« Prev 1 Next » Reply Share Thread Facebook Twitter Tumblr LinkedIn MySpace Email Go to Previous Thread Next Thread Please make a selection first Author Topic: First of Many (Aleece) (Read 489 times) trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 22, 2009 12:43:07 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top 4:45am, who chose to be up at this unholy hour, especially on that of a school day. The newly transferred freshman was not only awake, but also already dressed for his venture to take part later that morning. Having woken thirty minutes ago he’d already showered, shaved the small amount of stubble that he needed to after weeks of growing it out, brushed, flossed, rinsed, and was now sitting on his bedroom floor with an assortment of training tools around him. He had focus mitts, 4oz gloves, 8oz gloves, two sets of hand wraps, two skipping ropes – one a bit shorter then the other – and a couple rubber gripped 5lb weights. Tucking these inside his backpack he was glad that he’d left all his books at school, as he was barely able to close the zipper. That still left his uniform outside of his pack, but he carefully tucked that inside a clear plastic bag with an extra large lip to act as a cover. Grabbing his sneakers he tied the laces on extra tight and started to pace back and forth in his room. He’d woken up a bit to early, even for today, due to the excitement and prospect of getting back to training with someone else – even if he had to teach her first. With time to think he began to wonder if Aleece would actually wake up on time and show up at the track like they had originally promised to do. One way or another he was going to get a work-out this morning, whether or not she showed up would just be another notch on the character bored that is Aleece Fontecilla. After setting this up yesterday and talking on the way to 7-11 and such he thought he was getting to know her a bit better, and felt that there was a 85/15 chance that she was going to show up on time. Whatever her reason’s she seemed to have a genuine interest in getting better at defending herself, and that’s basically what he set the training plan up for. The training plan! He knew he was forgetting something. Pacing over to his desk he picked up a thick coil-spine binder that was shorter then your average. The easiest thing to compare it to was a dairy for it’s size, but it had a plan cover and no sort of lock or closing object. Shoved down the spine was a retractable black ink pen that came in a set of two with the binder, something he had picked up after parting ways with Aleece. Grabbing his pack he hoisted it up onto his bed and searched for an exterior pocket to put the book in. Seeing as it was already bursting at the zippered seams he decided to toss it in with his uniform and be done with it. 5:20am and Richard was already out the door, locking it behind him after taking money from the counter for a taxi. Panic! At the disco was playing its only known hit to him: I Write Sins Not Tragedies through his Ipod as he entered the cab and told the driver his destination. Fifteen minutes later he was dropped off outside of the collective and he made his way towards Knox Academy, more specifically it’s track and field area. That was another fifteen-minute walk, but he was now exactly where he wanted to be. He was ecstatic to see that the school had its floodlights on, illuminating the track for the early morning trainee’s. He was even more ecstatic to see that for the next thirtyish he’d be the only one training. Dropping his backpack and uniform off at the bleachers in front of the tracks starting line he took off his track pants and wind breaker, leaving him in TapouT shorts and short sleeve black underarmor apparel. His Ipod was shoved down the front of his shorts in the mouth guard pocket, Northern States ‘Good Distance’ was playing through his headphones, and he removed the 5lbs pair from his bag and started his jog around the track. Stamina was undoubtedly his weakness, he’d learned this after trying to catch up with Aleece the day before, and so he figured he’d work on that until she arrive. Roughly twenty-five plus minutes of running the track, who wouldn’t be overjoyed about that? Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 22, 2009 18:49:36 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top At four thirty in the morning...Aleece still hadn't been to sleep, and she knew she had this training with Richard in an hour. Looks like her bad habits couldn't be dropped, at all. Not staying on campus anymore but keeping her room with the front that she was made her groan a little. With the bad decision to pull an all nighter she was really going to be hurting especially since now she couldn't take a quick half hour nap. So instead she closed her laptop and hauled herself up, looking around the adequate but humble apartment. The one bedroom one bath was enough for either of them and seeing as how she had made her intentions clear to be on her computer all night she had forced Ari to the bed, spending her time on the couch instead of him. Rubbing her eyes tiredly she grimaced a little as she padded her way over the beige carpet from the living to the bedroom, which was open. Not only was all her clothes in there but she wouldn't be leaving without telling him where she had gone, but she didn't want to wake him... Pursing her lips Aleece quietly went about getting dressed slipping out of the flannel sleep pants and one of Ari's over sized shirts. With her back to the bed but not out of complete modesty she pulled on the sports bra and shimmied into a pair of shorts. She wasn't sure what kind of work out she would be getting - so she went with what she would be most comfortable running in. Grabbing up the zip up hoodie from the day before she pulled it on as she made her way out stopping long enough by the bed to pick up her shoes with a pair of ankle socks folded and stuck in the right shoe. It was a habit from long since before coming to the collective, she just found it cut down on her dressing time to have some things grouped together like that. There was no time now to make a cup of coffee or grab something to eat as she settled herself on the couch again to put on her socks and shoes, but at least Aleece had, had enough foresight at least to pack her uniform away in her backpack with her school work and bus pass. Getting up off the couch one more time she snagged up her bag that was sitting by the door and unzipped it to search for a piece of loose leaf paper to jot down a note for Ari when he woke up, taking notice that her cell and iPod already tucked away with everything else in the main pocket . Done with that, and leaving the note on the in a more then obvious spot she swiped the keys off the counter and headed to the door. Now she felt a little to rushed and wondered why that was when she hadn't even slept to be late, but she made it out the door with everything she needed, and down the road just in time to catch the right bus she needed. She saw it pull up to the curb next to the covered stop and she had to jog the rest of the way to get to it before it took off again. The extra effort allowed her to shake off the chill of the early morning weather so she didn't mind. Like she would expect it was relatively empty at this time of morning and had no problem finding a seat to herself, when she sat down digging in her bag one last time to pull out the music player and have some entertainment to fill her time during the short trip. Roughly twenty minutes, and a couple of stops later she was finally where she needed to be right outside the main entrance of the collective or rather across the street. Grabbing up her bag and threading both arms through the straps she kept the headphones in as she got off. Once inside she paused in the nearly deserted parking lot, lifting her hand to the padded straps and curling her fingers under