Started ninpo last week

I know, I know... I was going to work out some more before I was going to do martial arts again. And I kinda said a long time ago that the martial arts chapter in my life was closed for good...

But this was just too good to pass up on.
The odds of finding a traditional Japanese ju-jutsu or ninpo school in the area (anywhere) are slim, even if you live near a big city. But Genbukan opened a ninpo dojo here, less than 5 minutes from where I live.
The sensei grew up in the street where I now live, and he recently moved back here and decided to open a dojo. It has been open for a month now. Today was my second lesson.
I saw the flyer in the supermarket, checked out the website, contacted the sensei, and felt that the opportunity was just too good to let slip.

Ninpo is very technical. Even though we are all beginners at this dojo (some like me with some experience in a different background) the excercises include throws, locks, and pressure points (that spot on my wrist hurt for days...) and I am really glad that I have 4 years of jiu-jitsu experience. So locking and falling are at least something that come fairly easy to me. The rest is still difficult enough.

The nicest thing about martial arts is that on the mat I am so focused that I somehow forget everything else, and manage to think about only 1 thing for 2 full hours. So even though the physical part is difficult and sometimes tough, I feel relaxed afterwards.

I have to say it is extremely satisfying to do martial arts again. It feels 'right' to me.
My kids are finally old enough that it is not a problem for one of us to be out in the evenings. Hopefully I can keep doing this for a long time.

Have fun, Bruno.

The older we get, the more body motion we need for good physical and cerebral health.
:tu

Bart.

Way to go Bruno !!!
I had a funny feeling you were going this direction ...:D

I am not sure if this will translate correctly but the words will be the most heard in a Dojo...

Mo Ichido or Once Again ;)

Or "Yeah that that was almost perfect, Now do it again" :roflmao

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Way to go Bruno !!!
I had a funny feeling you were going this direction ...:D

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There is a saying in flemish that roughly translates to 'Blood crawls where it cannot run', meaning that if something is in your nature, you cannot really escape it.

It went a little like this:

I saw that flier, and I thought. No. I vowed not to do this again.... what's the name of the dojo?
Ok I'll just have a look at their website... just out of interest. I am not going to make contact....
Ok I'll just send the sensei an email to see what it is they are teaching there, but just out of curiosity...
Ok I'll just go once to see what ninpo is about. The first lesson is always free...

Like a moth to a flame... :rofl2:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

I am not sure if this will translate correctly but the words will be the most heard in a Dojo...

Mo Ichido or Once Again ;)

Or "Yeah that that was almost perfect, Now do it again" :roflmao

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Yep. Practise makes perfect (in 10 to 50 years :D).

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Originally Posted by Bruno

I saw that flier, and I thought. No. I vowed not to do this again.... what's the name of the dojo?
Ok I'll just have a look at their website... just out of interest. I am not going to make contact....
Ok I'll just send the sensei an email to see what it is they are teaching there, but just out of curiosity...
Ok I'll just go once to see what ninpo is about. The first lesson is always free...

Like a moth to a flame... :rofl2:

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Heh, sounded like my conversation with myself about my motorcycle

I'm bored...I want to cruise Cycle Trader and see what bikes are going for.
Oh wow, that's a great price. There's probably something wrong with it.
Jeeze nothing wrong with it...no harm in just looking...what a great price.
It will save me money on gas...

:gaah:

Congrats! A ninpo school opening up within 5 min of your house? C'mon! Did you have any chance of holding off?

What makes ninpo "more technical" than Ju-Jitsu?

Happiness is all about finding a passion!

Yeah, I could not really let this opportunity pass me by.

As for the differences... Bear in mind that I am still new to this, and that I cannot speak for all jiu-jitsu systems. Only for the one I followed, and which was taught by most sensei I got to know during the time I practised.

One big difference is that in jiu-jitsu (or at least in the modern system that I followed) there was no mention of pressure points.

