Archives for 2011

Sensei Cieplik made a comment tonight that really sunk in my thick head.  It is okay to loose your balance when your are moving but it is not okay to loose your balance in your mind.  If you physically slip when doing a movement that is okay but if you let you mind slip it is not good. 

Get the exam kicking movements out of the way….

After our warm up, Sensei had us working on more kicking drills.  We started with shuffle up front leg roundhouse.  The idea is to use the back leg, that is shuffling up, to help push the front leg and make the kick faster.

For the next drill, with our left leg in front, we did shuffle up front leg roundhouse kick, shuffle back, then rear leg roundhouse kick but leave the rear leg in front at the point.  From there, we did right leg in front roundhouse kick, shuffle back and rear leg roundhouse house kick again.  Every second kick, your front leg changes from left to right.

The roundhouse kick is one of the most awkward kicking movements for me and I have a tendency to point my knee down when kick.   Because of this, Sensei said that it is okay for me to do a cutting kick instead.  Even though, that is not my best kick, it is a lot better than the standard roundhouse kick.

Back to basics….

Next came front leg front snap kick with triple punch.  This might sound like an easy drill but when kicking with the front leg, I start in a shorter stance but Sensei wanted us to end up in a long front stance when doing the triple punch.  This made this drill significantly harder, at least for me, than usual.

After that, we did our standard kihon.  Moving forward and backward with downward block and reverse punch, rising block and reverse punch, inward block with reverse punch and outward block with reverse punch.

We also did a variation of the outward block and reverse punch where we start in a front stance, move into a blocking leg stance (longer cat stance) and block, then we slide forward with the front leg and reverse punch.

Next, we did moving forward and backward with inward block, elbow strike and back fist.

The next drill was different.  We did a rising block with rear leg roundhouse kick.  Front front stance, we stepped in and did a rising block, with the hips open, and then did a roundhouse kick.  I am glad that I wasn’t in front of the mirrors when I did this drill because I think it would have looked really ugly.

We finished up our kihon with stepping across side thrust kick, then side snap kick, then both side thrust and side snap kick, then front snap kick to the side.  A key point that Sensei keeps mentioning is to make the side snap kicks short and the side thrust kicks long.  This means that your side snap kick should not reach anywhere near as far as your side thrust kick.

Block with your reach and strike with your block….

When doing kata, use your reach hand as a block and your block hand a strike.  For example;  If someone is stepping in to punch your face, you can block their punch with your reaching hand, step in and do your rising block (strike) under their chin or in to their throat.

With that in mind, we did Heian Shodan three times with the mind of using the reach hand to block and the other hand as a strike.

In order to give the students who are examining, some last minute kata advice, we did Kanku Dai twice and Bassai Dai twice.

When we were doing Bassai Dai, like I mentioned above, it’s okay to loose balance when moving but it is not okay to loose balance in your mind.  You need to keep focus on what you are doing and do not show anyone that you made a mistake.

Sensei Cieplik had a spend extra time on one of his least favorite movements to watch, the front stance with inward block move in to horse stance with elbow strike and back fist.  This movement feels more awkward to me than most so I can understand why Sensei doesn’t like watching it. 

Turn with the hips….

We did a lot of kicks for warm up today.  At least is felt like we did more than usual.

After the warm up, we did knee strike with front snap kick, then turn 90 degrees to the left (using the hips to turn not the shoulders or upper body!)  and then step back with the kicking leg into a front stance.  After eight in one direction, we did eight more with the other leg.  We did the same drill but this time we added a reverse punch to the end of the movement when we put our kicking leg down behind us.  Next, we did one more variation of the same drill but when we turned, we did an inward block, bringing the blocking arm to the opposite knee to help us use the core and hips to turn.

For the next drills, we did our standard kihon.  Moving forward and back with downward block and reverse punch, rising block with reverse punch, outward block, jab and reverse punch.  For the outward, jab and reverse punch, Sensei wanted to see three distinct hips movements.  For example, with the outward block, our hips were open but not fully open.  The reason being, if your hips are fully open, you cannot use your hips to throw the jab.  Then, when you finish with the reverse punch, your hips are fully closed.

Oh, my eyes……

Sensie left moving forward and back with inward block and reverse punch out of the kihon above to lead in to moving forward and backward with inward block, elbow strike and back fist.  Moving forward is easier than moving backward but it still has it’s issues.

1. For the first movement, the most important part is showing a front stance.  Many students turn this move into a kinda front horse stance that is very narrow and unstable.  The narrow stance shows up more when moving backward but Sensei has a fix for it.  When moving backward, out of the horse stance in to the front stance, Sensei has us insert a cat stance.  This brings the hips in to the proper position so that you can just step back and execute the inward block.
2. For the second movement, the horse stance needs to be low.  Sensei said that you get under your opponents arm by six inches..  This is so you can get under their arm and hit around the bottom of the ribcage.  This is very hard when working with a shorter partner.  From this stance you want to get the leg closest to them, behind their hamstring and bump it to take them off balance.
3. The last part is to throw your back fist out.

To help us get a better understanding of this technique, Sensei had us partner up and work on these movements.  When working with a live partner, this movement felt totally different than when doing it on the air.  It is certainly much harder to execute when there is an arm or leg in the way of where you want to move.

In number 2 above, Sensei demonstrated the movement where he put his leg under my hamstring and bumped it.  I am not the lightest person n the room at just over 200 pounds but he was able to hit me hard enough to make both of my feet come off the ground by at least two inches.  It’s wasn’t as if I fell forward, I went straight up in the air.

Last minute kata advice….

Examinations are winding down in under two weeks and Sensei had those who plan on testing come out on to the floor, do their kata and offer them some last minute advice.

We did Heian Nidan, Heian Yonda twice Heian Godan twice, Tekki Shodan twice, Jion, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai.  Most of the common suggestions that Sensei offered were stance issues along with hip and arm positions in the various movements.

One issue that Sensei often brings up is the person doing the kata must look like they mean it.  They must have their mind in kata and not just be doing the movements.  I lost count of how many times my mind wandered and interrupted my kata.