Remember I said that all grades train together and us kyu grades had to do higher level work sometimes. Well, today we were doing freestyle techniques which we do not need to use until brown belt, or as Sensei said, in competitions.

We had to do smaller stances and be lighter on our feet. We had to keep guard position and do extremely fast punches and pull back quickly. I am definitely not quick enough. I have worked on my strength, technique and kime in the past but my brain and body are certainly not in the fast lane! I sometimes feel that I am too old to have taken up karate. However, just because I am not fast does not put me off. I enjoy training so much that I just keep going to the best of my ability, and hoping that one day my brain will get into gear.

I learned a new word for the the smaller stances and steps, yori ashi.