Today was my first class with Sensei DiPasquale.

Warm up kihon…

We started out with some kihon.   Horse stance while punching.  Front stance and hold it until it felt like my legs were going to fall off.  Partner drills with one partner in a front stance and the other checks to make sure that the stance is correct and the arms are in the correct position.

Kata…

Next, Sensei had us work on parts of  Bassai dai.  We started with the move from the reach with front punch and block.  We then moved on from that point all the way up to the second back stance after the kiai.  We started with just four moves and then continued adding moves until we reached the back stance after the kiai.  We did this at least 20 times if not more.

Because of those first four moves, the punch, block, punch, block, Sensei wanted us to work on core engagement.   He had us stand up, tighten our butts, pull belly button as far back as we could, contract and breath out.  The idea is to make sure that we are tensing the correct muscles when doing our movements.

Time to kick…

Sensei had us work on some kicking drills.  We did side thrust kick with front snap kick.  Sensei wanted us to pay extra attention to pulling our leg back fast after the side thrust kick.  We did a lot of these.

Next, we did a drill where one partner does the core engagement exercise while the other does side thrust kicks and then we switched.  Next, we held the wall and did back kicks while the other held various stances, front, back and horse stance.

Finish up…

Sensei had us lay on the floor and do lying side thrust kicks.  This was a really cool movement.  I have done them before but I forgot all about them.  I need to add it to my home training.

We finished up with the plank for about a minute.

This was a very good kihon class and I hope that we have more like it.

Sensei Gatch gave us a simple class today but it was one of those classes that felt very productive.

Kihon…

Sensei had us start with some simple kihon.  We started with left foot forward front stance.  From their he had us reach with our front hand and throw a reverse punch without stepping.  This was to have us open and close our hips.

Next, we did the did various combination’s of blocks with reverse punch.

Time to spar…

Sensei had us get our pads on for some sparring.  We started out with anchorman drills.  I am starting to like this drill much more than free sparring.  I have found a combination that seems to be working for me.  I shift in with a jab, reverse punch and jab.  This seems to be working well for me but I just have to make sure not to overuse it.

Next came some sparring matches.  Sensei had us get into two groups.  We had a group of seven and each of us got to spar for one point.  If one group got a point, the other group had to do five pushups.

This class went by really fast and even though it was very simple, it was very good.

Sensei Cieplik had us work on some old and new drills today.

Basics…

We did the normal warm up and common kihon drills and then we got in to some new drills.  We stood in a front stance, did a front leg front snap kick followed with a rear leg knee strike and front snap kick.  The reason for this drill is to get the hips to retract correctly between movements.

Sparring drills…

Sensei had us work on some sparring drills next.  The first drill was shift forward with a jab.  Next came two shifts and two jabs.  This was a warm up for the next drill.  Next we did shift forward with jab, then half step with reverse punch and follow up with a rear leg front snap kick.  It took a little time to wrap my brain around this drill but once I got it, it felt fairly smooth.

Bunkai…

Sensei had us work on some kata bunkai next.  We started with Heian Nidan.  Our partner attacked with a hiato, we did the first move of the kata, stepped back into a back stance with the rising/outward block, our partner then threw a front punch with we blocked with the second move of the kata, we then grabbed their punching hand, pulled them in and strike their ribs with the third move from the kata.

Here is one of my favorite applications from Heian Shodan.  We started with move three, the downward block from a front snap kick attack.  Next, the attacker kicks again and we strip the kick and pull them toward us and then land the hammer fist.  Who would have thought that such a simple group of movements could be so effective.

We worked on some kihon bunkai too.  Inward block, elbow strike backfist.  We have worked on this drill before but today, Sensei said to get in behind our attacker and pull their knee back.  For example,  our partner attacks with a front punch, we block with a left hand inward block, we then grab their hand with our right hand, get our left leg behind then in a horse stance and backfist them in the face.  The reason to get behind them with the horse stance is to pull the leg back and make then learn forward as we are doing the backfist.  It’s a bit rough on the knees but effective.

Kata…

We spent the rest of the class working on some kata.  We started with Heian Shodan and did each Heian kata after, then Tekki Shodan, then Jion and Bassai Dai.  We then worked on Kanku Dai but I couldn’t remember more than the first few moves.

* After class, Sensei gave me a tip to sit back when I am in my sparring stance.  This allows me to move from my lower  body instead of my shoulders like I have been doing for so long.  Sitting back in my fighting stance  lowers my center of gravity.

It was an awesome class as always.