08.11.07 - Saturday Practice

Reviewed Items:

1. Focus Mits
2. Mat Work
3. Purple Belt Kicking Drill
4. Orange Belt Blocking Set
5. Master Form
6. Techniques

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Warm Ups
The warm up today was solid. We started with basic stretching and stances. In addition we did several kicking reps, mostly roundhouse kicks. Sifu had us concentrating on form, turning the hips over to accomplish the horizontal trajectory required for the correct delivery of the roundhouse kick. Overall, I did okay, but I sure felt a little rusty. This was aggravating for me because this was one of the items that I worked while I was away from formal training these last couple of months. By the time we were done, I had a good light sweat going and was ready to get going.

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Focus Mits
I worked with Walt for the focus mit drills today. We started with a 3-count combination of our choice. Walt started with a combo that favored his strong side and then switched to his weaker. Walt hits hard and fast and I was watching his focus and form. After a while, we switched to a 4-count combination with the same type of responses. When it was my turn, I basically followed suit with what Walt did. I found that I too had a harder time with my weaker side. I noticed that the mit was swiveling a lot, indicating that I was not hitting true to the center of the target. When we finished the drills, I looked at my hands and noted that my knuckles were red across all four knuckles – not necessarily to the first two as they should have been. Definitely something to review while practicing at home.

The next set of drills were yes-no-yes drills. I did okay with the 3-count version of this drill but for some reason was less responsive to the 4-count. Overall I did okay but it wasn’t perfect. Definitely still shaking off some rust.

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Mat Work
We did some light mat work today utilizing some of the more basic skills of falling. I say that in full remembrance of Sifu telling us at first to “stay down” – indicating that he wanted us to do a forward roll and stay down on the mat. As I am doing the roll and coming out of it, I realized that I was starting to come up and it dawned on me what he said. I wound up landing in a quasi sitting position that didn’t go un-noticed by Sifu. After that I did much better and actually kept my focus. We basically did forward rolls staying down and then coming up into a neutral bow. Then we moved on to the next item on the agenda.

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Purple Belt Kicking Drill
I’m not sure how many down and back we did but it seemed like we did 1000 kicks today! My first trip down and back was shaky, off balance. The second trip down and back was better, perhaps my best of the day. The third trip down and back and I noticed that I was off balance a lot of the time, but I couldn’t quite figure out why. Sifu saw it and solved my problem. What he saw was me launching a kick without fully being in position to do so, which of course was causing me to lose balance. The other thing that I knew I was doing and noticed my self was that I was standing up more as I was getting tired. As soon as I realized this I made a conscious effort to get lower in my stance. A few more trips up and down the mat and we finished up the kicking drills.

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Orange Belt Blocking Set
The entire group lined up and went through the Orange Belt Blocking set several times. It was interesting. I’ve done this a zillion times and yet, still hesitated the first time through. After that, I was fine, but was disappointed the first run through. Sifu had us go through this several times, focusing on intent and accuracy and not necessarily speed. After the 5th or 6th time through, we discussed as a group what makes a good block and also what makes a block “bad” or “ineffective”. Sifu was keen to use some new terminology in his descriptions today, namely the “line of action” and a “path of action”. The line of action is a linear motion from a single point and the example used was a straight punch. The path of action is still a liner motion but is two separate points traveling that projection, like a block.

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Master Form
Immediately following the Orange Belt Blocking Set, we went into the Master Form. Sifu had us go up through what we knew on the first time through. I stopped after the Orange belt techniques because that’s all I know to this point. I watched Alex, who was at my right, continue on through the Purple belt techniques in an effort to pick up on the order and directions of the next set of techniques. The next several times through, Sifu had Jeff and I repeat the Orange belt portion several times until the rest of the group finished their portions. I had been practicing this too in my down time these last couple of months and felt pretty good doing these techniques. I feel like I’m ready to learn some new material and move forward with the master form.

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Techniques
For the last part of class, Jeff and I worked on the Purple belt techniques. We pretty much went through them from start to finish and then worked on a couple of techniques that we wanted to go back and focus on.

Stopping the Storm: Sifu noted that both Jeff and I were not properly anchoring the elbow after the block-parry-grab. He stressed the importance of how this movement marries with the stop punch and increases its effectiveness exponentially.

Hidden Wing: When I did this the first couple of times, I was not delivering a true heel kick. Sifu noted this and stated “Nice Sidekick.” I got it right after that.

