Shotokanplanet.org

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

Go-no-sen, tai-sen and de-ai – 10/29/09 – Thursday Karate class

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Great class again!

Working on those basics kicks….

Sensei Cieplik had us start our kihon with three each, forward and backward, of rising block, downward block, inward  block and outward block.  After that, we worked on back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick and front stance spear hand.

After that, we worked on knee strike with front snap kick.  To make this movement work, after the knee strike you need to pull the hip back before doing the front snap kick.

Next, we worked on stepping across from a horse stance with side thrust kick.  After that we did side snap kick and then one step across with both kicks.

Go-no-sen, tai-sen and de-ai…

I hope the spelling above is correct since I found different spellings on Goggle.  Sensei had us get a partner and start working on go-no-sen.

Go-no-sen is a where person attacks you, you block their attack first and then counter attack them.  For example, your partner attacks you with a front punch to the head, you step back and execute a rising block, pause for a very short time and then return a counter punch or other attack.

Next, we worked on tai-sen.  This is where a person attacks and you block and counter attack at the exact same time.  For example, your attacker throws a punch at your stomach, you turn your body and use one hand to redirect the punch and hit them with a counter attack at the same moment.  I often us this when doing one-step sparring and it works really well for me.

The last concept that we worked on was de-ai.  This is the more difficult concept to work on.  The idea is you attack your attacker before they attack.  For example, you and your attacker are face to face and before they get to throw their attack, you see their intent and attack them first.  Most people show a tell when they begin their attack such as shrugging their shoulders or widening their eyes but some people say they can feel the energy of their opponents attack before they actually do them.

Many kata’s….

Sensei had us spend a good amount of time working on kata. We started with Heian Shodan all the way to Heian Godan.  We did Tekki Shodan three times and then spent the rest of the class working on Jion, about four times, and Bassai Dai.

One thing that Sensei has often told us, when working on our kata, is that we should have good posture when we do our kata.  Even though, Sensei has said this many times and I thought I understood it, I think tonight I was able to actually do it.  I focused on keeping my chest out when I did my kata, instead of trying not to lean forward when doing them.  Putting my mind in that other place made the kata feel like it came together.  It felt really different and when I looked on the mirror, I noticed that I was only leaning a very tiny bit forward.  I am not sure if it is competition winning kata but it felt really good and it didn’t put the strain on my lower back like when I would try to force myself to have an upright posture in the past.

Work those stances – 10/27/09 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia has been helping us prepare for our upcoming rank examinations and tonight was almost exclusive stance training.  Sensei started class with a long warm up and stretching routine.

Stance, stance, stance….

We started out in a horse stance with front punch, then double punch, then triple punch and rising block.

After the horse stances, we started in a back stance with knife hand block, we then turned and did another knife hand block, then turned again with knife hand block and stepped forward into a back stance with knife hand block.  Sensei wanted to make sure that we were shifting our body as we changed from one direction to the other.

Next we started in a back stance with a knife hand block and moved into a cross leg stance with a low x-block then stepped back into a back stance with knife hand block.

One of the moves that I liked most tonight was starting in a front stance with a downward block, then pivot on both heels to on and angle behind into a front stance with downward block to the front then pivot back facing forward and reverse punch.  The key to block after the pivot is that your body is facing the corner behind you but you are downward blocking an attack from the front with your head facing front.  This is move similar to the one in the kata, Empi.

The next drill was front stance with downward block, move into cross leg stance with downward punch, then step backward into front stance with downward block.

We then worked on back stance with knife hand block, pull back into cat stance with low knife hand block, back to back stance with knife hand block.  The key here is to pull the front leg back from the back stance into the cat stance and to make sure that the back heel turns from 90 degrees in the back stance to 45 degrees in the cat stance.

Next came stationary cat stance with front leg front snap kick.  After that came stationary cat stance with punches.

We finished up with one kata.  The kata that we are going to do at our exam.  Even though my legs were like jelly, my Bassai Dai felt pretty good overall.

Crescent kicks, I like them – 10/24/09 – Saturday Karate class

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Sensei Plocharczyk really worked us today.  I don’t remember doing this many kicks in a long time.

Focus mitt, partner and lots of kicks….

Sensei had us get a partner and our focus mitts.  From there we started with a low roundhouse kick.  Our partner sat in seiza (kneeling posture) and held the focus mitt about a foot of the floor for us to kick.  After that, we worked on a front stomp kick.  For this kick, you bring your knee up high in front and then push your heel down in front.  We did this with our partner holding the focus mitt again.

For our next drill, we worked on higher roundhouse kick.  After those came the fun stuff.  We spent a lot of time working on crescent kicks, both inward and outward.  I never really worked on this kick until today and I really find it interesting.  I was really shocked at how much power I can put behind it.  I never really saw this as powerful movement but it really is and it gave my hips an awesome workout.

We also worked on some conditioning drills and kata in between the kicks along with a drill, that we have done with Sensei Cieplik before, where we sit in seiza and raise up and down to strengthen our knees.

Walking after class was no easy task but I am sure my legs will recover sooner or later.