Sensei Cieplik is still focusing on our kicks and I believe that we are going to make those kicks better or else.

Get the knee up higher….

The focus of this class was to get our knees up higher when doing our front snap kicks.  Not bringing the knees up high enough causes us to fully straighten our kicking leg at the end of the kick and hyper extend our knees.  This puts a lot of stress on the hamstring, I really feel it, and can cause pain or worse.  The knee should be up higher after the kick than during the kick.

We started with 20 front snap kicks for each leg.  Then we did front snap kick with side thrust kick, again, keeping the knee up high between the front snap kick and side thrust kick.   This is the point where Sensei Cieplik saw that our knees were not up high enough and we did some drills to help us get those knees up.

We started in a tall front stance with our left leg forward and our left hand across our body near shoulder height.  From there, we had to bring the left knee up to our left hand across our body.  The key to doing this is not to move your upper body close to your knee, instead, you need to bring the knee up.  Moving the lower body causes the lumbar spine to bend forward which can cause lower back pain.  Keeping the upright posture is key here.

After those, Sensei had us do squatting kicks.  We took a wide stance, turned our toes out to near a 45 degree angle, put our hands behind our head and squatted down.  From that position, we stood up and kick with one leg, alternating legs after each squat.  Again, it is important to keep our posture on this movement and keep the upper body upright, not leaning.  The lumbar spine is meant to be stable not mobile.   I am not sure how many of these we did but it was more than 20.

The next drill was moving forward with front leg front snap kick, rear leg front snap kick and triple punch for each count.

The basics feel easy now….

Next, we did moving forward and back with downward block and reverse punch, inward block and reverse punch and then outward block with reverse punch.

We follow those in a back stance with knife hand block.  Then came back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick and spear hand strike moving forward and backward.

Into a horse stance, we moved sideways with side thrust kick and then with side snap kick before a quick water break.

Help your partner step and punch….

Sensei had the Shodan’s stance on one side and had a lower belt pick one of us to work on moving forward with front punch and kata.

The reasons for working on stepping forward with front punch were many.  The idea was to ensure that our partners were using correct form.  This includes, hips closed, back leg straight at the end of the punch, protecting the groin when moving between stances, making sure the punches were centered, keeping the back heel down and that the draw hand was being used among other things.  Something that sounds simple, like moving forward and punching, has a lot of little details that can make it a good move or a great move.

We ended class giving our partners some advice on their belt level kata.

It doesn’t look like a lot of work but looks can be deceiving.  These classes are tough.  Sensei Noia hasn’t been giving us do a lot of different drills but we spend a lot of time on the combination drills that we are doing.  For example, the first drill below has three different stances and techniques that we are doing at least 10 times on each side of the body.

There were three parts to the first kihon drill.  (1) Start in a horse stance with downward block.  From that position, (2) pull the left leg back into back stance with a left arm, high outward block and a right are downward block.  From that position, (3) step into front stance with a front punch.

For the next drill, we were moving forward and back doing downward block with reverse punch.  We did the same movement as above but two times for one count.  Next, we did reverse inward block with inward block.  Then came, reverse outward block, outward block and reverse outward block on one count.

The last combination drill was moving forward and backward, starting in a horse stance with a downward block, move into a back stance with knife hand block and then move into a front stance with a triple punch.

We spent the rest of the class working on kata.  We started with Heian Shodan, then we could pick any Heian kata.  After that we could pick, Jion, Bassai Dai or Kanku Dai, Kanku Dai for me.  We ended class with four more katas of our choice and it was Hangetsu three times and Gojushiho Sho once for me.

Hip action was one of the main focus points of today’s class and Sensei Ceiplik made sure that we understood what he was asking us to accomplish.

Get the kicks done…

We started with stationary rear leg front snap kick.  After that we did front leg front snap kick follows by rear leg front snap kick, step down with triple punch.  The key to moving forward is not to fall into to the stance but collect your balance, put your foot down in a controlled manner and then drive your hips and knee forward for the triple punch.

Hip actions….

We started in a front stance and did stationary reverse punch with draw hand starting out in front and our palm facing up.  Next came front stance with stationary jab.  For the last movement, we did stationary jab with reverse punch.  The idea behind that last drill was to get the hips moving from one extreme to the other.

We finished up kihon with moving forward and in back stance with knife hand block and then knife hand block with front snap kick into front stance with spear hand strike.

We finished up with a single Heian Shodan and then partnered up.

Punch, kick and focus….

For the rest of class, the Shodan’s worked with a lower ranked partner.  We started with a drill where the Shodan would punch at their partner’s face and the lower belt would step into back stance between their partner’s legs and not get hit.  Even though they we stepping into a back stance, they had to drop down into the stance and not move their face forward.

Next, the Shodan’s observed their partners front snap kick looking for proper hip movement and making sure that they were kicking with the ball of the foot among other things.

We worked on a focus drill where the Shodan would hold out a finger and their partner would punch at it both stationary and moving targets.  The idea is to punch fast and hard but still have control and precise aim.

We finished up with the Shodan’s helping their partner with their kata giving corrections and advice on how to improve it.