The warmer weather did not bring out the pax as I had thought it would, but 3 men chose to forgo a few hours of sleep to further the study of the arts. There were also 2 ruckers, @manhands and @brushless, that furthered their commitment to improving themselves by putting on heavy packs and walking around in the gloom. Hats off to them for this extra effort. The odd number of pax this morning left YHC without someone to practice on. @contra was the first to show and appeared relieved to see @motorboat arrive. I had promised training in the manipulation of body parts, which can be uncomfortable to learn and practice.When trying to learn certain techniques it is oftern necessary be the victim of said technique, in order to understand both the move and its' desired effect. Pain is the universal compliance enforcer. Pain typically occurs when we place the body in a position that is beyond the natural limits. And in keeping with one of my favorite quotes "In fighting as in Life" it is difficult to know what the limits are until we exceed them. So we must learn the natural limits of the human body by pushing them to the limits and then beyond. This teaches us two main things, first we learn how much force is required and in which direction this force needs to be applied,,,, and second we get used to handling the body and putting people in minor amounts of pain to desensitize the feeling of compassion in these situations. We do this slowly so we dont cause damage,,, damage in training is "bad",, pain is "good".
The Thang
We started with hand fakes, Fighting is just a series of moves designed to distract, confuse, stun or damage an opponent. Hand fakes hide the true intent of our responses and allow us to more easily defeat the defenses of the attacker.
– Low to high hand fake was practiced in many of its variations. Seems really basic, and it is, but the movement of the body while striking is used in all levels of fighting.
-ridge hand (or passing strike) is one of YHC favorite techniques for moving to the outside when engaged. It is very effective and very powerful, can cause extreme damage so practice with care
When learning to manipulate the body we first learn to escape from basic holds.
Straight wrist grab, cross wrist grab, single lapel, double lapel, double choke
Very simple techniques are required to released the hold which then allows us to be able to apply control and/or damage to the attacker. For each of the basic holds listed above we practiced a few gateway moves,,,, gateway because they lead to a large number of possibilities in the future.
straight wrist grab
– hand release using leveraged pressure, step, palm blow to face
– stun to face, koto to hand (practiced as a throw,, but is truly a breaking technique)
– trap hand, rotate to outside, break elbow
cross wrist grab
– one knuckle atemi to back of hand
– stun to face, koto to hand
– trap hand, osai dori to wrist (@contra enjoyed this one)
single lapel grab
– atemi to top part of forearm (LI 10)
– atemi to lower part of humerous (LI 12)
– atemi to LI 4, remove hand, oasi dori to wrist
Double lapel grab
– double wirst atemi to inside of radius
– one knucke to chest, koto to hand
double choke grab
– one knuckle to sternum
– one arm straight up, turn in, trap hands, elbow face
– slap face, koto to hand
Drills
– Inside Cross over block,biceps devestation, strike face
-Inside cross over block, opposite hand biceps devestation, strike face
– outside block,biceps devestation, strike face
-outside block, opposite hand biceps devestation, strike face
– inside cross over block sidefist ribs, side fist face
– inside cross over block sidefist ribs, vertical fist face
review of automatics
-automatics are a group of strikes or techniques that we will learn to use whenever our hands gain access to certain positions.
– hand on biceps – can opener strike to carotid
– hand on chest – invert hand, one knuckle to carotid
– hand on opposite arm – side fist strike to deaf point
Both @contra and @motorboat are showing improved body mechanics and increased ability to perform the techniques smoothly and effeciently. The amount of time we have to practice is limited but the improvement is clear. Soon their confidence in their new found abilities will translate into smoother and quicker moves. It is YHC hope that more pax will attend in the future. The comradery and fun that is had when men train in this way is not found in many other areas. Those that are competetive will enjoy the tacitcal chess game that occurs once we start sparring practice. Working out to stay in shape is a difficult task when life gets in the way. It has been discovered that those that train to increase their abilities in a sport, activity or event typically have better and longer lasting results from the physical training. It is not a necessity but it gives a reason to the efforts, YHC chose the martial arts as the driving intent behind staying in shape. There are many to chose from and any of the choices may help assist in the goal of staying in shape and being healthy,,,, or as our famed @Manhands states,,, to look better naked.
Thanks once again for allowing me to share was was taught to me, and for listening to my feeble efforts in translating the teachings of the incredible teachers I was fortunate enough to have had in my life..