Last night's lesson

[Garth Barnard]

Wow!! :o What a fantastic lesson we had last night! :)

I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. The lesson was a bit rushed as we had a lot to fit in, but the end result (pressure testing what was taught) was superb.
It was great to see everyone giving it their all, especially those who are new to training!

I'm sooooo sore this morning and I'm covered in bruises, goodness knows how Martin is feeling! ;D

Over the next few weeks we'll be turning our attentions to the sport side of training with pad work and sparring & Free-fighting, and also working on general fitness and stamna, which I know everyone loves.

Take care, all,

Garth.

[wrath]

Glad to hear you're aching

Once again, the pressure test was great fun. The weird part is, instead of getting easier I feel as if it's getting harder. I wasn't at all pleased with my performance last night. I've been wracking my brains for the source of my upset and it has just come to me.

Both this time and the last time I was present haven't felt nearly as stressful as that first night last December. Now, obviously there is going to have been an element of desensitisation i.e. I have faced the "top-heavy man" a couple of times now. But what has just struck me is the difference in location. And it is this that I feel led to my rather poor outing last night (as opposed to me just being flat-out crap).

On my first encounter with the pressure test we were at the Wayneflete Gym and set an area up in one of the corners. This meant there was no alternative but to fight your way out, and also inhibited movement through the confined space.

Working in the Junior School Hall, there is ample space to move and this freedom - certainly last night - was a greater hindrance than help and led to the messy exchange I am sorry to have exhibited.

Certainly we are all our own greatest critic but I felt I shortchanged myself and what with heading off to Germany I'm not going to get the chance to redeem myself until at least December.

Well, I guess I'll have plenty of stored up aggression by then. See you all later. Peace out!

[TKD101]

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself.

Whilst your observation on the effects of the surroundings are valid, from what I could see, in the five seconds before it was all over! I thought your use of footwork and straight line punching was first class. Was the outcome not a positive result? i.e opponent neutralized.

The fact the environment had less an effect on your stress levels can only be a good thing.

I'm my biggest critic and often spend allot of time thinking about the should haves/ should not's.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is everybody's entitled to a bad day.

*climbs off soap box

Take care.

[Garth Barnard]

Guys, it's all good!

Messy, untidy, scrappy, ugly, etc, means it was realistic and was conducted with 'Aliveness'.
I would really, really worry if our Pressure Tests were conducted, and concluded, with clinical precision, as 1 Step Sparring for example, because on the street it simply doesn't happen that way, unless of course we are talking specifically about pre-emptive strikes.

Monday night's Pressure Test was amazing to see (and feel!) from my perspective. I've never took hits like that before, many of them real 'brain shakers'!

I tried my best to mix it up a bit with the approaches, with full on aggression, the nicely-nicely, the pervert, the jelous gay lover, the high-as-a-kite party goer, etc, etc. All approaches were different and all responses did the job - to nuetralise the aggressor quickly and effectively.

Everyone performed incredibly well and should be proud of themselves, you two included. And coming away with more questions than answers is ok as long as you all realise that you did good, which, when the brown stuff hits the fan in a real go, is all that matters.

Take care,

Garth.

[wrath]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the encouraging words. I think it probably all boils down to the dreaded "ego" - curse you Sigmund Freud!

The exercise was undoubtedly a success - fence employed, use of verbal and non-verbal communication, aggressor neutralised - what disappointed me was what I considered the poor standard of all the above, especially in front of lower grades who - whether they do or not, who knows?! - look to the black-belts to "do it right".

It annoyed me to feel as if I had let them down and in doing so, let myself down.

I'm still working on releasing the TKD conditioning of ten years training. In spite of my forays into other "fields" TKD has remained my primary "Artform" and obviously the training I have done (f*cking ten years of three, two and one step sparring!!!) will continue to inform my responses for a time yet - but we're getting there.

It struck me today: If it had been a Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing, Kung Fu, Aikido Club that had opened in the St John's Ambulance Hall all those years ago - indeed any Martial Art - I would have joined it because I was thirsty for the Martial Arts, regardless. I'm only sad it was TKD.

No, that sounds harsh. Well, actually, of course it is. It is also true.

I was about to write that I wish I had never started in TKD. Then, I realised: Whilst it is NOT a great - or nowadays even particularly good - Martial Art, it did afford me the flexibility to pursue my other Martial interests. And is of course responsible for the solid foundations upon which the freedom to express myself through combat is based.

We are the result of our histories.

Rambling now, sorry.

Toodle-ooh

[Garth Barnard]

Wrath, don't be so hard on yourself, you did good, and like many of the higher grades, you are constantly an inspiration to the rest of the class.

Like you, I would've joined any club (style) that had started at the St John Ambulance Station all those years ago, but I honestly believe that we would have the same minor problems that we have today, only with a different slant to them. If you look and all the top RBSD/Western Combative instructors out there such as, Geoff Thompson, Peter Consterdine, Dave Turton, Dennis Martin, Lee Morrison, Richard Dimitri, etc, they all, without exception, came from a traditional martial art's background. All of the named, to my knowledge, accept that some form of delivery system (meaning a traditional background in something or other) is more beneficial than starting from scratch.

TKD is my (our) delivery system and although a substantial amount of the traditional TKD syllabus has been removed form what we learnt, we still have a sound base to which we have successfully bolted on additional techniques.

What is significantly different to how we used to train is that our present training is conducted with 'Aliveness', which is the real key to realistic training. Training with 'Aliveness' is never pretty, and it shouldn't be either.

As you said, the exercise was a complete success and that's all that matters.

Take care,

Garth.