Kicks...

I used to have a Shotokan Instructor named Toyotaro Miyazaki. He was a tough taskmaster and he gave us few speeches, but one time, I remember he made a statement, I never forgot. He said, "when you have trouble kicking, you have to kick MORE. If you feel weak or don't have strength, you must train to build up your strength. If you are tight, you must stretch." Etc, etc. The idea is, when you examine what is the weakest aspect of your chosen art, to make it less of a weakness, you need to practice to make that weakness less obvious.

Kicking is a demanding thing because you usually have to support yourself on one leg, while rapidly extending the other in a forceful and fast motion. When you're chunky like me, you have to hold up your whole body weight, and you still need to develop facility with the desired motion. I will have to modify and add a minimum number of kicks into the routines of my usual practice.

I'm still mentally drained from my class yesterday, so I'll think more on this later, and will figure out what is a reasonable and comfortable amount and sequence I will add into my routines of daily practice. Sigh...
J
Yeah, believe it or not, I love all this effort, I really do, even though, i'm complaining. I have faith that in the long run, the effort will pay off, even though in the short interim, I just feel so tired and drained.

When things get really down, I just remember how I started... back then, I could ONLY manage to practice an hour to an hour and a half, AND my legs, thighs and sides of my waist, and lower back kept cramping and my motion and mobility was not even 1/4 what I can do today! So, clearly, even though, I may disappoint Shifu in class here and there, it's obvious that i've improved. With continued practice, I will get better. Hope you all hang in there with me, and keep practicing!