Kaizen Central Sqaud Session

Wednesday 26th August

Today was a techical session counter punching and takedowns. Being the holiday period numbers were down but we had an excellent standard and a good range to work with.

Coach Glen Middleton started the session reinforcing block punch counters before we moved on to more difficult drills mid-session

We progressed the session to take-own variations defending against varied attacks. Each athlete stayed with their chosen partner for the duration of the session. Everyone worked well including the coaches.

To finish off we went counter gyaku zuki to hone timing and accuracy. Roll on the British Championships.

Weight Training

Tuesday 25th August

With the British Championships looming the sessions become shorter but gain in intensity. We started with two sets of 10 power cleans at just over 50% bodyweight as fast as we can trying to be explosive throughout. We progressed to bench press at the same percentage weight to failure and squatted 90% of bodyweight to failure using the rack for safety. Felt Ok but I probably would have squeezed a few more reps if pressured to do so.

From a coaching perspective I feel I squuezed the last reps out of Carla forever trying to build the lactate threshold. Tomorrow daytime I'll complete another weight training session and the guys will rest up as we have a squad session tommorrow.

Fit2Fite with Greg Francis

Monday 24th August and at the bequest of Greg Francis, Carla Burkitt (European Bronze medallist) and I attended his now popular Fit2Fite classes. After making a slight navigational error we arrived half an hour late. Keen to experience the Fit2Fite routine I figured I could last 30 minutes of the session. 20 minutes working, 10 minutes cool down.......mmmmm......yeh I can handle that.

Well, 30 minutes came and went as I became to realise the session is longer than an hour!! Oh now maybe it's a two hour class. Time for a camera break!!!! (Check out the you tube clips in our video section). Fit2Fite is a Karate specific, aerobic and muscular endurance workout that will benefit both practicing and non-practicing Karate-Ka. Although it is not a replacement for the technical rudiments of your traditional Karate sessions it is however a useful beneficial addition. Well done Greg