Class with Sal, Chris and Charlie. Joe called out. Stretch and 100 cuts (with steel), then requirements twice through ( I reviewed Sal and Chris). After a break, we had 24 one-on-ones, 5 multi-opponent matches for Sal, and 3 mini-melees (last man standing).
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Class with Ivan and Josh. Reviewed head and temple cuts and blocks, then instructed Josh on wrist and torso cuts and blocks, then covered Standing Iai 1.
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Workout with Sal.
Four cycles;
– Lunge with medicine ball lateral twist (10 each leg)
– Unstable decline pushups (10+)
– Divider hop (30sec)
– Gecko crawl (10lbs weights, 10+ ft forward, then backward) -
Workout with Sal.
Four cycles through:
– Bulgarian squat (25lbs)
– Pullups (10/8/8/8)
– Line-crossing punches (shifting between right and left stance while punching – 30 sec)
– Rollercrunchs (30 sec) -
Class with Sal, Chris and Charlie. Joe called out ill. Stretch, followed by a focus session on Jumping Tiger 1, including a discussion on the advanced wrapping technique and its benefits and pitfalls. Requirements once through (myself with Charlie), then a change of partners and repeat of 10 practiced moves (myself with Chris). After a break, we rotated through each partner for Refined Strikes, then did sanbon (three-attack parry with counter) with the attacker making any high attack, and finished with some specific attack patterns that the defender had to work with and find an appropriate response to (Mantis, Illusion/Double-Chop, and leg/leg/head/decap).
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Class with Hiroko. 50 cuts to warm up, then kneeling iai 5 and 8, followed by standing iai 5 and 6. We finished with some fast response drills, starting with going over the WCoS offensive-defense practiced moves Defense Cut and Tradition, then doing the equivalent of the Shotokan sanbon kumite where an attacker makes three attacks (we kept it to head or either temple), and the defender counter attacks on or after the third attack, the point being to work on our timing and experimenting with offensive-defense technique as well as timed straight offense combined with evasion.
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Class with Sal and Chris. I reviewed their requirements with each of them individually, then after a break they had 25 matches between the two of them (I only marshaled due to a healing injury).
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Class with Ivan and Josh. Instructed Josh on kendo stance, head and temple strikes and blocks. Ivan and I went through Cutting Pattern 1 and 2 after Josh left.
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Class with Ivan. 100 cuts, focus session on standing iai 1 – 5.
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Workout with Sal.
4 cycles, 30 sec per station, switching off:
– hip pop squats (25lbs)
– burpee (two pushups, four punches, two kicks off same leg (alternating leg each repeat))
– divider hop
– reverse crunch (hands on sliders) -
Workout with Sal.
4 cycles:
– unstable squats with medicine ball (~9 each side, varied each cycle)
– unstable decline pushups (10)
– jump rope (30 sec)
– plank sliders (30 sec) -
Class with Sal, Chris and Charlie. Requirements twice through (I worked with Chris, then Charlie). During the break, I set up balance 1 and 2, which we went through for a while, then rotated partners for Refined Strikes and finished with my new variable partner Parry drill.
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Workout with Sal:
Cycle 4X:
Unstable decline pushup
Pullups
Unstable dips
Seal walk -
Training with Sal.
5 minute warm up, then alternating exercise turns, 4 cycles of:
– Lunge with medicine ball lat torque (10 each leg)
– burpee: 2 pushups, 4 punches (30 sec)
– plank slider (30 sec)
– jump rope (30 sec) -
Class with Sal, Chris and Joe. Stretch and once through requirements (Sal/Chris and Joe/me). Break to armor up, then 53 one-on-one matches using a best of 5 format (three ai uchi forcing tie breakers).
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Class with Hiroko and Ivan. Ivan and I did 100 cuts to warm up, then Hiroko joined us and we went through one step techniques 1 – 7.
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Workout with Sal.
30 seconds each exercise, 30 second rest, cycled through 4 times:
– Lateral lunge with 10lbs weight
– Pushup/Pullup burpee
– Slider crunch/oblique crunches/pike
– Divider hop (9″ bench, one foot on, one off – jumping from left to right) -
First workout with Sal. Four reps; Hip-pop squats (25lbs), horizontal pullups (x/12/12/x), bulgarian squats (10/leg), decline pushups (12/10/10/x)
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Class with Sal, Chris and Charlie. Stretch and requirements twice through. After a break, we did some awareness/reaction training with a small circle tossing a ball, first allowing to focus on each other, then just using peripheral as we focused on the center of the circle. Next we did several rounds of Refined Strikes with multiple partners and I ended with the multi-opponent parry drill (defender/attacker/watcher), which half way through I introduced a new twist where the watcher can attack either the current attacker or defender by calling out their name, so that the order changes up and theres another level of awareness added.
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Class with Ivan. 100 cuts, Refined Strikes (a targeting, control and movement drill), then one step techniques 1 – 3.
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Class with Sal, Chris and Charlie (Chris and Charlie were late). Requirements once through, a break during which we got into armor, and then 47 one on one matches between Sal, Chris and I using a “Best of 3” format for circle ownership (two ai-uchis, Charlie logged due to personal injury).
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Special workshop with Curt Wvong, an SKA Yodan. We had most of the Redding SKA dojo regulars plus some from Chico, and one of Curt’s San Jose students. The training focused largely on gyaku tsuki (reverse punch), and how to apply it for a variety of ranges, stances, and targets. Some key lessons that I learned were to keep the hands and forearms targeted toward the opponent, rather then in a more contracted defensive position. Creating a target and making it available to your opponent so that they “have to attack”, and then using that to pre-emptively attack or to counter attack significantly improves your effectiveness. If you spend all your time with a tight defense, your opponent will attempt any number of attacks to try to find a hole, but if you intentionally create a hole, you know where they are going to attack. Another item was being able to attack from any stance. He quoted Musashi regarding how your fighting stance should be your everyday stance, and vice versa, or in other words, you should not need a special stance for a specific kind of attack, you should train to make the attack from any stance in order to be the most prepared and effective.
Some of the drills we did pointed out how to effectively apply the defensive position reached at the end of tetsui uke, how just standing in that position can deflect an incoming oi tsuki, and how to use timing and positioning to deflect an incoming jodan mai te or gyaku tsuki with your own. -
Class with Sal and Chris (late). It had snowed, leaving a centimeter or so on the ground and it was still quite cold and with a couple intermittent spates of rain. Quick stretch and requirements with Sal, then worked with Chris on cutting patterns, several moves and kata ich. After a break, we did my new rotational parry both directions, then tried it with daggers and finally had several rounds of unarmored dagger sparring.
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No one else showed up for class, so I practiced my cuts and blocks on my own a bit and experimented with a couple combinations. Also tried out my new kendogi.
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Class led by Hiroko. 200 kibidachi dips. Focus drills on good hip movement. Katas Heian Shodan and Heian Sandan.