10.29.05 - Saturday Training

New items today:

1. Stationary Kicking Drill

Reviewed other items:

1. Kicking Drill – Cardinal Directions
2. Kicking Drill – Purple Belt (Linear)
3. Orange Belt Form
4. Orange Belt Techniques
5. Lower Back Stretching

.

Kicking Drills
The first drill we did was the one where we kick in the cardinal directions. I have the general movements for that one down but can always use some practice for improvement. I was exposed to the Purple belt kicking drill for the second time this session and I felt like I was tripping over my feet. I started to get the hang of it toward the end of the drill but I was far from comfortable. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to practice it next week before class. The last kicking drill we did was a stationary version of the linear (Purple belt) drill. There are several foot replacements and switches in the drill and, if done correctly, you aren’t supposed to move from the original spot. It was pretty cool but I had about as much trouble with it as I did with it’s predecessor. I’ll report on progress later.

.

Orange Belt Form
Since I was the only white belt dressed today, I was all alone on center stage for the form. After going through it a couple of times, Sifu did something a little different this time. He closed his eyes and told me to ‘snap’ my blocks and that he would be able to tell if I was doing so by listening. After going through it several times he basically summarized that I needed to practice. He later told me that the point he was driving at is that the block placed specifically where it is supposed to be with the correct intent can stop a fight and it was important that I get the focus, speed and power into the blocks. The purple belts critiqued as well and told me stuff I should be used to hearing by now…
. - Walt: Salute should be solid and meaningful
. - Alex: Slide the feet. I have a tendency to pick them up instead of sliding them.
. - Phyl: Watch stance position.

.

Orange Belt Techniques
Sifu went through all of the techniques with me but we focused specifically on Deflecting Thunder and Beheading the Dragon. The focus on DT was mainly on the foot work, such as the ‘springboard’ effect of the kicking leg and the ‘Kenpo slide’ as you move in to take their space after the kick. These really bring everything together and make it work. As for BTD, we sort of went through this technique from the ground up. If there was one area that we focused on, it was probably ‘checking’. There several checks going on in the technique with both the hands and the knees. The waiter check is completely new to me and was described as a “positioning check” (as opposed to a “pinning check”). The other new check is the knee check which I find is useful as sort of gauge for depth as I move into the assailant. The final knee check with the right knee can put the attacker on the ground, as I found out quite by accident while practicing the technique with Sifu. When I did the final knee check, I was expecting a body reaction such that he would drop straight down, as though I had just chopped the leg from under him. Instead, after the knee buckled on him he actually moved forward as the knee bent and he went all the way down onto both knees. I immediately challenged as to whether or not he was exaggerating for my benefit and he assured me that he wasn’t. I guess the check didn’t seem very powerful to me because I didn’t get the feedback at my knee that I’m used to getting when I strike practice targets (like my heavy bag). By comparison, there isn’t nearly as much target mass to speak of and it didn’t register in my mind that I struck a very effective blow. Upon reflection, I can see that part of the knee buckle included a bit of downward force that also contributes to the reaction I received. All said, it was an interesting exercise today.

.

Lower Back Stretching
I have been having some problems lately with my low back, particularly after Kenpo practice. It feels much like I have exhausted the smaller supporting muscles in my low back and really can be painful. I suspect that my tendency to lean forward and tuck my chin while working out is the major contributor to this problem. I asked Bill if he had any specific stretches for the low back and he showed me how to do some.

The first one is from a kneeling position. You slowly stretch the body forward, with arms in the same direction and stretch out the back. The flatter you can bring yourself to the ground, the better the stretch will be.

The other one I found to be effective very quickly but Sifu was quick to warn that this was a static stretching exercise and should only be done a few times per week. You start in a sitting position with legs extended forward. Cross the right foot over the left knee and plant the sole of the foot on the floor. Taking your left arm, place the elbow at the right side of the bent knee and twist the torso gently to get the stretch. After a few seconds, release and switch sides.

I did these exercises after class and they had the desired effect. My back relaxed and the muscle tension was relieved. I’ll be working hard to eliminate my habit of leaning forward at the waist when working out but in the mean time, it’s nice to get rid of that low back pain. It makes me feel so old!

10.24.05 - Practice Out of Class

Met at Walt’s Home in Raleigh

Alex, Phyl and I met Walt at his place in Raleigh. It was quite chilly with the threat of rain so we decided to work out on the covered porch space in the back of his apartment. After some warm ups, they asked me to do the Orange belt form. I did it several times and they critiqued me in several areas. The placement of my blocks is better and the general movements are good, but the footwork still needs work. Walt had something in mind for me on this though.

