Archives for 2010

First day of the new session and Sensei Brien gave us a really good class. Some good sparring drills and excellent kata advice.

Three step and five step….

Sensei had us spend most the class working on three and five step sparring type drills.

One partner would attack with three jodan front punches, the other partner would do three rising blocks and counter with a reverse punch after the last block. We then did the same drill but after the last block, the partner would step forward and counter attack.

We did the same drill blocking a chudan punch with an inward block and also did downward block to block our partners kick with and block and counter as above. We also did these drills but with five steps instead of only three.

Kata like a black belt…

We finished up working on kata. Sensei had do Heian Shodan first. A key point that he made was for the higher belts to do lower belt kata like a higher belt. He said that a black belt should do lower belt kata like a black belt instead of doing it the way they did when they learned it. Sensei said that the tempo needs to be changed not the speed of the kata.

Sensei Brien and Sensei Cieplik have mentioned this in the past, do lower belt with high belt knowledge. Oddly enough, it didn’t really sink into my brain until today. Now that I understand what they are asking for, I need to do it.

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The testing session is upon us, at least for some of us and Sensei Noia is starting to get everyone prepared.

Tough warm ups…

We started moving across the dojo with double reverse punch. Next, we did reverse punch, front snap kick and then reverse punch. After that, we did shuffle up front leg across the dojo. For the next move, we shuffled up front leg kick followed with rear leg kick.

We then moved into a horse stance and did single punch, double punch and triple punch. From there, we put our hands and our hips and pivoted to the left and then to the right. Next was pivot on the heels and reverse punch to each direction.

After those, from a front stance, we started with a stationary reverse punch, then stepped forward and blocked then reversed punched. For the next drill, from a front stance, we pivoted to the corner behind us and threw a reverse punch, then pivoted back to the front with a reverse punch and then stepped forward with a reverse punch.

For the last kihon drill we did, block left with reverse punch, turn 180 degrees, and block again with reverse punch, turn 90 degrees and block with reverse punch and then turn 180 degrees and block with reverse punch.

Block left and reverse punch, turn 180 and block again with reverse punch, turn 90 and same, turn 180 and same.

Kata, slow and fast….

Next, we worked on kata. Sensei had us start in slow motion but he wanted us to do all of the turns as fast as possible. We did Taikyoku Shodan, then Heian Yondan, then any Heian kata of our choice all slowly but with fast turns. I did Heian Nidan. Then one more kata, our own belt kata to finish class.

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Sensei Cieplik shares so many little Karate details with us, I hope that I can remember enough of them to share with others.

Many kicks….

We did a lot of kicks today. Front snap kicks, knee strikes, roundhouse kicks, side thrust kicks and side snap kicks. There might have even been a few hook kicks in there too. Like I have mentioned a few previous posts, there is a lot of focus on kicks and proper execution. A couple of key points are to use the hips when kicking and the retraction of the kicking leg is more important than the extension.

Knife hand blocks…

Sensei Cieplik has shown me this in the past when I was working on Bassai Dai but it never sunk into my thick head until today. Let me try to explain this the best I can. From a back stance with your left knife hand extended in front against someone pushing against it, or you just blocked a punch, you step in and execute another knife hand to the collarbone all while the attacker keeps this pressure on your other hand. We partnered up and did the drill on each other and when done correctly, the pressure of your hand against the attacker pulls you in, much like a slingshot. Hopefully, that is somewhat coherent, if not, drop a comment here and I will try to explain it better.

Just turn your hand 180 degrees….

This concept is something that Sensei showed me in the parking a couple years ago and I have been practicing ever since. Make a loose fist with your arm bent and your palm down. From there turn your fist 180 degrees and tighten your fist at the end. For example, using your right hand, with your palm down your thumb is pointing left, you then turn your hand 180 degrees to the right and tighten your fist right at the end of the movement. If done correctly, you should hear a snapping sound. The application for this is in blocking movements and it works really well for me, when I am doing outward blocks.

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