drunken.master

yep

Sorry, he is punching with the right hand. I am stepping to my left and doing an outward parry to my right. That way, when you trap his right arm, you are on the outside of him. You are using your left palm to snap the elbow (you are holding his right arm now with your right arm at his wrist), then driving that palm from his elbow straight to his face/chin/ear (which ever is available at the time), then side kicking the rib cage underneath his armpit.

Ha ha ha! That's great. Kicks like that are great for forms, but not very realistic. I am dying for someone to pul something like that on me.

I got mine high like that with a ton of stretching, leg exercise and training in front of a mirror. For hte training, I would just stand in front of the mirror (after a good stretch) and begin jumping straight up (lifting from the balls of the feet to feel the calves working). I would do that for about a 1/2 hour a day. After the height was getting descent, I would start doing it with 1 or steps. It takes time and patience. If you look at the photo, I would estimate the knot of his belt at 5 feet off the ground or so. (You can mark that point on your mirror with some tape and use it as a goal for getting the knot of your belt up to)

That is Combination #14. We adjusted it to do a left-knife hand block, grab the arm and pull them into you as you do the scissor kick. The one I dislike the most is probably combination #35. It is so weak. Parry block and trap the punch, palm to the elbow and face and add a side kick. For a 2nd degree combination, it is an incrediblly weak move!

The 23-B you have is pretty much like mine. Trap (and break the elbow), tiger claws (left to the face, right to the grion), then use the right hand to break the arm again (at the wrist) and left comes up for a spearhand to the throat). So it seems to begin pretty close to the same.

We have 23-A and 23-B. 23-A is with a body-throw while 23-B is an inverted spearhand to the throat; so we may have them numbered different. How does your 23 begin? Mine: (for A & B) Step to the left of the punch, grabbing it with an arm trap, using your elbow to break theirs...

Yeah, swimming is the best thing for your ankle (keeping the weight off it).

Inglise has many quick movements and angles of attack. So I get moving quickly on my feet. Also, it does a wonderful foot-sweep off a spinning hook kick. That in and of itself is a beautiful thing! Shodan Qua has several block/punch combinations in it. Something good to have rather than block/counter. Shaolin Long Fist is just damned pretty!

I agree with Mr. Mike. Once in a while, we will have our black belt class do "Street Sparring" with sweeps, grabs, tackles, ground fighting, etc. You quickly find out that kicking gets trickey and the more you do it (street sparring), the less you kick. Finding out that someone can take a punch to the head as they bull-rush you and grapple you to the ground is a real eye-opener.

Statue of the Crane is one of my favorites. I also really like Shaolin Long Fist and Shodan Qua (sp?) (2nd Dan form). I just picked up Inglise (I believe it is a 3rd degree form ) which is very nice as well!

( I am actually going to start posting on my site (dojozen.com) some of the theories for all these forms as I gather the info )

Yes, Villaries is a branch off of Nick Cerio. At Villaries, I trained under Dave Shirley (in Connecticut) and I hear he is very high up now in rank. I don't get much of the history from my instructor, but I do have all the Villarie DVDs from white to black and I think they have the theories in there. I need to start watching them.

Yup, you got one here. I am originally form Villarie's (early 80's), then Masters (early 2000 (branch off of Villari) and now Kenpo Academy (branch from Masters))

Ahhh, thanks for the correction. I didn't know the proper term you guys used. See that, learn something new every day.

OK, I'll make all my guys do 100 push ups tonight and tell em "Sensei Sam said so"

That's all that counts

You can tell them "Sensei Ray is enforcing it!"

I hear ya there. That's why we have a rule: 100 push ups for use of the word can't.

I prefer training with a moving heavy bag (swinging from a chain) as your target is also always moving. But, like others said, you have to mix it up with kick bags, hand targets and more. The hand targets are another great way to keep your feet moving. Have another student slowly move his hands in random directions and try to place your foot in his palm as it moves. This can develop good speed and instincts (as you begin to learn how targets can move).

It's almost like kids today don't want to try for rank, but almost expect to walk through classes because they pay their monthly dues and show up now and again. I wonder if it is society that is pushing them this way? Expect more for less?

Whichever direction you choose, I wish you great luck. I'd meditate on it (if this is something you do) to seek deep within yourself.

Oh, perhaps! We were training ourside in the field yesterday and the sun was pretty bright and warm... quite possible!

I would suggest stepping down from the teaching for a couple months, or ask to only do this no more than once a week as you feel your attention to your own works are decreasing. And if that is happening, you become less of an effective teacher. Your master must understand this and (hopefully) respect that.

With your motivation down I can see how it would be tough to be dedicated. But as far as getting material, it sounds like you practice hard (and not to be negative) you expect fast returns. I am of the mind set to never expect, and you will never be disappointed. You need to be motivated to attain your own goals. If they are not giving you new material, work on perfecting what you have. Set a personal goal to speed up your hands and have your technique down to a science. That is one of the things I do when I am in a lull for material. I go back to old material and fine tune it, make everything better, more accurate, faster. As far as teaching other students (I don't believe) that is why you are at the school. What puts you in the situation to teach others? Are the instructors neglecting them? Or are you an instructor at that school?