03.10.07 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Ground Fighting: Chokes & Submissions

Reviewed other items:

1. Warm-Ups
2. Crescent Kicks
3. Purple Belt Kicking Drill
4. Techniques

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Warm Ups
Our warm up routine today consisted of a fair amount of leg stretching as well as some additional stretching at the wrists and shoulders. I was happy about this as my shoulder is giving me fits again lately, but I made it through class without dislocating it today.

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Purple Belt Kicking Drill
Once we were good and loose, we worked up and down the mat several times with the Purple belt kicking drill. The mat is a large enough area that we can do the complete drill twice in a row before coming back. I don’t know how many kicks that amounts to but it sure seemed like a lot! I have been doing this kicking drill as part of my daily workout routine so I was feeling pretty comfortable with it. The most challenging thing for me while doing this drill is to stay low. It’s really easy to get straight legged when you start to get tired and usually what happens to me is that my balance starts to go. So… if I start to lose my balance, I just check my form and it usually comes down to bending the knees.

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Groundwork – Chokes & Submissions
Marty has us working chokes today as part of our groundwork training. The primary choke we worked with was the guillotine choke but we applied it a couple of ways. The first method was to use the arm around the attacker’s neck to pinch or squeeze off the carotid artery, thus restricting blood flow and eventually causing a black out. The second method we dealt with was applying pressure directly to the larynx using the ‘blade’ of your arm, which is very painful and can cause a lot of damage. Obviously both of these types of chokes can be dangerous to practice and both Marty and Sifu stated several times to be alert and honor the tap!

We went through several partners as we practiced the moves. We started out in a position where we applied the choke while standing, with one partner essentially volunteering to be choked. We did this to get the feeling of the choke. One thing I picked up right away is the position of the arm can make a big difference. As the ‘attacker’ manages to get his head in the V of your arm, you use your other arm to grab your own hand and pull, creating the leverage for the choke. However, at first my choking arm was basically palm-side up, and when I pulled for leverage, it took more than I expected to get the tap. I varied this a little bit by rotating my fist to a position where the thumb was pointing upwards, which rotated the bone in my arm toward the choke point. The strength required to get the desired effect was probably 50% or less than my original attempt. Definitely worth noting.

After we were comfortable with the position of the choke, we did some other items related to getting in position for the choke. We brought the attacker to the ground and into various positions. We also discussed briefly some defenses against the choke, one of which was more effective than I would have imagined. I think it is instinctive, at least for me, to buy your chin when someone attempts to choke you. It’s also pretty instinctive to pull down on the arm of the person choking you. If you are able to do these things, you have a few more choices at hand than you might have thought. I happened to be paired up with Brandon at this point in the class and we tested this. I had my chin tucked and one arm pulling his choke arm away, nullifying the choke. He was at my back and had his hooks in (his feet were wrapped around me and tucked in near my groin). What we discovered is that I was able to avoid the choke, but it was very difficult, if not impossible, to escape. I take into account that we were not striking and that may make the difference as I did have one arm free. However, the strikes would hardly be optimal as they would be largely elbow strikes and hammer fists to whatever targets I could get to. Ultimately, it was a stalemate.

The other item to note here was that it takes a lot of energy to try to work yourself out of a ground attack, especially fending off a choke. Although I am feeling more comfortable on the ground and can probably escape some of the typical ground fighters attacks, I think my game is still stand up. I have found stability and rooting on my feet that I haven’t been able to ‘feel’ on the ground yet and I would rather put the energy into a flurry of strikes than rolling around on the ground. However, I can definitely see the benefit of learning the ground game, if for no other reason than to know what to expect and how to get out of it.

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Techniques
Sifu took part of the class and I joined Phyl, Marty and Elliot to work technique. For the most part we just did a technique line with Phyl and I rotating out at the head of the line working our own stuff. I worked through my Orange belt techniques and then went through and worked my Orange belt extensions. I’m not sure which techniques Phyl was doing but I assume he was doing something similar to what I was doing. Thanks to Marty and Elliot to lending their bodies for Phyl and I to work with.

As always, there were a couple of techniques that we wound up in conversation about as we worked through them. There was one in particular that Elliot and Phyl do slightly different involving a leg sweep. Apparently the biggest difference is the attacker – does he step through with the punch or is it more of a lunge punch? As we worked through it, we could definitely see the differences in the technique as adjustments have to be made for it to work properly.

I got to my Returning Serpent technique and extension and had another good discussion regarding body reaction and position. My extension is an addition to the base technique where I move up the circle and deliver a hammer fist to the groin, then a rear scoop kick and finally a rear heal kick. I think Phyl and Elliot were both looking at this and thinking the same thing – add an additional rising elbow to the chin after the hammer fist to the groin. I was resistant at first, mainly because I have been practicing for the last two weeks the other way!! Phyl took on the roll of attacker and I went through the technique slowly as Phyl provided appropriate body reactions to each strike. After watching carefully, I think he and Elliot are exactly right. The initial hammer fist to the groin will likely drop his body or bring it slightly forward, which lines up the rising elbow perfectly, which in turn sends his head back and presents the groin again for the scoop kick. Once again, the body will either drop slightly or come forward slightly which lends perfectly to the final rear heel kick to the solar plexus. In watching Phyl as I worked through the strikes, there was a sort of ‘see-saw’ motion of the body that I was working with. Even though I was resistant to adding the additional strike at first, I can see now that it just fits nicely and probably should have been there from the beginning.

Another item that Phyl and I discussed was timing for body reaction. It came up on my extension for Deflecting Thunder where I have a downward palm heel followed by an eye rake. I was sort of blurring the two motions together, not pausing for the appropriate body reaction for the strikes. Phyl stated that Larry Lauer had taken he, Walt and Alex aside at the last Kenpo in the Carolinas Seminar and had mentioned this to them as he watched them work through their techniques. In my extension, Phyl suggested that I put the appropriate ‘pause’ for the body reaction of the downward palm heel to the bridge of the nose (in don) before a fully committed eye rake (more on the eye rake in a minute). He also mentioned that I should utilize marriage of gravity when coming down for the palm heel strike – it’s not all arm.

Phyl also took the time to explain the eye rake a bit more in detail. The way I was doing it, the rake was more or a less a flat vertical rake that was essentially ‘all arm’ in movement and power. We stepped over to the B.O.B.s and he showed me how to do the eye rake with more power. When coming down with the eye rake, the elbow moves to an anchored position at the ribs, which allows for a downward arcing motion of the claw hand. This change is dramatic in comparison when you think about it. Instead of just raking the surface of the attacker’s face in a vertical plane, by anchoring the elbow and “digging in”, so to speak, the effectiveness of the rake goes up exponentially.

I learned much today and I thank everyone in class that I worked with. You guys make the difference and I appreciate your help very much. Thanks.