What did you teach today?

[bushido_man96]

5/22/2013

Did some review for upcoming testing with some of the higher ranked adolescents and adults. Focused on getting more hip twist with some, and some bits and pieces on forms. Also reviewed one-steps, and work on breaking with two of the students that are brown belts. Some of the others did some focus bag work with kicks.

[JusticeZero]

5/28

Posture, posture, posture.

Lots of structural testing of basic ginga positions. Weight distribution when in transition between several basic positions. Weight shifts must be explicit and centered, staying over a foot instead of ballistically trying to converge weight and foot from different origin points.

Effects of women's habitual display/conceal adjustments regarding their chest on their spinal alignment and muscles. This was deranging good stancework in particular and causing muscle pain. It's not the weight distribution, it's the exertion to hold the spine and shoulders in a position that is not a normal neutral position. Examination of the position of the relaxed hands when in an actual neutral position and how to link that to a different type of "confident". This includes discussion of the CMA Zhan Zhuang exercise, which I so far have found to be an important thing to practice, though usually more critically for females due to the aforementioned habitual postural derangements. (Unlike girls, middle school guys can't change their social position in predictable ways by adopting bad posture while they are having to relearn how to stand and walk. Thus, their posture usually isn't actively bad) This is probably worthy of a discussion thread of its own.

One takedown - no name on it, but it looks like an aikido pulldown of some sort with a body twist to bring the arm along, setting the other arm down on the shoulder and sinking. As part of this, the importance of trying to do all of ones takedown type movements focused on the elbow near the ribs and near the spine for leverage.

Arm/hand attacks: galopante (hooking centrifugal palm strike), cutelo (backfist/hammer strike thingy), cutevelhadas both cutting and thrusting, palma along centerline to face.

How to combine hand attacks with footwork. How to use the footwork combined with strikes to create angles and move to clear space to escape ambushes.

Discussion of ambushes as spatial traps in choke points; awareness of choke points and watching for potential threats positioned along choke points in ways that they can close in.

Importance of focusing on seeing targets and guying an attack into the hole in defenses instead of seeing the body or trying to think of counters to movements.

How to use a plastic grocery bag with a small object in it as a home practice equipment for strikes.

[bushido_man96]

5/29/2013

After basics, forms, and one-step, I focused on some counters to be used in sparring. One was a switch leg round kick counter that can be used off a back leg round kick attack. The next was a spin outer crescent kick off a back leg round kick. Some had a tougher time with the crescent kick, so I had them start with their backs to the target pad, look over a shoulder, and then kick from that direction, spinning around to land behind when finished. This helped them get the idea of the move down while only doing half the spin to start out. It also allowed them to focus the kick better, and not drag it through a wider range of motion than needed to hit the target. Then we went from a back leg crescent into a spin crescent, to give them an idea of the mechanics on each of the kicks, and focusing the target. Then I showed this a as a variation to the spin side kick counter we use a lot.

[bassaiguy]

Last class of the season for us (I teach in a high school program), so we ended the year with our regular warm-up and conditioning drills and tameshiwara (breaking). We broke single and double pine boards with front punch, lunge punch, front kick, side kick and ridge hand. Then we broke patio blocks with fumikomi (stomping kick). Great job by my yellow and orange belt high school students!

[bushido_man96]

6/18/2013

Well, as well as I could teach to a set of guys that are more skilled than I am, I related some of the techniques I worked on in the GRACIE class to them. I basically gave them the rundown I got when training, talking through it and all that to the end. I think I did ok, because they seemed to get what I was talking about. It was good review for me, too.

[bassaiguy]

Teaching is often the best way to learn, IMO. When I have to break things down to share them I really have to think through the process. I often rehearse my lessons to make sure I know what I'm going to explain and that I'm able to demonstrate properly. I'm a high school teacher in my day job and I do this with my school lessons as well as my martial arts lessons.

[Harkon72]

Sparring combinations, focus mitt combinations, applications with no gloves and some very basic nunchaku practice to finish off.

[ninjanurse]

Sparring Tactics in colored belt classes, Step Sparring in Black Belt class- each week the Black Belts devote an entire class to one curriculum area...lots of fun!

[sensei8]

Ran all ranks today in Pinan Nidan...all day...all classes thus far. Fine tuned the black belts because they, at times, tend to forget timing because, at times, complacent attitudes rear up. Not after I get done.

[bushido_man96]

6/19/2013

Taught some of the GRACIE course to a new DT club member today. The head DT instructor there at our college is so cool. Very open-minded, very helpful, and really respectful. He wants to see what I've come back from the GRACiE course with, and let me do the run-through, and I got through the first page of the manual, for the most part. It all flowed pretty well together, too. I taught the basics of the punch blocking, and working that into the disengage, or to the rear clinch. After getting to the rear clinch, we worked the disengage from there, and then went into the rear takedown. The DT instructor showed a few variations from the top position after the takedown, which was helpful for me. Then I showed some mounted escapes; the umpa, and the umpa with the swim and trap, and also a variation on it they showed me that I really like, too.

I got a good workout in, but it also allowed me to work on my teaching technique, as well as my grappling technique.