All Wado Karate Forum

Hi Guys,

I am taking my black belt grading in just under three weeks and have been increasing my training (karate and fitness) over the last few months, to what is now pretty much doing something every day.

This is the fittest I have been in a long time and I am really enjoying it.

I thought it might be interesting to hear from some of you as to what you were doing when you were in my situation all those years ago :)

Andy

repeat repeat repeat repeat edit: and still repeating

Around the time of my shodan grading, I went on a trip in the Swiss Alps, accompanied by my sister, a group of friends and a mountain guide. It was around newyears eve. We took the train up onto the Jungfraujoch, at an elevation of 3,454 meters (11,332 ft). From there we embarked on a trip of a week on the Aletch gletcher (Aletch Glacier). We walked on snow shoes. The whole group was connected by a long line, for safety reasons. We slept in mountain cabins, at 20 to 30 degrees celcius below zero. We had some wine, but it froze immediately when exposed to the frosty air. This was one of the most extreme trips I ever took in my life.
On the way back we wound up in a snow blizzard. Due to my intense karate training, I was the only one, other than the guide, with sufficient fitness to make it through the storm without much difficulties. However, my sister nearly collapsed from exhaustion. Had she rested there, she had surely died. So I took her bag along with my own. Another guy had invested in expensive arctic clothes. But had no budget left to buy decent mountain shoes. That cost him a few of his toes that froze off. With much difficulty the group arrived at another mountain cabin. My sister was too exhausted even to eat. She collapsed in her sleeping bag and couldn't get up no more for at least 36 hours.
When we finally came home again, I returned to the dojo. Because of this special 'training', I felt like superman. I could have done anything. Which was good, because I had to do my shodan exam...

A few years ago I went through a period of running along the clifftops on dark and cold January nights in preparation for the Winter Course grading. I would travel many weekends in a month to courses and luckily petrol wasn't too bad back then.

I still never felt I did enough. During the club lessons, I would be teaching anyway and if I wanted to practice pairworks then it wasn't to the same level as I needed.

What is very apparent from both my own gradings and watching that of others, having a good partner that is up to scratch when doing your pairworks is desirable. In the Wado Academy, not only are there the Kihon Kumite and the ippon kumite, we also do the renraku waza in pairs. Throw in tanto dori or idori for 3rd dan and above, then it could be a mess if one person is not good enough.

andyb28 wrote:Hi Guys,

I am taking my black belt grading in just under three weeks and have been increasing my training (karate and fitness) over the last few months, to what is now pretty much doing something every day.

This is the fittest I have been in a long time and I am really enjoying it.

I thought it might be interesting to hear from some of you as to what you were doing when you were in my situation all those years ago :)

Andy

If I recall it involved a lot of travelling to attend the courses to pick up additional tips and to get feedback from the people who were likely to be on the Dan panel. The big week long courses were essential as we were able to stack up hours of serious critical attention from up to 4 or 5 Japanese Sensei, these were real quality experiences and I used to come back each day with pages of notes which were inevitably written up in the pub after training.

I would second what Wadoka says about working with a good reliable partner. One of the worst scenarios is to find yourself stuck with somebody who gives you a poor attack. Also, when it comes to the fighting remember you are doing Wado; your chance to show how you personally make it work, don’t throw it away.

Tim

Hi Guys,

Just thought I would update my thread. Today I took my 1st Dan and I passed it.
This has been a long hard journey, but now feels so worth it.

I am exhausted, going to enjoy a nice takeaway with my Wife tonight to celebrate.

Here is a picture of me with my Sensei, Les Birkin.

Well done. You've only got a short time to relax!

Good job Andy - now the journey begins

shep

congratz. Nice to see a picture as well to see who we are talking to.

AJ

Congratulations Andy! Would you mind sharing more about your own preparation for the grading? What was most/least valuable in the end? I'm a 2nd kyu now & hope to be making similar preparations in the not too distant future.