I have to admit, a cold dojo, running back and forth five times and the cold weather outside is good at making my calves cramp.  The rest of our warm up was stepping across the dojo doing a squat and then the stance of our choice.  Needless to say, I was pretty much done by the time we were finished with the warm up.

Our drills started in a horse stance with single punches and then double punches.  While still in a horse stance, we pivoted on the heels to the left with a reverse punch and then to the right with a reverse punch.  We did a similar drill but this time we pivoted to the left with a reverse punch, then back to center with a double punch to the front, then we pivoted to the right with a reverse punch again.

This drill is such an excellent hip opener,  I always say that I need to do this drill outside of class and I think I need to add it to my daily kata routine to get me into the habit.
For the next drill, we started in a back stance and moved forward with a knife hand block.  We followed that with step forward once in a back stance with knife hand block, turn 270 degrees into a back stance with knife hand block until we turn four times back to facing the front.

We spent the rest of the time working on kata.  We did Jion slowly two times then once more at full speed and power.  We did Empi next and then followed that with a kata of our choice (Gojushiho Sho for me) once very slow and two more times at full speed and power.

Today, we didn’t do our normal kicking warm up, instead Sensei Cieplik had the Shodan’s and above partner up with a Kyu rank at the beginning of class.

We started out facing each other in a horse stance and then began a series of double punches followed up with triple punches.

After that, one partner stayed in a horse stance while the other partner was standing with one knee up and doing small but close front snap kicks to their partner.  The distance between the two partners had to be close enough for the standing partner to touch the back of the other partners neck.  All the time, while kicking, we had to hold our balance and keep the knee of the kicking leg up as high as possible.  These were short kicks much like those in the second and third moves in Jion.

Next, each partner stood side by side.  While clasping hands, partner A put their foot on the other partners hip, like a side thrust kick.  Partner B then moved into a front stance pulling partner A’s arm and stretching out partner A’s hips.  This was a really good stretch, even for me, with my tight hips.

For the next drill, each partner stood side by side again.  Both partners clasped hands again and one did side snap kick under the arm of the other partner.

For the next drill, one partner stepped in and front punched while the other partner stepped to the outside, inward blocked with the open front hand and threw a reverse punch to the stomach.  The key to these drills are timing.  The block is very gentle and it redirects the attacker and also causes them to run into the reverse punch.  This concept is go no sen, where you block and then follow the block with a counter attack.

The next drill was similar but one partner steps in with a front punch to the stomach, the other strikes the attacking partners punch with their front hand while counter attacking with a reverse punch at the same time.  This concept is called sen sen no sen.

Each Shodan took their partner to watch their kata and give them any corrections if needed.  After that, we finished up class doing Heian Shodan five times as group.

Sensei Noia kept us moving with lots of kicks, lots of kata and some bunkai all in under 60 minutes.  I am glad he did because the dojo was freezing cold.  Even though we did a good warm up, it was still cold.

Our warm up consisted of jogging across the dojo half way and back, then full distance and back for five times.  I was noticing some slight cramping in my calves but I think it was because of the cold temperature.

We moved into some kihon after the warm up and started moving forward in a front stance doing front snap kick, side thrust kick and back.  We then did the same kicks but stepped down into a different stance each time which included back stance, horse stance, cat stance and cross leg stance.

We then did a moving drill where we did two steps with downward block on the first step and rising block on the second step.  We then did another drill four steps where the first was downward block and then we followed that with three steps with rising blocks.

20 plus katas….

We started with Taikyoku Shodan twice, then Heian Shodan twice, Heian Nidan 3 times, Heian Sandan once, Jion twice, Bassai Dai twice, Kanku Dai twice, Hangetsu twice, Empi 3 times and Bassai Sho twice.  We did the kata the first time while Sensei was counting and each kata after was on our own with full power and full speed.

Bunkai from your kata….

We spent the rest of the class working on bunkai from Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan.

For the first drill, we started with bunkai for Heian Shodan.  The attacker steps in and punches, the defender blocks with the reaching hand, does a rising strike under the attackers chin and grabs the back of the attackers head and takes them down to the floor.  It was a simple drill that is easy to execute but also effective.

For the next drill we worked on Bunkai from Heain Nidan.  The attacker punches, the defender blocks with a right hand knife hand block, then the defender reaches with the left hand and outward blocks with the right hand, the defender grabs the attackers punching hand then kicks to the knee or higher to take them down to the floor so that they are kneeling and the defender  then follows that up with a punch to the back of the head.