He went in the house and got a roll of duct tape and proceeded to tape a straight line down on the floor about 5 feet or so in length. He told me to stand at the beginning of the tape and start the form. On the second block he called for me to stop and check my stance. I was way off. My stance was too wide and the depth was too tight. I tried it again and looked down to see no improvement. I worked on that for a few minutes and then they put another strip of tape down on the floor for the turn in the form.

At this point Walt and Phyl broke off to work on some other stuff and Alex continued to work with me. I was having trouble with the depth of my stance shrinking up on the turn during the form. Alex showed me how you need to actually step a little wide on the turn in order to compensate for the lost depth when the foot pivots around. I continued to work on this for a few minutes more before we started going through the Orange belt techniques.

We went through Thunder and Lightning without too much critique, and then into Escaping Ram. The only real things that were critiqued on Escaping Ram were to keep my hands in front of me for defense when I kick, and to turn my head early when judging where to place the adjustment step as it just depends on the location of the target is.

Next was Returning Serpent and they didn’t give me too much critique on that one. The one thing they did mention was to make sure to watch the back fist and to make sure I lead with the knuckles. At about this time, Alex and Walt changed places and I started working with Walt. He picked up where Alex and I left off and then we went into Deflecting Thunder. I had all of the gross movements for the technique down but needed practice. Walt came at me time after time for about 15 minutes as I practiced this one. He determined that I need to focus on the initial downward block, as it was the one area that I was having some difficulty with. He padded up his leg and started throwing some light kicks for me to block. I was surprised to see how much out of position the blocks with my left arm were. I was so far off on a couple of them that they hurt. Walt wasn’t kicking hard, but it was the right angle and location as I had been practicing for the technique and I could feel that I was weak there. After several minutes of blocking, the pads came off and we did the technique again. The ‘pop’ in my blocks were much better and the whole technique seemed to flow better.

After that, Walt asked me what was next. I told him that Bill had shown me Beheading the Dragon and that I had only tried it once or twice. He asked me if I was up to it and if I wanted to wait for Bill to show me some more. I decided to go ahead with it and we started practicing. Walt was a little surprised at how quickly I picked up the gross movements of the form and started critiquing me shortly thereafter. The first item was moving in far enough. I wasn’t coming in to the knee and therefore was out of position when it came time for the hand sword. We discovered the reason why I was doing this very quickly and it turned out to be something I have been fighting all along. I have this tendency to l lean forward and tuck my chin. The result of doing this in this technique is that I am crowded when I come in for the strike to the base of the skull. While in position, I just straightened my back and everything came into place.

The next critique was the placement of my chop. I was low and had a tendency of striking across the back with my forearm, thus dissipating the effectiveness of the strike across the surface area of his back. I was bringing my hand down at an angle instead of bringing it on a horizontal trajectory. Making this change helped me adjust my position and I started hitting the mark.

Phyl stepped in and gave me the last two pointers of the night. My knuckle rake was weak, as I was brushing past the ribs with the flat of the back of my hand. He showed me how the knuckles need to lead, just like the backfist in Returning Serpent and also where the target was. This helped a lot and I was able to correct that one once I understood better. Finally, we all discussed the leg buckle in the end before the chop. Walt, Alex & Phyl all seem to do it slightly differently but they all describe the same thing – with the exception of Phyl, who has this little ‘hop’ thing going on. When questioned about it, he stated that he does that to gain maximum force for his size. He further stated that his height and size requires him to utilize everything he can and that little hop worked great. Walt chimed in stating that if they all did it that way, it would still be very effective.

I was driving home reviewing what I had learned in the last couple of days and just thought about how fortunate I was that Bill invited me to join his class. I don’t like to do this but couldn’t help comparing the differences between the TKI students and (some other) group(s). The focus, intensity, and meaning of what we do seem to be somehow ingrained to a point where there is a visible difference. I feel doubly lucky as the Purple belts have been absolutely great to work with. They take the time to review and teach me with a focus I’m not used to having – and they seem to enjoy it. I hope I have the opportunity to help them out at some point as it feels like I’m somehow getting more out of this than they are.

10.22.05 - Training with Lynn L.

