Shotokanplanet.org

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

Thursday Karate class – 11/1/07 – More Tekki Shodan but different and kihon.

by Leave a Comment

Class started with the normal warm up and then we moved in to our kihon.

We did front snap kick with front punch. Sensei Cieplik made a point that everyone needs to kick and punch to the same spot or at least in the same line when doing that movement. Moving off center is not the right way to do it. We were able to use the tiles on the floor as a guide. I didn’t seem to have too much trouble or I should say it felt right to me.

Next we worked on front leg front kick followed up with step forward rear leg front snap kick. We always start this move with a simple toe tap with the front leg but Sensei we impressed with how everyone was doing the front leg toe tap and incresed the difficulty and had us do a front snap with the same form as the toe tap. When doing this move, it is important to keep from leaning back when kicking with the front leg. The idea is push forward from the back leg while doing the front leg kick. If this is done the right way, there is no leaning back and the kick is much more powerful.

Next came moving forward and backward with back stance, knife hand block and nukite. This move doesn’t feel as hard as it used to be but the kick is still painful and more so on the left side for some reason.

We also did front snap kick, roundhouse kick to the front and then come down into front stance and do a reverse punch. This move is a bit awkward to me because of my hips but I am sure with some time and practice it will become second nature. Or I hope it will.

Sensei then sent all of us 4th Kyu’s to the side with Sensei Noia to work on Tekki Shodan. Sensei Noia always picks a part of the kata and has us work on it until we get it right. Today we worked on the movement where you look one way, block with your leg then block with your arm, look the other way and repeat. We must have done that move more than fifty times and most of it while standing in the horse stance. Key parts for me to work on is turning from the waist when doing those moves, keeping my stance low and my butt tucked under.

Needless to say, getting out of the car again was really hard and just sitting here typing this is painful but I know that sooner or later, I will have a better horse stance and a better Tekki Shodan.

After class, I asked Sensei about my horse stances and he gave me some advice on a movement to do to help me improve them. He suggested that I get into a horse stance where I still have mobility and then turn my heels in and squat down as far as I can. You turn on the balls of the feet while bringing the heels inward toward center. Not an easy move by any means but I am going to try it.

He also suggested a front stance movement similar to above but it is done by bringing the front knee down as far as possible, bringing the back knee to the floor behind and then pulling the back leg forward and making it front leg. That is extremely hard for me to do and if I can ever do it well, I will post a video here to show all of you since I am not sure if my definition above is understandable.

Great class but painful.

Before class:

15 – Tekki Shodan

One each of Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan and Heian Godan.

Tuesday Karate class – 10/30/07 – More extreme kihon and test preparation!

by Leave a Comment

Class was much like our class on Saturday.

We spent most of the time working on the kihon for our upcoming test.

I had a little harder time for some reason and had to get a drink about 30 minutes into the class.  My throat felt like it was full of cotton balls for some reason.  On a positive note, my side thrust kicks felt much better than usual.  All of the hip and core exercises must be starting to pay off.

Before class, I did 8 – Tekki Shodan.

Saturday Karate class – 10/27/07 – Testing preparation.

by Leave a Comment

Great class but extremely hard.

Sensei Noia has been preparing us for our upcoming rank testing by having us do all of the moves from our test. The difference is that we do many more repetitions in class than we do at our test. This really taxes my endurance more than anything else and there are times that I really have to dig deep to keep from sitting down.

We did the normal assortment of moves. Rising, downward, inward and outward blocks with reverse punch moving forward and backward. Knife hand block with front kick and nukite moving forward and backward. Outward block, elbow strike with back fist moving forward and backward.

We also did the array of kicks. Double front snap kick, double roundhouse kick, side thrust kick from horse stance and side snap kick from horse stance. We also did moving forward front snap kick with front punch. Then we worked on front snap kick with side thrust kick to the side and then front snap kick with side thrust kick to the front. The kicks were torture for me today. My hips were still sore from Thursday class but they also seemed much higher and move powerful than usual.

After that we worked on one-step sparring without a partner. We were told to imagine that we had on opponent to attack and defend. For some reason, doing this without a partner adds a different dimension to this drill. I imagine a much larger and faster attacker than I normally work with and it really makes the moves feel different. The best part is that I don’t get hit when working with an imaginary partner.

We then did kata. I felt that my Tekki Shodan was better today because I was really focused on my horse stances.

One of our final drills was push ups. Sensei had us all get in a circle and he counted for us. He went all the way to 25 and I was the only one make it to the end. Even though my body was exhausted at that point, my mind would not let me allow anyone do more than me. I really think I could have made it past 30 pretty easily but luckily for me, Sensei stopped at 25.

Before class, I did 4 – Tekki Shodan.