09.23.06 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Blocking Drill – American Kenpo
2. Blocking Drill – IKCA Version
3. Throws – Elbow lock

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Mat work
2. Master Form

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Warm-ups
We did some pretty good stretching today as part of our warm ups. We can usually tell when we are going to get a dose of Hapkido as part of the lesson when we start stretching our wrists and hands. We generally got good an limber all over as well as doing our usual basic warm up drills for kicking.

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New Blocking Drills
Sifu ran us through a blocking drill that I hadn’t seen before. To my knowledge, none of us had seen it before but I could be wrong about that. Anyway, the drills were essentially the same but we tasted two different flavors: the original American Kenpo version and then a version Sifu referred to as the “IKCA” version.

We started the American Kenpo version in a basic horse stance with arms at our sides in a ‘ready’ position. We then did a series of blocks: upward, inward, outward, and downward, then returned the hand to ready before bringing it down in front of the body in a sort of downward pushing motion with an open hand. Finally the hand returns to the ready at the side and you do the same series of motions with the other (left) hand. Upon the end of the motions with the left hand, you begin a similar set of movements using both hands/arms at once. The initial move brings both arms up and crossed in a high block with the wrists facing out, followed by a lowering of the arms but, still crossed, blocking directly in front of you with the wrists facing in. Both arms then move to the respective sides to do an outward block, followed by a similar motion for a low block, then returning to ready before a double downward ‘push’ with open hands. The final move is to return to the ready position.

After running through this awkward new set of movements a few times, Sifu shook it up a little bit on us. I don’t know if he did this himself or if this next drill already existed somewhere in the system but the end result is a drill that uses the same principles but in the context more appropriate to what we train in IKCA Kenpo.

Starting from the right neutral bow, the first move is an upward block, to an inward, then extended outward, downward. We then do a blocking move that essentially blocks with the interior of the forearm as we bring it back across our center before doing the downward ‘push’ with the other hand covering. Then do a switch and do the same thing on the other side. As I stated above, it is very similar to the American Kenpo version but it better incorporates the moves of the IKCA.

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Mat Work
Next we broke out the mats. First up was side falls. It stills seems funny to me that I have to ‘learn how to fall’ but week after week, I still struggle with different aspects of ‘falling’. The side falls aren’t too bad and I’m ok at them. Where I struggle with this maneuver is in getting everything to hit or ‘slap’ at once, the goal being to dissipate as much force as possible by spreading the impact across greater contact surface area all at once. Sounds good. Seems simple. But you can just hear it when you do it wrong. Instead of a single ‘thud’, it sounds more like you were just poured out of a can or something.

Next up was forward rolls. These I am a little better at then the side falls but I have a hard time with my left side. When I roll to my left side and stop, I should land more on my right side with my right leg straight, my right arm straight, and the should both slap or impact at the same time to dissipate force. My left leg should be bent and my foot should be roughly behind my right knee planted on the ground. My left hand should be up in a guard position. This sounds like a lot of stuff to remember, but the funny thing is that is only a lot to remember when I roll to my weak side! For some reason it is almost instinctual to do these motions correctly on my strong side but I get discombobulated going to my weak side. All I can do is practice.

Next we did something that I thought was a lot of fun – we got to throw each other around a little bit! Sifu taught us two maneuvers in which we basically trap the arm of an incoming punch and then maneuver ourselves into a place of leverage and execute a throw in which the attacker is allowed to roll out of. The first one put us inside the aggressor’s strike. The second one utilized an elbow lock. I really liked the elbow lock. Sifu ran us through a line and did each technique on us individually before he unleashed us on the class. Of course, he has much more experience at these things and makes it look so easy and also makes it easy on us as well. A poorly executed maneuver, especially a throw, can be really… uncomfortable. I was the first one to do execute the elbow lock in the line so I was being really careful at first because I didn’t know what I was looking for. The cool thing is that I managed to get the basic move down pretty quickly and it didn’t take many repetitions and I could really start feeling the flow. It got to the point where I could almost pick the spot that they were going to land in before I actually did the throw. I was a little anxious about the elbow though – I couldn’t really tell if I was applying too much pressure or not. Nobody complained and they seemed to be landing okay, but I really wasn’t sure. Before I knew it, my time was up and I rotated out as it was my turn to be thrown. I was really surprised that when my elbow was locked out and the leverage was applied, it really didn’t hurt. Pretty cool.

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Master Form
I finished out the day by doing the Orange belt portion of the Master form over and over again. It really is sort of funny how worn out you can get doing ‘air Kenpo’. I keep telling myself to imagine if I was in a real fight and had to deal with actual impact and the forces related to it. The key to the form as we have all been told over and over, is the correct pace and most importantly, correct breathing. I have the major moves down, I just need to pull the rest of the package together.

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.

