Shotokanplanet.org

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

Tuesday Karate class – 1/29/08 – Kata so hard, I made myself sick.

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Have you ever worked so hard in class that you had both a headache and stomach ache? If you haven’t experienced that wonderful feeling, you don’t know what you are missing. More about that later.

We started class with a longer warm up and stretch, which felt pretty good.

Sensei Noia split everyone into groups. He took all of the brown belts, three of us and other Sensei’s took the rest of group. Sensei had us start out by doing Heian 1-4 as a warm up. Things felt pretty good and I did those four katas with about medium speed and half power.

From that point, Sensei had us do the first move of our belt rank kata. He had us start very slowly and precise with extra attention to our form. He wanted us to feel the movement and he corrected each of us if there were any mistakes. We did the first move maybe five or so times before moving on.

Next, I did the first move along with the first front snap kick and triple punch. Again, this was slow so that Sensei could see our technique. I have to continue to focus on keeping my shoulders down when punching. Sensei said to make sure that I rub my elbows on my gi and also to squeeze my lats to keep my shoulders where they belong.

We then added the second front snap kick and triple punch. I was really focusing on keeping my shoulders down by then and doing fairly well. When I did the front snap kick and triple punch to the right, I was leaning my head forward for some reason but I think it’s related to my hips and was leaning at the waist. Sensei Noia said that I looked like a bull and “don’t do that”.

We then added the next moves with the rising block, reverse punch twice and then the single rising block and single front punch. Sensei told me that I need to use my HIPS more. I was not opening up enough on the block and not straightening them enough on the punches. I focused on those and was moving better but I feel it makes my moves robotic so I need to work more on those outside of class.

Next, I worked on the dreaded turn and block after the ki ai. I was having a hard time and not moving my feet fast enough. Sensei took a pool noodle and would tell me to go and if I didn’t move my feet fast enough, he would hit my back foot with the noodle. Out of ten moves, I think he hit my foot about six times. I really need to work on those moves.  I kept working that move and the mirror image move that follows over and over again.  I lost track of how many times I did those moves but it had to be over 15 at full speed and power.

The interesting part about this class was that Sensei would have us do each move slowly, then full speed and then add the next move slowly. For example, I would do the first move in Jion very slow, next I would do that first move fast and then the second move very slow, next the first and second move fast and the third move very slow and so on.

Sensei had us do the full kata and I ended up skipping an entire section.  I don’t know what I was thinking but I left a whole group of moves and finished my kata facing the wrong direction.

One thing that was different is that I worked so hard, I ended up with a headache and a really bad stomach-ache.  I dug deeper and pushed harder than I remember.  Hopefully next time I push it like, I won’t get the side effects.

Great class!

Saturday Karate class – 1/26/08 – Kihon and step by step kata.

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Today was a good class.

I always like doing kihon and we haven’t done too much of it, except on Thursday classes, since we tested. We started out with very slow motion, rising block with reverse punch. We did the moves slowly to make sure that our technique was corret. After a few moves, we used full power and speed going forward. We then did the moves, slowly again but moving backward. Next came, downward block with reverse punch and inward block with reverse punch that same way as above. Those moves really got the blood flowing and warmed us up for what was going to come next.

Sensei Gatch took the purple belts and brown belts off to one side for kata. We started doing Heian Godan with Sensei counting each move. This a good way to work on perfecting our moves but it is also very hard since the moves need to be held while Sensei is correcting mistakes. After that, we moved on to Tekki Shodan. This kata is very hard when Sensei is correcting others since we are in a horse stance all the time. My hips and legs feel like they want to fall off or maybe I wish they did. We spent a full half hour working on just those two kata’s but I am sure that we all improved because of it.

Friday Karate class – 1/25/08 – Sparring with the angles.

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Class was hard physically but ever harder mentally.

Sensei Noia broke us up into groups.  He took the black belts and Sensei Gatch took everyone else below black belt.  We put on our pads and started working on sparring drills.

Instead of doing the normal back and forth, shift in and out type drills, Sensei Gatch had us work on angles.  We started with our partner in one place and we shifted, around then in a circle.  In order to circle them, we had to shift in and then shift out on an angle.  Shifting to the right was no too hard but when shifting out to the left angle, it was a different story.  It was hard not to get my feet tangled up but after a while, it did get somewhat easier to perform.

The concept behind shifting on the angles were to find an opening to attack our opponent.  We started doing that same movement as above but both of us were shifting at the same time.  While doing, Sensei had one of us change direction when shifting out.  By changing direction, it created an opening on our partner for attack.  It took some time to get the concept down since we are always used to working on linear or straight lines when sparring.  Or, at least I am used to doing it that way.

It was a good class but hard to do the correct way.