10.01.05 - Saturday Training

New Items Today:

1. Kicking Drill
2. Blocking Drill
3. Technique: Returning Serpent

Reviewed other items:

1. Maneuvering Drills
2. Orange Belt Form

Quote: “A ‘fake’ is a strike that you choose not to land.”
This is a quote that Bill has apparently stated before as he ‘quizzed’ the class and Phyl iterated the quote. In the context of today’s lesson, the point was being made that a fake is used to open up your attacker’s targets, but if the fake is a viable strike, it is your option to utilize it or not.

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Kicking Drill
We did a drill today that had us kicking in the four cardinal compass directions. It started out with a forward right ball kick, and then place the right foot over the left in a cross stance. Next perform a left side kick, and then place the left foot over the right in a cross stance. From this position execute a right side kick and bring your right foot back down to a natural stance. Finally launch a rear heel kick and reset to the neutral bow.

This seemed a little disorienting at first but it didn’t take long to get the basic movements down. Bill came by and commented that I should check stances and place good kicks. It is critical not to ‘dead leg’ on this as you will probably quickly go out of balance.

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Blocking Drill
We did more of a ‘reality style’ blocking drill this weekend as Bill donned some 14 oz. boxing gloves and padded up his forearms. He basically said that if we don’t block the punch, we would be hit. Bill swung at 3 or 4 people before he tired out and then Marty took over for a couple of us. Marty was the one with the gloves when my turn came up and he was really throwing slowly at first. He eventually started to alternate rhythm and speed and landed at least one solid blow and a few glancing blows. One hard thing for me was restraining from throwing back. Obviously, the point of the exercise was to block the blows so that’s what I was trying to do but at the same time it sure was tempting as he was all opened up from throwing big wide punches.

As for critique, I was told from several of the guys that I was pulling in too much. I had my arms in close to my chest and had my head down to much. I was also leaning forward a bit instead of sitting solidly in my stance. I also noticed that I was reaching for some of the blocks, which, of course, set me up for my ‘attacker’s’ combinations. I enjoyed the exercise and look forward to doing it again.

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Orange Belt Form
I went through the Orange Belt form about 3 times and received critique from the color belts and Bill & Marty. Following are some of the specific items I need to work on:
.Phyl: Place your blocks and put some torque behind them.
.Walt: Maintain proper stance. I was leaning, especially in some of the transitions.
.Alex: Focus on placement of blocks; careful to use arm & fist as a unit
.Bill: Keep the fist tight, otherwise the muscle dynamic in the arm changes.

Thinking back through the form and taking in what they said, I think I am going to change the way I practice the form. I had a conversation with Bill last week regarding ‘slow’ practice, or at least that’s what I called it. We were talking about Tai Chi and how those slow practice moves can become quite effective when used in self defense. Bill suggested that I practice the blocking form in that slow speed and work on accuracy. The speed will come in time but the accuracy will likely increase dramatically. I’ll do it.

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Technique: Returning Serpent
While Bill worked with the Purple Belts on their extensions, Marty and I reviewed the techniques I have done to date and added one – Returning Serpent. See the technical journal for specific details on execution but the technique is an inside defense against a right straight punch. There was a slight variation between what Marty showed me and some of the finer points that Bill described. The biggest thing was the targets… watching Bill do the technique, it appeared that the target for the back fist was the temple. The other thing was that Bill did an arm drag or arm rake immediately following the block. This does a couple of things in that it further disables the blocked arm but it also lines everything up for the back fist (contouring).

The power shot from this form seems to be the lunge punch to the solar plexus. The stance change plays a huge part in developing the power in the strikes and I can see that will be the thing for me to practice. There are also some other principles I was able to pick out as well, such as opposing forces. After the first back fist, the right hand comes back across the body to the left shoulder area to cover while the left fist comes forward into the lunge punch. As the left fist returns to the strike the second back fist, the right hand is returning. This opposing action adds strength to the strike. There is a lot going on in this technique, but I’ll get it down with practice. Marty practiced at extremely slow speeds with me and that helped dramatically. I’ll likely do the same when I’m practicing on my own.

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Final Notes at the End of Class:
- Lasagna dinner tonight at 6:00pm at Bills place
- No class next weekend (10.8.05) as Bill and I have to work.