From the Diary of a Ninja (77): Fun, training (end of year)

The punching bag hit me 🙂

I know… normally you punch and kick the punching bag, but look, this Christmas the punching bag can take its revenge. 🙂 It’s kind of a… miracle. 🙂 These days I’ve been training first, with the intention of practicing what I can’t do at home. I went early because I’m not yet ready to make fun of the public around me, but when I get out of these phases it’s a shame to keep them to myself. At that time…

On Tuesday I arrived at the gym in a great mood. I worked with bo a bit trying to take into account all the advice I received over time. I also did some breathing exercises and was able to take long inhales and exhales… I almost couldn’t believe I was able to take in so much air, my chest felt like it was burning from the rich flow of air flooding my lungs. They were all fine and dandy until I had the brilliant idea of ​​trying to give one away as a gift Tsuki (punch) the punching bag. You have to get in line, set the table… First, I remembered all the signs I remembered… I get into position… I slowly lunge towards the punching bag, my right fist hits the target and that’s when I should have lined up and grabbed the table… Which I did. 🙂 The good thing is coming… After I set the table and got in line, a shock wave started, which would have been a good thing if it hadn’t gone in the opposite direction… 🙂 That is, it went from the fist, to the elbow, to the shoulder, to the right shoulder blade, diagonally down and came out between the ribs on the left side. Of course the punching bag also moved a little, but I think it did so… out of a feeling of embarrassment towards myself… out of pity… so as not to feel really stupid… I had a WTF moment.. Did I just get punched by the punching bag?!?… 🙂 Really?! 🙂 Of course on Friday I took advantage of the fact that the more advanced colleagues came and asked them for some details… for example, how you hold your wrist when you punch and more precisely with which part of the fist you actually hit… The information received was diverse and rich, but I still have to process it. There were a lot of «it depends» (how you hit, how big the opponent is, etc.) in their speech… At one point Cosmin said to me, analyzing my closed fist: «look, this finger of yours (no – ring) it is very likely to break if you punch it“…And I think he is right because this bitterness of the fingers tends to get out of place… 🙂 But anyway, at least now I know one thing for sure: in 2025 I want to try the punching bag. Heck, in the end I still have to figure out this “setting the table” part.

On Friday, still during ninjutsu training, we worked on basic things. I like these. I never get tired of repeating them. Yes… there are some things that I still can’t assimilate, integrate into my structure… Finally… I’ll try again… I’ll give myself another chance in 2025 (even if I don’t really deserve it)… This time, it was our colleague Cosmin who guided us into the secrets of ninjutsu (who… bad luck… pulled out the short stick). 🙂

Brief parenthesis. Sensei sometimes tells us that when you are unbalanced you can transmit this imbalance to your opponent. Acu’… this thing doesn’t work for me… Yeah… give me a minute or two to talk to my opponent and I can convey to you all the confusion in my head, put him in a thick fog that you won’t find him for a month. 🙂 What I did at the Japanese sword class when the victim was one of the advanced colleagues (a man of all abilities), only then my partner in crime it was Alina, this time it was Irina. I close the parenthesis.

On Friday Cosmin proposed that we repeat several positions, including jumonji. This is a position in which the hands are in an X in front of the chest, and with one hand you grab the opponent and with the other hand you hit him in the neck, in the head. Buuuun. Cosmin showed us both the right and the left several times and showed us various attacks. While I was observing him carefully (concern appeared in the gaze later 🙂 ), Irina asks me: «so… which hand do I hang with, the back one or the front one? And is the hand I’m hanging with outside or inside?«. Questions that I know very well because they have been nagging me since I’ve been here… We discuss intensely and come to the following conclusion: the hand with which you step back and hook the opponent will be in front (i.e. on the outside) and the hand that stays in front and with which he strikes will be behind (i.e. on the inside). Which, at the time, made perfect sense to us. I almost succeeded. Cosmin comes to see how the exercise is going and obviously we feel the need to check if our theory is good and share it. You know how it is… in your head it may sound good, but… when it comes to putting it into practice you’re still a little stuck. After a few seconds of confusion, in which it seemed that I had given it to him chessCosmin gives us simple checkmate saying nonchalantly: «ah well it doesn’t matter how your hands are placed… if you put them the other way around you go down more and hit your ribs!.” 🙂 Our whole beautiful theory collapsed in a second… That’s when I felt my mind “boiling” as I tried to come up with another theory… How the hell do you calm her down? I just told him this: aku’ shut up and hit yourself in the ribs, if you still put your hands upside down! ! 🙂

I’ll tell you more next year!