Shotokanplanet.org

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

Good Kihon makes good Karate – 1/5/09 – Monday Karate class

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Sensei Brien gave us a good workout today.

If your kihon is good, your Karate will be good…

Sensei made the point that if your kihon is good your kata and even your sparring will be good too.

With that said, Sensei had us work on some kihon details.  We did front snap kick but with special attention to kicking to the center with the ball of the foot with the toes pointing up but not with the bottom of the foot.  We then spent some time working on the front thrust kick being sure to thrust the hip forward in the process.

Next came roundhouse kick, bring the knee straight up to the side and point the knee.  After that came a side thrust kick drill  where we had to stand with the kicking leg extended out and then bend the stationary leg and hold it.

One-step…

Next, we worked on some one step sparring.  He had one partner do a front punch and we did a knife hand block, roundhouse kick and then finished up with a reverse punch counter attack.

Fundamentals are fun – 1/3/09 – Saturday Karate class

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This was the first class of the new year for us and it was one of the best classes that I have had.  We also had a special guest again, Dr. Kathy Bailey.

Back to basics…

Sensei Gatch had a talk with all of us before we got down to work.  He asked that all of us bring a notebook to class each week and write down what we learned and what we are told to work on to improve our Karate outside of class.

Sensei had mentioned that we need to get our fundamentals in order.  He was told that many of the students at the recent exams need to improve their Karate fundamentals if they want to get promoted.  With that said, he gave us an intense workout.  He also said that we need to work on our Japanese too.

Kokutsu dachi (backstance)…

We started with a partner and one of us had to take off our belt.  We both got into a back stance and held the belt like a tug-o-war.  The idea was to get low into the backstance and keep the stress on the back leg in order to make it stronger.  My leg felt like it was on fire so the drill certainly worked as intended.  I could hardly stand up to switch legs for the second part of the drill.

The next part of the drill was moving foward, in a backstance with knife hand block.  Sensei wanted us to move forward and make sure that our knees came together and our foot moved straight forward.  In order to do this, we need to pull mostly with the front leg and only push forward, a little, with the back leg.  Just pushing from the back leg cannot generate the speed moving forward anywhere near as much as pulling with the front leg.

Kicking for everyone…

Sensei Gatch also mentioned that working on the side thrust kick will improve most other side kicks.  He had us put one hand on the wall and put our leg in the front snap position.  He then had us turn our hip over but not kick.  This opened up the hip for what was to come.  We then did a side thrust kick to his count.  Once we got near the end, he had us hold our kick out longer and finally, for the last rep, he had us hold it for about 30 seconds.

I am hoping that we have more classes like this one.

Exam prep after the exam – 12/19/08 – Friday Karate class

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Even though I am done testing, Sensei Noia gave us the choice to spar or do basics and kata.  I choose basics and kata since my hip was a little sore from helping out with some sparring drills in one of the classes before mine.

Advanced basics…

Since the group that still had to test were made up of the 3rd and 4th Kyu’s we worked on the advanced basics and a lot of kata.  We did moving forward with inward block, elbow strike and back fist.  Next, we worked on a bunch of different kicks both moving forward and backward.

Tekki Shodan…

Since we were working with some of the 4th Kyu’s, I choose to work on Tekki Shodan.  I still do this kata often but I don’t have the chance to do it in class very often.  I am trying to apply more of the techniques that I am learning when I do the lower rank kata’s and this feels much different than it used to when I was doing this kata full time.  Using some of the more advanced techniques makes the kata seem more powerful and fluid.  For example, using body vibration to create power feels much different than using upper body power alone.

It’s was a pretty good class overall.