Today was another special day at Karate class.  The part that makes it special is because most of us were able to watch Sensei Cieplik do an entire kata.  It was one of those special moments when the room goes silent, you stop what you are doing and you stare at what is going on so that you don’t miss anything.  For those that take class with Sensei, we all know that he does many movements in class with us and usually better than even the most athletic students but seeing him do an entire kata is a memory to be cherished and something that I won’t forget.

It’s the details that make your kihon better….

After our warm up Sensei had us work on our kicks and hips.  We started in a front stance, did a front snap kick, turned 90 degrees and put the kicking foot back down behind us.  We did the same drill again but this time we added reverse punch.  The key to the this drill is to turn the body using the hips not the shoulders.

For the next drill, we moved on to the Sensei’s favorite movement, inward block, elbow strike and back fist.  You need to insert a sarcastic voice anytime now.  This is not my favorite movement either because no matter how hard I try to make it look correct, I can feel that it isn’t correct.  The key to this drill is to make sure that the front stance looks like a front stance and the horse stance looks like a horse stance.  It sounds simple but when you start to move faster, the front stance looks a lot like a front horse stance.  Another tip from Sensei is to drop down when doing the horse stance so that you can get under the person you are attacking.

Next, we did another drill to help us use our hips when doing our movements.  We started in a blocking leg or cat stance with a inward block, we then slide the front foot froward into long open stance and throw a back fist, then we pull the front foot back and reverse punch.  When doing the back fist, the stance is very long and the hips are open and when doing the reverse punch, the foot has to pull back in order for the hips to close.

We did some kumite drills next.  We did singe shift with jab, two shifts with two jabs and triple shift with two jabs and a reverse punch.

Next came some back stances.  We did moving forward and back with knife hand block, then knife hand block, front snap kick, and knife hand block.  We finished up these drills with knife hand block, front snap kick and spear hand strike.

From a horse stance we stepped across into a horse stance but without letting our feet leave the ground.  You have to at least keep your big toe touching the floor at all times and try to have the little toes touch in the middle so that you can move in a straight line.  Next was step across with front snap kick to the side then side snap kick to the side.

in order to help us improve our side snap kicks, Sensei gave us a drill to work on.  You stand up with one arm out to the side, then you side snap kick and touch your ankle with your hand. The idea is not to bring your hand to ankle, you bring your ankle to your hand.  I couldn’t do even one of them even when I lower my hand because my hips do not turn over.   Maybe someday….

Some old and some new kata…..

We started with Heian Nidan and Sensei wanted us to pay extra attention to the side snap kick.  We followed that with Heian Yondan and again, paying attention to the side snap kick.  We followed those up with Heian Godan, Heian Sandan and Heian Shodan.

We then finished up class doing Ji’in two times with Sensei.  It’s a powerful feeling kata that is related to Jion and Jitte and one that I would like to add to my list of powerful, no acrobatic katas.

Because of my recent memory lapses when doing Jion, long story, this class is just what I needed.  Sensei Noia drilled Jion in to all of our heads tonight.  Even though I would like to the think I am special and we were doing Jion just for me, we were doing it because of the upcoming exams for the third kyu’s in our class.

We did Jion in the following ways:

Today, Sensei Cieplik brought in a very special guest, Sensei Arnaldo to give us a different perspective on self defense movements and Karate in general.

Instead of writing about the drills that we did, I am going to try to outline some of the concepts that our guest Sensei shared with us today.

Just move:

This concept really stuck out when Sensei mentioned it.  He said that you don’t have to stand there and think about what block you are going to use when being attacked, instead, you should just move.  Just move can be stepping out of the way, jumping to the side, turning your body just enough to the side that the attack goes past you or just brushes you. When blocking, just moving to get out of the way is better than getting hit.

Fight for center:

This is concept that Sensei Cieplik often talks about and one that can never be stressed enough.  When you are sparring or in a self defence situation, fight for center or keep the center of your body pointed on the area that you want to attack but do not let your opponent aim or reach your center.  For example, if you stand facing each other, one person is punching at your stomach and your move to either side as they attack, you have taken center away from them.  Now that you have taken their center away, you can easily divert their energy and punching power by guiding them with your hand.  The are attacking with all their energy moving toward your center but when you move out of the way, their energy is still moving in the same direction and you can guide them to the ground with little effort.

Doing kata without an attacker in mind looks mechanical:

I am guilty of this myself.  Sensei said that doing a kata without an attacker in mind can still be a good kata but there is a noticeable difference in how the person moves the look in the persons eyes when they picture their attacker.  I always believed that you can show the kata moves to an athletic person and have them do a decent kata but making it look like Karate, that would actually work, is the difference between the two.

Use pressure points: 

Sensei Arnaldo knows a great deal about pressure points and how to stop or slow energy flow in the body by striking certain areas.  Using pressure points is extremely effective at stopping an attacker without leaving physical marks on their body.  The smallest lady can strike the largest man and make him fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes.  For example, if an attacker was to grab someones hand or wrist, a quick strike to an area on the forearm, near where the arm bends, can disable the attacker and give you the chance to run away or throw a counter attack to other sensitive areas.  This is an area that I have been interested in for some time but I never saw a real world demonstration until tonight.

Thanks to Sensei Arnaldo for coming in to share his many years of experience with us and thanks to Sensei Cieplik for inviting him.   This is one class that I and many others will not forget.