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Barry took this session, which started out with some front stance work, moving back and forward with lower, body and upper block. It took a while to get back into stride, the finer points of the exercise having slipped away a bit after a few sessions without doing this. Mr Roz picked up that by back foot is turned too far out, at 45 degrees instead of 30 (too much t'ai chi perhaps). Also, my body blocks still need to be closer in. Barry pointed out that a lot of us are finishing with our foot before our hand when coming forwards but not backwards, suggesting that we're rising with the step and then falling forward into stance. Staying low should help give a more controlled step and better timing.
A similar exercise with back stance followed, with lower, minor, upper, single and double knife hand blocks, back and forward. Again my minor block was too far out and my knife hand is still bent at the wrist. Then it was back to front stance to practise the twisting block from Chonkwon, going over the wind-up and slightly twisted stance involved.
Finally for this part, we did the upper block, side kick with backfist, elbow strike to target combination from Taegeuk 5, up and down the room, paying attention to the height of the backfist (usually should be higher than seems right) as well as proper recovery from the side kick.
The bulk of the class was spent on actual patterns work, starting with the common patterns of Taegeuk 8 through Sipjin with the whole class. No new points came out this time, though i found myself making a lot of the same mistakes as always. Then we split into pairs and spent quite a while watching each others worst patterns to find the problems. I chose Taeguek 8 and Koryo, but ironically did them better than i have in ages (perhaps i'm learning to relax and focus when i'm doing it by myself with someone watching, which would be good). There were still plenty of errors for David to spot, the bulk of which still relate to going to fast and rushing things, rather than taking a moment to pause with the finish of each technique before jumping into the next. On the middle rung of Taegeuk 8, for instance, when i thought i was going too slow, i was apparently still rushing it. David suggested a big pulling in motion with the next palm block, which gives more power as well as slowing it down. Other specific points were:
Taegeuk 8: Front stance is too wide on the pulling chin punch - i'm moving my front foot across as much as we used to, not taking into account the now slightly offset angle of the previous stance (it may pay to check with Greg or Barry about the exact movement of the foot on this transition). My knee is bent on the front stances of the middle rung, again from rushing into the next move. My supporting hand in the double knife hand blocks is also too far forward, i think from trying to get a stronger flick around with the turn. I'm also pivotting on my heel in the last two turns, into back stance on the last rung. This is why i lose balance here. Pivot on the ball of the foot.
Koryo: I'm sometimes not pulling back my other fist to the hip on kaljaebi, or closing it on the knife hand strikes. I need perhaps to concentrate on the pulling in hand and let the striking hand worry about itself. My horse stance was a little too big, as usual, and i'm tensing my shoulder on the elbow side-strike - should just relax and hit.
Pyongwon: I'm still having troubles overbalancing on the turning side kick. What seemed to help was pausing momentarily after the front kick, so as to not have too much forward momentum. A slight pause after each technique seems to be a common thing needed in my patterns.
A similar exercise with back stance followed, with lower, minor, upper, single and double knife hand blocks, back and forward. Again my minor block was too far out and my knife hand is still bent at the wrist. Then it was back to front stance to practise the twisting block from Chonkwon, going over the wind-up and slightly twisted stance involved.
Finally for this part, we did the upper block, side kick with backfist, elbow strike to target combination from Taegeuk 5, up and down the room, paying attention to the height of the backfist (usually should be higher than seems right) as well as proper recovery from the side kick.
The bulk of the class was spent on actual patterns work, starting with the common patterns of Taegeuk 8 through Sipjin with the whole class. No new points came out this time, though i found myself making a lot of the same mistakes as always. Then we split into pairs and spent quite a while watching each others worst patterns to find the problems. I chose Taeguek 8 and Koryo, but ironically did them better than i have in ages (perhaps i'm learning to relax and focus when i'm doing it by myself with someone watching, which would be good). There were still plenty of errors for David to spot, the bulk of which still relate to going to fast and rushing things, rather than taking a moment to pause with the finish of each technique before jumping into the next. On the middle rung of Taegeuk 8, for instance, when i thought i was going too slow, i was apparently still rushing it. David suggested a big pulling in motion with the next palm block, which gives more power as well as slowing it down. Other specific points were:
Taegeuk 8: Front stance is too wide on the pulling chin punch - i'm moving my front foot across as much as we used to, not taking into account the now slightly offset angle of the previous stance (it may pay to check with Greg or Barry about the exact movement of the foot on this transition). My knee is bent on the front stances of the middle rung, again from rushing into the next move. My supporting hand in the double knife hand blocks is also too far forward, i think from trying to get a stronger flick around with the turn. I'm also pivotting on my heel in the last two turns, into back stance on the last rung. This is why i lose balance here. Pivot on the ball of the foot.
Koryo: I'm sometimes not pulling back my other fist to the hip on kaljaebi, or closing it on the knife hand strikes. I need perhaps to concentrate on the pulling in hand and let the striking hand worry about itself. My horse stance was a little too big, as usual, and i'm tensing my shoulder on the elbow side-strike - should just relax and hit.
Pyongwon: I'm still having troubles overbalancing on the turning side kick. What seemed to help was pausing momentarily after the front kick, so as to not have too much forward momentum. A slight pause after each technique seems to be a common thing needed in my patterns.
