Hide your kick with your jab – 10/11/11 – Tuesday Karate class

I haven’t done much in the way of sparring drills for a long while and it felt good to get in some sparring strategy drills with Sensei Plocharczyk teaching today.

Use your core or fall over….

We started in a front stance, then shuffled up in to a cross leg stance, then did a rising block and shuffled back with reverse punch.  Next we did the same as above but with inward block, outward block and downward block.  Timing for downward block is important and should finish when the feet stop.  Putting foot back behind fast and solid is key.

For the next drill, we stood upright  with our toes turned in.  Each time we punched we had to squeeze our legs and butt to make the power since we weren’t using our hips.  We had to make our stance strong by using our core.

For both of the drills above, you need to have your upper and lower body connected otherwise you end up falling backward when you get hit.

Hide your kick with your jab….

We spent the rest of the class working on some sparring drills.  We stood in a front stance, shuffled up and jabbed, then as the jab was ending we threw a front leg roundhouse kick, put kicking  leg down and reverse punched.  It takes some coordination to execute but it really creates a lot of power with all the hip motion taking place.

Next, We partnered up and did the same drill as above.  After we did that for a while, our partner could counter with rp and you blocked with the jab hand and then reverse punched them back.