Practical Karate, Again

Yes, today is my ( I don't want to disclose personal information) birthday and my sister gifted me this book: It's the first time anyone gives me something about Karate (or any Martial Art) for my birthday, so I guess I was a bit surprised. I didn't know the book and I didn't know the author but it looks interesting: Kumite Superior, Kumite para cinturones negros. Just a random pic of a random page, but you can see it is full of exercises to improve your coordination and reflexes. It looks a little bit weird because of the drawings (could be much better with pictures) but many many good ideas to use during class. I can't recommend it yet as I still didn't read and/or analyze it but first impression is good. Now, look at this: In the philosophical view of Camps Sensei Karate is a multifaceted thing, combination of multiple points of view. This may help some people understand why we have so many different ways of practicing ...

Today I want to thank my two friends Jourdan Chow and Skeven for visiting me in Spain during last week. We spent some time together, we did some training together, we ate together... Thank you guys! Missed you so much!! Here we are, in Barcelona, having brunch. Far right we have Pedro Patón, instructor of Defenselab, another good friend of mine. Let's see if I can make him shoot a video for us someday. @practicalkarateagain in Facebook

In this sunny day I used my brother Elies, part time karateka , to shoot a video I had in mind for a while. He lives in France and came to visit, so I took the chance to take him to the roof under the mid day sun and make him part of this blog. We almost had to shoot the video wearing sunglasses! Oss, brother! In this video I must explain first that I am not saying that all the "blocks" in kata must be used like this. I am just suggesting one way of "reading" what the different uke techniques can mean in the context of a kata . Of course, I forgot to explain  shoto uke ... Well, first I show the common application to uchi uke . Then I (try to) show how this can be useless in a fight. You can see that my brother is not attacking with all his will so I can deflect quite easily, but you get the point, don't you? I choose to explain a point of view that is similar to that of Aikido , but it also is something I use in MMA and while on t...

First of all, thank you to all my partners in Budokan Castellón who helped me prepare for the fight, thanks to Pedro, David, Xufei and specially Sensei Josep Florido for coming with me and helping me on fight night. Also, thanks to VFL for having me in this event. I would also thank my sponsors, but... Coming in. Spatial awareness run (thanks Ramsey!). Waiting for an opponent. Being introduced. Moving my arms. Thinking of the tactic. Where are my gloves? Well, the experience was amazing! I got to fight in a cage, in a nice promotion, against a very strong guy and then got to walk home unharmed, sure of having given all I had inside, that was not much. I gassed out too soon and could not play along very well. But it doesn't matter. The other guy, Fabio Wellinton, was more experienced, stronger and did a better fight. He was a nice guy before and after the fight and that is important too. Now, the fight: ...

Tomorrow is the day, thank you everyone who has helped me prepare this fight. Monday, time to put the gi on again and give some rest to my body. @practicalkarateagain in Facebook

Yes, I have been offered a MMA fight this Friday and I said yes . Can you find my interrogative face? Am I becoming a MMA fighter? No, not even a Karate fighter. I am a karateka, even if I crosstrain or push myself to try new (martial) things. My point is, how can I be sure how good my Karate is? Not how good my kime or how does my kata look or how fancy my bunkai is: am I ready to face violence? Because violence (unexpected) is what we all train for (I hope!), to be ready if shit happens. This fight will be a reality check for me. Yes, "Karate is not made for fighting in a professional arena", I also read that, but that doesn't mean that I can not go. I am not sure how good were people in Okinawa at fighting when that sentence was uttered (by Motobu?)  but nowadays many people train Martial Arts or combat sports so I think the situation has changed. In my quest for self-protection improvement I will face someone I have never seen before. A...

