What did I teach today?

[JusticeZero]

I figured that something like the 'training log' thread might be an interesting way to generate discussion and thought.. lots of us teach, and classes differ so much from one person to the next.. maybe something someone does will be a good idea for someone else.

[JusticeZero]

Made a circle about 3.5 meter diameter out of standing bags. Sent both (not at the same time) students into the circle and asked them to stay in the circle and move around, so long as they don't stop moving, touch ground with only hands, head, and feet, and always have at least one of the former that is not a foot touching the ground at all times. Later, jogo (sparring) in the circle with nothing but upright footwork; no attacks or defences. Also had them drill basic kicks in air as they're still learning basic form for those.

We ended up walking fast about a mile between classes to meet the family for dinner; some discussion included. (Well, strictly, the adult walked, and the kid rode on the back of the freighterbike while I pedalled alongside.)

[bushido_man96]

This is a good idea, JusticeZero.

Ok, this wasn't done today, but in last week's Thursday class, the instructor did a sparring drill to work on angles, and I got to assist in the session:

With partners:

1. Clinching drill: just working on getting in close in a TKD clinch, and then breaking from it.

2. Side cut, clinch: from a closed stance, each student would side cut with the back leg, stepping in an angle forward and to the right (the "open" side, I'd call it), and then come in and clinch.

3. Clinch, then side cut away: Partners would clinch, and then situate the rear hand/arm on the outside of their partner's forward hand/arm, then side cut to the open side while using the hips to twist into the blocked arm and force them to turn away; step back into opposite stance, reset.

4. To simplify the side cut, each partner would put their lead hand stretched out, and touch hands. Each would side cut and reset to their open side, keeping distance. This was a good visual drill. When side cutting, it is important to keep the body bladed, so the side cut actually takes you into almost a front stance at a 45 degree angle. The shoulders are facing the direction the feet point, and the body is coiled for a back leg kick off of the side cut.

[Patrick]

Yeah, definitely - nice idea, JusticeZero.

[sperki]

This is a great idea; I don't teach, but I'm excited to see what ideas show up on here!

[Rateh]

Very nice idea.

I don't teach classes like I used to, but I do assist and often get to run whatever warm-ups I want to.

Last Wednesday I kind of changed it up a bit with their warm-ups. Often we do kicking, usually stationary, as part of the warm-up. Instead I had the students do backward moving kicking. Starting with a front kick, they would lift the front leg, perform the kick, and place it behind them.

After front kicks we did round kicks the same way.

Then step behind side kicks where they would throw the side kick with the front foot, then step it behind and step the now front leg back into a fighting stance (so you're kicking with the same foot each time).

Finally I had them do hook kicks the same way as the front and round kicks, which made it essentially the last half of a spin hook kick.

I chose these kicks because it was the low ranks class (white and yellow belts). For higher ranks I would do kicks that involve more coordination and weight shifting.

[bushido_man96]

Today, 5-4-09, I set up some drills to help my workout partner with the side cutting that we did in class last week.

We did some partner footwork drills, mirroring each other's footwork. Then, we moved onto doing the side cut with techniques on the Wavemaster. We did both punching exercises and kicking exercises, and got lots of reps in on the side cutting motion.

[JusticeZero]

Mostly today was stance and form. Nothing terribly special or exotic..

Get into stance and body check them from various angles. They were using their basic stance transitions to deflect me to the side or over the top and roll me off like water off a duck. Usually bringing an elbow around as part of the motion. That's stuff that they do huge amounts of as part of doing other techniques; it blew the older student's mind as he'd been imagining those positions as a platform to do techniques from, rather than as defensive techniques in their own right.

I also had the kid tumbling all over the place, after pointing out that that skill could have helped avoid the skinned knee she had walked in the room with after tripping over a curb.

Half of the time, we were actually outdoors in the parking lot; a lot of techniques feel different on concrete through shoes; in my opinion it is safer, easier, and generally better to train on pavement than on mats, at least if I'm not throwing people around the room like I had been earlier. It's a more familiar surface, and its friction and energy return properties are more forgiving than carpet or puzzle mat, at least for our purposes when not dropping people on their back. It also makes practice easier to integrate into your life, I feel, rather than being something that you do in a special frame of exotic activity alien to the rest of your experience.

When outside I was concentrating on tumbling and the action of the hips and spine for a basic kick; some of those kicks were causing performance trouble related to sticking the toes on the puzzle mat surface.

[JoiH]

Nice idea for a thread! I love getting ideas for classes. On Thursday I taught class while my sensei observed, and I taught the importance of chambering the knee for kicks. I usually watch my class during warm ups and try to focus on the techniques that I see need work. I also choose techniques that I personally need to work on as this helps both my students and myself. We also covered kata, but we do that every class.

[bushido_man96]

5-11-09

More work on the side cut. We did side cutting to front leg kicks, front and side kick, which are more like checking motions that allow for combination follow-ups. After warming up on the bags, we moved to interaction drills. We started in a closed stance, and moved around the ring, throwing back leg round kicks that the defender would side cut on, and throw the counter kick. Mainly, this was to recognize the motion of the coming kick, and to respond quickly with the cut, and then counter.