Monday, July 15, 2013

Continue to think about the past and move along




Black Belt Class 10.04.2002

I focused on lower body development today, especially as a tool in application analysis.

First we ran Fukyugata Sho, concentrating on the lower body, compressing our step into the center line and then exploding out from same.

Then, to force one to concentrate on that, I overloaded the upper body response.
In that we changed the techniques being executed on each movement as follows.

1.      The low block became a multiple combination, Left Low Block, Right punch, Left Low Block.
2.      The lunge punch became a multiple combination. Right Lunge Punch. Left High Block, Right Lunge Punch.
3.      The high block became a multiple combination. Right high block, Left Punch, Right High Block.
4.      The reverse punch became a multiple combination, Right Reverse Punch, Left Outer Block, Right Reverse Punch
5.      The rising punch became a multiple combination, Right Rising Punch, Left Inner Block, Right Rising Punch

Substituting each Sho technique with a combination movement.

This became very complex for the trainees, yet as time passes, the use of the lower body to explode into each series becomes more evident.

Then we worked on SunNuSu kata.

Keeping the use of the lower body an underlying theme, I then undertook a training concept of reverse stepping (a name which I change from time to time, I really haven’t figured out the best handle for this yet) shared by a friend with a Kishiba Juku background.

The reverse stepping allows you begin a step into the centerline, and finish it with the reverse step of the other foot away from the centerline.

Hence for Left Foot Forward, left side block (beginning Seisan) instead your left foot steps into the center line (first ½ of the crescent step) but your right foot steps back from the center line, ending in left foot forward Seisan.

When you apply this to all of a kata’s movements, your kata tends to be done in one spot, but you’re still selling each technique with traditional focus.

In application, its very easy to get mixed up, as you’re crossing the spheres of dominance of the brain hemisphere, yet it gives one great tactical advantage.

Most applications we either move in, or we move away. This allows us to shift to the center, and choose which is most expeditious, yet be somewhat confusing for the attacker.

To apply this I took the 3rd Elbow strike from SunNuSu kata, where you shuffle forward with the inner horizontal elbow strike.

Here is how I used this stepping for application.

The attacker is grabbing your right arm (around the biceps) with their left arm as they begin to punch to your head with their right.  A good grab and punch attack.

  1. As they’re punching with their right, as in the kata movement, I’m drawing my right foot alongside my left, as my left hand slaps across, moving their punch across my center away from me. My left hand then grasps their grabbing wrist, while my right hand just slightly touches their lower abdomen.
  2. The lower abdomen touch is to draw their thought away from you, so they ask why am I being touched down there (a concept which originated in my studies with Sherman Harrill).
  3. Using the reverse stepping I explode back with my left foot into right foot forward Seisan stance.
  4. As that happens, my left hand locks on their wrist/hand and pulls back to chamber. [This movement will explode their wrist over (counter-clockwise) and yank them forward and is the primary counter.
  5. My right elbow strike actually just lays across their forearm, the touch helping pin the lock.
  6. This is not a finishing technique, but simply opens the attacker up for the appropriate strike or kick to complete their finish.

The above is much easier to say than to do. It’s not easy (at first) to step in and then step away. Easier to do running Seisan, much more difficult against the pressure of a partner.

But this provides strategic  advantages.  Depending on the left hand of the person, is it empty or holding a weapon for a 2nd strike. Does their hand slide back when I parry the punch, or is it ready for a 2nd punch.
Strategically sometimes I want to go in, sometimes I want to pull back, and sometimes I want to use the reverse step capability to give myself maximum choice in technique.

Drawing on a different attack, say an opponent grabbing your left hand (or arm) with their left hand and still preparing to strike your head with your right. I employ the opening of Seisan as follows:

1.      Step into my center line with my left foot.
2.      Explode back with my right foot (often pivoting on my left to cross their grab with a 20 degree angle by my center line) and finish in left Seisan stance with a left side block. This turns their arm over.
3.      a. One version is to immediately strike the best target, ribs, triceps or the side of their left leg
4.      b. Another version is my left hand opens and turns over counter-clockwise, grabs their arm and pulls quickly back to chamber as you strike, drawing them forward.

I also explored options for the opening double rising blocks in Seiunchin Kata, and the closing Mawashi Uke from Sanchin (which is already using  some of this movement, but which we normally practice moving inward against an attack.

It isn’t necessary (IMO) to master this with every technique. But say taking your best 3 or 4 applications and add this layer of choice, you can then offer more strategic application of these techniques. Your response then isn’t as patterned, but more three-dimensional.

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This is what we were working on in 2002, from a time perspective.

Today after my fall on July 3rd, I am moving with some pain and the 3 broken ribs. Doc says it will take me 6 or 8 weeks to heal. My Paraneoplastic Neuromyopathy & Neuropathy continues too, O'well, the berries continue to ripen.

Blogger is being hard to use. Sorry for the structure of this post.

1 comment:

Victor Smith said...

Perhaps for this entry from my blog a bit of an explanation would be useful.

This was just one adult program class from 2003. My adult program was consciously small to keep what I believe the original intimacy between instructor and student as close to what I imagine pre-1900 toudi might have been. The most of the students would have been in dan training for over a decade, several of them training almost for 20 years. The location varied by season and other reasons, at times we held class at the Boys and Girls Club of Derry, at times we held the class in my back yard or on the driveway.

But beginner or advanced student each participated in much the same way during the class. I realize you have read that I constructed my classes based on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle so that each class was unique from every other class, no two classes ever followed the same structure. The of course was a structure to the classes, but that structure ran that way for over half a year before the structure would change. It was done that way so the student would not focus on that, for it was for me. Rather each class was different for the student so they could not anticipate what was coming next, keeping their minds open so they could respond not react to what they knew was coming next.

During that period of time I kept notes of how several classes unfolded, this is one of those classes from several decades ago….

Oh and the blackberries grew in my back yard each summer. They appeared, ripened and then were gone, just like each of my classes.