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

Figure eight side thrust kicks – 7/6/10 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia really worked us hard tonight!

Awesome warm up….

Sensei Noia warmed up the class and I have to admit, I felt really loose and ready to go.  Many really good stretches.

Up and over….

Sensei had us get a pad and place it on the floor.  From there, we stood in front of the pad and did a right leg, outside in crescent kick followed up with a left leg inside out crescent kick.  We got into a rhythm and did them alternating left to right and right to left.  We did that drill for what seemed like 10 minutes but my legs felt really good until what came next.

Figure eight side thrust kicks….

This drill was torture.  We got a partner and one of us held two pads in front of us.  The other partner did a side thrust kick and then moved the kicking leg in a figure eight around both the pads in one direction then the other.  Next, we did the same drill but then hopped on our stationary leg one person to the right and did the same thing, then to the next person on the right down the line until we got through about 20 people.  Needless to say, walking was not too easy after this drill.

Sticky wrists and pull….

For the next drill, we stood in front of our partner with the outside of our wrists touching.  From there, we moved our arms and at the right moment, we pulled our partners hand down and to the side and reverse punched them to the head.

The last drill of the day was to do the same drill but as we pulled our partners hand down, we did a front leg sweep.

It was an a really hard class and one that I and my legs won’t forget any time soon.

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Class gets better and better – 1/08/09 – Thursday Karate class

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Sensei Cieplik showed gave a few new things to work on and think about.

Sparring type movements…

Sensei had us a do a different warm up drill to help get our hips stretched out.  He had us do inside out crescent kicks.  He told me to do alternating legs and it really opened up my hips more than some of the other dynamic stretches that I have done in the past.

Sensei had us start with many kicks for a long warm up.  He had us start with shifting forward with a job.  Next came shifting forward with reverse punch and then shifting forward with jab and reverse punch.

After that, we did a different drill that I don’t remember ever doing.  We took three steps and did a reverse punch with each step.  It was hard for me to get coordinated enough to move quickly when doing this drill.  We spent a good amount of time working on this drill before we moved on.

Kata…

Sensei had us work on kata next.  We started with Heian Shodan, then Jion, then Heian Nidan, then Heian Yondan.

Sensei made a really good point about kata;

When showing it to others he said if you just count the numbers for each move, they will never understand the kata or learn it very well.  I had talked to him about this after class and he suggested that when showing kata to others, start with the Bunkai for Heian Shodan and let them actually participate in the process, even if working with the pre-Karate students.