What did I teach today?

[JusticeZero]

Played music, pretty loudly. Had the students moving, specifically on the beat, through a couple of basic kicks. Important because: locking people into a timeframe also makes certain mistakes jump out; for instance, you cannot step sideways out of the end of a kick and stay on time while also taking an undesired retreating step.

Stopped the older one who was explaining the breakdown between: Stances, Kicks, Punches, Throws, Blocks; we don't have "stances" per se, just "movements", and I tend to lump hand and foot techniques together, because the ranges overlap quite a bit. This helped with mobility, as there was a common mental block where one gets stuck in the same place rather than realizing that they are supposed to be able to move around and that it's no different than staying in place.

Threw people around a bit as a review, after having had a takedown attempted on me that violated principles and was unlikely to work as a result. (The principle involved being: 'Disequilibrantes work by restraining the other person's ability to step in a given direction, then moving their center of weight in the direction thus restricted.)

[bushido_man96]

I like your approach in using the music. Very nice touch. And it makes sense as to why music is such an important part of your art.

[twistkick kid]

last night was the "fun" class after stripe and belt testing. I ran the beginning/ intermediate adults and teens through "sumo wrestling" which is where you try to push your opponent out of the circle or make them fall. Make rope circles out of jump ropes. grab a partner. left hand on the belt, right hand on the sleeve of the uniform. tell them to keep their balance and let them try to push each other out of the ring. I jumped in for a few matches and got flung around works on balance, shifting weight from foot to foot, and strategy/tactics... what works to get one person out of the ring may topple you over the next round

[harmoniouswarrior]

Wow, just discovered this thread, and it's loaded with good ideas.

Justice Zero: 'Outside surfaces return different energy.' Love it.

bushido_man96: 'Open space' is a great term. Seems to me especially important if there's a potential weapon used by the attacker (as in, open space to his empty hand side). Because of a recent incident, this has been on my mind.

Something I do often is use an extra belt to connect the partners in sparring. I'll have them loop the belt through both their belts and then tie it at different lengths. We might do leg distance to start, then extended-arm length, and then 18-24 inches...the beginning distance for many real world encounters. Amazing how reducing the space focuses the attention

[JusticeZero]

The past two days of classes, we've done about six hundred reps of one kick. In the air. This isn't the simplest kick, it isn't the most combat-ready kick; I realize that when the Bruce Lee quoting rebels revolt, I will be the first against the wall. It's just the best kick for piecing apart; if you don't have ginga and you don't have moleza, then your queixada will suckaka.

It worked though; close to the end of yesterday's class, the older student realized that I wasn't "stepping" so much as projecting my legs with my hips, with every movement. And proceeded to go through most of the movements we'd covered that he couldn't do well, and do them well.

It's the subtle things that are important; some things just can't be explained, they must be experienced.

Other drills: Nothing particularly interesting; line drills with basic floor movement. Two lines of queda de rins that the current students hate but are starting to grasp. One hundred of those hundreds of drills, they had to call out the name of the kick every time they did it.

[JusticeZero]

We have a guest for a week or two; I brought them to class. People were enlightened by seeing how much better they were than someone who was trying to do stuff for the first time.

Showed an application of "defense against being grabbed with both hands on the collar". I did note that it was very doubtful that anyone ever attacked people like that; it was shown to demonstrate an application of crossing the arms in front while dropping, as is done in a basic movement.

Had people do various drills while keeping their eyes locked on their partners; this isn't the preferred eye positioning, but it keeps the line of sight from wandering. Then they did a lot of au, kicks, stepping and the like, synchronized together.

Lots of incidents of people injuring their toes on the *^%@# puzzle mats on the floor of the studio; if I decide to go to a different location, the main reason will probably be those !!!! puzzle mats!

Had the students who've been around a bit teaching the two people who had NOT been in the class (my guest, and the wife of the other student) basics. Not because I couldn't or didn't want to, but because that makes them express and break down the skills they have.

As usual, ended the class by asking everyone to give three things they had learned.

[bushido_man96]

6-30-09

Helped a student with some hip rotation issues today, and also got to do the first orientation for 2 new students. Its always kind of fun to get some fresh minds in there. I worked with them on a few stances, walking in stance, and then adding in some techniques.

[twistkick kid]

Last night, we spent a large portion of class working on balance and the proper way to do jump spin kicks. Had people pick up small kicking targets with their feet, then pass them to a partner. Worked on spinning with proper balance, then throwing a crescent kick. did not delve into the timing of the kick too much, as I was giving the intermediate adults a taste of what was to come. Then had them jump and spin, then kick. Some had an easier time with this than others.

[Rateh]

Went over spinning crescent & swing kicks, as well as shuffle axe kicks. Then went over basic hand combinations and kick combinations. Followed up with sparring combinations.

Then I taught the students how to have a domino effect for demonstrations, as well as kiahing as a way of queuing students for demos as well. Afterword I split them into groups of 5 and had them create their own short demonstration utilizing their basic kicks and hand techniques.

[tonydee]

Not formally teaching over here, but occasionally help out some friends I've made from a government sports centre's bi-weekly open dojo sessions. Last drill I gave them was just to stand quite close in fighting stance, and take turns attacking. When doing so, try to deliver an attack with sufficient speed, power and placement to show you could have hit the defender, preferably by bypassing, trapping or drawing their guard out of position as you close to strike. The defender had to try to avoid retreating, block/smother or dodge sideways/forwards and - if and only if they succeeded in effectively defending against the attack - they should try to counter attack cleanly in a way that the attacker's commitment to their attack prevented or frustrated them countering.

