Real life Kenpo: FrogMan's quest for the Black Belt - Page 2

FrogMan · 05-01-2006, 11:54 AM

yep, I still hate that stance...

I didn't do my daily horse stance session on Friday, nor did I do any over the weekend, but I usually don't do any in the weekends. Boy was it rough today. Set the timer to 3:30, felt not too bad for the first two minutes then hit a wall. I really wanted to end it with a full 60 seconds of perfect 90 degree stance and well I did it but was shaking pretty badly with 10 seconds to go. These daily horse stance sessions are really turning into little battles of willpower with my own self. I held it but as the bell rang, I couldn't pull myself up! I usually get up, take hold of my desk and shake the burning in my things but today, I dropped a knee to the ground, I just couldn't go up. I eventually was able to go up but it was a rough first 2 or 3 minutes walking afterwards. Oh well, it'll come with time...

Went to get my coffee downstairs and got back to my desk. I debated for a little while about doing the second 60 seconds of only 90 degree stance and decided to put 30 seconds on. Well, when it rang, I kept going and hit "start over" on the timer and went another 30 for the full 60. Take that you horse stance!

FM

ibnsgirl · 05-01-2006, 04:01 PM

Congrats to both of y'all on the Open!

FrogMan · 05-02-2006, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibnsgirl

Congrats to both of y'all on the Open!

thanks for the kind words. Sadly I almost get the feeling your my sole reader left

Oh well...

FM

FrogMan · 05-02-2006, 07:17 AM

posted on the blog last night...

a different kind of sparring, sorta...

Our regular instructor wasn't there on Monday so we were in for some change. Sometimes being instructed by somebody different isn't all bad. He first took us through a warmup that included a nice sequence of 200 punches in the horse stance, in groups of 50, that was quite the nice start

We then went to do all of our blocking forms. These are smallish katas that include only blocks. The 1st blocking form is usually the first form you learn in our style, followed with the 2nd and the 3rd blocking form. There are are 4th and a 5th blocking form but they are reserved for black belts and they include some strikes with the blocks. We then went to do some of our basic forms and then were left to work on our most recent kata on our own for 10 minutes. I reworked my Cat Two and was even happy that my new found fluidity with it, developped over the last week, was helpful to a fellow student who knew I had presented it at the Open and simply asked me to do it so she could watch my timing with it. She is suffering from the same thing I had trouble with only last week as she's concentrating so much on the movements and strikes that she's doing the form so slowly. I repeated to her a couple of pointers that had been given to me and that helped me a lot figuring out what I was supposed to be doing at some key point at the start of the form. I like trying to understand what is going on when I do a kata. Sometimes I wish we'd do more bunkai, which is doing a kata with real attackers, mostly to "live" the kata, see what is the purpose of the multiple strikes in it.

Anyway, the real interesting part came next. Our instructor told us to go get a bo from the rack. I thought we'd work on the first traditional bo kata that we have to learn, called "sushi no kon sho", but nope, he told us we'd learn a couple of blocking forms. That was quite cool with me, since we don't often practice with the bo in our regular classes. All the bo I've learned is during the competition class I usually take once a week, but it's of the open (or creative) type and I'll be the first to admit that it doesn't always have the real feel of self defense. Sometimes it's got more flash than purpose (although I also like it that way

). Anyway, we did the forms, something like 8 blocks (up, down, left, right, to a 45 degree up strike from left, same from right, 45 degree from left but to the knee, same to the right). Then came the shocker, to me at least. Our instructor told us to go two by two and try it. WOAH! We started slow and picked up a tiny bit of speed as we went, but not much. Still, hearing the wood of the bos smack in the dojo had a very powerful effect on me, I LOVED IT! Seriously, it was great. We then went on to work on a couple of self defense techniques, again using the bo. And again, it was just great. Sparring might be a strong word for what we did, but still, we were not simply using the bo in a form, striking a virtual opponent, we were swinging the thing against a real fleshed out human.

I don't know what it'll take for me to have more of a chance to practice this type of thing, but you can be sure that I'll start researching it more and more and I'll keep my eyes and ears well open in case a class of that type opens up at one point...

