We started with the normal kicking and basics warm up and then did Heian Shodan as a group. Sensei Cieplik was concerned with our timing and had us pay special attention as we doing our reverse hand out, front snap kick, step back down and reverse punch. The point he made was that we should listen to the group and make sure that all of our timing is the same. He also had us do Heian Shodan in time with the group. This was a really different feeling. It reminded me of some of the TV shows filmed in Japan where you see a large group of Karate students doing the same exact moves in time with each other. I really don’t now how to describe it other than it was really cool and I enjoyed it.
After that, Sensei sent all of the 4th Kyu’s with Sensei Noia to work on Tekki Shodan. Sensei Noia took went over each an every move, watching for mistakes and ways to make our kata better. We spent a lot of time working on our stances. My stances weren’t as good as they should have been because I ended up being a little too aggressive with my stretching earlier during the day and pulled something on the inside of my right leg. I was still able to hold the stances but it wasn’t as low as it should have been.
One of the best points that Sensei Noia made was for us to keep out chests up while doing our moves. He must have said this to me 100’s of times on the past but for some reason it clicked today. He made another excellent point, which again he had told me many times but it just didn’t sink in until now was to tighten our lat (upper back) muscles when doing the blocks and punches. By doing this, it automatically forced my shoulders to stay down like they should. Those two things alone really made an immediate , noticeable difference in everyones kata. Keeping the chest out not only gives the kata a better feel, it makes me open up my moves instead of crunching them up like did in the past. The point about tightening the lats really makes that kata feel much more power then ever before. I think the punch, block at the end of that kata could really hurt someone, compared to when I did it without using my lats at the end of the move before.
Working on kata like we did was very exhausting. My legs were like jello after class and I could hardly get out of the car when I got back home. Even though it was tough, I got a lot out of it and feel that my kata will now be better because of it.
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