12.10.05 - Saturday Training

New Items Today:

1. Drills: Focus mitts
2. BKF Over/Under technique

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Kicking drill & warm ups
2. Form: Orange belt form
3. Kick: Side kick (rear leg)
4. ¼ Speed sparring

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Focus Mitt Drills
We did some drills today that Sifu referred to as “Yes-No-Yes” drills with the focus pads. The idea is that he (Sifu) calls out a 3 hit combination where as a “Yes” is an actual strike to the pad and a “No” is a non-strike. So, starting with the right hand, if he calls out “Yes-Yes-No”, that would indicate a combination of a right, then a left, and then a non-hit. This is a fun drill and it is the first time I have done it in class. The more relaxed you are, the better the drill flows. It also seemed to me that the more you relax your mind, the easier it is to follow the patterns.

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BKF Over/Under Drills
This one is interesting. I had seen this for the first time in California during the West Coast Kenpo Confederation. This little technique allows for a “hidden hand” strike to the ribs. It employs a hand check low with a strike high to the face with the other hand. Then, stepping slightly off and behind the opponent, the checking hand becomes a powerfully torqued little strike to the ribs. This was fun to practice and I could certainly see the Steve (Sanders) Mohamed aspect of the whole thing. I didn’t pick it up very well though and need to practice it more to become proficient with the move.

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¼ Speed Sparring
I didn’t feel like I was very “with it” today. I just felt like I was off somehow. It sort of came through with the sparring. For one thing I felt like lead; I didn’t feel like I was flowing well at all and everything was forced. So we start ¼ speed sparring, where the object is to basically recognize relative body position and gain experience in response to an attack. My brain wasn’t really engaging properly and I was darting in for ‘quick’ blows at much faster than ¼ speed. As Sifu has said frequently, everything should be blocked at ¼ speed. Likewise, everything should be thrown at the same speed and I wasn’t following the rules.

I slowed things back down but never really got in the groove. Hopefully I’ll do better next week.