03.27.06 - Practice out of Class

Met at Walt’s house in Raleigh

Walt, Alex, Phyl, Elliott and I met at Walt’s place to work out this week. I arrived a little after 7:00pm and the others were already warming up. I got stretched out a little bit and then joined in with the warm ups.

We did most of the usual stuff (ball kicks, roundhouse kicks, blocks, lunge punches, etc.) and then started with some other drills that we haven’t done in a while. Walt and I paired off and we did a “right-left-duck” drill alternating from side to side, similar to boxing warm ups. We then did some “yes-no-yes” drills and some back knuckle-lunge punches.

Then came the techniques. We started off with the Orange belt techniques and work up through Purple. Starting with Beheading the Dragon, we worked through them in order and ended with Thunder and Lightning before moving on to the Purple belt techniques. The only caveat to this workout that was different from workouts past was that the guys were sure that I covered out after each technique. A little awkward, but I need the practice.

Stopping the Storm was the first Purple belt technique that I learned tonight. Phyl stated that the primary difference between the techniques I learned at Orange belt and the ones I’ll be learning for Purple is that I will now be stepping into my attacker instead of moving away. This was immediately apparent with Stopping the Storm as the first series of moves consists of stepping to about 1:00 on your opponent during a parry/grab that ultimately pulls the attacker into your fist, before moving on with the rest of the technique. I’ll save the descriptions for the Technique Journal but it was cool to be learning new moves.

The guys proceeded to take me through the rest of the techniques as well. In order, they were Hidden Wing, Circling Serpent, Hooking Thunder, Captured Wing, Clapping Tiger, and Raking Hammer. As they showed me the basic moves, I felt like I did when I first started Kenpo; it sort of felt like I was starting all over again. But it was a good feeling. The biggest difference between learning the first set and this set is that I was surprised at how quickly I was able to start doing the core movements of the techniques this time around. For some reason the moves just made more sense and I felt like I could pick them up quicker. I don’t know if it is because I have been dummying for these guys from nearly the beginning or if it is because I’m building on a comfortable base. I realize that it is probably both and more but it was a little strange to ponder.

03.25.06 - Saturday Practice

Preempted!
Sifu met Walt and I at the door this morning as I arrived and informed us that our work out space had been set aside by the complex manager for a meeting. Unfortunately at this time, this means that our work out was cancelled. However, we did salvage the time by going up to Bill’s place and we all discussed the Kenpo in the Carolinas seminar from just the weekend before.

Bill started us off by describing what Vic LeRoux is kicking around for next year. He is considering a two-part format: The first part being an open competition for self-defense and the second part consisting of a seminar and instruction. Of course, this is still way early in the planning stages so we just sort of discussed what good or bad would come out of a different format.

One thought was to get together on the Friday night prior for sort of a general workout. When Sifu, Walt, and I went to California for the West Coast Kenpo Confederation, the night we arrived was much like this in that everyone just got together and ran a technique line, talked, and just generally got to know one another. It was a nice warm up to the seminar the next day.

Less talk, more action. That seemed to be something that was universally acknowledged with everyone in the room. We all love to hear Vic’s stories, and we know that he is fully capable of everything he tells us but I think pretty much everyone wanted to actually do the different items that Vic was describing.

We had some brief talk about some of the equipment that may need to be available for the next seminar. Items such as the Ultraman Dummies, kicking shields and mats were high on the list. Apparently there were at least a couple of people that commented on their desire to work the dummies at this seminar and we never did.

Merchandising is another big area that will be more fully exploited next time. An official seminar shirt is being planned, as well as having other shirts, posters, videos, etc. available to anyone who wants them. This could seriously help offset costs next year as we may have to move to a different venue.

After getting these ‘hard’ items out of the way, we all just had a general discussion about Vic and the time he spent here. Based on the general mood of most everyone there, I think this seminar was not only a success, but it seemed to open the eyes of several people as to what Kenpo is, what is attainable, and who is steering the ship of the I.K.C.A. – and we weren’t the only ones impressed. There were two new school charters that came from this seminar in the week that followed, including some jumping ship from American Kenpo.

