Today, Sensei Noia had us work on a lot of basics. Testing is starting and basics need to be good.  We did a lot of kicks again and I have feeling that the theme for exams this time around is, you guessed it, kicks.

Lots of basics…

We started moving forward across the dojo in a front stance with the following blocks, downward, inward and rising block all with reverse punch.  We then moved backward across the dojo doing the same blocks with reverse punches.

The next drill had us moving forward in a different stance (front stance, back stance, horse stance, cat stance, cross leg stance) with each step. Next, we moved forward in a back stance with downward block, assisted outward block and then the upward and downward double block from Heian Godan and many of the black belt katas.

Next came, moving forward with front leg front snap kick, step down with downward block and then reverse punch.  We then did the same drill as above but we did roundhouse kick instead of front snap kick.

The next drill was moving forward with front leg sweep and reverse punch.  Then we moved forward with front leg front snap kick and spinning back kick.

Partner up and get a pad….

We started across from our partner in a horse stance and did a single punch, then a double punch and a triple punch.

We then did a front stance with rear leg front snap kick, then a front stance with a rear leg front snap kick to the front and side thrust kick to the side and then the same but we added a back kick.  Next came, a front snap kick to the front, side thrust kick to the front and back kick to the rear.  We finished up class with a front snap kick, side thrust kick, front snap kick, back kick, roundhouse kick, front snap kick.

Just to clarify, not all of the the kicks above were to the pad because our partner stayed in the same position even when we kicked to the side or back.

Sensei Cieplik had us work on lots of kicks again.  My kicks have to improve if we keep doing all these kicks, right?  I sure hope so.

We started with 20 front snap kicks on each leg.  Next, we did five front leg front snap kick with knee strike, with front snap kick and knee strike on each leg.  The front snap kicks and knee strike combinations are meant to engage the hips by extending them and retracting them between movements.

.Next, we did front leg knee strike followed with front leg front snap kick five times on each leg.  After that, front leg front snap kick with rear leg front snap kick 10 times on each leg.

We then did my favorite warm up drill.  This drill starts with the reverse punch hand out in front, then front snap kick and switch hands, put the kicking leg back down behind and reverse punch.

The next drill was very slow front snap kick, extend the kicking leg to the side for a side thrust kick, then extend the same leg to the rear like a back kick and then slowly bring it back to the front three times.  We followed this up with five front snap kicks to the front, side thrust kick to the side and back kick to the rear for both legs.

I don’t remember doing the next drill in the past.  We did side snap kick with the front leg,  roundhouse kick with the rear leg and then step down with triple punch.

Up next, shifting….

We started the shifting drills with front hand jab on both sides.  We followed that with two shifts and jabs on both sides and you guessed it, three shifts with jabs on both sides.  The last shifting drills was three shifts with reverse punch.

We then moved into some basics with back stance and knife hand block.  Then came back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick, step down with knife hand block.  We finished up back stance work with back stance, knife hand block, front snap kick, move into front stance with spear hand strike.

Partner up with the kyu ranks….

For the second half of class all the Shodans partnered up with a kyu rank partner.  One partner stood in a  horse stance and the other belt held their knee up in the start of a front snap kick and kicked 30 times with each leg over their partners belt.

For the next drill, from a front stance, each partner did a front snap kick to the center, then to the outside with an inverted kick and then what looked much like a front hook kick.

Next, we did double happy fist punches.  The idea was to keep our hands very loose and hit our partners gi.  After that, one partner stood in a horse stance holding their hands above the belt and other under the solar plexus while the other partner did a front snap kick and then stepped down with a reverse punch.

The next drill was side snap kick under our partners arm following that with a roundhouse kick front the same leg.

Keep balance and center….

We finished up class doing Hein shodan twice.  Sensei made the point that all kata should be poetry without voice.  He also said, do not rush kata or you will lose center and balance.  Center and balance are very important when doing kata.  The person who keeps center when attacked will be in control.  A person without balance can easily be knocked off center.

It seems like the amount of kicks has gone up over the last few weeks or so.  I don’t think I have kept track of how many we do in class for some time now so I will try to outline all the kicks below.  We also spent some time working on loose techniques and even some happy kata.

We started out with the following:

Stationary front snap kick – 20 each leg
Stationary knee strike with front snap kick, knee strike again and front snap kick again -  5 each leg
Stationary front snap kick to the front and side thrust kick to the front – 5 each leg
Stationary front leg front snap kick with rear leg front snap kick -  5 each leg
Stationary front snap kick with back kick – 5 each leg
Stationary front snap kick to the front and side thrust kick to the front – 5 each leg
Stationary front snap kick to the front, side thrust kick to the side, back kick to the rear, roundhouse kick to the front, hook kick to the front and and front snap kick to the front – 3 each leg
Knee strike, front snap kick and knee strike stepping forward – 3 each leg
Front snap kick with front punch stepping forward – 3 each leg
Front snap kick with front leg, front snap kick with rear leg then step forward with triple punch – 3 each leg
Front leg front snap kick but use the top of the foot as a slap instead of kicking with the balls of the foot – 5 each leg

The was just under 250 kicks and knee strikes but we did them in a short period of time, maybe 10 minutes or less.

Loose kihon….

We started out with a single knuckle punch but the goal was not to tense the hand.  After doing that move a few times, we did what is more like a hand slap getting thrown forward.

With the a loose hand in mind, we did inward block with rear hand slap, then rising block with rear hand slap, downward block with rear hand slap and back stance with open hand slap.  The next move we did was a two steps with two front hand slaps.

Before you can change your technique, you need to change your mind is something that Sensei Cieplik shared with us that made it a little easier to grasp the techniques.

After these drills, we moved back into a few more kicks by doing a front snap kick, roundhouse kick, spinning back kick and jumping kick.  The idea of this drill we to do all four kicks very fluidly.  I know that my kicks were about as fluid as thick syrup on a cold but that’s another story.

Partner up and hit them loosely….

We got a partner and did both front hand and rear hand slaps to their gi.  The idea was to make a good “snappy sound” but more importantly, we had to use loose power while slapping.  This is not a conventional slap, this is a punching motion but you hit with the fingers and a loose open hand.

Time for happy kata….

Sensei had us work on kata for the rest of the class but this was not your normal kata.  The idea behind our katas were to use the loose hand blocks and strikes that we worked on above while doing our kata.  The theme was to do “happy” kata and we did.

For Heian Shodan we used a loose hand for all the downward blocks and then a loose slap hand for the the punches.   We did Heian Shodan three times trying to get looser as we did each successive kata.

We also did H2 and H3 twice and Tekki Shodan three times.  We finished up with Jion, Kanku Dai and Empi once.