July 27, 2009

Stupid Feet

You know you've had a good work-out when your toes hurt.

On Saturday morning, I attended a black belt work-out at the dojo. We usually have visitors from other dojo's come, but I was especially delighted to see Sensei Carla Molinaro attending this one. She is a Goju-Ryu practitioner and she is intense. During summer training camp, I attended a Sanchin seminar with her and I was impressed.

Although a good foot shorter than many of the men she used as uke, she was doing an excellent job of pushing them around. She explained that the Goju style is sort of like a gnat. In your face, constantly bothering and pushing you around. I'll tell you right now that after watching her for a while, I can think of many more men I'd want to tangle with before I'd ever think about making her upset with me.

Hanshi asked Sensei Molinaro to run the warm-ups on Saturday morning and I've never experienced anything like it. The warm-ups combined stretching with striking and conditioning and there wasn't a person who wasn't drenched when we were finished.

One of the things she had us do was a real challenge. She talked about the importance of gripping the floor with your feet and then had us do some foot exercises. We took turns lifting up our big toes while gripping the floor with our other four toes. Then we'd switch and grip with our big toes while lifting the other four toes up. When she noticed some of us were having a bit of trouble (it was quite challenging), she laughed and told us that putting our feet in sneakers makes our feet "stupid."

Next she had us move our bodies forward using only our toes to crawl us along. I happen to have finger-toes so I was ok with this exercise, but each and every one of the warm-ups made your body "think" and work to coordinate and then add power.

I am definitely intrigued by the Goju-Ryu style. The conditioning drills are excellent and watching Sensei Molinaro, there is no doubt they work and work quite well. I am thankful to be part of an organization that incorporates many different styles. Exposure to different styles and new ways of making your body stronger and smarter is something I absolutely love.

Now if someone could just please tell me how to stretch out my toes properly, I'd really appreciate it.

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