Yes, my friends, I am struggling to find my inner Soshin . Probably I am not humble enough (I knew that) but this week has been a challenge to my endurance. No, two months of inactivity and my injuries are not excuses for how bad I performed these days. I just joined a new club in my hometown and had a couple of classes there. I am mainly a karateka but decided to cross-train for a while in something new. Well, they just played with me. ALL of THEM. All the time. And this is hard to accept for someone with so many years of martial experience. You defeated so many people under so many different rule sets that being manhandled by so many people in so short time hurts.  It is difficult to accept. Me feeling like an ant Yes, struggling to not give up. My new training mates are expert grapplers. Really good. Better than 99% of other people I met in my life. And that made me think that all the crappy grappling that we see in most today's bunkai videos ar...

One of my training mates gifted me with a Japanese flag on my BRAND NEW gi. Well, life. @practicalkarateagain in Facebook

In this great selfie you can see my perfectly bent nose, product of a street fight when I was 10, that I lost against someone twice my size.  No, not a product of my courage but an attack. Well, kids... This morning I went to visit my Sensei, Celedonio García to his dojo, Celvic , to remember old times. Fortunately (for him) he is on holidays so I could not see him, but I got inside to take some pics from the different rooms and feel some nostalgia. The place is big (three stories) and Sensei is always experimenting and moving the weight room, the aerobic room and the dojo around almost every summer. I have trained in four different rooms in this place lol. Oh, there he is: Being caught in a wrist lock by his daughter.  Good job training her, Sensei!! Next week classes start again and I will be there to polish my Shotokan, that is in need of an update. Oss Sensei!!! @practicalkaratea...

On this sunny morning I have decided to resume training. Not that I decided to stop, but I moved to Spain, I had an injury (yes, always) and a bit of laziness made me take a hiatus that has ended today (yesterday, actually). Beautiful endless beaches... Yes, I lost some of my fitness during this monthly break, but I am not going to lie to you... Time to get some work done, bus as you can see, my protuding left rib prevents me from crunching. Some running in the park before going back to the beach for a pose: Just imitating Tombatossals , mythological hero of my hometown, Castellón de la Plana. You can have some views to really scale the size of that statue:  Tombatossals And after training, a nice treat: Wild figs!!! I love them!!! @practicalkarateagain in Facebook

Good morning everyone. Sorry for the long time without writing. I am in Spain now trying to decide my future. News are coming soon, but today let me show you the new video that the Honbu Dojo of Yuzenkai has produced. I hope you like it! @practicalkarateagain in Facebook

In my discharge I must say that I was just informed that I was fighting 100 rounds in my bye bye night from the JX Fight Club In Shanghai on my last day, last Thursday. Why not? What could possibly go wrong? Submission chain I was OK, exhausted but not in the limit yet, until about round 16 when someone from Ukraine cracked one of my left ribs WITH AN ARMBAR!!! Weirdest injury ever. I could not sleep next night, I had to work next day, I had a 14 hours flight next next day and then 5 hours drive to my home town... Well, he is a pro cage fighter so I guess it's OK. Good luck on your fight tonight in Xi'an Vitalii!!! Thanks everyone for attending my last day in JK Fight Club in Shanghai, where I learnt so my in this last year.  A year full of Shotokan and MMA, and that is a strange combo. Three (3) of these guys were pro fighters, so I guess that put some quality on the fights. Here it is, the full 24 minutes of fighting. Not much t...

I am so happy! I found my long lost SD card with pictures from my first trip to Japan, many years ago. Great memories!!! This was the time when I switched from twice a week to twice a day. This long trip changed my Budo life forever. Fighting in Japan? Well, there is a video at the end of my "doing" kumite . At the Kodokan, with Kano Shihan's statue. "Cooking". A beautiful temple near home. Children statues in the street. JKA Honbu dojo. I didn't have the opportunity of training there. Maybe next time? JKA Honbu dojo front view. At the Tokyo Dome! Confirmed. Not sure about this one... Okinawan restaurant! Visiting the Imperial Palace. Spanish restaurant in Shibuya. Soooo expensive... My neighbour. Rowing in Ueno, without a care in the world. Vegeta costume! 12000 Yen, that I, sadly, didn't have at the moment. I don't know how to title this one. My...