Scary Karate class – 10/31/08 – Friday Karate class

Sensei Noia gave us another one of the those really hard classes again.  It was very appropriate on Halloween and scary enough to make me wonder if I could finish it.

Sensei had us start with a very quick warm up.  We ran back and forth across the gym five times and shuffled back and forth twice.

Kata warm up…

Sensei had us start with Heian Shodan which we did a couple times.  Next came Heian Nidan twice, then Heian Sandan three times, Heian Yondan four times, Heian Godan five times and Tekki Shodan six times.  After we were totally tired and had done 20 kata about 30 minutes, Sensei had us do our own belt kata (Bassai Dai for me) as if we were at our test.  Just when I thought we were done, Sensei had us go through one-step sparring without a partner.  We then got a quick drink.

One-step sparring…

After a little water and some quick breathes we got a partner and worked on one-step sparring.  Sensei Noia had us do it with a little twist.  Instead of using punches and kicks to counter with, we had to use moves that we normally do not use.  For example, I used a knife hand to counter or a back fist.  There were a couple of times I used an elbow and at one point, after taking my partner down to the floor, I dropped my knee on him.  I always wondered why my son never wants to partner up with me for some reason.

Hip stretches and strengthening…

For the rest of class, Sensei had us lay on the floor with our upper body elevated by our arm and bent elbow.  From that position, Sensei told us to pick up our leg, slowly and bring it back down.  Next, we kept our leg up, in what was like a roundhouse position and kicked.  After that, we did a side thrust kick and back.  The next move was a hook kick.  The final move was for us to put our foot from our top leg on the floor and picked the other leg.  Again, all of these movements were done while lying on the floor.  They were very hard and I was limping after class but I need to find a way to do this drill at home.

It was a very hard class and even somewhat scary but excellent.