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.
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