10.10.07 - Wednesday Practice

New Items Today:

• Blue Belt Techniques

Reviewed Other Items:

• Purple Belt Kicking Drill

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Warm Ups
Sifu asked Rich to warm us up yesterday and get things going. He took us through some exercises and stretches that were a little different from what we usually do. We started off with jumping jacks and then did a series of static leg stretches. After the stretching, he had us lay on our backs with our hands beneath our butt and raise our feet about 6 inches off the floor and hold it. From there, we did some scissors and then held the position again. Rich finished us with some leg raises from a neutral bow position.

Sifu took back over and we went through some additional stretching. I’m not sure what you call this but he had us start in something similar to a wide horse, then turn to our left and lean over the left knee. The back stays vertical and the trailing (right) foot sort of rolls to the side with the right leg straight. We do this stretch quite a bit in our normal warm ups. The next one was similar. You start out in that wide stance again facing forward. You then move your hips to the left and sort of “sit” on the left foot, keeping the left foot flat and planted on the ground. You face the right foot and, keeping the knees locked out and leg straight, you position your foot vertically with the right heel on the floor and your toes pointing straight up. This one always gets me. I tend to lose my balance and fall on my butt, which is what I did tonight.

After these static stretches, we all “grabbed a chunk of wall” and did our usual array of dynamic stretches. Sifu seemed to focus hard on the particulars of what we were doing and why, presumably for those who hadn’t heard it before. Starting off standing perpendicular to the wall with the left shoulder and holding the wall with the left hand for balance, we did some side leg raises. The particulars about this stretch are that the foot should be horizontal to the floor (or toes slightly pointing down), the leg should be locked out, and the torso should be upright (not leaning forward). Additionally, the foot that is planted on ground should have the toes pointing toward the wall at approximately a 45 degree angle. There is a little history to this last item. Sifu tells us that there is a difference in the stretching result when you have your planted foot parallel to the wall versus having your foot pointing 45 degrees toward the wall, and you can certainly feel the difference when you actually do this. The foot parallel to the wall is similar in kicking style to the Okinawa/Japanese styles where as the foot at the angle more closely represents the position of a Korean kicking style.

Several repetitions of leg stretches later, still at the wall, we turned and faced the wall for rear heel stretches. This stretch also has particular items to be mindful of in order take full advantage of the stretch. We start by looking over our shoulder to where we are kicking/stretching while bracing forward against the wall with our hands. Then we simply lift the back leg up with the toes pointed at the floor, keeping the back as straight as possible. The toes pointing down is very important as it is relative to doing a good back kick. After several repetitions of these stretches, we did some rear heel kicks. Starting from a similar position, the difference is that the kick starts with the kicking foot moved so that it is resting on the ball of that foot. When you fire the kick, you are coming straight up and back at a 45 degree angle to full extension and then quickly returning to the start position. The toes are pointing straight down to the floor and the kick leads with the heel of the foot. It is because of the form required in this kick that we do our stretching exercises with similar form.

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Purple Belt Kicking Drills
After all of that leg stretching we did a drill that we do frequently – the Purple Belt Kicking Drill. Since we have been doing this I have seen Walt do it slightly different than me and I decided to try it his way this time. As you are going through the drill, you do the ball kick, roundhouse kick, back kick, rear heel kick, side kick to the knee, and cover. I usually advance in the direction I’m kicking after the back kick before I go into the rear heel kick. This time I just brought the foot straight back to position without advancing in preparation for the rear heel kick. I found this minor change to affect the drill in a couple of ways. The first thing I noticed was that it was easier for me to keep centered over my supporting leg. The other thing I noticed was that the line of pursuit was shortened or in other words the total distance traveled over the course of the drill was shorter. I guess the long and the short of it (pardon the pun) is that there are always options in how you train.

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Blue Belt Techniques
After the Kicking Drill, we broke off into pairs/groups and worked on technique. I worked with Phyl this evening and he took me through some more Blue belt techniques. We started by reviewing Trapped Lightning because I had a question regarding the chop to the throat and the timing between that and the foot sweep. We did it a few times and I determined I’m just going to have to practice it until I can get comfortable with the positioning. We then moved on to the Universal Block, Gripping Talon, and Blinding Dagger.

