DAY TWO of my journey second to nun…chuck

The summary of today’s efforts could be put into one word:  OUCH!!!

A brief look at my goals for today’s journey into nunchuckdom …

STRIKE 1 X 500 (Yes – upping the stakes a little) STRIKE 2 X 100

For the most part I was simply trying to draw on yesterday’s gleaned wisdom (which, as you can imagine, didn’t take too long …).  Let’s take today’s goals one by one:

Think ‘wrist’!  Yes, I definitely tried to do that and when I managed to do it there were glimmers of occasional hope! It works! It really does! Building on the consistency of glimmers could be a problem …

Look straight ahead, not down:  Yes, managed to execute this one.

Think ‘strike’, not ‘caress’! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Yes. I seem to remember this being linked with my idea to ‘commit’ to the strikes rather than attempting anything half-hearted. Well, I’m still going to stick with this strategy as it definitely helped. Somehow, you have to take the fear out of walloping yourself and aim it elsewhere! Doing this certainly helped with speed and, I think, accuracy. Needs work, but reasonably happy with this theory and how it’s progressing.

Focus! – Yes, well, erm … herein lies the key. I vaguely remember saying something about the benefits of wooden nunchucks because when you ‘miss’ something it’s going to hurt more than the rubber nunchucks. I can confirm that my ‘hurting more’ theory is correct. I’m taking back the bit about the benefits! For now, at least (she says, cradling a golf-ball sized squidgy bruise on her right elbow that, yes, also has two CUTS across it). Ouch and double bloody ouch and other unprintables! That really REALLY hurt (and jab-cross blasts at kickboxing tonight were NOT fun, as a result). It’s not even just a simple bruise – it’s a large bloomin’ lump – and I didn’t expect to get cut, but hey! That’s what this journey is all about, isn’t it? Live and learn! My only real complaint is that I got plenty of sympathetic ooo’s and ah’s from my family members and friends UNTIL I told them how I did it – when they proceeded to roll about the floor laughing their heads off! Some family! Hrrrrumph!

OK – so I appreciate that the vision of Granny here, playing with nunchucks in the corner of the park is probably a sight that could reduce many to tears of hysterical laughter …. but my elbow hurts!

Lack of focus – that’s what it was. Things were going so well ……… and I relaxed and started to feel a little chuffed with myself, and hey ho, I have a very clear reminder to carry around for a few days to NOT lose focus or get cocky.

Which reminds me ………. that bit about getting a little cocky? That doesn’t work, either. Not a good idea. I was about halfway through my planned practise when I decided that maybe I should throw in a few spins and catches. I was trying to spin about five times and then catch under the same arm. It was fine until for some reason as I was going for a catch I decided to move my wrist in the opposite direction (don’t ask …) and promptly ended up with a healthy clout on my head, the nunchucks went flying and …………… it was quite funny actually!

The rest of the session went quite well. Completed what I set out to do.

LESSONS LEARNED/QUESTIONS TO ASK

• When things are seemingly going smoothly it’s vital to maintain focus and not relax!
• Nunchucks don’t just bruise – they cut, too!
• I seem to remember saying yesterday that the only ‘pain’ I felt was in my knuckles, when I missed the catches. I can now safely add ‘head’ and ‘oh yes elbow!’ to that list.
• When you’re spinning nunchucks and getting ready for a catch, don’t bloody change direction, you idiot!
• The chances of me getting to grips with this weapon in time for forthcoming karate grading is less and less likely
• Strike 2 (over the shoulder and catch under – same arm) … is trickier than it appears – or is it? If you do it fairly slowly, then the nunchuck wraps under your arm (or tries to) when it’s over your shoulder – making it more difficult to bring back with enough momentum to catch it at the front. To avoid this, today I was trying to use lots of wrist action to start it coming forwards again before it ‘settled’ behind my shoulder. This kind of appeared to work – except that it has to be very fast and I’m not sure if this is necessary or if I’m wasting time trying to make something simple appear difficult! Will have to ask about that …

THOUGHTS FOR TOMORROW

(a)    Focus!

(b)   Watch that elbow because another blow on the same place and my sessions are going to have to come to a halt for a couple of weeks!

(c)    KEY GOAL FOR TOMORROW: I am going to try a slightly new tactic and attempt to forge some kind of friendship with my nunchucks, rather than fighting them, as I seemed to be doing today. It’s a tricky one – because no matter how friendly, somehow I still need to convince them to play by my rules – and being the boss AND a best friend seldom works. Will be working on this.

That’s it for now. Where’s the arnica?

Philosophical end to Day Two:  Feel sorry for the Director of the North American Nunchuck Association – would you really want to be head of NANA? I wonder how many calls he gets enquiring about babysitting?  Mind you – guess it’s a positive that it’s not the British And North American Nunchuck Association!