DISCUSSION

Walking Mechanics and Butt/Foot Engagement: Walk purposefully. Push through your toes to engage the gluteal muscles and stabilize the foot and ankle. Avoid flat-footed steps; instead, use the same amount of time (e.g., 20 minutes) more productively by emphasizing toe push-off and maintaining a steady cadence.

This is especially useful if you already walk regularly. It improves the efficiency and exercise value of each step you take. An additional benefit is that you will naturally walk faster without consciously increasing your pace.

Fall Prevention and Relaxation: Fall Prevention and Relaxation: People fall because they tense up. They try to STOP the fall instead of going with the flow force.. When lightly pushed/pulled on the shoulder and space allows, all it takes is to step with the flow forward/back/side to rebalance.

Relative Distance: Some of you may have already noticed that when the wrist grab is strong and the attacker is pulling while walking backward, the technique feels more difficult. If you move with them and maintain the distance between you, the contact on your wrist remains stable. Therefore, you simply have to keep up so that the distance between you does not change.

SCENARIOS

Escape from frontal elbow grab across center line – Treat it like the low crossover wrist grab where you simply draw around the opponent’s wrist. In this case, you will put your entire forearm over past his forearm and then relax downward.

Escape from elbow grab from your side (his right hand to my left elbow) – Use shoulder-to-shoulder turn and walk the opposite way. While a different body part is grabbed, the concept is the same as the “same-side low grab”.

EXERCISES

Having a strong physical foundation is important for health as well as for self defense. This represents your “resources” in the LRT model. You not only have to do the best you can to retain what you have but you need to train your eyes and brain to be able to see and work within that context.

For example: Do you have ways to deplete your opponent’s resources while preserving or amplifying your own? Do you know how to take advantage of your environment so that it works in your favor?

There are still lots to explore!

SIDE NOTES

Yes, today is the last class of the early spring session. We have also added a new 4-class session to the calendar, running from June 11th to July 2nd.

In this upcoming session, we will continue to explore efficient movement in a self-defense context, how to generate and deliver more power, and spend more time reinforcing the skills you have learned until they become automatic. Hope to you in the next session and please pass the word around, we need at least six participants minimum.

If I don’t see you, enjoy a great summer! Stay safe!