• Universal Block (defense against a right round kick): This one was different right off the bat because you don’t start in a natural stance but rather in a right neutral bow. As the kick comes in, you create a sort of a shield with three of your limbs for what seems like maximum protection. From the right neutral bow, you shift weight back to the left leg allowing you to draw your right leg straight up to vertical position, blocking low with your shin. At the same time you bring your right elbow toward your knee with a right inward block, with your arm ending vertical above the knee. Your left arm comes in perpendicular with the left fist meeting near the union of your elbow and knee. This one is tough to put into words but moving into this position creates blocking with both arms and one leg and at the same time protects your entire front torso and groin. When used in this technique you don’t camp out in this position but as soon as you receive the kick, you immediately shoot a right side kick to the attackers back (left) inside knee causing him to buckle and “dead-leg” his kick. Retract the kick and bring it back enough to plant on that same (right) leg and deliver a left rear heel kick. Returning to a quasi neutral bow, lead back into the assailant with an elbow that morphs into an vertical back-fist to the bridge of the nose. Cover to safety.
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• Gripping Talon (escape from a cross hand wrist grab): This one strikes me as “short and sweet”. It starts with the adversary facing you, reaching across with their right hand and grabbing your right wrist. The first move is to step forward into a left neutral bow while delivering as left straight punch to the face (ideally to the filtrum). The left hand then guidelines down the arm delivering a chop to the top of the assailants forearm that is gripping your hand. The point of impact should be at the radial nerve above the wrist where the radial arm bone comes into the wrist (Note: Sifu teaches to strike to the small bones on the back of the hand coming up to the index finger in lieu of the forearm). The chopping motion should have torque on it in the same manner as if you delivering a downward block. As you are delivering this strike, you should be pulling your right arm back into ready position as the chop is coming down. The left hand then moves up to check and the right hand “shoots the loop” to deliver a straight punch to the face of the assailant. Cover out to safety.
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  In speaking with Phyl about this in a little detail, we discussed checking low with the left hand in lieu of “shooting the loop” to avoid the possibility of being trapped.
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• Blinding Dagger (defense against a right back-fist): This one was a little tricky for me for some reason, even though I felt like I had a good understanding of the technique. It starts in a right neutral bow and is in response to the attacker’s back-fist. As the attacker comes in with the right back-fist, you step from a right neutral bow into a right cross stance and launch an eye poke with the right hand. As the attacker reacts to this eye poke by bringing his back-fist back toward his injured eye, your right hand comes back and hooks that very wrist, with your left hand moving in to assist. From here you move your right leg into a forward bow to buckle the attacker’s left leg while simultaneously bringing the trapped hand from the area of your right shoulder to your left hip, effectively planting him on the ground. Cover out to safety.
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  I had asked about the timing of the initial eye poke and how it seemed that I was having to evenly use my muscle against the attacker’s muscle as our two forearms clashed. Sifu’s comment was in recollection to something Master Vic had told him some time ago regarding the three options you have when confronted with an attack: “Meet it, beat it, or eat it”. In this technique, you definitely have to beat the attacker to the punch.
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  There are a few other things to consider when executing this technique. When you move in to hook the attacker’s hand, you need to keep the elbow anchored and don’t allow it to go horizontal. Also, as you bring the trapped hand from the shoulder to the hip, it is important to keep your back straight and the feet should be flat on the floor for stability.

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Toward the end of the evening, Phyl and I switched gears and we worked on some of his material. Special thanks to Phyl for all of his help this evening.

10.05.07 - Friday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Blue Belt Techniques

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Mat Work
2. Yellow Belt Techniques

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Warm Ups
I was a little late getting in today due to some nasty traffic snarls on the Beltline. When I arrived and dressed, Walt, Phil and Rich were moving around getting loosened up a little bit. Sifu and I went through some of the Yellow belt techniques that we learned on Wednesday. After just a few minutes a couple more students arrived, one with a visitor in tow. Sifu went over to address them and I worked with Rich for a few minutes until class started.

Once class was officially underway, Sifu asked Walt to lead the warm ups. He took us through a good amount of limbering and stretching as well as the usual leg stretches. We also did some lunge punches and ball kicks. I was pretty warmed up by the time we finished up.

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Mat Work
Today’s mat work was fairly typical of our normal practice on the mats. The only difference really was that we had a visitor that was participating alongside us with some of our activities. He chose to just watch as we worked on the mat but Sifu had us do our normal regimen. We all did forward rolls both staying down and coming up. At that point Phyl, Walt and I did some belt rolls as Sifu explained what it was and why we do them. At the end of our mat work, Sifu had Walt do some air rolls. It’s always fun to watch the faces of people who see these things for the first time and today was no different. After the air rolls and explanations we put the mats aside and moved on.

