Thursday, May 29, 2008

2nd Judo Class

Jammed my thumb in the first ten minutes of class doing these summer sault things. Let me tell you something... 41 year old fat men should not be doing summer saults. After that undignified 15 minutes of flailing around like a beached whale we did the back and forth practice throws which went a bit smoother until I realized I was limping and my second toe was an attractive black and blue.

Finally came the randori. All that was worth the randori. Yes I got thrown but one of the throws I was up in the air... just weightless and spinning.... and then crash and back pain. It hurt really bad but the throw was sooooooo cool. After the drive home I realized I was too sore to walk to my front door so I pretended to be checking out my gardens as I limped bent over to my house. All in all a good second class.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

My 1st Judo Class

When I quit teaching Taiji I thought I was going to study more Taiji but instead I decided to try Judo. What better way to test my taiji skillz than in a judo class? I've never really learned the taiji throws which are basically judo throws so I see judo as just more taiji training. Maybe not... but how many taiji guys do you know who have actually tried using taiji against a judo guy?

I've been in enough karate and kung fu classes run by ego maniacs throwing angry punches and kicks at mirrors to just expect the worst in most dojos. But tonight I did my first judo class and everyone had fun and I didn't notice I single egomaniac. The first hour pooped me out (I'm 41) so I sat for the last 30 minutes and that's when I noticed the fun being had by all.

After I sat the randori started and everyone was laughing. It didn't matter if you were throwing or getting thrown, everyone was having fun. The Sensei guy running the place was absolutely having a ball with everyone. Maybe it was just a good night for everyone, I dont know.

Nice time....Any Judoka here?