Great class but extremely hard.

Sensei Noia has been preparing us for our upcoming rank testing by having us do all of the moves from our test. The difference is that we do many more repetitions in class than we do at our test. This really taxes my endurance more than anything else and there are times that I really have to dig deep to keep from sitting down.

We did the normal assortment of moves. Rising, downward, inward and outward blocks with reverse punch moving forward and backward. Knife hand block with front kick and nukite moving forward and backward. Outward block, elbow strike with back fist moving forward and backward.

We also did the array of kicks. Double front snap kick, double roundhouse kick, side thrust kick from horse stance and side snap kick from horse stance. We also did moving forward front snap kick with front punch. Then we worked on front snap kick with side thrust kick to the side and then front snap kick with side thrust kick to the front. The kicks were torture for me today. My hips were still sore from Thursday class but they also seemed much higher and move powerful than usual.

After that we worked on one-step sparring without a partner. We were told to imagine that we had on opponent to attack and defend. For some reason, doing this without a partner adds a different dimension to this drill. I imagine a much larger and faster attacker than I normally work with and it really makes the moves feel different. The best part is that I don’t get hit when working with an imaginary partner.

We then did kata. I felt that my Tekki Shodan was better today because I was really focused on my horse stances.

One of our final drills was push ups. Sensei had us all get in a circle and he counted for us. He went all the way to 25 and I was the only one make it to the end. Even though my body was exhausted at that point, my mind would not let me allow anyone do more than me. I really think I could have made it past 30 pretty easily but luckily for me, Sensei stopped at 25.

Before class, I did 4 – Tekki Shodan.

Hard class!

We did a lot of sparring drills.  We spent almost the entire class working on go-no-sen.  Go-n0-sen, as we practiced in class, was where our parnter would shift in and attack, we would shift back so that they could not finish their attack or miss and then as they moved back out, we would counter attack before they got away.  The drills we worked on were to help us learn to watch our partners timing.  Sensei Noia said that go-no-sen should be done from a stationary position instead of the normal shifting back and forth timing that we often use when sparring.

I feel that my sparring is starting to improve slightly.  I am by no means a good kumite fighter but I do feel much better than I used to and am learning to read my opponents better then I could before.

The only part that I dislike about sparring is that it is very hard on my feet.  My hurt so much during the drills and they do not seem to be any less painful than before.  My flat feet could certainly be a big part of the problem though.