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Blue Belt Techniques
We split off into several groups to work technique. Walt and I were paired up and he took me through several Blue belt techniques: Bridging Claw (inside defense against a right hooking punch), Clashing Hammers (defense against a headlock), and Trapped Lightning (outside defense against a right straight punch). As with the previous belt levels, the Blue belt techniques follow a general theme: Simultaneous Movement.

• Bridging Claw: This is the first Blue belt technique shown to me and the movements were a bit awkward at first. The more repetition, the more I got the hang of it. It starts out by dropping into a left neutral bow while the left hand shoots with a claw to the face. The arm placement is critical as your arm is inside the attackers right arm, elbow just above horizontal serving as a block as well as a strike. The next move is to transition into a left lunge stance as you deliver a right lunge punch to the solar plexus. The left elbow anchors to your side for protection with your left fist high. The last portion is the simultaneous part. Deliver a straight left to the head while at the same time executing a ball kick to the groin. This ends the base technique and you can cover out to safety.
• Clashing Hammers: This one was also awkward for me to pick up at first just because the initial hand movements were so different from everything prior. As I’m thinking about how to put this into words, I’m struggling with that too! It starts out as an immediate response to a rear headlock. As the motion of the headlock takes you down, don’t fight it, but rather allow for that movement to bring your arms down in a natural arc. The right fist comes up under the groin while the left fist is a hammer fist to the left kidney. Following this series of movements, the left hand slides up the back and finds the back of the head. You then simply bring your right fist to your left hand, effectively punching the attacker in the face. The left hand then transitions to a claw and moves to the front of the face and bringing pushing the head backward in an arcing motion. As the head reaches just about vertical, your left foot comes forward and simultaneously sweeps the right leg, effectively taking the attacker to the ground. This ends the base technique and you can cover out to safety.
• Trapped Lightning: This one was kind of cool because Walt showed me something so simple that I couldn’t believe that I didn’t learn on my own in the years that I’ve been on the planet. The technique starts similarly to Stopping the Storm but is on the outside of the initial punch. Walt starts out by bringing the right hand outward at a 45 degree angle with the palm up. Each time I was doing this initial movement I didn’t have my hand correct. Walt had me put my arm in the position but with my palm facing inward. He then applied lateral pressure to the arm and told me to take note of the force required to resist. He then repositioned my hand so that the palm was up and repeated the same test. To my amazement, my arm was much stronger with the palm up than turned in. It was one of those “duh” moments. Anyway, back to the technique. You start out with the same block-parry-grab motion as with Stopping the Storm but to the outside of the right straight punch, and deliver a left stop punch to the face. You are doing all of this while stepping forward into a left neutral bow. The next step has you shuffling forward checking the lead (right) knee while simultaneously checking the attacker’s right arm with a left looping heel-palm and delivering a right heel-palm to the attackers chin. Next the left hand transitions back to the face as a claw pushes the head back and your left foot comes forward to simultaneously sweep the attacker’s right foot, effectively putting him on the ground.

As Walt and I worked through these first three techniques, the Adult class started winding down and we transitioned into the “Intermediate/Advanced” class. Walt and I finished up and then I worked the rest of the night with him as his dummy so he could work his Brown belt techniques. There is some cool stuff in the later belts and I’m looking forward to getting into them. After an hour or so, we wrapped up and bowed out of class. It was a great night of training and I learned a ton tonight. Special thanks to Walt for all of his help.

10.03.07 - Wednesday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Classes at Rejoice! Academy
2. Yellow Belt Techniques

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Mat Work
2. Orange Belt Techniques

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First Night of Classes at Rejoice! Academy
This was the first night for TKI to be in the Rejoice! facility in Raleigh, NC. I left work a few minutes early anticipating heavy traffic on the way to North Raleigh but I was there much quicker than expected. While I waited for others to arrive, I was looking at some of the work on the walls posted by students of this private school that we are working out in. I was surprised to see a pretty cool article written by the daughter of another TKI student, Jeff.

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Warm Ups
After Bill & Donna arrived, Phyl and Walt came in shortly after. We dressed out and started moving around a little bit, just getting used to the new place. A few minutes past 6:00pm Sifu asked me to warm up the class. I wasn’t expecting that! At that point it was just Walt, Phyl, and me on the floor. We just did some light warm-ups and then Sifu had us do some additional maneuvering drills: step-drags, step-throughs, and then a combination of the two in a single maneuver. After a few minutes we were warmed up okay and Sifu decided to get things rolling… so to speak.

