Slow down and finish each move of the kata – 7/31/08 – Thursday Karate class
For some reason, kicking warm up felt different to me today. I was just whiping the leg for front snap kicks and it felt good.
Balance when moving…
Sensei Cieplik had us work on the same drills but different. When moving from front stance to front stance, bring the knees together, then reach first with the front foot while keeping all weight on the back foot, settle the front foot and pull yourself forward into a front stance.
Push the toes into the floor…
Sensei noticed that many of us where moving our front foot before throwing a front snap kick. He told us to push our toes into the floor and squeeze with our then kick without moving that stationary leg. It sound really simple but if you push the toes down the foot will not move.
Focus on the draw hand…
Sensei Cieplik has told us to focus on our draw hands many times in the past but today, it started to sink in. If I focus on my draw hand, the punch or block feels almost automatic.
Slow down and do the kata…
Sensei told us that we need to slow down when doing Heian Shodan. He said that most of the group finished it in 17 to 20 seconds. We need to make the kata last at least 30 seconds if not longer. He said to finish each movement and count 1-1000, 2-1000. He had told us this in the past but but I am going to keep mentioning it here until I actually do it all the time.
Self defense moves…
Similar to the moves that we did with Sensei Noia on Tuesday, Sensei Cieplik had us do a movement where we step back on a slight angle, grab the attackers punching hand, pull it into us and jab at their head at the same time. This goes along with the base, retreat and attack idea. We start standing ready (base), we body shift on an angle and step back (retreat) and then jab (attack). This movement is extremely powerful and I would guess that the attacker would not be feeling too well after getting with that jab.
The next movement was another defense to a front punch. We stand ready, the attacker punches at us, we pivot our body to the side, the punch goes past and at the same time we grab the attackers punching arm and push with our other hand on their elbow. This movement has to be timed really well to work because if the attacker has a change to tighten up the punching arm or pull back the arm bar will not be effective.
Excellent class as always.
More kata and self defense drills – 7/29/08 – Tuesday Karate class
Super warm up…
We started with suicides to each quarter distance line and back. Next came butt kickers across the dojo. Next, shuffle up and kick back and forth. After that, we started slowly moving across the dojo with our knees up with arms up, almost skipping and then Sensei Noia would say “go” and we had to sprint to the far end of the dojo. Next came low walks front and back. Finally, moving back and forth across the dojo, we did a shuffle with a jab, shuffle with reverse punch, shuffle with front kick, and shuffle with jumping front kick.
My body was pretty much spent by the end of the warm up.
Different kata…
We did Heian Shodan the normal way. Next we did it from end to to start. We then did it from the start but we pivoted on opposite foot. Instead of stepping to the left with the left foot forward, we stepped back with the right foot. The idea was to pivot on the foot that we would normally move and step with the foot that is normally stationary. Doing kata like this isn’t physically harder but mentaly it is extremely hard.
Kihon with a little twist…
From the ready stance, Sensei Noia had us step back with the left leg and jab, then go back to ready and step back with the right leg and jab. Next came ready stance, step back into horse stance and do a palm strike. He followed that with the same leg movement into a horse stance but with a backfist. We finished those type of movements with step back into back stance and throw a knife hand block.
Self defense – based on the kihon with a twist above…
Sensei Noia had us partner up and do one-step sparring based on the movements that we were doing above. If my partner threw a jodan front punch, I would step back, out of the way on the inside and throw a jab.
We did the similar movements with the horse stance with palm strike and backfist. The idea with these movements was to just move enough to get out of the way of their punch and counter almost at the same time.
With the back stance, we used our drawhand to deflect the attack and then knife hand strike them in the neck.
Doing these simple movements shows that you do not need to move a lot to get out of the way of an attack and counter.
Kumite timing and super ippon – 7/26/08 – Saturday Karate class.
Today, Sensei Gatch had the class work on kumite timing drills.
Timing is everything…
We started out with a partner, shifting back and forth trying to time when our partner was going to attack before they attacked. The idea was for each of us to keep pressure on each other and see the attack coming before our partner threw it. We would shift together, keeping the same distance and when they would shift in, instead of us shifting out of the way, we would attack first.
Super ippon…
The second part drill that we worked on was called super ippon. The idea here was for both of us to charge in and attack and score the point first. Either way, one of us was going to get hit but the one who hit first won. We ended up doing this drill with different partners until there was only two of us left. I ended up coming in at second place since the young guy that beat me was blinding fast. He was able to cover three times the ground that I did and his was about four inches better.
I do feel that my kumite skills are starting to improve but I have a long way to go.
Hand, not wrist, on your hip – 7/24/08 – Thursday Karate class.
