Day 2 of London to Brighton Training: After the 14k walk on Sunday, it was time for some strength and aerobic exercise. As I've always hated the gym (boring) and the training guide suggested interval training, I decided to return to martial arts and, after checking out a few such as Aikido and Iaido, returned to my first love of Judo, which was always the most intense workout I remember doing.
...Athough in my mind it was only a few months since I was last on the mat, the way I feel this morning suggests that it was in fact some time in the mid-Seventeenth Century.
The club I joined boasts a number of members of the British Squad and they regularly win a lot of medals in national competitions. However the Sensei was very good and completely understood that I needed to start gently as I work to regain my fitness and that although previously graded, I was wearing a white belt. He paired me with another beginner whose first session was last week, so although I knew more, we were relatively evenly matched. Having said that, he threw me a lot more than I threw him, but then he did have a major advantage in being nearly 10 and, as such, both fitter and with a greater capacity to learn new motor skills.
My fitness wasn't good enough to do all the Randori (free sparring) and I had to sit some of that out, instead working with resistance bands to practice techniques that, oddly, began to come back to me. I guess muscles remember better than brains sometimes - where ARE my keys anyway?
A hot bath when I got home seems to have alleviated most of the aches, although I'd forgotten how much the burn marks from where the suit gets violently rubbed against the skin look like hickeys. However, something seems to have happened to my left knee, which has registered a formal protest and is demanding that I return, forthwith, to my sedentary lifestyle. If knees could type it would, first thing this morning, have put my Judo suit up on eBay and I have no doubt have bid on a LazyBoy recliner with built-in popcorn maker.
However, this does mean that my good-intentioned plan to get up early and get another shortish walk in was, in retrospect, rather optimistic. Liberal application of Tiger Balm and some gentle stretches will hopefully ease it enough to let me walk later - if only to the kitchen for a coffee.
Will I be going back to Judo? You bet. There is a 9-year-old's scalp with my name on it and the honour of his grandad's generation is at stake!See more
...Athough in my mind it was only a few months since I was last on the mat, the way I feel this morning suggests that it was in fact some time in the mid-Seventeenth Century.
The club I joined boasts a number of members of the British Squad and they regularly win a lot of medals in national competitions. However the Sensei was very good and completely understood that I needed to start gently as I work to regain my fitness and that although previously graded, I was wearing a white belt. He paired me with another beginner whose first session was last week, so although I knew more, we were relatively evenly matched. Having said that, he threw me a lot more than I threw him, but then he did have a major advantage in being nearly 10 and, as such, both fitter and with a greater capacity to learn new motor skills.
My fitness wasn't good enough to do all the Randori (free sparring) and I had to sit some of that out, instead working with resistance bands to practice techniques that, oddly, began to come back to me. I guess muscles remember better than brains sometimes - where ARE my keys anyway?
A hot bath when I got home seems to have alleviated most of the aches, although I'd forgotten how much the burn marks from where the suit gets violently rubbed against the skin look like hickeys. However, something seems to have happened to my left knee, which has registered a formal protest and is demanding that I return, forthwith, to my sedentary lifestyle. If knees could type it would, first thing this morning, have put my Judo suit up on eBay and I have no doubt have bid on a LazyBoy recliner with built-in popcorn maker.
However, this does mean that my good-intentioned plan to get up early and get another shortish walk in was, in retrospect, rather optimistic. Liberal application of Tiger Balm and some gentle stretches will hopefully ease it enough to let me walk later - if only to the kitchen for a coffee.
Will I be going back to Judo? You bet. There is a 9-year-old's scalp with my name on it and the honour of his grandad's generation is at stake!See more
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