Old Hopalong

I had both a lesson in the Dojo and an additional lesson booked for Saturday, so it just had to happen. We had an extended warm up in the dojo; after the normal running, sit ups, squatageris, and stretching, we practiced rolling out from full mount by trapping the head and one leg of the assailant, then we practiced avoid, then stun and avoid on a knife being pulled,  I ran out on the first element, so on the second element I was determined to give it ago.  I got a double palm strike in on the first run through and a single one on the second run through.  Then I felt like a sharp stab in my right calf as I carried on running.  Sure enough, the pain shot as soon as I stopped..... Seems like I've pulled my calf muscle 😞😞😞

I wanted to carry on, but had to sit out various parts of the lesson.  We went from the knife drills to Mokusu and the formal opening, Then on to fundamentals, punches, receiving techniques, and kicks - had to sit out that part, and would have certainly struggled with the 10 mid to high level Mawashi geris, even on a good day.

After that, I was back into the lesson, for two person drills and Kata, I got to practice Naihanchi Nidan with the more advanced group before going back to doing Naihanchi Shodan, which ended with doing another solo performance then a couple more paired drills.  Plenty of variety as usual, and relieved to get to the end of it without doing myself anny further mischief. 😌😌😌

Being a glutton for punishment, I  decided to go ahead with thr additional lesson.  The main purpose of this was to work on Tensho with my Sensei, especially the way in which the breathing ties into the actions and basics such as the Sanchin dachi stance abd step throughs.   However, to make up for what I had missed on the main lesson, we also went over the fundamentals again, this time including kicks.  The kicks were more about form than  repetition, concentrating on mainly my Yoko and Ushiro geri 
techniques, followed by another run through of Naihanchi Shodan.

I must be kind of mad, because I also went to the Monday evening session as I wasn't at work.  Whilst I was a little ginger on my right leg, I managed to participate in most of the lesson.  I missed out on some of the kicks, and got a sharp reminder when a roll out from under went slightly awry, but otherwise was pleasantly surprised. ☺☺☺

Most of the lesson was taken up by working on paired drills, including revisions to the quadrant drill, kicking drills, take downs and escape from take downs (trap and roll).  We finished off with about thirty minutes working on the Hamahiga nunchuku kata.   A really enjoyable lesson, and I think I must have been lucky with the muscle injury. ☺☺☺

Stuffed up Saturday: Kata, Kumite and Knives

One of the problems with my conditions is that I am prone to getting somewhat wheezy and spluttery in cold, damp conditions and Saturday was a perfect example.  So my time in the Dojo was the perfect way of sweating out a minor chest problem.

We started out with break falls plus warm up for 10 to 15 minutes, which I struggled to get through, but you have to keep on going.  Then we observed the usual formalities of the Dojo and time to clear the mind. Kata came next.  Naihanchi Shodan in single moves, then doing the  Kata with phrasing, to emphasize the combinations inherent within.  This was followed by performance, with the instruction to concentrate of the phrasing over speed.  Kata with intent is also a good way to work up a sweat 😊

The next part of the lesson was Kumite plus pad work.  We started off with two short sessions of sport Kumite (light to medium contact) punches and kicks, then kicks only, with different partners.  This was followed by pad work on punching out of a situation: Standing, kneeling and from the ground.  Finally we went on to structured Naihanchi based Kumite with different partners.  About half way through this, all the sweating paid off and I started to really enjoy the lesson 😊😊

The final part of the lesson was the really fun part.  Our Sensei had got hold of training knives which flash and sound when sufficient contact is made to indicate a serous wound.  We went through a series of exercises with these:

Short range push off and run,
Medium range push off and run
Elbow trap head strike, run (these three with the attacker drawing the knife)
Escape from knife to throat (Deflect, trap, forearm strike, knee, forearm and push away)
We also practiced the last as a drill in pairs.
As well as being serious, these drills are fun 😊😊😊

The end of the lesson was warm down Kata and the full formal ending.  For me, an excellent  and much needed workout and great fun.  Thank you all 😊😊😊😊

Progression of Naihanchi Shodan

I have been practicing Naihanchi Shodan for around 5 months now.  Given everything that is going on in my life just now I wanted to do something positive for myself and show that practicing does help you improve things. This is where doing this blog helps.  I have had myself videoed several times doing the Kata (thank you to Jerome Che-A-Tow, my wife and my son) and the results are given below:

  

February / March 2019

March 2019 - under competition pressure

April 2019

June 2019

August 2019

I think I have improved a lot.  The competition video showed that I struggled under pressure at that point, but in general I think what I do now is more confident, crisper and has more intent.  Still a lot of room for improvement, including getting rid of that horrible shoulder dip, but getting there 😊

Pushed: In the dojo

I have to admit I didn't feel at my best today, but wasn't a day for shirking.  After the warm up, it was trying to keep each leg in turn up at kicking height for 10-15 seconds.  Given I am no the best, needless to say I ended up with two lots of forfeit pressups. 