09.16.06 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Hapkido Scoop Kick
2. Green Belt Technique: Stinging Butterfly

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Mat work: Forward Rolls
2. Mat work: Outside Throws
3. ¼ Speed Sparring
4. Full Speed Sparring

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Scoop Kick
We cruised through our usual warm ups today and got started with some new material, at least it was new to me. We covered something Sifu referred to as a “Scoop Kick”. As we began to practice it, I realized this wasn’t the same scoop kick we have used before, such as it is used in Stopping the Storm. I asked for clarification and Sifu explained that this is a move used a lot in Hapkido and is named from that system.

The movement itself is pretty cool and as soon as I saw him do it I realized that I had seen it before but never thought much about it. Starting from the left neutral bow, you simply bring your rear (right) foot forward, past your center and low to the ground, and intercept a kick or advance from a forward facing opponent. The toes are pointing up and the foot is flexed, identical to the position the foot would be in for a side kick, however, the part of the foot that makes contact is the inside (arch) of the foot as opposed to the outer ‘edge’ of the foot.

One of the keys to this maneuver is the movement of your core. As the rear foot comes forward and travels across your centerline, your core shifts forward and stabilizes over the other leg that remains bent at the knee. Failure to do this tends to make the head go backward to compensate for the travel of the kicking foot and throwing you balance off. As a result, the power of the kick itself is diminished and you are now off balance – a well timed strike or push from an alert attacker may send you sprawling backwards as you attempt to retain your balance. Of course, being centered over the supporting leg allows you the choice of movement should you need to adjust course in the middle of a maneuver.

Where do you use this? Well, you could use it in several places depending on the situation. I have seen this used in stopping a forward kick from an opponent and advancing in. Sifu showed how it can also be brought up a little higher to the knee and come down in more of a ‘stomping’ type motion to collapse a knee, either from the front side or the back. In practicing this, I also realized that you can come forward with this into the same cross stance that we use when crossing out of a technique. It’s subtle for a kick but definitely has it’s place.

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Technique: STinging Butterfly
We continued on from the Scoop Kick directly into a very quick foot replacement roundhouse kick, basically using the scoop kick as the foot replacement. I was paired up and working with Jeff at this point and Alex was paired up with Phyl. Sifu was guiding us along and after we had the basic movement of the scoop kick to the roundhouse, he came over and showed Jeff and I some additional hand strikes. Following the roundhouse kick, pivot into a lunge stance and deliver a right hand sword, then a left hand sword, and then coming back with the right hand, execute a right ridge hand to the filtrum as you are returning to a right neutral bow. After we did this a few times he simply said “There. That’s Stinging Butterfly – a Green belt technique.” Jeff and I just looked at each other and said “Cool”.

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Mat Work
The work we did on the mat today was designed for one major thing: getting comfortable going into and coming out of a roll. We started out by simply doing forward rolls and then coming up. Then we put the two mats end to end and Sifu told us to walk casually onto the mat, do a forward roll, and when we come up just continue walking forward casually. Ideally this is to be done in all one smooth fluid motion. I focused mostly in rolling to my right side as I was favoring my knee. I got it down to where it was feeling pretty smooth. Then Sifu casually strolls over to the rack and grabs a kicking shield and places it on the mat, instructing us to continue on with the exercise but rolling over the object. The single kicking shield was relatively easy and it wasn’t long before there were two kicking shields. At this point I’m way past smooth and pretty much crashing on my shoulder as I’m forgetting to tuck my head or I’m just too flat and not rolling. I’m just starting to find that sweet spot where I was crashing out each time and there are two more objects added – vertically.

My first approach was cut short. As was my second. And third. I finally decided that I was going over this thing one way or another and just leaped forward with my head tucked. My landing was less than smooth but I made if over without killing myself and I didn’t even knock any of the shields over. I don’t know why this is so difficult. Relatively speaking, this isn’t a big pile of “stuff” and it’s foam to boot! It’s not like I’m diving over a shark cage or something but for some reason, it was just very difficult for me to get over those obstacles. All of the stuff we go over with the regular rolls still applies but it’s like it goes right out of my head. Somehow I need to figure out a way to practice this more at home.

The other item we covered on the mats today was the outside throw. I had observed this last week so it wasn’t completely new to me but it was the first time I had actually done the fall. Sifu stayed on the mat. We approached and threw a straight right, which he intercepted and then, using a wrist lock, threw us in such a fashion that we rolled to the outside, slapping as we land to break the fall. He took it easy on is the first few times and then took it up a notch. Thankfully, he never did get to the point that he was throwing us will full force. After several falls, we put the mats up.

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¼ Speed Sparring
We paired up for some ¼ speed sparring and Phyl called me out immediately. He and I haven’t had the opportunity to spar much lately and it was fun to go at it again. I felt terrible today. I have been away from sparring for too long and it was showing. I had my elbows up too high and shoulders all bunched up tight – basically all of the things that I have been trying to unlearn for the last year and a half. Phyl capitalized on some of them but it was just ¼ speed so it wasn’t too bad. It was just Sifu, Phyl, Alex, Jeff and me today so we all got a chance to spar with each other.

