Present: Me, Herb, Mike F, Mark, Alex, Jeff P.

Mike did a brief lesson on ayumi-ashi (normal walking), tsugi-ashi ("kata style" walking), and tai-sabaki (body control). We did some moving uchikomi with these stepping patterns.

Mike took Mark and Alex off and did some ne-waza randori, while Herb, Jeff, and I worked on kata.

Things to remember:

• Ippon-seoi-nage: uke's arm should be in the crook of tori's elbow, not across the shoulder. This will reduce the threat of uke strangling tori.
• Kata-guruma: on the second step, tori's sleeve-side hand should be starting the arc.

I should sit down and watch the video again, straight through.

After kata, I went and did some groundwork with Mark and Alex. Note to self: give them this URL on Wednesday, and maybe they can start their own training diaries, if they want to.

Minor injury: I think I bruised my calf muscle. I remember banging it on someone's bony knee, but I think I must've done something more to it during randori. Getting better now (it's Tuesday morning as I write this), so I don't think it's all that serious.

Present: Herb, Jeff P, Mike, Lawrence, me.

We worked on nikyu (blue) and ikkyu (brown) throws. My blue-belt throws felt really good, even o-guruma, which I haven't done in a while. Even the brown-belt ones, some of which are a little unfamiliar (though not completely alien) felt good.

Points to remember:

• Remember the difference between sumi-gaeshi (kind of a behind-the-knee tomoe-nage) and yoko-guruma ("around the tree").
• Ura-nage: Be sure to lift the hips skyward during the kake portion of the continuum.
• Hane-makikomi: Don't wrap the elbow up with the lapel-side hand; instead, bring the hand up high and around, in the arc you want your body to make.
• O-soto-guruma is rather like a cross between o-soto-gari and o-guruma. It's not just "clip both legs"; it's got the high-kick and lifting elements of o-guruma.
• Yoko-gake: the feet should stick together all the way through. Kind of like a mis-timed de-ashi-barai, where uke's foot is planted before the sweep, and you just keep… on… sweeping. And fall to the side.

Good practice. That crashmat is a brilliant purchase, esp. for knocking the rust off of things like makikomi and yoko-gake.

I've decided to try and maintain a training diary here, so that I can scribble down what goes on at the dojo. Hopefully it'll help me remember.

Tonight: Just me and Darcy. We worked on my kata for my ikkyu grading, whenever that's going to be. My kata felt very good tonight; everything fell into place, more or less.

Points to remember:

• On kata-guruma, the throw (ie, the drop) is to the side front corner, not straight to the side; the feet remain planted and both hands control the arm
• Uki-goshi is a full pivot — 180° (? clarify)
• On sasae-tsurikomi-ashi, after the block, bring the foot around to maintain balance
• Tsurikomi-goshi: take the collar grip at the initiation of hostilities, not on the second step
• Also on tsurikomi-goshi: there are five steps; three in the pivot just before kake
• Harai-goshi: on the third step, pivot with the leading foot (almost 180°), then bring the trailing foot in, pulse, then reap

We also went down the list for the throws, and I'm feeling fairly confident that I can do them, with varying degrees of expertise.

It was a small class — just me and Darcy — but it was a good class, too.