I would also like to add that you are free to leave comments. Please understand that I will probably have the urge to snap back and reply to comments which I deem to be heinous.
My coach made reference to hand-tempo, foot-tempo, and psycho-tempo. Understanding these have helped cue me when to attack. This is really really important, and forcing the best blade and footwork into an inappropriate tempo is a huge disservice to yourself. Even if you have awesome blade control, attacking at the wrong time makes feinting and deceiving SO much harder.
Simply, going at the right hand tempo means acting when the opponents hand is not ready to deal with your action, going at the right foot tempo means acting when the opponent's legs are not ready to deal with your action, and going at the right psycho-tempo means your opponents mind is not ready to deal with your action.
I've made a switch from purely technical work to more tactical work. Instead of making my bladework smaller and smoother, I've been focusing on how to force situations when what bladework and footwork i have is more effective. This is a lot of fun. Especially identifying the right psycho-tempo to attack someone.
For some reason, people get tunnel vision during some moments on the strip. They get really intent on figuring something out. They REALLY want to set up a certain action. Then you do something to snap them out of this tunnel vision. As they're coming out of this very focused state of mind, there's a beautiful moment to attack. It's really hard to identify.
05-18-2009 02:50 PM