We had a special guest today, Sensei Noia taught our class today.

We started with the normal warm up and then moved into some sparring drills. Sensei had us get into groups of four. One of us stood with our back heel touching the wall behind us and the other three attacked us. We could block but not move our feet. We were pretty much a heavy bag but with the ability to block.

After that, we paired up and worked on some free sparring drills. My legs felt loose for some reason and my front leg, front snap kick was flying easily.

Next, we took of the pads and worked on hitting some pads. Two Sensei’s and I lined up and we worked on various drills. One pad was for elbow and knee strikes, another pad was for front snap kicks and side thrust kicks and the last pad was for punches only. After everyone had a turn, Sensei made two lines and I was able to get into the line up. For this drill, we were able to use any moves that we wanted to use. I threw a few elbow strikes but my main goal was to use my hips to throw my punches and those seemed to be effective. I also threw some front snap kicks and roundhouse or two.

I really like working and the pads and it is a great change from punching that air.

Have you ever had a Karate class that felt perfect?  Not so much that you did everything the correct way but you did everything that you think a class should be made of.  Today was one of those classes for me.

Sensei Noia had us start with kata.  Not just one kata but all katas that we know.  This meant that I did Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan, Heian Godan, Tekki Shodan and Jion.  Once I finished all of those katas, Sensei had us start at Jion and work back down to Heian Shodan.  After we finished that, he had us do one kata, our own belt rank kata, at full speed and power.

Next, Sensei had us do the block and counter part of one-step sparring without a partner.

We then moved on to hitting some stuff.  I always feel that we should hit things every now and then to see if our training is effective.  Sensei Noia brought some striking pads to class.  He had one Sensei hold a pad for elbow and knee strikes, another for kicks of any type, another for punches and two small hand pads for punching and kicking.  I am not sure but I felt that my kicks and punches to the larger pads were the most effective.  I don’t recall ever putting that much power behind a kick or a punch before and it felt really good.

We finished up class with some blocking drills.  Sensei had all of us get into a large circle.  The Sensei’s had pole shaped soft pads about two feet long.  We all stood in a fighting stance and the Sensei’s went around attacking each of us while we tried to block.

To me, class doesn’t get any better than this.

I guess the title is a little deceiving. There was some pain involved but not bad pain.

Sensei Plocharczyk started class with a different drill. He had everyone lay on the floor, the person on the far end would stand up, shift in and out between each person on the floor and then start a new line and lay down again. After we did that, he had us get in the push up position. From there, he had us do 10 push ups, then hold in the half push up position for what seemed like an eternity. We then did five more push ups and then held the half position again and then finished up with five more push ups. My chest and arms didn’t have any trouble but my hands really hurt while doing them for some reason.

We then did kata. Sensei had all of us do kata while he watched each belt rank group do their own belt kata. When I got to my group, after I did Jion, he said that I need to rotate my hips more in the rising block with reverse punch. This is a common correction that I have been getting so I really need to get back to basics to try and correct this problem.

We then partnered up for three step and one step sparring. For some reason, my mind was off for the last couple of days. I blocked the jodan punches in the three step with inward blocks for some reason so I guess my mind really wasn’t at it’s peak. I had less trouble with my one-step but made a mistake when blocking the roundhouse kick by shifting too far to the outside and not being able to return a counter.

We then moved on to sparring drills. This felt much to me today. I didn’t any problems and for the first time in a while, I felt that my sparring was getting better. My shifting felt lighter and my hands were moving very fast. My fakes were working well and I found it pretty easy to score on my partner.

We finished up with some more conditioning work. Sensei had us hold our sparring headgear above our heads and do low walks across the gym. When we got to the far side, we did low walks back again. Each time Sensei said run, we would go to the far side and then do low walks back again.

Some of the conditioning drills were painful but it was good pain.