Kiu Two clinic

SK and I went to my (non-MA) gym today and spent two hours on Kiu Two and Tiger drills. Then I repaid him for the lesson by buying him lunch.

Tiger drills probably lasted 30 min- maybe not even that long- and yet my knees are in agony. I'm glad we did them *after* working on Kiu Two. Note for the future... don't start the lesson with these, if you want to get other stuff done.

I also was disappointed that they didn't come back as swiftly as I expected. They were pretty rough. Yeah, I've neglected them for too long, but I did practice them a LOT up until summer. I'm glad I got this refresher before we start our Tiger/Crane semester shortly.

I have wonderful detailed notes on all of the Tiger drills (the ones from SK's class and also the ones from CC), but I was vexed to not be able to find the file. My housemate did an "upgrade" (ahem) on my computer while I was out of town in June, and now I can't access the majority of my own files. Some of the ones I *can* access appear to be earlier versions- they are missing stuff, and the formatting is all fubar'ed. Shoulda stuck to the paper notebook. I'll have to do some more digging around... I hope that stuff is not lost for good.

Kiu Two:

Don't do the Peter Rabbit bouncing-up-on-the-toes routine on the strikes. Keep heels on the floor and head one one level.

Extend the strikes fully. (Yes, I'm still reminding myself of this, because I'm STILL not doing it right)

Part A:

At the beginning, at the cover and draw back (right before the wrap)- the Snakes are at a sharper angle, not as extended as I have been making them. This is a defensive position.

On the first kick to the knee, turn the hips sideways.

Sweep.... After the little hop back, SK had me set my foot down closer to my support foot. This really made a dramatic difference- in fact it may be the key to getting this thing whipped into shape. It made it much easier to keep my balance throughout the spin, because my weight was better centered above the foot. The momentum was also easier to keep going.

Note- aim for the opponent's FRONT leg.

I didn't get to work it as much as I wanted it to, because my knees started hurting too much.

The pak sau/axe hand strike at the end- lots of twisty wrist movement, but very little arm movement above the wrist.

Part B:

The defensive leg circle swings outward, but not as much as I have been swinging it. Bring the knee up more through the middle.

Kick- the hips are also facing the side in this one. Make sure to target the back knee. Make it snappy, and then do not let the knee bend going into the spin. As the kick is extended, let the toe of the support foot turn back. This will make the spin much easier.

After this spin- this is another place where the Snakes should not be extended quite as much. Draw them in more.

Snake strike sequence: Make sure the nonstriking hand is still in front, in Snake formation, like a regular Snake gaurd.

The last part of Section B:

After the bong sau strike, the left hand comes up and over in a crossways bridge-crashing, striking with the little-finger side of the heel of that hand. Right hand chambers.

Crossways press block with the right hand. Left chambers.

Left crossways Snake strike, waist level. Right chambers.

Pull hands back to right hip, weight on right foot, cat stance. Regular Snake closing, just like part A.

Note for both closings... After feet are together at the end, do an extra arm circle inward, end palms down.

After working on both sides for a really long time, we worked it together. SK kept stopping to ask if he was hurting me too much by bashing me with his splint, but I was more worried about him getting carried away and putting too much power into his techniques... he's off work because he is supposed to be RESTING his broken wrist, not abusing it even more than he would be if he was moving furniture at work!

I had to make a lot of adjustments the first several times through to make sure I was at a proper distance... many times I found myself out of range, especially as SK does not need to be in so close due to his much longer limbs. For the kick sequence in particular, I had to make an extra little hop inward to have any hope of reaching his knee.

I also have to pay close attention to not pre-empt the opponent.

The end sequence- once we got it smoothed out- was OFF THE HOOK. A flurry of complex Snakey strikes back and forth, really fast, and correlated perfectly. It was so cool, and much fun. We just kept going faster and faster!

Tiger drills.... I'm going to search some more for the files with my notes, and if I can't find them, I'll try to recreate descriptions of the six that we worked on today.

The one with the side kick: It's okay to strart bringing the leg back *before* planting the hands on the ground. This solves the persistant problem I was having in the past, with both of the possible hand positions creating problems for getting that leg back smoothly.

The one with the reap- don't circle the leg around so much, bring it more up through the center.

The one with the twisty takedown: Take a wider stance with the scissor stance; if you don't put your leg back far enough at that point, you will have to readjust while you're trying to complete the turn.

The one with the elbow strikes and hammer fist- that first elbow strike comes from right under your chin and hits with the end of the elbow.

For all- don't get so focussed on your primary
striking hand that you forget to keep gripping the opponent's wrist and holding it OUT where you want it.


Later......................


Monday night gi class at Cindy's. Lamont forgot his gi AGAIN... and several of those other guys don't even own gi's... so there were only about three of us gi'ed up. As soon as I saw that we weren't doing techniques involving the lapels or sleeves, I shucked my gi top.

Escape from scarf. Grip the opponent's shoulder (I always forget that). Press his face to make him look away. Walk hips out, throw distal leg over opponent's head and press down/back. Sometimes you don't even have to use that leg; if he's going down, just go with it.

After we'd drilled that, we worked on some arm attacks from scarf.

Assuming you have opponent's right arm across your lap:

Grab the wrist with your left hand and cover the arm with your right leg. Triangle-lock with your left leg. Shoulder lock.

OR: Step over opponent's head with your left leg. Get your foot under his head and tighten everything up to hold him there. You may be able to triangle him. Or- attack his arm. You can keylock or straight-armbar. Also- you can sit on the head and switch to kimura.

This was all a lot for me to remember, but I got in a lot of reps, so I hope some of it sticks. If it sticks, that's a lot of nice options to choose from, and if one doesn't work, I can go to plan B or C or D, which would be nice.

We didn't have much sparring time because the capoeira class follows us at 7:30 on Monday nights. I only got a few minutes with George. He basically just crouched there and let me try to choke him from the back. I remembered to try to get the hooks in first (well, okay, I remembered more often than I forgot), but I wasn't doing too well finishing the chokes. I tried a few guillotines, too, but he kept moving to the side and not letting me get half or full guard to have the leverage to finish it.

(Pic- that's my LEFT arm today, the one that wasn't photographing well before. The bruising has darkened up quite a bit.)