Sensei Cieplik mentioned something tonight that really stood out. He said that Kata should first be arrogant and then it should become humble. This was pretty deep but if I understand it correctly, when you are learning and moving up through the ranks, your attitude should show that you know your Kata when you present it. When you finally stop worrying about rank and really start to understand the Kata, not just thinking that you understand it, you will become humble.
Kihon and a lot of it…..
After the warm up we did knee strike with front snap kick, hold the knee up, turn 90 degrees and step back into a front stance. We did the same but we added inward block when turning and reverse punch when we stepped back. This is becoming one of my favorite movements and Sensei said that it helps us learn connection between the upper body and lower body and how to move “with the body.”
Next, we did downward block and inward block with reverse punch. Then rising block and outward block with reverse punch. When doing the rising block, the blocking arm should be one inch from the top of the head.
After that, we did back stance with knife hand, then back stance, knife hand block, front snap kick and then knife hand block and then the same with spear hand strike.
Move to the side with intention….
From a horse stance we stepped across, to the side with the feeling of moving someone. The idea is to push from the hips and lower body, not the shoulders. The shoulder should be totally relaxed when moving.
Next, we did the same with side thrust kick, then side snap kick and then both kicks.
Get a partner but don’t kick them….
For this drill, we stood next to our partner and did a side thrust kick, across their body without hitting them. We could hold on to their shoulder for balance but the idea was to kick straight to the side and scoop the kick. For the next drill, we did the same side thrust kick but then, we pulled the kicking leg back and to the side and did a roundhouse kick behind them. This was a real hip opener for me!
Our final partner drill had one partner punch to the face and the partner moves back, squats down a little and throws a cutting kick counter attack. The reason for squatting was two fold; one to get out of the way and two, to get the hip in the correct position for the counter attack.
Finish up Kata…
We worked on Kanku Dai for the first time in a long while. I was glad that I even remembered it.  One excellent point that Sensei made was, when doing the first two moves, don’t block backward, instead block moving the arm upward without using the shoulder. This move should be smooth not hard.
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I have found an excellent Martial Arts / Karate book that I want to share with everyone. It can get pretty deep at times but it certainly has given me a lot of insight about Karate and Martial Arts that I wish I would have had before. Another benefit is that it not only applies to our Karate training, it helps us become warriors in all areas of our life. If you read it, let me know what you think about it.
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