Bouncing Crane

131.0….. ladies and gentlemen, we have passed the halfway point! Next month I will be seeing my 120’s again. JM told me today that the 7.5 fewer pounds “really shows”.

Conditioning boot camp. It was just me and JM, and one of her housemates. He gets discouraged because he can’t keep up with us MA-ists… he usually does about 1 third of the easier part of the workout… today he didn’t last very long at all.

Since it was just JM (tae kwon do background) and me (dance background), there were many kick exercises today. Spinning kicks, flying kicks, leg-sweeps, combos- some travelling, some more focused on fine targeting.

At one point, JM was collapsed spread-eagled on her back while we waited for her to catch her breath (this would be after the “exploding” clapping pushups- agh)… I finally called over, “You better get up, or I’m going to come over there and put you in side control!” Some random passerby did a double-take, and asked me if I trained at Gracie Barra Seattle with Rodrigo.

After we punched and kicked trees for a while, CN showed us a Wing Chun sequence. I got the first part fine- ton sau with palm-heel at rib level, weight shift to cat stance and then shovel kick. However, the second part stymied me- shift weight again, hands trade levels and go into Black Crane parry/strike combo. The way the arms were circling made absolutely no logical or kinesthetic sense (which is typical for Black Crane, if you ask me). It took me a long, long time to catch on. Finally JM suggested that I think of the right arm as BOUNCING off the opponent’s arm and then circling back in and under from that. InsecureDefensiveJealousResentful Beastie grunted from somewhere behind my gallbladder; I ignored it and tried her suggestion- oh, NOW it all makes sense. At least the right arm does, which means I can autopilot that arm and focus on forcing the left arm to submit to my will. I thanked her gratefully- twice. Hey look, I have the maturity level of an adult today.