Another difference is that locks of all kind are part of the curriculum from day one. In my old system, this was slowly built up, and not taught to beginners because of the risk of injury. Ninpo also has much more variations in types of rolling, kamae (stance) and tai-sabaki (evasion by body movement / footwork)

We also spent a good portion of our time on things like pushups and situps, jumping and running, while warming up at this dojo consists or repetitive short excercises (attack / defense) to warm up the muscles, and stretching.

The impression I have is that what I was taught was a simplified / watered down version of the traditional ju-jutsu (which overlaps with ninpo in several areas). I don't mean to imply it was inferior or anything. Just that it was different, with different goals / ideals.

I'm jealous. I only trained for a very brief stint (about a year) in shorinji ryu, but it was enough to make me fall in love with martial arts. I know what you mean about being focused on the mat and leaving with a sort of euphoria, no matter how hard the workout. Congrats on finding an awesome traditional school. Now stop talking about how cool it is, my bank account won't like paying for a school and you're not helping me avoid it. :p

Way to go Bruno! Once you've been bitten, it's really hard to stay off the mat. There's a certain energy that comes with practice. Simply setting foot inside the dojo brings a burst of energy it's hard to find elsewhere. I've never left the dojo in a worse mood than when I arrived.

Today's session was much more intense than the previous ones.
We spent all time on the basic kamae, either going forward for a single punch, or going backward with a single block. left-right-left-....

The ninpo kamae is unlike any other kamae I've ever learned, so it is really starting from scratch. My legs are going to burn tomorrow :( ah well. It was a good workout.

The heat made me thirsty, and combined with the warming up it really made me feel sick. Training explosive motions is really tiring if you are not used to it. But just before I started feeling sorry for myself, I snapped out of it and said to myself 'come on, this is nothing compared to what you went through in jiu-jitsu. Suck it up. You are going to continue, and you'll only stop if you get sick or faint.'

As I went on my body started adapting and I started to ignore my discomfort. At the end of the class I was feeling better again, and relaxed. I'll probably take some time this week to repeat the basic kamae, going forward and backward. Basic training is called that because it is vital. all the other stuff that gets heaped on top is useless unless the basics are right. On top of that, it will be good for building up my stamina again.

Next week, the head sensei of our dojo will teach class. Better make sure I am well hydrated :)
Btw, I found out that the highest level European genbukan ninpo sensei (Kyoshi 7th dan) is a Belgian. Go Belgium :tu

On the 24th of Jan, this was the status

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As of today, I weigh 75 kg (165 lbs), I can do 30 controlled pushups, and I can kick the crap out of tigger :D(stuffed animal) at 4,75 feet height.

The kicking height has already improved significantly, and I am slowly getting more flexible in the inner thigh area. I remember from earlier days that the key to good leg flexibility is doing short daily execercises to train the muscles that you normally don't use.

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2 months later, I still weigh 75 kg. I've lost a certain amount of fat, but as muscle mass builds up, the loss and gain cancel each other out.
I can do 51 controlled pushups, and my kicking height has increased to 5.2 feet height. I started working on leg strength as well, and this has significantly improved my technique. It occurred to me that just being flexible isn't of much use if you don't have the strength to lift your leg high enough.

Last week we leared the first forward shoulder roll. I had to correct the end position of my toes, but otherwise my (JJ) roll was fine, so I could help out the rest. I had to show how to do it repeatedly.
At the end I asked sensei if apart from my toes, everything was OK and he said show me again.
So I rolled several times on each shoulder, from a kneeling position and a standing position. He then asked me to roll without using my arms. I did that too several times. That was OK too.
Only with all the rolling from standing position, I got vertigo. Combined with having eaten too late (circumstances) I wasn't feeling too well. But luckily that was the end of class.

I train basic kihon and tai sabaki twice per week so I am getting some routine in that as well. All in all, it's going rather well. So far so good :)