Circling Serpent: As we went through this one, Sifu stated that I wasn’t giving enough (any?) body reaction for Jeff to work off from. He stated flatly that he wanted more contact, particularly to the ribs. He also stated that it should still be controlled and that it should not inflict damage. He actually demonstrated on me to make the point that this can be done without injury.

Hooking Thunder: Jeff is very flexible. When you do this technique incorrectly on a flexible person it really stands out. In my case, I raised his leg up but did not pull it far enough in my direction so he wasn’t forced to dead-leg into the thrust punch. I knew what I did wrong immediately but it was a lesson well learned as far as executing proper technique.

Captured Wing: Jeff and I actually played around with this one just a little bit. Quite by accident, I stepped up too close to him when I brought his arm behind him and sort of blocked the back of his left leg with my right leg. He stepped back and felt the resistance and still tried to power through the technique. It worked, sort of, but it got me thinking. When the attackers leg is in that position it really sets him up nicely for a leg buckle. We tried this a few more times and Sifu came over and asked us what we were doing. As we described the scenario, he added a few of his own, namely reversing the elbow and groin strikes to accommodate a situation. The most interesting thing about all of these variations is that the technique still worked in all of these situations. Very cool.

Clapping Tiger: Sifu had us get the mats out for this one as he wants us to practice a full overhead throw in this technique. I like throwing, and this particular throw is one that I picked up relatively easily. Jeff had a little bit more difficulty with it, probably because I out-weigh him by several pounds (I should work on that, too). As Jeff threw me several times, I was using the experience to practice my falling and not reach out to try to break my fall. Jeff improved greatly in the short time that we practiced this technique today and I think my falling skills increased as well.

Raking Hammer: This is the one technique in Purple belt that gave me the biggest problem, and I really can’t say why. All I know is that I practiced it to death and am now much more comfortable with it. When practicing with a partner, I really have to be careful not to throw that elbow after the leg buckle. I really jam it when I’m practicing in the air but that would be really bad news on a partner.

Jeff and I didn’t really have a lot of time for “what ifs” at the end of our techniques today as class wrapped up at 9:00am. It was a really good workout today and I felt good after class. It has been a little while since I was thrown around and I was glad that I didn’t land wrong and hurt something. It was also great to see Alex again after such a long break.

08.04.07 - Saturday Practice

New Items Today:

1. Forearm Striking

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Stance Work
2. ¼ Speed Sparring

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Warm Ups
Today was my first day back since May and I was feeling a little rusty as I stepped onto the mat. Rusty or not, it felt good to be back in the dojo. Our warm up was sort of light today, focusing on stretching and just getting loose. We didn’t do the usual leg raises and the like today.

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Forearm Striking
We did some work today that I don’t recall having done before. We talked about forearms and their use in Kenpo and fighting in general. Just working by ourselves, we visualized an opponent/attacker. During the first part of the drills, we utilized basic forearm strikes to the inside. Sifu discussed how the forearm is certainly used for blocking, but is also effective in striking. He described how the forearms can be utilized for the ‘margin of error’ – for example if the attacker moves out of position during a strike, the connection of the forearm to the target is still effective if, say, the fist is no longer viable. We worked both single strikes and combinations in the air to the inside for several minutes.

The next part of this segment was along the same lines but we moved to striking outside targets. Sifu came around and acted as the attacker to help us with our visualizations. In one particular instance, I parried a left hand strike and went high with roundhouse type right forearm to the head, then looped back for an upward strike to the groin, and then rose directly upward and did essentially an outward block to the throat. Although Sifu appreciated the movements, he showed me another option with the final strike that allowed for a more flowing motion. From the groin, I simply rose straight up and ‘popped’ my forearm under the chin while maintaining the form of a ridge-hand type strike. Along with better flow, I felt it gave me more options for following up as well since I felt like I was in a better position to do so.

I couldn’t help to notice while doing the forearm exercises that the ‘chopping drill’ that we have done in the past kept coming to mind. It seems that most, if not all of the strikes in the chopping set could also be used with the forearm strikes. It’s actually where I came up with the combination I described above that Sifu helped me to modify. When working and sparring I frequently consider knees and elbows but I think I will be more mindful of the possibilities with forearms now.

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Stance Work
It has been a while for me but we reviewed stance work in our techniques today. The method is simple but effective – just tuck your hands in your belt and practice your techniques. It sure sounds simple anyway. It’s actually not difficult so long as you don’t over-think it, and you actually know your techniques inside and out. Doing this is always a great refresher and I really need to remember to practice this way more at home. One thing that I was doing incorrectly was on Captured Wing – Sifu noted that I was stepping back with a stomp on the initial movement. There isn’t a stomp on the initial movement. Oops. I think I have been doing the technique like this for a while so I’m going to have to do it correctly from now on.