All in all, a great seminar and I’m looking forward to the next one.

03.18.06 - Kenpo in the Carolinas 2006 Seminar

The seminar was held in the main room of the Open Door Baptist Church located on Durant Road in Raleigh, North Carolina. This was the first time an event such as this has been organized and solicited on the “East Coast” and the turnout was better than originally anticipated.

Maria and I arrived at about 8:25am. Sifu had asked us to come early as we had a few things we needed to do prior to the seminar. For one thing, I had my Kenpo dummy (Ed Gruberman) in the back of the truck and he needed to be brought in and set up. Maria had agreed to take pictures for us throughout the seminar so we wanted to get some test shots off before hand to see if lighting was going to be a factor.

I think everyone from TKI that attended was already there so I got dressed and warmed up with them for a few minutes before I started mingling and talking to some of the other folks. Some puzzle mats were setup over in the corner for demonstrations later on in the seminar and of course, Phyl, Walt, and Alex had to go ‘test them out’ and get comfortable. These guys crack me up! They have been throwing each other around on concrete and hard floors for so long, as they rotated off the mat and came over to me, I think each one of them commented on it was like “landing on a pillow”. After a few minutes, they broke up and stepped off the mat.

As Phyl was stepping off the mat, Keith Drankiewicz from Wisconsin approached him and started talking about takedowns. I wasn’t close enough to hear them conversing but I did hear a comment from Keith about how guys of “similar build” need to stick together. It wasn’t long and they were both on the mat. It appeared that Keith was explaining to Phyl a position of arm placement just prior to a take down. It appeared that when the technique was done properly, there was very little ‘muscle’ needed to get the job done – it was more in the technique. Phyl worked the technique out for a few more minutes with him and soon had Keith flipping over to the mat. Keith got up and said “Whoo! That was fun!” They soon wrapped up the lesson and stepped off the mat.

It wasn’t long after that and Vic arrived. He was standing at the door when I noticed him and was working his way into the room. I pointed him out to Maria and then we both went over to say hello. As always, Vic was very genuine and full of positive energy – and already telling stories as he came through the door. After introducing Maria, we backed away and let others have their turn in welcoming him to Raleigh.

We all lined up. Bill Parsons, along with Marty Josey and Vic LeRoux, welcomed everyone to the Kenpo in the Carolinas seminar. After a few words about the itinerary for the day, there was no time wasted as the blue puzzle mats were brought to the center of the action and the day was started with some demonstrations. First up was Larry Lauer with Phyl Parsons dummying for him. After that, Lynn Lane had one of his students, Steve, dummy for him as he did several techniques. They all looked good out there on the mat as it’s always great to see experienced Kenpo guys doing their thing.

Vic started us off with some warm up exercises. After meditating from a horse stance, we started out with some simple leg raises, working our way into some exercises from the horse stance and eventually into some ball kicks and blocking from the neutral bow stance. While doing these basic warm-up drills, Vic focused heavily on maintaining weight over the supporting leg – which is something that Sifu is constantly drilling us on in class. There was one kicking exercise in particular that started with a front ball kick, then went to a rear kick before the foot was placed back in the original position touching the floor. It was surprising to see how many people almost immediately lost their balance during the transition from front to rear kick. As Bill is always telling us, Vic repeated how it was vitally important to be properly aligned over that support leg in order to maintain control of where you want to go. You want to choose where you are going to go next, not be forced to move in a given direction because of dead-legging.

We moved into blocks after a few minutes and Vic discussed how all blocks in Kenpo were actually strikes. He demonstrated the proper angles and went into what he called the “Advanced Blocking Set”. Vic demonstrated how important it was to place the block where it needs to be. Using Lynn Lane for visual reference, he showed how an effective block can quickly become ineffective if the angles and position are off by just a few inches.