Moving forward with reverse punch…
After our warm, Sensei Cieplik had us work on moving forward with reverse punch. Most of us are used to doing moving forward with front punch so this takes a little more mental focus than physical. He had us do the movement slowly at first, then we did four steps slowly, then faster and then two steps, pause and two more steps with the punch. We spent a good amount of time working on this movement and after a few it felt ok but no where near as natural as moving forward with front punch.
A revelation for me: Hand, not wrist, on your hip…
Sensei gave us one of the best pieces of advice tonight. He said “put your (draw) hand on your hip, not your wrist on your hip.” This allows the shoulder to stay down and elbow to go back farther. For the longest time, I have put my wrist on my side and not my hand. This made a huge difference in my posture and it allows me to engage my lats instead of my chest when punching or blocking. This also allows for a little more extension on the punch.
An exercise for better side thrust kicks…
Sensei had us do a front snap kick and bring it back, then grab behind knee with our hand, pull the knee upward and at the same time put the leg out to the side into a side thrust kick. Hold for 1-1000 and bring it back to the front again. Sensei said that this will make your arms really strong if you are not doing your side thrust kicks like this now.
Back stance with five degrees less…
We worked on moving forward and backward in a back stance with knife hand block. Sensei Cieplik said in order to engage the hips when throwing a kick with the front leg, we should have the back foot facing a small amount to the front not straight ahead. Instead of having the foot facing straight forward, turn it in about 5 degrees toward the front. I could feel a huge difference in the front snap kick from the back stance. I was able to snap the kick straight out in front instead of the weird thing that I was doing when my back foot was pointed straight to the side. It allows the kick to work with the body instead of against it.
Kata…
We did Heian Shodan. Sensei wanted us to pay attention to our back stances. I was so into keeping my hand, not my wrist, on my side, I made a mistake and started doing rising blocks instead of front punches near the end of the kata. It did feel much different.
Small blocks can be effective movements…
We got a partner and one of us stood with our hands out in front of us. Our parnter threw a front punch and from the pinkie finger we pivoted our hand into an outward type edge hand, turned our body and moved the punch past us. The movement itself was very small but large enough to move the punch away from my body.
We then did a similar move where we pivot from the thunb, close the hand and do an inward block. Again, this small movement deflected the punch past us and allowed for a counter movement.
The key to these movements is precise timing and moving to the inside or outside of the punch. The outward block with the edge hand was very similar to the knife disarms that Sensei Noia has been showing us recently.
Karate on the outside – 7/22/08 – Tuesday Karate class.
A serious warm up…
Sensei Noia had us do a really hard warm up tonight. We ran back and forth across the gym at least 10 times. Next, we did butt kicks, where your run across the gym trying to kick your backside with your feet. Next, we did low walks both forward and back across the gym. For good measure, Sensei had us jog across the gym four more times.
Taking our Karate outside…
I am not talking about a metaphor here, Sensei had us go outside to do our Karate on the hill behind the dojo. We have not done this for sometime and the last time I remember having class outside was maybe two years ago.
We started sprinting up the hill for a fast warm up. Next, we went down the hill, squatted down and then jumped forward until we got to the top of the hill.
After that we did a front stance at the bottom. As Sensei counted, we went back up the hill doing the block or punch of our choice. Moving up the hill was a challange since you had to squeeze with the front leg to pull ourselves up the hill.
The next movement was from a front stance, we did front snap kicks moving up the hill. This hill is not just a gentle slope, it is a fairly steep climb and trying to balance while kicking is not an easy task. We then did a similar move where we went back up the hills doing a kick of our choice. I did both front snap kick and roundhouse kicks for that drill.
We also did pushups with our feet higher than our hands. Sensei had us do 20 reps and it wasn’t too hard for me.
Next came kata. We all did Heian Shodan together while trying to keep from falling down the hill. It was not easy and the down hill movements and back stances were very hard. Sensei then had us do our own kata. I did Bassai Dai and it didn’t seem too bad. I wasn’t able to use full power but I didn’t fall down either.
We finished our outside Karate by doing low walks all the way from the far top of the hill back to the dojo door. We had to do at least 30 each leg and coming up the steep hill was torture.
Back inside…
Once we got back in the dojo, Sensei Noia had us do our own belt kata. Since we were on the flat floor again, it should be easy, right? I could hardly move my legs and the floor felt so sticky for some reason but I did my kata. I still have some things work out in Bassai Dai. Except for the last three moves, I can do alomst the whole thing now.
We then got a partner and worked on some one-step sparring. Instead of the normal punch block, Sensei Noia wanted us to use the movements that we have been working with for the last few weeks. My partner and I worked on movements from our belt kata, Bassai Dai. These movements are starting to come easier than before and feel almost automatice at times. We spent about 15 minutes going back and forth with our attacks and block and counters before class ended.
It was an excelelnt class.
