09.29.07 - Saturday Practice

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Drills: Focus Mit
2. Mat Work
3. Techniques

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Warm Ups
I was only observing today as my knees were screwed up again. They have been aching for several weeks now as they do every so often. I haven’t been giving them the time they need to get back to health and I’m paying the price. As a result, I’m sitting out today but I am here observing and taking notes.

Walt started the class out by beginning the warm-ups. He had everyone stretching and moving to get warmed up, including arms, torso, and legs. Sifu took back over and had everyone doing deep leg stretches. He then moved into ball kicks, roundhouse kicks, and back kicks.

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Drills: Focus Mit
The drills today started with just a single straight lunge punch and back. Sifu had everyone focus on form before power but commented that power will come through proper form. There was another new student in class today and as Sifu focused some time with him the rest of the class moved on to 3 and 4 hit combinations of their own individual choice.

I was interested to see the combinations that everyone chose. It was clear that some focused on speed, while others focused on power, and at least one person was maintaining a rhythm with the strikes. Regardless of what they chose for combinations, they were all focusing on accuracy in the strike.

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Mat Work
The class first started the mat work by practicing forward rolls staying down. There is a usual progression when we practice with the mats and today was no different. Next was forward rolls coming up to fighting stance (neutral bow), then air rolls for those that know how and were able to do them. There is one other item that Sifu has added recently that looks as though it may become part of our usual work out and that is the belt roll. This is essentially just a forward roll starting with your hands tucked in your belt and not used until after you are into the roll. It’s an interesting one as you have this weird feeling that you are going to do a face plant if you don’t get your hands out in front of you as you are going into the roll. In reality you are only going to do a face plant if you don’t tuck your head! While the class was practicing, Sifu mentioned something I took note of pertaining to air rolls: He said to stay tucked and don’t reach.

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Techniques
While Sifu worked with the White belts and those new to the class, The Green belts took turns with Alfredo and worked their own material with each other. Walt worked with Alfredo first and went over Captured Wing. They worked for some time with it and then Walt joined Phyl while Alex came over to work with Alfredo. Alex went over Clapping Tiger and Raking Hammer. I recalled applying the throw in Clapping Tiger when I was learning it for the first time. As I watched them work through some of the finer points it was interesting to see how each correction brought the throw in tighter and tighter. Ultimately he got it down and appeared to be comfortable with it. Toward the end of class, Sifu came around and took a look at the technique. He made note that it was originally taught as a side throw in the I.K.C.A. but he modified it to a full overhead throw for its effectiveness.

The class wrapped up and everyone lined up to bow out. Sifu reminded everyone that classes will be extended to two evenings during the week starting Wednesday, October 3rd at the Rejoice! Academy near Red Sun. I don’t know about the other guys but I’m looking forward to training during the week. With that, the class bowed out and was dismissed.

09.01.07 - Saturday Practice

Reviewed Other Items:

1. Mat Work
2. Drills: Hubud
3. ¼ Speed Sparring

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Warm Ups
We did a good solid warm-up today with lots of kicking. After some stretching and loosening up, we did several ball kicks and roundhouse kicks.

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Mat Work
The mat work we did today started out normally as we worked through forward rolls. At first we stayed down, slapping to dissipate force and avoid injury. We also did the forward roll coming up into a fighting position, which we also do frequently. But then Sifu changed things up on us a little bit. Then next set that we did was a forward roll staying down but kicking into an air shield from the ground. Practicing this gives you a realistic idea of the power and snap you can generate in a kick while on the ground. It was interesting to note that any effective power generation generally comes from being in an appropriate position to deliver the kick, just as if you were standing up. If you throw the kick while out of position, there may be some basic impact, but it seemed to increase exponentially when you apply one or more of the basic principles like back up mass or mass in motion.

The last part of our mat work today was also something relatively new to me: the “belt roll”. I’ve seen this before but had never attempted it. Essentially it is a forward roll without the initial use of your arms or hands. It sounds simple enough but when you go to actually do it, there is this urge inside you to get your hands out there for protection. You have to override his urge, tuck your head, and go into the roll with your hands on your belt! Once you go through the initial roll, you can either use your hands in combination with your body to break the fall or you can continue forward with the momentum and come right back up to your feet. If you wanted to you could actually just leave your hands in your belt the whole time if you are coming back up to your feet but you would probably want to assume a neutral bow or at least have your hands ready for action.

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Drills: Hubud & Rolling Backfist
A couple of years ago a good friend of TKI came to visit and introduced us to a flow drill he simply called “hubud”. Today we revisited this drill again. It’s a cool little drill that trains in several things all at once like accuracy, speed, sensitivity, blocking, relative body position, and more. Apparently the origins of this drill are from the Filipino martial arts but the benefits can be applied across many arts. We worked it in class with a few different partners and the subtle changes and adaptations from person to person was interesting. Some were doing the drill with speed and flow in mind, others with more of a “conditioning” mindset by using hard strikes & blocks. It’s a great drill and I’m glad we worked it again today.

Following the hubud drill we did another one that we haven’t done in a long time. I’m not sure what this one is called but sort of a rolling backfist/block flow drill. It can be worked on the right or the left side and can be done slowly or quickly. Once you find your rhythm you can pretty much close your eyes and do it blind. Sifu introduced another element of this drill to us today. As your are rolling through the drill, one person will randomly grab the back-fist of the partner and pull it down and back at a 45 degree angle. This can cancel all three of their zones and it really takes them by surprise as they don’t have any idea when its coming. We did this for several minutes and then moved on.

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¼ Speed Sparring
Although we have done this exercise several times in the past, it was a little different this time just because we had some new students in class with us that were sparring at ¼ speed for their first time. As we train together in class we sort of learn how the others tend to fight so it is always interesting and sometimes enlightening to spar with fresh new faces. Today was no different. One of the new students held rank previously in another flavor of Kenpo several years ago and is coming back to it. The other “student” is currently a 2nd degree in American Kenpo. We didn’t all get to spar with everyone but it was a good session as we worked this for almost an hour.

I was doing okay today but not great. I’ve been out of class for a while and am trying to get back into the groove. I didn’t quite find the groove today but I wasn’t far from it and it felt good to be back in class. I’m expecting a new baby soon and will have to take some time off again for that in the near future but I’m already re-engaged with class mentally and ready to move forward. Seeing how some of the other guys in class are moving up was really cool. I’ll be back soon, guys!