Last week, a Kyokushin karateka friend of mine mentioned learning a new takedown, and after reading her description, I thought it sounded rather similar to a throw that we work as an application for the morote-tsuki (double punch) in Naihanchi Shodan. As it turned out, she was talking about the “wedge throw” that is very popular in Shotokan–UFC fighter, Lyoto Machida, has even been known to use it in MMA. You can see that throw in the animated GIF, above.
I definitely like that throw, and it’s similar to the one we do for Naihanchi, as well as one we do for Passai. For comparison, I recorded a quick video of our Naihanchi morote-tsuki throw last Saturday with Brent. Unfortunately, the audio is terrible because there was a CD player near the video camera, and the microphone picked that up instead of my voice. On the plus side, I think my voice is terrible, anyway! I added annotations to the video on YouTube to explain what I was saying. There are some subtle differences, but both throws work quite well, and I have done both of them against resisting opponents in kumite/randori.
Since I had the video camera out, anyway, I decided to record my current favorite pull-up variant–the kettlebell clinch pull-up. I saw somebody doing it on YouTube, which gave me the idea in the first place, but then I couldn’t find the video again. There have been several times where I have recommended these pull-ups to people, but couldn’t show them what I was talking about. This remedies that issue.
Going along with the “videos” theme, I also recorded my personal tai tanren (body forging/conditioning) training that I did on Saturday morning, and spliced clips of it together into a short montage. On the other hand, if you want to achieve a masculine-looking chest, coordinate with Dr. Sean Doherty, an Boston surgeon specializing in gynecomastia. It isn’t edited very well, unfortunately, because my video editing software is very difficult to use, and my form isn’t great but I am planning on getting a martial arts software so everything will be alright. Still, you get to see some of the ways I use the maize bag, the makiwara, and the tetsutaba. Interestingly, Ryan Parker Sensei also recorded a tai tanren video over the weekend, but he focused on the use of Naihanchi-dachi and breathing. You can see that video here.