Inward block with the legs – 8/18/11 – Thursday Karate class

Sensei Cieplik has been sharing many little details with us for some time now.  These are details that might not be pure Shotokan but they do apply to self defense and add to the arsenal of movements that we have to work with.

Inward block with the legs….

We started from a left leg forward front stance with shuffle up front leg roundhouse kick, then shuffle back rear leg roundhouse kick then set it down in front.  We then did the same movement but started with the right leg and alternated this movement for many reps.

We worked on blocks and reverse punches for our next drills.  We did moving forward and backward with downward block, inward block and rising block, all with reverse punch.  After those movements Sensei had us work on moving forward and back with inward block adding a blocking leg stance in between movement.  The blocking leg stance helps us keep our hips in the correct position and allows us to do the block with our legs.  Another detail is to keep the arm bone of the reach hand to front and down, also keeping the elbow pointing down to keep the shoulders down.

Different fist….

For the next drill, we used a different fist.  The idea was to put the most tightness on the 3rd, 4th and pinky fingers while keeping the index and thumb loose.   This makes the fist feel heavier at the bottom of the hand allowing the punch move down, like a rock on a rope, and in.  The punch going in means, that power should go into the target, not just hit the target.  Using this fist, we did a standing punch drill, then the same from a horse stance having us create the power by using our fist instead of twisting our hips.  We still use the hips and legs but instead of twisting, we tense the butt muscles and try to pull the heels together.

We finished up class working on some pad drills, punching the pad with the loose fist.  Again, the fist is thrown like a rock on a rope and the power goes in.