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Full Speed Sparring
Immediately following the ¼ speed sparring, we geared up and did some full speed. Since only two of us are on the mat at a time, Sifu gave instructions that those watching should be focusing on the third party perspective and the benefits it offers. He gave a very good example of the importance of the third party perspective by pointing out that a boxing manager uses this tool almost exclusively – after all, he doesn’t get in the ring or train with the boxer but during the fight he is right there with information on what is happening during the fight and why it is happening based on what he sees.

I don’t recall the actual order that I was sparring because I was just dog tired from being out of shape. In sparring with Phyl, I recall him pretty much coming straight in on me. When I wasn’t just blocking, I was circling out and around. When sparring Alex, he likes to kick to the legs. For the most part, I just lifted my leg to check the kicks and did pursue a few times. Alex covers well and tends to fight tight, but I did notice that he made several efforts to get my back, and succeeded well at one point, delivering a (light) double hammer fist to the tops of the muscles in my shoulders/collar bones. Sparring Jeff is always different than the others because of his Taekwondo background. He likes to kick, and that is okay. He has a kicking range that he is comfortable with and if you stay inside that range it greatly reduces the number of kicks he throws. Too close and he will try to grapple with you. And with Sifu – he always goes to your level or just above. He does have a stance that I haven’t fully figured out what to do with yet. He fights in a cross stance and leans back to the rear leg, sometimes fighting while looking at you over his shoulder. This gives him a launching base for some of his favorite kicks, as well as keeping his core fairly well protected.

Ultimately, I determined I am way out of shape for sparring and have been away for too long. I know that when I get fatigued that my legs straighten, my hands tend to come up, and I switch to almost a purely defensive posture just taking quick shots of opportunity when presented and not creating any opportunity to speak of. More than once I tried to settle into a stance but the muscles in my legs just didn’t want to listen. It was the same with my arms; I would see an opportunity and start the movement but nothing would move like I wanted it to. I wasn’t out of breath, just dead on my feet. There was a couple of times that my calves locked up on me with cramps and I can’t even remember the last time that happened. All in all it was a poor showing on my part and I know I can do better.

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.

09.02.06 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. New Students
2. Flow Drills

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Basic Warm-ups
2. Joint Locks & Manipulations

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Warm-Ups
I have been out of class for about a month due to vacations, anniversary travel, and other stuff. For whatever reason August seems to be a busy month for me as I missed most of the month of August in 2005 as well. It felt good to come back to class – I missed it!!

There were three new faces in class today – one of which was visiting for the first time, and two who have been there several times in my absence. I didn’t have a chance to work with two of these new people but I did work with one of them in some group drills that I will detail a little later.

The warm-ups were mostly simple review this week. We started out with some leg stretches – both dynamic and static. From there we did the four basic blocks – 20 of each. Then we did some roundhouse kicks, both rear leg and lead leg. Finally we did some ball kicks and discussed briefly the difference between horizontal and vertical targets on the body.

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Flow Drills
After the warm-ups, we broke off into two groups. Sifu took two of the new students aside and worked exclusively with them. The Blue belts and I worked with the other new face in the school. She is a 2nd degree Black belt from the Paul Mills school of American Kenpo and agreed to show us some flow drills from her system.

We did several different flow drills utilizing strikes such as overhead hammer-fist, straight punch, back-fist, roundhouse/upper-cut, and elbows. She instructed us to focus on rhythm and timing in the drills and less on other aspects of a would-be attack or defense. I was working with Phyl and Walt was paired up with Alex. We worked these flow drills for quite a while, working on speed & timing for both right and left sides. Eventually we moved to a different sort of drill that more closely resembled a technique or forward advancing strike.

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Joint Locks & Manipulations
Although this was review for most of us, the 3 new people in class had not been exposed to these particular maneuvers – at least not the way Sifu instructs it. We started out with the Downward Elbow Lock and again, I was paired up with Phyl. We both knew the mechanics of function but Phyl has much more experience with the maneuver. I think we were both a little rusty but before long we had it down again.

The other lock we did today was the Downward Wrist Lock. Although this one was much more fresh in my mind, I had more trouble with it. Phyl is very good at this on and he pointed out something that I was doing that was minimizing the effectiveness of the lock – basically, I was going too slow so as not to hurt him. Unfortunately, in doing this it allows for all of the tissues to sort of “stretch” into position, thus taking away the immediate response that we are looking for in doing this lock. Phyl instructed to move the hand in a decisive but controlled manor so as to get the effect we were looking for without twisting his hand off his arm. We were able to practice this a couple more times before class was brought to an end.