Shotokanplanet.org

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

Top 5 or 6 posts of 2013

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Below is a list of the most viewed posts on Shotokanplanet.org for 2013.  Oddly enough, the majority of the most read posts are from years past, even as far back as 2009.

1 – Go-no-sen, tai-sen and de-ai – 10/29/09 – Thursday Karate class – This post from 2009 is about a topic that seems to get a great deal of interest.  The concepts of how we attack and counterattack, with the related timing, is always a hot topic and one that must be harder to grasp. I know that I am still fighting with these concepts myself and because of that, I wrote a more detailed and updated version of this post with more information on ShotokanMaster.com.

2 – 2011 WSKA Championships – Even though this is a short post from over two years ago, the 2011 World Shotokan Karate Championships still gets a lot of visitors.  Maybe it’s the link to the youtube videos or it could have been people looking for information about the 2013 championships but either way, it is still very popular.

3 – The end of an era but we will still move forward – Happy Retirement Sensei Cieplik – 2013 was the end of an era when Sensei Cieplik retired and it showed how many people were interested by the large number of views.  For those you outside of my club, you might not know Sensei Cieplik but a lot of the information on this website if from concepts that he has shared with me over the last seven years.

4 – Combination kihon – I am not certain but I think the large amount of interest in this particular post is how to do a lot of kihon training in a small space.  I know that doing kihon in a elevator or in a small cubical space has been part of my training over the years and I assume that many others think the same way.

5 – 2013 Karate Nationals – It seems that big tournaments are a popular subject and the 2013 Karate Nationals was one of those big tournaments.

(Bonus)

A punch with a twist – I had to add this post to the list of my top 5 posts because the number of views was just a few away from the number of views of our number 5 post.  This was one of my longer posts but I have feeling that the punch with a twist drill, near the end of the post,  was the topic that was being read most.

Thinking one-step sparring

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Today was one of those classes that went by too fast.  It seems like we were just finished warming up and then class was over.  Although, with all of the kicking drills that we did, class going by fast might have been a good thing.

Work those kicks and hips too…

We started by getting a partner and a pad.  One partner was holding a cat stance and holding the pad flat in front, the other partner brought their leg straight up to the side and circled the pad with their foot three times and then did a roundhouse kick and hook kick, then touch the pad again and put it down.  This drill is certainly a hip opener and I am sure I will remember it for the next few days.

Thinking one-step sparring…

We spent a good amount of time working on one step sparring.  The difference today was that we could not use a rising, inward, outward or downward block, no knife hand blocks, no reverse or front punches or backfist or hammer fist counter attacks.

The idea was to use our minds and moves from various katas.  For example, one movement that I worked on was from the kata, Gojushiho sho.  My partner stepped in with a punch to my face and I stepped straight back, into a front stance and counter attacked with a rising elbow to their chin.  This movement is almost pure timing because as soon as the attacker starts to step in, you have to keep your ground, drop into a front stance and get that elbow under their chin before getting punched in the face.

Three katas of your choice…

We finished up class doing three different katas of our choice.  I worked on Gojushiho Sho, Hangestu and Bassai Dai.  I really enjoy doing kata in every class. Even though I spend a lot of time working on katas outside of class, I like to have big space of the dojo to work in.

A cold dojo and the first class of 2014

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Today was my first Karate class of the new year.  The dojo was freezing cold and even after a good warm up, I was still cold.  I am not exaggerating when I say cold, it must have been in the high 50 degrees in there and the floor felt like iced concrete. I have a lot of respect for the Karate students before me that trained outdoors or in dojos with no heat.  When I thought of the masters who trained in the elements with no complaints, I buckled down, stopped being a wimp and made the most of my training.

Horse stances to warm the legs….

Sensei Noia had us get a partner and then both of us got into a horse stance.  One partner punched to the other partners face and the other did a rising block, then one punched to the body and the other blocked with an inward block, then a punch to the belt and the other blocked with a downward block.  We continued doing this for a good number of techniques which helped warm us up.  Holding a horse stance for a long time can get the sweat going and all the punches and blocks got the upper body blood flow working.

Next, we moved into Front stances and cat stances.  We did all the various blocks (rising, inward, outward and downward) with double punches in a front stance and then we pulled back into a car stance with another block and punch combination.

Warm legs, time to kick…

We worked on a few kicking combinations going forward in a front stance.  We started with front snap kick and then the combination front snap kick and back kick. Next came, front snap kick, side thrust kick and back and after those, we added a roundhouse kick to the last combination.

This entire class was all kihon work and I certainly know that I needed it after a few weeks off.  Even though I trained at home a good amount over the break, there is still no better workout than when you are in a class with others.  It’s hard to explain in words but the energy level goes up and I always feel that I get a good workout.