Training Diary - May 2009

[Grime]

Tuesday 26th May 6pm to 8pm.

After an extended warm up and stretch which included some hilarious attempts to carry out Steve sensei's instructions to do sit ups and push ups in groups of four forming a square (for which we gave a very convincing impression of a group of highly incompetent acrobats trying to make human pyramids) we spent the remainder of the session working on advanced sambon kumite.

This form of the kumite requires all three levels to be performed in a row. The attacks start out as they normally do but with other techniques included. The first attack in sambon is jodan oi tsuki and so it is here too. The attacker then continues with chudan gyaku tsuki. The defence in sambon one is age uke which counters the jodan oi tsuki. The chudan gyaku tsuki from the attacker in this form is countered by the defender with gedan berai with the same hand. This is the key to this exercise: most defensive techniques are done with the one hand. The defender then counter attacks with mawashi empi. So the attacker steps forward gedan berai when sensei calls "prepare". The defender steps back and prepares for age uke. The attacker steps forward jodan oi tsuki, chudan gyaku tsuki. The defender blocks age uke, blocks gedan berai with the same hand and then counter attacks mawashi empi with the opposite hand.

The defender steps back and prepares for the next level - soto uke in this case. The attacker steps forward and attacks chudan oi tsuki, jodan gyaku tsuki. The defender blocks soto uke, age uke with the same arm and then counter attackers tsuki to the chest with the same arm and then age empi with the opposite hand.

The defender steps back and prepares for a mae geri attack - gedan berai, that is. The attacker steps forward and kicks chudan mae geri, oi tsuki chudan, gyaku tsuki jodan. The defender blocks the kick with gedan berai, blocks the chudan oi tsuki with the same hand otoshi uke, blocks the jodan gyaku tsuki with the same hand gawan uke, and then counter attacks with mawashi tsuki with the same hand and gyaku tsuki with the opposite hand. The roles are then swapped and the exercise continues in the reverse direction.

Well, this is it in theory and apart from the higher ranks the result was ordinary. Steve sensei pointed out that this advanced training didn't look very advanced when we did it. We were preoccupied with what comes next and failed to do even half way convincing attacks. This needs more work, sensei said. Osu, we replied, realising the truth of the matter. As you would expect with sambon kumite, the exercise can be done beginning on the opposite side but we didn't get that far.

After class, I sat with Steve sensei and said how much I enjoyed the class. I said doing this kind of training makes you less concerned about which side you are doing as the sides are always reversing. He agreed, and said he thinks it's a very important style of training to do.