ReGroove Fitness

by Wellness Coach Dan Ma

Jeet Kune Do

More Pak Sau Energy Drills

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This week we picked off from last week’s pak sau drills by refining the movements.

The following steps from last weeks made better sense as steps and 3 & 4 were elaborated on. The pak sau happens first, then the punch. The footwork happens quickly at the very end of the punch:

  1. Using the right hand as the reference point.
  2. Left handed Pak sau to your partner’s reference hand. Be sure to push into your opponent to break their structure and off-balance.
  3. Straight punch.
  4. Close the gap with footwork.

The second variation was also elaborated on.  We focused and drilled steps 1 – 3. A variation was added to step 1, where your partner could block your punch with their forearm. The response is that you grab from the top and pull it down and towards you, then roll your back fist over and up (like your elbow is hinged to your partner’s arm.

  1. Your partner uses a left pak sau to your straight punch
  2. Position your left hand under your right arm, so that you can trap your partner’s pak sau arm. Push your partner’s arm into their body or pull them into you  
    to break their structure and off-balance.
  3. Whip your right arm for a back fist
    1. Position your right elbow to your partner’s trapped elbow arm by twisting.
    2. Twist the other direction and deliver your back fist.

We drilled this with our eyes open and closed. It was even suggested that we could do both variations (top or bottom responses).

Pak Sau Energy Drills

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This Tuesday John and I trained at Octavio’s house. We learned:

  1. Footwork
  2. Energy drills

The footwork session revealed a more advanced leg exercise. You slide your feet from a squat stance together then back to a squat. It really works the quads and helps train the sliding motion rather than a bouncing motion; It is quicker. 

The energy drill session gave me more detail in how the pak sau works. 

  1. Using the right hand as the reference point.
  2. Left handed Pak sau to your partner’s reference hand. Be sure to push into your opponent to break their structure and off-balance.
  3. Straight punch.
  4. Close the gap with footwork.

The second variation includes your partner to use the pak sau. Picking up from the first drill:

  1. Your partner uses a left pak sau to your straight punch
  2. Position your left hand under your right arm, so that you can trap your partner’s pak sau arm. Push your partner’s arm into their body or pull them into you 
    to break their structure and off-balance.
  3. Whip your right arm for a back fist
    1. Position your right elbow to your partner’s trapped elbow arm by twisting.
    2. Twist the other direction and deliver your back fist.

JKD In Octavio’s Living Room

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Lately, training under Octavio has been sporadic. While Sifu is busy with business decisions, the group of students have been actively training together once a week, which has been good. 

Today we learned an entry with a punch that starts with the pak sao, then a lead punch, and lastly advancing with the feet.

  • Entry with a punch starting with a reference point (partners wrists touching) :
    1. Using a fast and hard slap of a pak sao on the opponent’s forearm, which with the use of advancing foot work, pushes into the centerline, either pinning the arm and/or breaking the structure. 
    2. A wave like motion starts with the lead arm’s shoulder, which rotates back, then fires out. This is slightly telegraphic, but it adds more distance and explosive power.
    3. The foot work moves after the punch is started.
  • Stealing a step foot work

The Clock Kicking Drill

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A good JKD kicking drill that Octavio taught me before I created this site:

  1. Standing in a neutral position.
  2. Picking a leg and do a 12 o’clock straight kick.
  3. Continuing with the same leg, do a 2 o’clock inverted kick.
  4. 3 o’clock: side kick.
  5. 4 o’clock: heel kick.
  6. 6 o’clock: back kick.
  7. Repeat using the other leg.

 

Back Kicks & Striking Combos

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Today we revisited the back-kick and refined our executions. We also trained on firing three back-kicks with a forward pressure. We went over on the proper alignment of the legs (focusing on the glutes) while also getting a feel of “whipping” our kicks. The second half of our class we did a 3 strike combo with a cross to low hook-kick, finishing with a back-fist. If you are standing in a right-lead stance:
  1. Left cross
  2. Right hook-kick
  3. Right back-fist
For each strike there is a forward pressure. The hardest detail is to time the cross’es retraction with the advancement of the left back-leg.

Chi Sao

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Today Octavio introduced chi sao to Michael O’Brien, John Joo, and I. First he started out with a two-person exercise where you use your arm like a spring from your elbows to your ribs, and when your partner presses down on your wrist, you react by pressing the “spring” from your elbows to your ribs, then releasing an attack to your partner’s center-line. The other half is another two-person exercise where you compress both arms down and as your partner attacks with both arms simultaneously, and you respond with double bong sao. Both sides are pressing towards each other. Here is one of Dan Lok’s video of Octavio.
Octavio is charging us one more month. He wants us to help hand out his business cards. For helping him teach and getting his “school” started, he is waiving our tuition. I am looking into setting him up with a WordPress site.