Adult Karate Class Report 12-16-13 Sensei Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 12-16-13

Angus Reid leading, five other students attending

The temperature was extremely cold Monday night, and that might have contributed to the small class size. Nevertheless, the six of us had fun and trained well, although I had to rein in some of my demonstration plans due to straining my back shoveling snow over the weekend. I don't know how it is for other people, but I definitely incur more injuries doing mundane things like that or sleeping funny than from training. 

Warmed up with a few rounds of partner shadow-sparring, then circled up and went through an active-stretching sequence. Worked on kicks to body shields and focus pads, first single kicks, then multiple off-center kicks, trying to train the technique of using internal body tension to vector power through a kick and to the ground even when a moving target has compromised the ideal alignment. We then went back to the sparring situation to practice this in a dynamic, moving environment. 

We went through katas, and the four upper rank students took turns helping the two beginners with their rank forms and working on weapon forms. 

We spent the last 15 minutes on trapping hands, freestyle self-defense, and unfriendly handshake practice for those who knew it, and went a few minutes overtime for a final cool-down stretch. 

It's great to be training in the studio with enthusiastic people even in the dead of winter. 

Modern Arnis Class Notes 12.16.2013

(Luke, Scott, Jack, Colleen, Hanah, Max, Phil)

Basic Warm up

Warmed up some more with locking series.

paired up to work on 12 angles of attack. Depending on level, worked basic angles with control, follow through and ballente.

Stick sinawali and rendonda work

Empty hand sinawali translations


Nice mix of experience in the room.

-Phil

A re-post from Harvard Health Publications on balance's body and brain connection!

Body and brain are crucial to good balance

One thing is for certain: Balance can’t be taken for granted past a certain age; it must be maintained — both in mind and body.

If you’ve ever seen a friend or family member fall and suffer a major fracture, you know it’s serious business. It seems obvious that general physical fitness and targeted exercises can improve balance and prevent falls. But you might be surprised to learn that staying mentally active to maintain cognitive fitness also plays a big role.

A sharp mind helps you to think — and stay — on your feet.

“We need careful planning of our movements, decision making, reaction time, and attention,” says Brad Manor, Ph.D., an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Mobility and Falls Program, Hebrew SeniorLife of Boston. “Staying mentally active is very important to avoiding falls.”

How do we keep our balance? The inner ear, which senses head motions, is an important part of the intricate system of balance. So is the body’s somatosensory system, which relays the feeling of the ground beneath your feet. And, of course, vision tips you off to obstacles around you. The brain takes in all this information, plans our movements, and carries them out. “Balance is a complex system,” Manor says. “Especially as we get older, cognition becomes a big part of it.” Keeping the mind fit keeps us mentally sharp and helps us to navigate the ever-shifting obstacle course of the world.

Manor and his fellow researchers are studying the balance benefits of tai chi, a form of exercise that involves moving gently through a series of poses. Tai chi improves balance because it works both the mind and body. “Tai chi involves planned movements,” Manor explains. “It emphasizes being aware of the movements and how they feel.” Classes in tai chi and a related exercise system, qigong, are widely available. You could also perform daily “standing balance” exercises. These include repeated moves that involve standing on one leg while gently lifting the other.

Maintaining mental fitness, remaining physically active, and practicing tai chi, qigong, yoga, or some other mind-body exercise can help you keep your balance and avoid stumbling. But if you do lose your balance, recovering requires muscle power. Power is the ability to exert force quickly — the kind of conditioning an experienced ballroom dancer uses to “push off” during quick steps and turns. Rapid, forceful exercises like hopping and side stepping help to build power. For beginners, classes or trainers are valuable to learn how to exercise for power safely.

You can develop a routine that can help you build better awareness of your body and surroundings, boost your confidence, and tune up your heart and lungs to keep you healthy and independent. To learn how, buy Better Balance: Easy exercises to improve stability and prevent falls, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hope your having a terrific day!

Modern Arnis Class Notes 11.06.2013

(Luke, Phil, Jack, Bob)

Worked in lots of forward figure eight line work and block check counter work. Jack worked a bunch with Bob the block check counters. And worked on the first 5 disarms.

Luke and I worked various entrances of a 1 strike for disarms, throws and strikes. Emphasis on flow, and working up the body from the wrist, fore arm upper arm, torso, neck etc....

-Phil

Modern Arnis Class Notes 11.04.2013

(Jason K, Jack, Hannah, Phil)

Jason and Hannah worked on angles of attack and few other items while I worked with jack on counters to disarms.

Then we spent the rest of the class working reps of striking styles.

-Phil

Adult Karate Class Report 11-4-13 Sensei Angus Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 11-4-13

Angus Reid leading, Ron Milcarek assisting, five other students attending

Had a good class with a nice spectrum of ranks attending (white-yellow-purple-brown-black). I tried to give options in the drills to make it challenging for the advanced students, while still being approachable for those with less than a year of training. Warmed up with the 10, standing kicks, and a few rounds of partner shadow-sparring, then a short stretching session. 

With a partner we did a variation on a kicking exercise I borrowed from Mr. Chaisson, in which the partner holds a stick at about hip level for the kicker to kick over and retract back over, to train the knee raise and swivel-in-place action of the hip as opposed to a rising, swinging arc of a kick. For added difficulty (for skilled kickers), the stick could be brought closer to the hip, forcing a higher knee raise and tighter hip/pelvis swivel. We used the standing bags as a target, and did first the front-leg side kick, then a rear leg crecent-side kick combo, and then the front thrust kick. 