New Items Today:

• Class in Vass with Lynn Lane’s students

Reviewed other items:

• Warm-ups
• Techniques
• Orange Belt Form
• ¼ Speed Sparring

.

Class in Vass, NC with Lynn’s Students
We did things a little differently today as we traveled down to Vass, NC to study with another school. Alexandra was the only one from Raleigh that was unable to make it because she had to work. We had a total of 10 or 11 students combined so it was a comfortable group.

Bill led the class the entire time, per Lynn’s request. We started out with the typical warm-ups (leg raises, etc.) and then we did some abdominal breathing exercises (Tan-Jon Ho Hup). Eventually we got into the Orange belt techniques and ended the first part of the day with the Orange belt blocking set. The only technique I didn’t know and had trouble with was the one that Bill had just shown me – Beheading the Dragon. As per his instruction at the beginning, I just went through it as good as I could and we moved on.

At this point the class took a turn from the normal progression. Bill asked Lynn if there was anything in particular that he wanted his students to work on. Lynn stated that he was interested in having his guys see the extensions for the techniques. Since this largely involved the purple belts and up, I decided to grab the camera and took pictures for this segment of the class. I took somewhere in the neighborhood of about 100 pictures.

I observed that Lynn’s students simply weren’t used to practicing at the level of intensity that the TKI students do. As the purple belts rotated in and out with their different techniques, they explained the base technique with a demonstration, then repeated the process with their added extensions.

There was a particular point in the demonstrations when Bill stepped in on Lynn’s request and demonstrated how Hapkido and Kenpo could be very complementary to each other. One of Lynn’s students, Steve, asked if he could “see how that feels” as Bill was demonstrating a particular wrist grab technique. Bill instructed him to relax, and Steve was anything but relaxed. So, Bill “distracted” him with a backhanded flick to the groin, which elicited the desired response and Bill followed through with the technique. Steve had a particular look of anguish on his face from the ‘distraction’ and it was later learned by Bill that Steve wasn’t wearing a cup! I’m thinking Lynn’s guys will be better dressed for class next time in case Bill attempts to ‘distract’ anyone again. Hehee…

After the demonstrations were complete, Bill directed the class to pair off for some ¼ speed sparring. He reiterated the “¼ speed” part but I think that was lost on a couple of Lynn’s students. I had a lot of fun with the sparring, as I usually do. Lynn’s guys were fun to spar with because they are fresh bodies with new moves. The other White belts in the class were largely cautious and stuck mainly to blocking. Steve, the Purple belt was fun to spar with because he was just twitching with nervous energy. He hasn’t quite figured out how to control that energy yet so he was somewhat random in his movements which made it fun. Of course, sparring with the TKI guys was fun too. I squared off with Walt and we started right in like always. I think I surprised him a little bit as he remarked “Ah… you’ve practicing with Phyl and Alex!” There was one particular clinch that we managed to get into where we each had each other’s weapons tied up and were essentially facing each other. I was mentally going through my inventory of weapons when Walt smiled and head butted me. Yep, that was what I was looking for, but Walt ‘found’ it before I did. I’ll get him next time.

After the sparring, we broke off and wrapped things up. We did the “pass the pain” ritual and that pretty much concluded the day. Steve and some of the other guys were commenting on coming up to TKI at some point in the future to train with us. Later Bill mentioned to me that he and Lynn might try to work it out so that once a quarter or so we could alternate and make a trip to the other’s location. That would be pretty cool.

After class, several of us joined Lynn for lunch at the Golden Corral in Southern Pines, NC. It was a good lunch and we parted for home from the restaurant.

Lynn, Bill & Marty

10.19.05 - Practice Out of Class

Lunch Session with Bill at Work

We met in my office at work and discussed some Kenpo principles and talked a little bit about the changes in the conference format that Chuck & Vic are discussing for next year. It sounds like there were some issues regarding participation of the BKF and the American Kenpo crowds. The next event may be an IKCA only event and it may be in Las Vegas, NV. We’ll see what happens.

After some light discussion, we went through the techniques I have been taught to date. After the review, Bill taught me the next technique – Deflecting Thunder. This technique is an inside defense against a right straight/ball kick (see technical journal for specific details on movements). It is a pretty cool technique and uses several things I have learned to date, such as the low block, ball kick, and an elbow strike. We spent quite a bit of time on this and after about 40 minutes or so I had a pretty good feel for the gross movements. I also have a pretty good idea of some of the finer points that I need to work on.

