Tire those legs out

We started class running back and forth 4 times to get the blood flowing. Since the dojo was cold, Sensei had do some squats. We started squatting with our legs close together, then shoulder width squats and wide stance squats. Next we did squats again but with a jump after each one. We followed those up with a long stretching session to help get our joint a little more loose. The squats did a pretty good job tiring my legs but it made the stretching easier because my muscle were too tired to fight the stretches.

Next we got a partner, had them grab our belt facing us and then they pulled up forward to help make us move faster. We did the same drill but we added a front punch. This did help me move faster but I did notice that I was punching over top because it was throwing my body forward. You have to push from the legs and otherwise you will end up on your face.

We finished up class doing Taikyoku Shodan but for each move, we started in a cat stance before moving into the front stance. This really changed the dynamic of the kata and is something that we don’t do often enough. It’s these little changes that make this class more interesting and keeps my mind open to doing techniques in different ways that I don’t always come up with on my own.