I continue to work on improving my Jitte kata. CrossFit training is really helping. To do the Olympic lifts, especially snatch and clean and jerk, one needs shoulder flexibility, among other things. I love the three-move sequence in the middle of Jitte in which the karateka executes a fumikomi (stomping kick) while holding the arms over head, and twists the body core in a one-two timing movement, with shoulders and arms just behind the landing of the foot and the snap of the hip.
The snatch is really a mystery movement to me now. Mine really suck. I need to work on basic form. CrossFit makes use of PVC pipe lengths to help get proper form without weight. I will get some PVC today to help improve snatch form and thereby, Jitte.
What a great feeling to do this sequence well. What a gift to move the body, seeking to have it conform to some ideal. Striving to do kata well, the way it "should" be done, reminds me of how we're hardwired to seek some standard. We're heading somewhere, and we have to figure things out for ourselves. But we have help. We're made in His image and likeness.
Who knew that a little plastic pipe could be so useful?
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