Shotokanplanet.org

This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.

Archives for 2011

How many kicks did we do? – 7/13/11 – Tuesday Karate class

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We were allowed to take Wheeling class Sensei Cieplik today and got to spend some time with some great people in a great class..Lots of kicks…..

We started out the normal 20 front snap kicks to the front, then 20 knee strikes / front snap kick combinations.  Then came a group of six kicks in a row, front snap kick to the front, side thrust kick to the side, back kick to the rear, roundhouse to the front, front snap kick to the front and hook kick to the front.  Sensei calls this a balance drill and I call it a workout in itself.

We started the next drill from a front stance.  From there, we leaned far forward until our back heel peeled off the floor, then pickup the back leg straight from the floor, bring the knee up to the front, back kick to the corner behind, bring the knee back to the front and then set the foot down.  This was a serious hip opener and another balance.

We did some more kicks and one of our friends kept count and said that we did a total of 486 kicks in about 30 minutes or so.

Partner up….

We moved into some partner drills next.  One partner started in a horse stance with pad angled up at 45 to 60 degrees and the other partner did roundhouse kicks where we brought the knee up very high and then kicked down on an angle.  The knee needs to be up very high at the start to allow the hip to turn over and allow the leg to move at a downward angle.  This is one drill certainly isn’t my best.

After that, one partner was in a fighting stance with the pad behind their back and the other partner roundhouse kicked around their front hand and hit the pad on their back.  The key to this drill is having the roundhouse kick go around their front arm and hit their back.

The next drill was a sweeping drill where one partner shifted toward the other partner.  The stationary partner did a low roundhouse kick and hooked the front foot of the moving partner before their front foot touch the ground.  This is a pure timing drill and if done correctly, you can easily sweep your partner with little power.

Higher ranks help the lower ranks….

This was fun.  Sensei had all of the Shodan and above go with a lower rank and assist them with kata.  I really enjoyed this and I hope that I gave my partner something useful to work on when I was helping him out.

Great class, really nice people and training with Sensei Cieplik is always a learning experience.

Get down to the core – 7/8/11 – Friday Karate class

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Sensei Brien said that we were going to work our core today and that we did.

Get a pad…..

For that of you that have not seen them, the pads that we use are about 18 inches tall, 12 inches wide and two inches thick.  They are not Styrofoam but something stronger and more flexible. We started out standing on a pad with one knee up to the front and high enough so that it above our belt.  We then had to keep our balance and do front snap kicks without putting our foot down in between each kick.

In the next drill, we moved into a front stance with our front foot on the pad.  From there, we did front snap kicks again but holding for a second after the kick before we set our back foot down behind us.  Sensei wanted us to extend the hip forward for each kick to get a good stretch and test our balance.

For the last of the pad drills, we started in a horse stance with our left foot on the pad and our right foot on the floor.  From there, we did front snap kicks again working our balance from the side and working the muscles on the sides of our bodies.  Still in a horse stance, we brought the leg not standing on the pad up to the side like a roundhouse kick and then held it for a second before setting our foot back on to the floor.

Stand on the pad.  front snap kick without putting foot down
still on the pad, front stance with front snap kick, hold and put foot down.
stand sideways with foot on pad, front snap kick, then horse stance with kick
then bring leg up like roundhouse both standing and horse stance.

Do what in a backstance???

Sensei had us work on some different kihon today.  And different it was.  All from a backstance, moving forward and back, we did:

  •  Downward block with reverse punch
  •  Rising block with reverse punch
  •  Inward block with reverse punch – do not line the arm up with the front knee
  •  Outward block with reverse punch – do line the arm up with the front knee
  •  Front punch
  •  Triple punch

There was another drill, from the backstance, where we moved forward or backward and brought our knees together, did a front snap kick and then stepped back down into a backstance.

Now in to a front stance…..

From a front stance, we did moving forward with chicken block.  I am going to have to take some pictures to explain these.  Let me try to explain this in text.  Put your arm straight out in front of you with your hand straight out like a knife hand.  Bend your wrist and point your fingers down while raising the angle of your forearm slightly upward.  From there, bring your finger tips together so that they form what looks like a chicken beak.  When you block, you use the top, end of your bent wrist to block.  You can also use the chicken beak that your fingers form as a strike but we will save that for another day.

For the next drills, we stayed in a front stance and did a two finger double eye poke, the same poke that Moe from the Three Stooges always does, a vertical palm block with a ridge hand, a reverse horizontal elbow strike followed with a vertical elbow strike and then a knife hand block.  Doing the knife hand block from a front stance really changes the dynamics of the movements.

It was a great class but I am not sure how much my body will think about it tomorrow morning.

Punch in and down – 7/7/11 – Thursday Karate class

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Sensei Cieplik had us spend a lot of time on a few movements again.

Make your basics good or keep doing them….

Class always starts with a warm up that involved a lot of kicks but there was one new drill that we did today.  From a front stance, we did front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, roundhouse kick, front snap kick again and hook kick.  This is what Sensei calls a balance drill and it makes me loose mine.

Next, we started moving forward and back with front punch.  Am not sure how many times we did this but it had to be in the 30 repetition range.  We followed that with moving forward and back doing triple punch at least as many times as we did front punch.  The key to the second and third punch when doing the triple punch is to hit the exact same place both times in quick succession.

After that, we did moving forward with front snap kick and front punch.  Then, moving forward and back with rising block, downward block and inward block all with reverse punch.  After that, we did Sensei’s (not really)  favorite drill, moving forward and backward with inward block in front stance, elbow strike and back fist in horse stance.  The key to the last drill is to get low enough under your opponent when you are in the horse stance.

Punch in and down….

For the next drill, we got a partner and worked on our triple punch.  For this drill, we punched at the space between the upper lip and nose with the first punch.  This will stun an attacker because of the pressure point in that area.  For the second and third punch, we hit the exact same place in the abdominal area very quickly.  This can be a very effective attack.  The first punch makes the muscle relax for a very short time and the second punch goes in to the organs behind the abdominal muscles.  This idea of punching in and down becomes pretty clear and even though I train my core all the time, the muscle reflex would not let me keep my abdomen tensed after the first punch.

Kata with no breaks….

Sensei had us do Heian Shodan through Heian Godan without a break.  This is a good drill and it gets all the Heian katas done in a short time.  We then did Tekki Shodan, Jion and Kanku Dai twice.