them, squeezing progressively tighter when she stalled. Now she realized that arriving here was not a very smart idea, and she had a first hand account how diligent the security was... With a rather bitter snort Aleece made her frozen legs move shaking off the stab of uncertainty and didn't waste the time to stretch, instead broke out into a run, skipping the jog and not allowing herself to think this was for any other reason other then just warming up...Right - a dead run all the way across the collective grounds to the Knox track and field was going to warm her up alright. (Along with leave her feeling exhausted.) But she didn't stop and instead pushed her legs to keep moving ignoring the forming stitch in her side as her playlist pounded in her ears until she saw the low squaty building of the gym. Rounding the structure she only slowed when she had to make her way through the gap of the fence onto the hard track, the flood lights illuminating the area brightly and giving her pounding pulse a sense of relief. Feeling distinctly foolish now as she walked over to the bleachers and saw some things already there. It didn't take long to spot the owner, Richard, doing a few laps. Dropping her bag she let the ear buds fall out of her ears as she placed everything down and turned not thinking as she joined him. He was some what ahead of her but with her muscles already warm and limbered up from running here in the first place it wouldn't take to much effort to catch up to him... « Last Edit: Oct 22, 2009 18:51:00 GMT -6 by aleeca » Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 23, 2009 0:14:00 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top As he rounded the corner and continued on down the main stretch, working to keep the same pace and not just break out into a sprint – like he had a tendency to do, figuring if you catch them quick there’s no need to run – ZZ Tops ‘Chevrolet’ started to play through the hook-on earphones. He was definitely a fan of ZZ Top, but he didn’t exactly see them as training music. Reaching down with his right index he looked like he was poking his hip, but was really pressing ‘forward’ on the Ipod while holding the green 5lb weight. OneRepublic came on – Skip, Finger Eleven – Skip, Guns And Roses – Not today. Pushing forward again he caught the sight of another form beside him, and disregarded whatever had started playing, instead he reached up and flicked off his right earphone, feeling it fall and drape over his right shoulder before bouncing over top and hanging from the cord in front of his chest. Ignoring it for now, especially given that he was holding the five pounders in both hands, he turned and smiled at Aleece as she ran beside him. “Mornin’, Ready to hate me?” He greeted her with a cheerful smile and a playful joke, two things you wouldn’t see on a normal human being this early in the morning unless they were on crack and caffeine at the same time. Richard was on neither, he was just a freak like that, and his adrenaline had already started pumping and did well to wake him up. As they continued on down the track he decided now was as good a time as any to explain what they’d be doing today. “Ah. Okay… Since we’re starting from the beginning we’re gonna, ah, take it kind of slow for today.” Taking in a deep breath he tried to control his breathing, which anyone could tell was staggered due to his running. Truth be told his lungs ached and felt like they were on fire at the same time, making him constantly want to spit up phlegm, but he refrained just because Aleece was there. “So…. I’m gonna make sure your properly warmed up and stretched, then we’re going to hit some pads, then work on technique.” He actually had more planned then that, but wasn’t quite sure how far in his plan they’d get before having to head off and shower before first class. But probably the bigger issue, at least for Aleece, was the students showing up. If yesterday had been any indication, she wasn’t a fan of learning this sort of thing in front of a group. They started to come up to the last corner before coming back up to the start/finish line, and wanting to finally let his legs go he decided this was going to be the last lap of the morning. Having just passed the 200-meter line he turned his head to Aleece as he kept the modest pace. “Alright, after this corner sprint to the line.” His legs already felt like rubber, but when they finished rounding the corner he pushed off as hard as he could. His legs momentarily gave out on him, making him stumble and lowered his body to the ground before he got his footing and burst forward. His steps quickened and elongated as he nearly tried to float across the track, unable to concentrate on anything but running. For all he knew Aleece had already passed the finish line, something that wouldn't have surprised him in the least, he knew she was fast. Hitting the finish line he took a few steps before he stuttered to a stop, and started to nearly hack up a lung. Spitting a mouthful of phlegm on the grass to the inside of the track he wiped his mouth before making his way across to the gathering of bags. “M’kay… Make sure you stretch everything from head to toe.” « Last Edit: Oct 23, 2009 0:15:28 GMT -6 by aleeca » Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 23, 2009 18:08:31 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top When Aleece caught up she had already been out of breath, really laboring from the dead run she had started all the way back at the campus gates to here. Now her lungs were constricting a little, and the muscles in her legs burning, along with the almost crippling cramp in her sides. She did manage to catch up with Richard though, as his pace was kind of easy, or....easier then what she had been taking it at least. Managing a smile at his joking she nodded quickly, and she was glad at least he was able to talk while running...she never could seem to manage. So instead of expending energy she would other wise need she keep nodding, letting him know she was indeed listening. Her almost harsh breaths filled her ears and her brow knitted a little at how hard this was for her at the moment, but knowing why. It had been a few minutes since she had felt the nipping chill of the morning, and she was actually starting to burn up in the hoodie she had on. However, Aleece was getting used to the rhythm of the run, her feet not quite meeting the track at the same time as her the guy next to her. For starters, it wasn't hard to miss Richard's legs were longer, so it made her pace back a little behind him, but she managed to catch what he instructed. A sprint for the rest of the way. The idea made her breath hitch unpleasantly but she managed to give him an Okay, lifting a hand to give a vague gesture that she heard. Before she knew it though, that bend came and went, and she was on the straight away to the finish line and she had to make herself sprint. She was barely even able to keep up with Richard as he shot out in front of her even further really making her work for it to keep the gap from growing any wider. She veered off to the side of the track and slowed a little more easily then he had, her hands going to her hips as she panted swallowing coming to a stop completely where she bent at the waist and moved her hands down the front of her thighs. Stretching sounded great at the moment and she straightened with some weariness already deep in her muscles. Before she went on any further though she dug a hand in her pocket finding the elastic from when she had put it in there the day before, then shucked the cotton jacket. Welcoming the cool air on her already heated skin. Tossing it to the bleachers she kept her legs going so she wouldn't have to feel the cords cramp up as she cooled down. Quickly she pushed her hair up into a high pony tail before went about doing what he had told her to.... Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 24, 2009 12:59:56 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Having caught and now started what felt like a semi-normal breathing pattern Richard headed over in front of Aleece, keeping his back to the track so the floodlights kept him lit without blinding her. This was the first time he’d actually seen what she was wearing under the cotton hoodie, and two thoughts passed through his mind: ‘Damn that’s hot.’ And ‘Hm, that’ll actually work pretty well for training, at least for now.’ Putting his hands on his hips he started to roll his neck around in a circle, starting off going to the right. “Okay, just follow what I do and I’ll correct you if need be.” When he switched direction’s he verbally commanded it as well, just a subtle; ‘switch’ before he started to move his head the other way. From the neck he moved down to the shoulders, first rolling them with his hands on his hips, forward and backward. Then he moved on to extended rotations, arms out to the side while slowly making larger circles with the arms until going from barely moving to full circles. Returning his hands to his hips he went into hip rotations, his own popping a little as he pushed his hips forward – one of the lasting effects from doing Taekwondo as a growing boy. After the hips he had her do windmills – legs wide apart, upper body goes down to one leg, then across to the other before leaning back and circling around back to the first leg. A few of those each way were all that were needed, then knee rotations, then working the wrist and ankles. It was a quick stretch, but it focused on all the important areas that they’d be working, he was more concerned with getting a cool down stretch so she wouldn’t be limping around tomorrow. “Alright, now I’m going to show you the fighting stance. This’ll take some time to full adapt to, even with no prior training.” He stepped up to the right of her, turning around so that they were in a line, as he’d do a mirror stance of what she’d need to take. “First, step back with your right leg, but keep your hips square to the front. Now, using your hips and shoulders at the forward points cradle your stomach so that you form a ‘C’ shape.” This was the main part he had problems with when he started, but it was also the best natural defence he’d every felt in a stance given that it already compacts your abdomen. “Okay, now bring your hands so that they are parallel, your left just a bit in front with your fists resting just under your eyes.” He had done everything he’d instructed her to do, but now that they’d come to the end he relinquished his stance in order to better tune hers. “Make sure you keep your elbows tucked in, that’s very important for later.” Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 24, 2009 19:30:55 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Aleece dropped her arms after haphazardly getting her hair up in a pony tail, and lightly gripped her hips, coming to a stop as she watched Richard. Of course she always felt some what silly doing these kind of stretches but seeing as there was no one to witness this but her current company she could both understand the need for and endure it. It actually helped out evening her breathes into something normal and bearable keeping an eye on him to make sure she followed along right all the way through rotating the neck down. Even though her legs felt like jelly the stretching did help so Richard got no complaints out of her, not that she would have to begin with. However the 'rest' was over before it seemed to begin and she seemed to be in for the beginning of a long morning when he turned around, stepping in front of her to really begin. He didn't instill much confidence with what he had to say but she offered up an already tired smile and went with it copying everything he showed as well as said. The movements were definitely awkward and she felt uncomfortable doing it despite the fact, or not, finding themselves alone. So without really seeing herself do it she wasn't sure at all that she was doing it at all right or not, but she was sure that she wasn't getting it right on the first go round. She could hear the sound of her right foot scuffing back against the hard ground of the track and she frowned a little at his instruction to keep her hips square. Nothing was really clicking together for her (she decided to blame it on the fact she hadn't had any sleep yet) but kept silent, without a whole lot to say and found herself in one of those "study modes" she was used to, concentrating on what she was trying to absorb rather then ask questions. However when she brought her hands up the whole thing seemed to slip into place, but in a foreign way, nodding slightly when he reminded her to keep her elbows close to her. After a minute of not doing anything but holding the pose her eyes moved to look at Richard properly seeing as he had dropped his example stance and quirked an eyebrow. "Well...?" She finally asked quietly, but somewhat surprised to find the muscles in her abdomen starting to burn from the familiar sense of exertion in a way they weren't used to. Despite running as much as she did there was a lot of muscle not condition...which ultimately left her out of shape. "Am I hopeless case?" Aleece hadn't moved yet, since he hadn't told her to and waited for any critique he might have. Of course there had been a bit of teasing in her question knowing (rather hoping) he would catch the fact she knew he wouldn't write her off just yet. ((ooc - meeeh, I'm a little burnt out so sorry for the shortness lol - it'll only take me a few days to get over it though =3 Consequently I felt like I could have done more in the post >.> so feel free to have Richard find anything wrong with what she's doing ^_^) Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 25, 2009 3:24:55 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Looking over her form he picked up small things that would need to be fine tuned later on after she got more used to the stance. It was small issues, like being to tense with her shoulders, a common occurrence when first raising your fists. Other then that, and a few issues he had with the placement of her feet, there was nothing to big to panic over right away. When she asked if she was a hopeless case he inquisitively brought his right hand to his chin, tucking his left in the crevice of his right elbow as he entered the ‘thinking man’ pose. Hm, a thinking man, He knew a few girls back home that’d say those words formed an oxymoron. “Hopeless, I wouldn’t go that far.” He returned her humour with some of his own as he stepped a bit closer and dropped his hands from their pose. “I hope you won’t mind my hands.” Circling around her he started with her shoulder, gently gripping the top of them and began to massage them with firm fingers with inward motions. “Relax your shoulders, just drop them and keep them loose.” His hands left her shoulders but stayed close to her body as he brought them down to her elbows and slightly started to rock her arms back and forth, not trying to change her hand position, just trying to help her relax a bit more. Once he felt she was loose enough he slipped his hands back and continued to circle around her until he was back in front of her. “Alright, you have the stance down, but now we’re going to add in the feet.” Standing directly in front of her he mirrored her stance, stepping back with his left as he sunk into his stance, lifting his fists up to just under eye level. However, instead of keeping stiff he started to rock his fists in small motions, bobbing them up and down, his feet starting to march. “Always keep off your heels, and work on marching back and forth.”