Shotokanplanet.org

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

Thursday Karate class – 10/25/07 – Tekki Shodan again and kihon.

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Class was a little different but filled with excellent insight.
Sensei didn’t have us do the normal warm ups and left out some of the kicking drills that we usually do. One interesting note, when doing the back kick, Sensei said to bend the front leg before kicking. This gives more stability and it felt like it was much more powerful than kicking when standing fully upright.

After some basics, Sensei Cieplik sent the 4th Kyu’s off to the side with Sensei Noia to work on our kata. OUCH! That’s one way to describe how hard we worked on our kata. We spent a lot of our time in a horse stance and my legs were shaking at times. I have been putting in extra effort when my in my horse stance and make sure to tighten up my quadriceps and push my knees out as far as I can. The biggest problem seems to be that I am having a problem keeping my butt under me. I end up leaning forward. I am considering doing a horse stance at home against a wall to help me get the right feeling of how I should be.

We spent at least 45 minutes on our kata and as I got more tired, I had a very hard time keeping my chest out. We also went out, one by one, to do our kata in front of Sensei Noia and I ended up tensing up through the entire first half of the kata. I was forcing my way through the moves for some reason. I really need to find a way to relax when doing my kata and hopefully after a few hundred more, I will be able to do so.

We then went back in front of Sensei Cieplik so that he could see how well Sensei Noia taught us tonight and he was not disappointed. He said that Sensei Noia did good and that we all looked good.

Sensei Cieplik made a comment about kizeme after we finished our kata. His point was that when we turn our heads during the various parts of Tekki Shodan, we should be able to attack our opponents with our eyes or “the look”. He often uses my son as his example and comments on how my wife, would give him “the look” when he does something wrong. The idea is that you can stun your opponent without getting physical and break their concentration, even if only for a short moment. The look should be powerful enough to stop someone in their tracks.

Another comment that he made was related to the side snap kick. Sensei said that the side snap kick should not kick our far, it should stay close to the body. It is not meant to be a very high or powerful kick.

And another great comment was about “relax, adjust and make it natural.” The idea is that a Karata-ka will spend 10 years learning to relax, 10 years learning how to adjust the moves or techniques to our bodies and the last 10 years learning how to do it all naturally. This comment was so insightful and thought provoking. Here I am, a 4th Kyu thinking that once I am a black belt, I will be on my way to understanding things and Sensei says that it’s 30 years before things become clear. I really wish that I would have started my Karate training many years ago but I am in it for the long haul and looking forward to the next 26+ years of learning.

Along the same lines as above, Sensei said to take five minutes a day to do “nothing.” He said that everyone in the class is worthwhile and deserves at least five minutes of relaxation each and every day. I know that I have a hard time just sitting down for five minutes but I am going to try.

Class ended and I knew that I worked really hard when I could barely get out of the car when I got home.

I also did 6 – Tekki Shodan during the day before class.

Tuesday Karate – 10/23/07 – More extreme kihon!

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After not training for the last few days because my hip was very sore, I got right back into it today both with a some kata before class and class itself.

I did 15 Tekki Shodan and one each of Heian 1 – 4.

My hip was sore until I started doing my kata before class but by then it was out of my mind.

Class was extremely hard.  We pretty much did our entire test but with more repetitions.

We started some in place front punches.  We got in a low stance, turned our hips open, reached with our draw hand and then twisted and punched.  This was to help warm up our hips.

Next we did moving forward downward block, rising block, inward block and outward block.  Next came some combinations with the same blocks as before but we added reverse punch.  I’m not sure how many we did but it seemed like a lot.

We also worked on moving forward and backward in a back stance with knife hand block.  Next came back stance, knife hand block and nukite moving both forward and back.  Then for us purple belts, we did moving forward and back, back stance, knife hand block, front snap kick with nukite.

By this time, I was ready to find a place to lay on the floor under the bleachers but then came more!

From a horse stance, we did slow motion side thrust kicks followed up with full speed side thrust kicks but Sensei gave us a little twist and had us hold out our kicking leg after each kick.  Next came more kicks.  Moving forward double front snap kick, front snap kick with side thrust kick, front snap kick with front side thrust kick and double roundhouse kick.  Somewhere else in there was front snap kick with front punch too.

We then did outward block, elbow strike and back fist both forward and backward.

Next came some kata.  We did our kata in front of Sensei Noia.  I felt pretty good tonight but doing 15 kata earlier today, I was warmed up for it.

After that, we finished up with one-step sparring.  We went though all block and counters without a partner.

Today was one of the hardest classes that I can remember.  I sure hope that my upcoming rank test is easier than this class.

Saturday Karate class – 10/20/07 – Kihon a plenty.

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We did a lot of baics.  I really like these classes but I also need to improve my endurance.  By the 40 minute mark, I was panting like an old dog.

We started with kicking drills.  First, from a horse stance, we did side thrust kick.  Then we did side snap kick.  Then came roundhouse kicks.  Moving across the gym.  After that, we did double front snap kick followed up with double round house kicks.

Next came combinations.  We started with downward block and reverse punch and then moved on to rising block, inward block, outward block all with reverse punches.  We did combinations both forward and backward with no rest.  We then worked on outward block, elbow strike with back fist both forward and backward.

We then worked on one-step sparring without a partner.  This was a little different than working with a partner but if you concentrate hard enough, you won’t notice that you are working without a partner.

We then did a kata and finished up.