We ran through the katas once together, with the beginners dropping back. I observed Alex's Naihanchi and Cherie's Seisan; both looked good, and I think they'll be quite ready when the opportunity comes to test them. Alex's Naihanchi is pretty good slow- my advice to him was to just keep performing it over and over until it is flowing with power and speed, and then we can give him big corrections on the application of that. Cherie is not quite at 100% confidence on Seisan – still has to stop and think at points what the next move is. There are some moves that she is doing differently enough from me that I think she may have a newer version of the kata than I, so I didn't correct her but just told her to check with Sifu on some of the points to make sure she is practicing them correct. 

With the last 20 minutes we put on gear and did several round of free sparring, and I saw everyone trying to use the crescent-side kick combo we had practiced to the bag. 

Ma Yueh Liang - Wu Style Fast Tai Chi

http://www.youtube.com/v/y1J8u3aYctc?version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&showinfo=1&attribution_tag=zJA_R8ZAvIoACQGM8fIg2w&autohide=1&autoplay=1

Adult Karate Class Report 10-28-13 - Sensei Angus Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 10-28-13

Angus Reid, Colleen Golrick, & Jack Fox leading, four other students attending

Due to a slight exertion injury I wasn't able to perform or demonstrate too much tonight, so Ms. Golrick and Mr. Fox team-taught with me to fill out the class. Thanks to them for taking the lead without any notice! 

We did the basic 10, standing kicks, and some partner shadow-sparring for warm-up, then Colleen lead through a stretching session. Jack then lead us through a self-defense sequence based on the X-block off of trapping hands, with the emphasis on not trying to redirect the incoming power of the strike, but on intercepting it with the X-block to check, and shuffle-pivoting out of the way to counter. 

We spent the remainder of the class on kata, and everyone got a few new steps in their rank form. 

Shibata Sensei dies - He was 92 years old

Below is an announcement that Read Predmore forwarded to me. Condolences to the family and students of Shabata Sensei. I wish I had the honor of meeting him. I was very moved after reading about his background. Thanks Read.

Dear Friends,

I tried to send this sad news the other day, but it didn’t post properly. (My fault…)

This particular announcement (below)came from Buddhadharma.  It includes some background on what Shibata Sensei means to Shambhala.  As a long time student of Sensei’s, it is startling to think that he’s not alive anymore.  He died at home, with his wife, Lady Carolyn Kanjuro, holding his hand.  She said she herself had only a few minutes of forewarning that he was going to die then. He was 92 years old.

His body is lying in state in front of the shrine in the Zenko Iba Kyudo practice hall.  People are sitting with his body 24 hours a day, and Sensei’s is family sleeping near the body at night.  There will be a ceremony at the Iba on Friday morning, followed by a Cremation at Shambhala Mountain Center at noon. 

Please keep him in your heart, powerful and kind warrior that he is.

Susan

Kyudo master Kanjuro Shibata passes away at Boulder dojo

Kanjuro Shibata XX, former Bowmaker to the Emperor of Japan and beloved master teacher of Japanese contemplative arts in the West, passed away peacefully yesterday at his main dojo, Zenko Iba, in Boulder, Colorado, where he remains in state. Shibata Sensei, as he was more familiarly known, was 92. He will be remembered as a model of spiritual discipline and a master of form. Our thoughts are with his wife, Carolyn Kanjuro, herself a devoted kyudo student and meditation practitioner, his family, and his many students.

Shibata Sensei was born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1921, into an ancient samurai family. At the age of eight, he began to learnbowmaking and the discipline of Zen archery—kyudo—from his grandfather, the 19th in a hereditary line of masterbowmakers and archers dating back to the 16th century. Drafted into the army at age 20, Shibata Sensei was captured by the Russians in 1945 and spent three years in Soviet internment camps. He returned to Japan in 1948, married, and after his grandfather’s death in 1959 assumed the full title of Kanjuro Shibata XX, with its responsibilities for imperial bowmaking, teaching kyudo, and ritual service. He retained the title until 1994, at which time it was conferred on Shibata Sensei’s son-in-law Nobuhiro Sensei, whom he trained.

Shibata Sensei gradually became concerned with the transformation of kyudo in modern Japan from a meditative discipline to a competitive sport. Thus he eventually separated himself from the mainstream Japanese kyudo association and in 1980 accepted an invitation from the Vidyadhara, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, to teach kyudo and warriorship to his students in Colorado and at his other North American centers. Finding the students eager and receptive to his way of teaching kyudo, Shibata Sensei returned annually until deciding in 1985 to settle permanently in the United States.

Since that time, Shibata Sensei founded and taught at more than 25 kyudojo throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

“The dignity of shooting is the important point,” Shibata Sensei once said. “This is how kyudo differs from the common approach to archery. In kyudo there is no hope. Hope is not the point. The point is that through long and genuine practice your natural dignity as a human being comes out.”

(The material for this obituary was primarily excerpted from Scott Spanbauer’s 1992 article on Shibata Sensei and his interaction with Western students, published in Shambhala Sun as “Walk on the Line of the Present.” You can read an updated and expanded version from 2006, posted online at Elephant Journal here .)

Posted on: October 22, 2013 – 12:58 pm

Modern Arnis Class Notes 10.21.2013

Jack, Colleen, Hannah , Phil

It was great to have Hannah join us. We went over some basic warm up/developmental drills, the 12 attacks, block check counter, single stick single sinawali and a couple minutes of 2 stick single sinawali.

Hannah worked with all three of us on the above basics and I spent some time with Colleen and Jack on disarms, counters, slap off drill and the counts. Colleen and Jack spent a little time on some tapi tapi at the end of class.

Never enough time on Monday, especially when we have a new student with a high capacity for new material.

