7/31/07 – Tuesday Karate class.
Good class again.
We spent a great deal of time working on our back stance with knife hand block moves. We would move in to a back stance with knife hand block but on an angle toward the corner behind us and then move forward into a back stance knife hand block. We did a lot of drills with those moves then we started adding more moves like a front stance with front punch.
We also did a lot of pushups and crunches between many of the drills.
We ended with kata. I am having some issues remembering Tekki Shodan for some reason. I had done so many of them in the past, for some odd reason, I am forgetting the order the moves. I guess it’s time for me to start daily kata work again.
7/30/07 – Monday Weight Workout.
This is my first real weight workout in some time. I just couldn’t get back in to the groove for some reason but I know that I need to get stronger if I want my Karate to improve. I am using the heavier weights and lower reps to try and train my central nervous system. I have always felt that my CNS was lacking and holding back my gains in strength.
The barbell rows were fairly easy but the bench presses felt like almost nothing. All of the pushups in Karate class has kept up my bench press strength. The dumbbell press were very light too. The side crunches were very hard but I couldn’t even do them the last time I tried many months ago.
I am also holding back on some of my weights since my training partner isn’t as strong in all the movements like I am. This is good for me since I want to move up slow and steady with the weights that I am lifting.
Barbell Rows – 155 x 4, 155 x 4, 115 x 8, 95 x 12
Bench Press – 175 x 4, 175 x 4, 145 x 8, 115 x 12
Lat Pulldown – 150 x 4, 150 x 4, 115 x 12 (Reverse Grip)
Dumbbell Press – 45 x 4, 45 x 4, 30 x 12
Side Crunch – 2 x 10
7/27/07 – Friday Karate classes.
Lots of kicks and then more kicks. That was the theme for both classes.
We did rep after rep of roundhouse kicks, front snap kicks and side thrust kicks. Our Sensei showed us some self defense moves. One example is bringing the leg up like a front snap kick and from that position turning the hip and throwing a roundhouse kick. We also worked on hook kicks. I haven’t spent a lot of time working on hook kicks until today and while they are not easy for me, they felt good.
We did one drill where our partner held a pad and we would do a back leg roundhouse kick and reset, then then shuffle up an throw a front leg roundhouse kick.
The second class was almost a repeat of the first class but we did a couple more self defense techniques since it was the advanced class.
One move in particular, was a combination kick where we threw a front snap kick and followed it up with a low roundhouse kick to the inside thigh of our partner. This move is meant to push the person back and shock them with the front snap kick and then take them out by kicking them to the inner thigh or knee.
Good stuff!
7/26/07 – Thursday Karate workout.
We couldn’t make class because my wife was not feeling well so I worked out by myself.
I started with a quick warmup then got right in to it.
Standing slow side thrust kicks – 15 each leg.
While holding a horse stance, 30 front punches, 20 rising blocks, 10 inward blocks, 10 outward blocks, 20 double punches and 10 downward blocks.
From a horse stance, left leg forward front stance with reverse punch, draw back to a horse stance, then right leg forward front stance with reverse punch – 15 each leg.
From a horse stance, left leg forward back stance with knife hand block, draw back to horse stance, then right leg forward back stance with knife hand block – 12 each leg.
Standing front snap kick – 30 each leg.
Throughout the workout, between the other moves, I did standing side leg raises – 5 x 15 each leg.
7/24/07 – Tuesday Karate class
Very hard class!
I spent a lot of time stretching before class and it seemed that my hips were very loose.
Our Sensei had us work on some serious conditioning. We spent most of the class in a horse stance.
We started in a horse stance and did 30 front punches and 60 double punches. Although that sounds simple, holding the horse stance was very painful. And this was just the beginning of the torture.
Next, we were back in a horse stance but then moved in to a left leg forward front stance with a reverse punch and then we drew back in to the horse stance and moved to a right leg front stance with reverse punch.
After doing those it was time for horse stance in to back stance with knife hand block. These moves were a little different, instead of doing one move with each leg forward and return back to the horse stance, we moved front left leg forward back stance then moved back in to right leg forward back stance and then drew back in to the horse stance. I lost count of how many of those we did but I am guessing it was somewhere around 15 for each side.
We then went back to the reverse punch moves that we started with but instead of going back to the horse stance after each one, we did the moves like we did with the back stance. We moved to left leg front reverse punch, then backward in to right leg forward reverse punch and then drew back in to the horse stance.
After all of that work, my legs were shot to the point that I had a hard time standing but there is more. We then stood with out left leg up and while holding our balance, kicked out 100 front snap kicks. After 60-70 my kicks could not have hurt a butterfly and my legs were screaming. We then switched to the right leg to even things out.
Finally, we did some kata. Sensei told us to do our kata very slowly and with perfect form. I did Tekki Shodan and could barely pick up my legs to do the moves. One interesting thing is that my horse stance felt really low. After doing all of the other stance work, my hips were very flexible. We then did one more kata, slowly like the last. For my final kata, I did Heian Shodan. I paid particular attention to keeping my heal down and using my hips for each move. With the exception of the last four moves in the back stance my kata felt really good.
Walking to the car after class was not easy but I knew that I got something out of this class and plan on incorporating some of these moves in to my training outside of class.
