Chapter 2, Karate, an alternative story.
In this edition: My instructors and fellow trainees at the UKKW Mansfield Dojo. How we actually trained. Demonstrations. Eddie the Tattooed Dragon.
(Again, some names changed for obvious reasons)
What was training actually like in 1974?
At the Mansfield Dojo, it took me quite some time to get hold of a Gi, so I trained in jeans and a favoured yellow Adidas t-shirt. Nobody had ‘jogging bottoms’ and, as previously mentioned, nobody wore shorts. What we now call ‘athleisure’ (athletic leisure wear) only existed in just a basic way, hence the t-shirt. Really, it was just street clothes or the type of sports kit that you associated with team sports like football, there was no variety and no in-between.
In the class, the warm-up was very callisthenic, low on stretching, high on boot-camp style sit-ups and press-ups, which were always on the knuckles, no exceptions, this was an important part of your training. The argument for the knuckles press-ups must surely be as old as karate itself. We were told that the knuckles to wrist alignment was vital for effective punching, anything else was weak and liable to cause damage. Over the years we did so many that I found flat-hand press-ups actually didn’t deliver for me. The lower dip needed for knuckles press-ups also felt as if it gave a greater range of movement, which it probably did.
Different instructors slightly customised their warm-ups. Dave Nichols was heavily into muscle culture and as such there was a lot of arms and shoulders and heavy repetitions on squatting.