Sempai led class.

Worked on yakusoku-kumite, with emphasis on defensive stances.

No 1 – shizentai-dachi, jigotai-dachi, zenkutsu-dachi
No 2 – shizentai-dachi,  shizentai-dachi, shizentai-dachi (stepping to right)
No 3 – jigotai-dachi, jigotai-dachi
No 4 – shizentai-dachi x3, shizentai-dachi
No 5 – zenkutsu-dachi, kosa-dachi, (turning to) nekoashi-dachi

Worked on blocking random attacks. Started in kumite-dachi on defense. Felt much more natural from ready stance. Sempai commented that my blocks were more relaxed that way.

Keep hands up and elbows in while sparring. Also, turn the body by rotating the hips. Both improve your spacing, ie diminish the space an opponent has to land an attack.

Opponents are likely to be right handed, so moving to the right will put you to the outside of most first attacks. More generally, to stay on the outside, move to the same side that the attack is coming from. Moving forward will help decrease the distance making a counter attack more effective.

Getting closer to completing chinese splits.