Class gets better and better – 1/08/09 – Thursday Karate class

Sensei Cieplik showed gave a few new things to work on and think about.

Sparring type movements…

Sensei had us a do a different warm up drill to help get our hips stretched out.  He had us do inside out crescent kicks.  He told me to do alternating legs and it really opened up my hips more than some of the other dynamic stretches that I have done in the past.

Sensei had us start with many kicks for a long warm up.  He had us start with shifting forward with a job.  Next came shifting forward with reverse punch and then shifting forward with jab and reverse punch.

After that, we did a different drill that I don’t remember ever doing.  We took three steps and did a reverse punch with each step.  It was hard for me to get coordinated enough to move quickly when doing this drill.  We spent a good amount of time working on this drill before we moved on.

Kata…

Sensei had us work on kata next.  We started with Heian Shodan, then Jion, then Heian Nidan, then Heian Yondan.

Sensei made a really good point about kata;

When showing it to others he said if you just count the numbers for each move, they will never understand the kata or learn it very well.  I had talked to him about this after class and he suggested that when showing kata to others, start with the Bunkai for Heian Shodan and let them actually participate in the process, even if working with the pre-Karate students.