Sit up, Stand up....

Saturday's lesson was up to the usual high standard, with new things to learn ☺☺.  This time there was a Naihanchi drill starting from sitting, followed by a short Pinan Godan drill, which could also be taken as a Passai drill.

The warm up consisted of break falls, kami rolls, runs with press ups and situps, followed by stretches. Then after the formal opening, we did Kata practice.  My part of the class work on the Naihanchi katas, whilst the intermediate grades went on to the Pinans and the high grades went up to Passai (I think).

From there we were onto the drills.  The Naihanchi drill starts with both partners sitting side by side.  One takes the role of aggressor and the other of the defender, taking it in turns to alternate.  The drill was built up in segments with the same partner and once the whole drill was practiced, we did a pad work version so that the strikes could be tried with  something akin to full force.  The drill in its entirety opens with a backhand slab from the aggressor. The defender traps and extends the arm and applies an arm bar, followed by a hammer first just behind the ear.  The defender then rises and turns towards the attacker, controlling the head and applying two elbow strikes.  The head still being controlled, the defender applies two knee strikes then pushes away and runs to safety.

From a theoretical point of view it was explained how started how we started off as the reactors at the start of the drill, but end up as the actors by the end.  This needs repeating regularly at home, to ingrain the skills needed.  The next to last part of the lesson consisted of the Pinan Godan drill.  Starting off from a bridge, the aggressor traps and extends the left arm to clear for the next attack. This is a forearm strike to the side of the neck, and is followed by a cross choke.Then leads to a hip throw, hammer fist to side of head, stamp then push away, getting to safety.

The final 10 minutes, we did some kobudo, practicing the Bo Shodan and Nidan kihon Kata ☺☺

Practical note, for the hip throw after the cross choke.  The thrower keeps choking the opponent and the arms act as a lever.  The right foot of the thrower goes in between the opponent;s feet to act as a pivot.  Turning the body anti-clockwise, the left heel goes in front of the opponent;s left foot.   The right foot of the thrower goes to the outside of the opponent's right foot, and the thrower drops into the opponent and executes the technique over the right hip / thigh. ☺☺

Regards, 
Robert Y 13/12/2019