| What is training like at Zanshin-Kai? - by Alex Lawrence |
| Classes always start with a warm up, during which all the major joints and muscles are warmed up and stretched out. There isn’t as much emphasis on the cardio-vascular side of things as there is in other arts, but there is a greater focus on stretching than probably any warm up I’ve done in any other art. After the warm up we usually move into kokyu ho. Which is a set of exercises designed to build balance, co-ordination, power and teach extension of that power. If you like kokyu ho teaches the fundamentals of technique. Following kokyu ho we move on to the practice of technique. We’re a traditional dojo so everyone practices the same technique regardless of their level, although students are asked to focus on different things or practice different variations depending on their level. Your training time will be split equally between executing and receiving technique so that you get the opportunity to study both sides of the body art. We don’t teach according to a syllabus which means that although you will be a beginner, you will be taught everything and a lot of what you are taught will be more advanced than required for your grading. This will leave you very well prepared for your first grading. Generally training is done in pairs, although if there are many people training or if the technique involves throwing uke a long distance then we train in groups to make as much use of the space as possible. There’s also things like two and three person attack. Every once in a while everyone changes partner, so you get to train with everyone over the course of a class. While we train Sensei keeps an eye on us and makes corrections, often this means that he will stop the class and demonstrate the technique again, emphasising a particular point. This means that everyone learns from one persons mistake. Frequently though he will come and make a quick correction by way of demonstrating using the uke of the person that made the mistake or the person that made the mistake in some cases. Either way the person correcting you in most instances will be Sensei, in rare cases one of the seniors will correct you, but always under the supervision of Sensei. At least once a week there will be some form of weapons practice, there are usually spare weapons so if you’ve not got them yet, don’t worry. Weapons practice generally takes the form of studying weapons kata, both solo and paired. There’s also jo, tanto and tachi dori, which is defences against a staff, dagger and sword respectively. Finally at the end of the class we almost always finish with suwari waza kokyu ho, this is kokyu ho from a kneeling position. It serves both as a cool down and also to teach and reinforce the same principles as taught by the kokyu ho taught at the start of the class. Alex Lawrence, Nikyu no Zanshin Kai |
Copyright © 2007 www.Zanshin-Kai.co.uk. All Rights Reserved. |