Shotokanplanet.org

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

Archives for July 2007

7/26/07 – Thursday Karate workout.

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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

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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.

7/21/07 – Saturday stretching.

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In my ever ending quest to improve my flexibility, I spend a good amount of time stretching on Saturday. My son assists our Sensei’s with a couple of classes and I like to stretch while sitting there.

I spend a lot of time working my side splits since one of my main goals is to prove that old people like me can still do the splits. I have a long way to go but I am seeing improvement in both my flexibility and my side height of my side thrust and roundhouse kicks. I also work on my hamstrings even though my front snap kicks are good.

Today I did:

Butterflies – I sit with my back against the wall while doing them because I feel that I get a better stretch.
Side splits – I also try to lean my back against the wall but I also lean forward to get what feels like a better stretch. I spend a good amount of time in that position moving my legs farther apart as I relax. I do another variation where I lay on my back and put my legs up on the wall. I cannot hold this position for a long time, around five minutes of so because of gravity forcing my legs down.
Hamstring stretch – I sit on the floor with my leg straight out in front of my. I lean forward and either grab my toes or put my arms on the floor on the outside of my legs. I get the added benefit of a deep calf stretch from this movement too.

I also do a similar simple stretching workout before class on Tuesday and it seems to really help even thought it is very simple.