Archives for May 2009

Sensei Cieplik helped us prepare for our upcoming exams again.

Let the kick go….

We spent a good amount of time working on our basics.  We did moving forward and back with rising block, downward block, inward block and outward block all with reverse punch.  We also worked on the old standard, moving forward and back with front punch with extra attention to pushing from the hips and not using our upper body to punch.

Next came moving forward and back with inward block in front stance, move into horse stance with elbow strike and backfist.  Sensei wanted us to make sure that the front stance looked like a front stance and the horse stance was a horse stance.  I have been focusing on this move for some now since it is certainly not my best movement.

We worked on front snap kicks but Sensei wanted us to pay more attention to the knee strike so we did knee strike followed up with front snap kick.  The idea was to reset the hips between the knee strike and the front snap kick.

We finished up basics with horse stance, stepping across and side snap kick, then side thrust kick.  Sensei told me to make sure that I do not chamber the kick first, instead he wants me to let the kick go from the floor.  This has always made the move significantly harder for me but the few times that I felt I did it correctly, it felt much faster and more powerful.

Kata, kata, kata….

We spent the rest of the class working on kata.  We did all of the Heian katas and then worked on Jion for three or four katas.  After that, we worked on Bassai Dai.  After about five Bassai Dai’s I was starting to finally loosen up and the kata started to flow but with less power.  I was focusing hard on not leaning forward when doing it, which Sensei said I need to fix.

Sensei did sign my test paper but he also made it very clear that I better not lean forward at the test.

Sensei Cieplik had us work on many of our usual kihon movements for the first half of the class and then we moved into kata.

Everybody was one-step sparring….

Sensei had us get a partner and do one-step sparring.  We worked on the normal six attacks.  Front punch to jodan and chudan, front snap kick, side thrust kick, roundhouse kick and spinning back kick.  I am glad that we worked on one-step since I never feel that I do it enough.  I like to think of my one-step as one punch – one kill.  I know that sounds extreme but if I ever had to use the skills that I am learning in Karate, I would not bounch around trying to spar a mugger, I would want my counter attack or even my block to stop the attacker in their tracks.

A lot of kata…..

We started with the Heian katas.  We worked on Heian Shodan to warm up, then we did Heian Nidan twice, followed by Heian Sandan twice, Heian Yondan twice, Heian Godan twice and then Jion three times.  Next, we worked on Bassai Dai.  We did Bassai Dai at least 10 times and the point that Sensei was trying to get us to understand was that if we were tired, we would relax when doing the kata and perform it the correct way.

After about the sixth kata, I thought I was going to fall down but some how, I was able to dig deeper and finish every kata that Sensei asked us to do with the most power and speed that I had.  It felt good!

Sensei DiPasquale gave us a class full of test preparation.

A lot of Kihon….

Sensei often starts us out with simple basic movements and works up from there.  We started with some slow motion stationary front punches to make sure that we engage our core.  Next came moving forward and back with front punch.  After that came combination’s and a drill that I don’t remember doing before.  Sensei had us do a stationary reverse punch, then we switched feet and did another reverse punch.  It was very similar to the double reverse punch that I have worked on in my other classes.

Sparring drills….

Next came sparring drills.  We started out with very simple drills again.  One partner moved in and jabbed to the face twice very slow and on the third jab full speed and power.  Next, we did the same drill but all three attacks were full spend and full power but on one of the attacks, our partner could block and counter with a reverse punch.  After that, we did the same drill but used reverse punch instead.  We followed that with either attack but we switched partners.

For the next drill, Sensei had us work on covering a lot of ground when attacking our partner.  We could throw any two hand attacks but we had to at least score with one on our partner.  I found that doing this drill doing a shift and full step allowed me to cover enough ground to score.  For example, I would shift in and throw a jab and then step forward and jab with the opposite hand.  Even though my partner was much faster, shifting back twice covered much less ground than a shift and a full step.

Finish up with kata….

Sensei had us finish up with some kata.  We did the Heian katas and then we worked on Bassai Dai.  Sensei had us work on parts of Bassai Dai up to the groin strike.  We ended up doing that section of the kata over and over at least five times because of me.  I was not doing the strike in the center and after I fixed that, it was not low enough.  I finally got it right and we moved on to the rest of the kata.

We covered a lot of good material in this class.