04.03.06 - Practice Out of Class
Met at Walt’s house in Raleigh
Walt, Alex, Phyl, Elliott, Khedron and I were joined by Sifu Bill Parsons for a workout this evening. I think we were all there and ready to go around 7:00pm or so. Sifu had mentioned that he would be joining us for our Monday evening workouts but had made it clear that it wasn’t another formal class and that he was there to work out as well. As I expected, that didn’t last real long and within a few minutes, he was leading us in exercises and giving instruction. I hope that we can all gain something from these workouts – including Sifu. We’ll see how it goes in the future.
We started out with some wicked stretching! Sifu had us primarily stretching the legs and groin. I stretched muscles I didn’t know I had and am pretty sure I’m going to feel it in the morning. For the time being though I feel pretty good and actually feel less tight; more flexible. I’ll have to ask Sifu about stretching as I would like to be more flexible and gain greater range of motion. Some of the stretching we did tonight seemed like such a slight movement but there wasn’t anything slight about the stretch. Good stuff and I look forward to more.
Warm ups were a little different tonight. We gathered in a circle and each person chose a movement or strike that we all did to warm up. I think we covered many of the basics, including ball kicks, rear arm extended blocks, thrust punches, thrust kicks, inward blocks, rear kicks, and a couple I’m forgetting. The blood was flowing pretty good now but we continued on with Sifu’s recommendation. In a similar fashion as the warm ups, we did the Orange belt techniques in a circle as well. There were two added stipulations to the norm: cover out after the technique and growl! In Sifu’s words: “Nobody is going to laugh at your growl. Much.” Good fun and growling all around.
Next was something new for me. We lined up in 3 staggered rows and did the master form. As we went through the Orange belt portion, Sifu called out the moves and clock orientations for each technique. After attempting to do it with the Orange belt tape, I must say this was much easier – although I got home and tried it again and was still lost. Need some more practice. Anyway, when they finished the Orange belt techniques, Khedron and I dropped out and the Purple & Black belts continued on through with their material to Blue.
When I had first arrived, the purple belts were practicing on the new mat. Once everyone had arrived, they mat was put up and set in the corner. It was like it was calling to these guys! At the word from Sifu, it was unfolded and ready to go. I think everyone that was there tonight was in class on Saturday when the mat was originally broken in so I was the only one in tonight’s group that was new to the maneuvers that Sifu had us doing. First up was falling from a squat position and breaking the fall with a quick slap of the arms/hands to the mat at the proper time. Ideally this maneuver should stop the fall completely. One of the keys is to keep your chin tucked, for mostly obvious reasons of safety. As soon as Sifu mentioned this, the first thought that went through my head was that I he has been telling me since I started Kenpo to keep my head level and chin up. Now that I’m getting comfortable with this, he says “tuck the chin!” I understand the reasons, of course, but it struck me funny at the time.
Next was a sort of shoulder roll from a crouched position. The trickiest part of this one, at least for me, was that when you come out of the roll you need to break the momentum of the fall by creating as much surface area to the matt at once as possible while retaining some semblance of a defensible position. We did this from the right and left sides. To be completely honest, I’m not sure how I was managing to do this. As I’m rolling over, I’m totally lost. My only saving grace was that I had a mental image of what I’m supposed to look like when I stop, and each time I did it I managed to get my body position closer to that image. This is definitely going to take some work but is was a lot of fun. I’m sure Bill can give me some pointers as to keeping my bearings as I’m tumbling about – assuming I’m supposed to do that.
After our mat work, we sort of split up. The purple belts folded up the mat and went out into the back yard where we heard happy thudding and slams of glee on the mat through the window. Sifu broke out the targets for us and we did some focus work. It was an interesting drill in that he had Khedron and I striking first with a “punching combination of our choice”, so long as we could repeat it. After a couple of light taps, he told us to continue with the same combination over and over again. After a few repetitions, I was moving to strike the target and realized that it moved – Bill had slowly shifted its position and I was supposed to track it and strike it. A couple more repetitions an he told us to go faster. Then again. Then a final spurt and I was gassed. My accuracy was pretty good with the strikes but my technique was beginning to suffer as I fatigued. As I focused on the technique, my speed went down. It was an enlightening exercise. We did it again with a different combo using the opposite lead hand. Again, results were about the same though I did find my second combo a bit more flowing and rhythmic. Once we finished the second round, we swapped pads and I held for Bill. He did well but I unintentionally added a little more ‘work’ to his work out by allowing the focus pads to drift apart a little bit. Sorry, Sifu! Hehee…
We put the pads up and started working with techniques. First up was Beheading the Dragon with a partner. I worked with Elliott through these techniques and Bill used me as a dummy as he went over some of the finer points and differences between the way he teaches, the way it is done on the tapes, and the way Elliott was taught by his original instructor. It was interesting in that all of the changes were subtle and none of them took away from the base technique. It was primarily the targets that changed but the technique stayed solid.
