Zen and the art of movement

Karate last night was good.  It was a smaller class than usual as the national weekend course had been on at Largs at the weekend, and more than a few were suffering from aching legs.  I wasn't, but that was just because I hadn't gone to the course.

Anyway, they were concentrating a lot on things that were covered at the course, and concentrating on getting the body in.  A punch in itself doesn't have that much weight behind it.  But when it's you're body that's moving in to your opponent, and the fist is the last thing that comes into play, it's a hell of a lot more devastating than a punch from a moving arm alone.

We also covered moving towards a punch that's coming towards you, and how to deal with it.  This really goes against your natural instinct, which is to move back when someone tries to punch you, but it is really effective.  It also freaks the attacker out a bit as "that's not supposed to happen", and can cause them to pull the punch a bit, which is an added bonus.

Anyway, today my legs are a bit tired, as in a small class, there's nowhere to hide, so no slacking allowed :-)

Achey, but in a good way

Wednesday was the first karate class since before the Christmas holidays, and it was pretty good, given that we've obviously done little to no training over the break.  The only thing is, damn, I'm feeling it now.  My muscles  round my hips, and my calf and thigh muscles are achey and I feel like I do when I have restless leg syndrome.
I don't want to sit still, but it's achey to move.

On the plus side, it's evidence that I've actually done some hard training.  There will be benefits from this.*

(* If I keep telling myself this, I'll believe it and persevere and GET the benefits).