Plagiarism! (There’s No Laughing In Kata!)

Hey I stole(with permission) this from Katie, 4 stripe blue belt chick of Maxercise blog fame, who originally posted it on her very own blog- A Skirt on the Mat, which btw, you should check out. She seems to be a lot less lazy than me and put much more time and effort into blogging it up so instead of me stepping it up my game ill just copy... bam, blog!

There’s No Laughing In Kata!

September 10, 2010 by Katie

I went to Kata (specifically Nage No Kata)Class a few days ago, which our Judo peoples offer once a week, so it’s not all just competitive Judo, there’s a serious study and reflection on the techniques being taught and used.
Why is a jiu jitsu gal messing with Judo? Well, I’m not a fan of jumping guard as I tend to slam myself onto my back, more and more men and women are cross training between the two, and it’s a great way to learn some takedowns (and hip throws can be really pretty).
Anyway, in case you have no idea what I am talking about, Nage No Kata a formalized version of the different Judo throws, 5 sets of them, to be precise. You can read all about it here: Wikipedia. There is a level of seriousness and intent that is meant in all the actions you perform during this kata. And there is absolutely no laughing, giggling or snickering during the serious, Japanese Tea Ceremony-like activity.
This is the guy that is known as the founder of Judo (Jigoro Kano), and I don’t get the impression that his nickname was “Chuckles”:

borrowed from www.easternmartialarts.com

I admit, I giggled. Probably a lot more than I should have. But as I have mentioned plenty of times before, this is choreography of the martial arts kind. And I’m pretty bad with choreography, and there was no beat provided so my natural sense of rhythm couldn’t save me. So, I looked like a jackass. And I laughed about it.
But there’s No Laughing in Kata!
I was in the middle of practicing with another judoka with the form of Kata Guruma; in which the thrower (tori) is to enter into the throw after the initial appropriate 2 steps (for grip, then off balance) is to hold the throwee (uke) aloft for a second or two, then to flip them to the ground for the completion of the throw.
After we completed a rather lovely Uchi-Komi (fit in, aka practice or not for realsies throw) I commented that it was “like Motha F*ckin’ Swan Lake”
No! Laughing! In Kata!
…I’m not very good at this game.
We were eventually able to make through the rest of the sets and practice, but I have a feeling that I am going to need a lot more discipline to not be as rowdy as a twelve year old in the back of Math class.
Maybe if I had Tom Hanks yelling at me I would get myself in gear…hm….

There's No Laughing In Kata!

(photo borrowed from a sports website, who took it from the awesomeness of the film ‘A League of Their Own’)

Excellent Wednesday class, complete with promotions!

Yay! Katie and Evan both got another well-deserved stripe on their blue belts this evening after months of dedicated training and excellent performance. Anyone who has trained with either of them know that this needed to happen, next time, purple belt and some induction beatings!
Today's classes, both afternoon and evening were very well attended and had really good energy and technique, in the drilling as well as the training. Really liking the two-on-one series we have been going over, aka John's-stupid-thing-that-always-makes-me-fall-down-technique, with everyone having a pretty easy time retaining as well as applying it live.
Xande comes in tomorrow night and will be doing privates all day Friday, as well as hanging out, so everyone try to make it to class, and then of course Saturday's seminar.
Again, congratulations Katie & Evan!
I leave you with this...

Xande Ribeiro & The Philly Jiu-Jitsu Cup

So there are many things going on here at Maxercise, I wish that were why this is only the third blog post, but mainly, I'm pretty lazy. So this is what we have been up to...

September 18th, aka this Saturday we will be having Xande Ribeiro at Maxercise for a two hour seminar from 12pm-2pm. I'm not going to explain who this guy is, he is pretty much one of those in-need-of-no-introduction people, but, in short, he is the man. He will also be doing private lessons all day Friday and probably sitting in on classes.

Saturday,October 2nd-Maxercise will be co-hosting, along with Liberty Bell Judo, The Philadelphia Jiu-Jitsu & Judo Cup. Even though we are running the BJJ side it is by no means a "Maxercise" tournament, meaning that it is open to all teams, academies, and affiliations. Its our first go at hosting a "real", meaning not an In House, Tournament. We have been running In House Tournaments for a very long time and have recently been opening them up to more and more tp competitors from other clubs, with great efficiency and success, so its about time. Registration and more info is available on the event site which is http://www.phillyjiujitsucup.com/!

In addition to all that, the team will be upping their training and conditioning in preparation for the Saulo Ribeiro Association Annual Tournament, which is to take place on October 9th in Oklahoma. BONUS: we may get to DRIVE what I'm sure is an extremely scenic route to Oklahoma :(

I am also opening this baby up to contributions from teammates who also have blogs or have written something that i think is relevant to Maxercise and this blog. The end.

Saturday Class

Great Saturday class. We had another new female prospective student come in, this has been happening a lot lately and is a very good sign of a healthy club, and a growing sport. It was a pretty stacked room, high ranking blue belts and up, also a large class in terms of poundage, myself excluded.We continued to work on the pass we've been doing all week, the deep underhook of the leg with the other leg punched through as you plank out and angle your hips to ditch their hook(i swear this makes sense if you've been in class at all last week). Its a good pass, as well as the variations and progressions of it and i think its a great compliment and alternative to our very favorite knee cross pass, especially if you are tired and/or are just feeling smash-y. We are all going to head Champps tonight for the UFC as per usual, should be a good time with a bunch of us heading over. Beer, nachos, and bloodsport...im all over it.

First Post!

This will be Maxercise's very own blog. We will post up class overviews, news, events, tournament reviews, and maybe some poetry...