Have you ever had a Karate class that felt perfect?  Not so much that you did everything the correct way but you did everything that you think a class should be made of.  Today was one of those classes for me.

Sensei Noia had us start with kata.  Not just one kata but all katas that we know.  This meant that I did Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan, Heian Godan, Tekki Shodan and Jion.  Once I finished all of those katas, Sensei had us start at Jion and work back down to Heian Shodan.  After we finished that, he had us do one kata, our own belt rank kata, at full speed and power.

Next, Sensei had us do the block and counter part of one-step sparring without a partner.

We then moved on to hitting some stuff.  I always feel that we should hit things every now and then to see if our training is effective.  Sensei Noia brought some striking pads to class.  He had one Sensei hold a pad for elbow and knee strikes, another for kicks of any type, another for punches and two small hand pads for punching and kicking.  I am not sure but I felt that my kicks and punches to the larger pads were the most effective.  I don’t recall ever putting that much power behind a kick or a punch before and it felt really good.

We finished up class with some blocking drills.  Sensei had all of us get into a large circle.  The Sensei’s had pole shaped soft pads about two feet long.  We all stood in a fighting stance and the Sensei’s went around attacking each of us while we tried to block.

To me, class doesn’t get any better than this.

I guess the title is a little deceiving. There was some pain involved but not bad pain.

Sensei Plocharczyk started class with a different drill. He had everyone lay on the floor, the person on the far end would stand up, shift in and out between each person on the floor and then start a new line and lay down again. After we did that, he had us get in the push up position. From there, he had us do 10 push ups, then hold in the half push up position for what seemed like an eternity. We then did five more push ups and then held the half position again and then finished up with five more push ups. My chest and arms didn’t have any trouble but my hands really hurt while doing them for some reason.

We then did kata. Sensei had all of us do kata while he watched each belt rank group do their own belt kata. When I got to my group, after I did Jion, he said that I need to rotate my hips more in the rising block with reverse punch. This is a common correction that I have been getting so I really need to get back to basics to try and correct this problem.

We then partnered up for three step and one step sparring. For some reason, my mind was off for the last couple of days. I blocked the jodan punches in the three step with inward blocks for some reason so I guess my mind really wasn’t at it’s peak. I had less trouble with my one-step but made a mistake when blocking the roundhouse kick by shifting too far to the outside and not being able to return a counter.

We then moved on to sparring drills. This felt much to me today. I didn’t any problems and for the first time in a while, I felt that my sparring was getting better. My shifting felt lighter and my hands were moving very fast. My fakes were working well and I found it pretty easy to score on my partner.

We finished up with some more conditioning work. Sensei had us hold our sparring headgear above our heads and do low walks across the gym. When we got to the far side, we did low walks back again. Each time Sensei said run, we would go to the far side and then do low walks back again.

Some of the conditioning drills were painful but it was good pain.

Today, I felt good.  I had a vist with Dr. Pusateri, my chiropractor and he did some good stuff to me today.  I seem to learn something new every time I see him and after I leave his office, my body feels like it’s made out of steel.

Because I was feeling good, I asked Sensei Noia if I could work off to the side since I didn’t really want to get hurt sparring again.  I ended up doing kata with my wife for about half of the class.

Sensei Noia brought some of his striking pads with today.  He had two large pads for some kicking and punching drills.  We did roundhouse kicks, punches, and elbow strikes for close to 20 minutes.  While I was holding the pad, Sensei Noia gave it five or six solid roundhouse kicks.  It was as if he had a tree trunk for leg.  While most the others kicked and some of them can kick really hard, I was able to hold the pad without moving too much but when Sensei Noia kicked it, I pushed backward even though my stance was pretty well grounded.  I realized that he was using his left leg and his right leg is normally his powerful one.  It’s always impressive to see how effective your Sensei’s Karate is but feeling it makes me see his power on a whole new level.

We also did some punches and elbow strikes to the pads and I ended up bending my right wrist.  I do not do enough pad work and I really need to punch things instead of just working on the air.  I also think I need to improve the strength of my wrists.  My forearms are strong and decent sized but my wrist are small and I think they need some hard work.

I am really looking forward to the warm weather so that I can start working outside on the makiwara again.