Great workout tonight! After going through kneeling iai 1 through 7b, we switched to shanai and worked on cutting basics, covering head, temple and waist cuts (right and left) advancing back and forth across the room. We then began three cut combos (such as head – left temple – right temple and right temple – left waist – head). After a thoroughly sweaty bout of this, we each had our turn at the front of the room while the other students and our instructor “machinegunned” us with head cuts, then right temple cuts, our task being to make effective blocks.
I think the one item I noticed most tonight that I need to work on is making a good vertical load before a temple cut, rather than the full circle temple cut I do in the Western Circle. Our instructor said the full circle is good if you are looking for a powerful cut, but for a faster and less obvious cut, load vertically.