Heavy bag workout

Had a good bag session in the sun today.

After warming up with some loose kicks and punches I set to examining a few drills.

Jab, reverse, roundkick

I stepped into the jab with right hand, ducked low (to avoid punch) shifted to the left and rammed home the reverse punch, setting me up for a close range round kick to the middle.

Elbow strike, jump sidekick

Standing close to the bag, side-on (my right thigh was touching the bag) I pounded it with three or four straight elbow strikes high (the right elbow) then stepped out and jump side kicked with the right foot. This really rocked the bag nicely. Surprisingly I didn't really step out with the left foot that much- it was more of turning the foot out, thrusting the right knee up to my chest and then jumping into the kick. Good work.

Kicked the crap out of the winter jasmine on the wall but the chives and laurel seem to have come away unscathed!

Kuniyoshi exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts

Kuniyoshi

From the Arthur R. Miller Collection

21 March—7 June 2009

The Royal Academy of Arts presents an exhibition on one of the greatest Japanese print artists, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861). Featuring over 150 works, the exhibition presents Kuniyoshi as a master of imaginative design. It reveals the graphic power and beauty of his prints across an unprecedented range of subjects highlighting his ingenious use of the triptych format.

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/kuniyoshi/

High Speed Martial Arts

Don't try this at home.

No, really...don't.

...and one for fans of iai:

How to make a back stance or Hugul ja sae

Back stance or fighting stance (hugul ja sae) is used extensively in Tang Soo for kicking techniques. This is formed by turning out your back leg so it is perpendicular to the front leg, aligned heel to heel. Effectively your feet form an L shape with your back leg bearing most of the weight and your front foot touching the ground only with the toes and the ball of the feet. Naturally the body tends to therefore be side on to the opponent which shows less target area for point-sparring. It also lends itself to kicking (off the back leg and) with the front leg for stopping shots but also facilitates higher head kicks off the front leg as the rear foot is already half turned out. Spinning kicks come easier too from this stance as pivoting on the front leg is easy. The reverse kick or straight kick is, of course, a different matter: the front kick has to bear the weight shift adding in a step into the sequence (weight shift, bear weight on front leg, kick off rear leg). But I find this fairly seamless really and not a deal breaker. My main point to work on is when we're practicing mostly straight kicks with the rear leg. When I return to hugul ja sae I find my back foot has drifted inwards and makes less of an L shape with the front and more of a wonky V. This back leg naturally wants to be in a walking stance with both legs more facing forward but the trouble (for executing techniques in Tang Soo Do) is that when this happens my leg bends at a funny angle and doesn't bear the weight straight up, vertically. It suddenly adopts a kink in it, more like a dog leg than a human one! 

Tonight I aimed to keep returning to the L shape.

Of course there's nothing to say we shouldn't change from one stance to another according to circumstances. Walking stance (or front stance) is much mmore natural for those reverse kicks-  I'm not advocating a complete back stance policy here! I just want to keep working at it so that my legs bear the weight in a more natural manner. 

Note: Korean back stance is much shorter than Japanese back stance! Photos to follow.

Beside my shoes

I was fed up tonight and didn't want to go training. It had been a lovely day and as it was a bank holiday it all had the feeling of a Sunday evening. I don't train on a Sunday evening. and I was tired. But I hauled my ass onto my bicycle and by the time I'd got to the river I was feeling much better. 

Still fed up though. Very curious feeling of indifference but I managed to get there, change, help out with samu and then into the lesson. I didn't have that usual corporeal heaviness when I'm having trouble concentrating. My body was ok despite my mental mist and I eased through the warm-ups and was lucid during kihon but there was a strange dream-like sensation. The French have a saying which sums up how I felt: "à côté de ses pompes" (to be beside one's shoes). This strange out of body experience: as if I were standing next to myself. Not quite right.

All this despite good tuition, smiles and help from colleagues and at the end a feeling of having learnt something (potentially profound).

I still couldn't shake that feeling of being à côté de mes pompes, but I'm glad I went.

Hobble, hobble...

Looking at this technique makes me wince. Maybe it's because I'm getting older and I value my knees, or (a bit) wiser and know that you could smash your opponent's keens up really badly if this isn't practiced correctly.

Which got me thinking...why practice it at all? I think I'd have to be really hard-pressed and in a real situation to use a direct kick to my adversary's knee. So I won't practice it. Ah, but if I don't practice it then it won't be in the memory bank of techniques when I really am hard-pressed and need it! So practice it. Well if I practice it will I be pre-disposed to use it, even in error or in haste?

We have to train sensibly and with control across a wide variety of techniques but I just think this one freaks me out a bit. After all, apart from the hapkido explanation, the other two videos show a fairly straightforward front kick, aimed low. Learning anatomy and vital points may well be enough to empower you to disable an opponent without causing extreme injury! (Article on kyusho, vital points).

Found an interesting clip about the anatomy of the knee and its ligaments:

Hands