Sensei Brien had us work on sparring basics today.

Block and counter….

We spent much of the class working on basic block and counter drills.  Our partner would shift in, reverse punch and then shift out.  As they threw reverse punch and started shifting out we would throw a roundhouse kick.

We also worked on the same type of drill but the attacker was allowed to throw another attack after the roundhouse kick counter and then we were able to throw a reverse punch after the roundhouse kick.

The idea was to continue throwing attacks and counters until someone scores.   Sensei also made that point that throwing that counter attack even after getting hit by an opponent could mean a point in a sparring match for you and not your opponent if it is better than theirs.  There is a chance that even though they hit you, the referee might not have seen it or it might not have met the needed criteria for a point in a  sparring match.

We didn’t do a lot of different drills today but this was a great refresher.

This was a really good class and different than any other that I remember.

Seiza…

Sensei Noia had us get into seiza and from that point we did a jodan front snap kick while staying on one knee.  Next, we fell to our side, like in Unsu, and did a side thrust kick.  After that, we did the same move, from Unsu, and did a roundhouse kick from that position.  Between each movement, we had to get back into the starting seiza position.  We finished up this drill with reverse punch, on one knee, from seiza.

Do your kata….

Next, we spent some time with working on kata.  Sensei Noia said we could do any kata we wanted but he wanted us to give a full 100% speed and power.  After sitting in seiza for about a half hour, my legs and knees weren’t working too well but I was able to do what felt like a good Bassai Dai.

Pressure points….

We finished up class working on a little pressure point drill.  Sensei had us get a parnter and hit them with a hammer fist on top of the forearm about an inch or so from the elblow bend.  Not a lot of power is needed to make someones head move downward at a hight rate of speed when using this pressure point.  Sensei Noia was kind enough to come over and show my wife how easy it is to make me drop like a rock when he hit that pressure point on my arm.

For today’s class, Sensei Noia had us go back to some old school training methods.

Warm up with some kata….

We started with heian Shodan through Heian Godan, then Tekki Shodan and our own kata which is Bassai Dai for me.  I always like this type of warm up but I really need to spend more time on my katas.  For some reason, all of my katas, except for Bassai Dai, felt really stiff.

Lets take this outside….

Sensei had us go outside on the hill for some old time partner drills.  We paried up and did inward block, up and down the hill but instead of doing it on the air, we did it on our partner.  Each of us did an inward block to each others forearms.  Sensei Noia wanted us to feel what it is like to be hit instead of just hitting the air.  The idea was to hit with the meaty part of our arms and not bone to bone.  Even though my partner and I tried our best not to hit bone on bone, it happened and it really hurts, especially when your partner is as strong as you.

Next, we worked on outward block and downward block the same way.  Outward block seems to be the least painful while downward block hurts when you hit wrist to wrist by mistake.

Punch and block….

We worked on on partner attacking with a jodan punch and the blocking with a rising, inward or outward block while moving up and downt he hill.  After that, we were added a counter attack after the block.  My partner and I will surely feel this workout in our ribs tomorrow.

What would you do on the street….

We finished up with a drill where one of us was an attacker throwing a sloppy hay-maker punch and the other had to react with a block and counter.  Sensei Noia came over to work with my partner and I and demonstrated how the first move from Heian Nidan was applicable here.  It is a great example of a block and counter at the same time.

It was an awesome class but it feels like my forearms and ribs were hit with a meat tenderizer.