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Mat Work
Sifu has us get the mats out and do some forward rolls. The floors are a little different here than at Red Sun so we did some preliminary testing. The individual mats were sliding a bit. We wound up putting them end-to-end with one end against the wall. Problem solved. Alex had joined us by this time and we started out with some forward rolls staying down. I was fine on my right side but for some reason kept landing with my feet reversed on the left side. Out of practice I guess. After several repetitions we did the forward rolls coming up into a fighting stance, and then eventually switched to “belt rolls”. This is the first time I’ve done these and was a little awkward at it. The idea is that you start with your thumbs tucked in your belt so you don’t have the advantage (or disadvantage?) of using your arms. When you come out of the roll, the arms come out to their normal positions to help defend and break the fall. We finished up and set the mats aside.

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Yellow Belt Techniques
The next thing we looked at was something that we haven’t done before: the IKCA Yellow belt techniques. After much consideration, Sifu has decided to add these techniques into our curriculum. We covered four of them tonight: Thrusting Salute (Defense against a front kick), Delayed Sword (escape from a right hand lapel grab), Lone Kimono (escape from a left hand lapel grab), and Obscure Wing (escape from a right flank shoulder grab). As Sifu described them, it seems that these techniques are pretty much taken directly out of the American Kenpo system created by Ed Parker. They seemed a little awkward at first, as with learning any new technique, but we warmed up to them as we kept working with them. I was working with Walt and as we became more comfortable with each technique, we started playing around with possible extensions and modifications. By far, my favorite was Obscure Wing as it just seemed to lend itself to so many possibilities. It quickly delivers three very hard strikes into three different areas of the body and leaves the would-be attacker vulnerable for so many possibilities for follow-up. Good stuff.

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Orange Belt Techniques
As we were finishing up with Yellow belt techniques, a couple more students were getting dressed and warming up. We all reassembled into two groups and worked some more technique. Alex, Phyl, and Walt separated to one side of the room working their material. I was joined by Ces & Rich and reviewed Orange belt techniques. Sifu took us through several techniques by demonstrating and then having us practice. The first one we covered was Thunder and Lightning, followed by Returning Serpent and Deflecting Thunder. While we did spend a fair amount of time on all of these techniques, we spent the most time on Beheading the Dragon.

After Sifu went through the particulars of the Beheading the Dragon, he went over to spend some time with the Green belts and asked if I could continue practicing with the Ces & Richard. One of these gentlemen is a 2nd degree Black belt in American Kenpo and the other is starting our system from scratch after holding rank in American Kenpo several years ago. We worked through the gross movements first and then spent a fair amount fine tuning. By the time we wrapped up class it seemed that they both had a good understanding of the technique.

We wrapped up class and lined up. Sifu thanked us all for coming in and we bowed out.

09.29.07 - Saturday Practice

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Drills: Focus Mit
2. Mat Work
3. Techniques

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Warm Ups
I was only observing today as my knees were screwed up again. They have been aching for several weeks now as they do every so often. I haven’t been giving them the time they need to get back to health and I’m paying the price. As a result, I’m sitting out today but I am here observing and taking notes.

Walt started the class out by beginning the warm-ups. He had everyone stretching and moving to get warmed up, including arms, torso, and legs. Sifu took back over and had everyone doing deep leg stretches. He then moved into ball kicks, roundhouse kicks, and back kicks.

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Drills: Focus Mit
The drills today started with just a single straight lunge punch and back. Sifu had everyone focus on form before power but commented that power will come through proper form. There was another new student in class today and as Sifu focused some time with him the rest of the class moved on to 3 and 4 hit combinations of their own individual choice.

I was interested to see the combinations that everyone chose. It was clear that some focused on speed, while others focused on power, and at least one person was maintaining a rhythm with the strikes. Regardless of what they chose for combinations, they were all focusing on accuracy in the strike.

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Mat Work
The class first started the mat work by practicing forward rolls staying down. There is a usual progression when we practice with the mats and today was no different. Next was forward rolls coming up to fighting stance (neutral bow), then air rolls for those that know how and were able to do them. There is one other item that Sifu has added recently that looks as though it may become part of our usual work out and that is the belt roll. This is essentially just a forward roll starting with your hands tucked in your belt and not used until after you are into the roll. It’s an interesting one as you have this weird feeling that you are going to do a face plant if you don’t get your hands out in front of you as you are going into the roll. In reality you are only going to do a face plant if you don’t tuck your head! While the class was practicing, Sifu mentioned something I took note of pertaining to air rolls: He said to stay tucked and don’t reach.

