---HKD MADNESS!!!--->

<----when in doubt . . . KIHAP!!!--

---Monday, February 27, 2006-------------------------->

Monday Morning Club: Ground Combos
Didn't get to do too much. Did a simple take down into the scarfhold, and practiced getting into and out of this position
When on top: lift hips, spread legs, cinch in, tuck head, and angle pressure diagonally into opponents ribs
When on the bottom: kept persons head up to hook with legs, try to get hips close (or under) partner, get parallel

PE classes - they only have 2 more throws, and then it's pretty much all review from here on out!
When teaching beginners to throw, I'm not sure if it's more important for them to just drill and drill to get the right body mechanics, or to let that slide and let them focus on the basic concepts themselves. Generally, I prefer drilling the mechanics, b/c even if they only get half of the technique right (like when kicking), they can still do it (such as not turning the hip, or being on the ball of the foot). But when doing throws, if they can't do at least half of the movements right, they might not be able to execute the throw at all.
But within just 10-15 min, everyone got better just from practicing, so it seems that's the most important part, no matter what i told them in the beginning, as long as they got to do it a bunch of times, they generally improved on their own

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 5:21 PM [+]

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Groundwork and Pressure points
Worked on basic guard play
two techniques to get out:
1) scissor - get partners weight forward and onto one shin, sweep low with other leg
opponent - sit back, spread legs to prevent sweep
2) arm bar - grab arm, same side leg rolls over head (against same size/smaller people);if bigger, not such a good idea

Pressure points - practice practical applications
1) When in guard
a) under ribs (VAN:vein, artery, nerves), use palm to find, then thumb to dig in
b) inside hips (femoral artery/nerve) with elbows. can put hands under ribs or on belt and get both legs at once (spread elbows out once in contact)

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 10:08 PM [+]

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Wed morning club: Kick Defense

Defense against roundhouse - thick about distance, if closing in, need to close in fast, ideally with y-block -> reap. Distance more important than block from what I've seen

PE classes - taught more wrist techniques. I need to remember to give them more opportunities to roll and tumble. I believe we'll start teaching hip throw next week.

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 12:37 PM [+]

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Monday morning Club class: small group, just 5 of us, which worked out well
Did some footwork drills to warm up
Bagwork rounds
And combos with pads and targets, which recieved the most positive feedback

PE classes have pretty much learned most the curriculum now. All that remains is some formal blocks, two throws, and then converting their techniques into 16-step.
So maybe in a couple of weeks (not even halfway thru the semester!) i can go over style and refine everything.

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 10:36 AM [+]

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Sunday Sparring Class: 4th round
No strikes to the head..but we still need to focus on BLOCKING the head. I see too many people asking for concussions.

I went up against Chris P a few times, and he's always fun. I got over the initial fear, and even purposely took his bait when he let me take him down (thankfully, he was nice and didn't kill me, probably because he knew that I didn't have to get into groundwork with him). But I found that combos and feints are a MUST against someone who waits for you. I need to make him react to me. It's still hard to spar, because if i were fighting someone who i didnt' care about, I would use full power on my kicks (especially to the leg). But it's SO MEAN to do that against a sparring partner, i need to rely on other methods.

Chris P also showed some cool throws today. Lilly and I learned more than we taught. One was a reap from a punch defense: Block P on the outside, get arm over opponent and push him onto his rear leg, then reap the front leg and knock him back

The other was a cool sacrifice that I've never seen before. I've arleady forgotten the details, but it's always amazing to watch Chris P in action. He's an encyclopedia of cool locking throws and joint locks.

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 9:09 PM [+]

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Monday morning workouts are a go!

well...at least for me. I'll start going informally, and if we get regular attendance, it will be an official class.
Today I'm writing about the benefit of being humbled by someone. My groundwork and my reaps are atrocious. Of course, the best way to learn is to go against people are who are better than you. Unfortunately, like many others, it just makes me feel crappy about myself. Even as a blackbelt, i still get that feeling. Even though i know that it's helping me, when you just get tossed around like a ragdoll and feel like you have no control, it's embarrassing. So everytime I get paired up with someone like Tim for judo stuff, i get that horrible feeling in my stomach (or Ray on 4th round) that still hasn't gone away even after all these years...ugh...and the only way i can get rid of it is to practice until I'm no longer the ragdoll.

On a side note, I'm considering entereing the UC Open. I need all the motivation I can get to lose weight, and without any Sanshou matches coming up, this will be it. My goal is to register under 140, so hopefully I'll be put in a smaller weight class. Unfortunately, that's about 10 pounds I need to lose....

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 8:55 PM [+]

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Sometimes i feel sorry the students that signed up for yongmudo because i think what we emphasize in the class is different from their expectations. I'd need to double check, but i'm pretty sure that the class is listed as yongmudo/self defense in the schedule of classes. Unfortunately, we rarely focus on practice self-defense for beginners in our class.

