Move from stance to stance very fast…

We started in a horse stance, then stepped left into a front stance, then back to horse stance and then into right front stance.  We did a similar drill next, starting in horse stance, then into left foot forward front stance, then right foot forward front stance, then back to horse stance, then into left foot forward back stance and then into right foot forward back stance.  There we a couple more of these types of drills with some more arm techniques but the stances we the same or at least similar.  The idea behind these drills is to move between stances as fast as possible while still having the stances look like what they are supposed to look like.  Moving really fast and having a back stance look like a horse stance is not the goal here.

Counting kata…

Sensei Noia started our kata work with Kanku Dai.  For the first kata, Sensei counted out each move for us going slow and controlled.  For the next kata, we did then full power and speed while still moving to the count but Sensei would stop us and have us repeat certain movements based on what he saw..

Next, we worked on Gojushiho Sho, slow and counted the first time.  After that, Sensei had us pay extra attention to the turns from front stance into horse stance.  The speed of those turns should be similar to the speed in the turns from the last rising block to downward block in front stance like Heian Shodan or also like the turn from front punch to the back stance with high and low block in back stance in Jion.

We then finished up class with another kata at full speed and power on our own.

Lots of kicks and kata was the lesson for today and what a combination it was…

We started with in a horse stance doing punches. Next came horse stance with punches, then pivot to the left and reverse punch, then back to center, then pivot to the right and reverse punch.  For all of the drills where we pivot, we are turning, or supposed to, turn on our heels and use our hips not our shoulders to change direction.

For the next drill, we stepped forward with reverse punch, then pivoted to the left behind, then back to front, and then the same on right side.  For the next drill, we stepped left with either a downward block or outward block then we turned to right with the same block and then to the left again.

We started working on kicks next.  The following drill was really tough and I can’t even guess how many kicks we did because Sensei said keep going until he said stop more than a couple times.

From a standing position we did a front snap kick and a side thrust to front then to the 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 4 o’clock and  6 o’clock position without putting down the kicking leg.  We did the same with both side thrust kick and roundhouse kick together.  Next we did side thrust kick, roundhouse kick, hook kick and back kick.  I’m almost sure that walking is going to be an issue tomorrow.

Kata…

We finished up class working on some kata.  We did Jion and Bassai Dai with the brown belts and then we moved on to Kanku Dai with the Shodans and above.  After that, Sensei Noia told us to work on the kata of our choice doing parts that we feel we need to improve as he came over to each of us to offer advice or corrections on the parts we were working on.  The part that I spent the most time on was moving backward from a front stance into a horse stance.  This is move that gets away from me and keeps me from setting up the next move correctly but Sensei said that it looked good.

We started warming up with a partner, facing each other in a horse stance up.  From there we did front punch, double punch, and triple punch at our partner. After that, we moved into a cross leg stance and did double punch, then we moved into a cat stance with a single punch, then back stance with outward block and punch

After the stance and punching drills, we moved into kicks.  We front snap kick to the front and side thrust kick to the side.  Next was front snap kick to the front, side thrust kick to the side, back kick to the back  and roundhouse kick to the front.  We did the same kicks as above with the addition of hook kick to the front, side thrust kick to front then step down with reverse punch.

The more kata, the better….

One of the things that I have enjoyed most lately is the time that Sensei Noia has been spending on kata with us.  We spend almost half the class working on kata and it has been awesome.

We started out doing Jion with the third kyu’s, then Bassai Dai with the second & first kyu’s and then we split up.  From there we spent the rest of the class working on Kanku Dai and Gojushiho Sho while Sensei gave us tips and details on what we needed to improve in our kata.