09.16.06 - Visitors from Vass, NC

New items today:

1. Work out with Lynn Lane’s students
2. Joel received his Purple Belt

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Warm ups
2. Yes-No-Yes Drills
3. Orange Belt Techniques
4. Purple Belt Kicking Drill
5. Technique Line
6. Ground Fighting
7. ¼ Speed Sparring
8. Full Speed Sparring
9. Fellowship

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Welcome to Lynn Lane and his Students
In the past when we have gotten together with Lynn and his students, the TKI crew all headed on down to Vass, NC and met up with them at their place. This time Lynn and his guys came up to Raleigh and paid us a visit at Red Sun Acadamy where we train. It was great to see Lynn and his students again: Steve, Joel, and Danny.

We started off the day with something special. Lynn awarded Joel his Purple belt at the head of the class. I found out later that Joel had traveled from parts north of Raleigh and it had been a while since he and Lynn had seen each other. It was great to be present for Joel as he received his belt.

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Warm Ups
Sifu asked Marty to get us started with some warm ups today and as always, Marty had some interesting things in mind for us. We started off with “Jumping Jacks”, about 50 of them or so I think, and then did some basic stretching and arm circles. Next up was some footwork drills like we used to do in football. Then we did the interesting stuff. We paired up and started with doing the wheelbarrow from one end of the mat and back again before switching off so the other guy could do it. I was partnered with Steve, who seems to have abundant energy and didn’t seem to have any problems with these drills. Next we had the partner jump on our back and we simply carried them across the mat and back, and then switched off. I personally found this to be much easier than the wheelbarrow but Steve is a bit lighter than I am so I’m sure he might have had a different perspective.

Sifu took back over the class and finished up the warm ups. We started with just a simple stance transition from the neutral bow into our choice of either a lunge stance or a forward bow, and then back again. This is a quick pivoting action and is used in several techniques. After the stance changes, we did some simple leg stretches before pairing up and trading foot replacement roundhouse kicks.

Next up was a drill that I haven’t done much with in a while. We donned focus mitts and practiced some “yes-no-yes” punching drills. Sifu walked around us calling out ‘random’ three-count combinations of “yes” and “no”. We punch the focus mitts on the ‘yes’ calls and punch but don’t strike the mitts on the ‘no’ calls. Sifu made it clear that the non-hits were not “misses” but rather were controlled strikes to a target that exists just shy of the surface of the mitt. Control is one of the items practiced and learned while doing this drill.

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Orange Belt Techniques
After we were all warmed up, Sifu lined us back up and we practiced techniques, specifically we practiced the Orange belt techniques. Starting with Thunder and Lightning, we worked are way through the six techniques ending with Beheading the Dragon. My knee was a little shaky but was holding up okay so I just went after it on these techniques. It felt good doing them in class again. It has been a while since I have practiced the Orange belt techniques in class and it sort of just felt comfortable. Sifu drilled us on some more than others, hitting on key points that he has emphasized in regular class with us.

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Purple Belt Kicking Drill
Upon finishing the Orange belt techniques, Sifu had the class line up along the edge of the mat and we practiced the Purple belt Kicking Drill. This drill consists of a forward ball kick, foot replacement roundhouse kick, crossover heel kick, rear heel kick, and a low foot replacement side kick. It was good to practice this one. I found myself having to catch my balance a couple of times and it made me take a closer look at what I was doing. In the end, I think it was just a mental issue as I was favoring my knee. In reality, I think my knee is fine but in my head, I’m just afraid to test it. I did my best to get past the issue and continued on.

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Technique Line
After a quick water break, we formed a technique line and practiced techniques we knew at our own levels for a given strike. For instance, the first strike was inside a right punch. When it was my turn in line, I did Returning Serpent and Stopping the Storm. The Blue belts had additional techniques to draw upon and we have an American Kenpo stylist that has been training with us that has a whole different array of techniques that she uses. In fact, I think she really surprised the guys from Lynn’s school based on a couple of reactions. Steve said something that had me laughing pretty good after she struck him several chopping blows across the mid section, chest and neck: “Wow! That’s like getting a massage!” We worked inside a right, inside a left and inside a right front kick before moving on.

