Honesty in Practice

In tonight's session we practiced a bevy of techniques from the shomen uchi attack (chop to the head). A very interesting and useful practice altogether, but it struck me how important it is to have an honest attack in order to carry out the technique well.

If the uke comes with some momentum that can be used to perform the technique, then it definitely helps. But the problem is that it's hard to practice "full on" until you know how the thing works. There's no doubt that a true, full speed attack would succeed (and cause a sore head), and yet if the uke holds back too much, there is no momentum to make it work.

As with practicing the irimi nage in the early days, I guess the answer is practice, practice, practice until you achieve the 'automation' needed to allow the pace to pick up.