And I thought that warmups were hard!

There is really no easy way to describe the workout that Sensei Noia put us through today.  We have had tough classes in the past but today was certainly in the top 5.

Crazy warmups….

We started out on the far end of the dojo running in place, we sprinted to the quarter line and did mountain climbers, then to the three quarter line where we did jumping jacks and then to the end line where we did butt kickers.

For those that do not know what butter kickers are, you put the back of you hands, palms out behind you, on the back of your legs and hit the with your heels.  It really gets the quads singing and helps to stretch them out.

From a horse stance….

We stated in a horse stance doing front punches and double punches.  Next, we pivoted into a front stance to the left and did front punch, then back to horse stance with double punches and then pivot to the right with a front punch.  The key to this drill is to pivot on the heels and use the hips, not the shoulders to turn the body.

The next drill was done in a front stance in the form of a “t” pattern.

We started in a horse stance:

1. Reached to the left, twist the hips to the left and reverse punch.
2. Reach to the right, twist the hips to the right and reverse punch.
3. Reach to the back, twist the hips to the back and reverse punch.
4. Reach to the front, twist the hips to the front and reverse punch.

This was an awesome hip opener and the 180 degree twisting motion made the punches very powerful.

We did this drill one count at a time, two moves one count and then all four moves with one count many times over.

We finished up our kihon drills with front snap kick and back kick with balance and hold.  After all of the twisting drills above, the balance and hold part was a little rough.

Conditioning kata…..

Just when I thought it was safe, we did what I call conditioning kata.

Sensei split us into three groups consisting of 3rd kyu, 2nd & 1st kyu and Shodan and above.

While the third kyu’s were doing their Jion, the Shodan’s did low walks, the short way, across the dojo.  Low walks are walking lunges.  The 1st and 2nd kyu’s did standing, in place, jumping squats.  We then rotated and the 1st & 2nd did Bassai Dai and the one the third rotation, the Shodans did Kanku Dai or any of the Shodan or Nidan kata.

For the second round, the conditioning drills were, standing in place jumps, pushups and jumping squats.  The katas were the same except the Shodan’s were able to do any kata and for the last one, a few of us did Gojushiho Sho.

It hurts just typing this and reliving this class in my mind but it really was a good class.