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Ground Fighting Basics
Sifu turned the floor back over to Marty again as Marty took us through some of the basic moves he has gone over with the TKI group. We started with some terminology, discussing the difference between the ‘mount’ and the ‘guard’ positions. We then partnered up and went through three different types of submissions, breaking between each one for instruction from Marty. We covered the Americana, a Kimura, and a typical Arm Bar. I was partnered with Joel for these different items and he seemed to really find them interesting, stating that he had never worked with any ground fighting techniques before. He seemed to take to the instruction well and caught on pretty quickly.

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¼ Speed Sparring
After a quick water break, we all paired off and spread out across the mat for some ¼ speed sparring. We just did 2 minute rounds with hardly a break in between. If you stick to the ¼ speed rule, you really shouldn’t need a lot of recovery time. I started off with Joel and eventually worked my way around to everyone. It is always fun to do this with other people. When you work with the same people all of the time, you begin to learn each other’s habits and rhythms so working with new people sort of brings your mind back to focus again and forces you to be a little more creative.

When it came to be my turn to spar with Steve, he made a comment about the last time we sparred like this and I was able to take him down to the mat. I was really not going to do that today, but when he asked me about, there was a twinkle of a challenge in his eye. I told him that I wouldn’t do it unless he gave it to me. He promptly stepped right into me so I slid my lead leg behind his and shifted into a rear bow while slowly bringing my forearm across his chest – all at ¼ speed – and affected a take down. He smiled and said “It’s all good!” as he hopped back to his feet and we just kept going. I wish I could harness his energy!

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Full Speed Sparring
Sifu told us to “Gear Up!” and we got ready for some full speed sparring. I was a little disappointed to see that only one of Lynn’s guys, Steve, had brought his gear. As it turned out, Steve and I were the first match on the mat. Sifu set the clock at 3 minutes and we were off. I started throwing some kicks and threw a few combinations but I immediately started fatiguing. I wasn’t so much out of breath but I just couldn’t get the limbs moving! Based on comments from this morning’s matches, I tried to continue to press the attack. It didn’t take long and I figured out that Steve likes to circle to his left, and if I circle into him he will launch at me pretty quickly instead of circling back. The other thing I noticed pretty quickly is that he likes to throw a spinning back fist. I don't think he actually managed to get me with any but the first one was close! He did land a couple of good shots on me, one to the body and caught me clean with one to the head. He tried to feint into me several times but I wasn’t going for it. Before we knew it the three minutes were up.

I sat down and Sifu and Phyl took their turn. It was just the four of us that were geared up. Sifu followed his round with Phyl by taking a round with Steve. It was fun to watch as they are both long legged and Steve likes to throw high round kicks. Sifu was fighting at Steve’s level and was just tagging him here and there. Steve landed a couple of good shots himself.

Phyl and I finished up the full contact portion of the day with another round. I was dead tired. I think Phyl was getting tired too because he wasn’t advancing like he did earlier this morning. We had an odd clash at one point where we both moved in; I was throwing a kick and I think Phyl was too. I’m not sure what happened but Phyl just sort of stopped at the point of contact and then after just a slight pause he sort of fell straight down, like his leg went out from under him. It was and odd response and I thought I might have clipped his knee or something. I didn’t pursue and he just popped back up again. We finished out the round without too much in the way of amazing moves and then I went over to the sidelines to crash. Five hours of Kenpo today. I loved it!

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Fellowship
After class, most of us went on over to a restaurant off from Six Forks road called Grand Asia Buffet. Nice place! It is an Asian buffet but they also had some other items available that aren’t typical, like sushi – and it was good! We all discussed the days events and talked some more Kenpo. The American Kenpo student that has been attending some of the TKI classes was there and described some similarities and differences between her system and ours. She brought a friend that I later learned is one of her students as well.

One of the things we discussed was the upcoming Kenpo in the Carolinas event in April of 2007. Sifu and Marty are organizing this again and said that it would be great if we could all get together one more time before the event. Everyone agreed that we should get together again but I don’t know if we ever pinned down a date! Oh well, I guess we’ll let Lynn and Sifu figure that one out.