Back to Basics

I always love that the first couple of weeks after a grading are "Back to Basics" weeks. Even though as I progress I don't as desperately need it as I used to, I always find that there are ways to improve upon what I thought I knew. Take this morning, for instance. KJN was all set to review stances, but then noticed that our knife-hand strikes weren't up to snuff. So we spent a good portion of the class reviewing and refining our knife-hand strikes and blocks.

This is great for me because I know I have a tendency to cut my strikes short (or out completely) during part three of Intensity form. When I was watching the demo team Saturday morning I noticed that the younger ones do the same thing. It's the strike after a turn where we're all just kind of blindly putting our hand out there and then bringing it back for the punch. So this morning I was able to review the chambering and striking and practice getting it right.

Chambering for the hand techniques seems to require some part of my brain that doesn't always work when I'm trying to remember where to put my feet and what comes next. I know we have a book on our shelf that goes over all the chambers for everything, but I find until I put it into practice repeatedly, I just can't get it right.

Next time I do my Intensity form (or any form with a strike, reverse punch) I'm hoping that I'll be able to make it a little bit better, thanks to today's Basics lesson!