Elastic kumite drills – 9/19/08 – Friday Karate class

Sensei Noia gave us an interesting class.

Elastic band run…

Sensei Noia had us get a partner and an elastic band.  He had one partner stand in front of the other with the elastic band around the hips of the person in front.  The person in front had to run across the gym while the other person pulled on the elastic band.  This was a real hard drill but a lot of fun too.

Elastic band shifting…

For the next drill, Sensei had us shift with the elastic band around our hips instead of running.  The shifting drills were a bit harder than the running drills since the elastic bands added a lot of resistance against the shifting leg.

Sensei had us put the band down and shift without it.  I was able to cover at least an extra six inches of ground with each shift.

Shift and run…

For the next drill, Sensei had us shift across the and when he said go, we had to run to the end of the gym.  The idea was for us to be able to change movements as fast as possible.

We finished off our drills, shifting forward while holding our headgear in our front hand at nose level.  This was to keep us from letting our hands fall when we were tired.

I am certainly no kumite expert but I do feel that my skills are starting to improve, slowly but surely.