Today, Sensei Noia had us work on our kata again but  before that, we did what felt like the never ending stance drills.  I always like doing these doing these stance drills because I know that my stances can always be better.

Never ending stances…

We started in a horse stance doing punches and double punches.  Next, we started in the horse stance, pivoted to the left and reverse punched, pivoted back to horse stance and double punched, then pivoted to the right and reverse punched.  It really gets the hips warmed up.

For the next drill, we stood in a left foot forward front stance, brought our feet together and switched feet, putting the left foot behind, and then front punched.  We did the same but we switched feet twice and punched twice with one count.

We started in a stationary front stance and did blocking moves without our hands.  The idea here was to open and close the hips.  Next, we did the same hips movements but we added the hands.  Next, we started moving forward but Sensei wanted us to move our feet very fast and block.  We then did the same explosive movements but with a block and reverse punch.

The next drill was really different.  We started in a left foot forward back stance, then we  moved the back foot up next to the front foot and punched then put the left foot behind in a back stance and repeated.

Time to count on kata…

Sensei counted out each move for Jion and Bassai Dai twice.  He wanted us to do each move at full speed and full power.

We then moved on to Kanku Dai.  I lost count of how many times Sensei counted it out but it was more than five.  For this drill, Sensei wanted us to turn as fast as possible.  The forward movements were slow and easy but the turns were to be super fast.  These drills are very hard on the hips if done correctly.

We finished with another full power kata but slow and with no rhythm and then a full speed, full power Kanku Dai.

Today was another interesting class. Sensei Cieplik had us work on basics first and then came some loose power punches along with some dirty roundhouse kicks.

Get your basics on…

After the warm up, we moved in to some punch and kicking combination drills.  We started with front snap kick and front punch moving forward.  Next we worked on front leg front snap, rear leg front snap kick and triple punch.  The front leg kick is often a toe tap as Sensei calls it but if you engage your core muscles, the front leg can get up much higher. If you do not, your foot will only leave the ground a little and you will lean back when doing it.

Next came horse stance.  We started by steeping across from horse stance to horse stance.  We then added side thrust kick only, then side snap kick only and we finished with one step with two kicks doing side snap and side thrust kick.

We did moving forward and back in back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick and front stance spear hand.  Then we did front stance inward block, horse stance elbow strike with back fist.

Dirty roundhouse kick…

The next drills required a partner and pad.  We started with punches to the pad but the idea was to squeeze the bottom three fingers on our hand very right while leaving the index and thumb loose.  This creates a very strong punch with loose power.  It’s somewhat hard to describe in text but the punch is almost a whipping motion when the fingers are squeezed that way. Sensei often uses the term “rock on a rope” and this is the closest feeling that I think describes it.

The next drill was we called dirty roundhouse kicks.  For this drill, we threw the roundhouse kick but we did not snap it back.  We set the leg down in front after the kick so that we could move easily.  This was harder for me than most drills because I kept snapping the kick back.  Go figure.

Lots of hip and move them fast….

We did one kata, Heian Shodan, as a group and then the Shodan’s split up for some Kanku Dai Training.  Sensei Wail took us on the side and had us specifically work on using our hips and turning fast throughout the entire kata.  The fast hip motions were torture and Sensei kept pushing us harder until we ran out of time. I was never so happy to run out of time to be honest.

This was an all kata class!  Sensei Noia must have been reading my mind.  I enjoy doing kata more than ever before and today was like being in kata heaven.

Fast turns, even if you fall over….

After the warm we worked we did Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan and Heian Godan twice but we did the turns super fast.  We could do all the of the punching and striking moves slowly but whenever there was a block or turn we had to do it as fast as possible.  Fast to the point of almost falling over.

Next, we did Jion three times, again doing super fast turns as Sensei counted the moves for us.  You guessed it, Bassai Dai came next but we only worked on the moves up to the first Kiai.  And then Kanku Dai, three times also with the same high speed turns.  At that point, I was lucky to still be standing.  My legs and hips were calling me names that I haven’t been called since kindergarten.

We finished up a kata of our choice where I did Gojushiho Sho.  Those 60 minutes passed faster than I remember but one thing that sticks in my mind was the walk or me trying to walk to the car after class.