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This is a log of my journey to Shotokan Karate Shodan and beyond.

Jab and kick at that same time – 5/13/10 – Thrusday Karate class

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Sensei Cieplik had us work on a couple movements that I don’t recall doing before.

Some old, some new….

We started out with our kicking warm up and then moved into moving forward with knee strike and front snap kick.  We then did front leg front snap kick with rear leg front snap kick.  Next, we did front snap kick with front punch.  After that came front leg front snap kick with rear leg kick but without chambering it first.  The kick from the back leg came right from the floor.    For the next drill, we stood in a front stance, picked up our front leg and tried to grab it and hold it then set it down.

From there, we moved into a drill that I have never seen before.  Sensei had us start by throwing some short distance roundhouse kicks.  For these kicks, the knee needs to be up high and the kick is very short.

Next, we did the same kick but with a jab added.   For example, we threw a right leg, short roundhouse and a left handed jab at the same time.  I seem to have gotten a little into the drill and ended up jamming my hip.

Lots of kata….

Sensei had the Shodan’s start with kata.  From there Sensei had us work on Heian Sandan, Heian Nidan, Heian Godan and Heian Yondan but not in the normal order.  After that, came Jion and Bassai Dai.

I have another part to fix in Bassai Dai now.  After the double rib strike, I need to think forward and down when throwing the punch that follows.  I found that I was not bringing my back forward after doing the double rib strike and ended up using all upper body to throw the punch.  After about 20 minutes of doing the drill with a friend, I got it.

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Private kata – 9/7/08 – Saturday Karate class.

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My wife and I forgot our sparring gear at home so we got to spend an entire class working on Bassai Dai with Sensei Gatch.

We started class with a rough warm up.  We jogged around the gym, then Sensei Gatch had us do 15 burpies and then 10 push up / sit ups.  Push up / sit ups are where we did a single push up, then turned over on our back and did a single sit up, rinse and repeat.  After the burpies, those were really hard.

Details, details…

We spent close to 45 minutes working on one kata.  Sensei had us do each movement and he corrected us after each one.

I have to following things to work on:

  • More hip rotation on the first few moves with the outward and inward blocks.
  • Strike between the chest and shoulder area before the punch with block and punch with block.
  • Reach to the front before the low side thrust kick and try to bring my knee up to my chest.
  • Get the hips around when changing direction after the front punch into the groin strike.
  • Keep the elbow tucked into my side when doing the double punches near the end of the kata.

It’s a lot of things to work on but all stuff that I am doing now that I wasn’t before.  I really like Bassai Dai for some reason and I am hopeful that this class will help me like it more.

Karate on the outside – 7/22/08 – Tuesday Karate class.

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A serious warm up…

Sensei Noia had us do a really hard warm up tonight.  We ran back and forth across the gym at least 10 times.  Next, we did butt kicks, where your run across the gym trying to kick your backside with your feet.  Next, we did low walks both forward and back across the gym.  For good measure, Sensei had us jog across the gym four more times.

Taking our Karate outside…

I am not talking about a metaphor here, Sensei had us go outside to do our Karate on the hill behind the dojo.  We have not done this for sometime and the last time I remember having class outside was maybe two years ago.

We started sprinting up the hill for a fast warm up.  Next, we went down the hill, squatted down and then jumped forward until we got to the top of the hill.

After that we did a front stance at the bottom.  As Sensei counted, we went back up the hill doing the block or punch of our choice.  Moving up the hill was a challange since you had to squeeze with the front leg to pull ourselves up the hill.

The next movement was from a front stance, we did front snap kicks moving up the hill.  This hill is not just a gentle slope, it is a fairly steep climb and trying to balance while kicking is not an easy task.  We then did a similar move where we went back up the hills doing a kick of our choice.  I did both front snap kick and roundhouse kicks for that drill.

We also did pushups with our feet higher than our hands.  Sensei had us do 20 reps and it wasn’t too hard for me.

Next came kata.  We all did Heian Shodan together while trying to keep from falling down the hill.  It was not easy and the down hill movements and back stances were very hard.  Sensei then had us do our own kata.  I did Bassai Dai and it didn’t seem too bad.  I wasn’t able to use full power but I didn’t fall down either.

We finished our outside Karate by doing low walks all the way from the far top of the hill back to the dojo door.  We had to do at least 30 each leg and coming up the steep hill was torture.

Back inside…

Once we got back in the dojo, Sensei Noia had us do our own belt kata.  Since we were on the flat floor again, it should be easy, right?  I could hardly move my legs and the floor felt so sticky for some reason but I did my kata.  I still have some things work out in Bassai Dai.  Except for the last three moves, I can do alomst the whole thing now.

We then got a partner and worked on some one-step sparring.  Instead of the normal punch block, Sensei Noia wanted us to use the movements that we have been working with for the last few weeks.  My partner and I worked on movements from our belt kata, Bassai Dai.  These movements are starting to come easier than before and feel almost automatice at times.  We spent about 15 minutes going back and forth with our attacks and block and counters before class ended.

It was an excelelnt class.