Session with Bill during lunch at workCovered some of the techniques today:
- Beheading the Dragon
- Escaping Ram
- Thrusting Release
- Returning Serpent
Bill and I first discussed what I had “changed” with my blocks. I described to him that I had been practicing my blocks out of position by extending too far out to intercept the strikes. Since I have become aware of this, I have been practicing with the blocks in the correct position and I described this as though I were “relearning” everything.
Bill’s response to this was that I was doing something normal in that I was ‘tweaking’ my technique as opposed to actually relearning it. He described this as a natural progression of learning Kenpo and told me to keep practicing. From there we got into practicing the techniques and he largely ‘tweaked’ my movements as I went through them.
Beheading the Dragon
We covered this one first and went into some good detail on the checking. He corrected the position of my left hand at the initial block and placed it, open palm, so that it would cover the area over my right shoulder. He described how much more efficient the movement was from here to transition into the next movement, the ‘waiter check’, and we practiced this a couple of times.
At this point we started working on the knee checks. Bill advised that I should be moving the left knee in further and making (more) contact with the assailant’s knee. He went on to say that as I progress with Kenpo, the leg checks eventually turn into leg buckles, and they in turn eventually turn into leg breaks. This was followed with demonstration to this effect (although, thankfully, he didn’t break my legs :-) ). I am at the point were I should be doing these techniques ‘with feeling’, and really getting some emphasis on the movements as strikes. He was careful not to instruct to just go faster, but rather to practice with greater intent on the desired outcome.
There was another point that he made in demonstrating Beheading the Dragon. He showed how the entire technique can still be effective, even if all you managed to do with the hands was to trap the initial punch and still properly execute the knee checks/buckles. He stated that although this is a check, it should still be thought of as a strike to the knees as that is your option, should you wish to execute it.
Escaping Ram
We discussed several areas of this technique. The first thing he corrected when I did the technique was the location of my arms when I dropped to clear the bear hug. I was shooting them out low instead of at a true 45 degrees. I was also leaning forward and should have had my back straight. One thing I realized he was doing was that he ‘punches’ his arms out at a 45 to clear, but then immediately retracts them, just like you would do any other time you strike.
The next area of focus was the position of the kicking foot after I took the adjustment step. I had a tendency to hold that foot flat in a natural standing position instead of placing it in a kicking position. Bill demonstrated how the correct position actually has the kicking foot resting with the heel raised and ready to shoot backward. I have seen this before but never really asked about it.
Then we discussed covering out, on my request. This is something that hasn’t been covered in class for the White belts yet but the Purple belts cover out all over the place. He showed me how, after the kick, the right foot comes forward and your legs bend into a front cross stance, which allows you to both straighten into a neutral bow and keep your eyes on your attacker at all times. We practiced this a few times and had some further discussion before moving on.
Thrusting Release
Like I have been told before, I had some issues with my hand placement as I thrust forward. I have this tendency of lifting my hands slightly and pushing forward instead of bringing them from point of origin. He described how he sort of mentally pictures curling those bottom ribs back up into the ribcage of the attacker. From there we discussed the thrust kick itself and there are two areas that I need to focus on: Bring the knee up higher than the target I am kicking (solar plexus) and pull my hands toward my chest in line with my body (not to my sides).
The only other thing we really covered on this one was the actual thrust kick. He stressed that the power comes from the pivot when the hips come forward. We practiced a few more times and then moved on to the last item we had time for.
Returning Serpent
Bill worked with me on this one for some time. I expressed that I was having problems with the arm rake after the initial block. He described that just as soon as the block makes contact that my arm should be transitioning to the back fist using a small circular motion. He also described the block and ensuing actions up through the initial back fist as a “1” count of a 3-count technique. I had been practicing this as more of a four-count technique and it was showing. Upon thinking of it differently, I started to get better movement and flow.
Another item that Bill mentioned was to start practicing the technique while making an “SSSSS” sound through the front teeth with a long continuous exhale. This is a precursor to an eventual “rolling growl”. This isn’t the first time that I have been told to do this and I often practice this particular technique this way. However, I’ll make the effort to do this more universally with the rest of the techniques.
Bill also noticed that I was leaning my head forward through the technique. I told him that it was a bad habit that stems from me trying to protect my chin. He demonstrated how the chin was protected when in the neutral bow and usually protected with checking hands through the techniques. He also stated how it was generally very quick to tuck the chin or raise the shoulders if in trouble. The main point of all of this was to demonstrate that you have more to gain in visibility by having your head up than protection from tucking the chin. Personally, I think there is an extra amount of muscle tension that is unnecessarily expended energy in having the chin tucked and shoulders hunched. It’s a bad habit that I need to break.
After we finished up with Returning Serpent, I dummied for Bill on a couple of techniques he wanted to brush up on at the Black belt level. He has expressed that he would like to get together once per week and work through about 45 minutes of the lunch hour on my stuff and then about 15 minutes or so on his material. I think this is more than fair and I readily agreed to the deal. Today he turned his back on me and told me to choke him around the neck - "Like you mean it". He then went through the Black belt technique known as Raking Eight. We went through this several times at several speeds before we called it a day.
I know that part of being a good ‘dummy’ for someone is to give them some body reaction that is realistic to the strikes that are being executed on you. It allows for the person practicing the technique to get a more realistic idea of what the attacker would be doing should it come down to a real scenario. That said, I can honestly say that I wasn’t sure which way to move when Bill was doing the Raking Eight technique. There were a couple of times that, after the choke was broken and I got to a more vertical position again, the technique was over and all I could do was stand there. I didn’t feel like I was giving Bill good reactions and I told him so. He just walked me through the technique again and then – BLUR – it was over again. I hope he’s getting the practice he was looking for out of our meetings.
