Class was much like Saturday’s class.

We spent a great deal of time working on stance training again. We started with drills where our partner puts their belt around our waist and pulls us from behind while we move forward in front stances. I am pushing much harder from my hips instead of my shoulders now.

We then had our partner stand in front of us and watch our front foot to make sure that we did not move it when stepping forward. Then our partner watched our back foot to make sure our heels aren’t popping up.

We then finished up with some kata.

It was a good class. I really like the basic classes like these.

Excellent class!

We spent the entire class working on our footwork with attention to keeping our feet in the right place when moving forward. We started with a simple moving forward front punch while our partner watched our front foot. The goal of the drill was to keep our front foot from moving as we step forward. Many people have a tendency to adjust the foot before moving instead of keeping it grounded. It is acceptable to to pivot in the ball the front foot as it becomes the back foot but moving it before then is a no no.

We then did that same type of drill but our partner watched our back foot to make sure that our heals were not popping up when moving. I don’t know how many times we did these drills but we spent near 45 minutes or more working on them.

After the drills, we spent the rest of the time doing some kata.

I really like classes that work on basics like these. Since my hips are getting better with each visit to the chiropractor, I can really get low in my stances and bring my hips in to my punches now and doing class like this is a great help.

Good class.

We got right in to some sparring drills. We spent most of the class working on focus and concentration. We did many drills where we shift in, jab, shift out, reverse punch and shift out again. The idea was to punch with full power and speed and also keep complete control. We than did a few more drills where we could use any combination but again, full speed and control. We also did a few drills where our partner would attack and we would block and counter.

After that sparring was done we did kata with a Sensei watching us closely. I did Tekki Shodan and I have to make my kata more fluid. I am still doing the robotic moves and even thought my power is good, I am pausing too long between each move.