Being chosen for "Student of the Month" has a lot in common with being chosen for the Demo Team.  A lot of the qualifications are the same.  Personality, dedication, effort and talent to name a few.  Sean, having excelled in all of these areas,  was just elected as a new member of the Demo Team, and is a natural choice for July's Student of the Month. 
     Sean is found at the Dojo almost everyday.  Between working out in his normal class (Adult Karate Class on Tuesday's, Thursday's & Saturday's) he also attends the RCT class (Realistic Combat Training) on Monday's and Wednesdays.  To round off his schedule, he now attends the weekly Demo Team Practice on Friday's.
     It's one thing to "show up" every day for a class, it's quite another to "work out" in each of those classes.  Sean always puts forth his utmost effort and pushes his body to the limits each and every workout.  His good work ethic, and his actions towards others in his classes, make Sean an easy choice fro this month's outstanding Karate student!  Good Job Sean, and congrat's on making the Demo Team.

     I often hear from students that they wish they could have hand speed like me (Master Sanchez).  Hand speed is not some magic trick, nor is it something that you are born with.  It’s only thru hard work and training that you’re going to develop hand speed.  A long time ago I was known for my flexibility and high kicks.  As we get older, those things are hard to come by, so I decided to start training my hands to counter balance my feet. Below is a list of a few things I used to do to train my hands.  Give them a try and see how well you improve.   

 

1)      Push-ups – Start out light, 20, 15, 10 and 5.  After the last five do as many as you can, but do not count.  Sometimes our minds preset the amount we can do.  That’s why most people get tired in sets of 10, 20 etc. We are used to these numbers, so our brain tells us it’s as far as we can go. 

2)      Clapping Push-ups – In you standard push-up position, lay your chest on the ground, then as fast as you can push your body up and clap your hands.  The key is not doing 30 or 40 push-ups, it’s in how many time you can clap before your body hits the ground. 

3)      Trapping hands – In class we perform Trapping hands, your basic brush – grab – strike technique. Instead of practicing with a partner, try and perform it in the air.  Sometimes we only move at the speed of our partners, and if our partner is slower, that’s the speed we do it, or if they are faster we get confused and end up making lots of mistakes. 

4)      Paint by numbers – This is just more push-ups, but with a little artistic twist.  Take a piece of paper and draw a large circle, about the size of the paper.  Then draw smaller circles inside the larger circle.  Try and number the circles 1 – 10.  Then tape the paper to the back of a chair.  Now take two magic markers and tape one to each index finger. Lay behind the chair on your chest, then push your body up and try and paint the numbered circles, right then left.  Each time you make a new sheet try and move the numbered circles in different places, this will help with your accuracy. 

 

Good luck troops, I will give you more ideas next month, but you can always just ask me during class.