Self defense – 3/26/10 – Friday Karate class
Sensei Brien ended this session with some self defense drills today.
Simple blocks for close encounters…
We started with some simple, face to face blocks as if an attacker is standing right in front of us. Our partner tries to grab our collar, from there, we do an open hand, double arm outward block. Next, our partner attacks the same way but we side step and do a knife hand block.
For the next drill, our partner attacked the same way but we were able to counter attack. For the counter attacks, we could use moves from our kata’s. For example, one of my favorites is doing the double outward block and then doing a dropping back fist, from Heian Yondan, to the nose and face. Another move is doing the side step, grabbing the attackers arm and doing a sideways hammer fist the ribs.
Non-lethal self defense, if done correctly…
We worked on a series of attacks. One really nasty attack was putting two fingers in soft spot between the neck and chest and pulling down. This does not feel good and the feeling stayed with me for a while after Sensei did it to me. Another attack was grabbing the skin on the upper lip right below the nose and squeezing. An alternate to the move was grabbing the lower lip and squeezing with a similar result.
One of the most interesting movements was really simple. The attacker grabs our collar and we step in and gently slap their face many times to disorient them. When my partner did this to me, I couldn’t do anything until it was too late. He was able to disorient me enough to step behind and move in for a throw. It worked the same way with him and I was able to throw a attack before he could see it coming. That simple moves buys you at least a few seconds to attack or run away.
It was some really neat stuff and simple enough for almost anyone to learn.
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Just survive – 9/5/08 – Thursday Karate class
Sensei Cieplik is back and shared and excellent class with us tonight.
Roundhouse kick with downward motion…
We did our normal warm ups and then started working on some kicking drills. Sensei had us bring our leg up to belt level, or as close as we could get to it and then throw the kick with a downward motion toward the knee. The reason behind this was to get the hip turned over near the end of the movement.
Sensei also explained, which I am sure he mentioned in the past, that a roundhouse kick is an extended sideways knee strike. Thinking about striking a target with a sideways knee strike puts the roundhouse in a different perspective for me. If I focus on the knee strike, the extension of my lower leg seems to just fly out without much thought.
With the body…
Next came some blocking and punching drills. Sensei had us do a front stance and he explained that our front foot should be turned in a few degrees and never turned to the outside.
We worked on moving forward with various blocks and punches but instead of finishing our front stance, he had us do the block while in a cat stance and then throw the punch after springing from the back leg. The spring from the back leg really added a lot of power to the reverse punch. It also forced us to use our entire body when executing the reverse punch.
He also mentioned that the reverse punch is the “correct” punch. When we walk, our hands and feet are opposite. For example, left foot forward and right hand behind, then right foot forward and left hand behind. Sensei made the comment about our moving forward in a front stance with a front punch and if we can learn to do that with some proficiency, we should be able to Karate since our bodies are not neurologically designed to move same side hand and foot at the same time.
When doing the downward block, both arms need to come close together and the blocking hand needs to speed up at the bottom to break an arm grab. The idea is to do the block fast but add and extra boost right at the end of the movement when your blocking hand passes your draw hand wrist.
Zanshin…
After you are done with your fight, kata or basic, as you stand up into the yoi position, bring your weapons “hands” together in front of you and remain conscious of what it happening around you even though your battle is over..
In Karate of the past, when the attackers eyes are closed and he or she on the ground, not breathing, the battle is over.
Sport fighting has one winner but in self defense there is one survivor,
Kata, before class…
I was off to one side working on the first move of Bassai Dai before class and Sensei came over to correct me. When doing the first move, he said that the movement is similar to breaking through a cinderblock wall with an eight pound sledge hammer. The motion is to bring my hands UP from my side and pushing the hips forward and the hands somewhat downward. He said that my ending hand position should be a refelction of my core. I did the move half a dozen times and Sensei said that I was close to what what it should be but I know that really need to work on it a lot more.
Excellent class.
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