Last Thursday (30th August 2012) I graded for my
Kenpo Karate orange belt and was successful! I graded with Phil (going for his
brown belt) and Mike (going for his orange belt too).
It’s the 2nd Kenpo grading that I’ve done and I
felt a lot more nervous this time around. I’m not sure why, but there were
quite a few more things which I had to know and work on that it seemed like it
was going to be much harder than I thought.
A quick summary of the items I had to work through:
·Recitation of the Kenpo creed; ·Demo Defence (defence against a set of pre
arranged attacks); ·Push drag footwork theory and demonstration; ·Forearm pad round (demonstrating push drag
footwork); ·Kick shield round; ·Yellow belt master techniques; ·2 x random yellow belt reference techniques; ·Orange belt master techniques; ·2 x chosen orange belt reference techniques; ·4 x 1 minute rounds of sparring; ·Master Technique Scenario (Demonstrating Orange
belt masters techniques) ·Defence scenario
Overall, the main
feedback that I received was that my technique was sharp and concise, but my
sparring could definitely use some work.
The most
significant feedback that I received was that I tend to drop my hands and that
I look too low when I’m sparring.Therefore, I tend to get hit a fair bit after I’ve thrown a kick or
something.
Also got a few more
items to cover, will do so in later posts!
Starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of things a bit better, switching hips, moving position and developing a bit more of a strategy. I've been working a lot more on position than anything else and I think that if I tend to focus more on that than getting a submission, it actually makes the game a lot more fun.
Anyways, a couple of things that we worked on recently include passing half guard position from the top (that is, one of your legs is trapped between their legs).
Half guard pass 1 - You get the underhook
Seek the opposite underhook and post your head on the other side of their head so you have a stronger base. Work your trapped foot up towards their butt so your hips are raised (like a tripod) and once your knee is through, switch your hips so that your knee hits the floor. Keep your hips low and close to theirs and transition through to side control. Keeping your hips low is really good at stopping them from inserting their knee back in to regain the half guard or the guard. Keeping the hips close to them as well is much more effective than trying to keep your knee near their hips.
Half guard pass 2 - You get the underhook
Similar to the above, instead of creating a tripod, set up like before, underhook and head on opposite side and step to the side with your free leg. This creates a better angle to move your knee up past their thighs and pass the half guard.
Half guard pass 3 - You can't get the underhook
If you can't get the underhook, control their head by catching it with the original underhooking arm and push your shoulder into their neck/jaw and proceed to pass the guard like the first half guard pass described.
Half guard pass 4 - They have the underhook
If they get the underhook from below, control their head like above and instead of following through like in the first guard pass, step your free leg back and over their body to the opposite side of their body. From there, keep your butt to the floor and hip escape up towards their head to shift your trapped leg higher. Keep the free leg a bit bent to make sure they can't sweep you either way. From there, you can also use your free leg to push their leg and free your trapped leg. Shift into side control.
Half guard pass 5 - Neither of you can get the underhook
If you can't get the underhook, an option is to reach down and grab their belt on their opposite side. So if your right leg is stuck, using your left hand, grab their belt on their left side with your elbow in their arm pit. Sink your weight down on your butt and work your leg free and move into side control.
Hip bump sweep Another thing I've been really working on and getting is my hip bump sweep. I'm actually really surprised how well it works and I seem to get a lot of people with it really easily. I find that when they're breaking my guard, if I sit up and cross reach over their opposite shoulder, grab their arm or just tuck it close to my body and hip bump, I can get the sweep a majority of the time. I think I've been pretty lazy with my guard so being active and getting these sweeps is really encouraging, especially as I don't seem to be able to hit the scissor sweep too often.I need to tell myself constantly that not having them in my closed guard is fine and playing an open guard is a lot more dynamic and fun, regardless of if they pass.But definitely been hitting this sweep, at least 5 times tonight!
Breaking out of Guard
I've been finding this is starting to get easier, as long as I have proper grips on their gi, their sleeve and my elbows are in the right place. Putting my hand under their leg isn't so much of an issue, as long as my arm is controlling their other leg. Still a lot to work on here though.
Kenpo wise, I should be going for my grading on the 30th August. Need to work a lot on some of the reference techniques and come up with theories of push drag, 60 second functional fitness exercises as well as memorise the creed. So much to do!
So yesterday I went along for the no gi BJJ class. Man, no gi wrestling is hard! You lose alot of the easier to get anchor points (collar, sleeve, pants) and end up being alot more limited in the submissions you can go for (alot more slip, hard to find holds). Well, it feels like that anyways, I sure had to tap out alot!
I did get to try a few new different moves and was successful in executing a scissor sweep, side control sweep and learnt a few different submissions (gogoplata and omaplata from rubber guard). It was fun just experimenting as we couldn't go full bore sparring for an hour so we worked techniques and taught each other new things.
Anyways, after BJJ, I also did the Kenpo class which always makes me think a bit more about my technique. The Kenpo feels much more technical (though BJJ isn't exactly easy) and makes you reconsider concepts that you thought you had down pat.
One thing that we worked on yesterday was a technique called Gripping Talon. The video below shows a quick breakdown of the technique.
One of the first moves in the technique is a step forward with the right foot and trap the grabbing hand (with potential finger break). The elbow sinks in the first move so that the elbow point is below the point of the grab and allows you to break the grip very easily. And this is where I started thinking a bit more about the elbow position. Though it doesn't even get a mention in the video, I think the elbow position is a key aspect in alot of ways.
Whether you're a ground specialist, grappler or striker, the position of your elbows in your guard and in each position can dictate what happens next. Generally speaking, it would seem that close to your body tends to work well in most circumstances and gives you the additional grounding/defence/power that you need.
For example, in BJJ, if your arms and elbows are away from your body (usually across your centre line), people are able to capitalise upon this and you usually end up in any number of submissions. Similarly, if you are grappling and in a clinch, the person with their elbows closer generally has a stronger base to pull you close and is much more difficult to break away from. In stand up striking, elbow position close to our body allows us to protect our body from kicks and punches as well as dynamically fire punches. I've been to a few wing chun classes in which they showed me the folly of shifting my elbows even a couple of centimetres out of place. They were able to capitalise on this and could essentially control my arms from the elbow.
Quite often the first reaction that we have to a wrist grab is to pull away from the attacker. However, at this point, our elbow is too far away from our body and we are unlikely to break away. By stepping into the attacker, sinking our elbow below the grab, we are able to weaken the grip, obtain a better angle to break the grab and stabilise our base, all in one motion. The further away the elbow is from the body, the more effort is required to break the grab, we start to utilise our shoulder, triceps and chest muscles to compensate. Its a much more stable scenario than trying to establish our base from where we started off.
Anyways, just some thoughts. I think elbow position isn't given much thought, but is something critical that people take for granted.
In other news, a new video has been released of the last grading that we had in February for a Green belt and Brown belt in our Kenpo class. Just some highlights from the grading below (note, there is metal music playing in the background).
I'm one of the n00b yellow belts. So many problems with my form...need to think more about my guard and where my hands are when I'm sparring. And my posture...arrgghhhh >_<
