Results 1 to 10 of 925

Thread: Martial arts discussion thread

Threaded View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #11
    Join Date
    27th Dec 2007
    Location
    Sydney NSW
    Posts
    37,637

    Default

    So had my second GKR lesson today - really sore and tired atm cos I put in 110% effort again, and Sensei made us do "hard and fast" drills - and also when I was practising kata, I forced myself to go hard and fast on it after practising it a few times slowly first.

    I arrived early, so before class started I started warming up and practising the Taikyoku Shodan kata on my own. Other students rolled in and were just standing around chatting. I forgot to bring my membership card for Sensei to tick (d'oh!). That's something new I need to get used to.

    Started off doing punching and blocking drills, this time in 3 to 5 move combos. What got confusing for me was when Sensei started yelling out the names of these moves in her "Senseinese." I wish she'd just say them in English. (o_O) During some of these drills, students from orange belt and above were doing certain hand moves with open hands, but I was told to keep my fists clenched at all times. Sensei told me that white belts aren't allowed to use open hand techniques because they're considered too dangerous. That's interesting, because in Tai Chi (and other internal Kung Fu styles like Bagua etc.) open hand strikes are considered less dangerous than closed fist strikes. But what I find a bit odd is that I'm expected to keep my hands in closed fists at all times, whereas previously I've been taught to only clench my fist at the moment of impact during a punch -- otherwise I'm to keep my hand relaxed "neutral" guard that is neither fully opened or closed - kinda like this. <shrug>

    We also did some more stance practise, this time I was taught the Nekodachi (Cat Stance), Kibadachi (Riding Horse Stance), Sanchindachi (Sanchin (aka "Three Wars") stance) and sumo stance. Sensei then spoke about the importance of stances and how we should be standing in a way where if someone pushed us, we wouldn't fall over - but she didn't know how to verbally describe it in further detail than that (although I could tell she wanted to). She did walk around and push the more experienced students in their Lower Dantian - a green belt moved when she did it, and she said that it shouldn't happen. She pushed the other students who stood firm except one brown belt who was moved. So most of the more senior students were firmly standing in their stances.

    Then the class was divided -- all students from blue belt and above did Kumite, and the rest of us did Kata. So we had student segregation... beginners with beginners, more experienced students with more experienced students -- no mixing... I hope not every lesson is like this, because as I've said before, I think the best way to learn is to train with someone who's _better_ than yourself... and I'm not going to do that if I'm only going to relegated to other junior belts all the time.

    So yeah, the rest of the evening was just kata practise for me, which was beneficial because I got to iron out some mistakes I'd been making during my private practise at home. I was watching the other belts do their kumite - there were students from blue to brown belt. All of them were fighting at "noob" long distance range (i.e. punch/kick range). Not once did I see anyone move into intermediate mid-range (e.g. elbowing, punching, clinching etc) or advanced close-in body range. Not even the brown belts. And they were all punching and kicking at their opponents' hands and feet -- nobody seemed to be targeting the head or body or legs or groin etc. (o_O) If someone were to punch or kick in front of me, I don't think I'd even bother trying to defend against that (what's the point? It's not going to make contact unless I stick my hand or leg out there to get hit). At no point did anyone try to close the gap. It looked like what someone once described to me as "tit-for-tat fighting." I'd love to see these guys go up against anyone who is capable of fighting at mid range or closer. Or anyone with even rudimentary grappling/wrestling skills.

    And they all spent a LONG time sparring with each other without any decisive result, especially one brown belt who kept on going and going and going and going and going... it was painful to watch. Whatever happened to Karate's famous motto of 一撃必殺 (ichigeki hissatsu: "one hit one kill")? (o_O) Real fights start and end in a matter of seconds... spending even an entire minute or longer in a single "match" against an opponent seems much too long.

    So yeah -- another lesson of complete non contact. But on the whole I did enjoy this lesson more than last week's. Got to do faster moves, combos, more stance work -- great to hear Sensei talk about the important traditional concepts of being "anchored" in one's stance. I came home really puffed out, sweating and sore all over from all my repeated kata practise!

    But boy... I'm dying for some contact! (bad enough my previous Tai Chi school was also complete non-contact too!) *sigh* If it's gonna continue to be complete non-contact, then I might as well bring my strap-on wrist and ankle weights and train with them on... that's what I did during all my Yang Tai Chi lessons. If I'm not going to make contact with anyone, then I might as well chuck in some weight training with my drills and kata stuff.
    Last edited by GoktimusPrime; 21st April 2012 at 12:24 AM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •