What an excellent class!
There are some days when I have good classes and some days when they are just excellent. I felt really good in class even though I didn’t sleep very well last night. My legs felt strong and loose even though I started lifting weights again yesterday.
We started with some Kihon. Sensei Gatch took us through downward block, rising, inward and outward block with reverse punch. He doesn’t give any rest and has us do the moves both forward and backward. It really tests my endurance but it seems better now than ever. Next, he had us do moving forward and backward with knife hand block, front kick and nukite.
Sensei Noia then broke us up into groups. He took all the purple, brown and black belts. He had us do a bunch of kicking drills. I used to never like doing kicks but since my hips are working better, I don’t mind them and even enjoy them when I feel good. We did moving forward front snap kick to the front and side thrust kick to the side. After that came front snap kick to the front and side thrust kick to the front. I have some balance issues with the side thrust kick to the front but it is improving.
Next, Sensei Noia had three of “big guys” hold a pad so that the others could side thrust kick a target. We did that for about 10 minutes and then Sensei Noia let the three of us kick the pad while he held it. I was kicking hard but using the ball of my foot instead of my heel. Sensei helped me correct that it made the kick feel much more powerful and driven.
After that, Sensei had us pair up for one-step sparring. I really felt good and was able to easily clear my partners foot when moving out of the way and blocking. I need to work a little on making sure that I don’t lean when I counter but other than that it felt great.
We finished up with a kata. One kata but it had to be our best. My kata felt good and my horse stance was lower than usual.
Sensei Noia was satisfied with everyones performance and said that we all looked good.
Before class, I did:
10 – Tekki Shodan and one each of Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan.
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