Restricted Training Zoom Class for Forest Schools Karate (diary entry)

20.05.20 Tonight I was booked to teach for Forest Schools of Karate on Zoom. This 45 minute lesson focused on restrictive training and visualisation exercises to get the most out of home training. Whenever I guest-teach for clubs I am always impressed by the way particularly young students are continuing to engage as Lockdown fatigue sets in for society. Vijay Pathek’s child students were no exception. Siblings and individual students enthusiastically gave all my different training methods a fair go. It was also wonderful to see some parents training alongside them. We began the lesson with a quick safety check of the training area. This was then followed by a warm-up of dynamic stretching and relevant callisthenics. I then took them through some basic techniques that would be included in the various sections of the lesson. This included simple punch/kick combinations, covering, some ground defence and transitioning through postures. Next, I brought in the infamous three objects. These form a triangle and can be used to help develop tactical escape drills, footwork and shadow sparring. We began with tactical escape, building up some simple scenarios and gradually increasing the level of coordination required. Throughout this process I kept the visualisation commentary going. Next we layered in shadow striking and covering. Finally I included transitioning from kneeling postures. The next section covered a simple exercise for increasing speed and preventing telegraphing of techniques. This exercise involved pinning objects to the ribs with elbows whilst throwing strikes. We used the method for jabs, crosses and hooks in isolation then in combination. Then we removed the objects and performed the techniques again to see differences in speed. The lesson finished with 3 x 3 minute rounds. Round 1 was instructional with me calling out techniques and combinations. Round 2 was visualisation with me describing types of opponent/enemy and tactics to handle them. Round 3 was TSP – 30 seconds technical punching, 30 seconds speed punching, 30 seconds power punching, 30 seconds technical kickboxing, 30 seconds speed knee-striking and 30 seconds power kicking.