We did much of the same basics that we did last night.  Sensei Gatch had us do a few more since the gym that we use on Saturday is longer than the one that we are at on Friday.

We did a lot of work on our kicks, which is always good for me and a lot of combination movements.   It was funny, whenever Sensei would stop to talk, he would do it when we had our left leg forward.  Standing and holding the front stance for so much time was pure torture.  I did tell him about it and he then started talking when we had the right foot forward to even them out.  We spent three quarters of the class on kihon and test preparation.

For some reason, we did a lot of push ups throughout this class.  At least 50 or more.

After our basics, we moved on to kata.  Sensei sent us out by rank.  Again, when I did my Jion, I need more hip rotation.

One really good thing that Sensei Gatch commented on was about kicks.  He made the comment that when we do a side thrust kick, the higher our knee is in front, the higher the side kick will be.  I need to experiment on my stretching a bit to see if I can improve my knee height.

Good class again.

Sensei Gatch had the class today.

He took us through a good amount of basics.  Many combinations and kicks.  Moving forward and backward with block and punches.  Then we did front snap kicks, roundhouse kicks and double front snap kicks and roundhouse kicks.  Even though my roundhouse kicks are nothing to write home about, I do feel that they are better than they were before.

Sensei then had us do our kata.  Sent us out by rank, watched each of us and gave advice on what we need to work on.  My problem is that I need more hip rotation in the four moves, after the front snap kick with triple punch.  If I slow the movements down, my hips turn but if I try to move fast, they hardly move from what my Sensei’s have told me.

After that, the rest of the class did some sparring but I went on the side to work on my basics with my wife.  Her back is still not back to normal and Dr. Pusateri doesn’t want her sparring.  We did a lot of basics, up and down the gym.

It was a good class and I felt that I got a lot done in a short time.

Sensei Cieplik has been showing us some new movements fairly often.  I guess I should call them new combinations since the moves are the same.  Doing certain moves in different order really makes the mind work.

We started with our normal front kicks during our warm up. Next came front kick with back kick.   Sensei said as soon as the leg comes back from the front snap, just let the back kick go.  That felt much different than I was used to and the power felt much greater than before.  It’s as if I am using the snap back from the front kick to start the back kick.

Next, we did horse stance, front leg, or side we were facing, side snap kick, step accross side thrust kick.  Next came horse stance, front leg front snap kick with step behind back kick.  That movement was really different.  This movement felt very powerful.

Next, we did, front leg front snap kick, back leg front snap kick, putting the back leg back behind and then reverse punch.  The mental concentration here is much more than the physical part.

We then worked on some punches, moving forward, jab with reverse punch.  Then, moving forward, reverse punch, jab, reverse punch.  This movement was a bit hard to do at first but once we got our minds around it, it wasn’t too bad.

Another new combination was moving forward, front leg front snap kick, step then sanbon zuki.  This wasn’t too hard but it was different.

After that, we moved on to kata.  We did Hiean Shodan a couple of times.  Sensei made the point of having everyone do the blocks with two hands.  I have always done this from almost the time when I started so it wasn’t anything really new but I did concentrate more on my hands then before.

Next came Heian Sandan and Sensei made the recommendation of doing a three quarter front stance between horse stance and front stance.  This allows the body to come around very quickly and powerful.

Next came Jion and some Bassai Dai.  Even though Bassai Dai is not my current kata, it is good to be getting a head start on it.

It was a great class and it always leaves me looking forward to the next class.