Bill has been pointing out several little habits that I have been trying to break. The part that is bugging me a bit is that he points them out, I practice a given technique with the corrections in mind, and then as soon as he teaches a new technique or movement he reminds me that those old habits are again in place. Grr. I guess I will eventually break these habits but in the mean time it is personally annoying.

Anyway, after we went through Deflecting Thunder, Bill walked through the last technique for Orange belt with me – Beheading the Dragon. We didn’t spend lots of time on it but he spoke of what it was and demonstrated on me several times. It is an outside defense from a straight left punch. This one is really cool! It introduces several new things that I haven’t used yet like a knee check, backhand knuckle rake, and a chop to the base of the skull with a ‘hand sword’.

Aside from the strikes, there is also some other things going on here as well, such as something called a ‘waiter check’, another new item that I haven’t seen before now. This keeps the blocked arm where you want it while at the same time protects your ribs on the left side. The movements into position are also different than we have seen so far. When moving in for the back knuckle rake, there is a good bit of movement to move into position, even though you are essentially in a lunge stance.

There is a lot to learn on this one and I have plenty to think about with Deflecting Thunder for the moment. Hopefully I will have it down for our next class.

10.17.05 - Practice Out of Class

Met at My House in Raleigh

This week was my first time hosting our little group and I was pretty excited to have the guys over. Walt called earlier in the day and let me know that he wouldn’t be here as he had a family function that was calling him away. Alex and Phyl arrived around 6:15 or so and we got started shortly after that.

We started out with some basic warm-ups and stretches, like usual. Then we started with the basics – literally from the ground up. We took advantage of the space in the back yard and did some step-drag maneuvers, followed by some push-drags. We did 20 up and 20 back, and it didn’t take long for the legs to start burning! We did the same thing with step-throughs as well before we moved on.

We did 20 ball kicks with step-through down and back, then the same drill with roundhouse kicks. We stopped for a water break pretty early on with all this activity. I was really surprised at how quickly I was winded and how much my legs were feeling the stress. It’s never this bad in class!

We did some pivots, and then we moved on to blocks. We did them all, including one that I hadn’t been exposed to before. It’s sort of a short little extended block to the side. Following he blocks, we did some lunge punches and backfists.

When we finished up doing the basics, we started practicing with Orange belt techniques. I had asked them if they had any tips about ‘flow’ with the Orange belt form. We went through it and showed me how the basic form was somewhat rigid in structure because of what it was, but you can still flow from move to move. We practiced for a few minutes before moving on to techniques.

Phyl and Alex basically devoted our practice session to the orange belt techniques and allowed me to practice them almost exclusively. I told them that I really expected to be helping them out as well and they stated over and over again that this was good for them as well as me. This was a huge benefit to me and I know it. I hope I can help them out as much at some point.

As for pointers, they basically showed me where I can refine my movements and positioning in each technique. I would go through the movements with one and the other would stand to the side and yell “stop!” right in the middle of a technique. I would then be adjusted into a proper position and it would be explained to me what I was doing or what I could do to correct it. Overall, it was very helpful and informative for me, probably more so than it was for Alex and Phyl.

We wrapped up with some fresh cupcakes complements of Maria and Duncan before they went on their way for the evening.

10.15.05 - Saturday Training

New Items Today:

1. Visualization (NLP)
2. IKCA Kicking drill
3. Backfist drill
4. Backfist & Blocking drill
5. Concept: Sparring Strategy

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Kicking drill
2. Techniques
3. Orange Belt Form

.

Visualization (NLP)
After some stretching and light warm up, Marty started the class of with some visualization and an anchoring technique that is frequently taught in the NLP circles. From experience, I know that this technique will work but requires reinforcement, especially in the beginning. I’m sure Marty is aware of this but he didn’t mention it in during the session and I don’t recall anyone asking questions about it. We’ll see what future sessions bring.

.

Kicking Drills
We went through the kicking drill again that we had learned a couple of weeks ago. It was much more fluid this time. :-) Bill also introduced us to a new drill, the IKCA kicking drill. It goes through several kicks and stances and generally gets you moving in a forward linear motion. Bill mentioned that of its many purposes, one was to get us in the mindset of pursuing an attacker through a series of kicks, which works particularly well with sparring. It’s a pretty cool drill but is going to take some practice to make it smooth.

.

