Shotokanplanet.org

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

Archives for August 2008

Kicking the pads is always good – 8/28/08 – Thursday Karate class

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Getting things warmed up…

Sensei Wail started us off with a good warm up.  He had us doing alternating front snap kicks and then he had us do a movement where we raise our legs up from the side like a roundhouse kick to get the hips and core warmed up.

The next movement was hard for me.  Sensei told us to shuffle up, do a front leg roundhouse kick, shuffle back and then switch legs.  I was focusing on my kicks so intensely that I keep forgetting to change my feet after each kick.

Kicking was the subject of this class…

Sensei Wail had us start by moving slowly from a horse stance and the slowly do a side thrust kick.  Doing the movements slowly make them so much harder for me but if they can be executed well when done slowly, doing them fast will be so much better.

Next, we partnered up and got a pad.  The first exercise was leg circles around the pad that our partner was holding.  Sensei had us do them clockwise with our heel leading the movement.

After those, our partner held the pad and we did hook kicks.  The is one of the first times that I recall doing hook kicks on a pad and Sensei had our partner hold them low so that we could get some good power behind them.  He said to hit the pad with our heel.  I would guess that a kick like this to the knee, thigh or groin area would be very painful.

Some conditioning too…

Sensei had us stay with our partner for some conditioning drills.  While one partner did squats, the other partner held the side plank position.  We then switched places with our partner.  When our partner did the side plank for the other side, Sensei had us do side squats.  We started in the standing postion, moved one leg out to the side and squated in that direction.  I found this movement very interesting because it not only helps strengthen the hips, it also opens the hips up which is always a good thing for me.

Time to kick the big pads now…

Sensei let work on the the big pads next.  We started with front snap kicks.  I really feel that my front snap kick is my best kick and now that I know how to put my hips into them, they feel stronger than ever.

The next kick on our agenda was roundhouse kick.  I was really happy with my right leg roundhouse.  It was over belt level and it felt like there was finally something behind it.  My leg leg was a different story and it felt like there was nothing behind it.

We finished up the pad drills with side thrust kicks.  Those were certainly my weakest kicks and I really need to spend some extra time working on those.  They seem okay when I throw them at knee or average thigh level but anything about and they are weak and have little accuracy.

Some stretches to finish things up…

Sensei had us sit on the floor with our partner and put our legs out in the split postion.  He than had our partner put thier feet just below our knees.  He then had them push our legs out and hold it.  After a little time, he told them to push while we resisted for five seconds and after we relaxed again, he told our partner to push our legs out a little farther.   He had us do this three times.  After our legs were out in the farthest position, he had our parnter move our legs back in so that we wouldn’t pull any mucles trying to do it ourselves.

It was a good class and even though we did a lot of kicks, I was still able to walk to the car and then into the house without much pain.

Pure torture – 8/26/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia reached a new level today.  I cannot believe how hard class was and my legs were already starting to go weak before we finished the warm up.

Suicides are not a good enough description of this warm up…

Sensei had us start with suicides.  Normally we do one or two but today, he had us five.  Near number four, my legs were already starting to show signs of fatigue.  Next, we stood in front of our parnter and as they moved  forward, we moved backward in low walks.  We did this at least two times if not more.

Never ending low walks…

I thought that we were done with the low walks (walking lunges for those of you that might not have heard about these) after the warm up but just when I thought it was safe, Sensei had us do something worse.

We started with more low walks but we added front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, and front kick after doing each low walk.   Somewhere in there, I remember doing roundhouse kicks but I cannot remember the details of drill except I know were started in the low position.

Next, Sensei had us work with our partner again but the idea was for us to both do a low walk, the one moving forward would try to hit the others shoulders with their hands and the person moving forward would block.  This sounds like a simple drill but the stress of doing the low walks while trying to strike or block really changed the dynamics.

After those, Sensei had us do low walks again but one partner would kick from the low position and the other would block while moving backward.

We spent close to 40 minutes doing those movements.  My legs felt like jello at that point but we were not done yet.

Kata…

We finsihed up with some kata.  Sensei had us do a slow motion Hiean Shodan but with attention to our stances.  After that, he had us do our own kata in slow motion.  Next came our kata at medium speed and we finished up doing our kata at full speed and power.

I was a very tough class.  It wasn’t as bad as the Saturday before last but it was in the top five.

Getting ready for rank exams – 8/19/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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This is Sensei Noia’s first class since his wedding so it was good have him back.  Congrats to him and Beth.

Sensei Noia started us up with a hard warm up again.

Hard warm ups…

He had us get a partner and one of us did squats while the other ran to the far side of the gym and did 10 push up and then run back.  We then switched with our partner they did the run and push ups.  We did that a few times and then he had us substitute sit ups for the push ups.  I was pretty warmed up at that point.

Like a kick but different…

Sensei had us get on the floor in the crab walk position.  He then had us put one leg up in front with our knee bent, we then slowly extend leg like a front snap kick.  The part that made this drill so hard was keeping the leg up and our backs straight.  We did 10 repetitions on each leg.

Next we stood facing a wall but very close to it.  Sensei than had us hold the wall with both hands and do a slow motion roundhouse kick.  The idea behind holding the wall was to make sure that we kept our body in alignment when doing the roundhouse kicks.

Hip conditioning…

The next two drills were for our hips.  We stood next to the wall, put on hand on it for balance and then brought our leg up like a front snap kick.  We then pushed our knee forward and up.  This drill really opened up the hips but it was really hard to do.

The next movement was similar but we did squats with on leg.  We started with one hand on the wall again but this time, we stood on one leg, then bent it like a squat then from the lowest point we brought our leg back up, into what was like a front snap kick and extended our knee forward and up again like in the movement above.  I said that the last move was hard but this movement was exponentially worse.

Stance training…

Sensei had us get into a good front stance and our partner then placed a pad in front of our knee.  Our partner makes sure that our knee stays near or touching the pad while we do strikes of our choice for about a minute or longer.

Next came back stance move into cat stance while our partner holds a  pad above our head.  Each time Sensei counts, we move from a back stance into a cat stance while keeping our head at the same level.  I am really lacking when it comes to this movement.  My ankles are not cooperating while doing this and I need to find some way to compensate while doing movements like these.

Finish up with some more hip work…

For the last 10 minutes of class Sensei had our partner hold a pad in front of us, we then put our leg up like a side thrust kick and we made a circle around the pad while keeping our extened leg straight.  This movement is pure torture and part way through the drill, my hips totally cramped up.   I was able to continute after a short rest but I really need to strenghten my hips if I plan on doing these drills.