One Ukemi Challenge

The good stuff first: Steve Sensei came up to me after class and commented on how hard I was working last night. That's encouraging to hear, that someone at least recognizes that I'm stepping up my work in class. I'm trying harder to work at what I think is a 2nd kyu level. I should have enough hours to test for 2nd kyu by the fall of 2011. On the one hand, I'm excited and looking forward to having that brown obi tied around my waist.  On the other hand, and as I'm getting used to, I feel that there are these enormous walls I have to scale to overcome the challenges of attaining higher rank.

Last night, for example, had some good and some bad. I'm pleased that my break falls are progressing as nicely as they are. There are even some times when I do the break fall and it's not even required; it's just something that naturally seems to happen. I am less than pleased that I cannot seem to master a forward roll that does not somehow use a leading arm. We were practicing a technique from shomenuchi where nage would grab the incoming wrist and elbow of uke, pivot, then drop to the knees. Uke must either break fall or do a forward roll without the use of the leading arm, because nage is using it to control the throw. I could not get it. I kept going into a break fall. When Sensei told me to just to a relaxed roll, I couldn't do it. I kept going back to a break fall type of roll, or worse yet, I kept my trailing foot on the ground in some attempt to stay planted, which forced me to rotate around nage at a 45 degree angle. You do not want to do this, because it hurts. A lot. I have a pain a couple inches to the left of my spine, right over the left side of my pelvis. It felt similar to me trying to do the break fall from irimi nage. I am still having a terrible time with that, too.

So I'm working hard, doing fairly well on my break falls, but falling short on certain kinds of rolls, no pun intended. My techniques? Oh, they're fine, it's just my ukemi that's bad.

My lovely wife also made her traditional batch of Christmas cookies for the dojo, and as tradition would have it, one of our members tried to take them all for himself. I guess his wife just doesn't bake, so he likes to take the ones I bring in. My wife warns me when I leave for the dojo, that she doesn't want me coming back into the house with any cookies - at all. Fortunately I'm able to share them with the other dojo members, although some don't take any at all, as they take this whole fitness thing way too far.