12.17.05 - Saturday Training

New Items Today:

1. Blocking: Rear arm blocking

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Blocking
2. Techniques

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Rear Arm Blocking
Sifu covered an item today that I have been exposed to previously with the Purple belts during practice out of class. Assuming a Neutral Bow stance, up until now, the blocks we have gone over in class have generally been with the lead hand/arm. Bill discussed the importance of using the rear arm for defensive blocking when called for.

All of the same rules and angles apply for the rear arm blocks. Pretty much all of the same blocks can be deployed from that trailing position. An example of when such a block would be useful might be a fast kick coming in from the side or perhaps more than one attacker trying to gain access to you on another front. In either event, by following the same form and maintaining the same principles (torque and proper angles), blocking with the rear arm is a very effective tool to keep in mind.

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Blocking
Alexandra and I went over some of the basics of blocking with Juan while Sifu was with the Purple belts. Juan is picking up the moves pretty well and seems to understand the mechanics behind the moves. It is interesting trying to review material with another student and it’s quite a test for determining how well you can communicate a concept to another person. Receiving knowledge and sharing knowledge are two completely different sets of skills!

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Techniques
Alexandra and I practiced all 6 of our Orange belt techniques today. We reviewed and refined the moves and tried to improve where we could. We had a solid chunk of time to work them all and we easily got them all in. Toward the end, after we had covered the techniques, we had time to do a couple of runs of the Orange belt blocking form. It wasn’t long after that and we wrapped up class for the day.

We will be off next weekend but will return on Saturday, December 31 for the last class of 2005.