10.21.06 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Elbow Strikes

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Purple Belt Kicking Drill
2. Ball Kicks
3. Lunge Punches
4. Back Kicks
5. Mat Work: Forward Rolls

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Warm-ups
We did a good solid warm up today incorporating some solid basics along with the usual stretching and moving. On the agenda were lunge punches & ball kicks among other items. We focused on technical accuracy today on all of our movements.

After warming up we went into practicing the Purple belt kicking drill with a partner. As the person kicking advanced, the partner retreated, simply providing a frame of reference for the kicker to target. Sifu stated that several of us were off on our back kicks. I’m pretty sure I was one of those and started focusing on it as we kept drilling. After a couple more times up and back, Sifu approached and told my partner and I that to be sure to look over our shoulder and not around it – which pretty much sums up what I was doing. When you look past your shoulder, it causes your back and hips to turn and thus throwing your kick off-angle. Seems logical when someone points it out. Sifu also gave the class some clarification on the spinning rear heel kick; it is a vertical rising kick launched at a 45 degree angle from the point of origin. The heel leads and makes contact first – not the ball of the foot.

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Mat Work
Next was some forward rolls on the mats. We started off with some basic forward rolls, focusing on the basics like landing in the correct position with everything slapping at once and at the correct time. Then Sifu started turning it up just a notch. He had us still doing the same thing but rolling into a tighter ball. This had at least a couple of effects on me, the first being vertigo. The tighter ball made me feel like I was spinning faster and I felt a little like a cat in the dryer. I kept losing my focus and it was throwing my landings way off. Sifu noticed me, and perhaps some of the others, working through my difficulties and gave us some additional advice. He told use the arm as a guide but to guide the movement of the arm in a sweeping arc when going to the mat. Avoid landing on the shoulder and smooth out the roll even though it is a tighter roll. He went on to describe that he was working us through a progression that will eventually lead to ‘air rolls’, where the ‘rolling’ part is done in the air and you basically make contact to the ground for the first time at the landing. I think I need to work on this one some more.

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Elbows: Discussion and Drills
Although we have been using elbow strikes for a while in class and sparring, we haven’t really focused on them individually. Today we did just that, defining and discussing what types of elbow strikes we use along with how to execute and use them.

We started off defining some different elbow strikes. The upward elbow (like in Stopping the Storm), the forward elbow (like in Deflecting Thunder), the downward elbow (like in Captured Wing) and the rear elbow (like in Hidden Wing). There was another strike we touched on briefly called the ‘flapping’ elbow that is apparently used more in the American Kenpo system.

After a discussion on the uses and striking surfaces of each elbow strike, we broke into pairs and started practicing with some drills. I started off with Jeff and we worked on stepping in and throwing a horizontal (trailing) elbow to the head. The beginning position is both are in a matched stance and the partner has his arm up and bent horizontally with the point of the elbow directed at you. Your lead hand checks their lead elbow and your trailing elbow comes up horizontally for a head strike.

The next variant that we practiced was simply adding on to this succession and throwing a second elbow (other arm) to the partners ribs. This doesn’t seem like a whole bunch but you have to shuffle in to do this and Jeff and I discovered something in the process – those knees keep getting in the way, kinda like knee checks! We paid some attention to this and realized that not only are the knee checks present, they are almost a catalyst for throwing that lead elbow because it’s like an automatic range finder. (Note: After class, Alex and Sifu had a much more in-depth discussion regarding this topic and went into greater detail than our ‘discovery’.)

For the third variant, we switched partners and I was now working with Alfredo. The drill was to step-drag in to deliver a right horizontal (trailing) elbow to the head, followed by a left crane hand to the back of the neck pulling him down onto a right knee. It’s important to move in and take the opponent’s center on this one – you must dominate his space. Of course we don’t make hard contact when we practice with each other but his one will make you wince just the same. Imagine slamming the bad guy’s face into your rising knee. Yeah.
Then we add to it. Hehee…

For the fourth exercise, we added one more strike to the sequence – a downward bladder punch. After the rising right knee, the bad guy’s head should be moving in an upward trajectory that will usually cause the back to arch slightly and the abdomen to be exposed – which is a perfect target for a downward right handed punch to the bladder. This is a pretty wicked combination and it flows very nicely.

We paused at this point to discuss some of the principles and concepts we use in with other strikes and techniques to see how they apply to elbows. Among the items we discussed were: Marriage of Gravity, Mass in Motion, Opposing Forces, Borrowed Force, and Point of Origin.

The last thing we did before finishing up today was to go wail on the B.O.B.s a little bit. From a right neutral bow, we step dragged in and delivered a right elbow to the solar plexus. The focus of this drill was to marry the entire movement of your body into the strike; utilize torque from your ankles up and allow your elbow to become an extension of your core. This not only maximizes the effectiveness of the strike but is usually the most efficient movement for power as well. The second part of the drill added a second elbow strike to the ribs. The third part of the drill was to deliver that second elbow to the head. Again, the key focus of these drills was to combine body torque and Mass in Motion to the elbow strike for power.

I must say, the B.O.B.s flew around a little bit when we hit them, even though they were properly weighted, but it is nice to have some realistic targets to hit for reference. When I practice at home on the Ultra Man dummy or on the heavy bag, the feed back is coming from a flat surface. With the B.O.B.s, even though the rubber outer shell quickly conforms to the strike, there is still a different feeling about it and it is easier to tell when you miss your intended target. These are sort of growing on me as a training aid.