Shotokanplanet.org

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

Some advanced kata – 9/18/08 – Thursday Karate class

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Something on my mind other than Karate…

We started class with the normal kicking warm up and Sensei Cieplik immediately knew that I was off.  He walked past me and squeezed my right hand and said that I was thinking about something else since my hands were clenched.  As soon as he did that, I was as if a light switch was flipped and my focus change to class instead of whatever else I was I thinking of.

A little different kihon…

Sensei had us work on something new.  We did an inward block, outward block with jab and reverse punch.  The idea was to get the hips warmed up and to make us use our minds in a different way.

Next, we did the standard back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick and nukite.

Partner up…

Sensei Cieplik had us work on some partner drills.

We did a drill with inward block, elbow strike and backfist.  The idea was to block our partners punch,  step about halfway behind them, elbow strike them in the ribs while grabbing their front hand and then backfist them in the head from under their arm pit.  From that point, you could turn their arm over, push the back of their leg and take them down on to the back of their neck.  We didn’t go through with the takedown but the it movement was easy enough to do with very little effort.

Advanced kata time…

Sensei had us finish class with some kata.  This was really interesting and I really enjoyed it.  Sensei had us start with Jion and he counted out each move and gave specific instructions on how we should do the more difficult moves in the kata.  After that, we moved on to Bassai Dai, then Kanku Dai and Hangetsu.  It felt excellent doing the the advanced kata and I hope we this more often.  It is hard to describe but it just felt really good.

As always, it was an excellent class.

100 push ups – 9/16/08 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia had us start class with a run to center court and back and then to full court and back five times.  After that, he had us jog backward and when he said go, we had to turn and sprint to the end of the gym.

A goal before class ends…

Sensei Noia gave us an interesting goal that we needed to accomplish before class ends.  He said that we needed to do 100 push ups.  They did not have to be consecutive but we had to get it done.

Make your partner do what you want them to do….

We got a partner and one of us got in a horse stance and the other was in a fighting stance.  The object of this drill was for us to the person in the horse stance to make the person in the fighting stance follow them and draw them.  The horse stance person had to block their partners attacks and if the partner did not move away fast enough, we had to slap their shoulder.

The next drill had both us fighting stance with the same idea of having them follow our movements and do the same thing we did above.  This movement was a little easier since one of us wasn’t in a horse stance but it made it easier for our partner to get in an attack if we got too close.

We finished up class with a few minutes of free sparring but using our jab and reverse punch only.

I did finish my 100 pushups in case anyone is interested.

Kicks, kicks and more kicks – 9/15/08 – Monday Karate class

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We started with a fairly standard warm up.  We jump in place for a few, then stretch out and do some light shifting.

Excellent hip warm up…

Sensei Brien had us get into a front stance.  From that point we opened our hips like in a block and then closed then like in a punch.  The idea of these hip rotation drills was to get our hips warmed well and to make sure that we all understand how to use our legs and hips when doing various strikes and blocks.

Basics…

Next we did our normal kihon drills, moving forward and back with rising block, downward block inward block all with reverse punch.

Sensei Brien explained something that I am sure I heard before but in a different way.  He said that our hand techniques should end with our step.  If we are moving forward or backward, when our knees come together, we prepare for the movement.  When our foot lands and we finish the step, our hand technique finishes.

Next we worked on stationary back stance, hold the stance for about five minutes each leg and do knife hand blocks.  After the stationary movements, we worked on moving forward and back but we aded the nulite in a front stance with at the end.

Kicks, kicks and more kicks…

Next, we got a partner and a pad.  Our partner stood in a horse stance, holding the pad about belt level and we held a roundhouse kick position.  Sensei then counted and we threw a slow roundhouse kick over pad.  We then held in the extended position and then snapped it back when Sensei told us to.  We did almost the same movement but Sensei had us snap the leg back as fast as possible.

Next came side thrust kicks.  We did the kick over the pad and held it until Sensei said we could bring it back. For the first time ever, I was able to kick at close to or above belt level.  I am not sure what changed but I sure hope it stays that way.

It was an excellent class!