Shotokanplanet.org

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

Friday Karate class – 3/14/08 – Sparring and lots of pain.

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There are some days when I should just listen to my instincts.  Today was one of those days.

Sensei Noia asked if we wanted to do kata or sparring?  For some odd reason, I choose sparring, since I know that I need to improve.  It started out with a partner and we were to trade kicks back and forth.  The first drill had four kicks; Front leg kick, front leg kick, back leg kick but put it down in front and then back leg kick with the other leg.  My partner, Robert, can easily throw head level roundhouse kicks and he did easily but I had to do front snap kicks since my roundhouse kicks were near belt level.

We did a few more drills like those and then moved on to some more complex drills.  We had to go down the line with a different partner after each attack and try to score on them.  Out of six people, I think I scored twice.  We had a couple more drills like those and one where we had to get a two point attack on each person.

The drills themselves weren’t to complex but some of my partners really threw some serious kicks and punches.  I took a really hard side thrust kick to the top of my chest, about six or seven hard shots to the ribs, at least a dozen kicks to my lower abs and a really hard kick to my left forearm.

I am glad to know that I can take some hard hits to my body but I certainly don’t like them.

Thursday Karate class – 3/13/08 – With the body.

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Sensei Cieplik has us do the normal warmup with our kicks and other movements. Sensei told me to do one of my combination kicks a little differently. Instead of doing each move of the front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick and roundhouse kick as separate movements, he said to use the rebound of the back kick as the start of the roundhouse kick. That move felt so different to me, in a good way. I was able to bring my hips around and execute my roundhouse with power. The rebound made my hips come around faster then I ever felt in the past.

We moved into a front snap kick but instead of just snapping the kick, Sensei had us use our hips to throw the kick. This created more power then I ever felt in any kick that I have done in the past. My back leg actually moved forward a couple of inches after the kick was extended. It was a feeling of total commitment to the kick. The other part is that squeezing the floor and using the hamstrings was an important part of making this kick effective.

We then did the same movement but with a knee strike. This movement was similar to the front kick and when executed, the motion was forward and not up. Again, the back foot moved when executed. Sensei had us add some walking front punches after the knee strikes. The idea was to use the full power on the knee strikes but then come down gently and move forward with front punches.

The idea behind many of these pull power movements is using the entire body to create motion and make power. Sensei often speaks of doing our movements “with the body” and these moves certainly get the entire body into them.

We then partnered up and worked on a different movement. Sensei had us put our hands near our partners side at a little higher than hips level. He then had us use our hips to push forward but draw our power from the ground. This is hard to explain in text but the idea was to use the motion of the hips and core to forcefully push our partner with little upper body or arm power. This was a hard move to master but it deserves some a lot of practice because I can see the amount of power that it can create.

We applied some of these ideas above to Bassai Dai. The movement where you stand upright with both hands on one side, reach and then punch. Since you are standing upright, the power for the punches need to be generated from moving the body. The idea is to draw the power from the floor and have our hips and core generate the power for the punch. Even though, I am not working on Bassai Dai as my current kata, when doing just that sequence of movements, I could feel the power generated as compared to when doing it with just the upper body. Sensei described this motion as “wave motion.” He also told us to try and think of parts of our kata where we can apply this motion.

Sensei made some comments during class and one that really stuck with me was “Prepare, display and Retreat.” The prepare part is the start of the kata in the ready stance or yoi position. The display part is say a kata or kihon move or movements. The retreat is when we pull our front leg back and get back into our ready stance.

Another comment was “base, retreat, attack.” I understand this as one-step or three step sparring. You start in the ready stance, when your partner attacks, you retreat and move backward with a block and then you finish with a counter attack.

Another important point that Sensei made was for us to do what your body will allow us to do. If we have some problem or even disability, we should only do movements that are within our capabilities. I am often guilty of trying to do some movements that my body just doesn’t want me to do.

It was an excellent class.

Tuesday Karate class – 3/11/08 – Kihon, kata and an incredible sight.

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I enjoyed this class a great deal.

I have always felt that my kihon could inprove and I really like when spend time working on fundamentals.  Sensei Noia has us start with downward block and reverse punch.  For the first 10 moves, he had us go slowly and told us to pay attention to our stances and hip rotation.  Hip rotation is not my strong point but doing the moves this way really made me focus more than usual.  After completing those 10 moves, we did full speed and power for six more moves.  After the sixth move, Sensei had us hold our stance for a 10 count and then step forward and hold for 10 more seconds with the other leg.  We did the same sequence of moves but substituted outward block, inward block and rising block each time.  I really like doing this an hope to do something similar on the days that I do not have class.

After the kihon, Sensei split us up into groups by rank for kata.  Sensei Gatch ended up with my wife and I and we worked on Jion for the rest of the class.  Sensei Gatch gave me some good things to work on.  First, I need to work on the back stance double block movement.  He wants me to start in a back stance, moving forward into another back stance and do the double block.  After a few times, he wants me to do the same thing but moving backwards.   Next, he wants me to work on the transition from the double block to the horse stance.  I need to focus on my shift from the back stance so he had my hold my hand on the same side as my back leg, pickup the front foot and shift.  It  certainly sounds easier than it is to me.  Next, he wants me to work on the three palm strikes because my legs are finishing after the hand movements.  It is a timing issue and I need to just practice them more.  Also, when doing the double outward blocks, I need to make the movements more circular instead of forward.  I am pushing my fists out in front instead of blocking to the sides.  I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Now for the incredible sight part.  I stuck around to watch the advanced class for while.  This was one of the most interesting classes that I have seen yet and I really wish I would have taken it.  Sensei Noia had everyone do all the katas up to their own belt rank and then down again.  I know that it doesn’t sound incredible but what I saw was incredible to me.  Sensei Plocharczyk did all eight of the kyu kata and at least four or five black belt katas and back down again.  From his first punch in Heian Shodan on the first kata to his last punch after 20 plus katas, I would not want to be hit by it.  His timing might have slowed a little and his form was a little relaxed after doing so many katas but I am certain that his strikes and kicks would still have done damage.  It was one of the most impressive displays of Karate that I have ever seen and hope that one day, I will be able to do something similar.