Shotokanplanet.org

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

Kick your partner – 1/8/10 – Friday Karate class

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Today was my first time taking Friday class with Sensei Brien.  The dojo was really cold so Sensei made sure that we were well warmed up.

Warm up…

Sensei had us start out with some punches while standing in a horse stance.  Next, we did a lot of stationary front snap kicks.  We continued to warm but with shifting drills, first with jabs and then reverse punches.  One shifting drill that stood out was shift in with rising block and reverse punch then shift back with downward block and reverse punch.

Kick your partner….

Next, Sensei had us get a partner.  We started in a horse stance doing block punch, block punch drills.  After that, we worked on kicks.  We alternated both front leg and back leg roundhouse kicks with both feet in front.  After that, we worked on side thrust kicks and some hook kicks too.

Take the angle….

We finished up working on some shifting drills.   We stood across from our partner and starting shifting.  From there, whenever Sensei counted, we shifted on an angle but still staying in front of our partner while moving in a clockwise and then counter clockwise motion.  After that, we did the drill on our own with one partner leading and the other following.

We finished up class with some cool down stretching which felt good after all those kicks.

Do your Karate paperwork – 10/22/09 – Thursday Karate class

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Sensei Cieplik has been spending a lot of time sharing the little details that make good Karate even better.  For at least a month, he has been giving us homework and special drills to improve our stances and our movements and tonight was no different.

Paper underfoot…

Sensei gave all of us a piece of paper about four inches by five inches.  He then had us put it under the ball of our left foot and had us stand in a front stance.  From that position we slid our foot, with the paper under it, out into a cat stance, then farther into a front blocking stance, then a little more into a back stance and then repeat.  This was to give us the feeling of pushing our front leg forward and driving from the heel of the back leg.

For the next drill, we did Heian Shodan with the paper under one foot.  This gave a much different feel to the kata.  When the paper was under the front foot you could slide into the stance and when it was under the back foot you had to keep the heel down or it would slip out behind you.

Get a partner and a pad….

For our next drill, we got a partner and a pad.  Sensei had us work on a couple of different drills.  We started with reverse punch, then with sideways hammer fist and another move, for the advanced belts, where we put our hand about an inch from the pad our partner was holding and used body vibration to strike the pad.

Next, we had our partner get into a front stance as we walked around them and tested them, at various points on their body to see if they were locked or rooted in their stances.  For example, we would pull on their draw hand elbow or push on up or down on their punching hand.  We also pushed on their back leg to make sure it was locked and straight and we also pushed on their hip from the side where I was in my weakest position.  If you are not connected by your core, your stance is weak and your can easily be pushed off balance.  The core is the connection between the upper body and the lower body and if it isn’t there or weak, it will be very evident in your movements.

Lots of kata….

We moved into our kata next.  We started with Heian Shodan and went all the way to Tekki Shodan.  Sensei also gave us the option to do Heian Shodan with paper under the balls of both feet.  This was really interesting and certainly made the foot movements much more precise than when I did it without the paper.

We then worked on Jion with the paper under our feet up to the first kiai.  The first move in Jion is a real wake up if you do not drive the left leg back on the heel.

We then worked on Bassai Dai but without the paper.

Extra note for me to remember; When doing side thrust kick, kick my heel back and to the side.  I was kicking to the side and front instead of back.

Time to get ready for Karate exams – 9/28/09 – Monday Karate class

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Sensei Brien had us work on our examination preparation.  Exam time is right around the corner and Sensei wants to make sure that we are prepared.

20+ minutes of really hard work….

Sensei had us go through the entire kihon part of our exam.  It included the following:

  • Horse stance with front punch, double punch and rising block.
  • Moving forward and backward front punch
  • Moving forward and backward with sanbon zuki
  • Moving forward and backward with rising block and reverse punch
  • Moving forward and backward with downward block and reverse punch
  • Moving forward and backward with inward block and reverse punch
  • Moving forward and backward with inward block, elbow strike and backfist
  • Moving forward and backward with knife hand block, front snap kick and reverse punch
  • Moving forward and backward with front snap kick and front punch
  • Moving forward and backward with double front snap kick
  • Moving forward and backward with double roundhouse kick
  • From horse stance, moving sideways with side thrust kick
  • From horse stance, moving sideways with side snap kick
  • Shifting forward with front hand jab
  • Shuffle up with reverse punch
  • Moving forward with shift and jab followed with shuffle and reverse punch

Sensei had us do all of those movements with less then 10 seconds rest between them.  The last time we did this, I was ready to fall down but today, it was hard but much easier than the last time we did this in class.  We also did more moves in each group than at the test.  Normally we do five of each group of movements but Sensei had us do six or more for some movements which was a little hard then what we would see at our test.

Sensei suggested that to prepare for our exam, we should do sprints and not long distance running since our movements are anaerobic by nature and not aerobic.

Kata with spirit, even though you are tired….

After a few minute rest, Sensei had us do our kata.  He was looking at the speed of the kata and the spirit that we had when we did it.  He made the point that many people, when tired, start the kata with a lot of spirit but soon the output level drops and the spirit goes way down.  Another point he made is that people speed up their kata just to try and get it done because they are tired.

Sensei had us do our kata twice more but taking those points into account.

One step kumite….

We spent the rest of the class working on one-step kumite.  Sensei wanted us to work on doing the block and counter attack like we would de-ai.  He wanted us to sense when our partner was going to attack, block extremely fast and counter attack before they finished their attack.  Not too  easy a task to perform but if we can get it, it will help improve not only our one step but our free sparring and self defense.

It was a very tough but good class.