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¼ Speed Sparring
We did several rounds of ¼ speed sparring today. It really felt good to move like that again after taking time off. Phyl is still recovering from an injury and Sifu asked him to keep time…which he did, grudgingly. After our sparring, we all huddled on the mat and discussed the rounds we had from our individual perspectives, and Phyl was able to give a third person perspective on several of the matches as well. Following are my own remembrances of my matches:

• Walt: Walt has much more stamina than I do when it comes to sparring and he likes to press hard. Even at ¼ speed, he will just keep coming in – there isn’t much of a ‘reset’ with Walt. Generally speaking, we mix things up pretty good when we do this, trying different attacks and defenses, moving on different lines both circular and linear. On occasion I can lure Walt in close enough to get him off balance but more times than not he is ready for this and keeps outside of that range. I was able to try something this time that I credit to Master Vic LeRoux, as he demonstrated this several times during the last Kenpo in the Carolinas seminar. It was basically a sweep at the ankle level. I attempted it several times with Walt and was successful only once. Needs more work.
• Elliott: Whenever I spar with Elliott, I find myself looking at his back a lot. Like Sifu, he tends to fight in a cross stance and stays well protected. It can be difficult to get inside that defense and to do so successfully requires that he be led into something and Elliott rarely takes that bait. Another thing he does frequently is to sit back and wait, which is also the way I like to fight. I have noticed when Elliott does come forward with combinations, he tends to move very linear, but whenever I try to circle around he is ready. Always a challenge with Elliott.
• Sifu: As always, Sifu tends to spar at or just above our individual abilities. He will leave a strike hanging just a little bit too long to see what we will do with it. Then again, sometimes he will leave it out there as bait to draw us in! In our match today it was much the same. However we did deviate from that a little bit when he started getting inside my defenses. I don’t know what it is but when someone gets too close I just instinctively maneuver to put them on the ground. Sifu got close, I maneuvered, and he went down – launching a strike to my chin on the way. Unfortunately, he incurred a minor injury this time as it seems he bent his tow hard on the mat on the way down. Sorry, Sifu. He did expand my thought process a little bit in another arena too. Often times I will sort of roll a parried strike around the offending appendage into a sort of rolling back fist to the face. Sifu stifled this a couple of times before asking what other targets were available. It was then that I realized that I could simply roll that fist the other way and deliver a hammer-fist to the ribs. As long as I have been doing this, I don’t know what the brain block was that didn’t allow me to see that until now! Thanks for that one, Sifu.
• Khedron: It has been a good long while since I have sparred with Khedron. He fights very compact and likes to deliver solid straight strikes, particularly to the body. His compact stance and fighting style reminded me more than once that I could be a little more compact and keep my elbows down when sparring. He tagged me in the ribs at least once on either side. Because he was fighting so tight, I took to picking targets at a different distance. A couple of times he moved in and I delivered a thrusting type kick to the inside of his back leg, completely disrupting his balance and stopping a forward attack. I also was able to slide a thrust kick in through his defenses from the front to the lower abdomen – the only target I could get to. I could see that Khedron has been practicing and is picking up some new things. Nice work.
• Alfredo: Alfredo is bigger and stronger than I am and I keep that in mind whenever I spar with him. I try to be a little more slippery when I spar with him, keeping on the edge of his range and not letting him get a grip on me. His background in ground fighting runs much deeper than mine so I don’t like going to the ground with him. In the past he had a much more wide open stance that left his groin open as a choice target. I noticed today that he has adjusted his stance and lessened the availability of the groin as a target. Alfredo also has a straight punch to the body that comes in from an angle. When that blow lands it’s solid even at ¼ speed. To avoid that punch I try to circle more to make it harder for him to deliver it, especially when I circle to his left. It was a successful strategy today, but I did notice that he is angling off more than he used to. There was one time today that I gave him my back to see what he was going to do. He started to reach around for my neck but as soon as I grabbed for his arm and began the motion for an overhead throw, he let go and backed away, recognizing what I was doing.

Sifu mentioned to me that I need to keep my knees bent more to give me more freedom of movement and to allow me to better deliver kicks. When I am standing more upright, I have to bend the knees before I can kick. If I am in a proper stance to start with, I can deliver the kicks faster and without giving away the fact that I’m about to throw a kick.