A journal of my martial arts training
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, Michael and Caleb. Stretch and requirements. I covered defensive stance and head and neck full circle cuts with Caleb. After the break, we had one on one sparring.
I discussed class times with the students and will be moving to a 7:30 start time for the remainder of the summer, at least.
Conditions: Temperature was reported as 102 as class was starting.
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah and Dalton. Caleb and Nick observed. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Elijah, reviewing where he is at. After the break, during which we armored up, I went over knife and dagger fighting, including types and styles of weapons, targets, etc. We then did a couple rounds of Dagger Refined Strikes, then finshed with dagger sparring duels, a few team melees, and a final round of free for all melee.
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Michael. Stretch and requirements. After the break, we did 360 machinegun at half speed, any target and cut for white ropes and up, only fully circles against Michael (the only present lower rank). Finished with Balance 1 and 2 including a bit of a leap.
Class. Stretch, requirements, break. Various drills.
Sal will be taking over for the next four weeks while I am out of town.
Second day of the coliseum event, hosted by me, held at the Ravenswood Faire in Weaverville. First bout with 7 steel melee and 7 wood melee. Steven got to join as a choreographed fighter in the steel. Second bout with 5 steel melee and 5 wood melee. Third bout with 5 steel melee and 5 wood melee.
First day of the coliseum event, hosted by me, held at the Ravenswood Faire in Weaverville. First bout with 5 steel melee, 5 wood melee, and 5 more steel melee. Steven got to join as a choreographed fighter in the steel. Second bout with 5 steel melee and 5 wood melee. Ferocitas got to join as a choreographed fighter in the steel. Third bout with 5 steel melee and 5 wood melee.
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Ferocitas, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan, Michael, and Jessi. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Jessi, going over all basic cuts and blocks. Also worked briefly with a few other students on various pointers.
In the second half, with started with a progressional stance, combat movement, continuous full circle cutting drill, then split into two groups by upper vs lower rank. The upper ranks I put with Sal while I took the lower ranks. We first played add-on, where each students repeats everything the previous student did and then adds one more technique, then, in the same groups, we moved to 360 degree machinegun drill, with the upper ranks doing head or neck for the first set, and then any full circle cut for the second set, and the lower ranks starting with just head, and then doing head or neck.
Class with Ivan and Hiroko. Quick review of standing iai 1 – 6, then continued with standing iai 7 and 8. We finished with one round of 3-person parry (defender/attacker/watcher).
Class with Sal, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan, Michael, and Jessi. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Jessi, covering all full circle cuts and basic thrust plus head, neck and decap blocks. After the break, we had light contact 1 on 1 matches.
Class with Sal, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan and Michael. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Michael, including adding Jumping Tiger 2. After the break, we did multi-opponent refined strikes, then a student-challenge Balance 1 & 2.
Class led by Brad. A couple more new people tonight, so another class of kihon/basics. Focus on stance, oi tsuki, gedan barai and age uke with gyaku tsuki, yokogeri kiagi, yokogeri kokome, maigeri kiagi, and then the upper students finished with Heian Godan while Brad worked with the new students.
Class with Ivan and Hiroko. 100 cuts followed by review of standing iai 1 – 6. Some emphasis on good hand position and connection with the tsuka.
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan, Michael and Jessi. Seannah observed again. Stretch and then I went over The I Move, followed by requirements. I reviewed Michael’s progress and worked with Jessi, reviewing her head and neck cuts, adding decap and leg cuts. After the break, we had a special sparring night, holding a 5 minute non-stop battle for each fighter (myself, Dalton, Steven, Joshua and Sal, in that sequence). Everyone completed their five minutes, averaging 25 – 30 opponents each.
Class led by Brad. Kihon review for the beginners, going over oi tsuki, gyaku tsuki, gedan barai, age uke, uchi uke, and tetsui uke. We went through Taikyoko Shodan a few times, then the upper ranks worked on Heian Sandan and Basai several times each.
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, Ryan, Michael, and Jessi. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Michael, reviewing his requirements and adding Cutting Pattern 1, and I worked with Jessi going over Defensive Stance and Full Circle head and neck cuts. I also checked in with Joshua and went over Jodan stance, and I had Sal instruct Ryan on Jumping Tiger 1.
After the break, we had Balance 1 plus some altered terrain (significant mud) and the gamut target area, followed by a full round of Blind Man’s Boffer in the mud.
Class led by Brad. Stretch and then more kihon for the new students. Reviewed front stance, front punch, down and up blocks, then covered inside and outside blocks and round kick.
Class with Ivan. One step techniques 9 and 10, then a round of 3-attack parry to finish off the session.
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Ferocitas, Dalton, Ryan and Michael. Jessi and Seannah both observed their second consecutive class. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Michael, covering the rest of his blocks and how to go through his full set of requirements. I also touched bases with Sal and Ryan on one handed decap blocks. I finished the first half with a review of Thorn (a new move for Michael). After the break, we had one on one matches and a single melee. I had Steven marshal for the night. Conditions were quite muddy, but no rain during class.
Class led by Brad. We had a couple new people and a couple regulars, so we did a kihon class, working on zenkutsudachi, oitsuki, gedan barai, age uke, and mae geri. We finished with Hedan Nidan.
Class with Ivan. We worked through one step techniques 4 – 10, focusing on some detail aspects of stance, movement and targeting.
Class with Sal, Joshua, Dalton, and Michael. Jesi and Sienna observed. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Michael, reviewing his progress and covering thrust and head blocks as well as going over the six traditions. After the break, we did a focus session on stance and movement, then did 100 full circle cuts (boken). We moved into a few rounds of Refined Strikes, then a 360 Machinegun drill (head attacks only). We finished with cycling through Balance 1 and 2 and the target gamut.
Class with Ivan. Worked on the Jo Kata for a bit, finished with one step techniques 1 – 4.
Class with Sal, Steven, Joshua, Elijah, Dalton, and Michael. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Michael, covering decap and leg cuts, reviewed The Lightning with Sal, Steven, and Joshua and then worked with Steven and Joshua on Kata Ni (a first for Joshua). After the break, we had 38 one on ones.
Class led by Brad. Stretch and focus session on snap kicks, both front and side. Finished with some Heisn Nidan.