12.31.05 - Saturday Training

New Items Today:

1. Guest in class: Jeff
2. Defense from a chair
3. Defense against a knife attack

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Footwork and maneuvering
2. ¼ Speed sparring
3. Blocking
4. Thunder & Lightning

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Guest in Class Today
We had a guest join us in class today. His name is Jeff and he attends the same church as Bill. Jeff instructs Taekwondo at the church and has quite a group in attendance from what he was describing. He was very polite and fun to have in class. I hope he joins us again.

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Defense while Seated in a Chair
Sifu had talked about this before but has not reviewed this information in class since I have been attending, so this was the first time I was able to see any of these techniques in action. The concept of the demonstration was to show some possible defenses one might have if they were confronted or attacked while seated in a chair.

One of the first things Sifu mentioned was that, while seated in a chair, you basically have use of all of your ‘weapons’ at once, referring to the arms/hands, feet/legs, and the head. For this demonstration, Bill sat in the chair and Phyl took the role of the attacker. Sifu went through several possible scenarios in which the attacker could be stopped, thrown, flipped, or counter attacked. It was interesting, to say the least, and I hope we do more of this again in the future.

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Defense Against a Knife Attack
Walt brought in one of his Christmas gifts and let the class play with it. It was a wooden training knife and Sifu took the opportunity to move from chair defense to some general principles of defending yourself against a knife wielding attacker. He made it clear that if you wind up in an altercation involving a knife, you can expect to be cut. Depending on your skill, and the skill of your assailant, you may escape with minor injuries or worse.

The core principle that he focused on was control of the knife at all times. This is done by controlling the hand that is gripping the knife and never losing track of where that blade is at. Sifu showed us several ways of getting to the knife hand and then how to control the attacker, or at least the knife, from that point on.

He mentioned a saying that Vic LeRoux has mentioned in the past. He held out his arm and said: “If you are cut here [wrist] you will bleed out in several seconds. If you are cut here [inside the elbow] you will be bleed out sooner. Cut here [near the arm pit] you will bleed out sooner. Cut here [carotid/jugular at the neck] you will bleed out sooner.” Bill then summarized by stating “if cut on a major blood vessel, the closer to the heart, the more serious the situation” (paraphrasing).

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¼ Speed Sparring
After doing our warm ups and some basics, we got into some ¼ speed sparring. I tried very hard to stay focused at a ‘true’ quarter speed this time and I think I accomplished this. I wound up sparring with Walt, Phyl and Bill, in that order. I was a little foggy when we started but cleared up as we went along. I have a tendency to do well in responding to attacks when they come in wide or from the sides, but when one of them comes straight in on me, I tend to go into a purely defensive mode. I don’t know why I’m doing this but I’ll be paying closer attention to it in the future.

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Blocking and Techniques
Upon conclusion of our sparring, we broke off into groups. Sifu took Juan and I aside and went through blocking with us. Bill corrected my hand/arm position while in my neutral bow and I was surprised at myself for slipping. When we got down to the blocks, I did fine. Sifu had Juan and I face each other and perform the blocks. It was interesting to see subtle corrections as we went through a set. I thought this was a great exercise and realized that I could probably do this same thing to some extent in front of a mirror at home. I’ll give that a shot.

Sifu also discussed the importance of the proper deployment of a block. By this I mean that you intercept the strike at the position that provides the optimum effectiveness of the block. In other words, don’t intercept the strike in such a manner that puts you out of proper position. Doing so only weakens your block and could ultimately open you up to an attack that you never intended. As a demonstration, Bill had me throw a straight punch and demonstrated how you could evade such a punch by simply turning the body or moving the head. This was great review for me and I think Juan took a lot out of it too.

We got to techniques and really focused on teaching Juan Thunder & Lightning. He explained that “Thunder” and “Lighting” are sort of code words for the actions being performed in the technique – thunder being a kick and lightning being a punch. (I still haven’t received his secret decoder sheet for all of the moves but he assures me he will email it to me.) Juan did very well and had the gross movements down after just a few minutes. This being his first technique, we also discussed some of the things that make a good “dummy” or training partner, such as:

• Throwing a realistic strike to appropriate targets
• Giving appropriate body reactions when “struck”
• Understanding the technique so you can adjust appropriately as needed

I think Jeff enjoyed the class with us and may be joining us again in the future. He was very energetic and it was fun having him in class. It will be interesting to discuss some of the differences and comparisons he has seen between Taekwondo and Kenpo.

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.

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.

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.