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Techniques
While Sifu worked with the White belts and those new to the class, The Green belts took turns with Alfredo and worked their own material with each other. Walt worked with Alfredo first and went over Captured Wing. They worked for some time with it and then Walt joined Phyl while Alex came over to work with Alfredo. Alex went over Clapping Tiger and Raking Hammer. I recalled applying the throw in Clapping Tiger when I was learning it for the first time. As I watched them work through some of the finer points it was interesting to see how each correction brought the throw in tighter and tighter. Ultimately he got it down and appeared to be comfortable with it. Toward the end of class, Sifu came around and took a look at the technique. He made note that it was originally taught as a side throw in the I.K.C.A. but he modified it to a full overhead throw for its effectiveness.

The class wrapped up and everyone lined up to bow out. Sifu reminded everyone that classes will be extended to two evenings during the week starting Wednesday, October 3rd at the Rejoice! Academy near Red Sun. I don’t know about the other guys but I’m looking forward to training during the week. With that, the class bowed out and was dismissed.

09.01.07 - Saturday Practice

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Mat Work
2. Drills: Hubud
3. ¼ Speed Sparring

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Warm Ups
We did a good solid warm-up today with lots of kicking. After some stretching and loosening up, we did several ball kicks and roundhouse kicks.

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Mat Work
The mat work we did today started out normally as we worked through forward rolls. At first we stayed down, slapping to dissipate force and avoid injury. We also did the forward roll coming up into a fighting position, which we also do frequently. But then Sifu changed things up on us a little bit. Then next set that we did was a forward roll staying down but kicking into an air shield from the ground. Practicing this gives you a realistic idea of the power and snap you can generate in a kick while on the ground. It was interesting to note that any effective power generation generally comes from being in an appropriate position to deliver the kick, just as if you were standing up. If you throw the kick while out of position, there may be some basic impact, but it seemed to increase exponentially when you apply one or more of the basic principles like back up mass or mass in motion.

The last part of our mat work today was also something relatively new to me: the “belt roll”. I’ve seen this before but had never attempted it. Essentially it is a forward roll without the initial use of your arms or hands. It sounds simple enough but when you go to actually do it, there is this urge inside you to get your hands out there for protection. You have to override his urge, tuck your head, and go into the roll with your hands on your belt! Once you go through the initial roll, you can either use your hands in combination with your body to break the fall or you can continue forward with the momentum and come right back up to your feet. If you wanted to you could actually just leave your hands in your belt the whole time if you are coming back up to your feet but you would probably want to assume a neutral bow or at least have your hands ready for action.

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Drills: Hubud & Rolling Backfist
A couple of years ago a good friend of TKI came to visit and introduced us to a flow drill he simply called “hubud”. Today we revisited this drill again. It’s a cool little drill that trains in several things all at once like accuracy, speed, sensitivity, blocking, relative body position, and more. Apparently the origins of this drill are from the Filipino martial arts but the benefits can be applied across many arts. We worked it in class with a few different partners and the subtle changes and adaptations from person to person was interesting. Some were doing the drill with speed and flow in mind, others with more of a “conditioning” mindset by using hard strikes & blocks. It’s a great drill and I’m glad we worked it again today.

Following the hubud drill we did another one that we haven’t done in a long time. I’m not sure what this one is called but sort of a rolling backfist/block flow drill. It can be worked on the right or the left side and can be done slowly or quickly. Once you find your rhythm you can pretty much close your eyes and do it blind. Sifu introduced another element of this drill to us today. As your are rolling through the drill, one person will randomly grab the back-fist of the partner and pull it down and back at a 45 degree angle. This can cancel all three of their zones and it really takes them by surprise as they don’t have any idea when its coming. We did this for several minutes and then moved on.

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¼ Speed Sparring
Although we have done this exercise several times in the past, it was a little different this time just because we had some new students in class with us that were sparring at ¼ speed for their first time. As we train together in class we sort of learn how the others tend to fight so it is always interesting and sometimes enlightening to spar with fresh new faces. Today was no different. One of the new students held rank previously in another flavor of Kenpo several years ago and is coming back to it. The other “student” is currently a 2nd degree in American Kenpo. We didn’t all get to spar with everyone but it was a good session as we worked this for almost an hour.

I was doing okay today but not great. I’ve been out of class for a while and am trying to get back into the groove. I didn’t quite find the groove today but I wasn’t far from it and it felt good to be back in class. I’m expecting a new baby soon and will have to take some time off again for that in the near future but I’m already re-engaged with class mentally and ready to move forward. Seeing how some of the other guys in class are moving up was really cool. I’ll be back soon, guys!

