Conditioning update:

The new daily(-ish) routine is a 6 minute plank (1:30 each front, side, side, front), 5 minute plank (1 minute forward, :30 each right/left arm/leg up, :30 each diagonal arms up, 1 minute front).

Hip rotations (10@), hand-to-walk (5x), calf stretch(10@), elbow-instep to shins(5@), backwards lunge with a twist(10@), lateral lunge (5@), and sumo squat to stand (10@).

Fitness ball with T, W, L, followed by butt thrusts (10, 10 each leg, 20) and extension/adduction (10@).

70 dipping suburi, 70 lunge suburi.

The goal is to build up to 100 and increaese efficiently so I can do this on off days in the morning.

After a week’s absence, today’s return was sweltering despite the A/C (!) which Sensei decided to turn on. The main thing I noticed after was fatigue in my abs, which I hope is due to my greater use of my tanden and so on. It could just be the heat, though. The daily 5-minute plank routine has worked wonders–forward, side, side, back, forward, at 60 seconds each. One of those things where you don’t get faster when you get better…

So I’ve missed two weekend practices due to socializing, but no more! Especially with a tournament coming up, I do need to get a good deal more serious and just in general given how difficult the Fall will be. So now I have this book on core performance and will be doing my best to build a routine to grow the basic strength and flexibility which should help me move forward…

Oddly enough, this post is written just before going to practice. It’s been bad, the ways in which both my extracurricular conditioning and my blogging/journaling have basically died out of late. Now that I have blazing wireless, there should be no excuse.

In terms of conditioning, I’m not going back to the hindu-squats from before my back injury, but I have fully (or mostly) inflated an exercise/physio-/swiss ball and so try to do a lot of reverse crunches, and then a medley of squatted (static) suburi (shomen, sayumen), squatting (dynamic) suburi (to two inches above the floor), lunge (right, left) suburi (two inches from floor), and other core conditioning exercises. Gone is my previous focus on the heaviest suburito I could find.

Hopefully there will be few training interruptions this summer.

Last keiko of the year. No longer the Sunday-special, unfortunately, but plenty of leg-stretching goodness, kihon-waza, and not nearly enough kakari-geiko. I need to become much more conscious of who I practice with and how well I do against them, that sort of thing–I need to return to blogging or notebooking or something. In the past, this blog is more condensed, whereas the notebook is much more person-by-person notes. Somethign like that, but I’ve become not only unreflective but also lazy–skipping weekday practices, in part due to the lack of a metrocard, in part due to having too much work, but also largely because I’m just lazy. So instead, I’ve started doing a home-regimen, which I want to slowly ramp up. Right now it’s two sets of 100 seated suburi followed by 50 hindu squats. I need to build up slowly to zenshin kotai men suburi (standing, which will require moving around some furniture) with the four different suburito that I have, and sets of 100 hindu squats. But I’ll build up slowly. After sandan, I’ll do the whole 1000 suburi for 1000 days thing… Nothing else to report until kagami biraki!