Shotokanplanet.org

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

Better horse stance means better Karate – 3/2/09 – Monday Karate class

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Sometimes it is not what is said, it is how it is said.  Today was one of those enlightening moments that don’t come around often enough.

Good tension…

Sensei had us start class working on our stances by going through some of the Heian katas.  When doing a blocking stance, Sensei wants us to have our leg tension to the outside and when doing a strike our tension needs to be to the inside.  When the tension is on the outside, the back leg is slightly bent and the back hip is open and in a striking stance, the back leg is straight, the knee is facing down and the hip is closed.  We did Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan paying all attention to the tension of our legs and the position of our hips.  Sensei also had us make sure that we pushed the pelvis up and tightened the ab muscles at the end of each move.

Many good things can come from a good horse stance…

Sensei Brien shared an interesting lesson tonight.  He had made a comment that if your horse stance is good, your front stance will be good, your back stance will be good, your roundhouse kicks will be better, your side thrust kicks and your Karate will be better in general.  There is a lot of good things related to horse stances.

Sensei had us work on a tough horse stance drill.  We moved into a horse stance and then stepped to the side and brought our feet together and then pushed back into the horse stance.  Sensei wanted us to push into the stance and lock our muscles to stop ourselves.  When doing the horse stance, Sensei said that our gi pants should have a line across the front when the proper tension is applied, the knees need to be pushed out as far as possible and the gluteus and ab muscles need to be engaged fully for the stance to be correct.

This explanation about tightening the gluteus muscles really hit home for me.  I have been told this in about 10 different ways over the last few years but this small little change in words gave me what I needed to finally get it.

Kata and kumite – 2/28/09 – Saturday Karate class

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Both Sensei Plocharczyk and Sensei Gatch spent time with our class today.

Kata but slower…

Sensei Gatch had us work on Bassai Dai but in slow motion.  He counted our each move for us and gave us corrections to little details that many (I) of us were missing.  For example, in the first move, most of us were not using enough power.  Sensei Gatch said that the first move of the kata needs to at least look like it would work and after having me hold the pad for many of my fellow students, I think we all got it.  We ended up going through Bassai Dai one and half times in 20 minutes with a new meaning to slow kata.

Double reverse punch…

Sensei Plocharczyk had us work on some Kumite drills.  We worked on a drill that I have done before but never really got a good handle on.  This particular drill was two steps with two reverse punches.  That description is a little misleading since the first punch goes almost at the mid point of the first step.  I had a really hard time getting my mind wrapped around this drill.  After that, Sensei gave us some time to work on free sparring.  I tried to use this drill when doing free sparring but I ended up throwing jabs and reverse punches instead of two reverse punches.  I really need some more practice with this one.

Hit me – 2/26/08 – Thursday Karate class

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This class was a little smaller than most because of some bad weather but what we learned was certainly bigger.

One-inch punch…

After our warm up, Sensei Cieplik had us get a partner.  We stood in front of them, and did a double one-inch double punch.    We stood with our hands open and relaxed, touching our partners stomach.  From that point we dropped down, tightened our core, glutes and hands all at same time and punched.  The power generated from that short distance by just using our muscles that correct way was unreal.

Kata details…

We started with Heian Sandan.  From the from the nukite, Sensei had us go into a three quarter stance, then turn on balls of our feet and let hammer fist whip out, like a rock on the end of a rope.  Turning in the balls of the feet into the horse stance makes the movement much smother but I had a little problem getting into a good three quarter stance.

Next was Heian Yondan.  From the downward x block, Sensei had us turn our front foot out to the left and move into the back stance with double block.  That little move made the transition from back stance to front stance much smother.  The next move was the second side snap kick.  Sensei had us pull our leg in for right side side snap kick while keeping our upper body in the same position.  Keeping the upper body in the same position between those moves is going to take some practice.

Jion was up next.  From the upward x block, we did a three quarter stance and let hand whip like a rock on a rope when doing the outward block.  After the second kick and triple punch, torque the body, reach, move into cat stance and do the rising block, then push forward and down for the reverse punch.  The push forward and down is the key to the punch.

We finished up the kata details with Bassai Dai.  When doing the outward block and reverse strike the fist should end in same spot.   Also, when doing those movements,  turn the wrist at the last moment before completing the strike or block.

Hit me…

We did a drill the Sensei never had us do before.  He had all of the men line up and each women in the class when down the line and threw reverese punches each of us five times with each hand.  This gave the women in the class a chance to punch something, since Sensei feels that they do not hit things enough and to help develop all of the guys ab muscles.  I was really impressed with some of the ladies punches and would not want to take some of those punches to the face.

Awesome class!