FM

FrogMan · 05-02-2006, 11:53 AM

not much new for today, other than I'll be taking a different approach to the second session of daily horse stance. I did the 3:30 first (with the last 45 seconds in 90 degree stance), then went for coffee and decided to see how long would be the longest I could go in a perfect 90 degree stance, not setting myself a time per see. Well, I lasted 90 seconds. I'll try to keep beating that day after day. It's an ongoing process...

FM

ibnsgirl · 05-02-2006, 01:10 PM

I'm sure that you have more readers.

Why they haven't posted, I am not sure... (Although I read several dynasties and I don't postin most of those myself.)

I fully admit that I haven't the foggiest idea about karate, but I am mostly following along and I appreciate all of your explanations

As an aside (truly not trying to threadjack, but I think you will appreciate this):
I take it from the picture and such that the horse stance is named because it resembles riding a horse. I can conjecture know from my experience in the saddle just how tough the stance is. When I was first learning to ride, the instructor didn't use stirrups so that we had to: first, learn balance using just thigh and knees, and later, to learn to post (hard to explain without pictures, but the idea is that the rider intentionally comes up a few inches from the saddle with each of the horse's strides). It was brutal. And that is how the Royal Spanish Lippizaners (or whatever their title is), ride 100% of the time. Anyway, it sounds very similar to what you describe considering the different environments, and thus, I commend you for documenting your quest!

FrogMan · 05-02-2006, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ibnsgirl

I'm sure that you have more readers.

Why they haven't posted, I am not sure... (Although I read several dynasties and I don't postin most of those myself.)

I fully admit that I haven't the foggiest idea about karate, but I am mostly following along and I appreciate all of your explanations

As an aside (truly not trying to threadjack, but I think you will appreciate this):
I take it from the picture and such that the horse stance is named because it resembles riding a horse. I can conjecture know from my experience in the saddle just how tough the stance is. When I was first learning to ride, the instructor didn't use stirrups so that we had to: first, learn balance using just thigh and knees, and later, to learn to post (hard to explain without pictures, but the idea is that the rider intentionally comes up a few inches from the saddle with each of the horse's strides). It was brutal. And that is how the Royal Spanish Lippizaners (or whatever their title is), ride 100% of the time. Anyway, it sounds very similar to what you describe considering the different environments, and thus, I commend you for documenting your quest!

Glad you're enjoying the read so far. That will be probably the main difference between here and the blog on som posts. I won't really explain much on the blog as the few readers I have over there are martial arts bloggers themselves and will usually know what I'm talking about (see the bunkai explanation for an example, I didn't explain it on the blog as I expected the readers to know what it meant and they did, one commenting that he too would like to do more)

As for the horse stance, it's exactly why it is named the horse stance, nothing more than that.

From this page, where I got the graphical depiction of the stance, you can see that they call it from its japanese name, Kiba Dachi, but they also call it Straddle Stance or Horse-riding stance. If you want an idea, in French we call it "la position cavalier" which freely translates to "the horse rider stance"

I've ridden on horses a couple times in my youth and yeah, I remember what you describe about always staying a couple inches from the saddle. Yep, it's that hard to hold... And I still hate it

FM

FrogMan · 05-02-2006, 02:28 PM

I am a martial artist.
I see through different eyes.
I see a bigger picture
when others see gray skies.

Though many can't conceive it,
I stand. . .facing the wind.
My bravery, not from fighting,
but from my strength within.

I am a martial artist.
I'll walk the extra mile.
Not because I have too,
but because it's worth my while.

I know that I am different,
when I stand on a crowded street.
I know the fullness of winning,
I've tasted the cup of defeat.

I am a martial artist.
They say I walk with ease.
Though trained for bodily harm,
my intentions are for peace.

The world may come and go,
but a different path I'll choose.
A path I will not stray from,
no matter, win or lose.

I didn't write this poem, Karen Eden did. I found it a few months ago while browsing the online catalog at centuryfitness.com. They have a bunch of items featuring this poem. I have a copy of it in front of me on my desk and often read parts of it in between tasks here at work. I'm always very high on spiritual stuff and such, but I especially like reading it while doing my lunchtime horse stance session. One day I'll have it memorized and will repeat it to myself during the horse stance

FM

FrogMan · 05-08-2006, 11:58 AM

been a while since I last posted in here although I posted a couple times on the blog. I'll see about reposting these posts in here.

