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This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.

The eye in your elbow – 2/10/11 – Thursday Karate class

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We did many of the standard drills in class today but Sensei Cieplik said a few things that really stood out.

Make those kicks better….

Sensei had us start in left foot forward front stance and we put our left hand in front of our body near center.  From there, we did a rear leg knee strike, touching our hand  with our knee while keeping our stance.

Eye in your elbow….

The idea of having your eye in your eye in your elbow when doing a knife hand is to keep your arm in a position where your elbow is facing your target.  I am thinking it is much like when you kick and you point your kicking leg knee at your target.

One point that I never hear too much of….

Sensei often mention that it takes 30 years to learn Karate.  The first 10 years are spent learning to relax.  The second 10 years are spent learning to adjust your body to the movements or techniques.  The last 10 years are spent learning how to move naturally.

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Turn with the hips not the shoulders – 1/27/11 – Thursday Karate class

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Sensei Cieplik is working on having us move from the hips not the shoulders.  This is a harder task then it sounds but I think I am starting to finally improve at doing it.

Use the hips….

Sensei had us do this drill a few weeks in a row now and it is becoming one of my favorites.  We start in a front stance, do a rear leg front snap kick, turn 90 degrees, using the hips, and then we step back into front stance by putting the kicking leg behind us.

The next drill one that we worked on in the past but I never realized I should have been doing this every time I turn.  We started in a front stance, we then pull the back foot up to just behind the front foot, then turn on heel of front foot and move into a cat stance, from there, we push forward into front stance.  We did the same drill but we added a downward block at the end.  The idea is to not use the upper body and shoulders to turn, instead bring the legs closer together to turn using the hips and also block the groin at the same time.  It certainly does keep the upper body from leaning when turning.

Next, we did a drill moving forward from front stance to cat stance, slide the front leg back into a front stance and do a downward block.  Sensei had us do the downward with a slapping motion to have us use less tension when doing the downward block.

We followed up with front snap kick and front punch then front snap kick with sanbon zuki.

The next was another one that I really like.  We start in a high front stance with our left leg forward and our left hand palm facing down.  From there we knee strike our palm with back leg twice then front snap kick when knee touches hand on third move.  I need to add this drill to my outside training drills.  It really opens up the hips.

We finished up with kata.  Heian 1 through Heian 5, Tekki Shodan, Jion and Bassai Dai.

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Hangetsu – 1/21/11 – Friday Karate class

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Sensei Brien shared a new, new to me anyway, kata today.  We worked on Hangetsu.

Warm up the hips….

Sensei had us work on many kicking drills to get the hips warmed up.   We stood next to our partner, held on to their shoulder and started with stationary front snap kicks.  Next, we did roundhouse kicks the same way.  Then came front snap kicks with roundhouse kicks and finally front snap kick and side thrust kick.

Hangetsu….

We spent the rest of the class working on Hangetsu.  This is one kata that I have wanted to work on for many years now.   I like the strong, powerful feeling along with the deep breathing.  I was told before that this is an internal kata because of the isometric contractions and the timed, deep breathing.  I also like the combination of very slow and very fast movements.  I plan on spending a lot time working on this kata for the health benefits alone.  It reminds me of Tai chi on steroids.

As always, Sensei Brien makes learning a new kata a great experience.  He not only tells us what the moves are but also why they are that way.

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