Shotokanplanet.org

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

Pure torture – 8/26/08 – Tuesday Karate class

by Leave a Comment

Sensei Noia reached a new level today.  I cannot believe how hard class was and my legs were already starting to go weak before we finished the warm up.

Suicides are not a good enough description of this warm up…

Sensei had us start with suicides.  Normally we do one or two but today, he had us five.  Near number four, my legs were already starting to show signs of fatigue.  Next, we stood in front of our parnter and as they moved  forward, we moved backward in low walks.  We did this at least two times if not more.

Never ending low walks…

I thought that we were done with the low walks (walking lunges for those of you that might not have heard about these) after the warm up but just when I thought it was safe, Sensei had us do something worse.

We started with more low walks but we added front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, and front kick after doing each low walk.   Somewhere in there, I remember doing roundhouse kicks but I cannot remember the details of drill except I know were started in the low position.

Next, Sensei had us work with our partner again but the idea was for us to both do a low walk, the one moving forward would try to hit the others shoulders with their hands and the person moving forward would block.  This sounds like a simple drill but the stress of doing the low walks while trying to strike or block really changed the dynamics.

After those, Sensei had us do low walks again but one partner would kick from the low position and the other would block while moving backward.

We spent close to 40 minutes doing those movements.  My legs felt like jello at that point but we were not done yet.

Kata…

We finsihed up with some kata.  Sensei had us do a slow motion Hiean Shodan but with attention to our stances.  After that, he had us do our own kata in slow motion.  Next came our kata at medium speed and we finished up doing our kata at full speed and power.

I was a very tough class.  It wasn’t as bad as the Saturday before last but it was in the top five.

Getting ready for rank exams – 8/19/08 – Tuesday Karate class

by Leave a Comment

This is Sensei Noia’s first class since his wedding so it was good have him back.  Congrats to him and Beth.

Sensei Noia started us up with a hard warm up again.

Hard warm ups…

He had us get a partner and one of us did squats while the other ran to the far side of the gym and did 10 push up and then run back.  We then switched with our partner they did the run and push ups.  We did that a few times and then he had us substitute sit ups for the push ups.  I was pretty warmed up at that point.

Like a kick but different…

Sensei had us get on the floor in the crab walk position.  He then had us put one leg up in front with our knee bent, we then slowly extend leg like a front snap kick.  The part that made this drill so hard was keeping the leg up and our backs straight.  We did 10 repetitions on each leg.

Next we stood facing a wall but very close to it.  Sensei than had us hold the wall with both hands and do a slow motion roundhouse kick.  The idea behind holding the wall was to make sure that we kept our body in alignment when doing the roundhouse kicks.

Hip conditioning…

The next two drills were for our hips.  We stood next to the wall, put on hand on it for balance and then brought our leg up like a front snap kick.  We then pushed our knee forward and up.  This drill really opened up the hips but it was really hard to do.

The next movement was similar but we did squats with on leg.  We started with one hand on the wall again but this time, we stood on one leg, then bent it like a squat then from the lowest point we brought our leg back up, into what was like a front snap kick and extended our knee forward and up again like in the movement above.  I said that the last move was hard but this movement was exponentially worse.

Stance training…

Sensei had us get into a good front stance and our partner then placed a pad in front of our knee.  Our partner makes sure that our knee stays near or touching the pad while we do strikes of our choice for about a minute or longer.

Next came back stance move into cat stance while our partner holds a  pad above our head.  Each time Sensei counts, we move from a back stance into a cat stance while keeping our head at the same level.  I am really lacking when it comes to this movement.  My ankles are not cooperating while doing this and I need to find some way to compensate while doing movements like these.

Finish up with some more hip work…

For the last 10 minutes of class Sensei had our partner hold a pad in front of us, we then put our leg up like a side thrust kick and we made a circle around the pad while keeping our extened leg straight.  This movement is pure torture and part way through the drill, my hips totally cramped up.   I was able to continute after a short rest but I really need to strenghten my hips if I plan on doing these drills.

The hardest class I ever had – 8/16/08 – Saturday Karate class

by Leave a Comment

As of today, I think I can say that I lived through that hardest Karate class that I have had yet.

I knew it would be tough when we did the warm up…

Sensei Plocharczyk started us off with a really hard warm up.  He had us get into the lunge position and had us do ten of each, front snap kick, side thrust kick, roundhouse kick and hook kick.  Then we switched legs and did the same thing on the other side.

By this time, I was hardly able to stand.

Never ending kihon…

We started with some simple movements.  We did moving forward with various blocks, then punches and then a combination of both.

From that point, we just kept going.  Sensei was testing our mental persiverance more than our physical.  As we did each combination of movements, he added more.  Below is the how the moves progressed:

We did all combinations moving forward.
Reverse punch and downward block.
Reverse punch, downward block and reverse inward block.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block and outward block.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block outward block and reverse rising block.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block outward block, reverse rising block and rising block.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block outward block, reverse rising block, rising block and reverse elbow strike.
Reverse punch, downward block, reverse inward block outward block, reverse rising block, rising block and reverse elbow strike and rising elbow strike.

And then came kicks…

Next came moving forward double front snap kick and double roundhouse kicks.  My front snap kicks weren’t too bad but my roundhouse kicks were a maybe six inches off the floor at that point.

We finished up with some conditioning push ups.  We did 10 normal push up then held our body half way up off the floor and then an inch of the floor for a period of time that I cannot remember.

I think I can say with some certainty that this was the hardest class that I ever had.