Shotokanplanet.org

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

Archives for May 2008

Thursday Karate Class – 5/29/08 – How to bow and I need to RELAX.

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Sensei Cieplik started class with an interesting lesson. After we finished in seiza, we always stand up and bow to Sensei. Sensei said that he was going to tell us how to bow like it was explained to him.

First, the back of our neck needs to touch the collar of our gi throughout the bow. Both feet are together and pointed out about 45 degrees. Bend at the waist and exhale until all air is expelled from the lungs. When bent over, keep your eyes on whoever your are bowing to. After the air is expelled, straighten up and inhale. He also said that the amount we bow is based on rank. If you are bowing to someone of a higher rank than you, you bend over farther. I am very glad that he explained this us since I often just bend for about a second and walk away.

It was cold in the dojo and Sensei had us do a little different warm up than normal. We started shifting in place back an forth. We then threw some jabs and reverse punches. He then had us throw a front leg front snap kick followed with a rear leg front snap kick. After a few mistakes, throwing the double kicks while shifting felt very natural. He said just let the legs flow and do not worry about the power. For the first time it felt as if my legs were whips.

Next we did another new movement. We started with our feet about two feet apart. We then moved our feet together by moving them heel to toe until they were a few inches apart, then we threw a front snap kick and moved our feet back out again. This really got the ankles warmed up well. This movement led into another movement where we were able to move our front foot forward without showing any tells. The idea was to keep our oponent focused on our eyes while we move closer to them.

Then we did front snap kick with front punch. Sensei Wail gave me some good advice on moving my hips forward when doing my kicks. He told me to keep my stationary leg bent and then throw the kick. This forced me to extend my hips when doing the kick. It just goes to show, no matter how much you train, there is always something to learn or improve on.

Sensei had us spend a lot of time working on moving forward into zenkutsu dachi with soto uke, into kiba dachi with empi and uraken. He often speaks of the salad bowl movement. This does not mean like a salad bowl, instead you move in the curved shape of the inside of a salad bowl. When moving from the front stance into the horse stance, you load up somewhat on the back leg then move in a downward curve, under your opponents arm and into their ribs.

We also did some normal combinations. He explained the difference between rising block and rising strike. With a rising block, your moves almost vertical until just before it gets to about head level, then it turns horizontal and the wrist turns.

We were also working on back stance with knife hand block, front snap kick and front stance with nukite. Sensei had us do this move in a narrow line even for the front stance with nukite. The idea was to realize that our attacker is not necessarily right in front of us. They might be off to one side or even moving away.

Another point that he made was about balance. An athlete is on the line between white and black and those who are not athletes are in the grey area.

We did a few kata’s. We started with Tekki Shodan. My kata felt really slow but extremely strong.

Sensie sent us 3rd kyu’s off to the side with Sensei Wail to work on Jion. Sensei Wail had us work on the movements after the second front snap kick with sanbon zuki. He said to reach, move into a cat stance and block, then move into a front stance and punch. Doing the move as he counted was simple enough but putting all together and executing it at a fast pace wasn’t easy for me but the more times we did it, the better it felt. He also had us work in the cross leg stance with the X-block and moving back into the front stance. He said to squeeze our legs together in the the cross leg stance and when moving back into the front stance, tighten the hamstrings and grip the floor.

After this, Sensie Cieplik called us back to see our Jion. There were five of us in front and he gave each of us advice on what to work on and improve. He told me that it is fine to put my heart into my kata but that I need to RELAX. Being too intense and trying too hard doesn’t allow the kata to flow like it should. He had mentioned in the past that kata should be poetry for the eyes.

Another great tip is when saying the name of the kata, make sure it comes from the lower abdomen and not the chest or throat. If you say if from the throat, your head will move forward much like a crane bird.

I was able to talk with Sensei for a while after class and he made a comment about leaving class with more each time. He wants everyone to leave with something more than they came to class with. Now, this could mean even more frustration but that can lead to solutions to issues or problems that you might be having with your Karate. Learning more or having more to work on is still more.

I am sure there was more good stuff but there is just so much, I am lucky that I remembered what I did.

