Shotokanplanet.org

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

Archives for 2010

Moves with purpose – 4/2/10 – Friday Karate class

by Leave a Comment

Sensei Brien made some excellent points in class today.

You are a black belt because…

Sensei said something that really stuck out today.  “You don’t perform that well because you are a black belt, you are a black belt because you perform that well.”  What an awesome comment.  You get to wear that black belt because of what you can do, you cannot do it just because you wear that black belt.

Kihon….

Sensei had us start this session off with a bang.  We started with kihon in a horse stance.  From there, we did punches, double punches, triple punches, blocks and then kicks.

Next came, moving forward and back with punches and blocks both in front stance and back stance.  We then did stationary kicking drills with front snap kick, side thrust kick and back kick.  We also did roundhouse kicks with slow extension but very fast retraction.

Sparring drills…

We finished up working on sparring drills.  Our partner attacked with a reverse punch, we moved back just out of their reach and then jabbed back.  We also worked on a drill where we switched our front foot with our back foot to make our partner miss again and then counter jab at them.

Another point that Sensei made today we for us to do our moves with purpose.  It’s easy to go through the moves and do the motion but instead, Sensei said that we should have intensity and purpose behind every move.  Don’t just do the moves to do the moves, do the moves and make each on effective.

It was a great first class back.

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

Self defense – 3/26/10 – Friday Karate class

by Leave a Comment

Sensei Brien ended this session with some self defense drills today.

Simple blocks for close encounters…

We started with some simple, face to face blocks as if an attacker is standing right in front of us.  Our partner tries to grab our collar, from there, we do an open hand, double arm outward block.  Next, our partner attacks the same way but we side step and do a knife hand block.

For the next drill, our partner attacked the same way but we were able to counter attack.  For the counter attacks, we could use moves from our kata’s.  For example, one of my favorites is doing the double outward block and then doing a dropping back fist, from Heian Yondan, to the nose and face.  Another move is doing the side step, grabbing the attackers arm and doing a sideways hammer fist the ribs.

Non-lethal self defense, if done correctly…

We worked on a series of attacks.  One really nasty attack was putting two fingers in soft spot between the neck and chest and pulling down.  This does not feel good and the feeling stayed with me for a while after Sensei did it to me.  Another attack was grabbing the skin on the upper lip right below the nose and squeezing.  An alternate to the move was grabbing the lower lip and squeezing with a similar result.

One of the most interesting movements was really simple.  The attacker grabs our collar and we step in and gently slap their face many times to disorient them.  When my partner did this to me, I couldn’t do anything until it was too late.  He was able to disorient me enough to step behind and move in for a throw.  It worked the same way with him and I was able to throw a attack before he could see it coming.  That simple moves buys you at least a few seconds to attack or run away.

It was some really neat stuff and simple enough for almost anyone to learn.

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

Bring that knee up – 3/25/10 – Thursday Karate class

by Leave a Comment

After our warm up, Sensei Cieplik had us work on knee strike with front snap kick.

Next, from a front stance we leaned far forward on our front leg.  From there we put most of our weight on the front leg, then back kicked from the floor.   Next, we did front leg low front kick and then rear leg back kick.

We then worked on moving backward in a back stance.  From the back stance, we pull the front leg and drag the heel on the floor.  The idea is to use the hips, not the shoulders, to pull back in order to keep our head back or away from an attack.

Another drill we worked on was moving from back stance into front stance while keeping all of our weight on the same leg.  For example, from a left leg front stance, we turn the front foot out and keep weight on that leg, we then slide the back foot to the front to end up in a back stance.  The hardest part for me is moving between stances without using my shoulders to move.

For the next drill, we worked on moving from a back stance to a front stance with spear hand.  This is one of the biggest movements that we will do in our kata’s.  The hardest part of the drill is getting the footwork and hand to finish at the same time when doing to the front stance with spear hand.

Kata….

We started with Heian Shodan but with attention to the pulling leg back with the heel on the floor as in the drill above.

Sensei gave me some good advice for Bassai dai – when doing the crescent kick, he told me to bring my kicking leg up like a stepping up three stairs then come down into the horse stance and squat to get ready for the u-punch.  Also, before the kick, Sensei said to turn the front foot forward before starting the kick.

Lots of good stuff to work on before exams!

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