About my horse stance sessions, well I had decided to take Wednesdy off, kind of going Monday-Tuesday-off-Thursday-Friday. The Thursday, I tried something. I decided to go with only Full 90 degree stance. First run, I lasted 2 minutes but got up out of lack of willpower more than anything else. Was frustrated with myself about it. Went for coffee and then lasted 75 seconds but felt that I should have done better so I allowed myself maybe 3 minutes of break and did another 80 seconds. Seriously, this was a rough lunchtime but I may got back to that routine, as it takes less time and works me out more.

Then Friday came but I was unable to do my sessions after Matty's daycare called and told me he had some pretty high fever and was crying all the time so I went to pick him up and it coincided with lunchtime. Don't worry about Matty, he was fine when he woke up on Saturday. Don't know what he had.

Then today came and I thought to myself that I could try to hold my low stance for as long as I can. Well, I last 4 minutes but again, was a bit frustrated as if I'd held until dropping to the floor, I could have probably made it to 4:30, maybe more. Didn't go to get a coffee today as I have a meeting away from my desk early on in the afternoon, so I allowed myself to rest maybe 3 minutes and decided to do a 90 degree stance session. Lasted 70 seconds on that one. That one was good.

FM

05-01-2006, 04:01 PM	#52
ibnsgirl H.S. Freshman Team Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: South Texas	Congrats to both of y'all on the Open! __________________ Hattrick: The Smacky Packers 71158 Thanks to my supporters: TonyR (SA Griffins FC), sterlingice (Houston Hippopotami), TK (Real Terps FC), the notorious pirate AE (Puke Green Sox FC), Krondor (Krondor Lancers), Dark Affair (Orient Express), and tucker rocky (Jacksonville Kickers).

05-02-2006, 07:17 AM	#54
FrogMan Hattrick Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada	posted on the blog last night... a different kind of sparring, sorta... Our regular instructor wasn't there on Monday so we were in for some change. Sometimes being instructed by somebody different isn't all bad. He first took us through a warmup that included a nice sequence of 200 punches in the horse stance, in groups of 50, that was quite the nice start We then went to do all of our blocking forms. These are smallish katas that include only blocks. The 1st blocking form is usually the first form you learn in our style, followed with the 2nd and the 3rd blocking form. There are are 4th and a 5th blocking form but they are reserved for black belts and they include some strikes with the blocks. We then went to do some of our basic forms and then were left to work on our most recent kata on our own for 10 minutes. I reworked my Cat Two and was even happy that my new found fluidity with it, developped over the last week, was helpful to a fellow student who knew I had presented it at the Open and simply asked me to do it so she could watch my timing with it. She is suffering from the same thing I had trouble with only last week as she's concentrating so much on the movements and strikes that she's doing the form so slowly. I repeated to her a couple of pointers that had been given to me and that helped me a lot figuring out what I was supposed to be doing at some key point at the start of the form. I like trying to understand what is going on when I do a kata. Sometimes I wish we'd do more bunkai, which is doing a kata with real attackers, mostly to "live" the kata, see what is the purpose of the multiple strikes in it. Anyway, the real interesting part came next. Our instructor told us to go get a bo from the rack. I thought we'd work on the first traditional bo kata that we have to learn, called "sushi no kon sho", but nope, he told us we'd learn a couple of blocking forms. That was quite cool with me, since we don't often practice with the bo in our regular classes. All the bo I've learned is during the competition class I usually take once a week, but it's of the open (or creative) type and I'll be the first to admit that it doesn't always have the real feel of self defense. Sometimes it's got more flash than purpose (although I also like it that way ). Anyway, we did the forms, something like 8 blocks (up, down, left, right, to a 45 degree up strike from left, same from right, 45 degree from left but to the knee, same to the right). Then came the shocker, to me at least. Our instructor told us to go two by two and try it. WOAH! We started slow and picked up a tiny bit of speed as we went, but not much. Still, hearing the wood of the bos smack in the dojo had a very powerful effect on me, I LOVED IT! Seriously, it was great. We then went on to work on a couple of self defense techniques, again using the bo. And again, it was just great. Sparring might be a strong word for what we did, but still, we were not simply using the bo in a form, striking a virtual opponent, we were swinging the thing against a real fleshed out human. I don't know what it'll take for me to have more of a chance to practice this type of thing, but you can be sure that I'll start researching it more and more and I'll keep my eyes and ears well open in case a class of that type opens up at one point... FM __________________ A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog...