After some blocking practice, Vic pulled Marty Josey up to the front of the class to assist as he demonstrated some trapping and checking maneuvers. I will admit, it was awesome to watch Vic as he went through several scenarios, but it just showed me how far I have to go on my Kenpo journey to obtain some of his knowledge and skill.

He then moved on to the topic of trapping. Vic mentioned Bruce Lee and stated that the “Bruce Lee guys” refer to the exercises we were about to do as “pok sau” and “lop sau”. Vic makes this stuff look so easy! The essence of this drill boiled down to trapping and pinning both of your adversary’s hands while tying up only one of your hands, leaving your free hand to strike. Once the adversary is in this position, Vic was able to very easily transition again to maintain control. As we paired off and worked with each other on the floor, Vic approached and used me to demonstrate the drill to me and my training partner. I was amazed at how simply and quickly I was tied into a knot.

Vic discussed how most adversaries are finished after three strikes. He tied this into the exercise we were doing as we had been doing just this. This somehow segued into one of his many stories, but one that sort of surprised me. Somehow he got onto the topic of how Ed Parker always carried a 5-shot Derringer pistol with him everywhere he went. This was very interesting to me as it seemed to illustrate that even though Ed Parker was a highly skilled and powerful individual, he still had a back up plan!

We broke for lunch somewhere around 11:30 am I think and resumed activities again around 1:00 pm. There were some more demonstrations again and this time it was the Purple belts from TKI that got us started off with the Master form up through Blue. I know I’m partial and all but they really did look great out there. As the guys did their thing, I sort of checked out some of the others as they looked on and saw everything from intense scrutiny to admiration on the faces of those gathered around. They finished to a nice warm round of applause before stepping out of the circle. Vic sort of surprised me a little bit, and I’m sure he surprised a couple of Lynn Lane’s students as well when he asked Steve and Randy to come on out and demonstrate some techniques! They came out to the floor without hesitation and proceeded to do several techniques.

Following Lynn’s guys, Vic pulled a couple more guys out of the crowd. It was Carl Britt and Greg Payne who had never met prior to this very moment. Vic said “just go ahead and show us a couple of techniques”. Greg started doing some techniques fast and hard, but with awesome control. At one point, it was apparent that Carl wasn’t wearing a cup and stepped off the mat. Phyl Parsons quickly volunteered and went out on the mat for Greg and they did some more techniques.

Bill Parsons stepped out on the mat next with his Purple belts in tow. He rotated through several techniques with Phyl, Alex, & Walt. I don’t often get to see Bill move at fast speeds as he usually has to slow things down for us as he instructs us in class. This time, he was moving well and it was cool to see him in action. The Purple belts did a great job out there too making Bill look good.

After we concluded with the demonstrations, Vic started to talk about parrying and checking. He borrowed Steve again and went through a series of movements that allowed basically either frustrated an aggressor’s strike or checked him in such a way as to take them out of striking position. He related a tale of Armando Deloa in Los Angeles. Armando is a security guard at a school and found him self in the unfortunate position of being wrestled down and sat on by some gang banger that was trying to punch him from this position. Vic told how Armando was able to parry these blows as they rained down and caused his assailant to strike the pavement instead of Armando’s head! After he turned his knuckles to hamburger, Armando was able to get out from under this guy and take care of business. This story really got me thinking about how effective something like a parry can be. At this point in my training, the parrying that I have used has been part of double factoring and seemed to be secondary to the technique. In reality, I can see now that it could become a much more important feature determining the effective outcome of an altercation. Just one more tool in the tool box.

Vic briefly spoke about the Thai kick and how it can be a devastating kick if used in the right way. He demonstrated how he might use it to take an assailant down to his knees by delivering a Thai kick hard and down to the back of the thigh. Once the opponent is down to his knees, Vic pointed out that most people go down with the foot bent beneath them in such a way that the toes are flexed and the heel is pointing up. A crippling blow can be delivered with a stomp to the Achilles tendon at the back of the heel. If at all possible, remember to flatten your foot out if you find yourself in this vulnerable position.

