Tonight marked my first workout since Sensei Quinn returned from Japan. I’m not going to flower it up because there’s a lot of real data to cover, lets just suffice it to say the workout was very hard and I am very tired at present.
Observations:
Sensei Quinn blades his body much, much more than we have traditionally done here. He also pulls his hand back a lot further than I am accustomed on the drawing side. Both of these changes make my reverse punches feel much more substantial.
Sensei Quinn’s rear leg is bent in a fundamentally different way than mine. His bends such that it is more facing down toward the floor, whenever I try to do that my ankles do not permit my heel to remain on the ground. Turning it out works for around three techniques, then I find that my foot has pigeon-toed out at a funny angle and I don’t feel pressure flowing through my heel as it should.
Realizing things like this about my stance has me seriously questioning the integrity of my front stance and also my sparring stance. Adding the extra rotational distance and velocity that the further blading of the shoulders really seems to emphasize whatever flaws exist in my stance.
Thankfully, I only ended up across from Sensei Quinn briefly for 3-5 time sparring. I began my attack and he STOOD THERE. Just STOOD THERE. I interpret this to mean two things: he’s masochistic like
Also, to further support the “my stance is somehow wrong” theory, he attempted to sweep me three times. It was unsuccessful, meaning that I was able to remain on my feet, but he did break my balance and then punch me in the neck all the same.
I wanted to talk to him a little after class to find out what his thoughts were re: the sparring, but he was busy catching up with Sensei Brewer so I will have to ask next time.
In all, amazing night of karate. I am already that special kind of sore that says I found a few long neglected muscles. I have many things to think about, and for the first time I don’t have to hurry up and ask them because he’s not going away this time. I would be lying if I said there wasn’t several times that I felt as if I was starting completely from scratch, but I suppose there will be a lot of that as we see these old concepts in a new light.
That means we’re in for one hell of a… well… lifetime.
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