I really felt in the zone tonight. My body was working better than usual and Sensei did sign both my wifes and my exam papers.

Tuesday Karate class – 5/27/08 – Squeeze those muscles and close your eyes.

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We spent a good amount of time on our warm up:

Jog to each line and back.
Shuffle to each line and back.
Low walk forward and backward across the gym
Shuffle across the gym.
Shift across the gym.
Kick our hands behind us across the gym.
Walking knee raises across the gym.
Walking while doing dynamic leg raises to the front across the gym.
Walking while doing dynamic leg raises to the side across the gym.

Class:

Moving forward and backward with combination blocks and punches in Japanese.

Sensie Noia had us do something that I never remember doing before. He had us do combinations with our eyes closed. This felt so different. Since I couldn’t see what I was doing, I wasn’t caught up in my form. The moves felt like they just flowed.

Next, it got a little more interesting. We did kicks with our eyes closed – front snap kick, side thrust kick, back kick, roundhouse kick was really different. Oddly, I felt that my balance wasn’t any worse but maybe even a little better.

We spent the rest of the class working on kata with Sensei Gatch. He had us do a couple of slow kata’s to help us catch our breath from all of the kihon that we just finished. He then had us do a very slow motion kata but he also had us squeeze our muscles and hold them for three seconds during each move. Doing Jion felt like an eternity with all of the moves but it also felt real good. Locking for that time with each movement really brought a different dimension to the kata.

Great class again.

Saturday Karate Class – 5/24/08 – Hitting the pads.

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What a great class.

Even before class was excellent.  I was able to spend a little time talking to Sensei Plocharczyk about Karate.  He gave me some excellent insight.

He made a comment about taking Sensei Cieplik’s class one day.  During that class he tried to do his best Karate and Sensei walked up to him and said “do your Karate for yourself and don’t worry about doing it for anyone else.”  Even though Sensei Cieplik had said that before in our classes, it sometimes sinks in better when certain things are said by someone else.  I often try to do my Karate for everyone else when I should just be doing it for me.

Sensei also gave me some of the best insight on doing kata.  I have often heard people say that we should visualize an opponent when doing our kata but again, the way that Sensei Plocharczyk said it, finally made it sink in.  He said to spend an afternoon or some time going through each move of the kata and figuring out for myself how to apply each move.  Even with almost four years of Karate under my belt, I have never really spent time trying to get a full understanding of each movement.  It’s just a bunch of movements until you realize how they are applied.  I am really interested in working on this and hopefully improving my kata in the process.

Sensei Plocharczyk started us off with a tough warm up.  He had us doing sprints to each line on the floor of the gym.  Next, we shuffled in a horse stance to each line and back.  Next came side leg raises to stretch out our hips across the gym.

He then had us get our focus mitts and a partner.  Our partner would hold the pad on their stomach while in a kiba dachi (horse stance) and we would punch it.   Next, instead of the punch, we used to side edge of our hand.  This motion was a straight motion, like a punch, not a circular motion like a knife hand block.

After that, we got into a kokutsu dachi (back stance), our partner held the pad about shoulder level and we did a knife hand block.  I never really worked on striking a pad when doing that movement and it feels stronger that I thought it would.  We did 10 or so reps and then five more but our partner had to fight against us and put pressure on the pad for a count of five seconds or so.

Sensei then had us get down on one knee and hold the pad at about knee of thigh level and our partner would side thrust kick it.  I was actually able to do this movement since it was low and had enough power to knock my partner over a couple of times during the drill.

Between most of these drills, Sensei had our partners and us run to opposite sides of the gym and do a kata.  I ended up doing all of the katas that know up to Jion.  My katas felt really good today and Sensei Gatch commented that my Jion looked good.

We finished up with some punching drills.  Sensei would hold two focus mitts about should height and we had to punch them across our bodies.  Sensei was facing us, we punched his left hand with our left and right with right and then he would say duck and we needed to get out of the or get our heads hit with the focus mitts.  It was a great, high speed coordination drill that I want to work on at home.

Lots of good stuff.