08.11.07 - Saturday Practice

Reviewed Items:

1. Focus Mits
2. Mat Work
3. Purple Belt Kicking Drill
4. Orange Belt Blocking Set
5. Master Form
6. Techniques

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Warm Ups
The warm up today was solid. We started with basic stretching and stances. In addition we did several kicking reps, mostly roundhouse kicks. Sifu had us concentrating on form, turning the hips over to accomplish the horizontal trajectory required for the correct delivery of the roundhouse kick. Overall, I did okay, but I sure felt a little rusty. This was aggravating for me because this was one of the items that I worked while I was away from formal training these last couple of months. By the time we were done, I had a good light sweat going and was ready to get going.

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Focus Mits
I worked with Walt for the focus mit drills today. We started with a 3-count combination of our choice. Walt started with a combo that favored his strong side and then switched to his weaker. Walt hits hard and fast and I was watching his focus and form. After a while, we switched to a 4-count combination with the same type of responses. When it was my turn, I basically followed suit with what Walt did. I found that I too had a harder time with my weaker side. I noticed that the mit was swiveling a lot, indicating that I was not hitting true to the center of the target. When we finished the drills, I looked at my hands and noted that my knuckles were red across all four knuckles – not necessarily to the first two as they should have been. Definitely something to review while practicing at home.

The next set of drills were yes-no-yes drills. I did okay with the 3-count version of this drill but for some reason was less responsive to the 4-count. Overall I did okay but it wasn’t perfect. Definitely still shaking off some rust.

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Mat Work
We did some light mat work today utilizing some of the more basic skills of falling. I say that in full remembrance of Sifu telling us at first to “stay down” – indicating that he wanted us to do a forward roll and stay down on the mat. As I am doing the roll and coming out of it, I realized that I was starting to come up and it dawned on me what he said. I wound up landing in a quasi sitting position that didn’t go un-noticed by Sifu. After that I did much better and actually kept my focus. We basically did forward rolls staying down and then coming up into a neutral bow. Then we moved on to the next item on the agenda.

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Purple Belt Kicking Drill
I’m not sure how many down and back we did but it seemed like we did 1000 kicks today! My first trip down and back was shaky, off balance. The second trip down and back was better, perhaps my best of the day. The third trip down and back and I noticed that I was off balance a lot of the time, but I couldn’t quite figure out why. Sifu saw it and solved my problem. What he saw was me launching a kick without fully being in position to do so, which of course was causing me to lose balance. The other thing that I knew I was doing and noticed my self was that I was standing up more as I was getting tired. As soon as I realized this I made a conscious effort to get lower in my stance. A few more trips up and down the mat and we finished up the kicking drills.

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Orange Belt Blocking Set
The entire group lined up and went through the Orange Belt Blocking set several times. It was interesting. I’ve done this a zillion times and yet, still hesitated the first time through. After that, I was fine, but was disappointed the first run through. Sifu had us go through this several times, focusing on intent and accuracy and not necessarily speed. After the 5th or 6th time through, we discussed as a group what makes a good block and also what makes a block “bad” or “ineffective”. Sifu was keen to use some new terminology in his descriptions today, namely the “line of action” and a “path of action”. The line of action is a linear motion from a single point and the example used was a straight punch. The path of action is still a liner motion but is two separate points traveling that projection, like a block.

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Master Form
Immediately following the Orange Belt Blocking Set, we went into the Master Form. Sifu had us go up through what we knew on the first time through. I stopped after the Orange belt techniques because that’s all I know to this point. I watched Alex, who was at my right, continue on through the Purple belt techniques in an effort to pick up on the order and directions of the next set of techniques. The next several times through, Sifu had Jeff and I repeat the Orange belt portion several times until the rest of the group finished their portions. I had been practicing this too in my down time these last couple of months and felt pretty good doing these techniques. I feel like I’m ready to learn some new material and move forward with the master form.

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Techniques
For the last part of class, Jeff and I worked on the Purple belt techniques. We pretty much went through them from start to finish and then worked on a couple of techniques that we wanted to go back and focus on.

Stopping the Storm: Sifu noted that both Jeff and I were not properly anchoring the elbow after the block-parry-grab. He stressed the importance of how this movement marries with the stop punch and increases its effectiveness exponentially.

Hidden Wing: When I did this the first couple of times, I was not delivering a true heel kick. Sifu noted this and stated “Nice Sidekick.” I got it right after that.

