I learned something in this class today that I have been searching for, for almost seven years.  This is related to doing the front snap kick the way that I should be doing it.  Even though Sensei Cieplik has told us do the do the same thing when doing roundhouse kicks in the past, this really made a big difference in my front snap kicks.

When doing a front snap kick, put your thumb at the side of your leg when doing a front snap kick.  This will keep you from using your shoulders to kick.  Your arm has to be directly down at your side and your thumb should be at or behind the side of your hip, then you kick and your hips extend forward but your hand and arm stays in the same position.  We did the same drill as above but this time with knee strike only and then we did front snap kick again.

This simple fix has me excited because the placement of the hand and arm in that position really made a big difference to me.  Try it out and let me know what it does for you in a comment below.

Get a partner and give them a knee…

We partnered up and did both front knee strikes and roundhouse type knee strikes.  The key to these drills was to get the hips involved.  By involved, I mean extended so that the hips can make the power.

The next drill was standing, facing your partner but off to the side, bring one knee up like a roundhouse knee strike, extended the lower leg for a roundhouse kick, turn the hip of the kicking leg over and try to point the toes downward, then pull back to a front stance.

After that, we stood facing our partner, did a front leg cutting kick and then stepped in with a reverse punch.

The last drill was beyond my hips for now, the idea was to bring the front knee up, slide on the back foot moving forward and execute a cutting kick.  I have seen Sensei do this and cover more than six feet.  It is a sight to behold.

Cool down with some kata…

We finished up with Heian Shodan all the way through Tekki Shodan

I just have to mention it again.  Keeping the hands behind the hips when kicking really was a breakthrough for me and if any of you are having issues with your front snap kicks, give it try and see if it helps you like it does me.

Today was a double Karate class because we had a make up class due to a snow storm that canceled class that day.  I am excited that I am here to type about it because, I thought that I would be laying on the dojo floor for the next few days recovering.

We started class running to the middle of the dojo and back. After that, we went the same distance doing butt kickers, knee ups and then combination butt kicks with knee ups.

We spent the next 15 minutes doing free sparring.  Because this was a double class for both the advanced and intermediate ranks, Sensei Noia had all the Shodans go with the lower ranks.  The reason for this was to allow the lower ranks to learn how it is to work with someone at a much higher level and to also allow the higher ranks to work on skills that are not their best.  For example. my front hand jab has always been extremely successful for me because of the speed and reach that I can get from that attack.  My reverse punch has never been anywhere near as effective as my jab so I exclusively used my reverse punch while working with my lower ranked partner so that I would not only help them but I would improve also.

After our sparring, it was all basics…

We did all of the following drills moving forward.  We start with front punch, then triple punch, then front snap kick with front punch, then front snap kick with triple punch and then front snap kick and side thrust kick, step down with reverse punch.

Much kata..

We spent the rest of the first hour working on kata.  We started with Taikyoku Shodan very slowly and counted out twice.  We then did it again with outward block and reverse punch for every step.  Then the same again but this time we did double outward blocks.  Once more, but with double outward block and a triple punch.  It’s really a good way to take a basic kata and enhance it.

We moved on to parts of Jion, many parts that is.  Sensei wanted us to work on making the turns faster and we did do many of them. We then did the entire kata at full power and full speed.

Kanku Dai was up next and we did one time slow and counted out and then one time at medium speed on our own which ended the first hour.

Round two, more kata…

We spent the entire second hour working on kata and mostly Kanku Dai.  The key parts of Kanku Dai that we worked on were:

When getting ready for the side snap kicks, find your balance, bring both hands to the opposite side of the kick, keep the arms close to the body, back straight and posture up.  When doing the side snap kick itself, keep the arm opposite the kicking leg close to the body.  Do not let the elbow fly out.  I lost count at how many times we did these movements but it took up close to 30 minutes of class.

We also worked on the moves where you drop to the floor with your right need forward and then move into the lowest back stance of your life along with some work on the various turns throughout the kata.

For the last 10 minutes of class, we were able to pick any kata that we wanted to do three times.  The first time though was slow, the second time was fast moves but no rhythm and the third time with everything that should be in the kata.  I ended up doing Gojushiho Sho for my three katas.

Picking Gojushiho Sho might have not of been my best choice because of 54 moves for each kata but even after 162 total moves, I made it through both hours and was still able to walk out on my own two feet and type this too.

We started class with 20 front snap kicks with each leg.  After those we did front snap kick to the front and side thrust kick to the side. Next was front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, roundhouse kick, hook kick and front snap kick all without setting the kicking leg down.  We finished our warm up with my favorite drill where we start in a front stance with our reverse punch out, we front snap kick, switch hands, step behind with the kicking leg behind and reverse punch.

Next, we did knee strike, front snap kick, knee strike, front snap kick. Sensei Cieplik always mentions that he doesn’t watch the first, second or even third movement, he watches the last move for hip extension and knee height.

The next drill has become one of my favorites also.  We start out in a left leg front stance, do a front snap kick, turn 90 degrees to the left and then put the kicking leg down behind.  The idea of this drill is to turn from the hips not the shoulders which is easier said than done.  Dropping the knee after the kick and bringing it back up when turning makes the turn come from the hips.  It’s a little tough on the knees when the floor is sticky but a great drill anyway.

The next drills were our stand kihon drills.  Moving forward and back with each of the following blocks, downward, rising, inward and outward all with reverse punch. We did an extra drill doing an outward block but with extra attention not to pop the back heel when moving backward.

The next drills were with knife hand blocks.  We started with moving forward and back with knife hand block and then the same but we added front snap kick and a second knife hand block.  After a few movements, Sensei had us stand up with feet together, pointing forward, from there we turned the left foot out to the side left and then slid the right foot out into a back stance.  Dropping down at the same time gives the stance to the proper height.

The next drill still involved knife hand block but this time we used the arms to do a three step knife hand block.  The front hand, acts as a blocking hand while we are bringing it to our ear, the reach hand becomes a strike the pokes the eyes of our attacker and the hand that blocked to our ear does the knife hand block.

Help your partner sweep….

These drills we really fun.  I never thought of avoiding a sweep this way. When I would stop someone from sweeping me, I would just plant my weight on the leg that my opponent was trying to sweep but with this drill, when someone tries to sweep you, you just pick up your front foot and their sweep goes past.  This is such a simple technique but one that I didn’t think of until Sensei shared it today.

We did the same drill but when we evaded the sweep, we stepped down with a punch to our opponent.  At this point they are coming in and you are moving forward with all your body weight because your front foot is off the floor.
The next drill was a little more complex.  One partner steps in with a punch, you step in and block with the front hand, punch across the body to your partner’s shoulder, step through and sweep the back leg.  When you strike across their body to the shoulder, it takes their body off balance and most weight off the front leg which allows you to take the back leg out and them to hit the ground.

We finished up class doing kata from Heian Shodan through Bassai Dai, excluding Heian Yondan.  Sensei to the blue belts that we need  green belts so that we can do Heian Yondan.