Shotokanplanet.org

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

Learning to spar can hurt – 11/21/08 – Friday Karate class

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Sensei Noia has us work on sparring drills for most of the class.

Shift in, shift out…

We started with a partner and were shifting in, throwing and attack and shifting out.  Sensei felt that we were not shifting well enough so he had us pull out the elastic bands.  I was having a really hard time getting my body to shift forward for some reason.  It felt as if my feet were stuck to the floor but after a little while, my feet were moving a little better.

Free sparring…

We spent some time free sparring and I ended walking into one of Mike Buss’s punches with my chin.  Oddly enough, it hurt like crazy but I didn’t stop.  He has been helping me a great deal and it is really working.  I didn’t have any anger or adrenaline rush and I was able to continue sparring without loosing my focus like I would have in the past.  My jaw really hurt after class but I am sure it will heal up.

I ended up sparring with another friend and for the first time, I was throwing attack after attack.  I kept the pressure on him for one minute an never let up.  This was a first for me and I really think that sparring with Mike and the advice from Sensei Noia is starting to sink in.

We finished up class with some conditioning movements and then lined up and bowed out.

One-step for real – 11/20/08 – Thursday Karate class

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The dojo was really cold today.  If it was above 55 degrees, I would be surprised.  Because of this, Sensei Cieplik had us do a longer warm up and movements that required less agility than usual.

Time for some one-step sparring…

We worked on some kihon movements but Sensei then had us pair up for some one-step sparring.  We spent about 45 minutes working on one-step sparring but this was different than I am used to doing.  Sensei Cieplik  showed us a move that I saw him do before but it never really stuck until today.  When standing in front of your attacker, he had us just pivot our body 90 degrees sideways.  When doing this, our opponent steps and punhes but we are totally out of the way.

Sensei also make a point about doing the counter attack.  He said that we have to look like we are for real when doing our counter attack.  He explained that people throw a counter attack but the person being attacked doesn’t fear it.  I think what he was trying to get across is that we need to not only throw a powerful attack but let the person know, from the look in our eyes, that they would not be getting up if we hit them.  The needs to be reality in our one-step and most people do not show it.

I worked with my wife from some time and then one of the other students partner had to leave so we had him join our group and we alternated attacks and block with counters.  When doing the attacks, he suggested that we do it a little more like real life and follow him as we attacked.  Instead of just punching straight ahead like we would for normal one-step sparring, I was able to actually try and hit him.  This was really interesting and he did the same for me.  It brings whole new dimension to training one-step so try it with caution.

Kata…

Sensei Cieplik has us finish up with some kata.  We did a couple of the Heian kata’s and then worked on Jion and Bassai Dai.  My kata’s did not feel anywhere near normal because of the cold but I was able to complete them even though my muscles were really stiff and tight.

Sparring and one-step with a twist – 11/18/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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This class was turning point for my sparring.

The light bulb came on…

Sensei Noia had us spend most of the class working on sparring drills.  I paired up with one of our black belt assistant instructors named Mike Buss.  Mike has been in Martial Arts for many years and is one of the hardest fighters in our club.  When he hits you, it is like getting hit with a hammer but he always asks how hard do you want to go.  This is how much control he has over his punches and kicks but the few times I said “lets go hard” in the past, I ended up with some really nasty bruises and sore ribs.

I had asked Mike to help me out and give me some pointers since my sparring is really below where it should be. He gave me the following advice:

Instead of turning my body sideways, he said to may upper body almost straight ahead.  He said to block front or forward kicks with the front hand and roundhouse or turned kicks with back hand. This worked extremely well and although he was taking it easy on me, my blocks were working better than ever from using his suggestions.

One of the biggest tips he gave me was to watch my partners distance, when they are moving in a circle sideways.  I never noticed until today that when they move like that, they are  getting closer and I never noticed it.  After that, I was able to keep my distance right where I wanted it and even though I didn’t have a great deal of attacks, I was able to block pretty much everything he threw from that point.

Sensei Noia told us to switch partners.  I went with my friend Robert who I can never defend.  Out of six or more exchanges, Robert was only able to score on me one time.  I blocked every other attack he threw and I would have scored on him be he beat me to the punch with his one score.  It all had to do with his timing and when he would circle he was get closer but now that I knew his trick, I was able to keep my distance and block his attacks for the first time.

Thanks Mike for all the good tips!

One step with moves from kata…

For the last few minutes of class, Sensei Noia had us work on one-step sparring but using moves from our kata’s instead of the normal block and counters that we always do.  I really enjoying this type of one-step since it gives me the change to work on kata bunkai as I see it.  One of my favorite moves was doing the yama zuki from Bassai Dai as the block and counter.

It was a really good class.