2011 Workout #5: Kangeiko, Day 3…

Today was another crowded Kangeiko morning. I began my driving duties this morning, we arrived around 15 minutes early, which is just about perfect.

Class got off to the normal start of warmups, this is the point in the week where things begin aching or tightening up entirely on their own.  Basics consisted of a front hand jab, stepping back into kibadachi to perform a downward block, then turning one’s feet in place to set up for a rear leg front kick followed by another jab.  The usual 15 minutes solid of marching up the floor in groups doing this led us to partner training.  Today’s combination was an interesting one.  The attacking side would lunge punch, the defending side would step back in back stance and perform a rising punch (a la Empi).  Then they would step forward and perform a rising backfist strike followed by reverse punch.

The rising backfist strike is interesting.  Sensei Yaguchi went through a lengthy explanation of the path of the technique.  “If you can, attack with elbow!” he said, performing a standard across-body chest level elbow strike.  He continued “If that not work, strike up under their chin, make head go back.  Not across!” and then he demonstrated this on Sensei Tarrant.  After trying this with several different partners, I have come to one conclusion: it’s hard to unlearn how to execute a backfist strike.

Finally, it was kata time.  Today’s kata was Kanku Dai, and we did a medium speed kata working on technique.  Then for the second time through, Sensei Yaguchi exclaimed “15 seconds! Do kata, train your body for speed and timing!”  So we did.  I got off to a good start, trying to stay relaxed.  When I made the turn right before the dropping technique, Sensei Yaguchi was standing there watching me.  “10 second!” he informed the class.  I was way ahead of the pack.  As I came back around for the double kick at the end, I noticed that Sensei was still watching me.  At the end, he nodded and made no corrections.  My friend Paul said he had watched me pretty much the entire kata, and that I finished a fair margin before everyone else in my group.  That made me feel pretty good, especially that he had no corrections to make in that instance!

More tomorrow!