Two months of training at home has yielded somewhat mixed results. There is no substitute for learning and practice with a good partner, and some things you have to feel. With that in mind, I’ve attended almost every adult session, and found myself working on aspects of physical and mental fitness that usually get ignored or placed on the proverbial back burner in more typical circumstances.
Some of the topics covered:
- Controlling tension and shifting it around the body and limbs
- Enhancing balance with eyes open and closed
- Improving ground mobility and strengthening joints
- Expanding range of motion
- Developing ‘heaviness’ in strikes
- Getting up and down smoothly, quietly
- Pushup. Lots and lots of push ups…
- Knife work, focused on getting comfortable, drawing and sheathing, awareness and balance with and without sight.
Various training aides have added some variety to the classes. Towels, balls, sticks and particularly unusual, a chair.
The last couple of weeks I have been bothered by lower back pain, which I have worked through. That’s better now, thanks to rest and some work on the back itself and the hamstrings. The pain moved up to my neck, which was tender for a couple of days, but now that too has diminished.
The real challenge for training will be June, when I will be in full quarantine for two weeks. After that, I’ll be working a new job in a remote region. I’ll be able to go out and interact, but I’ll still be isolated and dependent on online training, and whatever I can get going locally.