After the Orange belt techniques, we got into a couple of the Purple belt techniques starting with Stopping the Storm – a defense against a straight right punch. Sifu went much more in-depth on the movements with me and described a few of the nuances regarding the technique. I’ll go more into detail in the technique journal but there was a key concept that he wanted me to take away tonight and that was interception. It is the main difference between the Purple belt techniques and the Orange; now I am moving in on the attacker instead of creating space. I am intercepting his technique or maneuver and taking over.
I had a tendency tonight of not stepping properly into a neutral bow during the first part of the technique, thus putting me out of position for the rest of the technique. I think it is the close proximity that I am dealing with now and the effectiveness seems to be in the subtle moves and solid technique. When you are so close to the attacker, you have limited space to move in so you have to be efficient and this technique lends itself well to this – when I did it correctly. The mental notes I made to myself was to keep the arms in, shoot the “stop punch” straight (NOT an uppercut), and nail the stances. A fair amount to work on with this one.
I don’t want to say the next technique was “easy” but it seemed to stick in my brain better than the first. It is called Hidden Wing and it is a defense against a right rear shoulder grab. The only cumbersome thing about it is the multiple movements at once (though, when I look at it in print, it just sounds like everything else in Kenpo). After the “badge check”, you are stepping back to scrape/stomp the leg/foot while delivering an elbow straight back to the chin. This series of movements seemed a little weird to me at first but the more I do them, the more natural it feels. At first I was fighting the flow, particular the transition between the elbow strike and the hammer fist to the groin, but I realized that, after the elbow strike, if I just let the point of the elbow go straight down, the fist will naturally accelerate into a downward arc and nail the target. The more I learn, the more I see that there is to learn.
While working with Hidden Wing, Elliott described to me how the elbow strike is largely out of the attacker’s view, even after he gets popped on the button. There is another “hidden hand” strike coming up on the next technique, too. I like these strikes; they are sort of like little surprises that take the attacker to place he never wanted to go, and they aren’t necessarily difficult to use, they just have to be used correctly at the right time.
I feel that Elliott and Sifu spent a lot of time with me tonight and for that I am grateful. Hopefully we can let Sifu work his material a little more next time. Before we left tonight, he told the Purple belts that he wants to test them for Blue by the end of April. Very cool! Unfortunately, Phyl injured his foot this evening on the Ultraman Dummy and it may affect his work outs for the next several days. Hopefully it won’t keep him out of practice for long - get better, Phyl!
Looking forward to next time!
Walt, Alex, Phyl, Elliott, Khedron and I were joined by Sifu Bill Parsons for a workout this evening. I think we were all there and ready to go around 7:00pm or so. Sifu had mentioned that he would be joining us for our Monday evening workouts but had made it clear that it wasn’t another formal class and that he was there to work out as well. As I expected, that didn’t last real long and within a few minutes, he was leading us in exercises and giving instruction. I hope that we can all gain something from these workouts – including Sifu. We’ll see how it goes in the future.
We started out with some wicked stretching! Sifu had us primarily stretching the legs and groin. I stretched muscles I didn’t know I had and am pretty sure I’m going to feel it in the morning. For the time being though I feel pretty good and actually feel less tight; more flexible. I’ll have to ask Sifu about stretching as I would like to be more flexible and gain greater range of motion. Some of the stretching we did tonight seemed like such a slight movement but there wasn’t anything slight about the stretch. Good stuff and I look forward to more.
Warm ups were a little different tonight. We gathered in a circle and each person chose a movement or strike that we all did to warm up. I think we covered many of the basics, including ball kicks, rear arm extended blocks, thrust punches, thrust kicks, inward blocks, rear kicks, and a couple I’m forgetting. The blood was flowing pretty good now but we continued on with Sifu’s recommendation. In a similar fashion as the warm ups, we did the Orange belt techniques in a circle as well. There were two added stipulations to the norm: cover out after the technique and growl! In Sifu’s words: “Nobody is going to laugh at your growl. Much.” Good fun and growling all around.
Next was something new for me. We lined up in 3 staggered rows and did the master form. As we went through the Orange belt portion, Sifu called out the moves and clock orientations for each technique. After attempting to do it with the Orange belt tape, I must say this was much easier – although I got home and tried it again and was still lost. Need some more practice. Anyway, when they finished the Orange belt techniques, Khedron and I dropped out and the Purple & Black belts continued on through with their material to Blue.
When I had first arrived, the purple belts were practicing on the new mat. Once everyone had arrived, they mat was put up and set in the corner. It was like it was calling to these guys! At the word from Sifu, it was unfolded and ready to go. I think everyone that was there tonight was in class on Saturday when the mat was originally broken in so I was the only one in tonight’s group that was new to the maneuvers that Sifu had us doing. First up was falling from a squat position and breaking the fall with a quick slap of the arms/hands to the mat at the proper time. Ideally this maneuver should stop the fall completely. One of the keys is to keep your chin tucked, for mostly obvious reasons of safety. As soon as Sifu mentioned this, the first thought that went through my head was that I he has been telling me since I started Kenpo to keep my head level and chin up. Now that I’m getting comfortable with this, he says “tuck the chin!” I understand the reasons, of course, but it struck me funny at the time.