Larry Lauer was the nest lucky one to be picked for Vic’s demonstrations. Vic went through several maneuvers with Larry that could be described as trapping and hitting. When he was finished, we all paired off and worked out these concepts with a partner. The drill was “trap and punch” with the goal following the “3 strike rule” that Vic had mentioned earlier. As before, Vic made this look so easy! I paired off with a gentleman from the Charlotte area and we began working through the drill. From a matched stance (we were in a right neutral bow), the first move was to pin with the lead arm of the opponent with the trailing left hand while delivering a straight right to the face. When the opponent came in with the unchecked hand, your striking hand came down and trapped that hand over the top of his other hand while at the same time the your left hand comes up for the second strike to the head. This was the cool part because it effectively put you in a position where you were trapping and controlling both of your opponent’s hands with one of yours, leaving one of your hands to take care of business. The final move to the drill was to switch hands again, where the left hand comes down to check and the right hand comes back up for the third strike to the face. This was so cool on so many levels… it is incredibly efficient in motion and the strikes are all point of origin. The attacker is wrapped up and made to feel helpless as he is being drilled repeatedly even though he is trying to escape. You are also using the attacker’s own energy to launch your attacks against him! A very cool drill overall… I just wish we had more time to play with it.

After we all worked on this drill, Vic chose another person from the group to demonstrate on, Ron Ray, an American Kenpo practitioner. He went through the same trapping drill we had been working on but included some extensions and showed us some other things you could do from a control position. It just didn’t seem to matter what Ron did, Vic would just flow into a strike using Ron’s own movements and energy against him. There were several times during the demo that it didn’t even appear that Vic was watching what he was doing so much as he was feeling the movement of Ron. It was awesome to see how fluid Vic was with his movements.

Vic spoke briefly about the benefits of working out with an Ultraman Dummy. He talked about how you could do full leg sweeps and things that you couldn’t do with a training partner without having to worry about injury.

The seminar wrapped up shortly after this and everyone lined up again for dismissal. Before we left, Bill and Marty joined Vic on the main stage and presented a gift. There is a gentleman in Florida that is particularly good with an airbrush. He made a special shirt for Vic that read “Kenpo in the Carolinas 2006” and featured a dragon prominently in the design. It looked great and Vic really appeared to like it.

Before leaving, we did some things that are traditional to Kenpo gatherings. First we lined up according to rank, with the Black belts first and on down to White. We shook hands in the Kenpo fashion and created a single line. When this we done, we did a traditional close known as “Passing the Pain”. Starting with Vic, he delivered a back-fist to the stomach of the person standing next to him and that person continued to the next and so on. When it reached the end of the chain, it came back and Vic was the last one to be hit.

Passing the Pain officially concluded the seminar, however, everyone stuck around for a group photo. It turned out great! The next photo was also a group shot, but it was of the Black belts only. After that, Vic agreed to kick some people in that had recently been promoted. Among those being kicked in was Larry Lauer, recently promoted to 5th Dan. There were several from TKI that were kicked in as well, including Marty, Elliott, Alex, Phyl, and me. After getting through the kick ins, Vic was gracious enough to pose with anyone that wanted a picture. He took dozens of photos in any number of poses. He was great.

Following the seminar most of us went out to a Chinese buffet restaurant (of course), called the Crystal Palace. It’s hard to beat good times and Kenpo fellowship at a decent Chinese restaurant! Following dinner, several of the guys went back to Bill’s place with Vic where he told stories well into the night. Unfortunately I was unable to go with them but I’m sure I’ll here more of Vic’s stories in the future.

It has been a fantastic week for me and Kenpo. It kicked off with a promotion to Orange belt on Monday and finished out with solid Kenpo fellowship with Vic and the others at the seminar. What a blast! I am already looking forward to the next Kenpo in the Carolinas seminar.

