Archives for October 2007

After not training for the last few days because my hip was very sore, I got right back into it today both with a some kata before class and class itself.

I did 15 Tekki Shodan and one each of Heian 1 – 4.

My hip was sore until I started doing my kata before class but by then it was out of my mind.

Class was extremely hard.  We pretty much did our entire test but with more repetitions.

We started some in place front punches.  We got in a low stance, turned our hips open, reached with our draw hand and then twisted and punched.  This was to help warm up our hips.

Next we did moving forward downward block, rising block, inward block and outward block.  Next came some combinations with the same blocks as before but we added reverse punch.  I’m not sure how many we did but it seemed like a lot.

We also worked on moving forward and backward in a back stance with knife hand block.  Next came back stance, knife hand block and nukite moving both forward and back.  Then for us purple belts, we did moving forward and back, back stance, knife hand block, front snap kick with nukite.

By this time, I was ready to find a place to lay on the floor under the bleachers but then came more!

From a horse stance, we did slow motion side thrust kicks followed up with full speed side thrust kicks but Sensei gave us a little twist and had us hold out our kicking leg after each kick.  Next came more kicks.  Moving forward double front snap kick, front snap kick with side thrust kick, front snap kick with front side thrust kick and double roundhouse kick.  Somewhere else in there was front snap kick with front punch too.

We then did outward block, elbow strike and back fist both forward and backward.

Next came some kata.  We did our kata in front of Sensei Noia.  I felt pretty good tonight but doing 15 kata earlier today, I was warmed up for it.

After that, we finished up with one-step sparring.  We went though all block and counters without a partner.

Today was one of the hardest classes that I can remember.  I sure hope that my upcoming rank test is easier than this class.

We did a lot of baics.  I really like these classes but I also need to improve my endurance.  By the 40 minute mark, I was panting like an old dog.

We started with kicking drills.  First, from a horse stance, we did side thrust kick.  Then we did side snap kick.  Then came roundhouse kicks.  Moving across the gym.  After that, we did double front snap kick followed up with double round house kicks.

Next came combinations.  We started with downward block and reverse punch and then moved on to rising block, inward block, outward block all with reverse punches.  We did combinations both forward and backward with no rest.  We then worked on outward block, elbow strike with back fist both forward and backward.

We then worked on one-step sparring without a partner.  This was a little different than working with a partner but if you concentrate hard enough, you won’t notice that you are working without a partner.

We then did a kata and finished up.

Class was really good again.

We spent a lot of time working on kicking drills.  One drill in particular, that is more painful than most others, is where we stand next to the wall, throw a side thrust kick, hold it out for a a couple seconds and then pull it in as fast as possible.  It sounds easy but it really isn’t.

We then got a partner, they got in a horse stance with their palms facing up, we then threw a side thrust kick and put our foot in thier hands.  After holding our leg up, Sensei counts and we have raise out leg up higher for a few seconds and then we set it back on our partners hands and rest for a short time then repeat for what seemed like an eternity.  We did a similar drill to that one but our partner held out their arm and we circled our foot around it.

Walking was not too easy after class but it usually isn’t after good classes.

For my workout, I did 10 tekki shodan.