This class was different for some reason. For the first time, I felt that my kihon was better than ever before. I don’t recall ever doing my kihon like I did tonight. My hips were working, my mawashi geri (roundhouse) and yoko kekomi geri (side thrust kicks) felt smooth and powerful and my punches and blocks were coming from the ground up instead of just my upper body.

I did visit Dr. Pusateri this morning and he made a lot of adjustments so that could have had something to do with it but class felt just right.

I am not saying it was an easy class because it was very hard. We did a lot of Kihon and almost the entire class was in Japanese.  Sensei Noia gave us some odd combinations that I don’t recall us doing the past.

We did things like moving forward, zenkutsu dachi, age uke, soto uke, gadan beri, uchi uke with gayki zuki.  We also did zenkutsu dachi with oi zuki, kokutsu dachi with age uke and kosa dachi with soto uke.

We various combinations for most of the class and then finished up with some kata.  Sensei watched my wife and I tonight to see how our Jion looked and he said we were both fine.  It might have been that we were just off yesterday for some reason.  We did three or four Kata total at the end of class and with the exception of one of them, they all felt pretty good.

We started class with what seemed like a lot of kicks.

We did our normal 10 front mae geri (front snap kick) with each leg, then mae geri with ushiro geri (back kick).  Then we did mae geri and yoko kekomi geri (side thrust kick) to the front.  After that came mae geri, yoko kekomi geri, ushiro geri, mawashi geri (roundhouse kick), yoko kekomi geri to the front and mae geri to the front.  Needless to say, we were warmed up pretty well after those.

Our next warm up move was in zenkutsu dachi with our reverse hand out, we then pull the reverse hand back, put our front hand out, execute a mae geri and then step back down and execute a gayku zuki.  We do this move often but Sensei Cieplik had us do it together.  When I say together, I mean timed so that the entire group starts and finishes the move in unison.  Sensei was satisfied with our performance so we moved on.

Next we worked on moving forward with gayku zuki (reverse punch).  Sensei likes to describe gayku zuki as correct punch since when moving forward and executing it, we mimick walking.  Since I have been doing that movement from the beginning, it doesn’t feel awkward for me but I guess some others find it troublesome at first.

Next we did gayku zuki (reverse punch), kizami zuki (front hand jab) and gayku zuki. This was a different movement for us but it really makes the hips come around.  Sensei often does unfamiliar movements to open our minds to new things.  The first few tries might be a little tough but once it clicks, it feels good.

Next we worked on kata.  We started with Heian Nidan, then Heian Sandan, then Tekki Shodan, then Heian Shodan and Jion.  Sensei paid extra attention to how we moved when we finished our basics and kata.  He wants us to make sure that we have zanshin.  I might have mentioned this before but he explain zanshin as the drops of water left in a glass after you empty it.  Even though the kata, movement or fight is over, you need to remain mindful of what is happening around you.

My wife and I had asked Sensei if he would sign our test papers before class so he watched our kata very closely.  He wasn’t too impressed with what he saw so he sent all of the third kyu’s off to the side with Sensei Wail.  Sensei Wail took us through many of the movements correcting our mistakes.  I need to make sure that I focus on tightening up my abdominals when moving from the first move in Jion to the front stance before the kick.  I also need to do the same thing after the mae geri with sanbon zuki.  Also, when turning from the first ki ai, I need to prepare myself before I turn, then keep my weight on my back when I move into the kokutsu dachi with the double block.  Also, when doing kiba dachi with the palm strikes , they should be done on a curved path not straight.  I was straighten my arms when doing that move for some time now.

Another great bit of advice was to really pull my draw hand back when doing the downward strike with stomp movement near the end of the kata.  Pulling the draw hand back like that really makes the movement feel very powerful. We spent a good half hour with Sensei Wail and hopefully what he helped us with is something we can apply over the next three weeks.

After class, Sensei Cieplik said that since we have some time before our test we can wait before he signs our papers.  If Sensei feels that I am not ready to test, I will totally respect his decision and just try again in another six months.   I am in no hurry to move up in the ranks any more and he feels that I am not ready, then I am not ready.

I heard Sensei Cieplik make a to someone and I had to ask him about it.  He said something along the lines of “something that is hard or troublesome for you today might be something that you can share with someone to help them overcome something similar in the future.”  I understand it as; the hurdles or problems that we have in doing something today might be there because we are destined to help someone overcome them later in life.   I also think it means, just because things are not going right today, don’t give up.  This doesn’t only apply to Karate and could apply to life in general.

Another excellent class.

Sensei Noia had us work on our kihon for about 80% of the class.  We did many combinations, all in Japanese again.  Having to translate and think about what move to do takes my mind off of the movements themselves.  This makes the movements come so much more naturally for me.  Instead of being robotic and tense, my moves flow, almost automatically.

For example, Sensei Noia would say, zenkutsu dachi (front stance) with gedan barai (downward block) and gyaku zuki (reverse punch).   He then got more creative and would make us really think about some moves.  Another example is hidari (left), kokutsu dachi, shuto uke, kizami (front) leg, mawashi geri(roundhouse) kick.  Normally we would do a similar movement but instead of the kizami (front) mawashi geri, we would do a kizami mae geri (front snap) kick.

One of the more confusing movements for me at first was the hidari (left) kiba dachi (horse stance or straddle leg stance).  The idea is to turn the body 90 degrees with the left leg in front when doing the horse stance.

After that, we spent some time working on our kata.  We did our own kata  a couple of times to finish up.  After all of the combinations we did, kata was somewhat hard and it didn’t feel as natural as the kihon since I was back to focusing on the movements and not just doing them.

Here is what makes Sensei Noia such a good Sensei.  He brought a bunch of index cards and gave each of us four of them.  He then told us all of the terms that we might encounter at our upcoming exam and had us write them down.  All the blocks, kicks, stances, punches and other terms.  It just shows how much he wants us to succeed at our exams and certainly makes me glad that I take his classes.