Since Sensei Noia wants all of us to do 10 of our current belt rank kata each day to prepare for our upcoming rank examinations, I went to the dojo early to do my daily kata practice. I did 10 Tekki Shodan.
It feels so much better doing kata in the dojo compared to at home or other places for some reason. I am not sure if it is because I have my gi on or maybe it’s the floor that makes it feel better.
Class began with a quicker than usual warm up and then we got right into it.
Sensei had us get a partner and stand next to each other. We then held on to each others shoulder, brought our knees up to the front and the kicks began. We started with side thrust kicks. Sensei would count and one partner would kick then on the next count it was the other partners turn. We ended up doing three sets of 10 on each leg without setting our leg down in between reps.
Next came side snap kicks. We were told to pay extra attention to our hip movement when executing the kicks. Again, we did three sets of 10. After we finished those, we did roundhouse kicks the same way for the same sets and reps.
Next came horse stance kicks. We moved into a good horse stance and did side thrust kicks along with side snap kicks. After the other kicking drills, I was hardly able to bring my leg up much less kick with any real power but I endure the torture.
Next we worked on one-step sparring. The chiropractor I am going to and the stretching that I have been doing must be helping in more ways than I thought. I am able to really move to the outside now when doing the block and counter. When I moved to the left, my foot is out past my partners foot just like it should be. I had a very hard time shifting out that far only a month ago but now it is better than ever before.
It was a very hard class but I am sure that I am at least a little better than I was before because of it.