Archives for July 2010

Hard class again.  Sensei Noia gave us all a good workout.

Warm up with kata….

Sensei had us start with Heian 1 through 5 and Tekki Shodan.  After we did those, we did the same katas again but did in mirror image.  The mirror image kata is always tough when I get to Heian Yondan for some reason.

Next, we got a partner and did one-step sparring but we each had to a an application from  each of the Heian katas and Tekki Shodan.free sparring warm up.

I blocked that hook kick with my face.

We started out with some free sparring to get warmed up.  Next, we sparred while keeping our hands against our partners hands.  We could either keep wrist to wrist or grab cross handed. I felt really good again and was holding my own without much damage until I paired up with Sensesi Plocharczyk.  He cleaned my clock again but I was lucky enough to block a really good hook kick with the side of my head.  Mental note to self; self, figure out how to block that hook kick.

For the last drills, we stood on our knees and did the sticky hands drill.  If you did the drill wrong and tried to muscle your partner, you ended up on the floor.  It sound simple but it takes a loose power and a soft touch.  We finished up doing that drill again but standing.  This is a little easier since you can use your legs to keep your balance but the bigger, stronger people who use all muscle to do this are at a disadvantage both kneeling and standing.  This is a hard drill to explain but you keep your wrists in contact with your partners and sense when they are going to attack.  You keep moving your hands in a circular motion and then attack as soon as your partner looses their focus.

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Today, Sensei Cieplik had us working on kicking drills. sweeps and lots of kata.

Very slow roundhouse…

Sensei gave us some extra detailed roundhouse kick drills.  From a front stance, we brought our leg up to the side and hold up enough to set a deep dish pizza on it.  From there, slowly rotate the kicking leg to the front, then kick with the heel up and toes down.  After the kick pull the foot back to our butt and set it down.

Sweeps….

For the next drill, Sensei had us work on some sweeping drills.  One thing that I never saw before is the way that he uses his entire side of his foot when doing the sweep.  He takes the whole inside edge of his foot and uses it to take your foot out from under you.  In this drill, our partner shifts in and as they do that, we use our foot to sweep their front foot out from under them.  The timing has to be really good or they will plant their front foot and the sweep will not work.

Kata….

We started kata with Heian Shodan, then from the end of Heian Shodan, we moved directly into Heian Nidan, then into Heian Sandan, then into Heian Yondan and then into Heian Godan.  Next, we did Tekki Shodan, Jion, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai.  Next came Empi and Bassai Sho but I sat on the side to watch those.

Sensei Cieplik shared something that his Sensei, Yamazaki shared with him.  “Kata is perfectly made to keep you from doing it perfectly.”  No matter how many times you do a move perfectly, there is always another move that won’t be perfect during that one kata.

For my friend Dan:  The website that Sensei mentioned in class is http://www.nofirstattack.com/kata.html

This article was originally posted on www.shotokanplanet.org. Any reproduction on any other site is prohibited and a violation of copyright laws.