So one thing I'm trying to do is to incorporate some basic self-defense and fighting concepts into our warmups. I know it's difficult enough as it is to have the students review all the techniques (falls, kicks, footwork, punching, blocking, rolling, etc) while warming up in 15 min, but i feel teachign the students about distancing and getting them comfortable sparring may just be as important even at this early stage.

PE class: today we introduced wrist techniques. I tried to emphasize the use of the entire body to escape and to move against the hold. They now know two techniques. One more and that's the white belt requirement!

Morning club class: Randy, Mike, and I split up and each taught something.
To the white/yellow i reviewed concepts of the roll. I don't know how good they were last semester, but I was impressed.
Blues - Sacrifice throw. Basic technique, 45 degree angle, where to pull and off-balance, and how to follow thru with a nice finish off
Red/Brown - I was a little unsure how to approach this group because out of all the throws, i feel the least comfortable doing sacrifice (probably from the lack of practice, and the full commitment it takes to execute it). However, I was able to give them suggestions on how and when to use the sacrifice, and also a little on how to counter it.

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 11:44 AM [+]

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I've come to realize certain things over the years from teaching, but always forget to write them down. One of the biggest things I've realized is that you need to teach people differently depending on what stage they're on.

For instance, for me, what I'm always told is that I need to work on is relaxing. Staying loose, etc.
I used to believe that because it was so hard to do that, even for people who've practiced martial arts significantly, that it would be good for beginners to focus on relaxing and staying loose (and not being tense) also.

However, I find that the only real way to be able to focus on being relaxed is to be comfortable with whatever basic movements you are already doing. So it almost does no good for me to tell a beginner to relax when they still need to focus on the simpler movements.

I still scoff heavily at those who say that it doesn't matter if you don't get the actual physical movement right, as long as you get the idea. I just believe that a beginners, an intermediate, and an advanced (or however many different levels there may be) all need to focus on different things and therefor would benefit by focusing on different aspects. This is probably obvious to a lot of you, but i think it's too easy of a habit to base what you teach others on what you yourself are currently concentrating on.

For instance, when it comes to punching, this is what comes off the top of my head on what I would have different levels focus on:

A beginner should focus on the fundamental body movement of the hand and arm
Yellow belt - getting power from the hips and stance
Green belt - smoothening out the punch and getting reach
Blue belt - getting a good snap and speed
Brown belt - finishing the punch and following thru either with defensive position or combos
Red belt - applications of punches and when to use this particular punch

So by telling a beginner to relax, they might not be focusing on the fundamental movements as much, which may be hindering their learning process.
hmm..i had all this thought out in my head earlier, and it made a lot more sense...maybe i'll come back and edit this sometime....

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 10:09 PM [+]

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Dr. Lee showed the students a demo tape of yongin folk doing falls and barrier rolls, which might've have given more encouragement to the students

Rolls are probably the most difficult thing to teach, because everyone has slightly different problems to fix when doing them. And you can't make yourself stop at any point to fix yourselves, you almost have to do it all at once.

Next practice we finally get to work on some wrist techniques. I will probably start them off in pairs and to warm up, they can practice kicking each other with various kicks.

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 2:08 PM [+]

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Friday Morning Workout

Mixed rank, reviewed:

Wrist techniques - taught white belt where to grab opponents hands
- clarified a technique, same side grab, pronate partners wrist until palm faces out to the side, palm stays in plane of forearm, and raise opponents pinky to the sky (dr. ahn and lee both liked this one). to assist, pull back to straighten partners arm to reduce slack
- personally, i prefer to bend the partners elbow, thereby also flexing the wrist, resulting in a lock similar to the motorcycle grip

Ground work entry 1) attack using a major outer reap - same concepts as from standing
2) attack using major inner reap, push with leg and same side arm, roll over into scarfold (hard for me to explain this well without going into extreme detail)

Four corner - just reminded students that it's meant to make them feel dumb

on a side note, my big toe nail finally fell off..kind of gross...
and monday morning classes will start the following monday if approved

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 11:55 AM [+]

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Morning Workout Update: Warmup of (squats/pushups/situps) led by Mike
Workout with Hogus and light sparring
Class needs to focus on the guard, bringing the hands and elbows in

Think about getting people to practice PRACTICAL/USEFUL attacks. too many people throw out punches/kicks that are uselss. reminds me of Dr. Link and how he sometimes just takes my attack cuz he knows they won't hurt.


PE class: only went to 8-9 class, couldn't stay for 9-10

reviewed falls - check
Taught roundhouse kick and side kick. broke it down into a 3 count movement. Students need targets to help emphasize the differences in the kicks
Then taught forward roll. this is maybe at least the 10th time i've taught a group of people, and each time i think i get a little better at explaining the nuisances of a roll. i think the most important part to emphasize is to get the spine straight (via positioning of the feet and hands) and then understanding where to shift the weight (from one side and then completely to the other) while moving forward.

For future classes: change up warm ups, try to always make them practical, drill all good habits in practice


on a sidenote, i recieved really good feedback about starting a monday morning class. also got a good boost to my ego when some students and club members thanked me. that's always nice =)

---> Comments-[ comments.]
posted by ken at 10:25 PM [+]

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