05-02-2006, 11:53 AM	#55
FrogMan Hattrick Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada	not much new for today, other than I'll be taking a different approach to the second session of daily horse stance. I did the 3:30 first (with the last 45 seconds in 90 degree stance), then went for coffee and decided to see how long would be the longest I could go in a perfect 90 degree stance, not setting myself a time per see. Well, I lasted 90 seconds. I'll try to keep beating that day after day. It's an ongoing process... FM __________________ A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog...

05-02-2006, 01:10 PM	#56
ibnsgirl H.S. Freshman Team Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: South Texas	I'm sure that you have more readers. Why they haven't posted, I am not sure... (Although I read several dynasties and I don't postin most of those myself.) I fully admit that I haven't the foggiest idea about karate, but I am mostly following along and I appreciate all of your explanations As an aside (truly not trying to threadjack, but I think you will appreciate this): I take it from the picture and such that the horse stance is named because it resembles riding a horse. I can conjecture know from my experience in the saddle just how tough the stance is. When I was first learning to ride, the instructor didn't use stirrups so that we had to: first, learn balance using just thigh and knees, and later, to learn to post (hard to explain without pictures, but the idea is that the rider intentionally comes up a few inches from the saddle with each of the horse's strides). It was brutal. And that is how the Royal Spanish Lippizaners (or whatever their title is), ride 100% of the time. Anyway, it sounds very similar to what you describe considering the different environments, and thus, I commend you for documenting your quest! __________________ Hattrick: The Smacky Packers 71158 Thanks to my supporters: TonyR (SA Griffins FC), sterlingice (Houston Hippopotami), TK (Real Terps FC), the notorious pirate AE (Puke Green Sox FC), Krondor (Krondor Lancers), Dark Affair (Orient Express), and tucker rocky (Jacksonville Kickers).

05-02-2006, 02:28 PM	#58
FrogMan Hattrick Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada	I am a Martial Artist, a poem I am a martial artist. I see through different eyes. I see a bigger picture when others see gray skies. Though many can't conceive it, I stand. . .facing the wind. My bravery, not from fighting, but from my strength within. I am a martial artist. I'll walk the extra mile. Not because I have too, but because it's worth my while. I know that I am different, when I stand on a crowded street. I know the fullness of winning, I've tasted the cup of defeat. I am a martial artist. They say I walk with ease. Though trained for bodily harm, my intentions are for peace. The world may come and go, but a different path I'll choose. A path I will not stray from, no matter, win or lose. I didn't write this poem, Karen Eden did. I found it a few months ago while browsing the online catalog at centuryfitness.com. They have a bunch of items featuring this poem. I have a copy of it in front of me on my desk and often read parts of it in between tasks here at work. I'm always very high on spiritual stuff and such, but I especially like reading it while doing my lunchtime horse stance session. One day I'll have it memorized and will repeat it to myself during the horse stance FM __________________ A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog...

05-08-2006, 11:58 AM	#59
FrogMan Hattrick Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada	been a while since I last posted in here although I posted a couple times on the blog. I'll see about reposting these posts in here. About my horse stance sessions, well I had decided to take Wednesdy off, kind of going Monday-Tuesday-off-Thursday-Friday. The Thursday, I tried something. I decided to go with only Full 90 degree stance. First run, I lasted 2 minutes but got up out of lack of willpower more than anything else. Was frustrated with myself about it. Went for coffee and then lasted 75 seconds but felt that I should have done better so I allowed myself maybe 3 minutes of break and did another 80 seconds. Seriously, this was a rough lunchtime but I may got back to that routine, as it takes less time and works me out more. Then Friday came but I was unable to do my sessions after Matty's daycare called and told me he had some pretty high fever and was crying all the time so I went to pick him up and it coincided with lunchtime. Don't worry about Matty, he was fine when he woke up on Saturday. Don't know what he had. Then today came and I thought to myself that I could try to hold my low stance for as long as I can. Well, I last 4 minutes but again, was a bit frustrated as if I'd held until dropping to the floor, I could have probably made it to 4:30, maybe more. Didn't go to get a coffee today as I have a meeting away from my desk early on in the afternoon, so I allowed myself to rest maybe 3 minutes and decided to do a 90 degree stance session. Lasted 70 seconds on that one. That one was good. FM __________________ A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog...

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