What did you teach today?

[bushido_man96]

6/27/2013

During basics, I noticed one of the kids having trouble getting a good pivot when doing a hopping side kick in a combination. So, I broke it down for the whole class. We started in a sitting stance, and I had them just step the back leg up to the kicking leg, making and L with their feet. The back foot (base foot) pointed towards the back of the room, making the pivot. From there, I increased the speed which they stepped together, concentrating on making the L. From there, I had them skip together and shuffle the other foot forward (basically what I would refer to as a "replacement step"). This would essentially land them in a back stance, but the idea of the front and back leg would be reversed. This helped link the idea of the pivot for the hop. After some shuffling down the floor and back, I had them add in the kick. Made a difference, for sure.

One thing I've tried to work with the class on is when they do jumping kicks, its still important that there is a "pivot," even in the air. Otherwise, the body doesn't get positioned correctly for the kicks.

Then we spent time reviewing forms, which some of the higher rank kids are doing a much better job with. The new white belts got plenty of reps in on their form, and the high ranks got some good review. One-step review was next, and while doing one-steps, I noticed some spacing issues, so I chatted with the class about spacing when it comes to self-defense. If you are doing some joint manipulation or joint locking, I explained that these things have to happen at pretty close range. I also demonstrated how by being in close, its easier to apply leverage with body weight, and such things like that.

[bushido_man96]

7/10/2013

Did a quicker set of basics so we could review forms for the high ranks, then one-steps and sparring. For the white belts, I had them work on some countering drills to get used to some timing and give them some ideas of countering in sparring. I had them do an open sparring stance drill to counter a back leg round kick with a spin side kick, and then a closed stance drill to counter a front leg round kick with a block and return round kick.

[bushido_man96]

7/22/2013

Today, my son came to the gym to hold kicking paddles for me, and when I sat down to stretch, I had him work on his kicks on the Kid Kick standing bag at our school.

First, we did back leg round kicks. He has a really good right leg kick off the back leg, and he was wailing on the bag pretty well. I had him work on the pivot, and also had him pause with the knee high upon rechamber, so he wasn't dropping it right after kicking. Then we did the left leg. The left leg took some more work, and some whining came along with it. I got to the point where I just had him go at the bag repeatedly with the back leg, making comments on his movements and foot position throughout. The pivot foot was a point of emphasis, so I kept making a point that he pivoted. The chamber was next, so that he was getting it up a bit higher, and then keeping it high on rechamber. This helped a bit, and his left side did show improvement.

After the round kicks, I taught him a side kick. I had him do it from a side on stance, using the front leg with no stepping motions. We started with his left leg, and it didn't go well at first. It was pretty chunky to start, but we worked on pivot and kicking foot position, and turning the foot to get the hips to turn. After some reps there, we moved to the right foot. This went much better. By the time we were through, his right leg side kick was looking really good. So after some reps there, we went back to the left leg, and I think the thought process and feeling of what a good kick felt like on the right side helped with his left side.

[ps1]

Advanced Class:

-Arm under sweep (pendulum sweep)

-Arm under sweep, opponent moves leg

-Arm under sweep to armbar

Positional Mastery

- O Goshi

- Tani Otoshi

-O Goshi-> Tani Otoshi combo

[sensei8]

7/22/2013

Today, my son came to the gym to hold kicking paddles for me, and when I sat down to stretch, I had him work on his kicks on the Kid Kick standing bag at our school.

First, we did back leg round kicks. He has a really good right leg kick off the back leg, and he was wailing on the bag pretty well. I had him work on the pivot, and also had him pause with the knee high upon rechamber, so he wasn't dropping it right after kicking. Then we did the left leg. The left leg took some more work, and some whining came along with it. I got to the point where I just had him go at the bag repeatedly with the back leg, making comments on his movements and foot position throughout. The pivot foot was a point of emphasis, so I kept making a point that he pivoted. The chamber was next, so that he was getting it up a bit higher, and then keeping it high on rechamber. This helped a bit, and his left side did show improvement.

After the round kicks, I taught him a side kick. I had him do it from a side on stance, using the front leg with no stepping motions. We started with his left leg, and it didn't go well at first. It was pretty chunky to start, but we worked on pivot and kicking foot position, and turning the foot to get the hips to turn. After some reps there, we moved to the right foot. This went much better. By the time we were through, his right leg side kick was looking really good. So after some reps there, we went back to the left leg, and I think the thought process and feeling of what a good kick felt like on the right side helped with his left side.

I never tired from hearing stories like this Brian...THANK YOU for sharing that with us...I LOVED IT!! The family that "kicks" together, stays together!!

[bushido_man96]

Thanks, Bob. I enjoyed working with him. He's got a bit of the whines still, but they are working out.

7/24/2013

Mainly worked on forms and one-steps review for testing. I still need to get some of the kids to work on pivoting their base leg more for kicking.

[ps1]

Positional Mastery Class last night.

Uchi Mata

Double Leg

Uchi Mata →double leg combo

[CredoTe]

29 Jul 2013: Adult Class

Kata

Kihon to practice bunkai/oyo from kata

Partner drills to continue bunkai/oyo practice from kata

Yakusoku Kumite

Partner drills to practice several different locks and armbar takedowns

30 Jul 2013: Tonight is Youth Class; lesson plan includes Kihon to develop stances, Kata, plus room for ad lib from my instructor (chief instructor)

[CredoTe]

30 Jul 2013: Youth Class

Kihon to develop tachi and uke, particularly forearm block conditioning.

Kata and Kata bunkai execution. In Kata bunkai execution, student performing the kata is surrounded by students who are the attackers. The student performing the kata defends against the attackers according to the kata. We do this with novices, mainly, to help them visualize opponents, not to program them to be robots.

[bushido_man96]

7/31/2013

At the end of the class on this night, I decided to experiment with the chamber motion of our knife hand strike as a flinch response and blocking motion. We worked from the fence instead of from the typical "downblock" position that I hate for one-steps. I thought it went pretty well, although I was "shooting from the hip" as it were.

This kind of made me think a bit about teaching and learning in class. I think as instructors we are always pretty well caught up in teaching what we know, and don't experiment much with other things. Perhaps its due to looking the part of the guy or gal who is supposed to know what he/she is doing at the front of the class. But, it was fun to experiement and mess around with something with the students that I hadn't had much opportunity to play with, and just see what we could do with it. And we all learned something.

8/22/2013

This was my first ever Defensive Tactics session as an instructor for the deputies and jailers in our department. I held two 4 hour sessions, with the morning session being the one with the most takers. I worked with some of the basic escort positions that we learn in academy, and an arm bar takedown and more of a wrist lock takedown (minus the wrist lock, actually) from that position as a review. Then, I moved on to a few punch defenses working to armbars and takedowns, and then moved into the GRACIE material. We got to the punch block and clinch from behind, to the takedown and control. We also hit what I really wanted to get to, being some officer on the bottom scenarios so the officer could reverse position and get up. Most of our officers haven't really had much DT training since they were at academy, so I wanted to get something started, and hope to keep it fairly regular.