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This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.

Archives for 2010

Focus on balance not technique – 7/15/10 – Thursday Karate class

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Sensei Cieplik shared another well rounded class with us today.  We worked on kihon, self defense and kata.

On to kihon…

After our warm up we did downward block with reverse punch, then inward block with reverse punch, rising block with reverse punch all moving forward and back.

The next drill we did was moving forward and back doing reverse downward block.  Yes, you read that correctly, reverse downward block.  The point that Sensei always makes when we do drills that we normally don’t do, is to open our minds to doing something different and when doing this drill it takes just that to make it work.  We also did reverse downward block with jab and reverse punch, which felt natural after a few moves.

Next came, moving forward with front snap kick and front punch.  The next move is not may favorite, front stance with inward block, horse stance with elbow strike and backfist.  Sensei said to insert a cat stance between the horse stance and front stance to help position the body before each stance.

Next came back stance with knife hand block moving forward and back.  Next came, back stance with knife hand block and front kick.

Time ot kick.  From a horse stance we stepped across and did side thrust kick, then side snap kick, then side front kick.  The next drill was step behind and hook kick.  This was really tough drill for me.

Partner pad drills….

We paired up and one partner held a pad.  From there, we shifted our weight to our back leg and then shifted our weight to the front then punched and hit the pad.  Putting the body behind the move, makes even a small movement very powerful.  We did a similar drill using a backfist but instead of using just our fist we used our entire forearm to hit the pad.  When doing this drill, you need to squeeze the floor with your legs and use the tensing of all the muscles of the body to make power.

Kata…

Sensei had us start with Heian Shodan but he wanted us to do the kata with our focus on the pull hand.  This always makes the kata feel much different to me and I need to keep this in mind whenever I do my katas.  We did all of the Heian katas, Tekki Shodan, Jion and Bassai Dai.

Sensei made a comment about Heian Godan that I never thought of.  When doing the move right before the first kiai, do not pull the right hand back before the punch.

Sensei also told us to focus on keeping our balance not technique.  The idea is to fight to keep your balance and the technique will come by itself.

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On the hill – 7/13/10 – Tuesday Karate class

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Today, Sensei Noia took us out on the hill for some good old fashioned outdoor Karate training.  I am going to call this area the hill but I imagine it is more like a crater like you find on the moon.  I have never visited the moon so I cannot be sure.

That hill is steeper than I remember…….

We started out with a little warm up by running from the low point of the hill all the way to the top and back.  Next, we got into a front stance and moved up the doing a single punch, block or kick, then back down.  Going down seems much harder to me.  Next came any combination of blocks and punches.  From there it became harder with one legged  double kicks going up the hill.  Then came jumping kicks up the hill.

The next thing we did was low walks up and down the hill.  After that came kata.  we did two Heian katas, Tekki Shodan and then our own belt kata.  Doing Kanku Dai on hill was somewhat tough when it came to doing the side snap kicks but the double jumping kick wasn’t too bad.

We finished up with frog jumps from the bottom of the hill all the way to top and then back inside we went.

Slow motion….

Now, back inside we did slow motion free sparring.   The object of this drill is to focus on what your partner is doing and look for openings to attack them.  This is a neat drill because it takes all of the ego out of sparring and lets both partners attack and defend without the pressure.  We switched partner about eight times and it was interesting working with some of the younger kids.

Wash your hands when you are done…

We finished up with the sticky hands drill.  For this drill, your put your wrist against your partners wrist and try to read when each other is going to attack by feel.  If you can feel the attack, you can block.  We did one and two handed versions of the drill with many different partners.

It was a great class but I am not sure how hard walking will be over the next couple days.

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The tire is only flat on the bottom – 7/8/10 – Thursday Karate class

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Sensei Cieplik shared a very balanced class with us today.

After our warm up, did standing front snap kicks.  From a high fighting stance, we lift our front leg and kicked.  The idea was to use our core muscles to pickup the kicking leg and not use our shoulders or upper body.

Quick kihon….

Next, we moved on to basics.  We did moving forward and back with rising block.  Sensei explained that we need to keep the angle of our fist, at the top of the block, at a 45 degree angle.  This way the bone on side of our arm does the blocking, or striking, when executed at that angle.

We moved on to the inward block and downward block with reverse punch.  Next came back stance with knife hand block.  Sensei told us to do the movement with a quiet front foot.  When in a back stance, the majority of our weight should be in the back leg and the front foot should land very lightly.

Kata and then partner up….

We worked on Heian 1 through 5 and Tekki Shodan.

Next, we partnered up and worked on a drill that we have done in the past.  We start in a fighting stance, one partner steps in and attacks and the other partner quickly switches feet and counter attacks with a punch.  I remember this drill from the past and am still not very good at it.  Switching my feet fast like requires a lot of hip action and my hips were screaming after only a few tries.

Kata from another style….

We cooled down with a some katas that Sensei’s Sensei shared with him.  The first kata that we is called Rohai.  This is a really cool kata.  Very flowing yet dynamic too.  We did that three times and then Sensei walked us through a black belt kata called Sepai.  This was an interesting kata, that I did at a referee seminar a few years ago that has some nasty self defense application.

During class, Sensei told us an interesting story about when he had a flat tire many years ago.  A man stopped to help him out and said something very enlightening.  He said that the tire is only flat on the bottom.  The idea behind it is if you make a mistake in your Karate it doesn’t mean that all of your Karate is bad just that part and like the flat tire, it can be fixed with a patch an some air.

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