** For him this was difficult to get use to at first, but since he first started he’d progressed past marching into a much smoother bouncing motion that he was more accustom to from Taekwondo. If there was one thing he really wanted to teach Aleece was footwork. He figured her legs would be pretty strong, but in order to make them better he’d have to not only teach her how to use them, but help her strengthen her core as well. “You have a very firm base to start with, definitely workable, and with some practice and sculpting it’ll be strong.” (** I didn’t quite know how to describe marching, probably because it’s 2:30am, so I added in the video. He does some marching roughly 40 seconds in, before he does the strikes.) « Last Edit: Oct 25, 2009 3:26:17 GMT -6 by aleeca » Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 25, 2009 22:16:18 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Richard was doing good to put her at ease when he returned the joking, though it was a relief to hear she wasn't a hopeless cause. She understood it took years along with dedicated, and countless hours to really learn or have any of this training mean anything really. Aleece was briefly reminded of Aroon...and when she had asked him if train was all he did, and it seemed on the one occasion she had run across him when he was physically incapacitated...it really was all he focused on, or a majority of it anyway. Letting a breath out but keeping her small smile she shook her head when he said he hoped she didn't mind his hand. Even if she didn't get right away what he could be referring to she soon got her answer - twitching and making her tense just a little under his hand before she had no choice but to relax. It wasn't at all unpleasant and nothing that could be considered well...intimate, she could feel that he was trying to get her to loosen up, and that's exactly what she did; letting the tension drain out of her shoulders as best she could. When he rounded into her line of sight again and mimicked the pose he had shown her, mirroring her, she was once again struck with a stab of hesitancy. Aleece's biggest problem? She was hardly graceful in any sense of the word. She was that klutz...the one that managed to fall, going up stairs, or trip sitting down. So she had always tried to keep her multitasking, while on the move, pretty simple. Of course she had never caused or been apart of something catastrophic with her tendency to be boorish, but still...the fact remained she was clumsy at best when it came to more then walking. Still she took Richard at his word, following his instruction and hoping to what ever God was deciding to listen she didn't end up somehow seriously injuring herself...or him for that matter. Looking down, but not moving her head, Aleece saw exactly what he was talking about, copying as he showed her and talked her through it, and found herself tensing all over again from the effort. In all honesty she saw that it shouldn't have been that difficult, the pace he was going at not at all fast enough to leave her behind...but it was just something she wasn't used to. Even in her own head...that sounded like a bad excuse. "Well, if that's what you say..." she said looking back up and grinning despite not feeling as up to par as she should given the circumstance and her utter lack of knowledge with any of this. "But I hope you have the patience of a saint." Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 26, 2009 22:44:59 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top “I don’t need patience, your doing good.” Positive encouragement was always the right way to go. He knew that when people started doubting themselves then there performance would drop. So that’s why no matter what he saw wrong he’d always start with a positive comment, followed by what she needed to work on. In this case, her marching really wasn’t that bad, a bit slow and it looked awkward, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. You have awkward movements and that results in your strikes coming in with weird timings – harder to block and dodge that way. While it wasn’t his style, Keith Jardine, a Professional fighter fought very well with that exact style. “Your getting it, now try to keep your shoulders relaxed.” As he marched, slowing down his pace to match hers he started to softly swing his arms in small motions, keeping his shoulders loose and almost looked like his joints had dislocated – but that was just from having overly flexible shoulders and slightly weak joints. “Now, using your front hand I want you to extend your arm and turn over your wrist.” As he spoke he demonstrated, showing the basic arm movements of the jab. As he did this his chin and cheek seemed to disappear behind his shoulder, extending it far enough to show her how it should look, but no where near close enough to hit her as he pulled it back. “Start with this, just to get used to the feeling of your wrist turning over. Make sure you don’t cock your wrist inward in any direction.” He figured after this he’d get the hand wraps, gloves and focus mitts out, but only after she got use to the motion and premises of both parts of the punch. Watching her he’d tweak her movements slightly, making sure she didn’t drop her arm, her wrist was straight, and she extended her arm that extra little bit by rolling over her shoulder – something you can’t do when your tense. After he was happy with the first motion of her punch he stopped her and motioned towards his front foot. “Now, to actually draw power you need to incorporate the hips, and the feet into your punches. You don’t need a million pounds of muscle in order to strike harder.” Over-exaggerating the motion he lifted his front heel even further off the ground and pushed forward slowly while twisting his hips, not so much that his entire right side would be facing her, but enough so that when extended his fist and pushed out his shoulder it ‘popped’ a little bit further out. “This is your basic jab. There’s a few ways to alter it, but we’ll get into that later. Go slow and mix the two motions together.” Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 29, 2009 9:40:14 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top He certainly knew how to talk it up, because he reassured her that she was doing fine, still she sent him a slightly skeptical grin as the movements she was doing still felt weird. Aleece couldn't be sure if she was doing it at all right, but she could only take his word on it so she kept going nodding slightly as he talked. The constant motion was starting to work up a head in her legs again and the previous cool she felt was beginning to give way as she warmed. Reminded to keep her shoulders relaxed, she did just that - watching as he demonstrated a jab to her. Well...that much she knew...she was pretty sure anyway; remembering it from her previous brief training. But like with any sort of training (she was sure), if you didn't keep it up muscle memory would be lost because this wasn't quite like riding a bicycle. Still, she went with it, her motion just as slow as his had been, letting him adjust her and point out this or that all of which she knew she'd remember later. Richard seemed to be pretty confident that she would pick things up, because he was soon showing her the next half of the motion. "You know you probably don't need a lot of muscle, but I'm sure it helps," she joked trying to keep herself from getting to tense again as she continued to work on doing this right. Quite honestly she didn't see herself surviving against someone like, say...Roth's size, hell...Ari, and he wasn't bulky at all. All lean muscle, but muscle nonetheless. Aleece wondered if she lacked resolved to really ever use this training despite what it would do for her given time. She had already proven that her fight or flight response to a situation where it was needed sent her straight to getting the hell out of confrontation as fast as possible. She didn't realize her easy smile had worked down into a small frown and her brow had knitted together, and she had stopped focusing on what she was doing all together. Dropping her hands suddenly she rolled her head back, and