In the crater – 7/14/09 – Tuesday Karate class

This was one of those classes that I and most of the class won’t forget.  Sensei Noia had us train on the hill outside the dojo.  It’s more like a steep crater than a hill to me though.

If you move too fast, you will fall down….

We started out with few sprints up the hill and then a slow jog back down.  The key is to make sure that you don’t run too fast when going downhill or you will end up at the bottom.

Next came low walks, not only up but down too.  Going down is extremely hard and you have to make sure that you place your front foot in the right place, which is hard then it sounds but possible.

Next came jumping kicks uphill.  The front snap kicks weren’t too bad but roundhouse and hook kicks were almost impossible for me.

We also did jumping squats up the hill but after just a few, I ended up sprinting up the hill since me legs just would not leg me do the squats.

Basics and kata…

Next came moving forward and back with front stance and backstance doing various strikes and blocks up and down.  Getting into a low stance was almost impossible because of the steep angle.

We did kata from Heian Shodan all the way to Tekki Shodan.

Uneven kumite….

We finished up with some kumite on the hill.  Sensei told us that we could only use hand techniques since kicks on the hill would have been a little risky.

It was an awesome class but extremely tough.  I hope we do this again.

Splits but not on purpose – 7/10/09 – Friday Karate class

This was an interesting class.  I visited Doc Pusateri today and I was feeling really good before class.

Warm up with some kicks…

We spent a good amount of time working on hook kicks.  We paired up and starting alternating roundhouse kicks and hook kicks.  Then came combinations of roundhouse and hook kicks back and forth.  This really got my legs warmed up faster than usual.

Sweep and kick…

For our next drill, we started with sweeping the front leg to pull our partner off balance and then follow that up with a hook kick.  My partner and I both did almost the same thing.  I was having a hard time getting the sweeping motion and once my partner showed me how to do it, I ended up in close to the split position without even trying.  I have never gotten my legs that close to the splits as I did today.  It didn’t feel too good but I was able to keep going without too much pain.  The funny part is that I ended up doing the exact same thing to my partner and luckily, he wasn’t hurt either.

Take downs…

We finished up with some take down drills.  The idea was to move in like a front leg sweep but get behind our partners leg and throw them over our knee while hitting them across the chest with our arm.  The key is to get the hips to involved and use those to push our partner off balance so that they can be taken down.

These drills all worked well but all of the adjustments that Doc Pusateri did were pretty much unadjusted.

I really like hook kicks – 7/7/09 – Tuesday Karate class

Sensei Noia has us work on some sparring drills today.

Warm up with some kicks….

I have had a lot of problems with my kicks in the past but I found something out today.  Even though my roundhouse kicks are not what I want them to be, oddly enough, my hook kicks are somewhat good.  We partnered up and exchanged hook kicks back and forth for a good amount of time.

Next, we worked on some basic sparring drills.  Shifting in and out with reverse punches and blocks.  After some distance drills, we got into groups of three.  One partner would stand in the middle while they other two were on the outside.   The partner in the middle would turn to one partner and attack, then switch to the other partner in non-stop fasion.  It’s like free sparring with no rest and two different partners.

I am glad that Sensei Noia is spending some extra time on sparring basics, since I know that really need it.

Lots of kicks – 7/6/09 – Monday Karate class

Sensei Beth Noia ran class tonight and it was one of the harder kicking classes that I have had in a while.

Get a pad and a partner…

We started off with some partner kicking drills.  The first drill had us standing in front of our partner while they held a pad but instead of kicking the pad, Sensei had us extend our foot and touch the pad and when she counted, we had to retract our leg as fast as possible.  We often work on the kick itself but seldom spend time working on the retraction with is often more important.  I ended up partnering with my wife and because of her back problems, I ended up doing the drills both of us and was able to get in the double the work.

Next came side thrust kicks.  Our partner stood in a horse stance and held a pad about waist high.  We then did a side thrust kick and rested our foot on the pad.  Each time Sensei counted, we pulled our leg back into the starting position.  After that drill, we put our pad back on the pad and then as Sensei counted we picked our foot up off the pad and held it up.

Next came some punching drills.  My son partnered up with me for this drill.  One of us held the pad while the other shifted in and reverse punched the pad.  We spent a good amount of time working on some distance drills and then some stationary reverse punch drills.

Walking after this class was a little tough but nothing good comes easy.