It has been a while since I’ve blogged about lessons from class so here are three concepts we’ve been working on lately.
1. Hit hard and fast. We have been throwing a lot of punches in warm-ups lately. We always work on technique, but these exercises have emphasized speed. With good technique comes great power, but when it comes to striking, it’s important to arrive first.
2. With the junior belts, we’ve spent a lot of time pulling them forward by their belts. You want to develop that feeling of leading with the hips, and driving your center forward first.
3. The intermediate belts have worked on transitioning between stances, primarily in driving your energy forward with the goju-exchange shifting from horse stance to front leaning stance and conversely pulling it back in the shift from front leaning stance back to horse stance. For an adult of average height, this simple shift transfers your body weight forward and back by almost 10” adding substantial power to all of your techniques.
Further, the intermediate belts have been working on the “tiny wind-up” in the long combos, incorporating the subtle movement from ma hanmi no kamae to yaya hanmi no kamae and back to deliver the greater power that comes from a deeper chamber.