-Phil

American Karate System Rank Eval

Interview with a Karate Legend: Master T. Okazaki, 10th Dan

Deerfield Beach time lapse sunrise tai chi and bagua

Bagua Zhang on Deefield Beach

 

Bagua Zhang on Deerfield Beach

 

T'ai Chi on the beach

 

Youth and adult Karate classes - Thursday Sept. 26, 2013 - Jack Fox

Great classes today, Colleen organized the kids' class well, we worked on katas, SD, and basics with pads. It was just her and I between classes so we went through staff forms, she watched my bagua knife form, and we finished with a run through the locking series. She wasn't feeling too well at that point so I took over the adult class. Only Steve, Alex, and Lana came but they all showed great focus with the material. After the 10 exercises we did basic blocks and vertical punches from a horse stance. We then went to the bar to dynamically stretch the legs followed by snap kicks with focus pads. After a water break I showed them some SD basics, starting with elbows and knees to the air and working up to using the techniques on body shields. We then worked on katas, I got Lana a bit farther with Nihanchi and we finished with SD focused bag work followed by static stretching. Overall a solid class and I was especially glad to observe Steve helping Alex out with the techniques we did to target while I worked with Lana. 

Adult Karate Class Report - Monday - 9/23/13 - Sensei Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 9/23/13

Angus Reid leading, Ron Milcarek assisting, five other students attending

Class was smaller than the previous week, but a good group and a perfect mix of three white/yellow belts and three black/brown. Warmed up with shadow sparring before stretching both on the ground and at the bar, doing a side-kick stretch with our foot on the bar (or on a body shield or two on the bar) looking for perfect body alignment rather than height, trying to create a single vertical plane with the body and both supporting and kicking legs (no piking!). 

In pairs we worked on throwing and defending against side- and roundhouse-kicks, with the defender scooping or passing the kick, throwing the attacker off-balance and into a disadvantageous position. 

Worked on the basic knife disarms, with the upper ranks going into a freestyle SD/knife defense. Put on gear for freesparring for the last fifteen minutes, then finished with a cool-down stretch

Adult Karate Class Report 9-16-13 Angus Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 9-16-13

Angus Reid leading, Ron Milcarek & Jeff Chaisson assisting, 8 other students attending

Had a great class with a large turnout- 11 people in the room, with great energy. We warmed up with shadow boxing/sparring, including crescent and spinning crescent kicks, then lined up and did the 10, interspersed with block/kick/punch basics, and finishing with the block-double punch-kick-punch combination out of Seisan kata. Several lines down the room of combination kicks followed, with attention given to keeping the knee from dropping between kicks, and proper raising and chambering of the leg for side and thrust kicks. 

In pairs we worked on the X-block-parry-punch drill that was familiar to half of us from the recent staff gathering. The senior students who knew the drill worked with beginners and lower ranks, and everyone seemed to get something from it, whether it was learning the basic movement or refining its efficiency. Mr.'s Milcarek & Chaisson gave good corrections and input on this. Lastly, we rolled out the mats and had two groups working on rolls. Beginners worked on getting one good side/alignment as a basis, and those who had a good roll already worked on their less confident side or alignment, with the goal of stringing all four possible combinations of roll into a single continuous turn down the mats. 

Attack!

 Photo by Angus Reid

Great timing on this action photo Angus!! I really like this image;^)

T'ai Chi Ch'uan Spear training - Cross and Intercept

Photo by Angus Reid

Staff Gathering in Leyden - Sunday 9/15/13 -

Photo by Angus Reid

Bagua Zhang at Redrock Point, Robertston, ME

Staff Gathering - Sunday Sept 15th 9-noon - Pot Luck

Please RSVP Sifu if you haven't already!

Youth Karate class - Wed. Sept 5th - Jack Fox

 I was able to lead most of the class. After the 10 exercises we worked on basics:vertical punches and blocks all from a horse stance. I had them run laps and go through the usual set followed by a break for water and then stretching on the bar with partners. We got focus pads and did rearleg round kicks. I finished the class with pairs working on their SD techniques and it worked very well because the pairs were all at the same or close to the same rank and we had enough staff to assist each one. All of the kids were very tired at the start but I think they still showed great effort. Thursday's classes also went very well, Colleen did a good job in the first class and she showed me the rest of the Bagua Broadsword form between classes. Ron then ran an awesome self defense class, letting me lead dynamic stretching after the 10 exercises. Overall a great couple days at the dojo and I can't wait for class tomorrow.

Adult Karate Class Report Monday 8-19-13 Sensei Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 8-19-13

Angus Reid leading, Ron Milcarek & Jeff Chaisson assisting, 7 other students attending. 

Had a great class full of enthusiastic people on Monday. Started off with the 10 and dynamic stretching, then did an exercise of kicks and kick combos in extreme slow-motion, taking the speed and momentum out of the action of throwing each kick, and using muscle tension and control to perform the movement. This allowed everyone, especially the beginners, to see clearly the actual movement, and I stressed for the more advanced students the importance of having muscular involvement behind each kinetic component of the kick, even the seemingly momentum-based ones such as the closing of the crescent kick across the body, and the turning and dropping of the foot into side-kick position in a crescent-side combo. When we'd done several single kicks and several combinations, we paired up and took turns first just attacking, while the other person figured out how to avoid or defend against such attacks, then turned it into what I called a 'pared-down shadow-sparring', with both people using the attacks we had practiced, trying to use the 1st kick of the combination as a feint or setup, and hit them with the 2nd kick. We spent a while on this, and everyone, even the white and yellow belts, was really getting it. 

We ran through katas once, with the black belts assisting the beginners on their rank forms or on 'preparation' for the next form. I worked with Hannah and she seemed to know Seiunchin smoothly. I'd like to see how it looks when she puts more power and speed into it. 

The last fifteen minutes we did a few passive stretches together, finishing with a forward bend stretch straddling the benches/mats placed about a foot apart, while dangling a medicine ball for more gravity. We held this for four minutes, and some students reported they found it quite intense on the backs of the legs. 