This has been a long post and I toyed around with the idea of breaking it up into smaller posts but ultimately decided against that. I know there are at least a few of you out there that read this journal and are familar with TKI, the IKCA, or Kenpo in general. In my mind, this site is a sort of archive of Kenpo as I have been exposed to it I would love to broaden it out a little bit. Go ahead and leave comments and share experiences - we would all love to hear about it. Thanks!

03.13.06 - Practice Out of Class

Met at Walt’s house in Raleigh

Sifu, Alex, Phyl and I met at Walt’s house for practice. Sifu had told me just today at work that he was going to test me this evening! I felt bad for taking up so much of their time when they really wanted to practice for the upcoming seminar. Bill seemed adamant about doing it and to tell the truth, I have been working on it every night this last week and felt pretty good about it mentally. Physically, I was tired from working all day but was determined not to allow for any excuses.

When I arrived, Sifu was getting the tripod and camera set up in Walt’s garage. We did a quick warm up and then the Purple belts stepped outside of camera range while Sifu and I proceeded with the test. I got past the initial salute just fine this time, thank you very much. I was having issues with my legs though; they felt like tree trunks and were about as flexible. They really started to hurt but I kept pressing forward trying to get through the test. About half way through, they started shaking from fatigue. I was bummed. I did my best to focus on the task at hand and just kept going. I don’t feel the test went as well as the pre-test in that I felt terrible by the time I finished. I was sweating like crazy and had a time trying to keep my legs underneath me. I was pretty sure that I was going to have to do this again and at that point was thankful to something that Sifu had told me during the day at work. He had said he would test me this evening and wasn’t going to tell me if I passed or not until the morning of the seminar. At least I wouldn’t have to take the bad news in front of the guys tonight.

We wrapped up the test and took down the camera. I was starting to feel a little better and began working out with the guys a little bit while Sifu finished packing up his camcorder. About the time he had finished, Sifu asked Walt if he had some ice. He was flexing his hand and said he didn’t know what he did but he wanted to ice it quickly. Walt verbalized the exact thought that went through my head: “How did you hurt yourself video taping?!” He and Walt went into the house and I started dummying for the other guys on their techniques. Bill and Walt came out a few minutes later and I inquired about his hand. He said he would be fine and started watching us do some techniques.

After a couple of minutes, Sifu asked the guys to come over and asked me to stand in front of him. He told me to kneel opposite him and I did so. He reached into his gi and took out a folded Orange belt. I don’t know if the shockwave that I felt actually registered on my face or not but Sifu proceeded with all seriousness. He had me remove my white belt and fold it in half before handing it to him. He tied a knot in the belt and presented it back to me. I then bowed low and touched my forehead to the Orange belt before me. As instructed, I picked it up and put it on, tying half of the knot. Sifu then tied the rest of the knot and congratulated me on passing the Orange belt test! He asked me if I wanted to be “kicked in” and I answered “Yes, sir” without hesitation. As is the custom, he had me assume a horse stance and then proceeded to deliver a thrust kick to the high stomach, sending me back several feet.

I couldn’t believe it. I passed! I was sure I was going to do this one over again. After saluting Sifu, I turned to Walt, Alex and Phyl and told them that I couldn’t have done it without their help too. They have invested an enormous amount of time in me and I feel grateful to have them as friends and training partners. I hope I can be there for them should they need me in the future. Thank you, Sifu, and thank you to Walt, Alex & Phyl for all of your help.

After I was awarded the belt, Sifu mentioned that the belt belonged to Walt, and that it was temporary until my own belt arrived. At this point, Walt stated that I could keep the belt, that it would be nice if it stayed in the group. I rather like that idea, actually. We joked around about how he had already broken it in so that the “antenna factor” was no longer an issue.

