Archives for 2011

Today, Sensei Cieplik brought in a very special guest, Sensei Arnaldo to give us a different perspective on self defense movements and Karate in general.

Instead of writing about the drills that we did, I am going to try to outline some of the concepts that our guest Sensei shared with us today.

Just move:

This concept really stuck out when Sensei mentioned it.  He said that you don’t have to stand there and think about what block you are going to use when being attacked, instead, you should just move.  Just move can be stepping out of the way, jumping to the side, turning your body just enough to the side that the attack goes past you or just brushes you. When blocking, just moving to get out of the way is better than getting hit.

Fight for center:

This is concept that Sensei Cieplik often talks about and one that can never be stressed enough.  When you are sparring or in a self defence situation, fight for center or keep the center of your body pointed on the area that you want to attack but do not let your opponent aim or reach your center.  For example, if you stand facing each other, one person is punching at your stomach and your move to either side as they attack, you have taken center away from them.  Now that you have taken their center away, you can easily divert their energy and punching power by guiding them with your hand.  The are attacking with all their energy moving toward your center but when you move out of the way, their energy is still moving in the same direction and you can guide them to the ground with little effort.

Doing kata without an attacker in mind looks mechanical:

I am guilty of this myself.  Sensei said that doing a kata without an attacker in mind can still be a good kata but there is a noticeable difference in how the person moves the look in the persons eyes when they picture their attacker.  I always believed that you can show the kata moves to an athletic person and have them do a decent kata but making it look like Karate, that would actually work, is the difference between the two.

Use pressure points: 

Sensei Arnaldo knows a great deal about pressure points and how to stop or slow energy flow in the body by striking certain areas.  Using pressure points is extremely effective at stopping an attacker without leaving physical marks on their body.  The smallest lady can strike the largest man and make him fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes.  For example, if an attacker was to grab someones hand or wrist, a quick strike to an area on the forearm, near where the arm bends, can disable the attacker and give you the chance to run away or throw a counter attack to other sensitive areas.  This is an area that I have been interested in for some time but I never saw a real world demonstration until tonight.

Thanks to Sensei Arnaldo for coming in to share his many years of experience with us and thanks to Sensei Cieplik for inviting him.   This is one class that I and many others will not forget.

I often say that I don’t remember having classes this hard in the past and I am not really sure if my mind is forcing me to forget how hard some of the classes are or these classes are getting harder.  I may never know the answer but tonight Sensei Noia gave us a really hard class.

Stances anyone….

After running five laps around the dojo we started working on our stances.  The first drill was move forward to the half court line in blocking stance then move to the far end with closed stance.  We dd the same but moving backward.

Next, from a front stance, we moved forward with 6 each of the following;  rising block, inward block, outward block and downward block all with reverse punch and then the same but moving backward.   From a back stance, we moved forward  with 6 each of the following: knife hand block, then knife hand block with spear hand, then knife hand block with front snap kick and spear hand then backward.

Next, my most favorite Karate moves, NOT.  Moving forward with inward block and elbow strike, then inward block, elbow strike and back fast, then the same but add reverse punch.

We moved on to kicks next with moving forward double front snap kick, then double roundhouse kick.

Then we did shifting forward with jab, then double shift and double jab.  Then shift with reverse punch, then double shift with reverse punch.  Next, double shift with jab and reverse punch.  We finished up our basics with shuffle up, roundhouse kick with reverse punch.

We did one kata, for our belt rank at full speed and power, then one-step sparring with a partner for 6 attacks and 6 block and counter moves and we were able to take a short break and drink some water.  At this point, class was only about half over.

Kata…..

We spent the other half of class working on kata.  We started with slow motion Jion up to the first kiai and then we finished it up with full speed and power to the end.  Jion again but this time, we did the kata without rhythm but did the turns as fast as possible.

Full out, 100% Bassai Dai came next.  We then did it again slowly but with fast turns. We finished up kata time with our own belt kata (Kanku Dai) at full speed and power.

Class ended with a kicking drill that felt like it went on forever.  We started in a wide horse stance did a squat, then a side thrust kick for maybe a minute.  Next we did the same but with back kick and the same again with front snap kick.

That’s what I call a Karate class!!!  Walking will be another story tomorrow but that’s okay with me.

 

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.