Staff Gathering

Sunday Sept. 15 - Staff Gathering

"Stewardship"

9:00am-Noon 

@ Sifu's house in Leyden (Studio if raining) 

Please RSVP (so that I have a head count)....Thanks!

Modern Arnis Class Notes 08.12.2013

Small Class (Jeff, Jack, Phil)

Short warm-up followup by some review.

Stick and cane forms, empty hand 1-7 with Jack leading, then went through through 8 once with Jack following.

Round robin of the disarms and the counters to the disarms. Round robin of some tap tapi with let to right, right to left, left to left and right to right. We added a little extra brain work by organizing the exit to position for interacting with the 3 person in the round robin.

Round robin of trapping hands with the same multiple engagement awareness.

Fun class.

-Phil

Youth Karate class notes - Thursday 7.18 and Saturday 7.20 - Thomas Perham

So the class that I taught on Wednesday went well. It was hot, 93 degrees in the room, so I took it pretty easy with many water breaks and lots of stretching. We did a few kicking drills and some kata review. On Saturday, I taught both classes as well. Simon was there, which worked out great because it gave me some much needed help. Logan Seaman came for his first class at 9:30, so I went over a lot of basics in the first class while lined up. I did the ten exercises with him and had Simon leading the rest of the class, then I led basics and had Simon stay with Logan to give him some one on one help. After that, we went to doing snap kicks with focus pads, I asked Jasmine to work with Logan during that because I didn't want him to be totally separated from the class and I knew she’d be a good example for him. We ended with some thrust kicks to body shields, explaining the difference between the two kicks. The second class was a little easier, we had a good group of people for sparring, so I organized the class around doing some free sparring at the end of class. After the 10, I had them do some shadow sparring. We took the next section of class for katas. After that, we went to line work, doing several basic combinations for Alex and Gorgi to use. Once everyone was geared up, we did some free sparring in two minute rounds so everyone got to spar with several different people. I took a couple minutes after class to reorganize the bin of sparring gear so everything is paired up and stacked. All three classes went off without any major glitches.

Youth Class - Thursday, July 18, 2013

We had seven younger students, plus Mike at the Thursday Youth class. Started out with the ten, then did a little work with the medicine balls because there was interest in those before class started. First we did the situp passes, then the seiuchin stance tossing. That quickly got very silly, so we had to move on to something else. After a water break we came back and worked on snap kicks while balancing a focus pad on the head. Many of the students were very distractable, but when they concentrated, they were able to get it going. After a quick stretch, we ran through the katas twice each, with people dropping back to work on their own. Once everyone had some practice time and some water, we watched each student perform one of their katas. That went really well - everyone had great concentration and focus while performing.

A message from Sensei Milcarek about the Zimmerman case

There is one important aspect to the Zimmerman case directly relevant to the school. Evidence was given that he trained in a martial arts (MMA) therefore has some predisposition to violence. What a laugh. Do you think that anyone has watched a football game or hockey game recently? That is combat masquerading as "sport". At the last baseball game I saw on TV with a Detroit friend, one pitch got thrown at the head and the accepted reaction from the batter was to spend the rest of the inning marching around in the dug out, spitting, and yelling threats that could easily be lip-read. And the the camera keeps following that. Yeah, America's past time, good for building character.(bunch of guys mostly standing around). Do you think that the parents who send their young kid to get bashed on the pee wee football field would be called violent?? There is better care for safety and injury in most martial arts schools, especially yours, than the average out of shape coach provides in any school or college...then add in the huge money involved in professional sports.

Adult Karate Class Report 7/8/13 - Sensei Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 7-8-13

Angus Reid leading, Ron Milcarek and Colleen Golrick assisting, six other students attending. 

Had a great class with a good mix of all ranks. Warmed up with the 10, standing kicks, dynamic stretching, and the Wallace drill. With three white/yellow belts in the room I wanted to be sure we started with techniques in isolation before adding combinations, so in partners, we did an exercise sequence starting with just a stepping-in roundhouse kick to a focus pad, then adding a follow up hook, cross, jab, or all three, with the upper ranks working on minimizing extraneous movement to hide the approach of the attack, as well as doing it from farther away, with two steps in. Did a similar progression with hook kicks, which were new to the beginners; they did some good work and all made progress, with some excellent tips and assistance from Mr. Milcarek. Finally, we took it a step closer to a sparring scenario by having the padholder move after every attack, forcing the attacker to adjust their distancing and angle before throwing the technique. We then put down the pads and used the same techniques in shadow-sparring. Finished up with static stretching as a group. 

Modern Arnis Class Notes 06.24.2013

Private lesson (Phil & Ron)

87 degrees
40 minutes of trapping
some back and forth knife disarm work.

Small, but high quality. :-)

-Phil

Youth Karate Class notes - Thursday 6/20/13 - Scott

Thursdays youth karate class was medium sized primarily focused on elbows and knees. We began with the 10 exercises which then lead into a few basic core routines. We then used the body shields and practiced knees going around the body to engage more of the core instead of coming straight up. The body shields were then used for elbow strikes starting with heels together and going into a lunge position. With the elbow and the knee we talked about focusing on which part of the body is used for striking. With the knee it was common to see the inside of the knee being used instead of the top of it, and the elbow tended to fold inside instead of hitting with the tip. I emphasized how elbow and knee techniques can be extremely powerful and useful in close combat. Overall the attention of the group was great. I have been noticing that having the adult white belts participate with the youth class has really been an asset to the energy of the room,

Modern Arnis Class Notes 06.10.2013

Private Lesson (Phil, Colleen, Ron)

Worked form 6 a bunch. then reviewed empty hand forms in reverse order with some extra time on 5 and 3.

Ron Joined us for some work on the cane form, and the 2 cane form drill.

Wrapped up with 5 minutes of tapi tapi review.

