Sensei Noia had us start up with some slow free sparring. Just enough to get the blood flowing and the body warmed up.

We then moved into one-step sparring, then back to some free sparring and then attacks using only spinning kicks. It could be any spinning kick including back, roundhouse, hook or whatever can be executed from a spin. Certainly not my best move but I was able to live through it.

Next came some basics. We did moving froward and back with rising block, inward block, downward block and outward block. We did the same as above but we did reverse blocks with front punch.

Sensei had us work on some kata next. We did Jion with just the left arm and then just the right arm. It takes a lot of mental to do a kata with only one arm. Next, Sensei counted out each move for Jion, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai. We kept working on the kata and did Heian 2 through Heian 5, Tekki Shodan, Jion, Bassai Dai and Sochin. We finished up class with four more katas. Two katas slow and two full speed and full power of our choice. I did Kanku Dai and Sochin to put and end to a great class.

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Sensei Brien gave us a hard class tonight. We spent a long time working on kicks again.

Kihon….

We started out at a 45 degree angle, then we pivoted to the right, then the left with reverse punch. Then we did the same drill but two moves for every one count. This is a really good drill to get the hips warmed up and working.

Next came torture or wait, partner kicks. We stood with in front of our partner, and did side thrust kicks, then roundhouse kicks and then side snap kicks many times with each leg. We did the same drill again but added reverse punch after each kick.

Kata…

We finished up class working on kata. We did Heian 2 through Heian 5, Tekki Shodan, Jion, Bassai Dai and Sochin.

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We did lot of kicks with Sensei Cieplik and some sneaky foot work too.

We started with knee strike then front snap kick. We then moved into roundhouse kicks with our hands down. The idea was to use the hips not shoulders to kick.

Block with the front hand….

Next, we worked blocks with reverse punches but the idea was to use the front or reach hand as a blocking hand too. Next, we did back stance with knife hand block and then the same moving backward with front snap kick kick and spear hand. Again, when moving forward with the knife hand block, throw the front hand out hard and fast and then block with the other hand.

Sneaky feet….

For the next drill, we got a partner and stood in front of them in a fighting stance. From there, the idea was to move our front foot forward without moving our shoulders or letting our partner know that we are moving closer. The foot movement is very subtle and right before moving in to attack, you pull the back leg in closer to make your stance length the correct distance.

Finish up with kata….

We finished up class doing kata. We did Heian 1 through Heian 5 and Tekki Shodan.

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