More about the trip
This time, we weren't going to a major get-together. Instead, we were just taking the opportunity to visit and work out with the folks at the base school.
We worked with Carla, an instructor at the base school. She targeted a lot of our workout toward customizing self-defense techniques so that they will work more effectively for smaller defenders, since most there were lightweight women (and I suggested the topic). That was on Saturday.
On Friday night, or rather starting around 1 am Sat morning, I also ran Trina and Casey through a session focused on hitting heavy bags. We used 2 bags, both with bases, not hanging. One was low and just a big padded tube shape, so we did a lot of legwork there. The other was a "Bob", which is a punching bag shaped like a person, specifically an angry-looking guy with no arms or legs. We make many jokes about good old Bob. My goal was to get them both to understand how to strike with purpose and intent, penetrate properly, feel the effects on their own knuckles, and, thanks to Bob, fitting the right weapon (kind of strike) to the target (without hurting themselves).
The best base-school trips are the ones where we are going to attend seminars and step-tests. We get to see many more of our fellow kenpoists, both from the base school and other schools. If it's a seminar, we get to learn from the best martial artists out there. Every year we see Richard "Huk" Planas and Zach Whitson at the base school - phenomenal and world-famous martial artists and instructors. Twice a year (unless there's some snag) we go to a step-test, which is a 6 or 7 hour test where we work ourselves past exhaustion reviewing everything in the system in air and on bodies. There is something beautiful about being part of a group where everyone is working well past their own limits. Maybe it's because most of us hit an altered state of consciousness from sheer exhaustion. :) Dragging ourselves out right after to eat and crack jokes is pretty good, too.
-- SGB
We worked with Carla, an instructor at the base school. She targeted a lot of our workout toward customizing self-defense techniques so that they will work more effectively for smaller defenders, since most there were lightweight women (and I suggested the topic). That was on Saturday.
On Friday night, or rather starting around 1 am Sat morning, I also ran Trina and Casey through a session focused on hitting heavy bags. We used 2 bags, both with bases, not hanging. One was low and just a big padded tube shape, so we did a lot of legwork there. The other was a "Bob", which is a punching bag shaped like a person, specifically an angry-looking guy with no arms or legs. We make many jokes about good old Bob. My goal was to get them both to understand how to strike with purpose and intent, penetrate properly, feel the effects on their own knuckles, and, thanks to Bob, fitting the right weapon (kind of strike) to the target (without hurting themselves).
The best base-school trips are the ones where we are going to attend seminars and step-tests. We get to see many more of our fellow kenpoists, both from the base school and other schools. If it's a seminar, we get to learn from the best martial artists out there. Every year we see Richard "Huk" Planas and Zach Whitson at the base school - phenomenal and world-famous martial artists and instructors. Twice a year (unless there's some snag) we go to a step-test, which is a 6 or 7 hour test where we work ourselves past exhaustion reviewing everything in the system in air and on bodies. There is something beautiful about being part of a group where everyone is working well past their own limits. Maybe it's because most of us hit an altered state of consciousness from sheer exhaustion. :) Dragging ourselves out right after to eat and crack jokes is pretty good, too.
-- SGB
posted by Scott Bonner at 11:29 AM
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