Shotokanplanet.org

This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.

Archives for June 2008

Roundhouse kick warm up and kata bunkai – Saturday Karate class – 6/21/08

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Sensei Plocharczyk gave us a very interesting class today.  He had us do some things that we never did before both during our warm up and in class.

A very different warm up – Horse stance, shuffle and roundhouse kick.

We ran around the gym for a few laps and then Sensei had us line up on one side of the gym.  He then said get into a horse stance, shuffle up to the right, throw a low side thrust kick (around knee height) across the gym to the first line about a quarter distance of the gym and back.  Then, we did the same move but threw the kick to thigh level but to the halfway line across the gym and back.  Next, the same move again but to belt level height to the three quarter line and back.  We then did one more drill all the way across the gym, throwing kicks or trying to throw them to jodan level.  This warm up sound really simple but it gave my hips an excellent warm up.  I plan on doing this drill at home to help improve my hip mobility and kicking ability.

Kata bunkai…

I am calling this kata bunkai, not because it was all parts of one kata but because it was various parts of a few different kata’s.

We stood face to face with our partner.  My partner was my wife this time,  She grabbed the top of my gi near the top of my chest below my neck with her right hand and threw a wide hay maker punch with her left hand.  I stopped the punch using my left hand with an edge hand strike to her right bicep and grabbed her arm, near the bicep with my left hand.  I then moved my right foot behind her left leg and did the dropping strike from Jion to her right arm, to break her grip where she was holding my gi.  I then slid behind her, into a horse stance with still holding her right arm, threw an elbow strike with my right arm and took her down to the floor by pushing my right hip into hers and twisting as I executed the elbow strike.

Using the edge hand strike could be from many of that kata’s where a knife hand block is used, except this movement was a strike and not a block.  The arm grab with the downward dropping strike is from Jion and Sensei said that it can be done both with the right foot on the floor like a step or brining the knee up just like in the kata.  The elbow strike while holding her is the second from the last move in Jion.

We normally do not spend a lot of time on kata application but Sensei mentioned that during the summer months, he hopes to work on some more of these types of movements.  With the exception of lying on the floor looking up, I really like it.

Thursday Karate class – 6/19/08 – Time for some Bassai Dai.

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Today started a new session and there we some new faces in class. A few more black belts and a couple of brown belts. Another one of our friends from our other classes signed up after we told her how much we get out of taking Sensei Cieplik’s class.

A little extra warm up.

It was a little cold in the dojo even though it was warm outside. Because of this, Sensei had us do extra kicking drills for our warm up. We started with front snap kicks, then moved to front snap kick followed with back kick.

Next was front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, roundhouse kick, side thrust kick to the front and another front snap kick. Sensei Cieplik likes to use this particular group of kicks because is forces the hips to be used in many different positions. I am usually panting like dog and dripping with sweat after just a few of these and tonight was no different.

We finished our warm up with a drill that I am never sure if I explained correctly. We start in a front stance with our reverse hand out in front, we then throw a rear leg front snap kick, set our leg back behind us, in the position it started in and then throw a reverse punch. If I understand it correctly, we do this drill to see if we can get connected with our back leg, for the reverse punch, after throwing the front snap kick. When I do this movement the correct way, it feels so strong, it is hard to describe without doing and feeling it yourself.

The hard workout begins…

Sensei had us spent some extra time on our moving forward front snap kick with front punch movement. Sensei had us do a few moves the normal way and then he added a twist. Sensei had us add a cat stance to the movement right after the front snap kick. Instead of just falling into a front stance and punching, we had to focus on putting our foot down in front, in the cat stance, and then pushing our leg forward before we threw the punch. He has often told us to scare our opponent with our knee and adding the cat stance to this movement certainly does just that. Because we a not just dropping into the front stance, it makes for a better grounded connection with the back leg and back foot. The punch almost becomes automatic since most of the focus in on the knee strike.

Back stance, no hands!

We also spent some time working on our back stances. Sensei said “back stance assume” and with the exception of very few people, my son being one of them, everyone moved into a back stance with knife hand block. He let us do about three or four moves before he told 98% of the class that we were doing the movement the wrong way.

The reason for doing the back stance without the hands is to make the movement smoother and lighter. When we move with our hands, our shoulders and arms help us through the movement but doing it without any upper body assistance, it makes the movement much harder. I really need to work on this movement outside of class because it didn’t feel good at all. I felt like my feet were glued to the because I could not use my hands to help me move.

