Today, Sensei Cieplik had us work on our kicks again and some what I will call fluid one-step sparring.

Kicks and basics, basics and kicks…..

One of my favorite drills, although not a pure kicking movement is similar to move in the kata called Unsu.  For this move, we start in a left leg forward front stance, do a rear leg front snap kick, twist your body (from the hips) 90 degrees and put the kicking leg back down behind us.  The turn needs to be done with the body, especially the hips, and putting the foot back down behind needs to be done forcefully, much like a move in itself.

We also did shuffle up front leg front snap kick with rear leg front snap kick.  Next we did shuffle up front leg roundhouse kick with rear leg roundhouse kick.

The next drill was moving sideways in a horse stance with side snap kick, then side thrust kick and then both of those kicks for each count.

After many kicks, we worked on our basics.  Moving forward and back with the normal blocks and reverse punches but Sensei added something different.  We did moving forward and back with rising block, same arm rising elbow strike and reverse punch.  The idea was to do this move smoothly and be able to react to changing attacks.

Pivot out of the way…

We got a partner and and worked on some one step drills.  Our partner stepped in with a front punch and we were to pivot, easily out of the way, and counter with whatever attack we wanted to use. The key to this move is the pivot motion which is fast and small but moves you away from the attack.

For the next drill, our partner front kicked at us and we stripped the kick away.  When stripping the kick, the idea is to lead them off center and pull them forward so that they are falling into your counter attack.  This is also a small movement where you pivot to get out of the way.

We finished up with some kata.  We did Tekki shodan, Jion, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai.

I know I have said this in the past but there are some days where I am already tired after only the warm up.  Of course, after the tough warm up, Sensei Noia had is spend a lot of time on our kicks today.

Warm up….

Jog to the far end of the dojo and back four times.  Then, to the far end and back once with each of the following: high knees up in front, butt kickers, front leg raise and low walks.

Advanced one step….

Sensei had us partner up and do some one-step drills.  For those who are not testing, we could do our one-step block and counter any way we liked.  Instead of the standard outward blocks and reverse punch, we were allowed to use knife hand blocks, elbow strikes, open hand techniques, and even knee strikes.  Using those techniques always makes one step a little more challenging and realistic compared to the standard moves.

Put your hand on the wall and kick….

Next, we all found a place on the wall, stood close to it and put our left hand on it.  From there, we did side snap kicks with side thrust kicks for each count with a total of 10 for each side.

Next, we did a kata of our choice (Heian Sandan for me) with no hands very slowly.

Back to the wall but this time we did three side snap kicks for each count on both side.

We then did kata again with no hands but full power legs and hips.

Back to the wall for side snap kick, high roundhouse kick and low side thrust kick for each count.

We did the kata again with hands this time to the first kiai.

Back to the wall with side snap kick, roundhouse kick and hook kick.

Now kata from where we left off at the first kiai to the end.

Back to the wall on last time but now what ever number Sensei said, we did that many kicks.  Our choice of kicks were, side snap kick, roundhouse, hook kick and side thrust kick.  I cannot remember for certain but I would guess we did over 50 kicks for each leg on this one drill.

We finished up class with one last full speed and power kata.

This class went by very fast for some reason.  Sensei Cieplik had us spend a lot of time working on shin clashes and knee take-downs.

Get your daily basics in…

After our warm up, we did moving forward and backward downward block with reverse punch, rising block with reverse punch, inward block with reverse punch, outward block with jab and reverse punch and from a front stance, inward block into horse stance with elbow strike and backfist.

Next, moving forward and back we did back stance with knife hand block.  Then back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick and then shift into front stance with spear hand strike.

We finished up our basics in a horse stance stepping across only.  Then we did stepping across with side thrust kick.  Then came side snap kick and we finished up with side snap kick and side thrust kick, one step with two kicks.

Hit their shin, twist their knee and drop them….

For our partner drills, we worked on shin clash and knee take-down.  One partner was in a front stance and the other was standing ready.  The standing partner stepped into a front stance, striking the shin of our partner with our foot on the outside and our knee on the inside of their leg.  From there, the partner that stepped in twisted their knee from the inside to the outside of our partners knee.  This motion makes them want to follow their knee down to the ground.

We did a good amount of kata before class ended.  The kata’s in included Heain Shodan twice, Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan, Heian Godan three times, Jion twice, Bassai Dai and lastly Kanku Dai.