Shotokanplanet.org

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

Pure torture – 8/26/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia reached a new level today.  I cannot believe how hard class was and my legs were already starting to go weak before we finished the warm up.

Suicides are not a good enough description of this warm up…

Sensei had us start with suicides.  Normally we do one or two but today, he had us five.  Near number four, my legs were already starting to show signs of fatigue.  Next, we stood in front of our parnter and as they moved  forward, we moved backward in low walks.  We did this at least two times if not more.

Never ending low walks…

I thought that we were done with the low walks (walking lunges for those of you that might not have heard about these) after the warm up but just when I thought it was safe, Sensei had us do something worse.

We started with more low walks but we added front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, and front kick after doing each low walk.   Somewhere in there, I remember doing roundhouse kicks but I cannot remember the details of drill except I know were started in the low position.

Next, Sensei had us work with our partner again but the idea was for us to both do a low walk, the one moving forward would try to hit the others shoulders with their hands and the person moving forward would block.  This sounds like a simple drill but the stress of doing the low walks while trying to strike or block really changed the dynamics.

After those, Sensei had us do low walks again but one partner would kick from the low position and the other would block while moving backward.

We spent close to 40 minutes doing those movements.  My legs felt like jello at that point but we were not done yet.

Kata…

We finsihed up with some kata.  Sensei had us do a slow motion Hiean Shodan but with attention to our stances.  After that, he had us do our own kata in slow motion.  Next came our kata at medium speed and we finished up doing our kata at full speed and power.

I was a very tough class.  It wasn’t as bad as the Saturday before last but it was in the top five.

The hardest class I ever had – 8/16/08 – Saturday Karate class

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As of today, I think I can say that I lived through that hardest Karate class that I have had yet.

I knew it would be tough when we did the warm up…

Sensei Plocharczyk started us off with a really hard warm up.  He had us get into the lunge position and had us do ten of each, front snap kick, side thrust kick, roundhouse kick and hook kick.  Then we switched legs and did the same thing on the other side.

By this time, I was hardly able to stand.

Never ending kihon…

We started with some simple movements.  We did moving forward with various blocks, then punches and then a combination of both.

From that point, we just kept going.  Sensei was testing our mental persiverance more than our physical.  As we did each combination of movements, he added more.  Below is the how the moves progressed:

We did all combinations moving forward.
Reverse punch and downward block.
Reverse punch, downward block and reverse inward block.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block and outward block.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block outward block and reverse rising block.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block outward block, reverse rising block and rising block.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block outward block, reverse rising block, rising block and reverse elbow strike.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block outward block, reverse rising block, rising block and reverse elbow strike and rising elbow strike.

And then came kicks…

Next came moving forward double front snap kick and double roundhouse kicks.  My front snap kicks weren’t too bad but my roundhouse kicks were a maybe six inches off the floor at that point.

We finished up with some conditioning push ups.  We did 10 normal push up then held our body half way up off the floor and then an inch of the floor for a period of time that I cannot remember.

I think I can say with some certainty that this was the hardest class that I ever had.

Ten-no-kata and a guest Sensei – 8/7/08 – Thursday Karate class

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Tonight, we had a guest sensei, Dr. David Renner.   Dr. Renner is a chiropractor, who works with Dr. Pusiteri, who is my chiropractor, and he likes to apply Applied Kinesiology to Karate when possible.

Warm up…

Horse stance with punches and rising blocks to get the blood flowing.  We have been doing this more and more as of late and I think it helps but it is really hurting my hip, especially my right hip.

Ten-no-kata, at least that is what I think it is…

Sensei mentioned ten-no-kata when we were doing our movements but I am not sure if all them are considered ten-no-kata or just certain movements.

The first movement was ready stance, step and put left foot forward, downward block, reverse punch and step back to ready stance.  Next, from the ready stance came step and put right foot forward, downward block, reverse punch and step back to ready stance.  We then did the same block and punch but we stepped and put the left foot backward.  The last move was from ready stance but we stepped with the right foot backward.

When then did the same thing but instead of downward block we did rising block, then again with inward block and then with outward block.

Next came a back stance drill.  From ready stance, we back to the right with the left foot forward and did a knife hand block.  Next, all starting from the ready stance,  we stepped back with right foot forward and did our knife hand block.  After that, we stepped forward with our right foot but then faced the back of the room so our left foot ended up in front.  The last move was stepping forward with our left foot, turn and end up with our right foot in front but again facing the back of the room.

The movements got a little harder as we went on.

From ready stance, we step into left leg forward with rising block, then reverse punch, then rear leg front snap kick, change hands, then put kicking leg back down behind and throw another reverse punch.  You end up making a + or a small letter t shape with your feet doing the movement in four directions.  I hope I explained that well enough.  I really need to work on my videos soon.

Kata time…

Sensei then had us do our own belt level kata as he looked on and offered advice.  We did our kata, slowly, two times.  Sensei watched me do a couple of moves and nodded with approval so I felt pretty good.

Gun defense drills…

Sensei explained that the most important part of gun defense drills are if you can run away, then run away!  Your wallet or money is not worth a bullet to your chest or head.  This type of defense should only be used as a last resort and the odds of getting shot if you make a mistake are certanly in the criminals favor.

The first defense drill started with us facing our partner.  Our partner pointed the gun at us at chest level and we stood with our hands up, like “I give up.”  Next, we move to the outside, grab the gun hand with our left hand, grab the other side of the gun hand with our right hand, put their arm, about at the eblow into our armpit and squat down while keeping the gun hand pointed away and pulling up.  This puts them in an arm bar and from that point, as we take them down we can break the arm or at least lock it up so that we control the gun.

The next drill was a gun attack from behind.

Our partner put the gun in our back and we put our hands up again.  We turn, extremely fast, and grab their right gun hand with our right hand and quickly push their elbow with our left hand.  The idea is to get out out the way of the gun and then do anything you can to disarm them.  You have to grab the hand so that they cannot turn the gun on you and as soon as you do, you need to take it away from them or hurt them so much that they cannot shoot.

Speed and timing is exteremly important and if I don’t move fast enough, you are going to get shot.

It was an excellent class and I hope that I never need to test the gun defense movements that we worked on tonight.