Sensei Noia has been working on our stances for the last few classes.  I certainly feel that all the stance training is helping me even though the classes have been painful.  It’s a good pain though.

Move those feet…

We started in a horse stance and did many punches.  While still in the horse stance, we pivoted to the left and reverse punched and then the same to the right.  We followed those up, still in a horse stance with pivot left and punch head high, pivot right and punch stomach level and pivot left again and punch at or below belt level.  These drills really get the hips working.

Next, we moved to a front stance.  From there, we switched feet (from left foot forward, we brought the right foot to the left foot and brought the right foot back) and punch, then rinse and repeat.

The following drill was somewhat similar but it helped us work three stances.  As above we did the front stance, switch feet and punch with both the left and right foot forward.  We then brought the back foot to the front foot and moved into a back stance with a knife hand block for both sides.  After that we moved into a horse stance with an upper and lower double block on both sides.  The key to all these moves was bringing the knees together when switching feet.

For the next drill, we moved forward with front punch, switched feet and punched and then switched feet and punched again.  It went as follows; start with the left foot forward, step forward and punch with the right hand and right foot forward, then switch feet and punch with the left hand and left foot forward, then switch feet again and punch with the right hand and right foot forward, then step forward and repeat on the opposite side.

Knock your partner out of their stance….

We paired up with partner and pad.  For the first drill, both partners were in a horse stance with one holding the pad and the other punching the pad.  For the following drills, the partner holding the pad was in a horse stance and the other partner punched from a cat stance and a cross leg stance.

With one partner still holding the pad in a horse stance the other partner did spinning back kick.  Next, came left leg side thrust kick, with right leg spinning back kick and left leg roundhouse kick for one count.

Kata time…

We finished up with some kata.  The Shodan’s and above did two Kanku Dai, Hangetsu, Empi and the kata of their choice (Gojushiho Sho for me).

See you soon to a good friend and Sensei…..

Today, Sensei Gatch visited class to tell us that he is leaving for a great career opportunity in Va.  Most everyone who has taken class at this dojo has had Sensei Gatch as a Sensei or has trained with him over the last 10 years that I have been involved with the club.  He was one of the first Sensei’s that I worked with and he will be missed.  Best wishes to him on his new job and this is not goodbye but see you soon.

Today’s class was one of the those where we did a drill that seems so complex on paper but is so simple to execute and when you do it, it just works.  Sensei Cieplik explained a self defense movement so well that my wife was able to execute it perfectly, on me and proved that “technique work” for a fact.

After our warm up, we started with front leg front snap kick and rear leg front snap kick.  Next, we did the same but with roundhouse kick.  Instead of stepping forward, we did front leg then rear leg and set the rear leg down in front after the kick so it became the front leg.

Moving forward and backward we did downward block with reverse punch, inward block with reverse punch, rising block with reverse punch, jab,  outward block and reverse punch and then inward block with elbow strike and backfist.  Oddly enough, even though the inward block, elbow strike and back fist is normally ugly, I do feel an improvement in that movement since we have been doing it more often.  I am sure mine is still ugly but it does “feel” better to me.

Next, we worked on moving forward and back with knife hand block.  We followed that with knife hand block, front snap kick and spear hand.

Technique work…..

For the next drill, we got a partner and worked on some pad drills revisiting some of the concepts that Sensei Arnaldo shared with us recently.  We started with loose fist punches.  The idea here is to keep the shoulders, arms and hand loose until the exact moment of impact.

The next technique that we worked on really works and my wife proved it to me and my collarbone.  One partner stepped in and did a front punch and other (slowly Deneise) stepped out to the side, past our partner, blocked or redirected the punch with the outside of the front hand and then threw a back arm ridge hand to the upper body.

I am going to try to explain this in a little better detail.  Both partners are facing each other and the attacking partner steps in with the right foot and throws a right hand front punch. The defending partner steps forward with the left foot, to the outside and almost past the attacker in a low front stance and uses their left arm to deflect the punch past them.  As the defending partner deflects the punch, their hips are open and the right hand makes a large, circular motion, with the hand starting near the hip, arcing up and around, then striking the attackers upper body with a ridge hand.

This move looks very much like some of the Kung Fu moves that I have seen and have had done to me, in the past, because of the angle and trajectory of the movement.  When the move is timed correctly, it works perfectly and I know this for a fact.

Help your fellow Karateka with kata….

This is something that I really enjoy doing.  Sensei gives each of the Shodan’s and above a fellow student to work with to help them with their kata.  Today, he told us to give the person we are helping one thing to work on that will improve their kata.  For me, whenever I help someone else with their Karate, I learn something too so it’s a win for everyone.

For this class, Sensei Noia had us work on our stances with focus on keeping our knees from moving and super fast turns in our katas.

Do not let that knee move….

We started in a horse stance doing single punches, double punches and rising blocks.  Next, from a horse stance, we stepped back with the right and leg and did a reverse punch, then back to horse stance, step back with the left and reverse punch again.  When doing drills like these, the front leg should stay bent and the front knee should not move back or side to side.

Because of all the knee movement going on, Sensei had us get a while pad (18” x 12” x 1” styrofoam like pad) and put it in front of our knee while holding a front stance.  From there, we did blocking and punching movements trying to keep our knee from moving.

Pay attention to your hip rotation…

We started out doing Taikyoku Shodan very slowly with extra attention to hip rotation.

Next, we did Jion, maybe 5 times or so, doing each move slowly but Sensei wanted perfect stances and again, extra attention to hip rotation.  We did Jion again but this time Sensei counted each move out for us.

After that, with Sensei counting again, we did the kata again but all forward or backward moves were slow but the turns were super fast.  We did it again but on our own this time still focusing on the fast turns.  We finished up with one last Jion with 100% speed and power on all the moves but without the rhythm.

We finished class doing two more katas of our choice (Gojushiho Sho for me) and then we bowed out.