Some people can do it and some cannot.  Sensei Noia had us spend a good amount of time working on NO EGO sparring drills and like always, some people can do it very well and some others just cannot turn off the speed and power.

Slow motion…..

Slow motion sparring is a great drill to train your mind and eyes to look for incoming attacks without having to worry about getting drilled hard.  No ego, no power just continuous motion sparring is the idea where a slow punch to the face gives you enough time to use the best block and allow your to see an opening for a counter movement that you would not see when moving at full speed and power.

Many students have a hard time moving slowly and always speed up after the first few movements which is not the object of this drill.  The object is to move slow enough to see what you need to block with and then still have enough time to see the opening for a good counter attack.

When doing this drill, you are going to get hit and you are going to going to hit your partner but if this drill is done correctly, no one gets hurt and no ones ego gets involved.

One step at a time…

We spent the rest of the class working on advanced one step drills.  From fighting stance or starting with our right foot forward with the other foot forward.

For this drill, Sensei Noia had us work on doing block and counter techniques from various katas.  For example, from Heian Shodan, the attacker front snap kicks with their left leg and we catch or deflect the kick and throw it away to our left side, with our right hand and then using the same hand counter attack with a hammer fist to the collar bone.  Working with techniques from kata makes one-step sparring much more interesting than the normal block and counter combinations that we have learned over the years.

Sensei Noia shared a “get ready for exam” class today.  I am not sure how many of each move we did but we spent at least 40 minutes on kihon.  I have to admit, after that many techniques, my kata felt very relaxed.

All from a horse stance:

Front punch.
Double punch.
Triple punch.
Rising block.
Sweeping kick from Tekki Shodan.
Roundhouse kick.
Side thrust kick.

Moving forward with the following kicks:

Front snap kick, side thrust kick and reverse punch.
Front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick and reverse punch.
Front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, roundhouse kick and reverse punch.
Front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, roundhouse kick, front snap kick and reverse punch.
Front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, roundhouse kick, hook kick, front snap kick and reverse punch.

Kata time…

We then crawled, I mean moved, into some kata.  We started with parts of Bassai Dai and then we picked a kata of our choice to do twice.  Those 54 moves in Gojushiho Sho felt like an eternity for me but it was relaxed.

Sensei Cieplik had us spend a lot of time working on our punches and blocks today.

We started moving forward with a double front punch.  Not one punch after the other, instead, we started with our hips forward and as we stepped we threw both fists out in front like a front punch and reverse punch but at the same time.  This really brings the hit with the body into focus when doing this movement.  This is called rokhen tsuki (not sure of the spelling and I cannot find it on Google).

50/50…..

Next, we worked on stationary jab where we started with our reverse punch out and our draw hand palm facing up.  Sensei wanted us to have a 50/50 amount of push and pull between the draw hand and the punching hand.  Next came stationary reverse punch starting with the draw hand palm up again.

In the next drill, we moved forward doing reverse punch.  Moving forward with one step and one punch is not too awkward but doing two and three steps in a fluid motion was very awkward for me.

The next drill was something that I do not recall us doing in the past.  We started in a short back stance or blocking leg stance with a knife hand block.  From there, we did an inward sweeping motion to the front and pulled the foot up to about knee level.  From that position, we followed the sweep with a low side thrust kick and then we finished with a reverse punch.  The idea of pulling someones leg in and stretching them out and then kicking the knee or leg with a side thrust kick would certainly spoil their day.  Also, following them to the ground with the reverse punch after a broken leg or crushed knee really seals the deal.  It’s not nice but it does sound effective.

Next, we did stepping forward with front snap kick and then front snap kick with front punch.  The key was keeping the hips forward for this drill.

Back handed blocks…..

Next, we did Heian Shodan once and then partnered up.  With our partner, we worked on back hand blocks with front hand attack.  For example, our partner punches at our chest, we deflect the punch downward with the hand closest to our body, and then with a rolling type motion use the front hand to counter attack with a back fist.  I have often done this type of drill with the front hand blocking and the back hand counter attacking so this was a little bit hard to execute at first.

We also worked on a sweeping drill much like above without the side thrust kick to the knee.  Sensei said something that really made sense.  Sweep with timing, good timing comes from bad timing.  The point is that bad timing is the best teacher because it does not work.

We finished up class doing Heian Shodan twice but the key was to try and get the 50/50 distribution between the punch or block hand with the draw hand.