35 passes on a three target gambit. Extended focus session on flow and my new move, Blood Fountain.
Also, two sword dances:
— Amaranthe, “Strong”
— SKÁLD, “Rún”
Tag: steel
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150 full circle cuts, then spent time on precision targeting against one of my targets. Ended up constructing a sequence I’m currently dubbing “Blood Fountain”. It is a three cut flow sequence, opening with a feint high (face-ish) to draw the guard (either starting in left stance or stepping into left with the feint), then swings into a rising femoral (right stance), rising brachial on the return (left stance), and finishes with a carotid (right stance). Each cut is accompanied with a cross step stance shift to engage and incorporate lateral movement. It should work really well for a one hander, especially with a small shield, but should be good as a two hander, too. These should be fast, slashing cuts against these soft targets, there is no need to cleave.
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35 Gambit passes (three target grouping), 150 continuous full circle cuts. Continued working on movement and speed with moves such as The Samurai and Phantom. Small bit of flow work, chaining a succession of Practiced Moves together non-stop. All with my newest steel.
The recent new sword is very nice but has a point of balance (POB) about 3.75″ from the guard. My old sword has a POB at 1.5″. The relative difference in handling is sufficient that I decided to see what was available and there happened to be one sword left with a 1.5″ POB and all the other same dimensions, so I picked it up. This means I now have a “battle blade” with a nimble disposition and I will sharpen the other. All are BKS Slayers of the same dimensions, just varied guards and pommels.
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35 passes on a three target (multi-strike) Gambit
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Class with Bryce. Stretch and requirements for both of us full through. Focus sessions on Dragons Tail and Jumping Tiger 2. After the break, we worked out a couple ad hoc sequences each, followed by continuous full circle cutting (me 150, him 100), and finished with three more times through Kata Ich.
All steel for me, and I joined him on one handed for the dragons tail and sequence building.
My two sequences were:
Right defensive stance, cross step left neck cut, right advanced neck block, drop blade horizontal and torso draw, cross stepping through to the left.
Right defensive stance, I Move, cross step torso thrust, cross step low thrust (between legs / beside opponents forward right leg, with an opportunity top drop your right shoulder into opponent at same time to unbalance them), shuffle back with draw up and right across femoral, cross stepping back with a descending left-to-right clearing slash to disengage.
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35 passes on a three target gambit. Spent a good while working on Initiated Response moves (Whispering Wind, Jumping Tiger 1 & 2, Mantis, Double Chop) and variations on them, experimenting with altered targets, cut types, and foot work. Also spent a little time on Straight Offense, and on chaining multiple practiced moves in a fluid non-stop attack.
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my requirements, 150 continuous full circle cuts (recorded for review), worked a bit on distance accuracy with three of my steel swords (new, old, and the one I won for performance in Best of the Best), sword danced to Type O Negative’s “My Girlfriends Girlfriend” (meant to do “Cinnamon Girl” but misclicked and just went with it).
I have discontinued the official “Open Dojo” after discussing with my only active student as there is no reason to hold it if he cannot or chooses not to take advantage of it, hence today and future Tuesdays are simply solo training.
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Gambit 35 passes, 150 continuous full circle cuts, and spent focus time on The Shadow and variants of it, plus misc other bits. All steel.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch and once through his requirements. Focus sessions on Kata Ich and on The Illusion. After a break, gambit against a grouping of three targets (I did 35 passes), followed by Balance 1 & 2 in the form of; walking forward and backward on the flattened and full round cabers with no sword, then standing on two edgewise bricks will cutting against a target, then standing on two endwise bricks cutting against the target, and finally advancing on the cabers into range and standing on the full round while cutting against a target. We wrapped up with continuous full circle cutting, 100 for him and 150 for myself. As usual, all steel for me.
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35 passes on a four target gambit. Took some time to work with sword and dagger, examining Needle as I understand it and experimenting with combined block-and-counter movements. Returned again to The Samurai some more.
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Solo practice. Requirements full through, some focus for a bit on Kata San, then spent a while working on Akira with variations on foot work. 150 continuous full circle cuts. All primary steel.
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35 gambit passes on four target dummies, then continued spending time on combat movement, reviewing Dragons Bite, The Samurai, and Phantom. Finished with some additional free form advanced cutting against a single target dummy, working on soft target precision. All primary steel.
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150 continuous full circle cuts with my primary steel hand-and-a-half
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150 continuous full circle cuts with my steel
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Class with Bryce and Jesse B (guesting). Stretch and then paired them for requirements while I went through mine solo and observed them. Focus session on The Illusion. After a break, I had three stations of two targets each, and we went through a number of rounds of Gambit (3 sets of 10, myself, as we rotated). I then reorganized the six targets into a Gauntlet Gambit where we did several or more passes through it (definitely more than 5, though I forgot to count exactly how many). We finished with Balance 1 & 2. All steel for me.
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Set up a four target zigzag gambit and went through it 35 times. Spent a while on movement by working on The Samurai, Phantom, and a bit of Kill the Tiger. Reviewed my Cutting Pattern 4 more, as well as some Cutting Pattern 3. Finished with once through Kata San.
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Solo training, stretch and my Silver Chain requirements. Focus on my Cutting Pattern 4, evaluating if there are any adjustments I should make to it (ultimately, I determined no changes at this time). Also spent time on Cutting Pattern 3, double checking the footwork. 150 continuous Full Circle Cuts. Also reviewed my other moves: Dragon’s Bite, Kodiak (one-hander), and Hidden Phantom (sword-and-shield, a variation on my move Phantom that I first noted several years ago during Arata’s Farm combat). Everything performed with steel, as usual.
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150 Full Circle Cuts with steel
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Solo training because Bryce called out ill. Stretch, my Silver Chain requirements, some focus on Cutting Pattern 3, 100 Full Circle Cuts, and some Refined Strikes against one of the targets. All steel.
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Solo training (open dojo, technically). I took a little time first to prep the dojo space for my impending start of training contract this coming weekend, then went through my requirements, spent some time on the cutting patterns and katas, did 100 Full Circle Cuts, and finished with 10 passes on a three-dummy gambit (minimum of four strikes). Steel for everything.
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Solo training (Bryce called out). Stretch, my requirements, focus on cutting patterns 3 & 4, 100 Full Circle Cuts. Focused on slower movement to examine quality and precision. All steel.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch and once through Bryce’s requirements. Focus sessions on The Illusion and Jumping Tiger 1 & 2. After a break, we worked on multi-opponent gambit passes for a bit with two targets at 30 — 45 degrees, then going through the middle of four staggered targets. Finished with 100 Full Circle Cuts. Used my steel throughout.
Rakta Nadi has let me know he will be unable to attend for a while due to work.