12.03.05 - Saturday Training

New Items Today:

1. Kick: Rear Leg Side Kick
2. Theory: Japanese vs. Korean aspects

Reviewed other items:

1. Tan-Jon Ho Hup exercises
2. Kicking drill & warm ups
3. Form: Orange belt formTechniques

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Rear Leg Side Kick
We have done the replacement side kick in class before but this is the first time we have covered the rear leg side kick (See Technical journal for details). It is interesting because it requires a full pivot on the lead leg and you bring the knee up toward your chest before launching it straight out. I have gone over this kick in TKD and I found that the kick is technically the same kick but Sifu teaches it with much more precision. I could feel the difference of strength in the kick as I began to get the movements down and it seems to be a much more viable option than I had considered it in the past. Bill noticed right away that I was much stronger with my right leg than my left, but I suppose one will normally favor one side over the other. I’ll work on it this week and see how it goes.

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Japanese vs. Korean Styles of Kicking
The placement of the supporting foot is critical for any kick that you do. Sifu went over some of the differences between how traditional Japanese (particularly Okinawan) and Korean styles regard that foot through the duration of a side kick. The simples physical description is that when the Japanese stylist launches the kick, the foot of the supporting leg is generally near 90 degrees to the trajectory of the kick. In contrast, the Korean stylist will often pivot the supporting foot to an angle of 45 degrees with the toes pointing away from the action, and then returning them to correct stance after the kick.

The Korean style of kicking appears to have some benefit over the traditional Japanese style. The leg muscles open up differently when the foot is in this configuration and even allows for some extra reach. I am probably biased by now because I tend to kick more to the Korean method, probably because of the TKD experience I have. Master Chang and the others at White Tiger definitely are pivoting their supporting foot and then repositioning it when they retract. To me it seems to be a more natural, or at least more comfortable, way to kick and I don’t feel so ‘crossed up’ when I do it. That flow of power to the kick seems to be easier to manage kicking the Korean way as well, as it doesn’t feel like you are kicking around your own body. I should have realized by now how much something that has such a small physical appearance can have such an impact on performance and power.

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Orange Belt Form
We reviewed the Orange belt form as a group today. I was feeling a little off and it was coming through in my form. We did it several times and by the time we got to the end I was feeling much better. For some reason my blocks didn’t seem very solid to me today; not enough torque or something. Anyway, the review was worth while and I feel I am recognizing what needs to be fixed. Each time I do the form I am getting the feeling for exactly what is off and what needs to be fixed. Some days I just can’t get the body to follow the mind though.

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Techniques
We spent a fair amount of time on techniques today. Alexandra and I reviewed the first four on our own while Bill worked with the Purple belts. After a while, he came over to us and we started to review with him what we had done.

• Thunder & Lightning: need to watch the hand check and make sure I move in and take the other guy’s space. I have been struggling with taking their space for some time now. I think I’m focusing too much on the target of the final blow and not enough about position.
• Escaping Ram: Bill says I have a tendency to ‘hop’ with my adjustment step. He stated to make sure I am sliding the feet into their appropriate positions depending on which way the adjustment step needs to go.
• Thrusting Release: having a problem with the upward thrust to the floating ribs. The guys say that the problem is two-fold in that my hands are not positioned correctly and that I am striking too wide on the rib cage. Phyl suggested that I focus on moving the hands straight up from the sides as he things I am pulling them apart as I strike. He says I should focus more on moving the core of the attacker.
• Returning Serpent: make sure that I maintain the same height in my stance all the way through the technique. I apparently have a tendency to sink a little bit when I do the lunge punch.
• Deflecting Thunder: Bill would like to see me be lower (knees bent more) when I go into the ‘springboard’ lunge position. He is seeing me bend them into proper position when I go into the elbow strike.
• Beheading the Dragon: keep that waiter check close to the body and make sure to hit the target with the final strike (base of the skull). I seem to want to let that waiter check get away from me too much. The last hand sword is striking low, like at or below the base of the neck. While this might be effective at full force, the correct target is the base of the skull.