-Phil

Adult Karate class notes - Monday 6/3/13 - Sensei Ron Milcarek

There were seven of us in total. Great for a nice day in June. We warmed up with shadow boxing moved on to stretching and conditioning. Worked on forms and footwork. Then tried to incorporate that into sparring. Ended the class with avoiding and countering the haymaker punch.

Adult Karate class - Monday 5/20/13 - Sensei Chaisson

Monday's night classes went well.  The arnis class had 5 in attendance including myself.  We started out with some warm ups and twirling while walking in a circle.  We then moved on the the locking series to warm the wrists up further and spent a good deal of time on tappi tappi.  We ended the class with the 6/8/10/12 count drills.  The energy was excellent overall.
 
The karate class had 8 in attendance including myself.  I named the class "the science of the sidekick".  We spent the entire class working on different aspects of the sidekick, after the warm ups and stretching of course.  We started off with using our partner to put pressure on the kick as we extended and retracted and gave feedback back and forth.  We then had our partners hold a stick to kick over, focusing on knee position throughout the kick, the pivot, and how to carry momentum throughout the kick.  From there we went to defensive sidekicks to a body shield, focusing on the correct hip alignment and then tested it with our partners moving in on the kickers while the kickers had to work distancing to stop them.  We moved on to kicking a focus pad.  We used control and retraction at first, but then worked on kicking through the pad and getting the proper energy to penetrate, by making the pad move straight away from the kick.  The energy was good overall, though towards the end of class, it was getting difficult for some not to throw in some of the more fun aspects of the kick, such as shuffling and moving in large distances.  I had purposely tried to stay away from these things so that the focus was more so on the principles of the kick and not the application.  In all fariness though, it is not easy focusing on one technique for an entire class.  Great job by all.

Youth Karate class notes - Saturday 5/25/13 - Thomas

Scott led and I walked around to make corrections when we were lined up. The first class had a good amount of basics with the class in line. After that, it was some footwork for sparring, along with training hands up and combinations. After those drills, we had people do the jab-cross-duck- punch drill, which went really well. During the second class, we went through Scott's abdominal workout, then trained triple kicks. We had the perfect numbers to do the triple kicks to bodyshields. That took a good amount of time, and we finished with about 15 minutes on the defensive position for the haymaker, moving 

on to the mobility throw.

Adult Karate class notes - Monday 5/13/13 - Sensei Milcarek

Scott, Thomas, Angus, Hannah, Colleen, Jack, and Cherie were present. We started with the ten, with stretching and strength mixed in. Next we did some basic foot work/ stance review, especially movement, step versus shuffle. We did basic hands then kicks. Angus did his special brand of leg/pelvis/hip stretching with great explanations. A few times up and down the floor with partners, mixing up kicks for some cardio. After a break we came back and did open hand strikes to bags, elbows to bags then same with care to a partner. I explained why I think the basic hands up guard, or "high guard" or "kick boxing guard" or "modern guard" or "boxing guard", is so good for real self defense. It should not be confused with the hands up "passive position" or what some people call "post position" where we still are trying to avoid or de escalate a bad encounter. Guard up means we think we have gone past that point. Of course it is not the only "fighting position." I mentioned some others, especially from Arnis.  We tried a couple things, one a push from behind, and reacting to go into the guard. These "scenario type" drills, which by their nature are so much looser than technique drills, only work because of the effort, mutual respect, and willingness of participants to try something new. On those things, the crew in class was just outstanding. And Thomas, Scott, Jack and I really amped it up to generate some self defense emotional content. You can only do that dangerous stuff with the best of people, with great attitude, otherwise someone would have been hurt. Lastly I was very impressed with Hannah's ability to hang with us, keep herself solid.

Jack Fox Katas 425.13

Thomas and Jack testing line work

Adult Karate Class Report - Monday 5-6-13 - Sensei Angus Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 5-6-13

Angus Reid leading, Ron Milcarek assisting, 6 other students present

Following up from Jeff's excellent class last Monday in which we reviewed basic strikes focusing on the upper body and front snap kicks, I wanted to continue in that vein, with the emphasis this time on the roundhouse kick. 

We warmed up with the 10 (interspersing reverse punches and blocks), standing kicks, side leg lifts, and a sideways sit-up meant to to strengthen the side of the torso for good kicking posture. 

With partners and focus pads, we drilled various kick combos, with multiple kicks thrown from the same leg, to train tightness and control in the core and side. The beginners did simpler versions of the same drills, keeping it to just a single kick. 

We then put on gear and sparred for 6 rounds, before stretching together to cool down. 

New student Cherie was in class tonight, and she did quite well. Thomas helped her with the punches and blocks at the beginning. She doesn't have her own gear for sparring yet. We introduced her to harmony sparring, for which she wore hand and foot pads from the bin, and I told her to get at least a mouthpiece as soon as she could. 

Saturday Youth Karate classes - 5/4/13 - Thomas Perham

I was in the dojo today and with some help from Jack, taught the classes without any problems. First class started with some basics intermitted by sets of push-ups, because I noticed many people don't have a good push-up yet. The two new students from last week were in again, and both did really well. We stretched some and then ended with fifteen minutes of SD, I tried to get some of the new yellows a few more techniques, but we only had time for about two new ones. Simon also stepped up to help, he and Scott Grote did a great job working on the sd with the new students. The second class went well also, Sailor was the only yellow belt to stay. After the ten, we did some line work. I had everyone gear up, we did a couple sparring drills then a few rounds of free sparring. After that, we took off the gear and ran through the katas. Overall, both classes were good in my opinion. There was a lot of work between upper and lower ranks. Hannah did a very good job working with Seth, as he can be somewhat difficult to handle.