Circling Serpent: As we went through this one, Sifu stated that I wasn’t giving enough (any?) body reaction for Jeff to work off from. He stated flatly that he wanted more contact, particularly to the ribs. He also stated that it should still be controlled and that it should not inflict damage. He actually demonstrated on me to make the point that this can be done without injury.

Hooking Thunder: Jeff is very flexible. When you do this technique incorrectly on a flexible person it really stands out. In my case, I raised his leg up but did not pull it far enough in my direction so he wasn’t forced to dead-leg into the thrust punch. I knew what I did wrong immediately but it was a lesson well learned as far as executing proper technique.

Captured Wing: Jeff and I actually played around with this one just a little bit. Quite by accident, I stepped up too close to him when I brought his arm behind him and sort of blocked the back of his left leg with my right leg. He stepped back and felt the resistance and still tried to power through the technique. It worked, sort of, but it got me thinking. When the attackers leg is in that position it really sets him up nicely for a leg buckle. We tried this a few more times and Sifu came over and asked us what we were doing. As we described the scenario, he added a few of his own, namely reversing the elbow and groin strikes to accommodate a situation. The most interesting thing about all of these variations is that the technique still worked in all of these situations. Very cool.

Clapping Tiger: Sifu had us get the mats out for this one as he wants us to practice a full overhead throw in this technique. I like throwing, and this particular throw is one that I picked up relatively easily. Jeff had a little bit more difficulty with it, probably because I out-weigh him by several pounds (I should work on that, too). As Jeff threw me several times, I was using the experience to practice my falling and not reach out to try to break my fall. Jeff improved greatly in the short time that we practiced this technique today and I think my falling skills increased as well.

Raking Hammer: This is the one technique in Purple belt that gave me the biggest problem, and I really can’t say why. All I know is that I practiced it to death and am now much more comfortable with it. When practicing with a partner, I really have to be careful not to throw that elbow after the leg buckle. I really jam it when I’m practicing in the air but that would be really bad news on a partner.

Jeff and I didn’t really have a lot of time for “what ifs” at the end of our techniques today as class wrapped up at 9:00am. It was a really good workout today and I felt good after class. It has been a little while since I was thrown around and I was glad that I didn’t land wrong and hurt something. It was also great to see Alex again after such a long break.

08.04.07 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Forearm Striking

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Stance Work
2. ¼ Speed Sparring

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Warm Ups
Today was my first day back since May and I was feeling a little rusty as I stepped onto the mat. Rusty or not, it felt good to be back in the dojo. Our warm up was sort of light today, focusing on stretching and just getting loose. We didn’t do the usual leg raises and the like today.

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Forearm Striking
We did some work today that I don’t recall having done before. We talked about forearms and their use in Kenpo and fighting in general. Just working by ourselves, we visualized an opponent/attacker. During the first part of the drills, we utilized basic forearm strikes to the inside. Sifu discussed how the forearm is certainly used for blocking, but is also effective in striking. He described how the forearms can be utilized for the ‘margin of error’ – for example if the attacker moves out of position during a strike, the connection of the forearm to the target is still effective if, say, the fist is no longer viable. We worked both single strikes and combinations in the air to the inside for several minutes.

The next part of this segment was along the same lines but we moved to striking outside targets. Sifu came around and acted as the attacker to help us with our visualizations. In one particular instance, I parried a left hand strike and went high with roundhouse type right forearm to the head, then looped back for an upward strike to the groin, and then rose directly upward and did essentially an outward block to the throat. Although Sifu appreciated the movements, he showed me another option with the final strike that allowed for a more flowing motion. From the groin, I simply rose straight up and ‘popped’ my forearm under the chin while maintaining the form of a ridge-hand type strike. Along with better flow, I felt it gave me more options for following up as well since I felt like I was in a better position to do so.

I couldn’t help to notice while doing the forearm exercises that the ‘chopping drill’ that we have done in the past kept coming to mind. It seems that most, if not all of the strikes in the chopping set could also be used with the forearm strikes. It’s actually where I came up with the combination I described above that Sifu helped me to modify. When working and sparring I frequently consider knees and elbows but I think I will be more mindful of the possibilities with forearms now.

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Stance Work
It has been a while for me but we reviewed stance work in our techniques today. The method is simple but effective – just tuck your hands in your belt and practice your techniques. It sure sounds simple anyway. It’s actually not difficult so long as you don’t over-think it, and you actually know your techniques inside and out. Doing this is always a great refresher and I really need to remember to practice this way more at home. One thing that I was doing incorrectly was on Captured Wing – Sifu noted that I was stepping back with a stomp on the initial movement. There isn’t a stomp on the initial movement. Oops. I think I have been doing the technique like this for a while so I’m going to have to do it correctly from now on.