Rising block, more like rising strike.

Sensei had us spent some time working on our rising block. One of the habits when doing a rising block is that some people raise their arms parallel to the floor. This is good for blocking a punch and pushing it above the head but if you raise your arm in a vertical position and turn it less than parallel at the top, the movement becomes a powerful strike. Another key part of this movement is to twist your wrist at the end. When I say twist the wrist, picture how to twist your fist right at the end of a punch but instead you do it when you block. This makes the movement feel extremely powerful and I am sure that it can be used to break bones in an opponents arm if executed properly. He also made the point of using two hands with our blocks, which I think I have been doing from almost the start and crossing the arms into an “X” when doing the rising block. He also says to twist the body to get the upper back muscles into the movement instead of using just the shoulder muscles like many students often do.

Time for kata…

We started off with some Heian Shodan. I never get tired of this kata even after doing it for almost four years now.

Next we did Tekki Shodan three times. We have a student testing this weekend and Sensei wanted to watch him closely and give him advice if needed.

We then did Jion. My Jion felt a little better than before. Now that my exam is over, I feel that I am more relaxed and I felt that my Jion flowed better than in the past. It was strong but it felt much more fluid and not tensed like before.

We finished up with Bassai Dai. This was one of the first times that I did the entire. Thanks to Ira, one of our high ranking black belts who helped me get through all the moves, I was able to finish the kata. I am not sure what to think of it yet. I am able to do the hip movements easier that I thought I would be able to do them but there is just so much to remember. It really seems like a long kata so I am going to have to spend a lot of time working on remember all the moves.

Sensei gave us some good advice as we were leaving class. He suggested that we hit pads outside of class. Hitting the pads with help allow us to focus the point of impact instead of just pushing when we strike. Punching in the air never allows for feedback on if a punch or kick was focused or not and the pad work should help us develop the focus that I feel I am lacking.

Sensei also suggested drill where we use a stick to make sure the hips are working correctly. Hopefully I can explain this in text here. Get into a left leg forward front stance, put the stick on the right hip in front and throw a reverse punch. The stick should move forward and not out to the side if the move is done correctly.

Excellent advice and class as always.

Tuesday Karate Class – 6/17/08 – Back to sparring basics.

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Since I was injured for some time, I hadn’t done any sparring drills in class before my exam for about six or eight weeks.  Oddly enough, that time away from sparring might have been one of the best things to help improve my sparring.  That might sound crazy but let me explain.

Tonight, Sensei Noia has us work on simple sparring basics.  We found a partner and lined up in front of them.  We then did a very simple drill where one of us would shift in, throw a jab and shift out, then shift in a again and throw a reverse punch and shift out and then shift in again, throw a jab and reverse punch combination and then shift out.  When I did this in the past, even the most basic movements like these felt awkward to say the least.  Since I haven’t been sparring in such a long time, I seem to have forgotten how I used to do the movement.  It is as if I am learning these for the first time again.  My shifting feels lighter, my hands are moving faster and seem much more accurate and it just feels right.  I am guessing that not sparring for that time has allowed me to forget my bad habits and come back with an open mind and the ability to learn them the correct way now.  I can’t really think of any other excuse other than that.

For our next drill, we worked on shuffle up, front leg roundhouse kick to chudon and then shuffle out, then shuffle up, front leg roundhouse to jodan and shuffle back.  Getting my roundhouse to jodan is still not there but again, the shuffle movement that used to confuse me felt so much smoother than ever before.

The next drill, we attacked our partner, then shifted to the right and attacked a new partner all the way down the line.  The idea behind this drill was to get in, attack and get out fast.

We then did a drill where we would shift in place and our partner would walk in at varying speeds and once they got close enough for us to attack, we attacked and moved out.  The idea was to work on our distance and timing.

Our final drill was really fun.  Our partner would hold a pad, walk toward us and we would attack with a reverse punch and have to stop them.  After the first attack, we would shift back and  they would keep coming and we would have to stop them again.  The idea was to punch while they were coming at us and stop them in their tracks.  My hips were really coming around for this movement and my wife said that my punches were really strong, even though she was holding two pads when I was attacking.

Although, I don’t think taking off from one certain part of Karate will help all of my problems, I do think this little break from sparring did me more good than harm.