There has been a lot of focus on kicks in the classes that I take and today was no different.  Sensei Noia had us focus on jumping type kicks and spinning kicks today.

Shuffle up and kick…..

After the warm up, we got a partner and started with some kicking drills.  We started facing our partner and did shuffle up with front snap kick, then shuffle up with double front snap kick, then shuffle up with roundhouse kick.

Next came the combination type kicks.  Shuffle up, front snap kick and shuffle up side thrust kick to the front.  Shuffle up, front snap kick and spinning back kick.  The next drill was shuffle up with front snap kick, shuffle up with side thrust kick, shuffle up with roundhouse kick and shuffle up with hook kick all in one count.

For the next drills we were moving across the floor doing two shuffles with two front snap kicks and then following that with a rear leg roundhouse kick.  There was another moving drill where we did shuffle up front kick followed by spinning back kick but that is one I am trying to forget.

I might as well jump, jumping kicks that is…..

For this drill, we started out easy, standing with one knee raised and then each time Sensei counted, we jumped and switched knees while trying to land softly with balance.  Next, we did jumping front snap kicks.  We started with one knee raised, then jumped and kicked with the opposite leg.  After that, we did jumping front snap kicks moving across the floor.  There was another drill where we had to option to do jumping roundhouse kicks but I stuck with the front snap kicks.

Same kata, three times….

For the rest of the class, we did some kata.  Sensei told us to do either the kata that we are going to use at the upcoming tournament or our testing / belt rank kata.  I did Bassai Dai and it was harder than ever after all of those jumping kicks.

We also did a couple of conditioning drills.  The first drill had us start in a push up position where we brought our knees up to our chest and then thrust them back to straight behind in the starting position.  We finished with modified push ups where after each one we had to hold the same side hand and leg up at the top.

This was a really tough class and walking isn’t too much fun but that’s what it’s all about.

Sensei Cieplik has always said that we need to do our moves “with the body” and he has been working us in that direction more now than before. 

Squeeze them heels….

After our warm up did downward block, rising block and inward block all with reverse punch.  We then moved into a horse stance, punched very slowly and squeezed our heels at the end of the punch.  Squeezing the heels makes the glutes (butt) muscles engage to make power since the hips are not rotating when punching from a horse stance..

Three out of five ways to make power….

Sensei explained three out of the five ways to make power.

1 – Rising up.  From slightly bent or soggy knees as Sensei calls them, drive up and do a rising block.  The push from the legs creates a tremendous amount of power.

2 – Drop down – From a narrow horse stance position, drop the body down and use gravity to punch down.  I had a hard time with this drill and wasn’t able to drop down as fast as I felt I should.  I kept over extending my elbows when doing the punch.

3 – Rotation – We have all heard Sensei say “from hip” many times and this is another way to make power by rotating the hips fast and hard.  The upper body does need to be relaxed in order to do these correctly.  If the upper body is tight, the shoulders will try to do the work.

Snap that Gi….

For the next drill, we got a partner and stood in a front stance across from each other.  One partner rocked on to the back leg, pushed the hip forward and reverse punched our partner Gi.  The idea is to use loose power from the hips to punch the Gi.  The shoulders and arms need to be very relax so that they hips can generate the power and make the arm move like a whip.

For the next drill, one partner stood in a horse stance next to the other who was standing up.  The standing partner held the other partners arm and did a hook kick, then a roundhouse kick, then a stretching side thrust kick.  This is a hip opening movement and it really was.

Some kata tips…

We spent the rest of the class working on kata.  We did most of the Heian kata’s, Jion, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai along with some other advanced kata’s like Bassai Sho.

Sensei shared a great tip when doing Bassai Dai.  He said that the double blocking movements are two moves with one long breath.  For exampl, the outward block with reverse outward block should only be one breath instead of two.  I have been doing two breaths for those moves all along so I know have something else to work on.

Another great tip for those doing Heian Godan is to tighten your glutes on the third and sixth moves when doing the hook punch.  This creates power and stability from a small motion.  I didn’t start doing this until just recently and I feel that it has improved my kata a good amount.

So much good stuff in such a short time.  I always seem to learn something new in this class along with many things to improve upon.  I think that is how it should be!