Next was a sort of shoulder roll from a crouched position. The trickiest part of this one, at least for me, was that when you come out of the roll you need to break the momentum of the fall by creating as much surface area to the matt at once as possible while retaining some semblance of a defensible position. We did this from the right and left sides. To be completely honest, I’m not sure how I was managing to do this. As I’m rolling over, I’m totally lost. My only saving grace was that I had a mental image of what I’m supposed to look like when I stop, and each time I did it I managed to get my body position closer to that image. This is definitely going to take some work but is was a lot of fun. I’m sure Bill can give me some pointers as to keeping my bearings as I’m tumbling about – assuming I’m supposed to do that.
After our mat work, we sort of split up. The purple belts folded up the mat and went out into the back yard where we heard happy thudding and slams of glee on the mat through the window. Sifu broke out the targets for us and we did some focus work. It was an interesting drill in that he had Khedron and I striking first with a “punching combination of our choice”, so long as we could repeat it. After a couple of light taps, he told us to continue with the same combination over and over again. After a few repetitions, I was moving to strike the target and realized that it moved – Bill had slowly shifted its position and I was supposed to track it and strike it. A couple more repetitions an he told us to go faster. Then again. Then a final spurt and I was gassed. My accuracy was pretty good with the strikes but my technique was beginning to suffer as I fatigued. As I focused on the technique, my speed went down. It was an enlightening exercise. We did it again with a different combo using the opposite lead hand. Again, results were about the same though I did find my second combo a bit more flowing and rhythmic. Once we finished the second round, we swapped pads and I held for Bill. He did well but I unintentionally added a little more ‘work’ to his work out by allowing the focus pads to drift apart a little bit. Sorry, Sifu! Hehee…
We put the pads up and started working with techniques. First up was Beheading the Dragon with a partner. I worked with Elliott through these techniques and Bill used me as a dummy as he went over some of the finer points and differences between the way he teaches, the way it is done on the tapes, and the way Elliott was taught by his original instructor. It was interesting in that all of the changes were subtle and none of them took away from the base technique. It was primarily the targets that changed but the technique stayed solid.
After the Orange belt techniques, we got into a couple of the Purple belt techniques starting with Stopping the Storm – a defense against a straight right punch. Sifu went much more in-depth on the movements with me and described a few of the nuances regarding the technique. I’ll go more into detail in the technique journal but there was a key concept that he wanted me to take away tonight and that was interception. It is the main difference between the Purple belt techniques and the Orange; now I am moving in on the attacker instead of creating space. I am intercepting his technique or maneuver and taking over.
I had a tendency tonight of not stepping properly into a neutral bow during the first part of the technique, thus putting me out of position for the rest of the technique. I think it is the close proximity that I am dealing with now and the effectiveness seems to be in the subtle moves and solid technique. When you are so close to the attacker, you have limited space to move in so you have to be efficient and this technique lends itself well to this – when I did it correctly. The mental notes I made to myself was to keep the arms in, shoot the “stop punch” straight (NOT an uppercut), and nail the stances. A fair amount to work on with this one.
I don’t want to say the next technique was “easy” but it seemed to stick in my brain better than the first. It is called Hidden Wing and it is a defense against a right rear shoulder grab. The only cumbersome thing about it is the multiple movements at once (though, when I look at it in print, it just sounds like everything else in Kenpo). After the “badge check”, you are stepping back to scrape/stomp the leg/foot while delivering an elbow straight back to the chin. This series of movements seemed a little weird to me at first but the more I do them, the more natural it feels. At first I was fighting the flow, particular the transition between the elbow strike and the hammer fist to the groin, but I realized that, after the elbow strike, if I just let the point of the elbow go straight down, the fist will naturally accelerate into a downward arc and nail the target. The more I learn, the more I see that there is to learn.
While working with Hidden Wing, Elliott described to me how the elbow strike is largely out of the attacker’s view, even after he gets popped on the button. There is another “hidden hand” strike coming up on the next technique, too. I like these strikes; they are sort of like little surprises that take the attacker to place he never wanted to go, and they aren’t necessarily difficult to use, they just have to be used correctly at the right time.
I feel that Elliott and Sifu spent a lot of time with me tonight and for that I am grateful. Hopefully we can let Sifu work his material a little more next time. Before we left tonight, he told the Purple belts that he wants to test them for Blue by the end of April. Very cool! Unfortunately, Phyl injured his foot this evening on the Ultraman Dummy and it may affect his work outs for the next several days. Hopefully it won’t keep him out of practice for long - get better, Phyl!
Looking forward to next time!
posted by Bonzai at 4/03/2006 10:00:00 PM
3 Comments:
Well, the Doc says I should be out for 2 weeks. I dont think it will be that long, the toe already is starting to feel alittle better. I didn't break it, but I messed it up pretty good. I'll see everyone next monday at the earliest, but I will more then likely just be observing.
Lesson Learned: respect the dummy, it will fight back.
Well, 2 weeks is better than 6 weeks in a cast and crutches. Hang in there and just let it heal. The dummy doesn’t dish it out often but he has a resolve like iron (or steel tubing anyway). See you soon!
I really enjoyed looking at your site, I found it very helpful indeed, keep up the good work.
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