I had to leave early tonight because of a prior arrangement at home. I bowed out and left the group around 8:15 pm or so and headed home – still wearing my gi and new Orange belt. I wasn’t sure how or if Maria and Duncan would react when I got home. As it turned out, Duncan, my 6-year old son, was just inside the door and noticed the belt as soon as he realized it was me coming through the door. “Congratulations, Daddy! I’m so proud of you!” For some reason this just struck me humble for a moment and I gave him a great big hug. I put him down and went to show my wife, Maria.

She was upstairs and I approached her with my work out bag slung over my shoulder but hanging in front of me, blocking her view of the belt. “So, how did you do?” she said simply. I just moved the bag to the side and showed her the belt. “Congratulations!” she said quickly and then said “I thought you weren’t going to know if you passed until Saturday?”. I told her about how Bill faked hurting his hand to draw Walt into the house and the rest of the story as it was.

I wish I would have been able to stay and work out with the guys longer than I did. I feel like I took up most of their workout time, and with Vic LeRoux coming in on Saturday, I’m sure they wanted to practice. I’m sure they will be great on Saturday.

03.11.06 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Leg Stretches & Warm Ups

Reviewed other items:

1. ¼ Speed Sparring
2. Orange Belt Techniques
3. Orange Belt Form

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Leg Stretches and Warm Ups
Our normal routine in the morning generally starts off with some sort of dynamic stretching and some warm up drills. This morning was different only because we did some additional leg stretching. I guess the best way to describe them is that we were going deep lunges with the rear foot planted for maximum stretch with several variations. It’s pretty obvious to me that I need to be working on my flexibility. Hopefully my knees will strengthen some as I stretch and they will give me fewer problems in the future.

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¼ Speed Sparring
We jumped right into ¼ speed sparring after warm ups which is a little different than usual. I felt much more energetic sparring in the beginning of class as opposed to waiting until the latter part of class. I got tagged a few times, especially from Bill, as I would move in and block one of his strikes with my nose. I tried moving up the circle on him as he showed me a while back but I either moved to slow or he anticipated me because I was never able to get into a good position. My only saving grace sparring Sifu was when he came in with a sweep or leg trap of some sort and I was rooted a bit better than he thought, which caused him to go off balance. I wish I could claim some technical savvy there but I really had nothing to do with it.

Sparring the other guys was fun too. Alex has obviously been working on some grappling techniques and I found that interesting as he employed some new moves. Marty likes to get inside and take a piece of you with him so I did my best to hold my ground and keep him on my perimeter, with some success. Phyl still charges straight in so I was doing more to move around him and tried to get him to commit to a movement that put him out of balance, again with slight success. I also moved up the circle with him and did much better than I did with Bill. Then there was Walt. I was tired by the time I got to him and launched a consistent attack against me without letting up. It wasn’t particularly fast or anything, just one thing after another. I kept up with defenses and counters for as long as I could and then I was just gassed out and had to stop. I let him push me past my comfort zone to see how far I could go. It was a good thing, and I should do that more often. Jeff, our Taekwondo Black belt, was fun to spar with too. He likes to kick of course so I did my best to move inside of him and up the circle. The busier I could keep his hands, the better off I was. And I can’t forget Alexandra – she charges straight in and displaces me every time. She has a mean thrust kick and when it connects I usually wind up several feet backwards. Sparring was a lot of fun today and I hope we do some more soon.

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Orange Belt Techniques
Sifu led us through the Orange belt techniques. I have been working on these all week since the critique of my pre-test and looked forward to some feedback to see if I was on the right track. Generally speaking, I think I did okay but I am still having some trouble with the thrust kick in Thrusting Release. I asked Sifu to watch me and give me some feedback as to what I am doing incorrectly. After watching the thrust kick several times, he asked me where in my foot the weight was balanced; specifically, was the weight transferring to the outside edge of my foot? After thinking about it and trying it a couple of times, I agreed that it was likely just that. With some further analysis, we determined that I was not kicking directly forward but rather at a slight angle across my body, which explained the balance issues. Combined with keeping my foot flat on the floor for the kick (not rising up on my toes), the kick felt much better. I didn’t have much time to practice right then but I will practice more during the week.

