Was in Florida all last week so missed two classes.

Focused on DM’s while in street fighting position (shuffling feet, maybe in a side horse position, hands on guard, etc.) and the Sensei would call out a DM and then adjust to the body position to pull off the DM. Then we did some basic boxing techniques using different combination’s with some footwork. Then we partnered up to do the DM drills. One drill was being turned around with the attacker grabbing the shoulder and then trying to pull off a DM without getting hit.

Instead of partnering up, we did group of 4-5 while doing line drills. The workout seems more intense doing this in a group than 1:1. It was mainly doing stepping stools with a spinning reverse back kick. Near the end of the class, we did something that really isn’t practical or useful (Sensei’s words) and it was doing a running stepping stool into the person doing the pad. Run 15 feet and then time the precise second to enact the stepping stool and release a strong kick into the pad. I did an hour private before the class.

Had a cold the previous Monday and attended a HS graduation on Wednesday, June 3. Tonight’s class was centered around footwork, crossovers, front leans and integrating partial or full sweeps into the footwork to keep the opponent off balance.

Week ago Wednesday I was traveling back from Phoenix and couldn’t attend class. This past Monday was Memorial Day and too many activities going on to attend class too.

Tonight was the first time in 5 years where I skipped the formal training group class and just did a private lesson for 60 minutes.
The sensei had me review my newest black belt material and he pointed out in detail that I was extending my strikes far enough when doing circle of the tiger. I also got some brush ups on Northern and DM #22. Learned an new DM #25.

Been a week now since the day of the class to write this blog entry so the class details may be a a little fuzzy. We paired up to do some parry blocking that ended up with the hand doing the blocking to actually hook the persons arm so you can grab and control their body for a counter-punch.. It worked pretty good once I got the flow of it. That’s all I remember.

Did my private before the 7pm class doing kempo 25, circle and northern.

Tonight’s class was sort of a review night and on some skills needed to adapt to some real street situations. We partnered up to do our top 10 DM’s while the person would throw a left and right punch. The DM had to be executed while avoiding the first punch. Then we went to a monkey in the middle exercise to do the same top 10 DM’s but with the intent that two people are trying to attack you.

Then the same exercise was repeated again while doing the top 10 kempo’s and the attacker is in a side horse throwing a side blade and then a punch. Monkey in the middle was done again but I didn’t get a chance to go because the class was over.

We partnered up to do our DM’s while the attacker is doing multiple punches or kick combos and to be more circular in the counter-attack. The one thing that I found as a weakness is my limited use of different blocks when attempting to block a right or left roundhouse punch (AKA haymaker). I need to work on this. Also I am beginning to notice that when behind the attacker, performing a sweep takes more thought to execute than when facing the person to do a sweep. It’s almost like you have to think in reverse. Need to practice on this too.

The adult karate class lesson theme was footwork and working in multiple hand strikes and kicks. Not practical for the street but it was a good exercise to put together an combination that seemed to help focus on your coordination. The basic drill was doing two consecutive left jabs with a glide step, followed by a right hand (as the lead hand), followed up with a roundhouse and then a reverse spinning hook kick.

I stayed for an hour private after class to work on the little nuances of all the DM’s.

Tonight’s training theme was an assortment of different items. Some required just skill and some required skill and a lot of endurance.

After warm-ups, we partnered up to do some “sticky hands” training but it was a little different this time where the exercise progressed into actual attack patterns while being partnered up.

One exercise consisted of pure endurance and some minor level skill that was doing 25 crescent/reverse crescent repetitions. Total of 50 on the right and 50 on the left. By the time you got to the 10th kick or so, you started feeling dizzy and then a few reps later, you started to get winded and real sloppy by the 25th rep.

We did this type of exercise three times.

Tonight’s karate training class was outside in a side parking lot. The weather was nice with no winds. I paired up with another black belt and we did some basic plum tree blocking broken down into each block. First we started out slow and then picked up the pace to a faster speed.

Then the Sensei taught the both of us what seemed like an advanced Kempo move but with no number assigned to it. First it started off with a left cat stance while blocking the punch with your hand, come out of the cat with a left roundhouse elbow to the face, then a right roundhouse elbow to the face, while rotating clockwise to the attacker and landing a right elbow to the ribs followed up with a right shuto to the groin.

After class, I stayed for a private lesson that focused on learning a new kempo move (#25)