Sensei DiPasquale really covers a lot of Karate in his class.

Get it started…

Sensei had us start in a stationary front stance with reverse punch but with our partner holding our leg to make sure that we keep our stance low and our knee in the correct position.  We spent a long time in that stance and then switched to other leg to keep things even.

We also did a horse stance with a double punch, then move into a back stance with knife hand block.  This is very similar to ten-no-kata and I need to add this drill to my training outside the dojo.

Work those legs…

For the next drill, we stood in front of our partner and turned to the side.  Our partner held out their hand at belt level and we raised our leg up, like a roundhouse, and touched their hand with our leg.

Next was slow roundhouse with partner followed up with double roundhouse.

We finished up this group of drills with roundhouse to left then roundhouse to the right without our partner.  Next came double roundhouse of the same.

Partner kihon…

For this drill, we started in a horse stance and did a double block outward block as our partner does a slow chudan front punch.  Next, we did a horse stance with double block, our partner does front punch, as they move back, we change from horse stance to left back stance and then right back stance, and then  then back into horse stance with double block.

Kata and kicks…

We ended class with a series of drills where one partner did kata and the other held on to the wall and did slow back kicks.  Once everyone in the kata group was done with their kata, we switched and they did the kicks and we did the kata.  I think we did at least three or four katas and groups of kicks.  It was a tough drill but a good class overall.

Sensei Plocharczyk taught class tonight and it was a tough one.

Pay attention to your stances….

For the first drill, Sensei had us get a white pad.  We put it on the floor in front of us and got into a front stance with our left foot on top of the pad.  From there, we threw a front snap kick and then set our kicking foot down behind us and executed a low double block, much like the double block from Jion.  The idea was to keep the from moving when we threw the kick by squeezing the pad and keeping our foot pointing forward.

We did a lot of conditioning drills during class but I was only able to do squating an lunge motions because of my neck.  (I have a herniated disk in my neck and it is causing all sorts of problems with my training.)

The next drill started in a cat stance with our front foot on top of the pad.  From that point, we slid the pad forward and moved into a back stance.  This drill was really hard on the legs.

Kata of the day, Bassai Dai…

Sensei had us work on Bassai Dai today.  We went through all the moves by count but we spent extra time on the transition from the outward block to the punch block and punch block combination moves.  The key is to stay low, turn the body and keep the knees bent and then reach with the left hand rise up.  It is also good to time the reach with the straightening of the legs and tighten the core.

Note -  Sensei made a good suggestion for when in a back stance, turn the hips so that the hip and front leg are at a 45 degree angle.  Turning the hip to that angle keeps the front knee in the proper position and allows you to sit back into the stance than if your hips are not turned.  This is one where a picture is worth a 1000 words and if anyone wants me to explain it in more detail, drop me a comment here and I will take a video or some picutres.

Basics to see if we can advance….

Even though this is the advanced class, Sensei Cieplik always gives the group a little test at the start of each class.  He wants to make sure that we have sound fundamental kihon movements correct before he moves on to more advanced concepts.

Our warm up drills always has one particular movement where we are in a front stance, put our reverse hand out, do a front snap kick, switch our hands and step back down with a reverse punch.  Sensei watches this drill closely and expects all of us to do it with the same timing.  If we have good timing, we move on.  After our warm up we worked on moving forward with knee strike followed with front snap kick.

Next came front snap kick with front punch but after a few of those, Sensei had us come down into cat stance after the kick and then push our front leg forward and attack with the knee.  This entire drill helps us push from the hips instead of the upper body.  It’s certainly much harder to push from the hips and not do the punch over the top from the chest and shoulders.  This is another key concept that Sensei has told us many times and finally, it is starting to become clear.

Ten-no-kata…

I always like ten-no-kata because it just seems neat to me.  There are many different types of ten-no-kata but the idea is the same, do a group of movements both forward and back, left and right but in succession to work on movements that need extra attention or ones that you want to practice.

We started with our feet about a tile square (one foot) apart, bend at the knees and bring them together, push the foot forward into a front stance and throw a front punch but after the foot is in the correct position then pull back to start position and move forward with the right foot.  draw back again and step back with the right foot.  draw back again and step back with the left leg.  We then continue these movements until we do the required number of repetitions or the concept is understood. The idea behind this drill was for us to get the feel of attacking with the knee and pulling our leg forward when we move into our stance before we throw the punch.

One-step sparring

We did the normal one-step sparring drills.  Our partner does the stand attacks, front punch to the face and stomach, front snap kick, side thrust kick, roundhouse kick and spinning back kick while we block and counter and then we switch places.  After we finished that, Sensei had us stand in front of our partner but about 10 feet away, move forward and punch so that you have a target to focus on.

Kata…

We spent the rest of class working on kata.  We started with Heian Shodan, then Heian Godan,  then Jion and Bassai Dai.

It was an awesome class again but I am sure that there are details that I forgot already.