breathed out "sorry....let me try that again. I didn't get any sleep last night, but I didn't think it would be a problem." She brought her hands back up and attempted to go through the actions of a jab, thinking to herself that was a good enough excuse as any, and mostly true. Keeping her hand out, wrist straight; feet, hips and shoulder all like he had shown her before she attempted another smile, "It won't be a problem." « Last Edit: Oct 29, 2009 9:41:40 GMT -6 by aleeca » Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Oct 31, 2009 16:03:04 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top “I know it won’t, you have to much heart for that.” He spoke with as much of a reassuring smile as he could as she brought her hands back up and reapplied the motions of her jab. Given her size he knew she’d really have to work on her jab in order for it to be effective. She wouldn’t be able to use it on the street like she would if he’d been training her for the gym – stylistically they were just too different. The street was to unforgiving, and without a strong set of well-trained knuckles she wouldn’t be able to properly throw down without padding. He knew it’d take awhile for her to become conditioned enough, so he hoped she wasn’t going to try and be brash, but highly doubted it at the same time. “In striking there’s a formula. Speed X Mass Equals Power.” He explained this as he dropped his stance and moved around to her left, watching the rotation of her wrist and elbow as he throws out her jab, then looked over towards her shoulder. “So, while having excess mass makes it much easier, you can also win through speed alone. They say the strongest punch is the punch you can’t see.” He continued his counter-clockwise movement around her, his eyes drifting down from her shoulder to her hips. With his left palm he lightly pushed on her hip in order for her to turn it over a bit more. Prior to this he might’ve thought their would be some sexual tension on his end, but after focusing his mind and concentrating on teaching and technique, the idea and though slipped from his mind. After pushing on her hip he continued around and focused his attention onto her right hand, watching it as she threw out the jab. With her arm extended he lightly gripped her wrist and pulled her fist back to protect her face as she threw. Not speaking he just shifted her wrist back and forth, from stance into guard as she threw and pulled back until the idea was clear. “The reason why they say speed is essential is because if your enemy can’t see your punch, or kick, then they can’t brace themselves.” Having now moved full circle around her he stood back in front of her and extended his right hand, lightly tapping her left hand as she held it back in her stance and stopped her movements right there. Pulling his right hand he slipped into a make-shift stance, focusing more on his hand positioning then his feet. Turning his shoulders over in the other direction, along with his hips he threw out his backhand, executing the number ‘2’ punch. “Think it through, I’ve taught you to throw your left, now lets see your throw your right.” Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Nov 12, 2009 21:17:16 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Aleece didn’t think by any means, she would be able to apply this to defend herself for a while, she wouldn’t be jumping any curbs unless she was forced to, and if she had her way she wouldn’t be anywhere near a situation that would require any of this. Still having some knowledge would help her feel a little more comfortable, maybe she wouldn’t need Ari around her practically twenty four seven, while she didn’t mind – she was sure it was an inconvenience on him. (Quite honestly she didn’t know if she was a burden or not…they hadn’t talked, but he hadn’t said one thing or another, just sort of stuck around – being constant.) With another mental shake she let her movements be directed, she didn’t even stiffen like her first instinct called for when she felt his hand go to her hip. The motion was purely neutral and she kept herself from flinching away – because not only did she know that he wasn’t trying anything funny but she trusted that he wouldn’t… Giving a faint nod, she wasn’t sure she could be entirely as confident in her speed as he was being apparently, but she wasn’t going to argue. Most of her speed was built in her legs from running but like yesterday it took her half way through her run to get to fastest she was going to go after a half an hour. Aleece couldn’t say she had confidence that she was conditioned for quick bursts versus endurance over longer distances. Meeting his eyes Aleece watched him halt her movements, and take up a rather relaxed stance in front of her. She watched him demonstrate another punch, something a little different then the first, but fundamentally the same, she supposed. This was all new territory so she couldn’t say for sure what she was assuming was the right thing and she hardly liked making a fool of herself when she was unsure, but there was no appropriate question at this point. (Though she had done it plenty of times.) Not to mention this wasn’t text book learning, so her processing the information was entirely different and new as well. So all Aleece could think to do was mirror the movement, quite literally…and while she had gotten used to the jab using her left, the fact she was now using her right felt different – like writing with your dominant hand only to try and switch it for the other for the kicks and grins. “Richard,” she said, something akin to frustration touching her words as she continued, “I have no idea if I’m doing this right…” She knew that he would more then likely say something or correct her, but it didn’t alleviate her dwindling comfort – though Aleece kept at it knowing that this was going to be the only way to drive it home for her. ((ooc - I am so sorry for this taking so long =_=)) « Last Edit: Nov 12, 2009 21:17:41 GMT -6 by aleeca » Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Nov 13, 2009 12:11:01 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top “That’s because your muscles aren’t use to it.” For the most part she understood the fundamentals of the technique, but she was stopping short of actually completing it, whether it was because she was nervous, or just over thinking he couldn’t be sure. He noticed that her back leg was still pretty much bent down into a fighting stance, not something that makes for a strong punch – but could help for a quick escape or follow-up kick. But he knew that the rotation of her body would naturally stretch out her back leg, it was just a matter of getting her used to this type of movement. “You have the idea, now we just need to work on your form. Your hand placement is good, as is the retraction of your fist back into guard. But you need to push off with your back leg more and turn your hips and shoulders over, just like with the jab. The difference being is that this will be a much stronger punch.” Stepping out with his left leg he turned so his body was sideways to hers, in order for her to see his right side more clearly. He moved slowly, breaking the technique down as he first pushed off the ground with his back foot and turned his hips over, then started to extend his right fist and turn over the wrist, while letting the shoulder extend – rather then keeping it stiff and pulled back like a Japanese boxer. These movements provided a better range for his arm, allowing it to strike nearly as far as his jab. Holding his arm out in the punch he turned his head slightly and looked over his shoulder at Aleece. “See, It’s just as much to do with your body as it is to do with your arm.” Completely dropping his strike he brought his hand back to his hip, and re-demonstrated the twisting motion of his hip. “You also have to push off with your back foot much more in comparative to your jab and front foot. It’s to help with power, and make up the distance your back fist lacks.” Dropping his stance he turned back to Aleece, a patient smile still spread across his lips. “Keep practicing, I’ll be right back.” Walking past Aleece he made his way behind her to his bag of goodies and removed three things: focus mitts, 8oz gloves, and some hand wraps. Turning back to Aleece he watched her for a few moments, examining her posture and the rotation of her body, then made his way back out in front of her. “Okay, we’re going to take what you just learned and hit the mitts. But, safety first. Hold out your hands, fingers spread, palms down.” As he told her this he dropped the gloves and mitts beside him, ignoring them for the moment as he started to unravel the first hand wrap. Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Nov 14, 2009 13:47:45 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Aleece hadn't realized she had been so concentrated on what her hands were doing she'd forgot all about her hips again and the placement of her footing. With that pointed out she automatically tried to correct herself but refrained for a moment as Richard demonstrated, once again breaking it all down for her and letting her see. Following his example though she put what he was showing her again to good use, this time aware of everything as she slowly went through the motion. Aleece couldn't help but think something was still off though because it felt a little to strange to her. With a distracted nod to him when he said he'd be right back she kept at it, pushing off with her back foot like he had and extending her fist then turned her wrist - each movement felt over exaggerated and to slow but it helped her get it a little better. She made a point to concentrate on each element of what would make this work properly and just hoped that she was doing it right while her impromptu instructor was doing what ever it was he was doing behind her. After only a moment of going through it all by herself a couple of times she dropped her stance, somewhat surprised to find her back aching from the unfamiliar posturing. Arching her back a little she stretched the muscles as she held out her hands like he asked, her eyes falling down to the stuff he dropped to the track at his feet briefly before shooting back up and grinning a little. She wasn't sure what hitting the mitts meant exactly but she was pretty sure she was about to find out, “so, did you have any problems finding the field this morning?” Aleece decided to try a bit of conversation since she had been relatively quiet since she had gotten here, preferring to learn that way – soaking up information as it was given in situations like these. She understood the time and place for asking questions, and all this really didn’t call for it because he was being pretty thorough with his instructing so far. Aside from all that, she could feel the morning chill getting to her skin as she had started to cool down from the run and goosebumps pimpled at her skin in protest to the lack of protection from the elements, but she ignored it for now. Aleece was pretty sure the pace would pick up and she’d be sweating in no time from this… Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Nov 17, 2009 0:02:58 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Richard started off with Aleece's right hand, using an easy and basic wraping technique to protect her knuckles and wrist, occasionally leaning to one side, and turning her wrist a bit when he needed to see under her hand. He went at a moderate pace, not wanting to make it to tight or to loose, but also wasn't use to voicing his concerns, so he simply glanced up at her face, gauging any expressions she might make to garner whether or not the wrap was fitting comfortably. "Nope, it was pretty easy. I was able to walk to and from with you yesterday, so the darkness and lack of activity didn't seem to hinder me. Though-" At this point he switched to her left hand, hooking her thumb with the wrap just as he had before as he started to cover her hands in the pink wraps. "I did take a rather direct route that was very much a counter part of how we left, so I just looked for little mental book marks: cluster of trees, the sidewalk, alternative paths. And the big buildings helped." Finishing with her left hand he kneeled down and picked up the 8oz, close gripped gloves. They were lighter then traditional training gloves, but they were all he had from his starting day's. They were well broken in, the knuckles of the gloves faded from the pitch black persona of the rest of the gloves. They had basic velcro grips to tighten at the wrists. Handing them towards her he stayed lowered to the ground and immediately picked up the focus mitts, slipped them on and biting the straps to tighten them. Standing back up he slipped back with his right foot, holding both his hands up at about shoulder width apart, half an foot in front of his face, and slightly turned the gloves inward. "Alright, start off with the jab, then turn twist the other way and use the straight." Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Nov 23, 2009 12:01:31 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Aleece was sucked into watching Richard work intently on wrapping her hands. Of course she knew what it was for…generally speaking, but she had never done it/had it done for her before, and she didn’t show any signs of discomfort as he went about doing it. When he answered her question she smiled again shortly and glanced up just as briefly. “Well good,” she said really glad to hear it. It wouldn’t have done any good for him to run into trouble again, and while she wouldn’t doubt it happening in a place like this (or that he was the kind to attract trouble), it was always best when it didn’t. When he was done wrapping her hands and bent down to pick up the gloves she took the time to flex her fingers, balling them into a fist lightly before relaxing them. Aleece took the worn gloves as they were handed to her and she managed to shove them on almost awkwardly, fumbling for a minute as Richard put on the focus mitts. With her hands covered in the padded material she ran one over the other, more exactly where the faded and worn areas were. She could only assume he had, had these for awhile from the condition they were in – slightly more flexible then she would imagine. And it seemed Richard was all business now because no sooner had he straightened then they were back into focus, the small break over, as it were, as he slipped a foot back. The sound of his sneaker sliding across the paved track caught her attention as she brought her hands up, taking the hint to get back at it. Suddenly Aleece was hit with a memory of Anna, and her trying to train her, the fact she had been nearly knocked out after her one free shot – it made her lips quirk up involuntarily. She couldn’t stand the scene chick but she found it a little funny to compare the two different situations, now – both their ideas of training. Taking a breath and nodding at his instructions she found herself hesitating in any case when faced with him. There was just no way she couldn’t suddenly feel the same ineptness creeping up all over again. By nature she wasn’t a violent person to begin with, but she didn’t know if she could blame her timidity on that exactly. So when she did move, recalling all the motions to throwing the jab, and despite not finding it all that hard to follow what she was supposed to do, there was hardly any force behind it. With her left then right, she threw the two punches pushing off her back foot and turning her hip in, rolling her shoulder over –all she could remember doing that he had told her so far. A light tapping sound of her gloved hands meeting the focus mitts came one after the other, quickly, and she drew back afterward, lowering her hands a little. Aleece hated the fact she was wanted to be reassured here, but she really had no idea if she was doing this right or well... ((ooc - again sorry =/)) Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Nov 23, 2009 23:48:20 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top With eyes darting left to right and back again he watches the fists of furry strike at the pads, little echoes of a light crackle confirming the pressure pushed against his palms and wrists as she struck over and over again. From the gloves his eyes darted to the blurred vision of the elbows. