Sensei Brien wanted us to have a traditional Karate class today.  This type of class includes a lot of stance training and many kicks.

It starts with the stances….

We started in a horse stance and did front punch, then double punch, then rising block, then alternate front snap kick, front snap kick with punch, side snap kick with front punch and side thrust kick with front punch.   The idea is to drive the kicking leg foot down like side thrust kick when going back into horse stance.

For the next drill, we spent a lot of time in a front stance.  From the front stance, with did reverse punch and drew back then repeat again, and again and again.  I am not sure how many of these we did but it was lot.

Pull back the front foot and kick…

We spent the rest of the class doing kicks.  These weren’t ordinary kicks, these were different.  We go a partner, stood in a front stance, pulled the front foot back and then did a front snap kick with other leg.  This felt like a very powerful movement.  It makes the hips twist very fast and let the kicking leg fly out.  We also did the same movement adding a reverse punch, then with a roundhouse kick and we finished up with side thrust kick to the front.

From the small amount of words above, it doesn’t look like we did much but my hips and legs are telling me different.

Sensei Cieplik has been sharing many little details with us for some time now.  These are details that might not be pure Shotokan but they do apply to self defense and add to the arsenal of movements that we have to work with.

Inward block with the legs….

We started from a left leg forward front stance with shuffle up front leg roundhouse kick, then shuffle back rear leg roundhouse kick then set it down in front.  We then did the same movement but started with the right leg and alternated this movement for many reps.

We worked on blocks and reverse punches for our next drills.  We did moving forward and backward with downward block, inward block and rising block, all with reverse punch.  After those movements Sensei had us work on moving forward and back with inward block adding a blocking leg stance in between movement.  The blocking leg stance helps us keep our hips in the correct position and allows us to do the block with our legs.  Another detail is to keep the arm bone of the reach hand to front and down, also keeping the elbow pointing down to keep the shoulders down.

Different fist….

For the next drill, we used a different fist.  The idea was to put the most tightness on the 3rd, 4th and pinky fingers while keeping the index and thumb loose.   This makes the fist feel heavier at the bottom of the hand allowing the punch move down, like a rock on a rope, and in.  The punch going in means, that power should go into the target, not just hit the target.  Using this fist, we did a standing punch drill, then the same from a horse stance having us create the power by using our fist instead of twisting our hips.  We still use the hips and legs but instead of twisting, we tense the butt muscles and try to pull the heels together.

We finished up class working on some pad drills, punching the pad with the loose fist.  Again, the fist is thrown like a rock on a rope and the power goes in.

Sensei Noia gave us a class full of some kihon and many many kicks.

Warm up with some basics…

We started out in a ready stance, turning 90 degrees to the left and do a downward block, then turn 180 degrees behind and downward block, then turn 90 degrees to the left and downward block and turn 180 degrees behind and downward block again.  We did the same drill as above but added a reverse punch.  Then one more drill the same way but instead of blocking, we reached with what would be the blocking hand and then front punched.  This is a great drill that you can do it you have limited space.

Let the kicks begin…

We started in a front stance and did a stationary back kick.  Next, we did a spinning back kick, turned 180 degrees behind and did it again.  The next drill was moving forward with spinning back kick, set the kicking leg down in front and back kick again.  This was a real hip opener.

For the next drills, we got a partner.  We started with alternating spinning back kicks.  Sensei Noia said to make sure that we spot our target before we kick.   Next, we did alternating spinning hook kicks, then followed that up with alternating spinning roundhouse kicks.  The spinning roundhouse kick was something that I don’t remember doing before and needless to say, it was different and I am sure it was ugly to watch me do it.  We finished up with some combination kicks and class was over.

Walking out to the car was painful but it was a good pain or I am just telling myself that it is a good pain….