Thursday Karate class – 2/21/08 – Squeeze your heels together and stillness.
Again, class was filled with a lot of good information.
We did a lot of kihon with our normal kicks but then we did something a little different. Sensei Cieplik had us get into a front stance and then throw a front snap kick, then pivot a half turn to the left and throw a reverse punch, then repeat for a total of four times. We then did the same movements but in the opposite direction. The object of this drill was for us to regain our balance after the kick and then throw the punch.
When doing our normal warm kicks, with front kick and front punch Sensei stressed the importance of kicking and punching to the middle.
Sensei had us work on moving sideways in a horse stance, normally we kick with this drill, but paying attention to our feet and he had us reach with the leading leg then settle into the stance in a salad bowl motion. The salad bowl analogy is the way the body should be moving. Sensei made a very important comment that really struck me about the horse stance. He said to try and squeeze your heels together when in a horse stance. Just doing this made my stance so much strong and I was able to get lower than in the past. It just goes to show, even after close to four years of studying Karate, there is always something to learn.
We spent some time working on kata. We did a couple each of Heian Shodan and Heian Nidan and three Tekki Shodan and one of each up to the first ki-ai of Jion and Bassai Dai. Sensei asked how do you improve your kata if you cannot move any faster or stronger? His point is that if you reach your limit for speed and power how can you still improve your kata. His answer was very simple yet I certainly did not expect it. He said that if you reach the limit on speed and power, you need to practice to be stiller. The more still that you are means that your movements will look stronger and faster if you start, or I guess end also, from a motionless state.
Sensei has also made a comment that I might have mentioned before. He says to make kata your own. If you try too hard to look or move like someone else, your kata will never be yours. This point really hit home. I have always tried to make my kata look like others who are younger and much faster than me but I have never did a kata the way that I wanted too. When I try to move too fast, the quality of my technique really falls off. This doesn’t mean to do kata without the basic fundamentals but it means to do the kata within your ability and don’t worry about looking like someone else when doing it, look like yourself.
Tuesday Karate class – 2/19/08 – Kihon and kata.
Today was my kind of class.
For some reason, I enjoy doing kihon more than anything else lately. I like the idea of going back to basics and todays class did not disapoint.
Sensei Noia had us start with simple moving forward front punch. He had a do the first ten moves forward going slow and then five or six more at full speed and power. He then had us do the same movement, ten times backward and then another five or six at full speed and power. We used the same repitition scheme for rising block, downward block, inward block, outward block and front snap kick and back stance with knife hand block.
After that, Sensei had us make some room and do one, of our current rank, kata very slowly.
After the kata, we went back to some more kihon. Sensei had us work on our focus while doing these basics. The idea was do any movement that we wanted, at full speed and power, while he and the other Sensei’s walked around and tried to break our concentration. I lost my focus two times.
We finished up class with one last kata at full speed and power. My Jion felt pretty good but my mind and body was so spent from all the kihon, I don’t think it was as powerful as usual.
It was a great class and I hope that we have some like this one again.
Jennifer Malloy Memorial Tournament – 2/17/08
Today was our clubs annual Jennifer Malloy Memorial Tournament. Jennifer Malloy was a young karate-ka who loved Karate with her heart and soul before loosing her battle with cancer at the age of only 13. This is a good sized local tournament and there are some really good competitors both from our club and a few other clubs, plus some of the proceeds from this event goes to help financially support young up and coming karate-ka much like Jennifer.
It was a good day for my wife and son. My son took first place in the Kihon competition and looked really good. My wife took home a forth place trohpy for Kata. She has some issues with her back but she was still able to do well enough to bring something home.
I didn’t do too well, not winning anything today but even though I would like to win, I still like to enter the tournaments. I did have one moment of goodness, when I did my first kata of the day, Jion, I got three out of three flags in my favor against a first Kyu who did Bassai Dai. I felt that I did the absolute best Jion that I have done yet. I lost my second chance at kata to the person that took second place overall and my third kata, I made a mistake on one of my moves and it broke my concentration for the rest of the kata.
