The Great Outdoors

With some unseasonably warm weather, Tuesday night saw Hugh suggest we train outside so, after another high energy warm-up courtesy of Grant, we headed out to the courtyard of Bearsden Academy.

The fresh air training began with Heian Yodan kata, followed by the application.  I was struggling with a couple of the application techniques and Hugh pointed out where I was going wrong.  I need to slow down!  In my eagerness to demonstrate the techniques, I am tending to rush with the result being sloppy technique.   If I can slow down, the technique should become more crisp and gradually the speed will come.  Noted for next time.

Next up was some parrying, first on a one-on-one basis, followed by two-on-one with Hugh asking us to also consider surroundings.  It was remarkable just how the different surfaces and obstacles such as hedges, trees and benches change the practise.  In a gym hall, parrying tends to be a focussed practise, with emphasis on techniques.

Take it outside, particularly if it is two-on-one, and it becomes a far more exhausting, wide ranging practice.   The space available to move away from multiple attackers certainly encourage more movement to avoid being cornered but it man, did I get tired quickly.  Using a shelter to provide an obstacle was a useful tactic to get a breather but there is still a need to land one or two blows to allow an escape.  Very interesting practise, with a change of tactics and totally different demands on stamina and technique. 

Finally, we tried a practise with teams.  One team sat in a shelter (acting as the local pub in this situation) and the other team had to enter and pick on one of the first team.  It quickly descended into a brawl and Grant, (the newly minted black belt no less!) summed it up best that technique went out the windows as he started windmill punches at opponents.  I take it that one of the challenges for us is to retain control and composure under a stressful situation.

So what did I take away from this week?  One, the need to slow down seems obvious but we will see how that works in practice.  Two, my overall fitness still needs to improve as taken out of a traditional setting, I gassed out fairly quickly.  Three, when under pressure there is still a need to use the skills we have learned.

It was an excellent session and hopefully the weather will cooperate enough to let us take it outside again soon.