Archives for April 2009

Kicking warm up…

We did our normal kicking warm up with front snap kicks being one of the movements.  This time, Sensei Cieplik made a comment when I was doing my kicks, he said to bring my knee up before I let my kick go.   Even though Sensei has said this many times in the past, it just didn’t “sink in” until tonight.  Sensei has often said that a front snap kick is and extended knee strike and even though I heard him say it, I guess I wasn’t doing it.

Kihon with attention to the lower body…

Sensei had us spend a lot of time working on kihon but with extra attention to our lower body and hips.  One of the drills that we have been doing more often is start in a cat stance, move the front foot forward, drive the hips and punch.  Making us start in a cat stance helps us focus on driving from the hips and not from the upper body.  Sensei has been seeing too much “chin knee disease”  where our chin is over our front knee when we punch.

One point that he stressed and an area that I need the most work on is “make the hips do the work.”

A block is a strike…

Sensei said that a block can often be a strike.  Doing the reach before say a rising block can be a block and the rising motion can then be used as a strike.  For example, when reaching forward with the front hand before doing a rising block, the opponents eyes can be poked with the fingers and the can be struck under the chin with the rising block motion.  I know that poke in the eyes and a hard strike under my chin with a rising forearm would stop me in my tracks pretty fast or at least slow me down a lot.

Kata but use the hips…

We worked on a few katas but I focused hardest on Bassai dai.  Sensei said that the key to the kata is to let the hips do the work on the double blocks.  For example, after the first move, we turn and 180 degress and then do an outward block with our left arm followed by and outward block with our right arm.  The power between those movements should come totally from the hips and the motion of our arms should be moving into the lock and not a swinging motion.  Locking the muscles with the hips in the right position will stop the attack, not the swinging motion of the upper arms.

Learn something from the Dog Whisperer….

On a different  note, Sensei made a comment about Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, and how he says to use calm assertivenss when dealing with dogs.  The point that Sensei was making is that we should do the same with our Karate and use calm assertiveness when doing our movements and when sparring.  I have seen the dog whisperer often in the past but I have been watching more and can see what Sensei was talking about.  Cesar does not have to be aggressive and forceful to take control of unruley dogs, instesad he is able to show them who is boss but in a very calm way.  Make sure you watch it if you have a chance, there is something to learn there.

Sensei DiPasquale really covers a lot of Karate in his class.

Get it started…

Sensei had us start in a stationary front stance with reverse punch but with our partner holding our leg to make sure that we keep our stance low and our knee in the correct position.  We spent a long time in that stance and then switched to other leg to keep things even.

We also did a horse stance with a double punch, then move into a back stance with knife hand block.  This is very similar to ten-no-kata and I need to add this drill to my training outside the dojo.

Work those legs…

For the next drill, we stood in front of our partner and turned to the side.  Our partner held out their hand at belt level and we raised our leg up, like a roundhouse, and touched their hand with our leg.

Next was slow roundhouse with partner followed up with double roundhouse.

We finished up this group of drills with roundhouse to left then roundhouse to the right without our partner.  Next came double roundhouse of the same.

Partner kihon…

For this drill, we started in a horse stance and did a double block outward block as our partner does a slow chudan front punch.  Next, we did a horse stance with double block, our partner does front punch, as they move back, we change from horse stance to left back stance and then right back stance, and then  then back into horse stance with double block.

Kata and kicks…

We ended class with a series of drills where one partner did kata and the other held on to the wall and did slow back kicks.  Once everyone in the kata group was done with their kata, we switched and they did the kicks and we did the kata.  I think we did at least three or four katas and groups of kicks.  It was a tough drill but a good class overall.

Sensei Plocharczyk taught class tonight and it was a tough one.

Pay attention to your stances….

For the first drill, Sensei had us get a white pad.  We put it on the floor in front of us and got into a front stance with our left foot on top of the pad.  From there, we threw a front snap kick and then set our kicking foot down behind us and executed a low double block, much like the double block from Jion.  The idea was to keep the from moving when we threw the kick by squeezing the pad and keeping our foot pointing forward.

We did a lot of conditioning drills during class but I was only able to do squating an lunge motions because of my neck.  (I have a herniated disk in my neck and it is causing all sorts of problems with my training.)

The next drill started in a cat stance with our front foot on top of the pad.  From that point, we slid the pad forward and moved into a back stance.  This drill was really hard on the legs.

Kata of the day, Bassai Dai…

Sensei had us work on Bassai Dai today.  We went through all the moves by count but we spent extra time on the transition from the outward block to the punch block and punch block combination moves.  The key is to stay low, turn the body and keep the knees bent and then reach with the left hand rise up.  It is also good to time the reach with the straightening of the legs and tighten the core.

Note -  Sensei made a good suggestion for when in a back stance, turn the hips so that the hip and front leg are at a 45 degree angle.  Turning the hip to that angle keeps the front knee in the proper position and allows you to sit back into the stance than if your hips are not turned.  This is one where a picture is worth a 1000 words and if anyone wants me to explain it in more detail, drop me a comment here and I will take a video or some picutres.