Ow my aching sides (Black belt workout)

[rawnshah]

The year's just begun and the first real workout I had to attend was the blackbelt workout that the Kodenkan holds every so often. It's an all day thing of seminars for different martial arts that is mandatory and exclusive to the yudansha.

I was glad to see most of our battodo yudansha who were in town attending and working out. We learned new things outside of swordfighting: jujitsu, karate, and knife fighting.

I took the jujitsu seminars and found one or two of the basic throws that seem to be quite applicable to muto (no sword) techniques. It'll take some practice to get it right. The same goes for some of the knife fighting disarms and self-defense moves.

All in all it was a good day, but after 6+ hours of getting thrown, choked, tripped, punched, blocked, and giving just as much, boy is my body sore. Surprisingly, I didn't tire out my shoulders or back like I do with intense sword training. A day later I've discovered a whole new set of aching muscles.

[Steve Waldstein]

Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. I had some trouble getting up in the morning 'cause my biceps were aching too much to even push my body weight up.