Then it was on to stepping drills, keeping moving in fighting stance without crossing legs.   This was folowed by the same drill with punches, then with each foot in turn on a fixed spot, turning in stance to the position called by our Sensei. 

After that was padwork on punches, stressing punching through and spending time on the target; Naihanchi drills then kicks onto pads.  The one that pushed me the most was the pyramid, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 mawasha-geris with one leg then the same with the other leg.

It certainly pushed me as hard, if not harder than, I've been pushed before and got my heart rate up enough that I had to take a few breaks.  The last half hour was fun though; bo kihon kata 😊😊😊  Naihanchi Shoda to wind down then finished: An excellent lesson 😊 

After dinner, I had to go and do a bo kihon kata in the garden to work off a little too much food.  Thought it wouldn't do too much harm to video, but please excuse the state of the garden.  It's been badly neglected whilst wasn't I too clever and then with other things going on, so will be one of this summer's projects  😊

In the Dojo: Self defence, knives and baseball bats

Today as the last day for me with our visiting Sensei, Graham.  The usual warm ups, then on to self defence drills.  Last week we did knife defence, if you can't get away.  This week we repeated the drills learned, then went on to facing a pick axe handle or base ball bat attack.

I document what we did in my blogs as an aide memoire for later times, as I'm not the best at remembering 😊 So the two attacks we went through were:

Bat swung from the side to the head:  Step in and block. opposite side leg in between their stance.  Wrap non-blocking arm over their arms and grasp, then privot, dragging them over the pivoting leg to trip.  Then get away if you have grounded them.

Bat swung from overhead: Step to side and deflect away with nearest arm.  If possible, set past front leg and drag back, using blocking arm to peform a "clothes line" to the throat at the same time, putting them to ground.  Get away.

My rolling and falling when taking on the attackers role needs a fair amount of work, and I instinctively did a cross wrist block to one of the overhead swings, ouch 😣 Very much work in progress.  

Our regular Sensei, Ben and Alison are back next week, so things will go up a gear, but hopefully they can include a little of this in the dojo as well, as I still need some more  tuition, so that I get good habits to practice 😊😊

In the Dojo: Knife defence

My usual Sensei are off to Okinawa;  good luck to Ben and Alison and the others for our Dojo who have gone, enjoy 😊

Our visiting Sensei, Graham, did some drills in knife defence with us, which given some videos I have seen from friends posts recently, was kind of appropriate.   One was so intrictate it was a work of art, but in no way practical for my level:

Silat Strikes and Finishes - Silat Suffian Bela Diri

This link was shared by Noah Legel originally, thank you 😊

The other would defintely not work for me either, but maybe its a technique not related to Karate:

Is this effective?

Sensei Graham show us pratical (ie. for me simple) defence techniques against various forms of knife threat and attack, all of which are simple enough to apply.  I hope I never have to testify as to whether they would be effective, but think they will work.   The obvious two are observe and avoid, then given them what they want, but there is always a what if?

We were shown techniques against knife threat to throat, , slashing strike, axe strike and knife to the kneck from behind.  the last technique would defintely result in cuts, but worthwhile to avoid something worse.  I will try to describe, but can't promise being 100%

1. Knife threat  - to throat; Hands up whilst distracting, push away with opposite hand.  Nearest hand over the top of wrist and grip.   Opposite hand, kneck strike then rotate arm and hit knife arm on elbow from underneath.

2. Knife threat - to chest; Hands up whilst distracting, then similatiously twist body 90 degrees to avoid thrust and grab knife hand (thumb in middle of back of hand) with nearest hand  then grab with other hand and rotate knife arm up and away.

3. Knife slashing strike, Chudan-uke outside block, then punch to jaw or strike to kneck.

 4.  Knife axe strike, crossed wrists overhead block, take control with one arm, reinforce with other.  Take control with one hand, reinforce with the other then rotate away.

5.  Knife to the kneck from behind; Hands up whilst distracting, grab wrist with arm following knifeman's arm, and reinforce, then duck under attackers arm and bring their arm up behind their back. 😊😊😊

Hope this is of interest, thank you Sensei Graham 😊😊😊