Saturday Karate class – 3/29/08 – Special guest Sensei.

We had a special guest today, Sensei Noia taught our class today.

We started with the normal warm up and then moved into some sparring drills. Sensei had us get into groups of four. One of us stood with our back heel touching the wall behind us and the other three attacked us. We could block but not move our feet. We were pretty much a heavy bag but with the ability to block.

After that, we paired up and worked on some free sparring drills. My legs felt loose for some reason and my front leg, front snap kick was flying easily.

Next, we took of the pads and worked on hitting some pads. Two Sensei’s and I lined up and we worked on various drills. One pad was for elbow and knee strikes, another pad was for front snap kicks and side thrust kicks and the last pad was for punches only. After everyone had a turn, Sensei made two lines and I was able to get into the line up. For this drill, we were able to use any moves that we wanted to use. I threw a few elbow strikes but my main goal was to use my hips to throw my punches and those seemed to be effective. I also threw some front snap kicks and roundhouse or two.

I really like working and the pads and it is a great change from punching that air.

Tuesday Karate class – 3/25/08 – The perfect class.

Have you ever had a Karate class that felt perfect?  Not so much that you did everything the correct way but you did everything that you think a class should be made of.  Today was one of those classes for me.

Sensei Noia had us start with kata.  Not just one kata but all katas that we know.  This meant that I did Heian Shodan, Heian Nidan, Heian Sandan, Heian Yondan, Heian Godan, Tekki Shodan and Jion.  Once I finished all of those katas, Sensei had us start at Jion and work back down to Heian Shodan.  After we finished that, he had us do one kata, our own belt rank kata, at full speed and power.

Next, Sensei had us do the block and counter part of one-step sparring without a partner.

We then moved on to hitting some stuff.  I always feel that we should hit things every now and then to see if our training is effective.  Sensei Noia brought some striking pads to class.  He had one Sensei hold a pad for elbow and knee strikes, another for kicks of any type, another for punches and two small hand pads for punching and kicking.  I am not sure but I felt that my kicks and punches to the larger pads were the most effective.  I don’t recall ever putting that much power behind a kick or a punch before and it felt really good.

We finished up class with some blocking drills.  Sensei had all of us get into a large circle.  The Sensei’s had pole shaped soft pads about two feet long.  We all stood in a fighting stance and the Sensei’s went around attacking each of us while we tried to block.

To me, class doesn’t get any better than this.