07.08.06 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

• Discussion: Concepts & Principles
• Ground Fighting: Kimura Variant

Reviewed Other Items:

• Stretching & Warm-ups
• Mat work
• Master Form
• Orange Belt Blocking Set (Form)

.

Mat Work
Our warm up was straight forward today with no real additional focus on any particular area of the body. Immediately following the warm up we pulled the mats out and practiced some different break falls and rolls.

We started with a forward roll into a break fall. While I’m still not a pro at this, I’m getting better – at least on one side. When I roll to the left shoulder, I still have a tendency of getting my legs backwards at the very end; in other words, the wrong leg is straightened to assist in lessening the impact. The next maneuver is a little easier for me and that is to go into a forward roll and then back up again into a neutral bow stance facing the ‘attacker’ (the direction you came from).Sifu noted that we should be solid in the stance and not leaning away from the action due to the momentum of the roll. I have found that when this happens to me that I can either make a small adjustment step or a slight hop to get solid again.

There was a dash of flavor on the mat today as Sifu had us throwing any combination of our choice following the forward roll to the neutral bow. This was interesting. I found myself hesitating a lot which tells me that I’m not at a level of spontaneity yet. If I think ahead before I do the roll, then no problem. But without a threat to consider I just hesitated. The more we did it the more comfortable it became but it still bothered me just a bit.

Finally we were told that instead of doing a combination of our choice, Sifu wanted us all to do Returning Serpent when we came out of the roll. This was certainly easier because I didn’t have to think about what I was going to be doing. However, when we came up into a left neutral bow, we had to make an adjustment to do the technique. I considered this the first time through and just did Returning Serpent from the left side, but Sifu was looking for the transition.

Before we finished up with the mats today, we did some side falls. These look simple but when it comes to doing them, it feels so unnatural somehow. We swing our left (or right) leg and arm to about horizontal and then bend the opposite leg, allowing the body to come down on it’s side. The arm and leg are supposed to slap down to dissipate the force of the fall in the exact same way that we practiced the forward roll. For some reason, I kept slapping with the back of my hand instead of the palm. I knew it wasn’t right, and even made a mental note before stepping on the mat for my next turn, but more times than not I still slapped incorrectly.

.

Master Form
Next up was the Master Form. Jeff was kind enough to step off the mat while the rest of us went through the form, or at least in my case, went through as much of the form as I could. The first time through I just stopped after the Orange belt techniques. Sifu told me on the second time through to stick with the rest of them as much as I could. Well, I got into the next two techniques (Purple belt) and then lost the transition. I picked up again when I could and then lost it again. I never did the entire Purple belt portion of the form today in a single pass, but I think I got it all in pieces. I did just stop when it got to the Blue belt techniques as I haven’t even seen them much yet.

It was sort of funny as we were going through them. Phyl was closest to me and I was watching him when I could as a guide. The points in which I was getting lost in the Purple belt techniques was when the transition had me turning away from the group. Each time Phyl would whisper to me which way to go and which technique was next. Thanks for the help, Phyl.

.

Concepts & Principles
We slowed the pace of the class down just a little bit today and examined closely some of the principles and concepts that we have learned and are learning in Kenpo. The format we utilized was that of Sifu playing the roll of ‘attacker’ as we individually went up in front of the class and chose one of the Orange belt techniques to dissect. (Note: Instead of writing all of the individual items down here in the session journal, I think I am going to update the pages of the technical journal instead so there is a better point of reference for the future.) The techniques that we discussed were as follows:

• Walt: Beheading the Dragon
• Phyl: Returning Serpent
• Alex: Thunder and Lightning
• Tom: Escaping Ram
• Jeff: Thrusting Release

The actual concepts and principles that were discussed as they applied to each of the above mentioned techniques are as follows:

• Opposing Forces
• Borrowed Force
• Mass in Motion
• Back-up Mass
• Body Alignment
• Penetration vs. Dissipation
• Marriage of Gravity
• Zone of Sanctuary
• Double Factor
• Contouring (with subcategory: Fitting)
• Point of Origin
• “Meet it, Beat it, or Eat it” principle

.

Ground Fighting: Kimura (Variant)
We very quickly covered a move today that is a variant of the Kimura. After a brief description by Marty, I partnered up with Jeff and we practiced the move. Describing from my point of view starting from a guard position on my back, I grip the attacker’s left wrist with my right hand as he has his weight on it (tripodding). I then sit up, reaching across my body and over his left shoulder with my left arm, coming under his arm to grab hold of my own wrist. From this position I have some leverage on his arm and can pull him back to the mat with me as I return to my back. Slightly re-adjusting my hips and using my right leg for leverage, I simply pin his elbow to my chest with my left arm will cranking his arm up with my right hand. This puts undue stress on the shoulder and will render a submission, or in cases of personal defense, a dislocation or break.

Jeff and I were playing around with this a bit and determined that you really have to shoot this fast in order to be effective. If you see it coming, it can be avoided. Also, I noticed that when I was on top and he grabbed my hand, all I had to do to thwart the move was to grab something with that hand. Since there is no leverage to break my grip, it is pure strength that would be required to get me to let go. I’m sure there are technical escapes and counter measures to this but Marty simply didn’t have time to go in-depth with it today.