Even though I was training at home and the gym while I had the last week off from class, I felt really good when class started. I was glad to be back and looking forward to getting in a good workout.

It was an excellent class tonight.

We started with a little different warm up than usual. Then came some low walks, twisting low walks and then a bunch of kicking drills. The twisting low walks are something that I want to add to my home workout. We did, moving forward, double front snap kick and double roundhouse kick to get the blood really flowing. Instead of doing the normal stretches, we did some dynamic stretching.

Next came the hard part. Sensei Noia has us get a partner and a resistance band. He had our partner put the band around our hips and while moving forward, in a front stance, our partner would hold the band to give us resistance when moving. We must have done over 30 reps of that one movement. Next came the same thing but in a horse stance. I had a really hard time doing the horse stance against resistance. Then, to make things even harder, Sensei had us do the same movement but with the addition of a slow side thrust kick. The only way to do the kick with the resistance band is to drive off the stationary leg.

I really like classes like these where we work heavily on our conditioning.

Today was the first class where Sensei Gatch, along with Sensei Plocharczyk, ran the classes since Sensei Noia had to take over classes in other park districts.

We started with our normal warm up and stretching. After the warm up, we put on our sparring gear.

We started working on shifting drills. We made two lines with a partner in front of us and then shifted in, attacked, shifted out and moved to the right and a new partner to attack. Sensei Plocharczyk said that I need to extend more when I reverse punch. For example, when I was punching with my right hand, I was not twisting my hips enough and not extending my right punch far enough. I might need to work on some twisting lunges in my home workout to help correct this problem.

We then worked on some partner drills where we moved back and fourth and then we worked on angles. Moving on angles was somewhat confusing to me and I need to spend more time practicing those movements. I kept tangling my feet up when moving sideways.

We finished up with some free sparring. I felt really loose for some reason and for the first time in a long while, I was able to move easily. Sensei Plocharczyk made a comment that I have improved since he saw me last and that I my moves were more fluid than before. He also said that I need to work on my combination moves. When I would block an attack, I was not countering fast enough or sometimes not at all when I could have.

Class was good.

Sensei Noia had us work on sparring drills today.

We started with some simple movments where one partner would shift in and attack with a reverse punch and the other would block. After that, we worked on some kicking movements that same way that we did the punches. We did these drills to work on our timing and accuracy.

The next drill was an accuracy drill where our partner would move their hands to create an opening and we would attack that open spot. For example, our partner would put their hand by their face and we would attack their body with a reverse punch. After that, our partner would put one hand out and we would have to attack their fist guard where ever they put it.

We finished up with some free sparring. I felt lighter on my feet and do not get as winded as I used to in the past.