09.09.06 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Outside Rolls

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Warm-Ups
2. Mat Work
3. Techniques (Blue Belts)
4. Short Salute (White Belts)
5. Neutral Bow (White Belts)
6. Blocks (White Belts)
7. ¼ Speed Sparring

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On the Sidelines
Unfortunately, my right knee was acting up this morning when I got up and to go to class. I made the decision to go in and observe the class instead of trying to participate and further hurting my knee. The result? Lots of notes! Since I wasn’t actually participating and attempting to recall what I did after the class to make notes, I was able to take notes in “real time” throughout the class.

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Warm-Ups
Sifu did something different today in that he had the Blue belts lead the class in warm-ups. First up was Alex and he had the class go through several exercises including: neck & shoulder rolls, arm circles, hip/torso rotations, and some knee & ankle rotations. He then had the class do a warm-up drill that I first saw done by Vic LeRoux during the Kenpo in the Carolinas Seminar 2006. It starts from the horse stance with a double front punch, followed by double elbows to the rear, then sweeping the arms forward and arcing over the shoulders before finally reversing that motion and driving double elbows back – which sets you up for repeating the whole exercise. After several repetitions, Alex moved onto some leg raises from the neutral bow and then closed out with some stretches using the wall for stability.

Sifu called on Phyl to lead everyone for the next round of exercises. He started out with doing the basic blocks: inward, extended outward, upward, and downward. From there the class lined up along the edge of the mat and Phyl led everyone through some foot maneuvers, including: step drags, step throughs, step through with step drag, and step drag with step throughs. Phyl finished with some ball kicks advancing forward.

Walt was asked to explain the “cover” maneuver. He requested that Sifu assist by holding a fist straight out and he utilized it as a visual aid. Walt visually showed how a properly executed cover does not move you any closer to your attacker but rather holds your core in the same relative position to your attacker.

Sifu then took the class back over and started running through some more drills. He started with the rear foot roundhouse kick, advancing. He went into some detail regarding the position of your core relative to power and reach. He demonstrated how overextending does not increase your power at all, and usually weakens it. He went on to show how leaning back during the execution of the roundhouse kick does nothing to increase the power of the kick but will, however, increase the height of the kick. Ultimately it is important to keep the core in control and centered, not overextending. Doing so will maintain power in the kick without sacrificing choices by dead-legging.

The next item Sifu had everyone doing was the foot replacement roundhouse, advancing. Following was a combination of a ball kick and foot replacement roundhouse kick, advancing. Again, Sifu stressed the importance of keeping the core vertical and not leaning backwards during the roundhouse kick. Finally the class was led through the Purple Belt Kicking Drill. Looking at the class as a whole, including the newest members, everyone seemed to be doing very well. I found myself wanting to get up and do the drills too!

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Mat Work
Sifu started everyone with side falls. He was demonstrating the falls himself and described how the core falls to the mat vertically and demonstrated how you will have a hard time controlling your landing if you don’t stay vertical. When done properly, the arm and leg is ‘swept’ off to the side so as to allow the body to come straight down to the mat.

The next item was the forward roll, staying down. After a couple of turns each, Sifu stopped the class and quizzed about incorrect landings. The guys were coming up with several points, including:

• Landing flat on your back
• Planting a limb (usually an arm)
• Hitting head/shoulders from not tucking the head
• Incorrectly bent at the waist at landing (from unfurling to soon or too late)
• Legs switched (limits absorption and creates stress on the joints)
• Tripodding (planting opposite arm)

Each of these items were discussed fully so that all appeared to understand.

Next were forward rolls, coming up into a neutral bow facing the direction they came from. As we have done before, the class lined up into a single file line and they did pushes from behind. The person standing in the front of the line was pushed by the second one in line. The person being pushed goes into a forward roll and then comes up into a neutral bow. The idea is that the push happens unexpectedly but by now we all generally know what’s coming. Another twist to this exercise is to be pushed while ‘distracted’. Sifu stands near the front of the line and strikes up conversation with the person that is about to be pushed, adding some distraction. Everyone seems fairly comfortable with the forward rolls – until Sifu recognized something and told everyone to roll to the opposite side that they had been rolling. The first couple of guys seemed a little tripped up by this but they all quickly recovered.

The last item covered on the mats today was new to me but it may have been covered during my absence in August. Sifu called it an outside roll. One at a time, he had the guys approach him on the mat and utilized a wrist lock/manipulation that caused them to roll out and away from the grip (as opposed to tucking the head and rolling forward as we have done up until now). As Sifu grabs the wrist, you start by bending the knees and then follow the force rolling outside, using the other arm to help dissipate the force of the fall in the same manor that we do with the other break falls that we practice. Of course observing I couldn’t be sure but it appeared that they landed on their sides and upper backs before unfurling out.

Sifu went on to explain the throw itself. He described how the motion of the throw was a circle. He went on to show that the smaller the circle utilized in the motion, the greater likelihood of the opponent’s feet leaving the ground. Of course, this was demonstrated several times to show what he was talking about. He also noted the final position of the person doing the throw and noted that it was a typical ending position for many Hapkido stylists.

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Orange Belt Basics
While the Blue belts worked on their Green belt techniques, Sifu worked with the White belts on some of the Orange belt basics. He started with the Short Salute and described the symbolism between the tiger and the dragon, as well as the fist and the claw.

Next was a review of the Neutral Bow. Sifu had them assume the Neutral Bow one at a time and critique the other. They both looked pretty good, and both had good input to the other regarding the stance.

Sifu next covered the Switch maneuver with them and explained that it was much like the Cover maneuver that they had done earlier in that it is implemented such that the core doesn’t move toward the attacker as it is done. After a few repetitions, they moved on to the next item, blocking.

The four basic blocks were covered starting with the Inward, then Extended Outward, Upward, and Downward. The 45 degree angle that is used in all of the blocks was highlighted as the “maximum angle of deflection”. Also noted was how the blocks should not chase the strike but rather protects the core; to that end, if a strike does not enter your circle of protection it is not necessary to attempt to block it.

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¼ Speed Sparring
The whole class participated in the sparring. There were 3 pairs that rotated out. I was particularly watching the Blue belts and noted many changes from the last time I sparred with them. Sifu matched the level of sparring that each of his “opponents” presented. It is always interesting to watch as everyone tries and experiments with different things and today was no different with the exception that I was able to watch from the sidelines and see everything – not just the person in front of me. Alex seems to like to strike inside and use orbits. Walt likes to kick from the outside and appeared to be trying some more circular/angular entries today. I didn’t see a lot of variance in what Phyl was doing today but he seemed to be pretty solid. Jeff likes to do a lot of different things but has two general methods of operation: When he’s outside he likes to throw long and high kicks but when he is inside he has a tendency to go to grappling. Today was the first time I’ve seen Alfredo spar and he appeared to be concentrating on the blocks that he is currently learning. All in all it was entertaining and informative to watch.