Monday night was rank-requirement-mania! We covered everything that will be on the upcoming green belt demo.
First we covered kouchigari. Of the four throws required for green, I think I'm most comfortable with this one.
Ouchigari was next. We looked at 2 different entries. A "normal" one (to my thinking) and a "stepping-around-the-corner" version. We explored it a little in terms of it being an otoshi motion or a guruma motion, depending on the timing. When I was being thrown with ouchi, there was a feeling of my step continuing and evolving seamlessly into the throw. We played with how to throw with that feeling as tori. We also talked about it not being a hand technique. I threw a couple of good feeling reps with virtually no hand involvement. It was a neat feeling. During our ouchi work, we also talked about the center of balance of the "two-person structure" made up of tori and uke, and looked at how "Arbitrary steps" can affect that center and cause off-balance.
Next we worked on ogoshi. I really need to work on getting my hips lower and feet closer together, as I've said before. I just feel so darned unstable when I try to! We talked about trying to get a combination of correct form (low hips, close feet, etc), timing, and getting uke to step the right way. Enough to occupy my judo education for years to come, I'm sure.
The last throw we worked on was seoinage. This time we did it as sort of the same throw as ogoshi, but using your bicep as the fulcrum rather than your hip.
We worked on lots of groundwork stuff too. We reviewed hadakajime (Rear Naked Choke) and talked about a few variations in hand placement and the scooping motion Stephan Kesting talks about in his instruction about it. We reviewed the meat grinder entry to the choke as well.
We looked at the "envelope" exercise focusing on kesagatame and munegatame, and the wakigatame and udegarami combo sequence. We played a little with the kimura (from guard) and how setting up a kimura also sets up a hip-bump sweep if he resists the kimura too much. That's a fun combo.
Lastly, we went through several reps of the hold-down cycle. I think I'm finally beginning to internalize the order of things for this cycle. I feel like I'm improving here. Pat mentioned that I'm a lot heavier then I was 3 months ago. He didn't mean I seem to have gained weight, but that my ability to apply pressure on bottom-guy is improving. He said I'm not holding myself off of him as much as I used to. That probably comes not only from practice, but getting more comfortable with grappling in general.
It was a really great lesson. I had lots of fun, felt a bit of improvement in some areas, and got to work sequentially through the material. What more could I ask for?
Regarding feeling darned unstable in the entry to the hip throw. This is something I ought to blog on.
ReplyDeleteIt's not bad that you feel unstable. You can use your own instability to throw uke. The problem is at this level and in the demonstration form of the throw, you want to remain standing, so the instability is uncomfortable.
this will resolve pretty soon with a little more practice - you'll become more stable. But in application, as in shiai, the question is sorta mute, because you'll throw the guy and fall with him.