Today’s class was one of the those where we did a drill that seems so complex on paper but is so simple to execute and when you do it, it just works.  Sensei Cieplik explained a self defense movement so well that my wife was able to execute it perfectly, on me and proved that “technique work” for a fact.

After our warm up, we started with front leg front snap kick and rear leg front snap kick.  Next, we did the same but with roundhouse kick.  Instead of stepping forward, we did front leg then rear leg and set the rear leg down in front after the kick so it became the front leg.

Moving forward and backward we did downward block with reverse punch, inward block with reverse punch, rising block with reverse punch, jab,  outward block and reverse punch and then inward block with elbow strike and backfist.  Oddly enough, even though the inward block, elbow strike and back fist is normally ugly, I do feel an improvement in that movement since we have been doing it more often.  I am sure mine is still ugly but it does “feel” better to me.

Next, we worked on moving forward and back with knife hand block.  We followed that with knife hand block, front snap kick and spear hand.

Technique work…..

For the next drill, we got a partner and worked on some pad drills revisiting some of the concepts that Sensei Arnaldo shared with us recently.  We started with loose fist punches.  The idea here is to keep the shoulders, arms and hand loose until the exact moment of impact.

The next technique that we worked on really works and my wife proved it to me and my collarbone.  One partner stepped in and did a front punch and other (slowly Deneise) stepped out to the side, past our partner, blocked or redirected the punch with the outside of the front hand and then threw a back arm ridge hand to the upper body.

I am going to try to explain this in a little better detail.  Both partners are facing each other and the attacking partner steps in with the right foot and throws a right hand front punch. The defending partner steps forward with the left foot, to the outside and almost past the attacker in a low front stance and uses their left arm to deflect the punch past them.  As the defending partner deflects the punch, their hips are open and the right hand makes a large, circular motion, with the hand starting near the hip, arcing up and around, then striking the attackers upper body with a ridge hand.

This move looks very much like some of the Kung Fu moves that I have seen and have had done to me, in the past, because of the angle and trajectory of the movement.  When the move is timed correctly, it works perfectly and I know this for a fact.

Help your fellow Karateka with kata….

This is something that I really enjoy doing.  Sensei gives each of the Shodan’s and above a fellow student to work with to help them with their kata.  Today, he told us to give the person we are helping one thing to work on that will improve their kata.  For me, whenever I help someone else with their Karate, I learn something too so it’s a win for everyone.

For this class, Sensei Noia had us work on our stances with focus on keeping our knees from moving and super fast turns in our katas.

Do not let that knee move….

We started in a horse stance doing single punches, double punches and rising blocks.  Next, from a horse stance, we stepped back with the right and leg and did a reverse punch, then back to horse stance, step back with the left and reverse punch again.  When doing drills like these, the front leg should stay bent and the front knee should not move back or side to side.

Because of all the knee movement going on, Sensei had us get a while pad (18” x 12” x 1” styrofoam like pad) and put it in front of our knee while holding a front stance.  From there, we did blocking and punching movements trying to keep our knee from moving.

Pay attention to your hip rotation…

We started out doing Taikyoku Shodan very slowly with extra attention to hip rotation.

Next, we did Jion, maybe 5 times or so, doing each move slowly but Sensei wanted perfect stances and again, extra attention to hip rotation.  We did Jion again but this time Sensei counted each move out for us.

After that, with Sensei counting again, we did the kata again but all forward or backward moves were slow but the turns were super fast.  We did it again but on our own this time still focusing on the fast turns.  We finished up with one last Jion with 100% speed and power on all the moves but without the rhythm.

We finished class doing two more katas of our choice (Gojushiho Sho for me) and then we bowed out.

Sensei Noia had us start out with a warm up much like last week.  After that we spent a lot of time working on our stances and then some of the group torture drills while doing kata.

Squeeze your knees through the middle….

For the first drill, we stood in a ready stance, then stepped out to the left in to a front stance and punched, then stood up again and did a rising block.  We then stepped to the right, punched and stood up again with arising block.

Next, from a horse stance, we stepped to the left in to a front stance and did a reverse punch, then stepped back in a front stance and did a front punch, then we moved into a horse stance and punched again.  We then repeated on the other side.

We followed it up with more stances.  We held all of the following stances for a 10 count.  We started in a horse stance, then a square leg stance, then right and left leg front stance, right and left leg back stance and both right and left leg cat stance holding the front foot off the floor.

Conditioning kata, part 2….

We spent the rest of class working on kata with alternating conditioning drills much like last week.  While one group did their belt level kata, the other two groups did conditioning drills.

While the third kyu’s were doing their Jion, the Shodan’s did burpee’s or rockets (squat, throw your legs straight behind you, pushup, back to the bottom of the squat position and jump up). The 1st and 2nd kyu’s did push ups.  We then rotated and the 1st & 2nd did Bassai Dai and the on the third rotation, the Shodans did Kanku Dai, Empi or any of the Shodan or Nidan kata.

For the second round, the conditioning drills were, running in placing bringing your knees as high up as possible and crunches or sit ups for the other group.