The class was mostly kicks and lots of them.  Sensei Noia must have been thinking up ways to keep most of us from walking for the next few days or maybe he was just trying to help us older students use up our sick time at our work.  All kidding aside, it was a real hip opener.

We started out with our partner in a left leg front stance holding right hand to right hand doing roundhouse kick and hook kick.  From the same stance, we low roundhouse kick and high hook kick.  After that, we did roundhouse kick, hook kick, side thrust kick, high roundhouse kick and hook kick.  We finished up this drill doing a few or many more kicks where we did one kick, then two, then three all the way to 10 doing a different kick each time.

We spent the last few minutes of class working on kata.  Sensei has us do the kata twice, doing each move fast but without the rhythm and then once more at full speed and power.  I choose Gojushiho Sho since it’s a nice short kata with only 54 moves, insert sarcasm here.

Today Sensei Cieplik had us work on some hip opening drills, moving away by dropping instead of stepping back and a block that fails and turns into a strike.

After our normal kicking warm ups Sensei  had us do a drill where we learn forward and put all of our weight on our front leg and then lift the back leg up off the floor at a 45 degree angle to the side.  The idea is to keep the weight on the front leg and pick the back foot off the floor directly.  This drill is warm and open up the hips.

We then did a similar drill but but we slid back, like shifting,without moving our body up.  The idea was to move backward without allowing the body to rise up and to use the entire body to throw the kick.

Next, we stood in a comfortable ready stance, with both and loose and then threw a double hand punch to the front. The knees need to be loose and then when doing he double punch, the butt muscles need to tighten as the punch finishes.

We did the same drill with the hands but this time we stepped back into a front stance with the two handed double punch. The idea here was to settle into the stance before punching instead of punching as we moved into the stance.  We then did the same move again but this time with our fists vertical and in a rising motion much like at the start of Gojushiho Dai.

Time to hit our partner….

For the first partner drill, our partner would kick or punch and we would drop back and shift out of the way.  The key to this drill was drop first and then shift which ensured that we moved from our hips and legs instead of our upper body. If we move back without dropping, it would almost ensure that we would get hit but dropping allowed us to get out of the way.

The next drill was about a block that fails.  Our partner would step in and punch and we would drop and do a rising block but let the block fail turning the movement into an elbow strike.  Letting the arm drop and the elbow moving to the side makes the punch slide past you, to the outside allowing for the elbow strike and an additional counter attack with a knife hand strike.

For the last partner drill, we did a knife hand block then countered with a palm strike.

We finished up class doing Heian Shodan three times but trying to incorporate the techniques from the partner drills above.

Many of the drills that Sensei Cieplik has shared with us are to make us use our entire body when doing our techniques and to also make sure that we keep our faces from getting

Sensei had us start out with our normal kicking drills and knee strike, with front snap kick, with knee strike and front snap kick.  The reason for the knee strike with the front snap kicks is to make sure that the hips are extending and retracting properly.

Step back but do not retreat….

For the next drill, Sensei had us start in a front stance, do a front snap kick, then hold it after the kick, then drop down on the stationary leg, put the kicking foot back behind.  The idea was to keep the body in the same position and not move the upper body forward.  This ensures that the hips are used to do the kick and to keep the face away from the attacker.

The next drill was what I consider a lesson is posture.  We started standing, with our hands out in front, we dropped down, put one foot back while pulling our hands back to our side and then strike with both hands.  Even though we stepped back, we didn’t retreat of give us ground.  This concept is very important and can be applied to the first movement in Jion and a bunch of other kata movements where we step back but do not retreat.

Ten no kata….

We did ten no kata next and the drill was to start standing, step back with left leg and punch with right hand, then stand up again, step back with right leg and punch with left hand.  These are awesome drills because you can do them in a small space.

Next, we worked on moving forward and back with rising block, inward block, outward block and downward block all with reverse punch.  Again, trying to apply the same upright posture when moving.

The next drill was moving forward and back in a back stance with knife hand block.  The idea here was to use the knife hand block in a downward motion to use the downward motion of the elbow to block.  We then did the same drill but added the front snap kick.

The key takeaway today is even though you are stepping back, you are not retreating.