Friday Karate class – 2/29/08 – Special sparring drills.

Sensei Noia had us work on some different sparring drills.  We started out with doing something that was similar to one-step and three step sparring combined.

We started moving forward with a jodan punch at our partner, they did a rising block and blocked.  Next we did a chudan punch and they blocked with an inward block.  After that, we did a gaedan punch and they blocked using a downward block.  We then switched.  We did the same drill a few times but then used different timing between attacks.

Next came the same movements but this time were able to counter after one of the blocks.  The idea was to block and counter very quickly before our partner could throw another attack.  It was hard for me to counter quickly because we were moving our feet so slowly.

We then did the same movements but this time we had to counter with something different than a reverse punch.  This could be a ridge hand, backfist, kick or anything else but a punch.  It was hard reprogram my mind to do something other than a punch but after a few times, I was able to do it.

Class finished up with some partner drills where we punch at our partner, they block, then they punch and we block with the same hand that we punched with.  It’s a good coordination drill but it can be hard too.

Great class.

Thursday Karate class – 2/28/08 – Zanshin and pull power reverse punch.

Really good class.

We started out a good warm up. Front snap kicks to the front, front snap kick and back kick combinations and front snap kick with side thrust kick to the front.

Sensei Cieplik had us do the last warm up movement a little different way tonight, not different in the sense of new but different in the sense of correct. After doing the front snap kick and side thrust kick, Sensei had us pay extra attention to how we put the kicking leg back down. Most of us would start in a good solid front stance but after we executed the kicks our stances looked nothing like we started with. Most of us did not have our rear leg in the proper guard position and the overall stance was weak to say the least.

At this point, Sensei gave a really good explanation of Zanshin. It was explained to him that if you have a crystal glass of water and you pour the water out, Zanshin is that film of water that remains in the glass. It is so simple but so complex too.

Next, we moved on to draw hand out with palm up and reverse punch. That movement feels so powerful to me. The extra reach at the start of the movement and the twist at the end feels as if it could break bricks. With that in mind, Sensei had us do something different. He had us stand in a bit of high front stance with much of our weight on the back leg. From that stance we pushed forward off the back leg with the body and twisted our hips. It’s a little hard to explain the movement but made power like I have never felt before. It felt like I was able to put my entire body into the movement. The power with the forward push and hips coming around is something that I don’t remember ever having before. We also did a few combination of blocks but using this punch when moving backwards. The idea was to complete the block going backward and then drive our body and reverse punch forward. Since we were already moving backward, our weight was on the back leg and we were able to push forward using the back leg.

We spent some time working on moving sideways from horse stance to horse stance. Sensei had us do the movement very slowly, almost dragging our back toe on the floor. This prepared us for when we added the kicks shortly there after. Sensei also made a point on how we should be turning when changing direction.

We then did some kata and spent a lot of time working on details of Jion.

One point that Sensei made was for us to push our hips forward as if a hand pad was in our obi.  Pushing the band pad forward would force us to use our hips and not our shoulders.

Another point was not to wiggle.  When we stop a movement, we have to stop and not move at all.

After completeing the second front snap kick with triple punch we need to torque the body, and reach with our right hand, move into a short cat stance and block, push and drive into a reverse punch.

We finished class working on an advanced technique, more for the black belts.  Moving from a back stance to a horse stance without shifting our body.  The idea is to use the body and follow “the salad bowl”  transition that he often shows us for black belts.  Moving from the back stance, we turn the back leg in toward the other and get lower, bring the other hip in, get lower and finally finish in the horse stance moving lower.  Sensei was able to demonstrate it easily but I did not have much luck executing it myself.

Tuesday Karate class – 2/26/08 – Side thrust kick torture.

This was a very hard class.

Sensei Noia had us a different warm up.  We started by jogging back and forth across the gym.  Next came shuffling back and forth.  Then jogging forward trying to kick our butts with our feet.  side kicks in circles.  I think we did each movement at least four times across the gym.  When then did our normal stretching routine.

Next came side kick circles.  Sensei had us get a partner, they held our their hand, we did a side thrust kick and then circled their hand with our foot both clockwise and counter clockwise.

After that, our partner put both hands out in front in a cup position and we did a side thrust kick and rested our foot in their hands.  Next Sensei had us raise our leg up off our partners hands, pull the kicking leg back to the start position of the kick and then put it it back to the resting position.  The idea was to bring the out stretched leg back to the start of the kick very quickly along with strengthening our legs.

We spent a good amount of time working on just those movements and we also did some conditioning movements too.

We finished up the class holding out stance for one minute each.  Horse stance, front stance with both legs and back stance with both legs.  Sensei Noia wants us to do this as homework each to help improve our stances.

Saturday Karate class – 2/23/08 – Sparring drills but a little different.

Today, Sensei Gatch was away at a tournament in Florida so Sensei Plocharczyk trained us.

We started out with some partner sparring drills.  The first drill was some simple shift in, jab and reverse punch and then shift out movements.  Next we did the same thing but as we moved out, our partner tried to counter with a reverse punch.  Now along those same lines but different, we did the same jab and reverse punch attack, then our partner would counter with the reverse punch but then we would curve our body and hit them with a backfist the jaw.  The idea was to bend our body so that their reverse punch could not reach us but our backfist could still reach them.  The different part is that we are always told to shift away and not curve our body like this but this is really and effective move especially for self defense purposes.  We spent a good amount of time working on that movement before moving on.

Next, we did a movement where our partner threw a right hand jodan front punch, we then blocked with our right hand, stepped through, put our right hand on their right shoulder,  put our front leg behind them but hip to hip, grabbed their belt and in a circular movement, bumped their hip with ours and took them down to the ground.  The key to this movement is using the hip power.  By bumping their hip, it takes their balance away and allows the momentum to carry them around and too the ground for a good pounding or stomp.

We finished up class working on some breakfalls.  Back when I was in Aikido, we practiced break falls all the time since most of our movements ended with one of us on the floor.  I was still able to do them fairly well even after 15 years has gone by.

It was good class.

Friday Karate class – 2/22/08 – New kicking drills.

This was one of the harder classes that I recall in some time.  This wasn’t so much mentally hard but it was physically hard.

Sensei Noia had all of us get a pad.  We put the pad on the floor, knelt down and then put our left knee on it.  From this position, we stood up and threw a front snap kick then put our same knee back down on the pad.  We did this 10 times on each side.  We then did a roundhouse kick from the same starting position.  We then moved the pad and did the same thing without it, being sure to put our knee down easily.  Putting my knee down easily was much easier said than done for me.

The next movement, again from the floor starting position was front snap kick, side thrust kick and back kick.  pad, bend back leg, stand and kick. both front and roundhouse.

During the class, we had some conditioning movements.  The first being clockwise pushups.  We started with a pushup at the 12 0′clock position and kept doing them, moving our upper body around in a circle, until we returned to the same 12 o’clock position that we started at.  We then did the same thing but this time counter clockwise.  We also did a drill where we lay on our stomachs and tried to kick our butts with our heels.  We ended up doing 50 reps each leg.  After that came a lying bicycle movement where we lay on our back, raise our upper and lower body off the flow and move our legs as if we are pedaling a bike.

We then finished things up with some partner drills.  Our partner would punch, we would block then punch and our partner would block with the same hand he or she punched with and then we would do the same.  It is a little tough to get coordinated with the movement at first but it gets better the more you do it.

Very hard but good.