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on the ball, relax - poomsae training #9
Jan. 20th, 2007 03:34 pmBarry wasn't able to make it due to a car prang (not serious), so Mr Rozinszky took the class today.
We started out with kicking, doing front kick to a mitt over a kick bag at our front knee, then the same for side kick. Then the continued side kick from Koryo, then with the knife hand strike and punch as well. Finally we did an upper block, side kick and elbow strike combination, like Taegeuk 5 but with the mitt as target.
Next we did Koryo as a group, then with kihap every technique. Everyone was out of time, but it helps with finish for every move. Then we split into age groups for patterns, seniors working with Mr Roz. Points to come from this part were:
Koryo: My knife hand strikes are too twisted in the body - needs to be a more natural angle. Off centre front knee in my front stance is probably connected with this.
Keumgang: Mountain block is too high.
Jitae: Neck and shoulders too tight and tense on the last set of knife hand blocks - need to relax.
David also made an observation that he'd picked up from watching the DVD from the world championships, that he'd noticed the Iranian team (silver medallists) were doing horse stance with their wieght on th eballs of the feet, heels almost lifted off the ground. He'd tried this for himself and found it helped for stability and transitions, eg in Keumgang. Trying it out for myself, it did seem to make a big difference. I think an effort to stay on the balls of the feet will help a lot of things, and i guess is consistent with taekwondo principles. Very useful.
Then we split into threes, with one partner watching the other two go through a pattern at a time ("you have to pick at least three mistakes or it's 50 pushups"). A lot of my mistakes were the usual ones, with a few newies:
Jitae: First back stance is wonky again, from trying too hard to whip that block around - just sit into it. The front stance with lower block has a bent back leg, as if i'm anticipating the back stance to follow.
Chonkwon: Upper block part of santeul yopjireugi is too low - lift it higher. Upper arm of sonnal wesanteul makki needs to be more behind me.
Sipjin: Boulder push is at a funny angle - possibly due to wonky front knee in the front stance. Also needs to be straighter at the elbows (push out more) and at the wrists (push fingertips forward).
Finally, we did some more mitt-striking, as Mr Roz had seen our elbow and other strikes lacked power. First we did swallow strike, with mitts for the block and strike, then elbow strike, hitting upwards as in Pyongwon, then inwards as in Taegeuk 8. On all these, i felt more power when i pushed my back foot into the ground, even on the inwards one (which we often do with a twist in the hips, lifting the back heel up like a boxer - that seems to work for speed, but the front stance version seems to have more solid power behind it). Then we did the forward backfist from the end of Taegeuk 8, with the preceding elbow strike included. I wasn't getting any power in it, until i thought to relax in the wind-up, as if i was doing it two handed, and it worked much better. David remarked that that one was better, and i was saying "yeah, the difference was i relaxed here" and went through the motion again without even trying, and hit it twice as hard again. Bingo. Once again, relaxing makes it stronger, and this is why i haven't been getting any power in those techniques, always being tense in looking for that power. So another important discovery (albeit something i know already, in theory, but don't remember to do in practice). Then we did knife hand block, in which i need to keep my elbow in more, and hit more forwards, using the upper arm muscles (David was saying that Mr Roz turns the wrist over at the start, then hits straight down, rather than twisting at the end - something i may need to investigate more). The final exercise was side kick to the mitt, doing 5 sets of three kicks without putting the foot down, but David and i were still playing with knife hand block and ran out of time to do much of that one.
Jamie took us for a warm-down stretch, and included some core work, laying on the tummy, sucking in the belly button ("as if there were a column of ants marching under it") then lifting hands and legs like Superman. Then the same with one arm and opposite leg.
So, some good fundamental points to come out of this session, especially weight on the ball of the foot and the relaxing in that T8 sequence. Both things i knew as general principles, but hadn't looked at in that specific context. These sessions are brilliant. Such a pity we're 3/4 of the way though now.
We started out with kicking, doing front kick to a mitt over a kick bag at our front knee, then the same for side kick. Then the continued side kick from Koryo, then with the knife hand strike and punch as well. Finally we did an upper block, side kick and elbow strike combination, like Taegeuk 5 but with the mitt as target.
Next we did Koryo as a group, then with kihap every technique. Everyone was out of time, but it helps with finish for every move. Then we split into age groups for patterns, seniors working with Mr Roz. Points to come from this part were:
Koryo: My knife hand strikes are too twisted in the body - needs to be a more natural angle. Off centre front knee in my front stance is probably connected with this.
Keumgang: Mountain block is too high.
Jitae: Neck and shoulders too tight and tense on the last set of knife hand blocks - need to relax.
David also made an observation that he'd picked up from watching the DVD from the world championships, that he'd noticed the Iranian team (silver medallists) were doing horse stance with their wieght on th eballs of the feet, heels almost lifted off the ground. He'd tried this for himself and found it helped for stability and transitions, eg in Keumgang. Trying it out for myself, it did seem to make a big difference. I think an effort to stay on the balls of the feet will help a lot of things, and i guess is consistent with taekwondo principles. Very useful.
Then we split into threes, with one partner watching the other two go through a pattern at a time ("you have to pick at least three mistakes or it's 50 pushups"). A lot of my mistakes were the usual ones, with a few newies:
Jitae: First back stance is wonky again, from trying too hard to whip that block around - just sit into it. The front stance with lower block has a bent back leg, as if i'm anticipating the back stance to follow.
Chonkwon: Upper block part of santeul yopjireugi is too low - lift it higher. Upper arm of sonnal wesanteul makki needs to be more behind me.
Sipjin: Boulder push is at a funny angle - possibly due to wonky front knee in the front stance. Also needs to be straighter at the elbows (push out more) and at the wrists (push fingertips forward).
Finally, we did some more mitt-striking, as Mr Roz had seen our elbow and other strikes lacked power. First we did swallow strike, with mitts for the block and strike, then elbow strike, hitting upwards as in Pyongwon, then inwards as in Taegeuk 8. On all these, i felt more power when i pushed my back foot into the ground, even on the inwards one (which we often do with a twist in the hips, lifting the back heel up like a boxer - that seems to work for speed, but the front stance version seems to have more solid power behind it). Then we did the forward backfist from the end of Taegeuk 8, with the preceding elbow strike included. I wasn't getting any power in it, until i thought to relax in the wind-up, as if i was doing it two handed, and it worked much better. David remarked that that one was better, and i was saying "yeah, the difference was i relaxed here" and went through the motion again without even trying, and hit it twice as hard again. Bingo. Once again, relaxing makes it stronger, and this is why i haven't been getting any power in those techniques, always being tense in looking for that power. So another important discovery (albeit something i know already, in theory, but don't remember to do in practice). Then we did knife hand block, in which i need to keep my elbow in more, and hit more forwards, using the upper arm muscles (David was saying that Mr Roz turns the wrist over at the start, then hits straight down, rather than twisting at the end - something i may need to investigate more). The final exercise was side kick to the mitt, doing 5 sets of three kicks without putting the foot down, but David and i were still playing with knife hand block and ran out of time to do much of that one.
Jamie took us for a warm-down stretch, and included some core work, laying on the tummy, sucking in the belly button ("as if there were a column of ants marching under it") then lifting hands and legs like Superman. Then the same with one arm and opposite leg.
So, some good fundamental points to come out of this session, especially weight on the ball of the foot and the relaxing in that T8 sequence. Both things i knew as general principles, but hadn't looked at in that specific context. These sessions are brilliant. Such a pity we're 3/4 of the way though now.
