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In this picture, I am actually coming down from the kick. The camera shutter got it about half a second too late. The perspective is a little flat, but I've already kicked the bag and am landing. But I like this picture because you can see that the bag is tipping over. And you can also see how much I like jumping and kicking. |
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If you look closely, you'll see that the platform of the bag is rocking up off the floor. I was the only person who could do that at Gold's Gym. The bag is designed to absorb a blow into its padded, pillowy top section, and the semi-flexible "stem" is also designed to give so that the bag does not rock or move. Most other people who practiced on the bags could push them back with punches or kicks, but I could get the platform to rock up. I worked on this when I was developing hand speed to break concrete. To get such an absorbent target to rock up, you have to hit it fast and yet very solid. The only way to do this is to relax everything and punch from the hip with the knees slightly bent. At the last instant, you exhale and lock all the muscles and then immediately release. The camera got me at the exact right moment. I spent hours and hours on that bag, about two hours per session, three to five sessions per week, for about five months. Even so, I have not yet gotten consistent with being able to break concrete, though I have broken single concrete patio blocks a couple times. The difference, of course, is that I am unafraid to hit the bag, but when I look down at a concrete tile, part of me still fears it, and so I do not attain my best speed, except in rare days when I feel "on". The final confrontation in the martial arts is always against the self! |
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Looks like I rammed my fingers in an electrical socket. Actually, I was landing from a kick and turning to jump again, and the camera caught me with my hair on end, which I think is funny, and sort of interesting. You never think about what your hair does while you are kicking. |
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