Backfist Drills
After kicking around for a bit, we donned the hand targets and took turns practicing backfist strikes. After practicing with just a plain backfist to the target, we discarded the targets and paired up. With this next backfist drill, the idea was to strike with the backfist, eliciting a block in response, and then moving in with a lunge punch to the newly exposed ribs of our partner. Of course, this mimics a similar movement to Returning Serpent, which we practiced later. There were two key things that Bill mentioned to me during this drill; the first was to be sure to break the wrist so that the knuckles lead the punch. The second was to ‘sell’ the punch. Even though the intent of the drill was to have the backfist blocked, in a real scenario the punch should be ‘real’ and ‘intended’ for a target. I’m not sure why it is so difficult for me to practice on another person in this frame of mind. I don’t have any problem beating the snot out of my heavy bag but I am always pulling back with live people, too much so. I’ll work on it some more.

.

Concept: Sparring Strategy
Bill spoke for a few minutes on this topic. He began by discussing the idea that if you don’t have an inclination of what you are going to do prior to taking action, you tend to be in a defensive position instead of being on offense. He also spoke some about proper position and recognition of relative body positioning when responding to a threat. If you move back to avoid a strike instead of intercepting it with a block or otherwise moving to the inside of the attacker, you can lose valuable time and possibly the advantage in the fight, depending of course on the relative skills of both you and the attacker. The thought of “not moving East when you want to go West” came to mind, even though this is in a different context. It’s the same basic principle extended. Anyway, the point was to be immediate and spontaneous in our actions in order to maintain the edge during the fight.

.

Techniques
We reviewed all of the techniques we have learned to date, but spent a majority of the time with the latest technique we have learned, Returning Serpent. There were some very specific things that were pointed out to me regarding this technique:
.- Sit in the stance
.- Keep my head up
.- After the initial backfist, the right hand comes back and up to the left ear
.- Focus on the pressure points and targets
I’m still working on getting this technique smoothed out. I know that the power of the lunge punch, and even the second backfist, comes from the stance changes and the torque they produce. For some reason, the flow of this change is eluding me. It is getting better with practice, but it’s not there yet.

.

For next week:

• Practice all of the techniques we have learned to date
• Practice the Orange Belt form, paying especially close attention to the stances

10.03.05 - Practice Out of Class

Met at Alex’s home in Durham

This was the first time I have met with the purple belts outside of class to practice. I arrived just before 6:00pm and Alex met me outside in the back yard. After changing into my gi, we started warming up and doing some stretches while we waited for Phyl and Walt. We decided to get started and I asked Alex for some pointers with the latest technique I had learned: Returning Serpent.

He went through the technique slowly and described the points clearly. He dummied for me as I went through the drill several times. He had several observations and pointers that helped greatly. One of the problems I was having was range. I was stepping back to intercept the block and when it was time for the lunge punch, I was out of range. We determined that I could do at least a couple of things to correct this. The first was to make sure I intercept the block in the correct place. Although I was receiving the block in the middle third of my forearm, I was hitting Alex more toward the wrist, which was putting me further away. Also, when I stepped back to block, I was stepping into a wider stance than a neutral bow. After correcting this, the range was back where it needed to be.

The next area of trouble I was having was hand placement and stance change. Bottom line was that I was over-thinking the whole thing so we backed up a little and just did the stance change several times. Then we added the hands and all seemed good while I was practicing in the air. Then Alex stepped in and my right hand kept wanting to go to my right side instead of checking as it needs to. I think I’ll work this out with more practice.

Eventually Phyl and Walt arrived and got ready to work out. Since we all felt we could use some more practice with blocking after Saturday’s exercise with the boxing gloves, we started with that. Walt donned the gloves and pads and we practiced our blocks. The first round it was just blocking and the second round was blocking and countering with very light contact. It was good to do this again and I learn more every time.

Next we decided to do line drills of all the techniques starting with the Orange belt techniques. They asked if I wanted them to show me or if I wanted to wait for Sifu to show me the techniques I hadn’t been exposed to yet. I decided to go through the line with them participating fully with the techniques I have learned and then just went through as a dummy for the ones I didn’t. We went through all of the techniques and extensions, which took quite a while. When we finished up it was around 9:00pm and we all changed and went home.

It was a great workout and I learned a lot; not perhaps so much of technique per se but definitely about some of the finer points of Kenpo beyond the mechanical movements. I experienced first hand how the flow of the movements works and how tightly the basics work together. It was fun, tiring, and educational and I look forward to the next session.

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.

.

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.

.

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.

.

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.

.

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.

.

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.