2006 Workout #5: The Hartman Hangdown…

Tonights workout, in short, was an asskicker.

The drills we did tonight were demented. Front stance with rear knee down, we popped our body up from the ground, gradually rising to a full front stance for technique. We did the following: lunge punch, reverse punch front kick, side thrust kick, round kick, front leg front kick then round kick. All ten times on either side.

The second class was fraught with new drills, such as one where your partner (in my case ) laid on the ground between your legs and hung most of their weight off of your belt while you tried (in vain) to punch ten times on each side. We did some other partner drills where rooted stances == better blocking and countering. We finished off the night by exploring body action in 3-5 time attack, trying to get intent and power out of both hands and feet. I was only able to muster about two punches that were worth anything all night… I need to be able to project that murderous intent that makes people get out of the way. Speed only frightens people for the first few times they see it. After that, you need power and speed. To quote Scotty: “I’ve gotta get me more power, Cap’n!”

This is the kind of training that reminds me of days past. At the time of this writing, my legs are still intact with the exception of the part of my knees that I was balancing on. They are sore and bruised already, no telling what they’ll be like tomorrow. I was pretty proud of my performance during the knee-down techniques, however they were hard.

My body will pay for this over the next two days, but I did it. All of it. And I’m proud of it.

My Dad should be more proud though… he lived through two days of this shijyu year training.