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Orange Belt Form
The last thing we did was to go through the Orange belt form with Marty. Jeff had not been exposed to this yet so we started as a group from scratch. It was cool to see how quickly Jeff picked up the primary movements of the form and by the time we had finished, he could perform those movements by himself.

As before, Marty broke this form down several ways. After describing the basic moves, we tucked our hands in our belts and did the footwork only. We have done this before in class so it wasn’t particularly new to me but it was good to do it again. The next mode was to keep our hands tucked in our belts and close our eyes while going through the form. This was interesting. I used the sound of Marty’s voice as an anchor for my “12 O’Clock” and used the noise coming from the back of the room where the others were working out as an anchor for my “6 O’Clock”. Doing this helped me keep my lines straight and, in a weird sort of way, helped me keep my balance. I kept my eyes shut tightly for the entire drill and then opened them, not sure if I would be facing forward or not. As it turned out, I was indeed facing forward. The final mode of practice was to do the entire set of movements – blocks and footwork – with eyes closed. Again, using my audible anchors, I did fine. Great review.

We wrapped up class by observing the Purple belts as they did the Master Form up through Blue. They looked great. Sifu had them do the form several times and, aside from a minor glitch here and there, they did very well. It will be cool to watch them at the seminar next weekend.

03.06.06 - Practice Out of Class

Met at my house in Raleigh

Sifu joined us in our out of class training session this week so that he could practice the techniques he will be doing for everyone at the seminar. He worked primarily with Alex, Phyl & Walt while Alexandra and I went through the Orange belt techniques as well as the Orange belt form.

We didn’t do anything earth shattering this session but we did cover the basics. As a group, we started out by coming together in a circle and each person chose a drill that we did as a group. It was completely up to the person choosing the drill to call out the drill and determine the repetitions as well as the speed. We were warmed up pretty good by the time we finished going around the circle. After the warm ups, Alexandra and I split off and the Purple belts worked with Sifu.

Alexandra and I started with Thunder & Lightning and worked our way through all 6 techniques for Orange belt. It was all review for both of us but neither of us has mastered the techniques to perfection yet. I had just reviewed my Orange belt pre-test and was cognizant of the items that I wanted to work on. Specifically, I focused on range and target location for both Beheading the Dragon and Deflecting Thunder. One of the items Sifu mentioned on my critique was that I was out too far on these two techniques, that my assailant was much closer than I was taking into account. Also, on both of these techniques, I have a tendency to more laterally instead of at a real 45 degree angle. I was careful to move in the right directions for the technique.

Another thing that I was mentally focusing on was foot placement. It bothered me to see myself on tape during the forward and backward step-drags. My trailing foot was closer to 90 degrees than 45. The thing is that I picture my feet in the proper position when I’m doing the step drags so when I actually saw my feet at the incorrect angles, it was a little bit surprising. I was careful to pay closer attention and frequently checked their position as I was going through the techniques tonight.

Sifu broke from practicing with the Purple belts for a few minutes and came over to help us. He had us go through each technique twice – once slow and once fast – and then advised us with what he saw. He mentioned the thrust kick in Thrusting Release and walked me through the motions of the thrust kick yet again. I don’t know what it is about this kick but I am having a time getting it correct. Tonight I was raising up on my toes again during the kick. I know better than to do this but I have a feeling that I’m probably correcting for balance. I’m definitely doing something wrong but I can’t pin it down. I’ll keep working on it.

We broke sometime just before 9:00 pm and bowed out. We chatted for just a couple of minutes and then everyone left for home. Another good workout and I’m glad Sifu decided to join us.