Modern Arnis and Adult Karate - Monday April 29 - Sensei Jeff Chaisson

Monday night classes went well.  The arnis class only had three plus myself.  We started with a little twirling as a warm up, took a quick run through the stick and empty hand forms and then spent the majority of the class working on tapi tapi.  
     The karate class had seven plus myself.  Cheri came in and was able to participate.  I had her fill out a liability waver, though she said that she would only be able to make Monday nights and not be able to make it to Thursdays.  We started off with the 10 exersises followed by some floor stretches and the wallace roundhouse exercise.  We spent a good deal of time on some basic padwork, mainly backfist and snap kick.  We ended the class running through each form twice.  Once for detail and once at performance speeds.  Angus, Colleen, and myself split our time working with Cheri throughout the class.

Adult Karate - Thursday May 2 - Sensei Ron Milcarek

There were eleven of us for class. After a short warm up with shadow boxing, we did the ten exercises with stretching and conditioning mixed in. Next we moved to the bar for kick up dynamic stretching and tension kicks for form and strength. We did some line work with kicking, then kicking to the pads for power. After a break we ran through all forms, once for detail all together, then independently. Just enough time left for self defense against haymaker punch, and stick/bat attack. Great class. Lots of sweat too.

Adult Karate class notes Monday 4.22.13 - Sensei Milcarek

Review of Monday Karate Class. April 22.

There were eight of us for class. We started with dynamic stretching on the bar, then slow kicking drills. After a shadow boxing warm up, we went through the ten with auxiliary stretching. Three of the four folks were there who are testing on Thursday, so class was structured help them prepare. First with basics, then the class did forms together. Following that I gave opportunity to do forms at presentation level, with the rest of us watching. Went well. We ended with free style defense against attacks called out by Jeff and me. Great energy, everyone got a work out. Looking forward to Thursday.

Modern Arnis Class Notes 04.22.2013

Small high quality class (Phil, Colleen, Jack, Ron)

Quick warm up.

Review of the locking series right and left and the Counter for counter locking series.

Then moved on to sensitivity training with tip inserts.

Partner fed 1 and 2 strikes with right and left sides. Recipient block, insert tip, circle, disarm. Worked accuracy of the block using a controlled strike to the hand.experimented with the affect of different insertion depths.

It took some time for people to get the "feel" of the drill on both sides. eventually we switched over to an empty hand translation. Partner still feeding the same strikes with the sticks, but the receiving side intercepting and disarming empty hand.

Good progress made by all.

-Phil

world tai chi day - Beacon Field - Saturday 4/27 - 10-11am Rain or Shine

Youth Karate - Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Interesting class today. I didn't think anyone was showing up, so I thought I'd just have a practice by myself. Went through my katas and some basics, then Giana showed up. We did a HIIT workout that I had planned for myself - she did pretty well. Then we stretched out a bunch and went through her katas. We ended with some time on the balance boards, testing each others' balance and trying out Exercise #8.

Youth Karate - Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Seven students in class on Tuesday. Started out with the ten, then worked on some padwork: jab/cross, roundhouse, sidekick, thrust kick. Then switched up partners to work on the sparring combination memory drill. After another switch, each group worked on self defense from the list. Circle self defense went much better this week - I think the practice beforehand helped. We ended with a little closed eye balance training.

Youth Karate - Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Six students on Tuesday. After warming up with the ten, we did a little traditional linework, starting with just stepping and punching, then moving on to stepping, blocking, and punching. We then did the partner drill where one person punches while crescent stepping forward, and the other crescent steps backwards while blocking.

Then I thought we would get into some short power drills, starting with the crescent step to punch we had already done, but this time to a pad. After that, I had them shorten it up by punching from a stationary stance, then all the way to the "one inch" punch. We also did a sparring short power drill with forward leg roundhouse, and a self defense short power drill with elbows.

After a water break, we came back for forms and ended with some circle self defense.

Note: Last week it was just Jasmine, Giana and I. We worked a bit on their forms, they performed them, and we did some work on stancework and grounding.

Modern Arnis Class Notes 04.08.2013

Small Class - (Phil, Colleen, Jack, Tim)

Did a short warm up with emphasis on wrist stretching.

Had Jack and Colleen work on sinawalis. (stationary, back and forth footwork, then circling around the dojo)

I worked with Tim on single stick sinawali alternating right and left sides. then we spent some time on two stick single sinawali.

Had jack and Colleen move on to disarms and counters followed by 6-8-10-12 count

I worked with Tim on block check counter, stance work and the first 5 moves of the stick anyo.

Class was over before I knew it.

-Phil

Lion Dance-2011-Twin Cities T'ai Chi Ch'uan

Modern Arnis Class Notes 04.01.2013

Small class/private lesson (Phil, Scott, Tim)

Started with a quick walking warm-up.

With everyone facing the mirror we reviewed the 12 angles of attack with control first, then with flow.

To the mirror we then worked through striking styles.

Last we worked through the striking styles with a partner holding out their stick as a stationary target. Extra emphasis on slow and relaxed in order to work on angles and accuracy.

Great basics review. I can never get enough reps/time in on this material.

Scott did a great job at making observations and sharing them with Tim throughout the two person work.

-Phil

Adult Karate Class Report - Monday 4/1/13 - Sensei Angus Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 4-1-2013

Angus Reid leading, 4 other students attending

It was a small class tonight, but that allowed us to move through things quickly, and we all got a lot of practice in in a lot of areas. 

We warmed up with the 10, interspersing each exercise with reverse punches from horse stance or blocks, inspired by Scott's personal project to perform 10,000 reverse punches. Did standing 5x kicks at 1/2 speed for extension and active flexibility, then roundhouse kicks across the room and crescent/spinning crescent kicks to a pad. 

We did one run through all the katas in reverse order, starting with Sunsu and ending with Naihanchi. 