For example, the attacker might reach for the defenders front arm with their front hand, trapping it while they attempt to punch over/past/around it with their back hand. Very simple and fast. The defender should try to make sure their back hand is ready to block, or bring the elbow of the trapped front hand up and block with it, or use a front-leg front kick to stop the attacker's advance (after which the attacker should consider covering that with an instep stomping action), or predict the grab at the front hand and avoid it, or use the grabbed arm to pull both themselves and their attacker diagonally forwards and rotate the attacker's attacking arm away from them. Then they might find a spot to kick or punch from whatever angle they've ended up at.

Similarly, if both side have the same leg forward and the defender's guard is too low, or they're too side on, an attacker might simply explode into an untelegraphed inward ridge-hand (reverse knife hand - bone from index knuckle to base of thumb) strike with their back hand - attacking the side of the jaw or neck, or the temple. It's a shockingly strong attack that goes straight through most people's defence, even when they know it's coming. But, it can also be delivered extremely quickly: much like a hooking kick, extending out straight and reconnecting to the hip movement to rip it sideways powerfully....

I picked this exercise because the two people tended to trade blows from a distance, without committing to attacks, delivering them with an expectation of actually being able to hit the other person decisively, or blocking properly. By simplifying things to a close in but controlled one-for-one exchange, where only an effective block that set up a counter attacking opportunity was "satisfying", people are encouraged to develop their medium-range defense to the point where they really trust it and use it in a strategic fashion. Similarly, the attacks had to penetrate the guard first time, with at most a dodge or grasp set up. On both sides, this makes it necessary to stop and think about the implications of the opponent's position before you bother to move. You want to out-position them with the angles and distances of arms, legs and stances even before anyone attempts a technique. It's necessary to notice the opponent's focus and predict their intent, and have your mind relaxed and ready to respond, simultaneously aware of all the tools and tactics at your disposal to do so. This was an attempt to move them past the long-distance blow-for-blow brawling - a competition of brute strength, stamina, reflex and speed - that their sparring verged on.

Couple questions/comments...

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.

What do you call a "side cut"? In my old Hapkido school, the term would probably be used to refer to a kind of turning kick motion where the blade/foot-sword cuts along a sensitive area such as around the knee cap, doing damage as it's dragged across... but not sure if we're on the same page...?

Yesterday we worked on our combat tactics paying special attention to proximity and secondary targets. I have several students who seem to want to "hang" their techniques out there so I on occasion grab the offending extremity and give instant feedback. Such fun!

Yes, bad habit... from students to instructor, it's a dangerous thing to do!

Just for the sake of a yarn: had a recent encounter going the other way, sparring someone much less able, where I was the one holding the techniques out. He's teaching some hybrid judo/jujitsu/karate style, and wanted to do some "slow" sparring. I pushed some techniques out where there were gross holes in his guard, met no attempt at defense or avoidance, and stopped the techniques beside or in front of his head so he might understand I'd been able to hit him. Was that ever optimistic! When I eventually saw recognition dawn, it was only and invariably "oh, now I can grab him and take him down". Yes, well, if you're holding your leg up at someone's temple height for half a second hoping they'll notice it, you are in a position where you can be taken down. Or another time, I stopped a punch in front of his nose, then he flicked a fast punched around it collecting me in the lip then dived at me. Four or five such exchanges, after which his nose wasn't spared and bled all over the tatami and my uniform . Persistent though, wanted another go, but it invariably degraded to fast sparring on the verge of getting nasty, and in the end I just refused. The sport centre staff asked that I wear gloves when sparring there in future, not that that would have made any difference. Still came back at the end of the session and I agreed to do some grappling with him. How can someone teaching grappling go 2 minutes against a non-grappler and only make one abortive attempt to lift one of my legs - no throws or sweeps. How someone can be an instructor without understanding the basic courtesies and recognition needed for cooperative sparring that includes strikes is completely beyond my understanding.

(re ninjanurse's comment, quoted above)...

That seems to be a hold-over habit of forms practice, from what I see. Students like to lock and hold their techniques when doing forms, especially kicks.

I'm concerned about the way forms competitions seem to encourage this. Showing the strength and flexibility to hold the leg up high seems to be more valued than actual correctness of technique. That's dance, not martial arts! I've seen lots of students come in who thought they could kick well just because they were especially flexible, and they don't tend to have the stomache for the hard work and introspection required to develop the correct techniques, as they're more concerned about keeping their leg up as high as they can, regardless of where the opponent actually is.

Still, in forms practice I'm guilty of giving leg extension infinitely more priority than withdrawal, even if I don't hold the leg out/up just for the sake of it. I do my forms with a firm focus on speed between movements, power generation / body mechanics, and arguably over commiting without worrying about withdrawal. My forms are a large part of my conditioning and activity-specific fitness training. Given the forms are overly stylised, and many stances unsuitable for sparring, there doesn't seem a lot of point in doing a half-hearted job to make them otherwise. But, my sparring is very different, much more fluid and minimal. It's partly because my forms develop power that I have the confidence in my techniques to deliver them minimally during sparring, knowing that the power absorbtion from blocking will be dispersed through my arms into the torso and legs properly, and strikes even from shorter distances and backswings can still connect to a viciously explosive twitch of the hips.

Cheers, Tony