03.04.06 - Saturday Training

New Items Today:

1. Stretching from a Horse Stance
2. Orange Belt Pre-Test

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Warm ups
2. Orange Belt Techniques
3. Orange Belt Form

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Warm ups and stretching
We did the normal warm ups this week but we also did some additional stretching that was new to me. We did several stretches from a Horse stance that focused on the legs and torso. In most cases, the stretches start from the Horse stance and then the body turns and leans in one direction, and then the other. In some cases you lean toward the direction you are facing with focus on stretching the legs, while other times it seemed that the torso received as much stretching as the leg muscles. Over all I felt a little uncomfortable with the stretches but that was mostly because I was unfamiliar with them and my balance was off. I’m sure they will become more comfortable if we continue to use them.

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Orange Belt Techniques
Sifu pulled Marty and Elliott over and quickly ran through each of the 6 techniques for Orange belt. The intent was to show them any nuances that Sifu teaches that may be slightly different from what they were taught. After this quick review, Marty and Elliott (both I.K.C.A. black belts) took the White belts aside and we went through all of the techniques.

I don’t think there were any new items that I discovered practicing the techniques. I did see that there were certain small items that I would leave out from time to time as I witnessed others in the group doing them. One item of not is checking, for example on Deflecting Thunder I wasn’t bringing the left hand up to check after the block. As I watched others in the group, I noticed that Alexandra was the only one of us that was getting the check in the right place at the right time. Of course, after I noticed it I started doing it properly and was watching everything else I was doing in the technique much more carefully for fear that I was missing something else.

I’m still struggling with the thrust kick in Thrusting Release. It only seems to be a problem when I am doing the kick in the air. I brought this up to Sifu one day and he said I’m cheating the kick because I am using my target for stabilization at the end of the kick. For some reason, I seem to be losing my balance at the point of impact when kicking in the air. One pointer that helped tremendously was when Sifu told me to keep the foot that is on the ground flat and don’t rise up on my toes during the kick. This did indeed provide more stability but I’m still tending to feel off balance. I’ll work on it some more and see what I come up with.

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Orange Belt Form
After working the techniques for a while, we practiced the Orange belt form. Marty has a particular way he likes to train with new things and that is to do the footwork only first before launching into the whole form or technique. It’s interesting to do it this way and it is sort of fun because in my head, I’m still going through the hand movements. We practiced without hands, then full movements, then with our eyes closed. Overall it was a good review.

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Orange Belt Pre-Test
After class, some of the guys (and girl) stuck around and watched me as Sifu taped my Orange belt pre-test. This was interesting. I have never taped myself doing anything before so I didn’t know how I was going to react in front of the camera, nor did I know what to expect afterward while watching myself on tape. After noting all of the required locations in which I had to stand for the camera, the actual taping began.

It seemed simple enough. “Salute” was the command. Something we do several times during class; so many times it is sort of ingrained… or so I thought. My brain heard the command, comprehended the command, and immediately locked my limbs. Definitely a “DUH” moment. After a couple of embarrassing seconds I got all of my faculties together again and saluted in the direction of the camera. Rough start.

After that, it was relatively smooth sailing. The test is set up so that a person off camera, in my case, Sifu, calls out the items of the test and the person testing performs the appropriate actions on cue. The person testing performs any given item several time while facing the camera and then turns left and does the same set of items again, giving the opportunity of the person later reviewing the tape to see the same movements from two different perspectives. There were a couple of times that I was thinking too much and when I was told to “turn to my left and repeat those moves”, I turned left and then lead with the wrong stance (right stance instead of left). It was an interesting experience and I’m sure I’ll be going through it several more times before my Kenpo journey is complete.

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Follow Up
Sifu gave me a written critique and the video tape on Monday morning following the pre-test. As I scanned through it, I was a little disappointed to see that some of the very things I have been working on were the same items I was getting dinged on. However, viewing the tape later on at home was very enlightening. Had I never read Sifu’s critique, I would have dinged myself on the same items because they were right there in front of me as clear as day. I had never given much thought to the effectiveness of taping and reviewing myself but I can definitely see how it could be powerful learning tool.

Bottom line is that there are things I need to work on for the actual test. Between Sifu’s comments and other items I see on the tape, I’ll focus on the areas that seem to be causing me trouble and we’ll try it again.