Shotokanplanet.org

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

Kumite drills – 10/7/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia had us work on kumite drills today.

We started class with some simple warm up drills with a partner.  Shifting in and out and working on timing and distance.

Take off your belt…

Sensei had us put one of our belts on the floor on the shape of a circle.  He then had one of us stand with one foot inside the belt.  We then did free sparring but the person with their foot in the belt had to keep one foot inside the belt at all times.  The idea was to make both of us work on proper distance.  The person with the foot in the belt could switch feet throw kicks or other attacks but could not attack or counter if the person outside of the belt shifted away too fast.  We did this drill a few times with different partners.

The next drill was a conditioning drill.  Sensei had us put the belt on the floor in a straight line.  One of us stood at one end of the belt and our partner at the other end.  We then had to step back and forth over the belt, very quickly, for 30 second intervals.  After that, we turned sideways and hopped over the belt and back.

Kata….

We finished up class with some kata.  Sensei Noia always likes us to try to do our best kata at the end of class after we are already tired from what we just did in class.  He had us do our kata with our pads on and I have a very hard time doing it when them on.  My hand pads seem to always get into the way.  I am sure it wasn’t my best kata but I gave it everything I had left.

Do your kata as if it is a real fight – 10/6/08 – Monday Karate class.

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Sensei Brien started us with a little extended warm up.  After the normal movements and static stretches, he had us work on some dynamic movements.

We walked back and forth across the gym swinging one leg up and touching our fingers extended out in front of us.  We then held our hands about chest level and brought our knees up to our palms that were facing down.

Hard and then harder stances…

Next, Sensei Brien had us get into a horse stance (kiba dachi) and we did front punches and sanbon zuki’s.  After that, we got into a shiko dachi and did the same front punches and (triple punches) sanbon zuki’s.  Being in shiko dachi makes kiba dachi feel like a cakewalk.

Intense kihon…

We worked on some of the standard kihon moves with various punches moving forward and back and then combinations.  We also worked on our back stances and knife hand blocks.

  • Front punch moving forward and back, along with Sanbon zuki.
  • Rising block reverse punch, inward block reverse punch.
  • Front snap kick moving forward and back.
  • Roundhouse kick forward, slow and then for multiple counts.
  • Back stance knife hand block, also with front snap kick and nukite.

One of the major points that Sensei Brien made was for us to make sure that our feet keep up with our hands.  In other words, if we did a punch moving forward or back, as our front foot lands, our punch should finish.

Side thrust kicks with a partner…

Next, Sensei had us get a partner.  One of us stood in a horse stance and the other had to do slow side thrust kicks over their hands held about belt level.  side thrust kick with partner in horse stance

Kata…

We then worked on Heian Sandan and Bassai Dai.  Sensei Brien wants us to do our kata with the feeling that we are in a real fight.  He felt that some of us were doing our blocks with little or no power and wants us to make sure that our blocks actually block an attack if they need to do so.

You are gonna get hit – 10/4/09 – Saturday Karate class

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I ended up missing Thursday and Friday classes since I wasn’t feeling like myself.  I think it started on Tuesday when I couldn’t keep my focus and it seems to have stayed with me until today.  I helped out with the other classes on Friday but I didn’t feel up to training.

Sensei Gatch started our class with a warm up of suicides back and forth across the gym.

Time for kata…

Sensei had us start with Jion.  He had us do it slowly on his count.  After that, he had us do the same kata but in under 30 seconds.  Needless to say, it was not pretty.

Sensei Gatch then spent some time trying to find a way to motivate us to do our kata with more passion or heart.  He asked each of us to find something that makes us mad and focus on that while we did our kata.  I am not sure how my kata looked to everyone else but it did feel a little different.  I normally do not focus on being mad but it did feel more powerful than usual.  I am not sure about the form but my moves felt like they ended stronger than usual.

Take the hit…

Sensei had us put on our pads and work on some sparring drills.  Instead of working on the normal drills, he had us work on hitting and getting hit. For the first drill, he had us get a partner and then when he said go, we both shifted in as fast as possible and then hit each other with a reverse punch.  The goal was to hit our partner before we hit them but in the end, both of us got hit.

The next drill was for us to free spar and keep hitting each other without stopping.  In normal point sparring, we hit and then stop when we get our partner or they get us but this time, we were to keep going until Sensei said stop.  The idea was not to make your partner puke but it was to have them and us take many controlled but stonger than normal hits to the body and light hits to the face.  Even Sensei Gatch put on the pads and jumped in with us.  I ended up hitting him maybe three times for the 15 or 20 that he hit me but netier of us stopped after being hit.

I wish that we had more classes like this since I feel that I don’t get hit enough when we do the point sparring drills.  I was able to commit to my attacks and not hesitate like I do when I spar for points.

It was a good class.