My goal for the next 30 minutes was to teach a type of roll over a partner's back off of a clothesline grapple. It's more of a demonstration move, an acrobatic flourish that's fun to do in a public demo, but it has a lot of value for its component skills of spatial and weight awareness, body control, and acrobatic safety. We started with just simple weight-sharing exercises, with pairs creating an equilibrium and balance by combining unbalanced shapes. We then moved to a simple 2-person standing back stretch, which easily turns into a roll over one person and back to standing. We spent a while on this section, as I wanted everyone to feel comfortable and in control doing this new movement, and to gain awareness of how they controlled their rate of rotation by how much they tucked. Finally, we moved to the clothesline grapple, and everyone was eventually able to do both parts of the move. 

The last few minutes of class we stretched together. It was great to be in the room training with such a good group. The studio looks better than I've ever seen it, too!

Modern Arnis Class Notes 03.27.2013

Small class, a lot of call outs. Phil, Justin, Thomas, Tim

Short warm up.

Started with some basic tapi tapi enter and exit work. Then worked the "rolling punyo" drill as a build up for actual punyo passing work.   I had Justin and Thomas spend the rest of the class working on punyo entrance tapi tapi techniques.

I spent most of the class working with Tim going back and forth between basic entrance and exit tapi tapi (with Tim just doing the following) and working the 12 angles of attack through block check counter.

Also worked a few minutes with Tim on the first 3 moves of the stick form.

-Phil

Youth Karate - Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Three students on Tuesday. After the ten, we did a few combinations of linework that the students came up with, then a little freestyle. We put on gear and did a 3 minute round of shadowboxing, then 2 minute rounds of sparring with everyone else. We also did 1 minute rounds each of 2-on-1 sparring. After a little stretching, we did a quick obstacle course that included rolls and snap kicks with balancing a focus pad on the head.

A link to Wu Style Tai-Chi from the Ma family

http://youtu.be/D25yhSO65E4

Sailor after her promotion to Yellow belt - photo by Ryan Cohen

Youth Karate - Tuesday, March 13, 2013

Three students with Scott assisting. We did the ten with medicine balls, then did a few drills with them as well. We did the lobbing drill in a circle using Nihanchi stancework, and then the passing drill using heavier weights.

We did a little linework with backfist/turning backfist/cross, jab/cross/thrust kick, and a little freestyle. After stretching, we worked on the rope bobbing and weaving exercise that we did in a recent class. It wasn't as effective as it could have been with this group, so we paired off to work on uppercuts and bobbing with pads and partners. That went much better.

After a little work on kata, we spent the last five minutes doing a quick obstacle course that included some of the things we worked on, like the line bobbing, picking up a heavy medicine ball properly, and thrust kicks.

Modern Arnis Class Notes 03.11.2013

Phil, Luke, Jeff, Scott, Thomas, Colleen, Teryn, Tim

Great group in the room.

After a brief warm up and some single and double stick twirling we reviewed block check counter (high, low, punyo) right and left sides. Moved on to disarms and counters right and left side. Obstruction removal/slap off drill right and left.

Ended with a short burst of punyo passing.

The class time just disappeared.

-Phil

Luke and I talked about building up to a review of some knife/gun SD disarms. later in the month.

Adult Karate class notes - Monday 3/11/13 - Scott

Last night’s class was great. We had Ron, Angus, Colleen, Jeff, Teryn, Thomas, Simon, and Steve. We began with the 10 exercises with 10 vertical punches in between each exercise. I announced that I am going to start fresh with vertical punches and do one hundred a day until I reached the 10,000 mark to finally get an idea of what 10,000 repetitions actually feels like. At this rate I will reach 10,000 on June 19th!! We then did one round through all the kata’s and went into trapping hands while incorporating some joint locking. We did a few rounds of the unfriendly handshake and went into freestyle sparring. We did 3 minute rounds with some rounds using only hands, and another round using our weak side foreword. The energy in the room was perfect. I felt fortunate to be in the room with such wonderful people.

SUNY Potsdam's Kickboxing and MMA Club Harlem Shake

Check it out....very cool and funny too!

Adult Karate Class Report Monday 3-4-13 - Sensei Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 3-4-13
Angus Reid leading, six students attending

Had a good class focused on conditioning and stretching. We warmed up
with the 10, 5x kicks, shuffling roundhouse and one round of Tabata
cardio. We then did an active-flexibility stretch with partners at the
wall, alternating periods of muscle engagement at the top of the
stretch and total relaxation in the new position. We then did floor
stretches with an emphasis on stretching and moving throughout the
range of motion.

To finish off, we worked in pairs and trios on SD, joint locks, and
the unfriendly handshake series. Scott and I worked with the white
belt on the basic locks: backwards throw, bent wrist lock, and center
lock.

Hey everyone! I know this is really random (which is the point of these types of videos), but I thought you would like to see a couple of my classes cutting loose in a typical North Country Friday workout. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQkok_5zqeg

Cheers to all!

Sensei/Sifu Tom

Youth Karate Test 2/28/13

Youth Karate Class Notes - Tuesday March 5 - Jack

Great class today, SBGQ as you would call it with Scott and Colleen as support we had an ideal ratio. After the 10 we did some focus pad work on the backfist, culminating in the drill where the pad-holder drops the pad before the technique lands. Then we moved on to self-defense. I had each of us work with a student on the 5 techniques on the current list. We turned off the lights then practiced taking turns in a gauntlet, followed by a roll on the mat. This went very well and with just a couple minutes left we set up an obstacle course that Tristen, Jasmine, and Jiana each went through twice. Overall I felt glad to get the opportunity to lead a class and impressed at the effort given by everyone involved. I think they all enjoyed the class as well. 

Modern Arnis Class Notes 02.25.2013

Luke led class (former student, 20 years ago, Tim watched class)

Theme for the class was single sinawali.

Single sinawali drills including single stick, double stick, empty hand,  following energy with stick, following energy empty hand with transition to locks.

I worked most of the class with Lance on sinawali basics and coordination.

Great material Luke.

-Phil

Adult Karate Class Report 2-25-13 - Sensei Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 2-25-13
Angus Reid leading, seven students attending

Had an excellent, high-energy class with pretty good attendance for a
Monday. After warming up with the basic 10 and the standing kicks, we
spent 20 minutes on high-intensity interval training using the Tabata
method: 4-minute sets of 8 intervals - 20 seconds active and 10
seconds of rest. I had a CD with the instructions to begin and rest at
the appropriate times, and with partners and pads we each did 2 sets:
first focusing on hand techniques, and next on kicks. The one thing I
hadn't counted on in preparing was that a room full of people hitting
pads sometimes drowns out the spoken cues on the CD; sometimes we
missed the cue to rest and had a solid 50 seconds of intense punching
or kicking.

With our bodies very warm we spent a few minutes in dynamic
stretching, including stretches for wrists and shoulders in
preparation for rolls on the mats.

We started with basic across-the-shoulder combat rolls, and everyone
had these fairly well. I then demonstrated how to do a front roll
using both shoulders, and we worked on that for a bit. Next was
kip-ups, and I would say most of the class made really good progress
on these. The focus here was on lifting from the hips, and not tucking
to pull up the shoulders prematurely. The next step was to join the
two techniques together and kip-up out of a forward roll, which was
more of a future goal for most, as it requires the two techniques to
be strong on their own first.

We finished off with trapping hands and independent stretching.

Youth Karate - Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Three students today and four assisting. After we warmed up with the ten, Sensei led us through some kicking drills and stretching. Then we went through several rounds of free sparring with different partners. The students were able to get some advice from the upper ranks. To finish up, we did a few rounds of two-on-one sparring.

Modern Arnis Class Notes 02.18.2013

(Phil, Luke, Jason, Jeff, Scott, Colleen, Jack, Justice)

Quick warm up with some single and double stick twirling.

Unfriendly handshake locking series right and left side, followed by Rolland Rivera locking series.

Then spent the rest of the class on trapping hands, trapping hands with transition through locks, then trapping with locks to throws to limited ground work.

Worked a bit with Justic on backwards throw, center lock and arm bar. Then moved on with him to review the angels of attack.

Sense Kratz spent additional time with Justice on basic stick work.

Great to be back in the room with such great people.

-Phil

Adult Karate class notes Monday Feb. 11, 2013, Sensei Chaisson

  Monday night classes went well.  We had a new student who joined both the arnis class and the karate class by the name Justice.  He is an acquaintance of Justin Lively.  The arnis class had four students plus Sensei and myself.  Sensei took Justice the first half of the class and worked on basics while I worked with the others on forms and then we swapped duties half way through.  The karate class had six students.  We spent the majority of the class working on basics.  Vertical punch, low/middle/high blocks, back-fist, jab/cross, snap kick, thrust kick.  We ended working in pairs on rank forms.  Justice had a chance to work with each of the black belts in the room.

Happy Chinese New Year to all - Welcome to the Year of the (black water) Snake!

Copied from Sifu Ken Cohens Blog: http://kenneth-cohen.blogspot.com/


"February 10, 2013 is the first day of the Water Snake (Gui Si) year. However, each animal is also associated with an element. Because Snake is Fire, this is a Water Fire year. The first element (water) symbolizes heaven and spirituality. The second element (fire) symbolizes the physical world, especially the environment and economy. Elements may be either in harmony or conflict. For example, water produces wood. If this year were a water wood year, it would be a good omen. However, water and fire are in conflict because water puts out fire. There will be even more polarization this year between the spiritual and the mundane, between, on the one hand, those fighting for social and environmental justice, and, on the other hand, corporate and governmental powers. Markets and plans will all be unstable, not a good year to take risks, but a good year to move slowly, methodically, and carefully towards your goals. Sometimes water and fire are a dynamic polarity: complementary rather than conflicting opposites. But I do not sense that this is the case for 2013.

The elements of the year also effect health. In Chinese medicine, water rules the kidneys; fire rules the heart. The kidneys are adversely affected by a quick pace of life and by stress. Nurture the kidneys by slowing down; mitigate the effects of stress by practicing Tai Chi (taiji quan) and qigong. The heart is damaged by excess (lack of moderation, especially in the emotional realm). Heal the heart by finding mental and emotional equilibrium. Practice peace.

The snake is intuitive, energetic, and-- no surprise-- close to the earth. Among the animals, the snake is the major Chinese symbol of qi, life energy. A great year for wilderness retreats and qigong as well as other yang sheng (life nurturing) activities such as poetry and art". 

Adult Karate class notes - Monday 2/4/13 - Sensei Reid

Adult Karate Class Report 2-4-2013
Angus Reid leading, Sensei Kratz, Colleen Golrick &, Scott Miner
assisting, four other students attending.

Had a good class with much support from other black belts in the room,
assisting in helping the new student Steven with his basic techniques.

Warmed up with the 10, standing kicks, endless pushup, and shuffling
roundhouse kicks. For technique, we worked on a series of strike
combos to focus pads and body shields, working on building and
controlling torque from the core on hook and roundhouse kicks,
harnessing gravity while maintaining leg control on an axe-kick /
front snap kick combo, and controlling body line on a hook punch /
backfist combo.

We then geared up and spent 15 minutes sparring in pairs. Steven was
restricted to  slow harmony sparring due to his lack of mouthpiece and
cup; I told him he should get those asap. The last ten minutes we
stretched together, doing static, passive stretches.

Thanks for all the help from the other black belts.