Shotokanplanet.org

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

Archives for June 2009

The results are in, Karate exam results that is – 6/17/09

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Testing has come to and end and I am satisfied with the results.

My wife was the first to test and she did an excellent job.  She cleared her keri and is now a full 1st kyu.  My son also did an awesome job by getting four stripes and is now a 1st kyu also.  I am also happy with my own results, I am now a 1st kyu keri.

I went into the this test with a different attitude then ever before.  I was visiting Doc Pusateri a couple days before my test and he told me to “just go there and instead of trying to impress the examiners, just show them what your Sensei’s have shared with you.”  That is exactly what I did and even though I had a lot of injuries and mental baggage going into this test, I was able to come out ahead.  For the first time, I had the attitude that I am here to take my rank not ask for it and my family and friends who saw me at the test said that I did just that.

I am satisfied and hopefully over the next six to 12 months my wife, son and I will be ready to wear black belts around our waists.

Even after five years, I am still unsure about the criteria used for rank examinations.  I am finding that ability to perform the techniques precisely seems to be more important than effort or knowledge of the techniques and Karate in general.  Either way, I am glad it is over and am already working on many of the technique issues that I need to improve on over the next six months.

Time to hit some stuff – 6/16/09 – Tuesday Karate class

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Sensei Noia had us hitting stuff and it was good.

Simple moves but strong….

We had out partner hold a foam pad and we went to work.  We did front punch, reverse punch, back fist, hammer fist, knife hand and elbow strikes between 10 and 20 times with each side.

Not too much to talk about here but I feel that this class was really effective.  I feel that we do not hit things enough and when we, we often get hurt.  For example, when I do not punch the makiwara or the heavy bag for a while, I end up bending my wrist when I punch really hard.  Punching the air is great for muscle memory but I feel that hitting things is required in case it is ever needed in real life situations.

Back to sparring basics – 6/15/09 – Monday Karate class

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This was my day back with Sensei Brien and it was good to be back.

Back to sparring basics…

Sensei had us start with some shifting and distance drills.  We got a partner and shifted back and forth across the dojo while keeping the proper distance apart from each other.  Every now and then, we could break the shifting rhythm and shift in on them while they shifted in.

Next, we continued to work on shifting but the idea was to draw our partner and then attack.  For example, I would shift backward and my partner would shift forward but every once in a while, I would shift back and shift in as my partner was shifting in toward me.  We followed that up with letting our partner block and counter if possible.

The next drill was really basic but something that I feel I need more of.  We stand in place, in a fighting stance, move the front foot only and do a jab and draw back then do a reverse punch.  This is such a simple drill but so fundamental.

We then worked on partner target drills.  Our partner puts a hand up and we have to jab or reverse punch depending which hand they raise.  The left hand would get a jab and the right hand would get a reverse punch.