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust and see the motion her arms were doing, and having made a small mental note he moved from her elbows to her shoulders. Watching the shoulders was much easier to do, the rotation and movement much less then that of the middle of an arm. From her shoulders he checked on her hips, and from her hips down to her knees and then down to her feet. Looking back up to the gloves he watched the tapping hands against the focus mitts, and thus started back at the beginning. As she struck and he felt her taps he started to lightly and subtly tense his biceps and jerk the pads forward just before she hit, adding a bit more of a snap, and more power into her strikes, even if part of the power came from his movements, it was still a nice feeling and sound, a boost of the ego for the striker. “That’s it, turn your elbows over higher.” He’d noticed, though it took a few times to realize it, that she wasn’t turning her elbows all the way over. It took away from the power and put more strain on the wrist, but would also help with her hooks later on. There as another type of straight, one that left the elbow facing the ground, but it had a different purpose, and still wasn’t that strong. “Your shoulder movements good, it’s stiff but snappy, and you’re throwing it out smoothly. Good range.” Everything he said was true; it wasn’t just a compliment for compliments sake. He wasn’t trying to boost her ego, just make her see that if she tried she could not only do it, but do it well. His eyes shifted back from her gloves to her arms, trying to see what changes she’d make based on his suggestions. Despite the chill in the air he wasn’t feeling a thing. His underarmor was good at keeping him warm, despite being drenched in his sweat from his earlier run. His motions weren’t needed to keep him warm, but he’d figured from her attire that Aleece was a bit different off. The shorts and the sports bra, though helpful and pretty damn attractive, weren’t the warmest. So he was hoping to keep her warm with limited delays. (I'll be replying to the other thread tomorrow after work. Might have time to work on it during the day. Infact, I know I will... Just no internet until the evening.) Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Nov 24, 2009 16:51:33 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top If anything the repetitive motions, like before, helped Aleece get a little more comfortable with what she was doing, nodding as she took Richards advice and adjusted what she was doing as it was pointed out. Still she was focused on where her hands were actually going to strike to notice that he was checking her over, though that was obvious, and she saw his arm flexing to bring the mitts out to meet her hand with each contact. With the constant repetitive movements it was easy to warm back up, even though she felt the morning chill on her face. What was important was that her muscles weren’t getting the chance to cool down so it was bearable. Aleece kept going, quickly feeling the warmth start to build up to a burn, as this was completely different then running, it was working and straining muscles that weren’t used to being worked on a daily bases or…hardly ever. It wasn’t hard, because of that, for her heart rate to be elevated, her brow creasing a little more in concentration. Before to long practically any other physical discomfort or distraction she was having melted away from the outside of her tunneling vision. Just seeing where her hands were hitting and the sound they made on contact, it was all enough to make her relax a little bit to much, but not so much so where she was unconscious of what she was doing. It didn’t take much for a light sweat to prickle at her hairline, either. This was something her body wasn’t used to doing and she was forcing her body to remember and adjust to it – to get over whatever reservations she had of not being able to. Aleece had always been a touch stubborn when it came to things she wanted, just like if it was something she didn’t want, and even as she grew a little more contented in her own skin there was still a fine line bordering reserve and going with it. The conflict here recently was getting repetitious and grinding on her own nerves, and at the moment she didn’t want to keep doing the same ol’ thing, so regardless if she was uncomfortable, or tired she wasn’t going to let it continue to be an excuse. Though she knew there was such a thing as trying to hard, which was a problem because it was either all or nothing with her most of the time. There was a building trembling in her arms, from the exertion of energy – however the small adjustments she took into account on Richard’s cue made things go a little smoother for her as a whole and it let her gain a little more confidence. Aleece put more force behind the punches and jabs; continuing with out uttering a single complaint and probably wouldn’t until he told her something else to do. Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Nov 24, 2009 21:03:21 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top After her alterations that stemmed from his observations he started to mentally tick off the seconds, counting ninety in total. One minute and thirty seconds. That’s how long he made her continued on the non-joyful journey of constantly using and therefore abusing muscles she wasn’t prone to using before. Once the final second ticked off in his lead he pushed back on his front foot, distancing himself while keeping the pads up – there’s nothing like dropping your guard and having a punch slip through at the last moment. “And – Stop.” Lowering his arms he shook out his shoulders, trying to remove the tension that had built up in his shoulders since they’d first started. “Good improvement half way through, and I’m impressed with your determination. That’s a strong heart.” He didn’t know if she was more logic-based on the aspects of martial arts, or if she believed in the ‘mystical properties’, but regardless what she showed, in his opinion, was a boatload of heart as she fought through the pains. When he started he wasn’t quite as determined, believing he knew the limits of his own body and quitting to soon – not pushing the fruits of his training. “Okay, we’re going to work on the hook, then add it in.” Curling his body and raising the mitts as though he was entering a fighting stance he first pointed to his left elbow and then up to the mitt. “There are essentially two types of hooks, short and long. We’re going to work on the long punches. It’s very important that your raise and turn your elbows up like before to properly execute it.” Pushing off with his back leg he torqued his hips like he was throwing out a jab, then turned them a bit further as his left arm extended and he snapped it across and pulled it back around. “With the mitts on you can’t see it but you need to turn your wrist inward, so you’re not striking with your thumb. Then the motion is simple, move your arm around in a wide arch as though you’re stirring a pot, or rather a large cauldron.” Deciding his previous physical example wasn’t good enough he took off his left mitt and pointed at his wrist with his right. “You can keep your wrist up, and will strike more with your second knuckles most of the time, or you can turn it over, which endangers the thumb, but you won’t scrape your knuckles as bad, and you’ll be hitting more with your index finger’s first and second knuckle. Try it out in the air a few times and see which feels better. Remember, it’s different with fingerless gloves, and none at all.” Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Nov 30, 2009 23:37:47 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Aleece was almost sure that Richard would just keep going, and her arms would fall off before he ended this. All in all the burn that was starting to build up in her shoulders, biceps, and forearms just let her know one thing – she needed to add another element to her workout program. Maybe chin-ups or push ups, probably doing a few hundred crunches wouldn’t hurt either as she was starting to feel the strain in just about every other non-worked out muscle in her upper half. One thing she was good at though was keeping her breathing in check, had a good lung capacity so this wasn’t exactly a toll on her that away. When he finally told her to stop, there was no hesitating about it or perhaps not hearing him to late – she was ready to. Aleece followed his example, copying his gesture - shaking out her arms, then pulling her arms across her chest to stretch out her shoulder. She knew she had a long ways to go if that was making her hurt, and she sent Richard a small grin when he complimented her determination as well as the fact she was picking it up. “If I’m doing this well, its because I have a good instructor,” she said lightly, still with a small quirk on her lips. However, small talk aside, they resumed and he dived back into if she was ready or not – this time with how to do a hook. It would be easy for her to get into a habit of doing something like this, or rather this kind of daily training, if she had someone there to push her and remind her. Aleece got the feeling that she would be able to count on Richard for that. As he began to explain to her the mechanics of a hook, breaking down how each essential element of it would look she shadowed him in a sort of mock stance. With his thorough explanation and demonstration she nodded when he told her to try it out. Aleece caught on that the motion really started with the feet, then the hips, essentially the same like with what she had just learned, but with a bit more to it. And the first time she brought her fist up, extending it across like she had seen him do, she felt the same awkwardness just like before. She took her time though repeating the motion a few more times, turning her wrist over, before pausing all together, but not dropping the stance like her body was yelling at her to. Taking a breath Aleece went onto answer him, “well…quite honestly they both feel weird doing.” She had never had this kind of structured training, so either way he wanted to show her to do it, she would learn to do it that way. Back to Top   trithardt Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Dec 2, 2009 0:56:56 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top “I’m pretty sure it’s more to do with the student, but that’s my opinion.” He replied, his tone kind and humbled, almost as though he wasn’t use to receiving such a compliment – something he tried to hide as best he could. As she copied his stance and worked on her hooks he watched her form, looking at the turn of her wrists each time to see which one was flowing more naturally. She seemed to feel it herself though, as neither looked like they were a natural approach. “Yeah, I’m seeing that as well. I guess I’ll just force your body into striking my preferred way.’ He said, speaking with no deterred emotions, as he pressed onward. “Myself, I like to turn my wrist over and strike with my index knuckles, that way I can get my elbow higher up should I need to change the punch, and it’s also more naturally for me when I perform a short hook, which we’ll work on later.” Raising the pads up he held his left hand out with the pad turned inward towards his center, keeping it up just to the left – Aleece’s right – of his center. “Alright, just start with the left hook first. The right will probably feel even more awkward, at least it did for me.” He kept his right hand down, then focus mitt pressing against his thigh, keeping it out of sight and thus out of mind, doing his best not to deter Aleece’s focus primarily from getting used to the left hook. He wanted her mostly to focus on getting the proper torque, and really turning her body over so that it was almost like she was turning her back to him, but that was more common with a short hook – something that’s more powerful, but not as rapid and continuous as the smooth motions of a long hook. Keeping his head back and his arm forward he watched her form, once more making mental notes as she struck out at the pad. He could tell from the movements of her body and the sound of the glove striking the mitt that it wasn’t quite there, that something was just a little bit off from a more natural flow. She was getting it, and perhaps all she needed was to practice it more, but he looked to try and find any flaw he could quickly change in her movements. Back to Top   aleeca Guest [send pm] Joined: January 1970 Posts: 0 First of Many (Aleece) « Dec 4, 2009 18:26:33 GMT -6 » Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Aleece couldn't help but color a bit under Richards comment, one which she highly doubted but didn't dispute as they continued on with the lesson. Instead she focused on what she was doing to make sure his opinion didn't' change all that much or for the worst. If anything she didn't want him to feel like he was wasting his time with her here this morning - like she was a hopeless cause. She was sure that given time all this would be able to be put to good use and she didn't want to mess that up. Relaxing a bit after he started to speak again, telling her he saw what she meant she nodded at his approach to just force her body into his way of doing things, not minding that method one bit. When Richard brought the pads back up she raised her hands again. Once in position, Aleece didn't hesitate, really able to relax now they were good into things. Starting from the ground up she turned her right heel out, so her knee turned in causing her hip, elbow, shoulder, and hand to move forward...all of that bringing her over her left knee - her weight resting on the ball of her left foot. That part wasn't exactly she felt awkward with, it was the drop in her height as her left side turned back, her right heel hitting the ground and her fist landing in the focus mitt. Of course she was sure she missed many elements of the move she had just executed to help along with that almost floundering along. Again instead of just stopping at the first punch, she went back, shifting her stance back and forth to continue over and over again. Aleece didn't want to assume Richard wanted her to stop, because she could see the speculative look he was giving her like he was practically breaking everything she was doing. She could feel the burn start to work up again, this time in her legs and not only in her shoulders, and she divided her attention between trying to do the left hook and keeping her breathing relatively normal. This time she felt the prickle of sweat with each contact of her hand in Richard's, and the chill of the early morning hardly touched her at all. Something she was grateful for, but knew would happen - more like wanted to. Aleece tried to adjust a few things here and there if she noticed what she might be doing herself - like the fact she was bending her back when she turned. (This wasn't unusual for her she often corrected herself in other things) And when she did, the one small infraction, she noticed an immediate difference in the force in which her gloved hand hit. She was so surprise that at that point she paused, obviously and looked at Richard with a raised eyebrow...her expression expectant, like she didn't know what she had just done. 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