Another excellent class. A lot of learning and a lot of energy was what Sensei Cieplik gave us today.
Common kihon…
Sensei had us work on many of our common kihon movements but also a couple that we don’t work on too often.
As part of our warm up drill, we do a movement that starts with our reverse hand out in front, we then switch hands as we throw a rear leg front snap kick then step back and set our kicking leg down behind us and throw a reverse punch. Sensei calls this his form of jumping jacks.
We started moving forward and backward with downward block with reverse punch, then rising block with reverse punch, inward block with reverse punch and outward block with reverse punch. We also did moving forward and backward with back stance and knife hand block. The next drill was moving forward and backward in a back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick and front stance spear hand.
We also worked on our kicks. Moving forward with front snap kick and front punch. From a horse stance, moving sideways with side snap kick, side thrust kick, front snap kick to the side, roundhouse kick and hook kick. Doing the roundhouse and hook kicks from a horse stance are something that I don’t recall doing before.
Not so common kihon…
One of the less common drills we did was moving forward and backward with reverse punch. We don’t often do this drill but it mimics the way that we walk and instead of reverse punch Sensei often calls this correct punch.
Another move that we have done only once before is the back snap kick. This is neat kick. You stand in a low front stance with your back leg straight, you then snap your heel of your back leg to your hamstring. If something, like the groin or tailbone of an attacker is in the way of that heel, it becomes a really effective weapon. The idea is to not chamber the kick, instead you kick from the ground.
Another movement was stationary jab then step forward with reverse punch. The key to this drill is to open your hips when throwing the jab then step forward and close your hips with the reverse punch. When you do the jab, it makes your roll your upper body over your front leg which assists the stepping forward motion that closes the hips for the reverse punch. Sensei said that this was a JKA drill that they spent a lot of time working on.
Kata…
We ended with some kata. We did Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan and Heian Sandan.
Finish up with some partner stretching…
After kata, Sensei Cieplik handed the class over the Sensei Wail who had us finish up with some partner stretching. One partner laid down on the floor and the other stood on our gi leg and picked each leg up first toward our head, second to the outside and last across our body. The stretches felt really good and I was able to get in and out of the car easier then usual on the way home.
I saw a video of Kata Kihon performed by Trevor Evans. Its great.