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darren_strangerSome simple but interesting drills from yesterday's class at Doncaster:
On the ground, kicking to the bag: Ten kicks each leg (knee or groin) then swap holders. Holder should step in forcefully each time, but keep front knee bent. Note - when kicking to knee, aim below the knee, so if it slides up it will hit the kneecap. Doing it repeatedly made me realise that we often just do a couple of kicks each foot then call it done and move on. Doing more repetition helps get better feel for it. Working with Phillipe, i noticed a distinct difference on the side kick when i made a point of hitting with the heel rather than the blade of the foot. I also noticed on the push kick that it worked better when i did it in a relaxed way, instead of trying to hit hard and tensing up.
Lying flat on the gound: Turning to foetal cover-up position, to left or right with random calling of "one" or "two". This lets everyone practise at once, with loits of repetition, and work on speed. After several repetitions that way, we then worked with partners kicking randomly to head or body.
With the mobility part of the exercise, Greg's approach is to do one kick, with kihap, then get up. The pros of that are that it eliminates uncertainty about when to get to your feet and also lets you practise getting up more times (Phillipe and i changed attacker each time, which kept things moving and made it a good fitness workout as well). It reminded me of another exercise that Mr Rosinszky uses, in which you kick the bag five times, side or push, then get to your feet. Then it's straight down again and repeat, which gets pretty tiring as well.
Later on, Greg showed us a next step after the knee kicking - to grab the attacker's ankle and take him down, or use your foot or ankle to trap his ankle and take him down (he did one where my ankle was trapped by his foot and then he pushed my knee with his other - i went down hard with just a little push).
One other fitness/self defence drill was just hitting the bag for a minute each, with palm hand or knee. In both cases, the lower straps were held together in the left fist, while the upper one was held in the usual way. For palm heel, the holder holds the bag at face height and slightly to the side (so it doesn't hit you in the face) and pushes forward constantly while the defender just hits repeatedly with palm heel strike. If the defender backs away in a straight line, the holder can try to push him or her into a corner. For the knee strike, the holder holds the bag a little more loosely, while the defender grabs it tight at the top corners and knee strikes repeatedly (same knee or alternating). Change holder after a minute and repeat until exhausted.
We also did some eye exercise, starting with just hands, then hands and light low kicks (roundhouse or twist kick to upper thighs), then hands, kicks and grappling (no throws). I was with Clive, and found it hard to get past his mad kung fu skillz, but i did notice with both of us that when we saw a tempting opportunity to go for the stomach or ribs, we'd leave our head undefended and cop one on the forehead. Worth remembering if it's ever more than light taps coming at us. One advantage Greg pointed out of the 'rolling' kali-style action is that one hand is always coming up to protect the face while the other is going forward. It does seem to me to leave you a little vulnerable to swinging attacks hooking in from the side, though Greg favours a crossed-over position of that guarding hand to give a little protection for that (if you're fast enough with your outward blocking action).
On a final note - there's been another change in the closing moves of Taegeuk 8, in that we now turn on the ball of the foot to make the last back stance, while turning on the heel is a deduction. In other words, back to how we used to do it (and consistent with all our other moves, always turning on the ball). I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth trying to keep up with the latest fashions, other than maybe as an exercise in staying adaptable. Especially when they don't seem technically sound - with any luck, this current fashion of rising up to a straight support leg when kicking will also pass.
On the ground, kicking to the bag: Ten kicks each leg (knee or groin) then swap holders. Holder should step in forcefully each time, but keep front knee bent. Note - when kicking to knee, aim below the knee, so if it slides up it will hit the kneecap. Doing it repeatedly made me realise that we often just do a couple of kicks each foot then call it done and move on. Doing more repetition helps get better feel for it. Working with Phillipe, i noticed a distinct difference on the side kick when i made a point of hitting with the heel rather than the blade of the foot. I also noticed on the push kick that it worked better when i did it in a relaxed way, instead of trying to hit hard and tensing up.
Lying flat on the gound: Turning to foetal cover-up position, to left or right with random calling of "one" or "two". This lets everyone practise at once, with loits of repetition, and work on speed. After several repetitions that way, we then worked with partners kicking randomly to head or body.
With the mobility part of the exercise, Greg's approach is to do one kick, with kihap, then get up. The pros of that are that it eliminates uncertainty about when to get to your feet and also lets you practise getting up more times (Phillipe and i changed attacker each time, which kept things moving and made it a good fitness workout as well). It reminded me of another exercise that Mr Rosinszky uses, in which you kick the bag five times, side or push, then get to your feet. Then it's straight down again and repeat, which gets pretty tiring as well.
Later on, Greg showed us a next step after the knee kicking - to grab the attacker's ankle and take him down, or use your foot or ankle to trap his ankle and take him down (he did one where my ankle was trapped by his foot and then he pushed my knee with his other - i went down hard with just a little push).
One other fitness/self defence drill was just hitting the bag for a minute each, with palm hand or knee. In both cases, the lower straps were held together in the left fist, while the upper one was held in the usual way. For palm heel, the holder holds the bag at face height and slightly to the side (so it doesn't hit you in the face) and pushes forward constantly while the defender just hits repeatedly with palm heel strike. If the defender backs away in a straight line, the holder can try to push him or her into a corner. For the knee strike, the holder holds the bag a little more loosely, while the defender grabs it tight at the top corners and knee strikes repeatedly (same knee or alternating). Change holder after a minute and repeat until exhausted.
We also did some eye exercise, starting with just hands, then hands and light low kicks (roundhouse or twist kick to upper thighs), then hands, kicks and grappling (no throws). I was with Clive, and found it hard to get past his mad kung fu skillz, but i did notice with both of us that when we saw a tempting opportunity to go for the stomach or ribs, we'd leave our head undefended and cop one on the forehead. Worth remembering if it's ever more than light taps coming at us. One advantage Greg pointed out of the 'rolling' kali-style action is that one hand is always coming up to protect the face while the other is going forward. It does seem to me to leave you a little vulnerable to swinging attacks hooking in from the side, though Greg favours a crossed-over position of that guarding hand to give a little protection for that (if you're fast enough with your outward blocking action).
On a final note - there's been another change in the closing moves of Taegeuk 8, in that we now turn on the ball of the foot to make the last back stance, while turning on the heel is a deduction. In other words, back to how we used to do it (and consistent with all our other moves, always turning on the ball). I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth trying to keep up with the latest fashions, other than maybe as an exercise in staying adaptable. Especially when they don't seem technically sound - with any luck, this current fashion of rising up to a straight support leg when kicking will also pass.
