Shotokanplanet.org

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

Kicking basics – 1/13/09 – Tuesday Karate class

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This class was a little different today.  Sensei Noia had spend almost the entire time working on kicks.

Combination kicks…

We started moving across the gym doing combination kicks.  Front leg front snap kick, front leg roundhouse kick, front leg hook, front leg side thrust kick, rear leg roundhouse and front leg and front snap kick.  It was a hard group of moves and I ended up really hurting my left hip trying to keep up with all younger students.   I don’t think I need to keep up with them in the future.

Kick that pad…

I ended up sitting down for a few minutes after I hurt my hip but then jumped back in for next drill.  Sensei Noia had us get a partner and a pad drills.  He then had us throw front leg front snap kicks at our partner holding the pad.  Oddly enough, my hip popped and felt much better after the first kick so I was able to continue going forward.  We spent a good amount of time working on this drill.

Next, we stood in a front stance and did reverse punch to the pad our partner was holding.  I was working with one of our younger students and could not put a lot behind my punches so I focused on my hip rotation and my form instead of my power.  I really need better hip rotation so this wasn’t a bad thing for me.

Good class overall.

Exam preparation is hard work – 12/1/08 – Monday Karate class

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Sensei Brien spent most of the class working on preparing us for our upcoming rank exam.  This was the last of our make up classes that were two hours long.

Kihon like you mean it…

Sensei had us start out with the usual basics, moving forward and back with front punches, sanbon zuki and blocks and counters.

It got interesting when we started working on our kicking drills.  When we were doing our side thrust kicks, Sensei had do two.  For example, we started in a horse stance, we then stepped across and did not one but two side thrust kicks and then pulled our leg back until Sensei told us to set our foot down.  He made a really good point, if you can do two good kicks in a row, you can certainly always do one good kick.  This really made a lot of sense to me and I hope to incorporate this into my training outside of the dojo.

Kata, any questions?…

After we finished our Kihon, Sensei Brien had us work on our kata.  He had us all do our own kata and then gave us a chance to ask him for advice on our kata.  After his advice, we were able to do the kata again and again trying to incorporate what he shared with us.  My question was how to properly execute fifth and fourth move from the end of Bassai Dai.  It is the low kick blocks.  I was having a hard time transisioning from the moves and Sensei said that I should turn on the my heels which seems to work pretty well for me.

One-step…

I forgot to bring my sparring gear to class so my wife and I ended up working on our one-step sparring together until class ended.

Learning to spar can hurt – 11/21/08 – Friday Karate class

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Sensei Noia has us work on sparring drills for most of the class.

Shift in, shift out…

We started with a partner and were shifting in, throwing and attack and shifting out.  Sensei felt that we were not shifting well enough so he had us pull out the elastic bands.  I was having a really hard time getting my body to shift forward for some reason.  It felt as if my feet were stuck to the floor but after a little while, my feet were moving a little better.

Free sparring…

We spent some time free sparring and I ended walking into one of Mike Buss’s punches with my chin.  Oddly enough, it hurt like crazy but I didn’t stop.  He has been helping me a great deal and it is really working.  I didn’t have any anger or adrenaline rush and I was able to continue sparring without loosing my focus like I would have in the past.  My jaw really hurt after class but I am sure it will heal up.

I ended up sparring with another friend and for the first time, I was throwing attack after attack.  I kept the pressure on him for one minute an never let up.  This was a first for me and I really think that sparring with Mike and the advice from Sensei Noia is starting to sink in.

We finished up class with some conditioning movements and then lined up and bowed out.