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I spent this morning walking up and down the hall, practicing front snap kicks (Ahp Cha Gi). I have gotten very sloppy, so I figured that while nobody was paying attention, I'd practice. I was trying to improve my technique. I can do a kick that is more like a "scoop", but what I need to do is to primarily focus on the technique. A good front snap kick would break down as follows:
1. Raise your knee.
2. Extend your lower leg, with control, ball of the foot leading. Strike the target.
3. With control, retract the leg.
(edited 12/29. I was corrected and I appreciate it. Need that reality check at times!)
When I practice it like this, it makes up for not having a bag to kick. I have a regular pad in one of the closets, but I cannot get my assorted family members to hold it for me so that I can kick it. Ah well. I was SUPPOSED to go to a friend's house today, but that fell through because I didn't hop on the Internet until late and he had plans for the late afternoon. Maybe next week.
Anyway, back to my kicks. I figure that I'm going to work on my kicks this week. I am going to work on the technique, then speed, then power. If I nail the technique, I can pick up the speed and the power. I think I'm going to strive for at least 20 kicks per leg, per day.
Another thing I'm going to do is to start walking at least a mile a day. I should have started it today, but I was lazy and slept in. Hopefully tomorrow. I'm thinking of going to the high school and walking there. Four laps around the track is a mile, so I'm going to aim for that. I may have to start with a half mile and work up to it. We shall see.
Class last night was different. It was a major eye opener to me.
We did warm ups that consisted of hand and foot techniques. We did reverse punches for hands. 30 total...10 for technique, 10 for speed, 10 for power. 30 on each side for a total of 60. I felt it last night in my shoulders because I've been sloppy in my training and have not trained well in my opinion. I was not keeping my elbow tucked down by my side for the punches and kept rolling my shoulder up. Master G had to correct me a number of times. He was watching all of us and making comments about improving our techniques.
We also did kicks for warm up. Again, here's me noticing how sloppy I am in my technique. I feel like I'm just learning all over again. It feels very much like I'm starting over. I read on a blog (Ikigaiway) that black belt is when you start to learn. This is really true for me. It hurt me to not spend a lot of time practicing except for black belt prep classes. Realistically, I think in the three months between leaving USMA and joining BTK as a full time student, I kicked my own butt. I didn't practice in between. It is showing too.
During the kicking drill, Master G reminded me that I needed to turn my hip over when I do side kicks. Amazingly enough, I found that I had more power when I did the kicks correctly. I could hit the target more than I was when I didn't turn my hips over. I know I've heard "turn your hips over" many times. I just didn't put it into practical application. I have to now or else I will NOT move ahead. If I plan on earning my Ee Dan in April (not that I'm seeing it very likely, realistically), I have to kick better, punch better and perform forms MUCH better. I need to learn Bunkai so that I can explain the WHYS of my forms.
The plan for the weekend is to get back into practicing all forms and techniques.
To do this, I need to get the hubby to hold a pad for me (I have one at home, yay!) so that I can practice kicking drills. I'm going to work on power first, then speed.
I figure kicking 10 times on each leg to start, then switching and punching ought to help me a bit.
So...this is how the plan goes:
10 Ap Cha Gi, both right and left
10 Dwi Cha Gi, both right and left, especially as that's a weak kick for me.
10 hook kicks (forgot my Korean), left and right. That's 60 kicks...should take me about 20 minutes tops for that.
I need to review basic forms and will bring the kids out to practice and review with me. I can even teach Tony if he's interested. He probably isn't. It'll be a good excuse for all of us to get outside.
