If you move from the shoulders, the kick will not be good – 12/15/11

One of things that I enjoy about taking classes with Sensei Cieplik is that he often revisits concepts or techniques after a period of time based on what he sees us doing in class.  Today, after doing our warm up kicks, he had us work on dynamic tension.

Dynamic tension….

From a front stance, pull with the front leg and push with the back leg until you cannot hold it and then let the kick fly.  Try to think of this concept like pulling a rubber band from both ends.

With the above in mind, we did many front snap kicks with front punch.

The next drills we did were from seiza (sitting on the floor with the buttocks resting on the heels.  The first drill was moving from seiza to kneeling position.  For the next drill, the idea was to lean back from the kneeling position and then straighten back up.  Some of us did a few kicks from seiza but my knees told me don’t even think about it.

The next drill was a “salad bowl” exercise.  From a front stance, the idea was to shift our weight on to our back leg, drop the hip and then spring forward and jab.  The jabbing motion will go on its own if this is done correctly.  This movement can be compared to the way a tiger loads up all of its weight on its back legs and then springs or launches forward.

Watch your partner very close….

For the next drill, we partnered up.  The idea behind this drill was to watch our partner either make them attack or catch their tell ( showing them prepare to attack.  It could be something as simple as them raising an eyebrow or seeing their shoulders raise up just before they begin the attack.

We finished up class with kata.  We did all of the Heian katas, Tekki Shodan, Jion and Bassai Dai.  A key point that Sensei made was for us to present ourselves and be sure to have good posture before we start our kata and all the way through.  Good posture usually means better technique.

This was the last Thursday class of 2011 and I can say this was the best year of Karate classes yet and I am sure that 2012 will be even better!