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¼ Speed Sparring
We did several rounds of ¼ speed sparring today. It really felt good to move like that again after taking time off. Phyl is still recovering from an injury and Sifu asked him to keep time…which he did, grudgingly. After our sparring, we all huddled on the mat and discussed the rounds we had from our individual perspectives, and Phyl was able to give a third person perspective on several of the matches as well. Following are my own remembrances of my matches:

• Walt: Walt has much more stamina than I do when it comes to sparring and he likes to press hard. Even at ¼ speed, he will just keep coming in – there isn’t much of a ‘reset’ with Walt. Generally speaking, we mix things up pretty good when we do this, trying different attacks and defenses, moving on different lines both circular and linear. On occasion I can lure Walt in close enough to get him off balance but more times than not he is ready for this and keeps outside of that range. I was able to try something this time that I credit to Master Vic LeRoux, as he demonstrated this several times during the last Kenpo in the Carolinas seminar. It was basically a sweep at the ankle level. I attempted it several times with Walt and was successful only once. Needs more work.
• Elliott: Whenever I spar with Elliott, I find myself looking at his back a lot. Like Sifu, he tends to fight in a cross stance and stays well protected. It can be difficult to get inside that defense and to do so successfully requires that he be led into something and Elliott rarely takes that bait. Another thing he does frequently is to sit back and wait, which is also the way I like to fight. I have noticed when Elliott does come forward with combinations, he tends to move very linear, but whenever I try to circle around he is ready. Always a challenge with Elliott.
• Sifu: As always, Sifu tends to spar at or just above our individual abilities. He will leave a strike hanging just a little bit too long to see what we will do with it. Then again, sometimes he will leave it out there as bait to draw us in! In our match today it was much the same. However we did deviate from that a little bit when he started getting inside my defenses. I don’t know what it is but when someone gets too close I just instinctively maneuver to put them on the ground. Sifu got close, I maneuvered, and he went down – launching a strike to my chin on the way. Unfortunately, he incurred a minor injury this time as it seems he bent his tow hard on the mat on the way down. Sorry, Sifu. He did expand my thought process a little bit in another arena too. Often times I will sort of roll a parried strike around the offending appendage into a sort of rolling back fist to the face. Sifu stifled this a couple of times before asking what other targets were available. It was then that I realized that I could simply roll that fist the other way and deliver a hammer-fist to the ribs. As long as I have been doing this, I don’t know what the brain block was that didn’t allow me to see that until now! Thanks for that one, Sifu.
• Khedron: It has been a good long while since I have sparred with Khedron. He fights very compact and likes to deliver solid straight strikes, particularly to the body. His compact stance and fighting style reminded me more than once that I could be a little more compact and keep my elbows down when sparring. He tagged me in the ribs at least once on either side. Because he was fighting so tight, I took to picking targets at a different distance. A couple of times he moved in and I delivered a thrusting type kick to the inside of his back leg, completely disrupting his balance and stopping a forward attack. I also was able to slide a thrust kick in through his defenses from the front to the lower abdomen – the only target I could get to. I could see that Khedron has been practicing and is picking up some new things. Nice work.
• Alfredo: Alfredo is bigger and stronger than I am and I keep that in mind whenever I spar with him. I try to be a little more slippery when I spar with him, keeping on the edge of his range and not letting him get a grip on me. His background in ground fighting runs much deeper than mine so I don’t like going to the ground with him. In the past he had a much more wide open stance that left his groin open as a choice target. I noticed today that he has adjusted his stance and lessened the availability of the groin as a target. Alfredo also has a straight punch to the body that comes in from an angle. When that blow lands it’s solid even at ¼ speed. To avoid that punch I try to circle more to make it harder for him to deliver it, especially when I circle to his left. It was a successful strategy today, but I did notice that he is angling off more than he used to. There was one time today that I gave him my back to see what he was going to do. He started to reach around for my neck but as soon as I grabbed for his arm and began the motion for an overhead throw, he let go and backed away, recognizing what I was doing.

Sifu mentioned to me that I need to keep my knees bent more to give me more freedom of movement and to allow me to better deliver kicks. When I am standing more upright, I have to bend the knees before I can kick. If I am in a proper stance to start with, I can deliver the kicks faster and without giving away the fact that I’m about to throw a kick.