Shotokanplanet.org

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

Archives for October 2008

Sparring drills – 10/21/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia had us start with 10 suicides across the gym.

I am really disappointed in how many people cheat when they do this drill.  Some of them do not go all the way to each line and others just stop after doing six or so and say they did it 10 times.  Sensei Noia even tells everyone, you do not have to run full out as long as you finish all 10, but they just don’t do it.  I certainly hope that these people do not have to depend on their Karate training to help them in a life threatening situation one day or they will be in for a big surprise.

I never want anyone to think that I train harder than any others but if they are not there to give it their all, they should just stay home.  When you have a group of people that cheat all the time and don’t train hard, it brings down the rest of the class.  I know that when I finally do get my Shodan, I will have put in every ounce of blood, sweat and tears to get it.

Sparring drills…

I am starting to enjoy sparring a bit more than before.  For some reason, it just feels different than before.  I am trying to do it without thinking.  Sensei Noia told me to stop thinking about Karate and just do it.

We spent most of the class working on shifting in and out from our partner without getting hit.  The idea was for us to shift in and attack without letting our partner block and counter.  Another drill was our partner would turn side to side with their arms out to the side and we would shift in and attack at the right moment and get out before getting hit with their stretched out arms.

We finished up with some free sparring.

Kihon and the band, elastic band that is – 10/20/08 – Monday Karate class

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Sensei Brien had us start with some kihon to get us warmed up.

Balanced kicks…

Sensei had us start with moving forward and back with some blocks and punches.  Next came the kicks.  We did front snap kick to the front, side thrust kick to the front and back kick to the rear.  My balance was really off for some reason and I could hardly keep from falling over.

Kata bunkai…

Next, we worked on kata bunkai for Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan and Heian Yondan.  Sensei had us go through each kata, move by move, and he explained a few of the applications of the various moves in each kata.

The sounds of (elastic) bands was all around us…

Sensei had us get into a back stance, then move forward with knife hand block while we had the elastic band around our waist.  When we moved, Sensei had us prepare first, by getting into what looked like a cat stance, when he said one and then we moved forward into the back stance with knife hand block, when he said two, while our partner was pulling the band behind us.  Our parnter then stood in front of us and pulled against us while we did the same movement going backward.

After that, Sensei had us start in a front stance, with our partner behind us again.  From there, we moved forward and threw a front snap kick and then held it when Sensei said one and we then set our foot down in a controlled manner when he said two.

I really like working with the elastic bands and I am glad that the club is going to implement them in our training.

OUCH – 10/18/08 – Saturday Karate class

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Sensei Plocharczyk put us through a serious conditioning class today.

The warm up was a workout in itself…

Sensei had us start with two, back and forth, runs across the gym.  Next, came a shuffle back and forth across the gym.  After that, 100 jumping jacks, 50 crunches and 50 squats.

Kihon…

Sensei Gatch took us through some kihon after our warm up.

We started moving back and forth doing rising block, downward block and reverse punch.  We started in with the rising block and our hips open, we then turned our hips forward and then opened them again for the downward block and then turned them forward again for the reverse punch.

Next came front snap kick to the front and side thrust kick to side.  Then front snap kick to the front, side thrust kick to the side and back kick to the rear.

Kata with some conditioning…

Sensei Plocharczyk had us hold our balance while others did kata.  The idea was for us to hold our  balance bent over at the waist with our arms out to the side and one leg straight our behind us.  Then is was our turn to do kata and the others had to do the balancing.

The next exercise was one group did kata and the other group did speed squats until they finished.  I was able to do 69 squats in the time it took one of our black belts to finish Kanku Dai.

The last exercise of the day…

Sensei Plocharczyk had us hold our balance with one leg up like a front snap kick, we then had to bend over and touch a pad to the floor, raise upright with a front snap kick, then hold our balance and pass the pad across to our partner.  We had to do this this five times on each leg.

It was a tough class but it felt really good.