kata work: starting with stance

Above is a picture of our living room floor.  Those blue marks you see are pieces of tape we put on the floor to mark the perfect stance.   We measured it out before we put the tape down to ensure we were accurate.  So, this week my goal is to daily stand in stance to get used to what it feels like. I am also doing basics (blocks, punches, and kicks) in this position.  I will also work on the first kata but mostly this week is about developing the feel for the perfect stance.
Oh and today is my 40th without sweets!

belt testing

Now that I have my diet in order (some 40 days without sugar and still going strong) it is time to get my workouts figured out.  I am going back to my T-Tapp workout since they really rehab your body in a gentle way.  T-Tapp needs to be a 5 day a week workout to be effective.  But, I also need to get regular kata workouts in.

Kata is a problem for me.  Some people can do kata and feel when they are doing it wrong.  I don't mean getting a movement wrong.  I more mean that I can't really feel when my basics, like stances, are wrong.  When I used to go into to Saturday open gyms at the dojo, one thing Sensei used to constantly say is that I should not progress to a new kata until I had the first one perfected.  I have been thinking a lot about how I can use that piece of advice here at home.  So, this is what I came up with....belt testing.

My husband is a black belt and as such, he helps with testing at the dojo.  He knows what Sensei is looking for in kata and basics.  So, I am going to work on kata here at home starting with the very first kata you get for your white belt.  After a while of practising it, I will have my husband basically test it.  If he thinks it is up to par then I will go to the next belt's kata.  This way I will just slowly but surely work up the belt rankings.  My hope is that by the time I get to my ranking (green belt with two stripes) I will have not only have mastered kata and basics but also gotten a lot of weight off.  This plan starts today!