Shotokanplanet.org

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

Exam preparation part 2 – 12/8/08 – Monday Karate class

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Sensei Brien has taught some hard classes in the past but today was an all time high.

14 minutes of torture…

Sensei had us go through all of the basics for our upcoming test with no break.  We started with horse stance punches and blocks, right into moving forward and back with front punch and triple punch, then right into all combination’s forward and back and then the various kicking movements.  At one point, I was not able to catch my breath but somehow I endured through all 14 minutes without stopping and putting every ounce of power and spirit into each move.

kata…

After the torture was over, Sensei had us work on our kata.  He had us do our kata as a group a few times and the he had us go up in front of him by rank to do our kata.  I felt pretty good because he told me that I did good.  Getting a good from him or any of my Sensei’s makes me feel pretty good and this was no exception.

Anchorman…

Since some of my fellow students are testing for Shodan, Sensei had us work on some anchorman sparring drills.  I feel much better about this drill than I have in the past for some reason.  I am not sure if it is because what I have been working on with my free sparring or what but I sure feel that my confidence in sparring game is going up.

It was a really good class and one that I feel shows how hard I have been training since my last test.

My front punch was connected – 11/29/08 – Saturday Karate class

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Sensei Gatch gave us a good class today.  We started with a long jog around the dojo because it was really cold.

My front punch felt just right…

As part of our warm up, Sensei Gatch told us to step forward and backward with front punch across the length of the gym.  For the first time, I felt that all of my punches came from the grond up.  I really believe that if someone my own size or larger walked in front of my punches, it would stop them.  Moving backward felt even better because I could actually feel that power come up my leg from my heels.  It was a great feeling and on that I hope I will have more often than not.

Punch that pad…

Today, we were able to punch the pads for while.  We were only doing reverse punch and I didn’t have the same connection that I felt when doing the front punches but it was still good.  I hope that we punch the pads more often because I never feel that we do it enough.

Kata from start to finish…

The rest of the class was spent working on kata.  We started with Hiean Shodan all the way up to Tekki Shodan on our own with a short break between each one.  I really like classes like this because I enjoy doing all of the kata’s.  The interesting part is that all of my kata’s until Bassai Dai felt awesome.  Even though I was working through oxygen deprivation, the kata’s felt really connected and stronger than ever.

After we finished Tekki Shodan, Sensei had us do Jion to his count.  It fellt really good.  When doing the front snap kicks with sanbon zuki’s, my punches felt awesome.  My timing was better then ever for some reason and those moves were solid.  Next, we did Bassai Dai to Sensei’s count again and it felt really good too.  I was trying not to think when doing my kata’s and up until the end of this kata, it was working.

Next, Sensei said to do our own kata at our own speed.  I started doing Bassai Dai but I was thinking too hard about it and Sensei Gatch stopped me.  My moves felt so robotic for some reason.  I don’t know how I was able to do all of those other kata’s so well and then get too caught up thinking about my current kata that I have been doing.  Sensei Gatch told me that all of my other kata’s were really good so I am pretty satisfied about that but I really wish I could have ended the class with a good Bassai Dai.

Japanese terms you should know…

Before we lined up, Sensei Gatch asked each of us a Japanese Karate term and we had to show what move or stance it was.  I had Age Uke, rising block.

It was a really good class.

Hard kata – 11/25/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia had us work on our basics and kata for most of the class.

There but I wasn’t there…

I don’t have classes like this too often but something just wasn’t right for me.  I was extremely tense for some reason and my basics were not what they have been.   My shoulders were up when punching and I couldn’t seem to get in a good enough stance.

After my poor showing in my Kihon, I was able to redeem myself with my kata.  Sensei had all of us start with Jion.  We did each move, and then put them together in groups working up from the first move all the way to the first ki-ai.  Oddly enough, my Jion felt pretty good and when I was doing the kicks with the triple punches, I felt really connected.

After Jion, we started working on Bassai Dai.   We worked on Bassai Dai the same way Jion, working up from one move to groups of many.  At this point, my hips were working a little better and I was able to do my kata without a lot of critque from Sensei.