This is one of those classes that I will remember for sometime.  It was the start of the fall session and what a start it was.  There was so much energy in this class, I cannot describe it in words but I will try.

Kicks…

We about the first third of the class working on kicking drills.  Sensei Cieplik gave me some really good advice about how I was kicking and how I should be kicking.  When doing a front snap kick, I need to bend my stationary leg more and then tighten my abs (core) and then bring the knee up and let the lower leg fly.  For the longest time, I was standing up, almost totally straight, and then kicking and leaning backwards instead of contracting my abdominal muscles and squeezing my core.  This was not allowing my kick to snap, instead it was almost a front thrust kick.  I always thought that my front snap kick was my kick but it wasn’t and now I have something to work on to do it the correct way with consistency.

Scare them with your footwork…

Sensei has shared this concept with us before but tonight, I think I am getting closer to doing what he is looking for when moving forward punch.

Sensei has often told us to throw the front leg out in in front and do a shin clash.  This concept has eluded me for some time, a long time I guess, and I think the key to this movement is to make sure that you throw the front leg out but also push forward with the hips and tuck the butt under.  For most, this might be Karate 101, but the amount of tucking and pushing the leg forward is very subtle but it makes the difference between a good punch and a great punch.  That little motion makes the movement feel so much different and much more powerful.  Also, tucking the butt under and pushing the hips forward ever so slightly keeps the arch out of the lower back that I know have when I try to force my movements without pushing the hips forward.

One of the drills that we used to get the feeling for this movement was to put our weight on one leg and bend the knee of that leg and then reaching out with the other foot in a long cat stance, then push forward, using the back leg while pushing the hips under and forward.

Sweep them with your knee…

For our next drill Sensei had us get a partner.  One partner stood in a front stance with their left leg forward.  We then stepped in with our right foot on the outside of their left foot and then put our right knee in the inside of their left knee.  From that position, after our foot was planted next to theirs, we turned our knee out to the right and put that force on their knee which makes them fall over to the side.  Very little force is needed for this drill and just turning our knee out can easily topple someone much larger than yourself.

Kata…

We spent the rest of the class working on kata.  We did Heian Shodan but with extra attention to the shin clash on each punching movement.  From there we did Heian 2 through Heian 5, Tekki Shodan, Jion, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai.  Sensei counted out each move of the kata for us, explaining little details along the way, which I really enjoy when doing kata.

We had some special visitors today.  Sensei Santos came by to say hello, Sensei Renner was there help out and one of my Sensei’s, that I have trained under from the beginning, Sensei Plocharczyk, was there taking class with us.  It meant for a very high energy class, at least for me and a few others that I talked to afterward.

Sensei Noia gave us a continuation of last Tuesday’s class.

Laps and kata….

Like last week, we did a lap around the dojo and then did a kata.  We started with Heian shodan all the way to Heian Godan, then Tekki Shodan and then our own kata.  I ended up doing Jion since I worked on Bassai Dai the day before.

After the first few laps my legs are spent and I am panting like a dog but I made it through all sever katas and all seven laps.

One-step sparring….

Sensei had us work on one-step sparring but this week he told us to start our attacks with the right foot forward.  We almost always start with our left foot forward so this made me pause a little longer before being attacked.

I think this something that we should practice more often since our attacker might attack us stepping forward with the right foot in real life.

Kihon, kicking it into gear….

The kihon we did last week was mostly punches and block but today Sensei Noia had us work on kicking drills.

We started moving forward with front snap kick, next we did front snap kick with side thrust kick, then came front snap kick, back kick and front snap kick.

Another drill was front snap kick, back kick, front snap kick, back kick and front snap kick combination.  My feet were ready to fall off and my balance was not to good at this point but it was a good drill.

The next drill was horse stance, stepping sideways doing three side thrust kicks at different levels.  For example, we did a low side thrust kick to knee height, then another to belt level and the next as high a possible all without setting our foot down in between kicks.

My legs were  screaming at this point and luckily for me, it was time for class to end.

On another note, Sensei Gatch is now taking the advanced class with us.  I always felt that taking class with my Sensei’s brings up the energy level and now with both Sensei Gatch and Sensei Plocharczyk in class, the energy is through the roof!

Sensei Cieplik had us work on a lot of kicking drills today and he gave me a tip to help fix my side thrust kick and side snap kick that I never thought of.

Lots of kicking….

After the normal warm up, Sensei had us work on our kicks.  We started with rear leg front snap kick.  Next we moved to front leg toe tag with rear leg front snap kick.

If seemed that Sensei was a little troubled with our kicks so the next movement was knee strike with front snap kick.  The key is to push this hips forward for the knee strike, bring the hips back and then push them forward again for the front snap kick.

Next, we got into a horse stance and worked on moving sideways with side snap kick.  After that we worked on moving sideways side thrust kick and then side front snap kick.

Get a partner and revelation for me…

With our partner, we stood next to each other and one of us held on to the others shoulder.  From there, we brought our knee up for a side thrust kick and our partner took our leg through the motion.  This is where the revelation comes in.  Sensei came over to help me out and I was kicking very low and doing what looked like a back kick.

He told me to open my hips up first, which meant for me to turn my knee out to the side and then throw the kick instead of starting the kick from directly in front of me.  If I start the kick from in front, I end up doing what looks like an ugly back kick but if I point my knee to side before extending my leg, it goes almost straight out to the side and much higher than before.   For the first time in over five years, I was able to do a side thrust kick that actually looked like a side thrust kick.

Another point that Sensei made was for me to use all six joints.  He meant, to use the ankle, knee and hips on both sides of my body to help me execute my kicks.  The combination of all the joints together gives me a much better chance of kicking correctly instead of trying to kick, lets say, with my stationary leg pointed straight ahead, instead of turning it out as I kick and using those joints to assist.

Kata…

We finished up class with kata.  Sensei made a point about posture while we are doing our kata.  If your posture is good, your kata looks so much better than if you do your kata hunched over.

It was a great class and a huge help to my kicks too.