Archives for 2010

Sensei has been having us do some intensive work on our kicks lately and today we worked on them again.

We did our normal warm up and then did stationary, same leg, knee strike with front snap kick. Then moving forward with the same.

Get into groups of four….

For this partner drill, we moved into groups of four.  One partner stood between two others and another partner stood in front.  The middle partner picked up one leg and kept the knee high, threw three kicks, then stepped down into a front stance, did a knee/shin clash and then stood up and presented themselves as the partner in front stood up and moved backward.   The idea was to use the hips to push the kick forward, come down into a stance and make sure to drive the front leg forward for the shin clash and then stand up and stare down the partner in front of you.  The last part is looking  at them with the intention of taking them out for good.

For the next drill, we moved into groups of two and did bent leg front kicks front the ground. The key to this drill is the keep the rear leg bent through out the entire kick. From the floor to the target, the leg stays bent and there is no snap!

Sensei showed us something when doing kicks, related more to side snap kick. the idea is to let the dangle and hang loose and then it will act like a whip when throwing the kick. It’s similar to when you whip a towel at someone.

Kata….

We finished up class with some kata. Sensei had the brown and black belts do Rohai and all the Heian kata’s and Tekki Shodan for the lower belts. Then the higher belts finished up with Bassai Dai and Empi.

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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.

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