This was one of my favorite Sensei Brien classes!  I really enjoy doing kata in his class.

Warm up with some kihon…

We started out in horse stance doing front punches and double punches.  Next, we moved into a front stance and did jab with reverse punch but making sure that we use our hips to snap between movements.

Next, we shuffled up in front stance did a jab, then a stepped and reverse punched then stepped again and reverse punched.  For the next drill, we did front stance, shuffle up and punch, then front snap kick with the front leg, then step back with reverse punch.  I know that sounds confusing but it really was confusing.

Next, came the kicking drills.  We shuffled up and a side thrust kick, stepped back and reverse punched followed up with another side thrust kick.  We did the same drill but with roundhouse kick and then side snap kick.

Kanku Dai…

Sensei counted out Kanku Dai for us.  He let the entire class do it and the lower belts  followed along.  We did it five times and then moved on to Heian Nidan, then Heian Yondan and then we finished up with Heian Godan.

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Taking class as a Shodan for the first time felt so much different today.  Sensei Noia is still working on exam drills since there is one more weekend of exams coming up.

Start with some basics….

Moving forward and back with rising block, downward block, inward block, outward block with reverse punch.  Next, we did moving forward with front snap kick, side thrust kick and back kick.  Then the same drill again but with roundhouse kick added to the end.

Kata and hold….

We started with Heian Shodan at full speed and power.  Next, we did Heian Shodan again but after each move, we held our stance for five seconds.  We then did it again but holding each stance for 10 seconds.  This was pretty tough but it gets tougher.

Next, Sensei had us do our own belt kata.  I ended up doing Kanku Dai, all 64 moves of it.  It wasn’t too bad at first and holding the stances for five seconds felt pretty good but when we held the stances for 10 seconds, it got painful.  I am sure I started counting faster in my head as the kata went on.

We finished up with two more katas, our belt katas at full speed and full power.

This article was originally posted on www.shotokanplanet.org. Any reproduction on any other site is prohibited and a violation of copyright laws.