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This week we began our new updated training schedule. We switched outdoor training at the castle to Saturdays, and indoor training at the Kenpo school to Sundays. I like this new schedule because it frees us up to run over on Sundays when we can stay.

Saturday we trained outside, but in the shelter of the castle, which at least protected us from the wind chill a bit. We worked on basic footwork. It was a great class. We had a first time visitor who was not aware that the training was outside. The poor guy had on a hoodie sweatshirt and canvas shoes! It was only about 20 degrees outside so he was very cold. I gave him a pair of “Hot Hands” hand warmers, Mike loaned him gloves, Tom loaned him a scarf. I offered him an Army jacket, but he decided not to use that. Somehow, the poor guy made it through the two hours! I enjoyed the class and feel like I am learning something at every class.

Sunday we went over our scheduled time by more than an hour. We trained for over three hours and it seemed like no more than an hour! For the first hour we did our Sanshin warmup, and then kaiten. We went into our training in the Kihon Happo and then for the last hour we had fun with practicing what ever we wanted within the kihon. It was a great class!

Today we worked on Oni Kudaki using various openings and presentations. I got a better understanding of the timing and distance in the kukan for Oni Kudaki in today’s class. The last time we worked with Oni Kudaki we worked mostly on the angles. I am still smoothing out old karate habits and learning to flow. Tom talked about using multiple strikes while not losing contact and keeping our movements smooth while we are controlling uke. He is also working with me on using my legs. It was another very good class. My classmate, Mike was promoted to 9th Kyu today.