Progress Thus Far

So far I have been consistently working out in the mornings. Unfortunately I have been feeling ill recently and have been unable to attend Karate class. I can still feel my injuries during my morning training routines. I do need to practice my techniques and katas as well so I will need to set aside time for that.

As far as my workout plan has gone, it has been fairly difficult for me to find the time in the afternoon to train intensely like I had originally intended. This week however, is the exception, not the rule to how I will carry out my project. Since I need to make time to train, I plan on doing all of the work that I can on the weekends ahead of time which will clear up my schedule and let me train intensely.

Promotion Test

My promotion test went very well. I passed. The night before, I was studying and I was reading the first portion of one of One Day, One Lifetime: An Illustrated Guide to the Spirit, Practice, and Philosophy of Seido Karate Meditation. In the introduction, I found a section where it specifically mentions what to focus on while one trains which is just to focus on the training, not the results. It also mentions how karate training is similar to a "college course" in the way that you get from it what you put into it. I will have to start training a lot more seriously and focus solely on the training, which means I will have to set aside more time daily than I anticipated for this project.

Update

So for the past several days, I have taken a break from my intense training to focus on my studies. I have a Karate promotion test this weekend so I have been working on my technique and only that and have been studying all of the kata and self defense I have to know. Even though some techniques are difficult they are not the workout I need to be doing to keep up with my training. However this break also served as a recovery period for my shoulder injury. Unfortunately, I do not have any solid research done at this point, but I will include it tomorrow night when I plan to cram for the written portion of my promotion test.

I will also update my training plan as ideas come to me, but as of today, I plan on doing a couple sets of push ups and sit ups and other exercises six days out of the week in the morning to help get me motivated for actually training later on in the day and this way I will at least be maintaining my level of fitness.

Training: Day 3

Unfortunately I had to cut my training short today. My left shoulder started to bug me very early on in the training and I am worried that it could get worse so I did what I could and did not push it.

Here is what I did:

Stretch

Warm-Up

2/10/40 Lawnmowers (A back exercise)

2/10/30 Bicep Curls

2/15/20 Sitting Lawnmowers

(And because I did not explain my workout notation I will now, it goes: sets/reps/weight)

My shoulder started to become unstable and it was painful towards the end so I had to stop. 

Also, my lack of training today made me realize how I will structure my workout for the rest of the training:

Day One: Chest + Core

Day Two: Lower Body + Kicks

Day Three: Back + Punches

Day Four: Cardio + Techniques

I will explain my workout plan in further detail later. 

Training: Day 2

Today, I felt very good about my training. I focused mainly on my techniques, katas or forms, and self defense combinations. I know my katas fairly well. There are some katas that I need to review and polish, especially the ones I most recently learned because I often confuse where to throw each technique. The footwork of each kata feels fine but I do need to work on moving between stances.

Here is what I did for today:

Stretched
Warmed-Up
Reviewed all of my katas
Reviewed all of my self defense combinations
Practiced my combinations on the syllabus for my Karate class
2/10 Inside Roundhouse Kick
2/10 Outside Roundhouse Kick
*2/10 Front Snap Kick
*2/10 Roundhouse Kick
1/10 Low Side Thrust Kick
1/10 High Side Thrust Kick
1/10 Knee Kick
1/10 Back Kick

*I only practiced throwing these kicks with the front leg of my stance, which is difficult for me because I have to kick faster to make up for the lack of power.

I also practiced striking my heavy bag with the following kicks:
1/10 Front Snap Kick (Front Leg only)
1/10 Roundhouse Kick (Front and Rear Leg)

Note: I practiced all of these kicks with both legs.

Also, I attended my Karate Class prior to working out and training at home, which does take a lot of energy and concentration. I enjoyed it and I plan to attend class again tomorrow. However, I will have to be careful as I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder while performing hand techniques which is why today was mostly lower body techniques as to avoid injuring my shoulder.

Training: Day 1

Today was my first day of training. Not surprisingly, I found it difficult. I knew that I did not have a lot of endurance or stamina, but after my first "workout" I now finally know roughly how much I need to train in that area. I wanted to do more for my first day, but I felt that I needed to stop because I was out of breath and my chest was pounding.

Here is what I did in chronological order:

Stretch
Warm-Up: Jumping Rope
50 push ups
25 jumping squats
2 minutes at my heavy bag (mainly working on punching techniques)
50 sit ups
25 Right&Left (RL) floor sidekicks
50 berry pickers
50 push ups
5 RL inside&outside kicks
25 jumping squats
1 minute jumping rope
*50 push ups

*After this specific exercise is when I felt completely out of breath and energy

Note: I did this workout at the end of the day which, today, means that I already went to my Karate class. I am not going to use that as an excuse for why I felt out of energy.

Needless to say, I feel kind of disappointed with myself but I will use today as motivation to work harder tomorrow. I still have to decide how many days per week I want to train as well as how long I want each training session to last. I will probably base my workouts off of the P90X program. I have done a week of it before, and I definitely was sore because of it.

I will post videos explaining several of the exercises listed above that are not well known or that are based on my Karate training or other experiences.

Also, here is an incredible, motivational video of Kaicho Nakamura breaking a rock:

Two Week Outline #1

Every two weeks I will post an outline like this one in which I describe what I will do for the following two weeks.

Training:

1. Establish a basic, structured workout routine and schedule that will improve my stamina, strength, balance, and coordination. (I will post the final schedule/routine at the end of the first week)

2. Review and polish all of the basic Karate techniques I know for the duration of the two weeks.

3. Meditate at the end of each week to reflect on what I can improve and on what I have done well.

Research:

1. I will research Seido Karate and post my findings at the end of each week.

2. Start researching Kyokushin Karate near the end of the second week.


Each week I will post at least three times in order to keep my blog up to date and to help keep me focused on my objectives.

Intro

Dear Reader,

My name is Peter Damian and I am a senior at Ithaca High School. I am creating this blog to document my experiences with my WISE (Wise Individualized Senior Experience) project. This program allows students to pursue, for sixteen weeks, their interests, whether it be in the arts or following a possible career path.

For the first half of the year I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I wanted to do. My possible ideas ranged from parkour to calligraphy. All I knew at that time was that I did not want to be stuck studying and researching for the entirety of the project.

I wanted to incorporate some type of intense physical training or learning some type of skill. As a result, I decided to continue my training in Seido Karate outside of classes and to research other Japanese martial arts. Throughout this project, I plan on developing myself through intense physical training, polishing my techniques, and learning how to apply my training my life.

At times, I will post videos that relate to my project and that are useful in some way shape or form. And others that are just plain awesome.

Let the project begin!