Tonight we worked on punching and kicking techniques; jabs, crosses, hooks, upper cuts and roundhouse kicks.

We then reviewed yellow belt techniques and inner wrist lock takedowns with all the yellow belt afterthrows.

Small class tonight; one junior and one adult.

After breakfalls, I went over the first 6 strikes in in the open hand strikes kata. we then practiced them against targets. After that, i worked with Grant on inner and outter wrist locks. inner wrist lock with each of the three afterthrows for yellow and then outter wrist lock from a straight punch finishing with an arm bar, S-lock, 2 variations of bent wrist come-a-longs, and sankyo.

Tonight I introduced Grant to the juguluar notch takedown, inner wristlock takedown, and outter wrist lock. From the inner wrist lock, we followed up with all of the afterthrows that I've covered with Grant so far as a review. The outter wrist lock started from a static position and we worked it up to entering from a straight punch. after the lock was applied we transitioned to an arm bar and then to an arm pin (uke is face down).

we finished off with some bear hug and throat grab timing exercises.

More high stress drills tonight. After we worked on some randori-style tai sabaki drills and inner wristlock takedowns with afterthrows.

I worked one-on-one with Colby tonight.

First started out with some skipping and medicine ball drills to loosen up and finished up with breakfalls.

I first reviewed all of the basic wrist grab escapes. From there we went onto some variations to wrist grabs (or hard handshakes). First was from a hard handshake and transitioning into an inner wrist lock takedown. we had worked on this wristlock takedown previously. We worked just the takedown several times to get the footwork down and the hand positioning. After a few tries, I added in some afterthrows: knee drop and stamping kick, jump over/land on elbow, and finishing with the prone armbar. Here I focused on foot positioning across the body for the armbar. Assuming that the armbar is being applied to Uke's right arm, Tori's right leg "should" be over top of uke's torso and hooked over uke's left ribs as much as possible. This gives Tori control over uke's body. If the leg wasn't there, uke can easily roll onto their stomachs from their right side while bringing their feet up towards their head so their body ends up 180 degrees from where they started. by doing this, their arm rotates so the elbow is up, escaping the armbar (of course Tori can then transition into another technique, but that was beyond the scope of class tonight).

We spent the majority of class working on this technique.

In the last 20 minutes, we did two other techniques from a hard handshake: sankyo with the wristlock takedown to the rear followed by an arm pin and strikes, and a type of wristlock takedown to the rear, but it is applied at waist level: tori steps to 45degrees to uke's right side and rotates so that he's standing beside uke facing the same direction. as tori rotates, he brings his right hand down and into the small of his back (back of the hand touching the small of the back) while holding uke's hand. This forces uke's elbow to bend. Tori grabs uke's elbow with his left hand and lifts it upwards as he steps straight back, taking uke onto his heels and then to the ground.

I received my Black Belt College Level 1 Teaching Certificate examination on Wednesday. I'll be completing that in the coming weeks. Sensei Mariedke also managed to negotiate permission to display advertising (signage, pamphlets, etc) at the Leisure Center where the dojo is. This should hopefully get some more people into the dojo to try things out.

I had Colby, Llyle, and Trevor tonight.

First hour I ran through 2 hands on the throat, near and far, from the side and the rear, finishing with a takedown. I then introduced/reviewed the inner wrist lock takedown in preparation for the Arnis knife defense. I also showed an afterthrow control that I particularly like after Tori performs the takedown. Right leg passes over uke's shoulder and steps behind uke's head, pushing the head forward. Tori kneels on left knee. Tori's right arm passes between tori's chest and uke's arm and grabs uke's hand to get it into a gooseneck, bending uke's elbow. Uke's arm should be in a wrist/shoulder lock over uke's head. Tori puts his left hand over his right and scoops uke's hand over the mat while shifting his weight back onto his left foot.

The Arnis knife defense was interesting. We worked on defense from a low lunge, a cross body slash, and an icepick attack. Initial principles are similar to the can-ryu knife defense: palms towards your face and use the bony part of the forearms to block while stepping forward @ 45 degrees. once blocked, the arms rotate inward to allow tori to grab uke's forarm, pulling it in close to tori's body. From here. tori's right hand is grabbing at uke's wrist. Tori positions the bony part of his forearm on the side of the knife's blade and bends uke's wrist in similar to an inner wristlock takedown. Tori then, with his right forearm, pushes through on the knife blade, causing it to come out between uke's thumb and index finger and drop.

Another variation from the same entrance is instead of turning the knife-wielding hand into an inner wristlock takedown, Tori uses his right hand to pass between his chest and uke's arm, under it up the far side and over the top back to his chest. In this motion, the forearm is maintaining contact along the side of the blade and rotates it out of uke's hand and traps it between tori's arm and chest after the disarm is complete. This disarm also works well for a baton disarm.

These are more in the "could know" or "might know" categories of can-ryu. The meat and potatoes of knife defense was covered on Monday and re-emphasized again in Wednesday's class.

I'm looking forward to playing with some of these techniques for baton disarms. Next month!

Tonight was just Trevor and me. We started off with some breakfalls and going over some new takedowns: collar takedown (both grabbing collar and hooking over shoulders as well as pushing knee forward and sweeping at the tibial nerve), inner wrist lock takedowns from the front and side, and jugular notch.

After working on the inner wrist lock takedowns, I started incorporating them into wrist-grab hold escapes as variations. I also showed Trevor a few new afterthrows: shoulder lock and a turnover into the handcuffing position. Later we did another turnover, the "rowing the boat" armbar turn-over using your shin and finishing with an arm pin.

To finish off class we reviewed the hip throw and started on the body drop throw from a hook punch.

Lastly, I played around with some more grappling moves: if Uke is in Tori's guard:
1. uke scoops tori's knee to pass the guard into side control
2. tori counters by a) turning to his side and planting his leg on the ground and trapping uke's hand between the leg and mat or b) Tori allows uke to scoop his knee and uses that lift to pop his knee up onto uke's shoulder and execute a triangle choke.
3. counter to 2a) if uke is scooping tori's right leg with his left arm and gets it trapped, uke will bring his toes up to tori's thigh and put his shin on tori's anterior femoral and come across to put his knee on the mat "stepping over" the leg and has his right hand on the mat around tori's left hip for balance. if uke doesn't leave his toes on the mat and use his foot to lock tori's leg, tori can counter this by grabbing the hand that uke is using for balance and execute an arm lock like we worked on on Monday.

Grappling is like a human chess match. you have to goad and lure your opponent into doing something that you want them to do, but not having them realize that you tricked them into it.

Tonight was my first class back on the mats after contracting a viral throat infection and an ear infection.

It was a small class tonight; I worked one on one with Trevor and Kyle went with the juniors and then joined us when the juniors class was over.

Tonight I worked on inner wrist-lock and outer reap takedowns with Trevor. After he got the hang of the takedowns, I started going over some after-throw controls: shoulder lock, knees on ribs/neck with wrist lock, arm pin, and a prone arm-bar.

This was a great class. I felt energized and Trevor was absorbing everything like a sponge.

I am out of town next week, so I won't be able to get back on the mats until March 10.