Sensei Noia has been having us spent a lot of time on our stances.  The good part is, Sensei is having us do this stance training at the start of class not only to improve our stances but to also warm us up.  We also spent a lot of time working on kata tonight and I have no issues with that.

Stances for a warm up….

We started doing stances from a kata of our choice across the dojo and back.  For example, if you picked Heian Godan, you would do back stances, front stances, cross leg stances and horse stances.

Pick a kata….

Next, we did three katas of your choice, one slow and the other two fast.  I did Gojushiho Sho for my kata.

After that, we picked a kata and do up to a certain part, mostly the first kiai and sensei would come around, watch it and give everyone corrections. For my kata, I picked Empi and we did it at least 7 times.  Then we did the same but from middle of kata to end and again, Sensei came around to give us corrections for that part of the kata.

I enjoy Empi but the jump really did a number on my back tonight.  For all of you, who are working on Empi, do not look down at the floor when landing the jump.  I know, I wasn’t too smart to look down when jumping but I ended up jumping higher than I expected and I looked down to see how I was going to land and ended up jamming my hip into my lower back.  Needless to say, my back was not too happy, so my advice to you is keep your posture at all times, especially when landing the Empi jump.

Everyone walked away with at least two corrections for their kata of choice and class was over.

Class today was enjoyable, even if it was painful.  No too painful but enough that I will remember it tomorrow.  There’s nothing better than doing lots of kata and some good ole pad hitting.  You just cannot hit the pads enough.  Not only does hitting the pads help with stress relief, it also allows us to strike at full power without having to stop our technique like when we strike at the air.

Kata for warm up….

Warming up with kata is also a double edge sword for me.  I would guess that my first few katas are really ugly and way over the top until my body starts to warm up.  It feels like my back hip is locked up into my lower back but after the first three katas they start to improve.

We did Heian Shodan through Heian Godan and then all five again but mirror image.  Mirror image is always a good challenge and it really makes all of us slow down.  It’s more of a mental challenge but having to slow down allows us to make each technique better because it gives us more time to think about the next move.

Get a partner and a pad….

Like I mentioned earlier, hitting the pads really are a good gauge of how hard you can strike and how accurate your attacks really are.  We started in a horse stance with single punch and double punch to the pad.

We then moved into a cross legged stance and punched again.  Cross leg stance is always a good challenge for the person holding the pad because if you do not squeeze your muscles and drop down into the stance you will fall over.  I have found that if you drop ever so slightly into the stance it will make it much more solid.  You really have to time it well but it does work against even the hardest punches.

Next, we moved into a cat stance.  This works mostly the same as the cross leg stance and dropping low in the stance works well.

The concept also works with the horse stance but if you are in a solid stance and tighten your core you should already have some good stability.

Time for high belt kata….

Sensei had us start with Kanku Dai.  We did the first kata very slowly with clean techniques and then the next a little faster and the third kata at full speed.

After that, we did another kata, of your choice, three more times the same way we did Kanku Dai.  I tired Sochin this time and it felt pretty good, I remembered the entire kata and that always helps make the kata better.

Class ended on a good note because I was able to walk out on my own power and days like those are always good days.

In the almost seven years that I have been training with Sensei Cieplik, I do not remember ever having a tougher class.  We did some drills tonight that I never remember doing before.  I know that Sensei has us do drills to help us improve certain techniques but tonight was one of the first times that my legs have felt like jello in many years.  I truly believe if these types of drills were done often, they would improve anyone’s Karate a great deal or kill them in the process.

We started out with the usual warm up doing, 20 front snap kicks, 10 front snap kick front leg and front snap kick rear leg for one count, 5 front snap kick and back kick, 5 front.snap kick side thrust kick and 3 front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, roundhouse kick, hook kick and front snap kick.

Butt ups….

There is no better way for me to describe this movement except to call it butt hops.  You lay flat on the floor on your back and twist your body from one butt cheek to the other to work the core.  Doing this on the tile floor is a real challenge butt (pun intended) it is possible.  The key is keeping your body rigid and twisting from your hips.  You have to mover from your core when doing these and keep the body tense like a board or you will end up hurting yourself.

After that, we did squats with our arms out in front and then kicked our shins to our hands.  This was a good stretch but I know that walking tomorrow is going to be an issue.

Next, from seiza we touched our fingers to our heels then pushed our hips forward and came up on our knees then dropped back down.  The idea is to imagine that you have string attached to the top of your head pulling you up so that you move from the hips.  The motion is straight up and then straight back down.

While tall kneeling, we grabbed our belt with our arms out in front of us, pulling the belt forward while  leaning back as far as we could go and then came back up to tall kneeling.  The idea is to keep your shins flat on the floor while bending backward at the knees and bringing your back as close to the back of your legs as possible.

Groups of four….

Sensei had us get into  groups of four for the next drill.  One of us stood between two others, holding on to their shoulders and another person stood in front of the middle person with a pad.

The first drill was for the middle person to pick their knee up, extend their leg onto the pad and then retract it very fast.  The motion was short front snap kick, with little power, but then pull it back extremely fast using the extension and retraction of the hip to do the work.

The second drill was to bring the knee up high and kick very fast at the person holding the pad.  Again, not for power but for speed and using the hips to kick.

The last drill only needed two people, one holding the pad and the other doing a very long lunge punch.  The key to this drill was to cover as much ground as possible and hit the target moving in and down.  You almost need to throw your entire body at your target but again, you have to throw your body using your hips and lower body, not your chest.

We finished up kata doing H1, H2 and H3 three times along with Jion up to the first kiai once.