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block party
Mar. 16th, 2010 09:51 am.
Last night at training we spent pretty much the whole class on blocking exercises.
It ranged from the usual eye exercise sparring, the lower/minor/body/upper/outside blocking progression facing each other in horse riding stance, a similar exercise just focussing on repetitions of one block at a time, some slowed down sparring with one person attacking and the other blocking (as usual i find myself doing more evasion when i'm suppoed to be relying on blocks), and some practise just blocking and countering head punches of various kinds. One new thing that Barry showed us was, from the 'don't want to fight' defensive position, if the person steps towards you, to take a step back and shove your leading hand towards their face, obscuring their view of your head, messing with their depth perception and invading their personal space. If they do attack, that leading hand can be used to block (as well as leading them to throw a more swinging punch which is easier to block). It's important to keep that extended arm bent a little, both to allow it to move quickly to block and to lessen the danger of it being grabbed.
While blocking attacks from that position, which worked quite well, i noticed one interesting thing: Blocking a punch from Charles with my right hand, i found myself without thinking pushing his arm downwards with that hand, grabbing it with my left and then hitting him with my right. Not having actually planned to do that, i failed to take into account the fact i was pulling him in and promptly smacked him in the face, though luckily it was the back of my open hand i hit him with. After appropriate apologies, i kept wondering why i hit him with an open hand like that - it wasn't quite a pat-parry-pat, but the motion seemed somehow familiar, like i'd seen it in a kung fu video or something and unconsciously copied it. It was only this morning after doing my morning t'ai chi that i realised that that's where the move came from (parting the horse's mane, or any of the ward-off actions) and that doing it slowly every day, without thinking of any fighting application, had made it become a natural way of moving for me. So there's an indication of just what poomsae is for.
One other thing that Barry made a point to mention throughout the blocking exercises was the need to stay relaxed, both to be able move quickly but also to hit harder. That was a good reminder for me, as i'd been doing some poomsae before class and found myself getting very tired very quickly, which i knew was from being tense. The importance of staying relaxed as an actual fighting application will probably help me remember that.
Last night at training we spent pretty much the whole class on blocking exercises.
It ranged from the usual eye exercise sparring, the lower/minor/body/upper/outside blocking progression facing each other in horse riding stance, a similar exercise just focussing on repetitions of one block at a time, some slowed down sparring with one person attacking and the other blocking (as usual i find myself doing more evasion when i'm suppoed to be relying on blocks), and some practise just blocking and countering head punches of various kinds. One new thing that Barry showed us was, from the 'don't want to fight' defensive position, if the person steps towards you, to take a step back and shove your leading hand towards their face, obscuring their view of your head, messing with their depth perception and invading their personal space. If they do attack, that leading hand can be used to block (as well as leading them to throw a more swinging punch which is easier to block). It's important to keep that extended arm bent a little, both to allow it to move quickly to block and to lessen the danger of it being grabbed.
While blocking attacks from that position, which worked quite well, i noticed one interesting thing: Blocking a punch from Charles with my right hand, i found myself without thinking pushing his arm downwards with that hand, grabbing it with my left and then hitting him with my right. Not having actually planned to do that, i failed to take into account the fact i was pulling him in and promptly smacked him in the face, though luckily it was the back of my open hand i hit him with. After appropriate apologies, i kept wondering why i hit him with an open hand like that - it wasn't quite a pat-parry-pat, but the motion seemed somehow familiar, like i'd seen it in a kung fu video or something and unconsciously copied it. It was only this morning after doing my morning t'ai chi that i realised that that's where the move came from (parting the horse's mane, or any of the ward-off actions) and that doing it slowly every day, without thinking of any fighting application, had made it become a natural way of moving for me. So there's an indication of just what poomsae is for.
One other thing that Barry made a point to mention throughout the blocking exercises was the need to stay relaxed, both to be able move quickly but also to hit harder. That was a good reminder for me, as i'd been doing some poomsae before class and found myself getting very tired very quickly, which i knew was from being tense. The importance of staying relaxed as an actual fighting application will probably help me remember that.
