Shotokanplanet.org

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

Pad drills even work with kata

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This week, the dojo was warmer but Sensei Noia gave us a good warm up anyway. We started jogging back and forth 6 times across the dojo. Next, we did lunges forward to the middle of the dojo and then turned 180 degrees and did the lunges backward to the other end. We did knees up to our hands halfway across the dojo and then inside out leg circles. We finished the warm doing stationary leg raises to the front, side and back 10 times.

Triple kick time

Now that we were warm, we did a front snap kick to front, side thrust to side and back kick to rear then stepped forward, then did the same three kicks with the same leg and then we stepped backward.  Lots of kicks in a small amount space.

Partner drills

For the next drill, we found a partner. One person stepped forward with a Jodan punch and the other partner stepped back and did a rising block with a chudan reverse punch and front punch and then repeat the same with the other partner.

The next drill was similar except the one partner did a chudan punch and the other partner does an outward block with the same reverse punch and front punch.

For the last drill like these, one partner does two chudan punches and the other partner does an outward block and a reverse outward block from the kata Bassai Dai.

Kata pad drills

For the next drills, we stayed with our partner but one of us got a pad. One partner held the pad and the other partner had a choice of moves. The choices were the following:

The first move from Bassai Dai
The cross leg, block strike move from Empi
The second from the last move in Gojushiho Sho with the double edge hand strike

All of these techniques were executed in a cross leg stance which is one stance that we don’t often hit things while doing it.  This was a good test of making sure that the hips and legs were in the correct position otherwise your attack is weak and you end up bouncing back off your partner.

After the pad drills, we finished class with four katas of our choice.

Many kicks and don’t forget the Heian katas

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There does seem to be a pattern around exam time and that pattern seems to be focused heavily on kicks. Sensei Noia started class today with many kicks and that continued on for almost half the class.

Kicks around the clock

We started out with some of the standard testing kicks which includes stationary front snap kick to the front, side thrust kick to the side, back kick and roundhouse kick to the front with the same leg. This type of drill is more of balance drill and the key to doing it well is to collect your balance after each kick. If you try to execute the next kick before you have your balance, not only does it look bad, it takes away any chance of generating power.

Next came, slow motion side thrust kick where we hold the kick extended and then retract it as quickly as possible and then throw a front snap kick. Again, balance after the retraction, before the front snap kick is the key.

This next drill is one of my least favorites. This drill started with side thrust kicks and we them around the clock, doing each kick at the 12, 3, 6, 9 and back to 12 o’clock position. Again, this drills requires good balance and the ability to pivot smoothly, which is where I struggle. We then did a similar drill where we moved around the clock in 5 minute increments and then did the same with roundhouse kicks and hook kicks.

For the next kicking drills, we started in a front stance and moved forward after each group of kicks. Moving forward with front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick and roundhouse kick was first. Second was moving forward with roundhouse kick and side thrust kick to the front. Last was side thrust kick with roundhouse kick to the front which ended our kicking for the day.

We moved on to moving forward with many different stances and hand techniques. For example, moving in a front stance with front punch, then a cat stance with low knife hand block, then a cross leg stance with x-block and a back stance with an assisted outward block just to name a few.

Don’t forget the Heian katas

We started working on kata and Sensei had us all do Heian Shodan, Heian Godan, Heian Yondan and Heian Nidan. After that, we worked on Hangetsu up to the 1st kiai three times, then we picked the kata of our choice and finally we finished class with Tekki Shodan.

I’m not sure how it works in other Karate clubs but, in my club, when you are testing for Shodan or above, you will be asked to do your own belt rank kata and one of the Heian katas or Tekki Shodan. This shows that you still remember those katas and that you can do them at your current rank level not at the same belt level that you learned them.

I’m not sure if any of you that help out in classes or are full time instructors notice this, but I have a tendency to do the lower level katas the same way that I show them when I teach them. This is something that I just recently realized and luckily I am making a lot progress correcting this problem. I found this out after watching a video of me doing Heian Shodan at a recent tournament and I saw that I this needs to be fixed.
Please leave me a comment below and let me know if you have found yourself doing this too.

Let the kicks begin

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Today’s class was full of kicking basics and many of them. Sensei Noia wants to ensure that the students who are testing, have good kicks this time and tonight was a good example of those intentions.

Let the kicks begin

We did the following basics for nearly 50 minutes:

  • All from a horse stance: front punch, triple punch, rising block, inward block, outward block and downward block
  • Stationary front snap kick in front stance
  • Stationary front snap kick twice – one chudan other jodan and set it back behind on each kick
  • Roundhouse kick the front and set it back down behind
  • Hook kick to the front and set it down behind
  • Side thrust kick to the front and set it back behind
  • Spinning back kick then set it down behind – this was an interesting movement to say the least
  • Roundhouse kick to the front and spinning back kick and set the foot down behind – this was more interesting than above

All of the above kicks were extra tough since we had to set our foot back down behind us after each kick. It requires a lot of body control especially when you are doing kicks other than front snap kick.  Keeping from falling over is one important aspect that I was struggling with.

All of the following kicks were done moving forward:

  • Front kick and side kick to the front
  • Front kick, side kick, back kick, roundhouse kick set it down behind
  • Front kick, side kick, back kick, roundhouse kick, hook kick, set it down behind
  • From horse stance, the follow three moves, step across, step behind and shuffle up side thrust kick
  • Step behind side thrust kick – we did these again because they are extra strong kicks
  • Moving forward with roundhouse kick and spinning back kick

After all the kicks, from a front stance, we did moving forward, rising block with reverse punch, inward block with reverse punch, outward block with reverse punch and downward block with reverse punch.

Next came a quick round of one step sparring and then we did two katas to end the class.

More kicking is needed, at least for me

I can’t speak for the other students since 90% are a third to a quarter of my age, but these all these kicks were very hard for me to execute with clean form. Except for the front snap kicks and back kicks, most of them felt very off balance and even worse once I started to get tired.

With that said, classes like these really make me realize that I need to practice my kicks more often.