Archives for February 2009

Both Sensei Plocharczyk and Sensei Gatch spent time with our class today.

Kata but slower…

Sensei Gatch had us work on Bassai Dai but in slow motion.  He counted our each move for us and gave us corrections to little details that many (I) of us were missing.  For example, in the first move, most of us were not using enough power.  Sensei Gatch said that the first move of the kata needs to at least look like it would work and after having me hold the pad for many of my fellow students, I think we all got it.  We ended up going through Bassai Dai one and half times in 20 minutes with a new meaning to slow kata.

Double reverse punch…

Sensei Plocharczyk had us work on some Kumite drills.  We worked on a drill that I have done before but never really got a good handle on.  This particular drill was two steps with two reverse punches.  That description is a little misleading since the first punch goes almost at the mid point of the first step.  I had a really hard time getting my mind wrapped around this drill.  After that, Sensei gave us some time to work on free sparring.  I tried to use this drill when doing free sparring but I ended up throwing jabs and reverse punches instead of two reverse punches.  I really need some more practice with this one.

This class was a little smaller than most because of some bad weather but what we learned was certainly bigger.

One-inch punch…

After our warm up, Sensei Cieplik had us get a partner.  We stood in front of them, and did a double one-inch double punch.    We stood with our hands open and relaxed, touching our partners stomach.  From that point we dropped down, tightened our core, glutes and hands all at same time and punched.  The power generated from that short distance by just using our muscles that correct way was unreal.

Kata details…

We started with Heian Sandan.  From the from the nukite, Sensei had us go into a three quarter stance, then turn on balls of our feet and let hammer fist whip out, like a rock on the end of a rope.  Turning in the balls of the feet into the horse stance makes the movement much smother but I had a little problem getting into a good three quarter stance.

Next was Heian Yondan.  From the downward x block, Sensei had us turn our front foot out to the left and move into the back stance with double block.  That little move made the transition from back stance to front stance much smother.  The next move was the second side snap kick.  Sensei had us pull our leg in for right side side snap kick while keeping our upper body in the same position.  Keeping the upper body in the same position between those moves is going to take some practice.

Jion was up next.  From the upward x block, we did a three quarter stance and let hand whip like a rock on a rope when doing the outward block.  After the second kick and triple punch, torque the body, reach, move into cat stance and do the rising block, then push forward and down for the reverse punch.  The push forward and down is the key to the punch.

We finished up the kata details with Bassai Dai.  When doing the outward block and reverse strike the fist should end in same spot.   Also, when doing those movements,  turn the wrist at the last moment before completing the strike or block.

Hit me…

We did a drill the Sensei never had us do before.  He had all of the men line up and each women in the class when down the line and threw reverese punches each of us five times with each hand.  This gave the women in the class a chance to punch something, since Sensei feels that they do not hit things enough and to help develop all of the guys ab muscles.  I was really impressed with some of the ladies punches and would not want to take some of those punches to the face.

Awesome class!

Class tonight started with one of the tougher warm ups that we have had in a while.  Sensei Noia had us get a partner, one of us stood in the middle of the gym in a side thrust kick while the other ran to the end of the gym and back.  Our partner ran back and forth 10 times and then did a full kata at the far end before we could put our foot down.  We then did the other leg and it was our partners turn.

Kata bunkai…

I was tired out after the warm up.  For the rest of the class, we worked on bunkai from Heian Godan and Jion.

While working on Jion, we did the dropping block movement.  Our partner held a focus mitt about lower chest level and we reached up and did the dropping block with the forearm strike.  This felt like very powerful movement.  The dropping body weight and the twist of the wrist and forearm at the end was the key to getting the power.

We also worked on the kage zuki (hook punch).  Sensei had us work on getting the snap at  the end of the movement and not so much on hip rotation to generate our power.  This is a small movement so the snap and twist of the hand make the move effective.

We finished up with a couple of Heian Godan movements.   We spent a good amount of time working on the  outward block and upper cut punch.  When doing these moves in the kata on the air, you never really get the feel what striking something is like.  Our partner held one pad at about check level and the other over head level.   After a few tries and getting our aim correct, Sensei had us do the jump that follows those two moves.   We did this movement with the jump at least 10 times.

Finish with some kata…

After doing the bunkai from Jion on Heian Godan, Sensei had us do those two katas and think about the movements that we just worked on as if we were still striking our pads.  It did feel different and more realistic than before.

If you have the chance to work on your kata movements like this, I highly suggest you do.  Knowing how and where to strike or block really makes the kata feel much more realistic.