF-UK the other week and I decided to blog about him as he is a genuine guy who is now applying himself to full time martial arts training and teaching.

Wayne has an impressive martial arts CV and as well as holding several black belts has trained throughout the world with outstanding martial artists but what really struck a chord with me was the tagline Wayne uses: Training for Life. Wayne trains all the time. And I mean ALL the time! So the phrase Training for Life covers the way he considers that training in the martial arts is his life but it also makes him (/us?) ready for life. Training helps us deal with life. This can be on a practical, physical level or an emotional or 'spiritual' level: it keeps us fit for life and hones our minds.

As soon as Wayne's site is up and live I'll post it here.

Royal Armouries, Leeds

Somewhere I've often thought would be a great day out would be the Royal Armouries, Leeds and as I was passing the other day I took the opportunity to stop. I did have the kids in tow so I took a bit of a punt but the upshot was a day we all enjoyed!

Of course I didn't get see half of what I wanted to as I really was 'on duty' but as this place covers 4 floors with two main sections per floor I think I'll be visiting again for a full day without kids! Having said that I feared that the museum was going to be an 'experience' and more directed towards kids entertainment with too many interactive features for the younger visitor. Not at all I found: there was a good mix of 'grown-up' pieces as well as talks by 'storytellers' about armour and archers and on the day we visited there was a joust! Amazing: The Royal Armouries has an outside arena for horse mounted japes such as this St George's celebration joust. It was a great bit of theatre and fun entertainment but impressive to see these guys in full armour displaying horse and fighting skills.

Jousting was a popular accompaniment to medieval tournaments which helped Knights hone their martial skills. I suppose like modern martial arts competitions and tournaments it was a good way to pressure-test technique. Although I find competing quite a scary experience it helps you look deeply at your technique in the run up to the event and also exposes you to nerves and adrenaline during the competition. Learnign to deal with nerves is an important aspect to martial arts and a good tool for life.

Having said that the jousting, for me, seemed sedate but was fascinating to watch and I can't wait for my next visit to the Royal Armouries! (No, I'm not being sponsored by them!)

Looking at things differently

It struck me as I was gasping my way on a run along the sand dunes that some things can be seen in different ways.

Above is how I saw it on the way out: the unearthly grunting is my laboured breath as I go pelting along the narrow paths, taking sharp turns as the way is narrow and unpredictable. It's great to exercise and feel the sweat forming on your brow, your body aching, telling you to stop but really I know my body can do much more. As I descend steep dunes my legs automatically adjust to the speed and I find myself coursing down at much higher speed than I normally manage. So I know I can do it. My body has told me this. It's a frantic run though and I am tired (and a bit hungover, dammit) but I love this sharp cold North sea air pinching my at my face. 

Then there's the pay off. This is another way of seeing the same stretch of beach and dunes: calmness. 

The crashing of the waves is soothing, its pulsing is lulling me into a feeling of safety and serenity. Even the industry at Tees mouth isn't going to spoil this calm moment for me. It's the same place but different approaches. Rush through life or meditate on it. Or both.

To top it off I see a lone oyster catcher on the way back and he's calmly pondering the water's edge. Wonderful.

Lean Manufacturing and Kaizen

In a previous life I studied Production management and one thing I was completely enthralled with was the idea of Quality and the management of lean production. Lean production as the name suggests endeavours to reduce waste in the manufacturing process. What a fantastic idea, I thought, to be able to solely concentrate on the delivery of value to the customer and at the same time reduce wasted effort and resources. Streamlining at its best!

Kaizen is a related topic and can be applied within the whole idea of lean production and focuses on continual improvement. The idea is that efficiency can be reached by making small improvements all the time. These improvements can be gradual but there is a common goal (within business) towards driving the process towards efficiency of work patterns and delivering quality to the customer. My good friend NAS works for Danaher (who say on their website "Kaizen is our way of life") and he told me he went to a Kaizen seminar with a Japanese sensei! (NAS, please comment!)

You guys are way ahead of me, but just in case, check this out...

Martial Arts Festival - Canemasters

Poor old fella there with his walking cane. Probably couldn't handle himself if anyone attacked him huh? Well canemasters aims to prove otherwise: a self defence system worked around the walking cane.

As a practitioner of Tang Soo Do I'd seen a Master's cane form and my own Master told me how he upon flying to an international seminar was obliged to check all weapons into the hold but was let onto the aircraft with his cane...! Mark Shuey, the founder of Canemasters, unsurprisingly holds a Tang Soo Do black belt as well as in Hapkido too where he first saw the cane being used in self defence.

Canemasters take this idea to the next level and have developed an entire self defence system. Certainly the added leverage goes a long way when using the cane and getting whacked by a cane which can be whipped round at a fair lick would really smart. I did have a slight problem and this was that these guys happily carried the cane around with them as a side arm and not as an aid to walking. "It's got me out of trouble a couple of times", said the seminar leader.

Hmmm. Maybe I'll take my tonfa out into town next week and see what happens...

Here is a rather limp version of the Tang Soo Do Ji pan gi hyung: