Shotokanplanet.org

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

100 push ups – 9/16/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia had us start class with a run to center court and back and then to full court and back five times.  After that, he had us jog backward and when he said go, we had to turn and sprint to the end of the gym.

A goal before class ends…

Sensei Noia gave us an interesting goal that we needed to accomplish before class ends.  He said that we needed to do 100 push ups.  They did not have to be consecutive but we had to get it done.

Make your partner do what you want them to do….

We got a partner and one of us got in a horse stance and the other was in a fighting stance.  The object of this drill was for us to the person in the horse stance to make the person in the fighting stance follow them and draw them.  The horse stance person had to block their partners attacks and if the partner did not move away fast enough, we had to slap their shoulder.

The next drill had both us fighting stance with the same idea of having them follow our movements and do the same thing we did above.  This movement was a little easier since one of us wasn’t in a horse stance but it made it easier for our partner to get in an attack if we got too close.

We finished up class with a few minutes of free sparring but using our jab and reverse punch only.

I did finish my 100 pushups in case anyone is interested.

Getting ready for rank exams – 8/19/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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This is Sensei Noia’s first class since his wedding so it was good have him back.  Congrats to him and Beth.

Sensei Noia started us up with a hard warm up again.

Hard warm ups…

He had us get a partner and one of us did squats while the other ran to the far side of the gym and did 10 push up and then run back.  We then switched with our partner they did the run and push ups.  We did that a few times and then he had us substitute sit ups for the push ups.  I was pretty warmed up at that point.

Like a kick but different…

Sensei had us get on the floor in the crab walk position.  He then had us put one leg up in front with our knee bent, we then slowly extend leg like a front snap kick.  The part that made this drill so hard was keeping the leg up and our backs straight.  We did 10 repetitions on each leg.

Next we stood facing a wall but very close to it.  Sensei than had us hold the wall with both hands and do a slow motion roundhouse kick.  The idea behind holding the wall was to make sure that we kept our body in alignment when doing the roundhouse kicks.

Hip conditioning…

The next two drills were for our hips.  We stood next to the wall, put on hand on it for balance and then brought our leg up like a front snap kick.  We then pushed our knee forward and up.  This drill really opened up the hips but it was really hard to do.

The next movement was similar but we did squats with on leg.  We started with one hand on the wall again but this time, we stood on one leg, then bent it like a squat then from the lowest point we brought our leg back up, into what was like a front snap kick and extended our knee forward and up again like in the movement above.  I said that the last move was hard but this movement was exponentially worse.

Stance training…

Sensei had us get into a good front stance and our partner then placed a pad in front of our knee.  Our partner makes sure that our knee stays near or touching the pad while we do strikes of our choice for about a minute or longer.

Next came back stance move into cat stance while our partner holds a  pad above our head.  Each time Sensei counts, we move from a back stance into a cat stance while keeping our head at the same level.  I am really lacking when it comes to this movement.  My ankles are not cooperating while doing this and I need to find some way to compensate while doing movements like these.

Finish up with some more hip work…

For the last 10 minutes of class Sensei had our partner hold a pad in front of us, we then put our leg up like a side thrust kick and we made a circle around the pad while keeping our extened leg straight.  This movement is pure torture and part way through the drill, my hips totally cramped up.   I was able to continute after a short rest but I really need to strenghten my hips if I plan on doing these drills.

Roundhouse kicks and combinations – 8/14/08 – Thursday Karate class

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Sensei Wail ran a really good class tonight.

Lots of roundhouse kicks…

We spent a lot of time working on roundhouse kicks.  Sensei had us start with opening our hips up by doing roundhouse kicks from a front stance but in slow motion.  We started by bringing the back leg up first, then pivoting around to the front and throwing the kick.

We then worked on some combinations with roundhouse kick and reverse punch.  Sensei added a little twist and instead of us just stepping down into our front stance after the kick, he had us step into a cat stance first, then push forward into the front stance and throw the reverse punch.  He wanted us to working on our forward motion, pushing our hips forward, instead of just falling into the front stance.  This was a complex movement compared to doing the same type of movement when doing front snap kick combinations.

Hit the pad but use the hips and the back heel…

In order to make us better understand that pushing motion from the hips, Sensei had us partner up and work on hitting the pad from the hips instead of the upper like most of us do.  He had us stand a very small distance from our partner with our hips open and our back leg bent and then straighten the back leg, push off the back heel, close the hips and throw the punch.  My lack of ankle flexibility wasn’t helping me too much but when I was able to push off the back heel my punches were much more powerful and connected.  The look on my wife’s face when I hit the pad was enough to tell me when I did the movement the correct way.

Kata from start to end…

Sensei Wail wanted us to try and apply the hip and heel connection to our kata so we started with Heian Shodan.  We then followed it up with Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Hiean Yondan, Heian Godan, Jion and Bassai Dai.  I could certainly feel the connection when I did my strikes the correct way but the percentage of correct moves was pretty low.