06.18.05 - Saturday Training

Covered several new items today:

1. Block: Extended Outward Block
2. Block: Upward
3. Kick: Ball KickKick: Roundhouse Kick

Reviewed other items:

1. Stance: Neutral Bow
2. Block: Inward Block
3. Foot Maneuver: Step-drag (forward & backward)
4. Proper fist

Other items:

1. Abdominal Breathing (Tan-Jon Ho Hup)
2. Qi
3. Properly hitting your target
4. Horizontal & vertical kicks
5. Dead legging
6. Burst of Attitude

Abdominal breathing exercises (tan-jon ho hup)
Part of our warm ups today included some breathing exercises. Bill stated that the name simply means “abdominal breathing” in Korean and was part of the regular exercise for Hapkido. With practice, it will increase lung capacity and focus our qi.

Qi
Pronounced “key” in Japanese and Korean, and “chee” in Chinese, this word basically means ‘energy’ or ‘flow of energy’. Bill did some demonstrations regarding qi such as the “unbendable arm” and an interesting little maneuver in which he was leading us (one at a time) in a hold and made a slight movement, basically throwing us off balance and on to the floor. He described this as ‘controlling our qi’ or energy of movement.

He went on to say that there isn’t anything mystical about qi, although some would disagree with him. My own opinions tend to be more along the lines of what Bill is saying as what I am observing is pure physics at work. By changing the leverage at specific fulcrum points, drastic kinetic energy shifts take place at rapid speeds, creating what looks like an amazing result. The only caveat that I am seeing is the assumed and controlled reaction of those people being manipulated as one needs to have a basic understanding of how the body reacts to specific stimuli and joint manipulation. Coupled together, it really does have a look of ‘mystical energy’ at work.

Proper Target Focus
As with all of my past instruction, this deals with where you should envision the focused point of impact for any strike you throw. Bill was less specific about a particular measurement, but basically pointed out that the target is not the surface of where you are connecting, but rather should be at some distance beyond that surface. Of course, control is a major part of this concept as you can ‘project’ the energy of the blow to certain depths of the body depending on technique and study of qi.

On a basic level, you should always punch through your target, with the envisioned target being somewhere beyond that which you actually see. Bill went on to describe some who have mastered the projection of energy and focus. He illustrated this point by saying that a person who has mastered this can, for instance, stack several bricks in a pile and break a selected brick from somewhere in the center by striking the top brick in the pile. I can only imagine the internal effects on a person should this be used irresponsibly.

Horizontal vs. Vertical Targets
Bill mainly just mentioned this as an example of what not to do when kicking. It basically is the result of using, say, a kick designed for a horizontal target on a vertical target. The result is minimal contact where the kick simply slides by or brushes the intended target.

Dead Legging
The most important concept to remember about dead legging is that it takes away your options. Dead legging is when you are off balance or out of position during a kick, whereby you lose control of your stance or ability to move. When dead legging, you often wind up moving in a predictable manor (often to the benefit of your assailant) in order to correct the problem. Bill spent a fair amount of time with me on the proper technique of the ball kick because I was dead legging. I was leaning and didn’t have my leg bent during the kick, which caused me to move forward to catch my balance. He went through the stance thoroughly with me and I can feel a drastic difference now (see technical notes on the ball kick for info).

Burst of Attitude
Bill states that I will hear this phrase quite a bit from Vic LeRoux in reference to an attacker. Bill says it’s sort an ability to flip a switch on when an attacker invades your circle of space. You turn it on and to respond to the threat and turn it off immediately once the threat is diminished or eliminated. Doing this requires and demonstrates control on several levels and can possibly end an altercation by itself. Bill also stated that to ‘flip on’ the attitude and not turn it back off again once the threat is contained is simply unacceptable.

Study for next week:

• Ball kick
• Roundhouse kick
• Extended outward block
• Upward block