This might be my last tournament for some time to come. My son is going to be in a different class starting at the next tournament and the time that he goes on will overlap with the time that my wife and I go on for our group. I don’t want to miss him compete and I like to video tape him so I might be out for a while.
Either way, it was a good day and I got to see some of my friends that I only see at tournaments.
Friday Karate class – 2/15/08 – Kata for some of us.
Sensei Noia took all of the people who wanted to spar and Sensei Gatch took the rest of us for some kata work.
We started with Heian Godan for our 5th kyu’s. Sensei had us start in slow motion. Next, he had us do the kata with very short stances. The idea was to do the kata but keep our feet in about a two foot by two foot area. I am not sure why he had us do this but it was a challenge not to take the normal long stances.
Next, we started working on Jion. Doing it very slowly and paying extra attention to our form is harder than it sound, at least to me. When moving slowly, I can really focus on my stances and hip rotation.
After that, we finished up with each of us doing on kata by ourselves in front of Sensei. The only problem that I felt was the gym was cold and I wasn’t able to put out the same kata as I do when I am warm.
Thursday Karate class – 2/14/08 – Some new drills and Kanku Dai.
Lot of good stuff again.
We started with our kicking warm up. Sensei Cieplik had us do two sets of 10 front snap kicks on each leg. We then did the normal front snap kick followed with back kick. Next came a different warm up. We did front snap kick, side thrust kick to the side, back kick, roundhouse to the front, side thrust kick to the front snap kick again for a total of six kicks. Sensei wanted to see our balance and control especially on the last three kicks.
Next came another different drill. Sensei had us put our reverse hand out and turn our palm up. We then had to focus on brining the draw hand back to our side while throwing a front punch. He then had us focus on pushing our front knee forward, just an inch, each time we punched. That made the movement feel much different and it really brought the hips into the movement. This is a movement that I want to work on outside the dojo since I could really feel it in my hips.
Next came pad work and a lot of it.
We started working on front snap kicks. Sensei had us put on pad on the floor and then our partner held another pad. We then threw front snap kicks but Sensei had us work on extending our kicks out farther. Instead of just kicking the length of our leg, we had to push forward with the hips. This seems to bring a whole different and more powerful feel the movement.
Next, Sensei had us hold our knee up in front and keep our lower leg extended about 3/4 of the way. We then kicked from the position so that we had to really use our hips and extend our legs out.
We then worked on some punching movements. We stood with our front hand about an inch from the pad, we then pushed forward and up from the hips and then when our partner started to loose balance, we extended the front hand. The hips did all the work and very little power was needed to extend the hand.
After that, we worked on back fist from a horse stance. Our partner stood just a little behind us and we would throw as close, about one to three inches away, back fist while dropping our hips for power. When dropping the hips, the power really comes out.
Next came a very powerful movement. We started with the reverse punch out on the pad and then we threw a jab using a reverse hip movement. This is one of the most powerful movements that I remember doing in a long time. Using the hips to push that jab out felt so powerful, I don’t have a good way to describe it. I want to work on that movement on my makiwara once the weather warms up here.We finished up class with some kata.
First came Heian Nidan, then Heian Yondan, then Tekki shodan and Jion all at Sensei Cieplik’s count. He was counting faster than usual be slow enough for everyone to finish each movement. It felt really good to do the kata at that pace.
We finished up the class doing Kanku Dai. The best part was that we did it slow and Sensei did it along with us. His movements are so precise and powerful, it is a sight to behold. Sensei was doing many moves during class including a some jumping front snap kicks that were incredible to see.
I really pushed things a little too hard because walking after class was not easy. My right hip was very sore from all the kicks and hip movements and getting out of the car was no easy task. I have to admit, it was one of the all time best classes that I have had and worth every bit of pain that I felt. I would the same class again and not change a thing!
