Shotokanplanet.org

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

OUCH – 10/18/08 – Saturday Karate class

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Sensei Plocharczyk put us through a serious conditioning class today.

The warm up was a workout in itself…

Sensei had us start with two, back and forth, runs across the gym.  Next, came a shuffle back and forth across the gym.  After that, 100 jumping jacks, 50 crunches and 50 squats.

Kihon…

Sensei Gatch took us through some kihon after our warm up.

We started moving back and forth doing rising block, downward block and reverse punch.  We started in with the rising block and our hips open, we then turned our hips forward and then opened them again for the downward block and then turned them forward again for the reverse punch.

Next came front snap kick to the front and side thrust kick to side.  Then front snap kick to the front, side thrust kick to the side and back kick to the rear.

Kata with some conditioning…

Sensei Plocharczyk had us hold our balance while others did kata.  The idea was for us to hold our  balance bent over at the waist with our arms out to the side and one leg straight our behind us.  Then is was our turn to do kata and the others had to do the balancing.

The next exercise was one group did kata and the other group did speed squats until they finished.  I was able to do 69 squats in the time it took one of our black belts to finish Kanku Dai.

The last exercise of the day…

Sensei Plocharczyk had us hold our balance with one leg up like a front snap kick, we then had to bend over and touch a pad to the floor, raise upright with a front snap kick, then hold our balance and pass the pad across to our partner.  We had to do this this five times on each leg.

It was a tough class but it felt really good.

Torture is the only word I can use – 10/17/08 – Friday Karate class

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Just when I thought it was safe to go to class, Sensei Noia thought up a new form of torture.

All conditioning…

We started with five suicides across the gym.  Next came 30 push ups, 30 crunches and 30 squats.  After that, we did low walks back and forth across the gym.  Then came another 30 push ups, 30 crunches and 30 squats.

We then stood in two lines with a tape line in front of us.  From there, we had to jump, side to side, over the line for the length of the gym.  Next, we had to crisscross our feet over the same line.  Then came another 30 push ups, 30 crunches and 30 squats and somewhere else, we had to 10 more of each to complete a total of 100.  There we a couple of other drills on that line but my mind is too fuzzy to remember them.

We finished with some shifting drills.  We stood by the same line, shifted in and then out on an angle.

With the exception of the shifting, we did very little Karate but it was great to see how hard everyone worked.

One inch punch – 10/16/08 – Thursday Karate class

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Sensei Cieplik had us start with the normal kicking warm up.  For some reason, my front kicks felt better.  I am not sure how to describe it but they were moving more like whips instead of heavy tree trunks.

Let it whip…

Sensei had us work on a drill where instead of doing our blocks with full motion, we were to use our arms like whips and our hips for power.  The idea was to block with a small motion.  For example, when doing a downward block, we kept our blocking hand on our lower abs and used the whipping motion and the power of our hips to execute it.

Punch with the hips…

The next drill was to help us punch using our hips instead of our arms and upper body.  The idea was to punch with a very short but powerful movement.  If any of you have seen the one-inch punch from Bruce Lee, you will get the idea.

Sensei had us get a partner and a pad and had us work on doing the movement while actually hitting something instead of just punching the air.  It took some time for me to get the hang of it but once I realized that I had to lock my upper arm against my back, it really worked.  The way that it worked best for me was to put my finger tips against the pad and then push my hips forward and close my hand into a fist.

Kata the way I like it…

Sensei had us work on kata next.  The way I really like to do kata in class is when Sensei counts out each move and tells us exactly how he wants us to do it.  It makes me feel that each move is correct because I can focus on the movement itself.  We started with Heian Shodan for a little warm up and then moved on to Heian Nidan for our yellow belt in the class and Heian Sandan for the blue belt in our class.  After those kata, Sensei had us do Jion, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai.