2005 Workout #104: I’ll take Erbe and Dalcher for the win!

As previously mentioned, I had formulated a class based on the “deep dive” concept that Sensei Brewer had put forth to McCabe-san and Garls-san last night. I took one of my favorite techniques, side thrust kick, and decided to put my own personal slant on it. My end goal was twofold… improve the general quality of the side thrust kicks in Mapleton by breaking the technique down into fundamental movements of the hips and legs that most people can grasp and practice easily. The second goal was to teach them to put these elements together in a more advanced way than just kibadachi up and down the floor.

I wanted to have Erbe-san out in front with me because I wanted to show that my ability to do this kick wasn’t just because “I’m young and flexible” and because of Dave’s extra stature I thought he’d make a really good demonstration of the fact that any body type can do this kick. Plus, he’s a damned fine guy and a good sparring partner too.

I started with a new idea I had for getting the “rolling over of the hip” feeling. The basics of it was to stand up naturally and point one foot forward. The other foot is picked up off the ground and turned at a 45 degree angle. Then, by rolling the hip, the foot is turned into proper side thrust kick foot angle without actually kicking. Essentially, its pick up foot, point the opposite direction, and turn the foot over and tense the leg.

I moved onward to standard practice of chambering the kick but put some extra emphasis on the rolling over action that I was trying to cultivate from the first drill. Then after a bit we did it moving up and down the floor in kibadachi. After quite a bit of that, I wanted to move on and let the class try the kick as I often do from sparring stance.

I set it up with the jab/reverse punch body action. I then built on that by adding just the knee up with the chamber of the kick. We did that down and back enough for most people to get it, and then I turned them loose with the kick. It seems that everyone got something out of the drill, but time ran out before I got the chance to do partner drills. I think everyone had something to think about and I saw a general improvement in their techniques. Plus they got to do something a little new and fun.

In between classes, Sensei had some nice things to say about how my class went. He said that I did a nice job of rephrasing things so people can understand them. That’s probably because I jabber incessantly. 🙂 He also suggested that I should slow down a little bit on my delivery, which is something that I’ve had trouble with since I was in high school speech. I’m a motormouth by nature, things just jumble together once I get going. I appreciated having Dave-san there to interject during the class, he had some nice insights on the differing body types and hip action.

For the second class, Sensei was kind enough to take the leftover sparring drill and do it. It was nice… this was the same drill he had taught me a long time ago in high school that started me on this technique. It is always fun to relive that. We expanded on it and did round kick and back kick as well, I think almost every male in the class caught one in the nads. I know I did, and I was across from Erbe-san. Yowch. We also did all the appropriate Heians and Tekki kata, as well as some basics in sparring stance.

By the time all of this was over, I was TIRED. And my legs HURT. I was glad for class to be over so I could shuffle home and take some Advil. More tomorrow! Banzai!